Dr. Alfred Higgins
Caitlin Tucker
Reno McAllister
Tara Kajuru
Gordon Dubrovsky
Chip Dubrovsky

Reno McAllister

Clark “Reno” McAllister, born 1970 in Venice, California, travels the country in a modified 1959 Airstream trailer towed behind a white 1962 Cadillac, staying alongside the snowbirds in Wal-Mart parking lots across the South and West.

Exactly where his income stream comes from is not well understood; it’s been said he stays up late most nights taking money from college boys in online poker games routed through Bahamian servers. He seems to move from town to town following clues to a mystery he won’t discuss when sober, but which may involve the source of the Taos hum.

A recovering semi-pro musician, he began playing electric guitar at a young age, then quit at age 23 when he got what he calls “too good” at the instrument. When he’s in town the same night as a Big Friday gig, he can be convinced to sit in if promised cash. Though he always had to borrow a guitar and amp, he always had his own stomp boxes and distortion pedals, and invariably let his improvisations run off on unspeakable tangents.

Reno says if you want to get asked to play with jazz bands, wear your Allan Holdsworth T-shirt, but if you want to make friends, wear your KISS t-shirt.

Reno’s attached probation report is 36 pages long, although when asked if he’s been convicted of a crime, he wrote only, “Actually convicted? No.” He has been asked not to return to four Las Vegas casinos and one riverboat on the Wabash River in Indiana.

In a leatherette case behind the passenger seat in the Caddy, Reno keeps a dozen 8-track tapes with old Chicago blues artists like Buddy Guy, Willie Dixon, and Freddie King, and two Blowfly party tapes. On his XM radio in the Airstream, however, it’s gangsta rap exclusively. When he surfs on his wireless via the Wal-Mart Wi-Fi, he’s always careful to be sure his shades are pulled completely down.

Under “Lessons Learned”, Reno recommended, “Never play poker with a man called Doc, never eat at a place called Mom’s, and never date a girl named Honey.”

Reno is currently not on speaking terms with Dr. Higgins.

A few random cards from Reno...

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