Late Afternoon, Carson Pass

Some sun, cold mid-winter temps, windbuff and silky windboard conditions. Soak up some sun, the next heavy storm cycle is already bearing down on California...




Couldn't help but take this panorama...the northern Sierra is lookin' mighty fine these days..

The Trespassers @ The Divided Sky, South Lake Tahoe

Good friends of mine, The Trespassers are a bluegrass/oldtime/gypsy jazz/western outfit from the westside of the Sierra Nevada. I've pretty much known them since their first gigs, playing late night around a fire at Tuff Rock Festival in Bishop, and the July4th Hog Roast at Rock Creek Lodge several years ago. They recently finished their second album of original music titled Western Front which is available for sale online at their website. They just rocked one of their favorite venues, The Divided Sky in South Lake Tahoe, the last couple nights, and these images are from Friday night.

A Day at Kirkwood

So I got back up to Kirkwood after a weekend of music in Mammoth, and picked up an email from long lost friend Holly Taylor - "Keen to do some skiing this week – honestly, it was such a spontaneous trip...haven’t planned anything at all yet, but would love to catch up with you and maybe Todd if you guys are around?"
For those of you who have purchased or seen my first ski film A Story of Mountains and People you may remember her as Holly Pearson from the segment on the 35 day ski tour three of us embarked on during the Spring of 2001. So, as luck would have it, I'm in Kirkwood, and she arrived in time for the first bluebird powder day in awhile. After an evening of catching up and a day of skiing powder, I have to say that though marriage might've changed her last name, and New Zealand might've changed her accent, nothing has changed about her wonderful spirit. It was great to reconnect with a friend that shared in one of the great ski experiences of my life, and to even begin tentative plans for another tour...a Duct-Tape Fringe Reunion Tour 2011...here we come!

another house jam...at 90 Shadow...Old Mammoth...

since one night's never enough, we booked two nights at the bar...

but two nights wasn't enough either...
so here we are on the third night...


Celebrating a friends birthday with a gathering of some fine musicians.
In attendance were Andy Roberts, Meghan Herring, and Ella Naiman of the String Slingers, as well as Yoseff Tucker of the Dalton Mountain Gang, Nina Weisman of Independence CA, Scott Roberts, myself and Jeff Meadway of the Sweetwater String Band, a classically trained fiddler named Amy, and another old time fiddler named Kathy Hillimire of Fretless in Santa Cruz...also Eiger Mike Williams of a variety of nameless or name-changing local bands made cameo appearences on the bucket bass and banjo...





lots of strings, lots of songs, too much in Bb - goddamn Capos! - and lots of beer and good times...drove back up the street to my house at 4:20 in the morning...



(it's still snowing in the mountains of california, this week promises to be another good one for skiing...)

Music Makin' in the Mountains of California...

Since the days are so short in the winter time, it's the perfect season for playin' music...long nights allow ample time for inspiration, dancing and drinking...the past couple of nights some friends The String Slingers have been in Mammoth splitting shows with us, Old Coyote Moon, at the Auld Dubliner, where our friend Chris is the manager...two nights in public havin' a blast is leading us toward tonight, in private, at home with everyone, playing real backporch acoustic music...(perhaps they'll be some more photos tomorrow...)




Bruce Medhurst, who has been playing didgeridoo with us for awhile, brought out the guitar this night, playing a Beck song Golden Age, and two original songs of mine, opening up more sweet sounds of the cello.



If you look into the backroom on this one, you see Scott jammin' with Yoseff Tucker, classic bluegrass, can't get enough - you've got to jam in the back while your friends are playin'...

January—February—March—2005

...in honor of the fine cycle which is currently burying the Sierra Nevada...I give you three months from the Red's Meadow lifestyle of 2005...ski ski ski

new camera - Canon G10 - playin'

A storm is ripping across the mountains of California right now...somehow the UPS guy made it to the house, tromping through boot deep snow to the door with a single package. Inside was my very own Canon Power Shot G10. Let the Fun Begin....

The Eastside - Some Images of Home

Home - spans a massive geological arena -
from a cold, forested cabin along the edge of a tremendous caldera, down along the deepest valley in North America which lies sandwiched between two 14,000 foot tall mountain ranges. It is a mostly desperate "land of little rain", but lush with wildness. Archeology, ancient trees, hidden springs, endless vistas, deep snows falling upon tall slopes, the finest, densest collection of rock for climbing perhaps in the world, with just one long highway connecting isolated small towns scattered amongst it all. The people here tend to be hermits, reveling in the isolation. Culture is a sporadic and chaotic occurence that is difficult to cultivate with any consistency. We are mostly here to be alone.


This is but a tiny sampling culled quickly from what I have stored on my computer. Click on any image to see a larger version. Use your back button to return to this page. Enjoy!