Publisher Tim Parsons worked a half-dozen newspapers in a 29-year career, serving the last seven as the editor of the weekly entertainment magazine Lake Tahoe Action. Among Parsons’ professional honors are an American Press Institute scholarship, Best Entertainment Writing from the Nevada Press Association and Keeping the Blues Alive award for Journalism from the International Blues Foundation. Email: Tim@TahoeOnstage.com
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Tom Clarke writes album reviews. From pre-war blues to the bluegrass of the Virginia hills, Tom has a passion for most any kind of deep-rooted American music, and has been writing about it for 23 years. He’s particularly fond of anything from Louisiana, and the 45-year timelines and ever-growing family trees of The Allman Brothers Band and Los Lobos. Tom’s reviews and articles have appeared in BluesPrint, the King Biscuit Times, Hittin’ The Note, Blues Revue, Elmore, Blues Music Magazine, and now, Tahoe Onstage. Tom and his wife Karen raised four daughters in upstate New York. They split their time between the Adirondack Mountains and coastal South Carolina.
Larry Sabo is a real-estate broker with a passion for rock ‘n’ roll photography. He makes his living during the day selling real estate but you’ll see him at night enjoying shows. Stop and talk to him anytime you see him out, he will always appreciate it. Favorite band: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.
Michael Smyth moved to Reno in 2007 after living more than 40 years in the Bay Area. In addition to going to live shows, he enjoys golf, skiing and fly-fishing.
Photographer Kurt E. Johnson has played drums since he was 14. He is in the South Shore blues band Mudd Bonz and the instrumental progressive psychedelic space rock band Aether Haze. He retired after a 31-year career in the Bay Area and has lived at Lake Tahoe for 10 years. His passion is concert photography and playing music. To see more of his photos, visit his website HERE
Tahoe Onstage copy chief and social media manager Randy Hashagen, a former Bay Area journalist, walked away from his career to become a crazy cab driver. Lately, he has been watching the world flow through Lake Tahoe since 2012. Favorite band: Pink Floyd (although a little EDM now and then keeps him grounded and on bass). Favorite festival: High Sierra.
Writer Josh Sweigert grew up on the California coast with a deep appreciation for bluegrass and string band music as well as the great outdoors. A guitarist and singer, he plays solo acoustic gigs in South Lake Tahoe.
Writer Garrett Bethmann is a graduate of University of Mary Washington with a degree in English. An eight year resident of Lake Tahoe, Garrett moved to Colorado in January 2020. He continues to contribute to Tahoe Onstage.
Shaun Astor cites pop music singers and social deviants as being among his strongest influences. His vices include vegan baking, riding a bicycle unreasonable distances and fixating on places and ideas that make up the subject of the sentence, ‘But that’s impossible… ‘ He splits his time between Reno and a hammock perched from ghost town building foundations.
Jon Siembieda plays guitar in the Southern California-based touring rock ‘n’ roll band Hunter & The Dirty Jacks. He is an avid concertgoer and album collector. His top five favorite bands are The Rolling Stones, Black Crowes, Faces, Mother Hips and Chris Robinson Brotherhood.
Tahoe Onstage sportswriter Isaiah Burrows also is a general assignment reporter for CarsonNow.org, an online news source in Carson City. He is a journalism major at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he writes sports for the Sagebrush student newspaper. He is the Reno Aces beat writer for Tahoe Onstage.
Melissa Joseph is originally from the Bay Area, but has lived in Chico for the past three years as a Chico State journalism student. During her college career, she has written as a columnist, opinion editor and A&E reporter for Chico State’s student newspaper, The Orion. After her work at The Orion, Melissa moved on to working for the Chico Enterprise-Record as a brief and press release writer. In her free time, she likes to draw and watch music documentaries.
Conrad Buedel was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He moved to Nevada in 1987. Conrad is a professional writer and photographer in the Lake Tahoe area.
Pheonix Gruneich is a former Tahoe resident who now has made the Carson Valley her home. Wife, mother and photographer. A lover of arts and most of all live music!
Tahoe Onstage guest stars
Mike Wolcott is the editor of the Chico Enterprise-Record, director of the Northern California Design Center and a 42-year newspaper veteran who has worked at the San Francisco Chronicle, Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, the Eureka Times-Standard, Corning Daily Observer, Red Bluff Daily News and Digital First Media. His proudest musical moment came when he was scolded by Who bassist John Entwistle for making too much noise at a Roger Daltrey concert. He especially likes classic rock, classic old-time country, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan and all three Hanks. Parsons calls him “Wally.” When he’s not slaying deadlines, you can find Wally playing guitar in a Corning-based cover band called Punches the Clown.
Amanda Jacobs loves going to festivals and talking with artists about the message behind their music. She recently moved from South Lake Tahoe to Austin, Texas.
Writer Spencer Kilpatrick graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a degree in English. He recently relocated to Arizona.
Contact Tim at Tim@tahoeonstage.com
