The Lake Tahoe Humane Society and S.P.C.A. are presenting a weeklong Art and Animals workshop Aug. 15-19.

Designed for youth ages 11 to 13, the class is an introduction to drawing and painting in all media. Instructor Matt Kauffmann is a professional artist and the mentor for the community graffiti project. Basic drawing techniques, watercolors and acrylic painting mediums will be taught. Students will learn fundamental concepts (including value, color, proportions and composition) by drawing and learning about four-legged friends.

Live furry models will participate.

The class fee of $50 for five classes includes art materials.

To register, call Liz Maul at (530) 542.2857.

The 4th annual Tahoe Art League’s Artist Studio Tour is July 29, 30 and 31 and Aug. 5, 6 and 7 from 10am-5pm each day.

Maps are available at tour headquarters at 3062 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe or by download.

For more information, call (530) 544.2313.

This year’s tour features 26 artists at 14 studios.

Admission is free and art work is for sale.

Todd Borg, author of the Owen McKenna mystery series based in Lake Tahoe, will be making a series of appearances and book signings.

The South Lake Tahoe author’s ninth book “Tahoe Hijack” was released this week.

Here is Borg’s signing schedule:

July 29, 4–7pm at Artifacts in the Raley’s Village Center, South Lake Tahoe.

July 30, 11am at Sundance Bookstore in Reno. Sundance is now at 121 California Ave. near the Nevada Art Museum. Signing and talk.

July 30, 3–5pm at Bookshelf in the Cobblestone Mall, Tahoe City.

Aug. 3, 6:30pm at the South Lake Tahoe Library, Rufus Allen Boulevard, signing and talk.

Aug. 4, 5–7pm at Lake Tahoe Master Framing, 3440 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.

Aug. 5, 6:30pm at Shelby’s Books, 1663 Lucerne St. Ste. C, Minden, signing and talk.

Aug 6., 11am–1pm at Borders, Carson City.

Aug. 7, 11am-3pm Mark Twain Books, 111 S. C St., Virginia City.

Aug. 13, 11am-1pm at Book Lovers at Madison and Manzanita streets, Sacramento.

Aug. 13, 3pm at El Dorado Arts Council Gallery, 459 Main St., Placerville, signing and talk.

Aug. 20, breakfast hours and dinner hours at the Red Hut on Ski Run Boulevard, South Lake Tahoe.

Aug. 25, 4–7pm at Epilog Books, 373 Main St., Quincy.

Adventure Risk Challenge’s annual benefit poetry reading and reception is 5:30pm Aug. 2 at the Cedar House Sport Hotel in Truckee.

Ten youth participants of ARC’s 40-day literacy and outdoor immersion program will recite their works at this event.

ARC’s interactive approach is rooted in rigorous academic instruction combined with outdoor education. Historically, summer program participants surpass their peers academically: 92 percent pass the California High School Exit Exam (compared to a 72 percent pass rate for socio-economically disadvantaged youth and 81 percent overall) and 77 percent attend a two or four-year college or university.

The reading and reception are free and open to the public.

Email Jen Gurecki at jgurecki@berkeley.edu or call (530) 416.5682 to RSVP.

By Steve Jones, USA Today

In the first six months of 2011, total grosses for the top 100 North American tours was $1.12 billion. That’s up $157 million or 16.2% over the same period last year, according to Pollstar, which tracks the live music industry. The total number of tickets sold was 16.7 million, a 5.3 percent increase, but surprisingly, the average ticket price was up 10.2 percent, or $6.25, to a record $67.02.

Through the end of June, U2’s 360 tour was the runaway top moneymaker, raking in $85.8 million and selling 979,000 tickets to 14 North American stadium shows with an average gross of $7.8 million.

Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni says artists and promoters have helped the upturn by taking a more conservative approach in terms of venue size, frequency of return to certain markets and number of markets played. He says the higher prices weren’t expected coming off a year with lower grosses and ticket sales. But many of this year’s shows offer audiences good value for their dollars.

Read the whole story

By Jason Kellner, Reno Gazette-Journal

In 25 years, the Reno-Tahoe area has seen thousands of concerts come and go, from the small casino showrooms to the large arenas. Lawlor Events Center, which opened in 1984, helped change Reno’s concert landscape, growing it from an oft-overlooked outpost, to a main stop for artists over the years ranging from Duran Duran to Pearl Jam. More venues, like the Reno Hilton Amphitheater and Reno Events Center continued to pop up and grow the concert scene, while some listed here (Hilton Amphitheater included), are now gone.

So who put on the best concerts in the past 25 years? Ask 100 people, and you’re sure to get 100 different answers. Instead, we polled nine people, all of them firmly entrenched in the area music scene in one way or another. We combined all of our suggestions, and dug through yellowed newspaper clips to unearth some forgotten gems to come up with this highly debatable list. We easily could have made the list twice as long and there still would have been great shows that didn’t make the cut (sorry Feist, at Great Basin Brewing Co., 2006). And so now, we bring you the 25 most legendary concerts of the past 25 years.

Read the whole story

Today marks the 21st anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which guarantees equal opportunity for people with disabilities in public accommodations, commercial facilities, employment, transportation, state and local government services and telecommunications.

According to the Census Bureau, 36 million people have a disability. They represent 12 percent of the civilian noninstitutionalized population.

By age: 5 percent of children 5 to 17 have disabilities, 10 percent of people 18 to 64, and 37 percent of adults 65 and older have disabilities, according to the 2009 American Community Survey.

More women – 12.3 percent – have a disability, compared to men at 11.6 percent.

West Virginia has the highest percentage of disabled people at 18.8 percent, while Utah has the fewest at 8.9 percent

Disabilities cover many things. For 10.2 million people it is an issue with hearing. Vision is a problem for 6.5 million people.

By Susan Skorupa, Reno Gazette-Journal

Owen McKenna is at it again, which means Todd Borg is at it again, as well.

McKenna is a fictional detective who bailed out of the San Francisco PD and is living on the east side of Lake Tahoe, fated to end up trying to solve twisty murder mysteries.

Borg, meanwhile, is McKenna’s inventor, and he’s just come up with the latest chapter in the detective’s life, “Tahoe Hijack,” (Thriller Press, $16.95 paperback) the ninth in a series of Tahoe-based mysteries.

South Lake Tahoe author Todd Borg has released another book. Photo/LTN file

“I’ve learned from feedback and emails, people will tell me what they love about the books and that teaches me about the unspoken covenants of authors with readers,” said the Lake Tahoe resident. “It makes it so I have to deliver within the range of expectations readers have, but I still have to surprise them. I have to come up with new surprises, but I can’t stretch too far or they’ll be disappointed.

“I can’t kill off a main character or hurt Spot,” he said. “In ‘Tahoe Killshot,’ Spot was shot; he was banged up. I heard from readers.”

Read the whole story

Cujo is an older Chihuahua-rat terrier mix. He thinks he weighs 100 pounds, which sometimes can get him into trouble. But he is very affectionate, he likes children and other dogs and didn’t chase the cats that he met at the shelter.

Cujo is neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated. He is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes.

Call (530) 573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz

The Tahoe Fund is hosting a Youth Art Contest in conjunction with the 15th annual Lake Tahoe Summit on Aug. 16 at Homewood Mountain Resort. The theme of the art contest for youth 18 and under is What I love most about life at Lake Tahoe.

Prizes will be awarded to the winning entrants in three categories: painting-drawing, photography and poetry.

Entries are being accepted through Aug. 10 at:

* South Lake Tahoe Public Library, 1000 Rufus Allen Blvd. (530) 573.3185

* Incline Village Public Library, 845 Alder Ave. (775) 832.4130

* Tahoe City Public Library, 740 North Lake Blvd. (530) 583.3382

* Arts for the Schools, 10046 Church St., Truckee (530) 582.8278

Artwork will be displayed at the Lake Tahoe Summit, where winners of the contest will be announced. All artwork should be labeled with the youth’s name, address, age and contact information.