… Reno’s answer to Minor Threat, 7 Seconds? Yep.

But zeeeriously, it’s hard to snark out on the picks of the venerable Boston Phoenix’s 50 Bands, 50 States special, in which the weekly’s scribes pick the musical best of today and yesterday of each state in the union. Because, damn, you gotta hand it to the crew for doing its hard rockin’ homework.

In case you’re some fawn-legged milk-sipper who thinks rock in the Silver State begins with The Killers and ends with Panic! At the Disco, get it into your salon-pampered skull that there’s a lot more to state’s history of music than ruffled collars and drama-drenched synths. 7 Seconds was a tuneful Reno straight-edge punk staple — long before the genre became the province of broody jocks — for 15 years before jumping to a major label in 1995. Cool thing is the band’s still performing today — perhaps a very testament to the clean living and upbeat attitude pushed by the band.

(Vegas punk acts of that vintage didn’t fare quite so well, succumbing to various forms of early death, mostly via the slow, soul-scouring grind of shitty day jobs. Though, perhaps amazingly, The Vermin are still around — but that’s only because their souls are animated by whatever freakish tarry homunculus lives in Rob Ruckus’ throat.)

In other Nevada categories, the Phoenix knights Jenny Lewis as All-Time Best Solo Artist, and The Bleachers as Best New Band, praising them as “occasionally dissonant anthemists.” I think that’s praise. Congrats all around.

Those Phoenix guys sure have good taste — like a certain other alt-weekly that will, in fact, lavish attention on The Bleachers next week in its 10th annual Local Music Issue.

One of the things we didn’t much like about the 12-hour special session that took place on Friday was the state Senate’s killing of a bill that would have clarified the intent of the Legislature to tax the hell out of comped meals served by casinos. Since the state Supreme Court recently ruled such taxes couldn’t be levied, the Assembly unanimously passed a bill that said the meals should be taxed, which could save the state from having to repay a pretty big chunk of change, around $100 million or more.

Well, it seems a mystery has developed as to precisely how that bill was killed, other than the obvious, which is that state Sen. Randolph Townsend said he didn’t think the Legislature should try to save the $100 million since the state had a really good chance to win (despite the fact that the state had already lost once, and victories in moti0ns to reconsider are notoriously rare.) Ten fellow Republicans agreed, and the bill died.

But now, some are suggesting that — gasp! — the gambling industry killed the bill! And the industry is protesting that it’s totally innocent! And the whole thing is playing out in the pages of the Las Vegas Sun today! Let’s dive in and see if we can solve “The Mysterious Case of the Dead Tax Bill.”

First, we should say that many people were for this bill before they were against it, including Gov. Jim Gibbons and Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio. (Raggio, in fact, told reporters before the hearing at which the bill was senselessly killed that he favored it, and even afterwards said, “I think it would have been appropriate for the legislative intent to be clarified.”)

But, oddly, at some time Friday morning, Gibbons started to say he was going to veto the bill! A ha! Clearly, gambling industry lobbyists like Billy Vassiliadis, Greg Ferraro, Pete Ernaut, Bill Bible or others got to the governor and twisted his arm! Case closed, right?!

Well, not really. You see, Gibbons is a moron, and flipped flopped on nearly every issue during the session. You can’t necessarily attribute to gambling industry venality what can more easily be ascribed to the chemical imbalance plaguing the governor’s frontal lobe. Sherlock Holmes used to say that, we think.

The next suspect: Democrats! The minority party (by just one vote) decided to stage a protest of sorts at the hearing in which the bill (it was Assembly Bill 2, by the way) was heard by the Senate. State Sen. Dina Titus – now running for Congress against Republican Jon Porter — decided to introduce an amendment that would allow Nevada to take advantage of a gasoline tax holiday if Congress ever passed one.

(BACKGROUNDER: See, currently, our state has a law that says if the federal gas tax goes down, the state gas tax goes up. But weeks ago, a desperate Hillary Clinton, trying to appear more conservative and in touch with the people, joined with a desperate John McCain, trying to appear more conservative and in touch with the people, to suggest waiving the gas tax for the summer. Most people wouldn’t save that much — we figured we’d get less than $40 — but hey, it’s an election year! The proposal hasn’t gone anywhere, which is good, because while we’d save $40, the state and federal governments could lose billions, which we need to build roads.)

Anyway, Titus’s amendment wasn’t just about gas tax relief, but about screwing over the likes of state Sens. Bob Beers and Joe Heck. See, by forcing Beers and Heck to vote against a gas tax holiday, she’d be giving an issue to the people running against Beers and Heck, who the Democrats want to eliminate so they can take over the Senate and force Republicans to be the ones who have to introduce amendments for a change. Genius!

Alas, Raggio asked for a show of hands of who wanted to consider the underlying AB 2, and only 10 Democratic hands went up. Thus, the bill died, the Titus Amendment was never considered and Beers and Heck were not on record voting against a gas-tax holiday in committee. They were on record voting to potentially give casinos more than $100 million, but whatever.

Later, Raggio would blame the death of the bill on Democratic gamesmanship: “I’m not going to sit here for an hour while we hear a bunch of campaign speeches,” he said. But, clearly, he didn’t mean to say that. Why? The implication is that a senator would torpedo a valid piece of legislation — for which he said he’d vote — just because it was inconvenient and irritating. He couldn’t have meant that, could he?

Next suspect: The gambling industry. Lobbyists for the industry where everywhere at the session, including Raggio’s office. But that’s hardly even circumstantial evidence, since lobbyists for the industry are always in Raggio’s office. We need more!

Raggio himself said in the Sun story that there was no pressure to kill the bill. But there’s leeway in that statement. What if lobbyists simply said they wouldn’t cry if the bill died swiftly in the committee? No pressure, right? But message conveyed! Or it could be a fib.

Bible, the president of the Nevada Resort Association, told the Sun he didn’t do any lobbying, and he didn’t even have time to poll his members to see where they stood. (C’mon, seriously? How would that poll have gone? “Hey, guys, the state Supreme Court just let you off the hook for millions in taxes, and there’s rebates aplenty coming your way. Anybody want to give it back, and then fork over millions into the future? Anybody? Show of hands? OK, I guess, no.”)

“Quite frankly, I thought the bill would be approved and passed out,” Bible told the Sun. “It appears to me it was bogged down in partisan wrangling at the tail end of the day.”

Ah, just what Raggio said! Those damn Democrats! If only they would have shut the hell up, AB 2 would have passed!

Oh, but wait. According to our notes, Townsend made his motion to not consider the bill long before Titus ever spoke up about her amendment. So the Republicans couldn’t have known that she was going to try for a gas tax holiday when they moved to kill AB 2.

So, if we were to put all the facts together, it seems that some mysterious force a.) convinced Gibbons to back off his earlier support of the bill and threaten to veto it; b.) convinced Raggio to back off his support of the bill and vote, along with his caucus, to kill it; c.) peered into the future and suggested to Townsend that Democrats were going to try a sneaky move designed to embarrass a couple of Republicans, so he should head them off at the pass and kill the bill before they hand a chance to screw things up with pesky amendments and d.) kept gambling industry lobbyists, including the head of the NRA, totally mute about a bill that would have a significant impact on their industry, since Raggio said there was “no pressure” to kill the bill.

Wow, this is a mystery, Charlie Brown.

So, who did it? Scroll down for the answer:

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Answer: The gambling industry lobbyists, stupid!

But before you get all mad at the industry and start circulating another initiative to raise the top tier of the gross gambling tax to 9.75 percent or something, consider this: Bible said casinos know the state is hurting, and are willing to do their part to help.

“If the Supreme Court decision becomes final, we’ll work with state and local governments on some sort of payment schedule,” he said.

Now that’s nice of them, isn’t it?

Sandra Collins

Otherwise is set to fly to the Virginia studio of producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette (Incubus, Story of the Year, Chevelle), where they will spend 10 days recording a new demo aimed for major labels. The band plays with Lydia Vance, Everlast and Taproot July 4 as part of “Rock the Block” freebie show, to be held at the intersection of East Fremont Street and North Las Vegas Boulevard. … Also recording songs for Baskette: 7th Son, who is being looked at by Roadrunner Records. ….

Rumor has it The Sparkler Dims will play their last show July 4 at the Sin City Saloon. Guitarist/vocalist Aaron Bredlau has told us he’s leaving for Tacoma, Wash. The show also includes Black. … While we take umbrage with attempts to pass McFadden’s off as a “local Irish pub” (it’s a chain, and it’s barely Irish) on The Strip (it’s in the Rio hotel-casino, located west of South Las Vegas Boulevard, thank you very much) the restaurant/saloon has partenered with KVGS 107.9 FM for “Garage Days.” Every Wednesday host “Local Show Joe” showcases live performances by local bands. Show starts at 9 p.m.; must be 21. …

House party “Soulkitchen” will hold a First Friday event July 4 at Brass’s patio, overlooking the Fremont Street Experience. … Visiting electronic jocks this week include: former Vegas resident Sandra Collins, on the “America’s Best DJ” tour and headlining the July 5 “Late Night Empire” at the party’s new home, Tabu; house enthusiast Kaskade spins a set for the sunbathers July 6 at MGM Grand’s Wet Republic; L.A.’s Tony Powell gets things bumpin’ July 8 at Downtown Cocktail Room; and ambient breakbeat act Hybrid takes over the July 9 edition of “Godskitchen,” at Body English.

News and Notes is compiled by “Poizen” Ivy Hover. Send items of lurid self-promotion and shameless gossip to ihover@lvcitylife.com.