What is NEW?

After an extended absence, I’ve decided to return to working on TaHaps.  I feel the community really needs a website with solid news and information about what is happening in North Lake Tahoe.  I  plan to do a few things differently…

1. I want to get people to submit entries including photos, videos, music, etc.
2. I plan to add my own videos, slideshows, audio, etc.
3. Get more readers!  This will be supplemented with a printed community newsletter.
4. Figure out a calendar, even if it involves a custom plug-in install.

While I was gone, I produce and wrote multiple posts in two other blogs.  I do hope you will check them out to find out what I’ve been up to.  I will add some of the Tahoe-related posts to TaHaps as well.

nv green biz

Build A Biz Blog

Thank you for your continued readership and support.

Everything is Connected

Everything is connected from time to space,

As we move forward, we always leave a trace.

Must we always leave a trace?

Behind our paths in the shape of a spiral

Oh this whole earth is going viral,

And as I speak and write these words,

A billion voices can be heard –

In lands and cities all around this sphere,

Oh we have to love, but we innately fear –

the future, the unknown – what lies ahead?

Will we have homes?  Will we be fed?

Is it too late to compensate for how we’ve destroyed our ecosystem-

this very important prism of right and wrong,

the weak and the strong –

can we continue to belong in the great equation of the universe?

No, we can’t go back, no we can’t rehearse.

We can’t turn back to another day,

We can’t just stop – we can’t just stay.

We capture memories inside our brains,

So even when it all feels insane –

we can hold onto another place,

another realm of all this space.

I can close my eyes and see your smile,

and hold onto that just for a while,

And if I try I can see your skin,

And then if I’m lucky my dreams will spin

and realign on a parallel line with the sweet dreams

taking place in your mind,

and then despite all that’s true,

we’ll be together if only for a few

milliseconds of this great divide

where the tides will roll and the guilty confide

and it’s not all just black and white,

but all these shades of gray.

Would you like to hear this poem as an original song?  CLICK HERE!

Truckee River PROM

Group Shot

Wow, what a day!  I hardly know where to begin because only one word really comes to mind to describe the event: MAYHEM!  At first count, there were 97 river prom attendees, at second count – 99.  We had a good 45 to 50 rafts tied together and held together by strings, dental floss, deflated floats and hands floating down the river, creating a huge obstacle for any rafters that were not participating in the prom.

I lost count after about 10 other floaters asking me, what the heck we were up to?  Are you guys in high school, college?  “No,” I answered, “About ten years out actually.  Hahah!”  Just a bunch of silly local kids, with a great desire to dress up and float the Truckee.

Our group actually had a “big” raft since one of our friends works for the rafting company.  This was good news and not.  For one, we probably had less injuries than if we’d had our own personal rafts, although my ribs may disagree.  For two, we probably lost fewer personal items since we had a big raft.  The bad news, we just weren’t as much a part of the actions since we couldn’t very well drift to the middle of the group.

Truckee River Prom 2009 - Our Group

All and all, River Prom 2009 was awesome.  As my friend Jeff would say and repeat: “I don’t care what any one says, I love River Prom.  River Prom is the best!”

A Wanderlustrous Weekend

Common set the tone at Wanderlust

Big news came Friday night when I logged onto my Facebook account.  It turns out that Michael Franti, the headliner of the Wanderlust Festival, had appendicitis and had to cancel his performance at the festival.  The good news was that the replacement was hip hop phenomenon Common.  I was super excited as I much prefer the sounds and beats of Common over Franti.  Best wishes of good health returning to Franti!

So due to the headliner change, we decided to have a plan overhaul and just head up to Squaw by 6 p.m. in order to see Common, followed by the Mutaytor, followed by Girl Talk and then the late night DJs.  We were in it for the long haul expecting to be out until past 2 a.m., so we did not want to burn out early from baking in the hot sun.

We arrived to Squaw in the early evening of Saturday where we enjoyed VIP parking in the usual Locker Room/VIP garage used by rich patrons in the winter months.  Nice to have some shade and  a quick walk to the venue.  We took the Funitel a.k.a. the Funi up to Gold Coast for Common’s performance.  When we arrived to the top of the mountain, I sincerely felt surreal, being in a place that I’m usually accustomed to filled with feet of snow.  The stage was set up with an intense view of the Palisades in the background.

Sunset from the Funi

While we waited for Common to set up and sound check, we found the Converse dome.  This place was a creativity surplus, and I dug it hard.  There were a variety of things to do in the dome including picking three designs to screen-print anywhere you wanted on a T-shirt; getting your “rock star” picture taken equip with boas, fancy sunglasses and an array of hats and musical instrument options; naming a topic to have a poem written about, and painting the actual dome itself as well as the furniture within the dome.

We then went back to the stage area where Common broke it down for us, and we danced and waved our hands in the air in return.  Although the performance was quick, lasting only about an hour, it enthused the crowd and started off our Wanderlust experience on the right beat.  We checked out the VIP lounge and section which were cool featuring free snacks and water and Honest Tea.  Then, we took the Funi back down in search of the Globetrotter stage.

We spent some time walking around the Village in search of our VIP gift pack, only to be lead on a two-day long goose chase… more on that to come.  As we toured the Vill, we spotted members of the Mutaytor, a Burning Man sensation act featuring dozens of musicians and performers.  I, personally, like to call individual members of the group – Mutaytors.  We found some Mutaytors on stilts, Mutaytors twirling fire, Mutaytors twirling fire while on stilts, and then we found the crazy white faced, brightly colored outfit and hair dancing troupe of drag queens and outgoing ladies.  After taking some photography of the acts, we entered the Globetrotter stage which was set up to the left of the Funi and the Vill.

The Mutaytor impressed, stunned and amazed while I decided to try my own hands at performing and picked up a pair of glowing nun-chucks.  The fun lasted for a few minutes until a nun-chuck whacked me in the forehead.  Ouch.  We then saw some old friends, met some new friends and found the VIP section just in time for Girl Talk, a mash-up DJ who plays extremely danceable songs and is an expert of getting the crowd stirred up and literally jumping in the air.

Then there were girls, dozens of girls from the audience going onto the stage, and I knew that I must go onto the stage as well.  I started for it, but lost Cheyenne quickly.  A random girl grabbed me, and said, “We’re going on stage – Let’s go!”, and soon enough, there we were on stage for all to see.  My soul filled with adrenaline, and then I knew I had to find Cheyenne, who I spotted from my stage view.  Unfortunately, my nemesis was working the backstage area and refused to let her join me on stage, so I stayed for a few more songs, then returned to the audience.  We still had an ample viewing spot from the front row.

Girl Talk rocked our socks off for about 2 hours, and then we moved onto our next stop.  The VIP DJ room.  This DJ was not my favorite; extremely mellow.  But I did meet a new friend, the vocalist/guitarist of Big Light – Fred a.k.a. Freddie.  We decided to leave DJ Mella for the Giant Twister game outside.  This game was a hoot.  People were doing some crazy yoga poses while twisting on the Twister, and it was honestly almost too much for me to handle.

So onward to the other late night DJ – Lazer Sword.   All and all, the Saturday night portion of Wanderlust was incredibly amazing and debaucherous, and I loved it.  I may not have had the true experience of the fest, since I did not yoga it up.  But the music was hot, and I had a blast.

Music in the Mountains - this is how it always should be!

Although Sunday’s musical experience was more mellow, and I sought for shade from the hot rays of the sun beating down on you at 8,200 feet, it was still a good time.  We checked out Broken Social Scene and Spoon.  Both performances were awesome and a perfect vibe in the mountain air.

After our two day goose chase for out goodie bag, we found it from Mike in the VIP bar in Goldcoast.  The bag was awesome featuring a Wanderlust imprinted Klean Kanteen bottle, yoga videos, Luna bars and more!  It was well worth the hunt!

I do not think the Wanderlust Festival had the attendance expected, and I read in the NY Times that the festy did not break even, but the light attendance and the overall spiritual energy held by the attendees made the festival even more spectacular in its inaugural year.  I sincerely hope that the Wanderlust will return again!

Crawlin’

Stopped

she paints a picture of tides rolling with moon cycles

and the poppies and dots of lines and shadows fill

the spaces beyond.

the wildflowers grow but only here in whites and purples

stopped like weeds from the garden.

he is stopped.  envisioning the truth will set you free, oh lord.

sometimes stopping and seeing is okay,

when the dust clears.

she bursts in sobs and kicks of rage against bare walls.

anger can penetrate so deep with that edge,

but then water pours over and deep breaths resume.

the redness and puffy eyes fade back to clearness-

thinking sunshine must help mend hearts.

and life keeps moving and making as usual,

always more mountains to climb and decent.

High Sierra Music Festival 2009 – Take Two

Leftover Salmon

This was my second year to attend the High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, CA.  The festival takes place each year on the fourth of July weekend.  I attended for two days, Saturday, the 4th and Sunday, the 5th.  The venue of HSMF is awesome – shady groves of trees, old farm buildings made into stages complete with original decors for the weekend of music, and huge grassy fields for dancing, chilling and camping.  The main stage stands on a huge field of grass where the sun beats down steady all day, but the festival managers placed up huge shade tents which were helpful in creating some shade.  Tip: We brought our own umbrella for sun protection!  Also, many festival-goers brought water bottles to cool off themselves and others.  Remember to bring a water bottle!!

The people are great! The crowds is very respectful of one another, of the environment and of the music.  This is one of the cleanest festivals I’ve been too; I saw very little trash on the ground, even early in the morning.  Major props to that and the Clean Vibes crew that help keep the place garbage free!  Although some people seemed out of it from drugs, late nights, sun or perhaps the combination of all, most people were all smiles and friendliness.  We saw several people from Tahoe which is always fun.

Although I wasn’t super excited about this year’s line up, I still was anxious to attend the festival after last year’s experience, just because the vibe and locale are so on.  I ended up enjoying most of the music, and I was super stoked on one of my current favorite bands, The Devil Makes Three.  I’ve seen the Devil Makes Three a few times, but maybe they were impressed with the vibes as well because they played a killer show that had everyone in the audience dancing and singing like crazy!  I have seen them probably six or seven times in the last two years, and they keep getting better.  Their songs were tight, their voices were strong, and they pretty much played the hell out of that 1 1/2 hour set.  I keep trying to think of the words to describe their sound.  They are definitely blue grassy with an old timey rag time feel, yet their roots are both country and punk.  It’s an original sound that reminds me of dirt roads, tattoos and whiskey and what could really be better than that?

I was also impressed with Leftover Salmon.  This is the first time I’ve seen the band since the death of Mark Vann in 2002.  I believe the last time I saw Leftover was at a festival down in Florida.  It’s always nice to see bands at beautiful outdoor festies on both coasts!  They rocked it out with their bluegrass sounds that had me do’ se’ do’ in and skip to me lou’in.  Galactic was in full force with their horn-y beats and colorful smoke backdrops.  I was super stoked when a rapper came out and gave us some solid rhymes.

The fire circle was definitely a highlight, as it was last year.  Although we stumbled upon it last year, this year it was definitely on my “To Do” list.  There were acrobatics, fire twirling and dancing – I have no idea how these people ever learn to do this, and especially how they can pull it off at midnight and 1:15 a.m.

Fourth of July in NLT

Fireworks on Tahoe

Hey all you celebrators of independence!

North Lake Tahoe is a spectacular place to celebrate your 4th of July holiday!  There are activities in every community and fireworks galore.

The festivities start early with the 4th of July celebrations in the lake community of Kings Beach on Friday, July 3rd.  Bring a blanket and a picnic and come early to settle on the beach at the Kings Beach State Recreation Area.  Or if your lucky enough to have a boat or kayak, go out on to Lake Tahoe and catch the fireworks from the best seat in the house.  The firework celebrations are followed by bands and deck parties at almost every local KB restaurant.

There is still plenty of fun to be had on the 4th of July as well, which falls on a Saturday this year.  Float the Truckee River in the day time or lay out on one of Tahoe’s beautiful beaches – remember there is an alcohol ban on the Truckee from the 3rd – 5th of July.  When dusk begins to near, head over to firework displays at Tahoe City (visittahoecity.com), Incline Village (redwhiteandtahoeblue.com) or Donner Lake (truckee.com).

Grab your family and friends and come on out to fabulous fun-filled Lake Tahoe this 4th of July holiday!

Check out more events at http://www.GoTahoeNorth.com.

Frozen Fog

Frozen fog on Lake Tahoe (view from Tahoe City)

The weather report on the morning this photo was taken said frozen fog possible… and sure enough…

Blue, blu lago

The bluest lake.

Pretty snow