By Susan Wood

STATELINE – With singer, guitarist Miranda Lambert in the house, many could argue the Harveys outdoor concert stage was built for her the way she twirled, strutted, danced, rocked and sang her heart out for a capacity Lake Tahoe crowd Friday night.

The Texas native’s energetic performance never wavered – except to slow down for “The House That Built Me,” her poignant No. 1 hit about a country star returning to her childhood home to get grounded after living in the fast-paced music world. The ballad off her current and third album “Revolution” spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard charts. At one point, she tested the audience by holding out the microphone. Many mouthed the words while video images in the background showed her childhood.

The lyrics: “I bet you didn’t know; underneath that live oak; My favorite dog is buried in the yard,” captures a touching song with meaning and soul that earned her a Grammy award for best female country vocal performance.

Miranda Lambert seldom stopped moving throughout her Aug. 19 show at Harveys in Stateline. Photos/Kathryn Reed

Music of heart and soul are as much about Lambert as her spiritual roots and dedication to her 4-month-old wedding vows, which she demonstrated with a duo with her country music star husband, Blake Shelton. The audience screamed as the couple performed “Who are You When I’m Not Looking.” The song provides a no-holds-barred view of a relationship that’s more realistic than a fairy tale – as in slamming doors or “eating a box of chocolates because you’re feeling bad.”

“How ‘bout that little surprise?” she asked the grateful audience after the two kissed and he exited. The famous Shelton-Lambert duo has collaborated before. This includes their work on Michael Buble’s touching hit song “Home,” which was also written for those seeking their roots.

Lambert appeared to feel right at home in Tahoe from the very beginning. In her last appearance, she opened for Kenny Chesney, and for Toby Keith before that.

“How’s Tahoe?” Lambert yelled out, before the featured act tipped her hat to her opening band Little Big Town. Before Lambert even arrived, the Grammy-nominated singing quartet provided a rousing performance with a country version of Lady Gaga, Nashville-inspired bluegrass and a tribute to being in a band with late-night waffle house trips for hash browns that are “Scattered, Smothered and Covered.”

Lambert related to those country roots – including an admission to being “one of those redneck chicks.” Country music star Gretchen Wilson’s ears must have been burning.

“This is for all the small town people in the house,” she said to introduce her “Revolution” tune “Famous in a Small Town.” A signed flashed Stateline’s population.

The audience was engaged most of the time through the concert. Most listened and even raised their glasses when she noted to the delight of living “now only two miles” from being able to buy beer in Oklahoma. In Texas where she was raised, beer was 30 miles away – inspiring the song “Dry Town” off her first album “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”

The show offered a unique blend of country music with a rock-style sound such as the on-stage rendition of “Dead Flowers,” her major hit “That’s the Way the World Goes ‘Round” and country music award-winning “White Liar,” all off her latest “Revolution” album. Her lively dancing and guitar playing resembled a country version of Melissa Etheridge. She even gave tribute to Joan Jett, with a stirring version of “I Love Rock and Roll.”

Her personable side and appreciation for her fans came out when she signed autographs in the middle of a set. For the encore, she gave a nod to her opening band — having been there not long ago – by bringing up Little Big Town to sing John Fogerty’s smash hit “Traveling Band.”

While Lambert’s Revolution Continues tour moved on to Southern California, the shows from producers Another Planet rock on next month with Sammy Hagar for the Stateline’s outdoor concert series final summer concert.

To make a weekend out of one of the concerts, check out this story.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Funtime Theater, a nonprofit organization, in conjunction with the Comstock Cemetery Foundation is putting on “Voices of the Past,” an interactive look into life on the Comstock.

Widow of the Silver Terrace will take people on a walk through the Virginia City cemetery. Visitors will have a chance to see ghosts of people who are actually buried there come to life.

Dates are Sept. 24, Sept. 25, Oct. 1, Oct. 2, Oct. 8 and Oct. 9, from 10am-1pm.

The cost is $15 and this is a fundraiser for the Comstock Cemetery Foundation.

Wear comfortable walking shoes.

For more information and reservations, call (775) 240.5762.

By Sandy Bauers, Philadelphia Inquirer

The grocery store can be so confusing. I’d like to buy greener products, but it’s hard to figure which they are.

Is it the “all natural,” “entirely natural,” or “100% natural” food? Poison ivy and salmonella are natural, too.

Is it the “biodegradable” cleaning wipes? The dish soap that proclaims the company “helps save wildlife”? Or the cleaner with three logos: Sierra Club, “Natural Products Association Certified,” and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Design for the Environment”?

The bad news is that there is no simple, universally recognized label akin to, say, the UL symbol for electrical products that meet safety standards set by Underwriters Laboratories (which, it so happens, recently jumped into the crowded green field with a subsidiary called UL Environment).

The good news is that James Kohm feels my pain.

Starting about 2005, there’s been “a tsunami of green claims coming into the marketplace,” he said.

Kohm is an enforcement director at the Federal Trade Commission, an agency that is trying to sort all this out.

To be sure, consumers want safer, and greener, products. So marketers are responding. Products are labeled recycled, recyclable, ozone-friendly, nontoxic, and more.

Labels and certifications wear your politics on their sleeves.

A few months ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture introduced its “BioPreferred” label for products whose ingredients are at least one-quarter renewable plant, animal, marine, or forestry materials.

Looking for products that are manufactured using wind energy? A consortium of companies and groups now has a “WindMade” label.

Bill Daddi has counted 350 green seals – including the one he represents, the Green Seal.

Read the whole story

By Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee

One might think the high winds, scorching heat, chilling overnight lows or remote location would be enough to keep people away from Burning Man.

But for the first time in its 25-year history, Burning Man’s organizers were forced last month to announce that tickets for the counterculture event were sold out.

Even the guy who wrote the book on Burning Man was caught off guard.

“I didn’t have my ticket,” said Brian Doherty, author of 2005’s “This Is Burning Man.”

“I know they said that it could happen, but nobody expected something that has never happened before, to happen. Every single one of us should have planned ahead.”

The ticket shortage has triggered a scramble for them by some, scalping by others and concern over what the appropriate size of the event should be.

Ticket sales were not allowed to grow this year because of a permitting issue with the federal Bureau of Land Management, which manages the Black Rock Desert playa where the annual festival takes place.

With its old permit lapsing, event organizer Black Rock City LLC was given a one-year permit to continue operating while a new agreement undergoes environmental study. Instead of receiving its usual 6 percent growth allotment, the organization was required to remain at its 2010 population – approximately 50,000 people.

Read the whole story

Learn about the evolution of Tahoe travel from renowned U.S. Forest Service historian and recreation officer Don Lane on Aug. 24 at 8pm at the Lake of the Sky Amphitheater on the South Shore

Lane knows Tahoe and had published “Tahoe Tales of Bygone Days and Memorable Pioneers,” which will be part of the talk.

The talk is free, but donations will be accepted by the Tahoe Heritage Foundation to support the Taylor Creek Summer Speaker Series.

For more information, call (530) 543.2674.

A Celebration of Writers around the Lake is Sept. 16 at 7:30pm.

Tahoe Writers Works hosts talent from the lake and beyond in a smart, funny, and inspirational night of prose.

Reception starts at 7pm at the Valhalla Boathouse Theater on the South Shore.

The $10 admission includes wine reception and reading.

On Sept. 17, experience Immaculée Ilibagiza, storyteller, author and inspirational speaker, who will present “Left To Tell: Discovering God amidst the Rwandan holocaust” at the Truckee Community Recreation Center from 7 to 9pm.

Ilibagiza, a survivor of the genocide that took most of her family members, is a powerful example of one woman’s spirit. She and seven other women spent 91 days huddled together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor’s house during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. She entered the bathroom a lively, 115-pound university student with a loving family and emerged weighing just 65 pounds to learn that most of her family members had been brutally murdered. Ilibagiza credits her salvage mostly to prayer.

Ilibagiza’s first book “Left to Tell; Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust” quickly became a New York Times Best Seller. She was featured in “Architects of Peace” which honored other legends including Mother Teresa, Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama, and she recently signed a contract to produce a major motion picture. Ilibagiza is a leading speaker on peace, faith and forgiveness.

The cost is $30 adults, $15 for those 18 and under. For tickets, call (530) 550.8981.

Blake Shelton made a surprise appearance at Lake Tahoe on Friday night.

The country music star shared the stage with his wife Miranda Lambert for one song.

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert at Harveys on Aug. 19. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Lambert was the real star of the night as she was the headliner on the stage at Harveys as part of the outdoor concert series.

Lake Tahoe News will have more about this dynamic country concert on Monday.

“Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time” will be shown at the outdoor theater at the Sagehen Creek Field Station, north of Truckee on Aug. 23. The movie will begin at 6:30pm.

All are welcome to bring a picnic and eat during the movie.

Aldo Leopold was a U.S. Forest Service employee and developed important conservation ideas that were new to his time but still applicable today. He is probably best known for his book “A Sand County Almanac”. This movie was produced by the Forest Service and the Aldo Leopold Foundation.

It is free.

California Smokers’ Helpline is sending free nicotine patches to people in 34 counties in California who call 1-800-NO-BUTTS and enroll in the free telephone-based quitting program will receive a free two-week starter kit of patches, while supplies last.

All 34 counties picked have an adult smoking prevalence rate of 14 percent or higher, according to the 2008 California Tobacco Survey. In comparison, the 2010 statewide adult smoking rate is 11.9 percent.

This program is part of a nationwide effort called Communities Putting Prevention to Work, which aims to improve health and lower medical costs by preventing disease, such as those caused by tobacco use.

The free patches will be distributed on a first-come, first-served.

For more information, go online.

Source: California Smokers’ Helpline