Event Date:  October 8, 2024 - 7:00pm By Elinor Bugli The Mile High Jazz Band, singer Jakki Ford, and seven award-winning poets and readers present "Taking Chances,” an evening of big-band jazz and poetry, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, from 7 to 9 p.m., at Gina's Good Life Music & Lounge, 507 N. Carson Street, inside the Carson Nugget. The music is free, donations are welcome. Gina's is a smoke-free, climate-controlled venue, and has a well-stocked bar. "Taking Chances” features the 17-member band playing swinging songs on the theme of the evening. Poets and readers are Rita Geil, Terri Breeden, Wayne Carlson, Krista Lukas, Melanie Perish, Timothy Rhodes, and the Reno Poet Laureate, Jesse James Ziegler.. Each poem expresses an aspect of the theme and is followed by a tune that relates to the poem. Several tunes feature Jakki Ford. Pianist and bandleader David Bugli said, "We'd like to tell you the tunes we will be playing, but that would spoil the fun for the audience to make connections between the poems and the tunes that follow them. You need to be there to experience it." Mile High Jazz Band performances and educational activities are supported in part by private donations and memberships, and by a grant from the Nevada Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. For information about the band and its activities, see milehighjazz.com.