Reno/Tahoe

Prescribed fire operations are planned to begin today on the northwest and south shores of Lake Tahoe.

"I get a huge kick out of the audiences," said Linda Collins, producer of "Moonwalker: The Reflection of Michael," which plays at Harrah's Tahoe on Saturday. "They come up to the cast afterward and cry. They grab Michael and hug and hug him. They don't want to let (him) go.

If there's any doubt about the enduring love for the pop group ABBA, witness a recent trip to Guatemala by "Abbacadabra," the tribute show featuring musicians performing songs from the Swedish hitmakers.

Cabarets aren't easy venues. Crowds can be unpredictable, diverse and difficult to please. But musicians such as Maxx Cabello Jr. know spontaneity is one of the best ways to engage an audience.

One of the major movements in live entertainment over the past decade has been the rise of tribute bands.

The winter snowpack looked good in December, but the past two months have proved to be record-breakers in the dry column. Still, optimism remains high, the snow makers have been churning out white stuff, and the annual North Lake Tahoe SnowFest will go on as scheduled, beginning tonight and running through March 10.

In a movie to be released this spring, "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone," longtime magicians very much like Siegfried & Roy break up because of competition by a guerilla street magician, very much like Criss Angel.

Nothing changes so fast as the nightclub scene. Open and hot one week, cold and closed the next.

"There is a danger in playing a piece over and over. It is like going to the office. You have to take a different street every now and then."

There are many rock bands that perform for charity or support various causes. Styx makes it local. This band calls it "Rock to the Rescue."

"We appreciate the love we've been given over the years. We like to give the love back."

"How did all these people get in my room?"

For years, there was only the Amazing Kreskin. In a casino-entertainment world full of magicians, crooners and topless dancers, psychics were rarely embraced as performers likely to pull in the gambling crowd.

A dramatic expansion of a ski resort in the community of Homewood on Lake Tahoe's west shore has been blocked by a Sacramento federal judge.

One picture shows a 12-year-old boy in a yellow jumpsuit staring at the wall of a tiny, windowless cell at a Mississippi detention center. Another zooms in on the bruised and blackened eye of a 14-year-old Oklahoma girl locked up for running away from a group home.

In July 1971, huge letters atop the Sahara Tahoe (now the Horizon) announced Elvis Presley's first northern Nevada engagement.

Billy Gardell got his initial encouragement to become a standup comedian at an unusual age and from an unusual source.

The pleasures of prime ski season in the Sierra have arrived with a dark side – the peril of avalanches.

Outside of the glitz of the Christmas-New Year entertainment being offered in nearly every hotel-casino in northern Nevada and Northern California, a huge attraction of another kind takes place with the Nevada Chamber Music Festival, the ninth annual gathering in Reno of acclaimed musicians from around the world.

Just as they were encouraged to boo Captain Hook last year every time he stepped onto the Eldorado stage in "Peter Pan," kids are being coached to do so with Abanazar Jafar, villain in the current holiday production of "Aladdin."

"We are heading into the studio in December to start in earnest on a new album. It's been 17 years, and so it's a big deal for us."

When Eli Kerr was 6 years old, his grandmother gave him a book about magic.

Two cowboys stand next to each other, their arms crossed, their legs spread, and their brightly colored neon chaps overlapping, the right leg of one merging with the left leg of the other.

Jackson Rancheria recently unveiled its $80 million expansion and remodel in a ceremony that included Mi-Wuk tribal dancers and drummers. The new facility features a completely refurbished hotel, five new restaurants, a remodeled 35,000-square-foot gaming area, several new design features and a new main entrance.

Dana Carvey would talk about politics, he said, "but my wife would wrestle me to the ground – and she has done a lot of Pilates."

Pol Brennan gives what he calls "the short version of the long version" when he talks about the Irish band Clannad, which consists of him, his two siblings Moya and Ciaran, and their two uncles, Padraig and Noel Duggan. Clannad plays tonight at John Ascuaga's Nugget.

Paula Poundstone is a big fan of libraries. She's also a big supporter. That's one reason why she will be in Carson City, Nev., next week.

When Chad Allan and the Expressions, having achieved some success with a cover of "Shakin' All Over" in the band's native Canada, released a full-length album, the record company wanted to create a buzz.