“Like I said, I didn’t know too many people, but once I came into this bar, I kind of opened myself up,” she says. Kim says she’s tried to find this atmosphere at other gay bars in town, but until the Blue Cactus opened, she couldn’t find what she was looking for. Talking with Jeannie and Kim, it’s evident that the Blue Cactus is already a home away from home for both of them. I won't include all of that material-fascinating as it is-but I will include the last few paragraphs:
But as she hastens to assure us, " the lesbian community is all around you-it’s just a little harder to find." In-depth interviews are also provided with two "30-something" women, Jeannie and Kim. Rice goes on to observe what an "anomaly" a lesbian bar is in the Reno area, where the vast majority of gay bars, publications, and organizations are dominated by men. And, as the night wore on, more women arrived in pairs and small groups until the place was fairly jumping. Except for one talkative old guy at the bar, all of the patrons at the Blue Cactus on one recent night were women. The signs on the bathroom doors read “Pricks” and “Prickless"-a vulgarity softened by the cleverness of the play on the cactus theme.īut, of course, the most dramatic change you’ll notice when you cross the threshold is the women. Tiny spotlights hang warehouse-style from thin metal cords over the long bar, where the video poker screens have been replaced with shiny copper panels. The inside is just as inviting, as the old bar’s dirty, rural image has been updated into hip, Southwestern chic. And that’s just the first sign of the renovations that revamped the former Summit Saloon into what many are calling Reno’s only lesbian bar since Bad Dolly’s closed years ago.īlue Cactus restroom for the "Prickless" (2001) The first thing you’ll notice as you turn off of West Fourth Street onto the curving narrow driveway of the Blue Cactus Bar & Nightclub is the little wooden cactus cutouts, wrapped in Christmas lights, lighting up your way. The Blue Cactus opened in the summer of 2001, and has quickly become one of the community's favorite fun spots.īlue Cactus was also the subject of a very nice write-up by Adrienne Rice in October 2001: The Blue Cactus features live music on occasion, but plans to have much more coming this summer. You'll find DJ Dance music every Friday and Saturday night, Country Music on Thursdays, Karaoke on Tuesdays and Absolutely Fabulous Mondays. The bar is open daily from 11 until 3 am, sometimes later depending on the occasion.
The Blue Cactus is predominately a women's bar, but friendly men hang there as well. Here's what gay-reno said about the Blue Cactus: With a high lonesome twang, an Emmylou-like southern drawl, and blistering guitar techniques, Blue Cactus exercises the honky-tonk muscles to firmly bear the flag for a new generation of country music.Location: 3001 West 4th Street, Reno, Nevada, USA The North Carolina duo have performed at several beloved festivals including Nelsonville, Red Wing Roots, Muddy Roots and Hopscotch and shared the stage as support for an array of artists from The War & Treaty, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, and Lilly Hiatt to Town Mountain and Junior Brown among others.īetween the comfort of classic country and the glamour of 70s rock,īlue Cactus resuscitates a fleeting style of honest-to-goodness country music considered valueless to a “new” country music where songwriting is officiated by financial analysts and teams of marketing plutocrats instead of woebegone troubadours. Following their critically-acclaimed 2017 debut and a string of singles in 2020, Stranger Again saw the band taking their sound to an ambitious new plane, where country-rock and light psychedelia mingle, vocals soaring over twangy slide guitars and propulsive basslines. No Depression, American Songwriter, FLOOD Magazine, Talkhouse,Īnd INDY Week among others. Their sophomore album, Stranger Again, released in 2021 on Sleepy Cat Records, nabbed enthusiastic attention from tastemakers including Blue Cactus, the North Carolina duo of Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez, make Dream Country: a blend of grit, glitz, groove, and twang thatĮvokes a celestial soundscape of mid-century heartbreak and harkens comparisons eclectic and iconic as Bobbie Gentry, Fleetwood Mac,
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