If I hear “community building” one more time…

Oh…

Well it sounds smooth and buttery when Don Morrison says it.

Don spoke as a featured guest for the the Reynolds School of Journalism’s #Jour4Jobs forum via Google Hangout.

One of the benefits he spoke about at the Collective?

“Confidence.”

With community and shared work comes confidence in an idea. Ideas can lead to great things, like Cloudsnap, or Don’s haircut, or even The Reno Collective.

Keep spawning ideas, and don’t be afraid to share those ideas with a friend. The process might take you somewhere.

If the phrase “acoustic political post-folk punk” piques your interest then you should probably cancel your early Friday evening plans and come see Spike McGuire at Collective Desk #5. If political post-folk punk isn’t enough then maybe “raw vocal grit” or “impassioned lyrics” will draw you in. Maybe you’re excited to see a local boy perform for you. Tell you what, we’ll just see you here on on Friday, April 13th at 5 p.m., okay?

We haven’t quite figured out how a singer/songwriter that usually performs with the barebones accompaniment of an acoustic guitar will fulfill the Collective Desk mandate of a stripped-down set, but we’re excited to see the results. Someone that has shared the stage with tremendous musicians including: Chuck Ragan, Franz Nicolay, Kevin Seconds, Eddie Spaghetti, Kepi Gouhlie, and Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers is sure to please!

I ...]]>

If the phrase “acoustic political post-folk punk” piques your interest then you should probably cancel your early Friday evening plans and come see Spike McGuire at Collective Desk #5. If political post-folk punk isn’t enough then maybe “raw vocal grit” or “impassioned lyrics” will draw you in. Maybe you’re excited to see a local boy perform for you. Tell you what, we’ll just see you here on on Friday, April 13th at 5 p.m., okay?

We haven’t quite figured out how a singer/songwriter that usually performs with the barebones accompaniment of an acoustic guitar will fulfill the Collective Desk mandate of a stripped-down set, but we’re excited to see the results. Someone that has shared the stage with tremendous musicians including: Chuck Ragan, Franz Nicolay, Kevin Seconds, Eddie Spaghetti, Kepi Gouhlie, and Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers is sure to please!

I have to admit, I’m still stuck on “post-folk punk”…

All Collective Desk Concerts

Whether blowing up aliens or rescuing princesses is more in your wheelhouse, you’ll likely have a good time at CDC4 – featuring Reno’s first and finest Video Game Orchestra. As always, we’ll raise the proverbial curtains at 5 p.m. – doors at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 23.

This crew of gamer musicians formed in August 2011 and grew into a large performance-based classical ensemble, specializing in self-arranged video game music. If it’s been a while since you’ve lodged a song from Super Mario Bros. into your skull, you should come down, have a beer, and take in the jams.

You won’t be hearing any Freebird (yay), but you just might get a ...]]> Yes, that’s right. The photo below features Duke Nukem on French horn. Only the most badass and heroic of dudes can wail on such a hardcore, contorted piece of brass.

Whether blowing up aliens or rescuing princesses is more in your wheelhouse, you’ll likely have a good time at CDC4 – featuring Reno’s first and finest Video Game Orchestra. As always, we’ll raise the proverbial curtains at 5 p.m. – doors at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 23.

This crew of gamer musicians formed in August 2011 and grew into a large performance-based classical ensemble, specializing in self-arranged video game music. If it’s been a while since you’ve lodged a song from Super Mario Bros. into your skull, you should come down, have a beer, and take in the jams.

You won’t be hearing any Freebird (yay), but you just might get a wink and special serenade if you shout out, “PLAY SHADOW’S THEME FROM FINAL FANTASY SIX! YES SIX, NOT THREE BECAUSE I’M STAYING TRUE TO THE JAPANESE RELEASE LINEAGE AND NOT THE BASTARDIZED AMERICAN VERSION THAT JUMPED FROM THREE TO SEVEN!” Shout something along those lines anyway.

Yah. I’m a nerd.

All Collective Desk Concerts

The guys peg themselves as a cross between the longstanding alternative (some say “college”) rock group, REM and heavy metal (some say “stoner”) rock band, Kyuss.

The trio of Tobin Jones, Nick Ramirez and Roger Rowland formed in late 2010. They’ve thrashed, smashed, screamed and sang under the smoke and strobes of several local venues throughout Reno and Sparks, and now they’re stripping down to play our intimate office space under some fluorescent lights.

Come down, and have a beer. The guys from Present might have a few themselves.

All Collective Desk Concerts

Last Friday (ok TWO fridays ago) was Collective Desk Concert #1 featuring local Reno band Big Remote. Big Remote is a rough around the edges rock, mellow, western, high desert beer sipping band. I have a preview copy of their album and it’s good. Hopefully they’ll be flinging disks to the public soon.

The band is made up of Reno Collective MuckyMuck Don Morrison on drums, Stephen Larkins on Guitar and vocals, Jon Cornell on Keyboard, and Eric Foreman on bass and vocals. More about them on their website BigRemote.net.

National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Concert Series began around 2007. The concept is simple. Musicians of all levels, from superstars to indie bands to classical musicians set up behind a desk at the offices of NPR Music. The desk belongs to Bob Boilen, one time director of All ...]]> Big Remote

Last Friday (ok TWO fridays ago) was Collective Desk Concert #1 featuring local Reno band Big Remote. Big Remote is a rough around the edges rock, mellow, western, high desert beer sipping band. I have a preview copy of their album and it’s good. Hopefully they’ll be flinging disks to the public soon.

The band is made up of Reno Collective MuckyMuck Don Morrison on drums, Stephen Larkins on Guitar and vocals, Jon Cornell on Keyboard, and Eric Foreman on bass and vocals. More about them on their website BigRemote.net.

What is Collective Desk?

National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Concert Series began around 2007. The concept is simple. Musicians of all levels, from superstars to indie bands to classical musicians set up behind a desk at the offices of NPR Music. The desk belongs to Bob Boilen, one time director of All Things Considered, now the director of NPR Music and host of Tiny Desk and All Songs Considered.

I love this podcast. It kicks ass. The videos are great too.

My idea was simple, so simple in fact that it’s hard to even call it an idea: create a cool recurring event at the Reno Collective that brought in local musicians and bands and copycatted the whole Tiny Desk Concert thing. One big difference. While you do have to work here to see the show, anyone can work here on Friday. Oh, one more big difference: we have beer.

It’s called Collective Desk, It happens at the Reno Collective once or twice a month. You can watch the videos here and subscribe to updates on the event on Facebook and Twitter.

Next concert is February 24th at Beer:30.

-Mike Henderson
Videographer: Arborglyph

Come down to this free event and enjoy the indie/folk feel of a Reno band that just might blow up. With a sound comparable to Tom Petty, Wilco and Delta Spirit, Ditch the Pilot pride themselves on a style rooted in songwriting, lyricism and music played for the love of music.

If you’re the front-row-of-the-show type, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more intimate venue than a Collective Desk Concert. Come share our space with good friends, good music and hopefully a good story or two from the band.

Music starts at 5 p.m. – show up around 4:30 p.m. for Beer:30, and enjoy a cold brew while the band warms up!

All Collective Desk Concerts

It’s less of a group and more of a movement, an excitement. It’s called Reno Rising and the idea is to collaborate & support each other on creative action. If we join forces, there’s no telling what amazing things can come out of Reno. In this first meetup, we’re going to hash out ideas, gather inspiration, and get moving.

If this sounds even the least bit interesting, come to the meeting tomorrow night, Wednesday the 15th, at 6:00 PMish. And it’s happening right at the Collective so you know where it’s located. Learn more or RSVP ...]]> Have you been thinking, “Man, there’s a lot of cool stuff happening around Reno! I want to learn more and get involved.” Yeah, we thought so. There’s a whole bunch of people just like you and we’re all getting together for the first time tomorrow night.

It’s less of a group and more of a movement, an excitement. It’s called Reno Rising and the idea is to collaborate & support each other on creative action. If we join forces, there’s no telling what amazing things can come out of Reno. In this first meetup, we’re going to hash out ideas, gather inspiration, and get moving.

If this sounds even the least bit interesting, come to the meeting tomorrow night, Wednesday the 15th, at 6:00 PMish. And it’s happening right at the Collective so you know where it’s located. Learn more or RSVP at the Facebook event page. See you there!

Well, this is Reno Collective, so let's continue to do things differently.

Let's host a show. Let's host several shows - shows by local bands in a stripped-down style at our more-than-modest venue. In the spirit of NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, let's showcase local talents and open them up to the public. We'll have a show every other week. And hey, if these little shindigs catch on, maybe we'll go weekly.

This week we’re proud to host the planning meeting for the Reno Makerspace. Makerspaces, or hackerspaces, are like coworking communities but are more focused on creating or hacking physical products. They may be housed in a garage, a warehouse, offices or anywhere people can get together to put things together or take them apart.

Makerspaces and hackerspaces have been crucial in supporting do-it-yourself (DIY) culture in many cities, as well as increasing youth interest in applied sciences. We went to MakerFaire, an event that showcases home-made art, incredible hand-built ...]]> Ignite Reno is Back!

Ignite Reno is this Thursday at Se7en on West from 7 to 9:30pm! We’ve been looking forward to bringing this event back, & we’ve got a great selection of speakers to kick off our 2011 season, for sure! Head to www.ignitereno.com for information and to check out past videos!

Reno Makerspace

This week we’re proud to host the planning meeting for the Reno Makerspace. Makerspaces, or hackerspaces, are like coworking communities but are more focused on creating or hacking physical products. They may be housed in a garage, a warehouse, offices or anywhere people can get together to put things together or take them apart.

Makerspaces and hackerspaces have been crucial in supporting do-it-yourself (DIY) culture in many cities, as well as increasing youth interest in applied sciences. We went to MakerFaire, an event that showcases home-made art, incredible hand-built contraptions, robots and other wonders in San Mateo a couple years ago and came back to Reno excited to see the same type of creativity and creation bustling in our city!

We learned of a couple different groups who have been working to assemble such a space here in Reno (they even collected enough money to build a Makerbot- how cool!) and jumped at the chance to have them meet here at the collective. (Last month a scheduling conflict came up on our end, but they’ve forgiven us.)

Come down tomorrow night, April 5th, starting at 6pm to meet the makers and learn about their plans, and maybe even join them in making their space a reality!

Events

For details, please visit out events page >>

• Tuesday: Reno Makerspace Meeting
• Wednesday: Lunch with TED
• Thursday: Ignite Reno #7
• Friday: Beer 30 Happy Hour

Don’t forget our WordPress Crash Course Workshop coming up on April 16th! If you build or maintain websites then you have probably at least heard of WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system. Come spend a day at the collective and learn the ins and outs of this versatile and powerful web software. Workshop info and registration can be found at Eventbrite >>