Harveys Lake Tahoe and Another Planet Entertainment are bringing Alison Krauss & Union Station to stage July 10.

Krauss’ most recent triumph, the certified-platinum Raising Sand, her 2007 collaboration with Robert Plant and producer T Bone Burnett, notched up a total of six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year.

Krauss has released 11 albums, appeared on numerous soundtracks, and helped renew interest in bluegrass music in the United States. Her soundtrack performances have led to further popularity, including the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, an album also credited with raising American interest in bluegrass. Her 27 Grammy Awards make her the most awarded female artist, the most awarded singer, and tied for the second most awarded artist overall in Grammy history.

An opening act for Alison Krauss & Union Station will be announced later.

Tickets go on sale May 6 at 10am through Ticketmaster. Tickets are $49.50, $69.50 and $99.50.

Show time is 7pm.

By JoAnne Skelly

Yes, daffodils are poking out their sunny heads. Yes, the forsythia and flowering plums are blooming. Yes, there are some beautiful warm days.

However, it’s still too early for planting tomatoes or peppers, cucumbers, squash, beans and many others.

It never fails, when the first lovely spring days arrive, people new to the area want to know if they can plant their tomatoes. Hold your horses! Or, maybe I should say, “Hold your plants.”

The last average frost date for much of the area is May 15. Note the operative word here — average. Last year we had a killer freeze after that date. Most gardeners lost their fruit buds, lilac flowers and iris buds. In Washoe Valley where I live, I wait until June 1 to plant because I know we are colder than most areas. Many of the other outer valleys freeze more readily and stay colder longer than in town.

Here’s some good advice to gardening newbies — become a weather watcher. Know the weather and the microclimates around your house and neighborhood. Track the last and first frost dates, not only for your area, but for your home. However, even that might not do you any good in avoiding frosts. After all, we all had a late freeze last year after June 1, even in town.

JoAnne Skelly is the Carson City/Storey County Extension educator for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.

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South Lake Tahoe AAUW and Lake Tahoe Community College are co-sponsoring a Math and Science Career Day for girls in grades 6-8 on April 30 from 9am-3pm at the South Lake Tahoe college.

The goal is to encourage middle school girls to become interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers.

The keynote speaker will be an orthodontist with workshops featuring local women currently working in geology, wildlife biology, medicine, mathematics, physics and chemistry.

The event will feature hands-on learning and real-life connections to careers in math and science.

The first 60 girls to sign up will have the opportunity to attend this event and familiarize themselves with the college campus.

Lunch is provided free to all attendees.

Preregistration is required. Contact Bev Palley at (530) 544.2724 or bpalley@sbcglobal.net by April 25. Further information is also available online.

By Kathryn Reed

Travel adventure books written by journalists are often hard for me to criticize.

Not so with “Shooting the Boh: A woman’s voyage down the wildest river in Borneo,” which was first published in 1992.

It has all the makings of a great story. And told by someone else, it probably was or would be. The problem with this version of the excursion is that author Tracy Johnston seems to spend more time talking about her bout with hot flashes in the rain forest than about running this wild river for the first time by anyone.

Johnston doesn’t paint a picture of harmony on the water, yet at the end she said a bond had been formed. It is hard to believe this.

She also says others wrote about the excursion, including one of the guides. Though I have not read other accounts of the trip, I would hope they would be better even if the authors don’t have a writing background.

Plenty of travel pieces have the author inserted throughout the copy. But usually it adds to the writing, instead of distracts. Though I don’t know what having menopause is like, I didn’t need to read about it ad nauseam. A reference or two is relevant to point to her state of mind.

It’s interesting that she writes that whining was not a big part of the trip despite the unexpected length of it, the need for food rationing, and the constant buzzing of bees. But she must have been whining in her journal to be able to come up with the 256-page paperback.

If you can get through her hot flashes without tossing the book aside, the river experience in this (at least at the time) untamed part of the world gives readers a glimpse of a river with rapids and challenges that are harrowing and at times shocking to realize they lived through the experience.

With a firm footing in the Lake Tahoe and Reno real estate markets, Chase International Realtor was the perfect choice to discuss current housing trends on a regionally televised talk show.

As a guest on “Lawyers, Guns and Money”, Sandi Solomonson’s television debut will be aired on Reno’s KRNV on April 24 at 4:30pm, and rebroadcast April 26 at 10:30pm.

Sandi Solomonson

When asked if she was nervous about the bright lights, cameras and queries of hosts Scott Freeman and Dave Houston, Solomonson said no.

“I felt pretty comfortable and prepared,” she said in a press release, adding that her experience as a professional jazz singer helped her overcome any stage fright.

“Lawyers, Guns and Money” has been on the air for 16 years. The show focuses on current issues and people of interest in Northern Nevadan.

Solomonson said program viewers will learn about first-time home buying options in Reno, as well as the state of the luxury market at Lake Tahoe.

International real estate investment and services company Kennedy Wilson is auctioning off a limited collection of ski-in ski-out luxury condominiums at Resort at Squaw Creek on April 30.

Starting Bids on the 17 one- and two-bedroom condominiums range from $130,000 to $185,000 on homes whose original (2005) launch prices ranged from $374,900 up to $965,900.

The April 30 event will also feature live online bidding, available to qualified registered bidders who are unable to attend the auction and have had their Auction Registration Forms approved. Kennedy Wilson will broadcast the entire event over the Internet, with real-time audio and video of the live auction of the live auction.

The auction will begin promptly at 1pm that Saturday at 400 Squaw Creek Road, Olympic Valley. The auction is expected to last approximately one hour.

Further information and details on the auction and online bidding are available at the auction website.

Sierra Nevada College’s free Cultural Festival is April 23 from 11am until 3pm in Patterson Hall, Incline Village.

This family-fun festival celebrates the diversity of cultures, languages, and histories in the local communities. Multicultural entertainment will feature five live music and dancing performances and two international film screenings.

Cultural activities and exhibits include origami, Buddhist prayer flags, piñata, and global storybook reading.

Sample international cuisine throughout the day at $1 ticket per taste.

In an effort to impact the health of the Lake Tahoe region, Barton Foundation recently opened its grant opportunities for programs and organizations benefiting the underserved and/or have the greatest impact on the health status of the community. The total grant amount available for 2011 is $25,000.

The community’s most pressing health needs such as obesity — nutrition, physical fitness, oral and mental health will be the focus.

Last year, the Barton Health Community Advisory Committee received 22 grant proposals, with nine local recipients receiving more than $26,000 in Barton Health grants.

The 2011 Barton Health Grant proposals will be reviewed by the CAC and final grant recipients will be approved by the foundation’s Board of Trustees.

Grant proposals will be accepted through June 30 and grantees will be notified in September. Funding and awards will be provided by the foundation at the third annual Philanthropy Day Celebration on Nov. 4.

To print the Barton Health grant proposal form, log on or call (530) 543.5614.

Grant proposals must be submitted in person or by mail to the Barton Foundation at 2092 Lake Tahoe Blvd., Suite 600, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150.

The El Dorado County Fair’s exhibit application process is going digital. Exhibitors of livestock and still exhibits may download entry packets from the fair’s website.

The fair has traditionally published a printed booklet, containing general information and entry rules and applications. This year, while limited printed forms and information will be available at the office in Placerville, the fair has otherwise discontinued the printed booklet in an effort to be environmentally green and save costs.

Fair CEO Jody Gray says the online entry guide is organized similar to its hard copy predecessor. Gray notes that residents who do not have access to a personal computer, may access the fair’s online entry guide via public computers available at local libraries and the fair office.

Livestock entry forms are due on or before May 7. Most other entry forms, including adult poultry, are due on or before May 13. There are a few exceptions such as floriculture and the special contests, see the entry form for deadlines on these.

The 2011 El Dorado County Fair, themed “Rockin’ & Wranglin’”, will take place June 16 to 19 in Placerville.

The Truckee Tahoe Community Chorus of Sierra College, directed by Susan K. Horst, Chris Nelson, and Thomas Acord, will present “Spring Pops Potpourri” at The Resort at Squaw Creek.

The chorus will be accompanied by the Diablo Valley College Philharmonic Orchestra from Pleasant Hill, directed by Owen J. Lee.

The “Pops” program will delight the young with selections as The Tortoise and the Hare and The Syncopated Clock; the comic opera buffs with Offenbach’s Neighbors’ Chorus, a musical jest: Italian Salad, and the not so young with some great choral literature. A fine finish for the menu of songs is a medley of Broadway show tunes by Kern, Bernstein, Sondheim, Wilson, Stein, Gershwin, and Loesser.

The concert, which celebrates spring through the lightness of popular music, is a great way to enjoy the season in the beautiful setting of the “Resort at Squaw Creek”.

Shows are April 30 at 7pm and May 1 at 2pm. Tickets are $15 for adults and can be purchased online, from chorus members, or at the door. Students and children are admitted free of charge.