Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 4/13/2026, Staff Report

Celebrating a major milestone, Classical Tahoe Music Festival will return for its 15th season from July 11 through Aug. 9, featuring four weeks of orchestral, jazz, and chamber music performances by over 70 musicians from across the country. New this year, the festival introduces a chamber music concert at Sugar Bowl Resort, the return of Music in Motion with the Lake Tahoe Dance Collective, and a special night of jazz featuring Brubeck Summit Sextet: Tahoe’s Jazz All-Stars, all part of a season that honors America 250 through its concerts. Performances take place at the Ricardi Pavilion at the University of Nevada, Reno, at Lake Tahoe, as well as at additional venues throughout Incline Village, offering an intimate concert experience set against the Sierra landscape. Tickets are available now HERE.

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So brief is life, I feel compelled to take this moment to save the world. Necessarily I will need to call upon everything I have learned from our generation to address this daunting task, but here goes…   

How can we avoid a Third World War? We can avoid the scourge of World War Three with two little words, “Howdy, Pard.” We translate these two words into seven thousand languages and promulgate their use worldwide when greeting citizens and diplomats from other countries. Soon enough we will come to accept the truth that we are all partners, and that there is more good than bad in the sum of us…

Like sunshine on the forest floor, interdependence is our twenty first century condition. “Howdy, Pard” can serve to unite us in that affiliation, in our shared humanity, and in a respect for the Universal Brotherhood that fashions our World Family. A recent “Moon Joy View” of us from Artemis Two shows us as we are…

Sophistication in world weaponry dictates that we can no longer exist with a cavalier attitude of us versus them. From here on out it’s, “How can we help?” 

Words can be heartening when backed by action, just as they can work to the opposite effect, as in calling our Defense Department the War Department. Can we see a show of hands for renaming it our Peace Department?

Call me a Pollyanna for whistling past the graveyard, but the day has come for recognizing our kindred spirits and acknowledging our common humanity with a simple, “Howdy, Pard.” For example, in Cuban it’s, “¡Hola, Socio!”AndIn Russian, “Zdorovo, Priyatel.”

Yes, there is sunshine on the forest floor, and we are here to spread the warmth. Let us keep the sunlight glowing by sending this declaration off to a dozen different countries, and petitioning them to do the same…

Before long, and hopefully before too late, I shall be reporting back to you in this fine family journal with encouraging early results…

Your Independent Goodwill Ambassador at Large,

McAvoy 

Audio: https://open.spotify.com/show/7Fhv4PrH1UuwlhbnTT23zO

Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 4/10/2026, Written by Victoria Mastrocola

Kitchen of Kindness is on a mission to give back to the community. The nonprofit is a volunteer-driven program through Chabad Cares Nevada and aims to assist those in need including seniors, hospitalized individuals and families by providing meals, support, and connection. 

When asked how the idea for the program first came to fruition, Executive Director of Chabad Cares Nevada, Rabbi Moshe Cunin, said “The inspiration for the idea was from my wife and her family. Unfortunately, her dad died from cancer, but he had been helped for many years by members of their community bringing food to them.”

After receiving kindness and support from others, Cunin’s wife Doba, and Doba’s mother, decided it was time to give back. Thus, Kitchen of Kindness was created last June and has been picking up the pace ever since.

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Photo: Provided to TDT

Originally published in the Sierra Sun, 4/9/2026, Written by Robert Galloway

Something unexpected will be happening this May at Bowl Incline: music is becoming a vehicle for compassion, and stories are turning into something far more tangible – clean water.

The event, called “Words to Water,” is not a typical concert. Now in its second year, it is an intimate gathering rooted in love, storytelling and a shared belief that small acts can ripple outward in life-changing ways.

At the heart of it are friendships formed years ago in unlikely places. One began at a charity event in Texas, where musician Josh Jenkins and WaterHope co-founder Steve Tomkovicz (who also owns Bowl Incline with his wife Tracy) met by chance when seated at the same table. What started as small talk grew into a lasting brotherhood – one grounded in faith, mentorship and a shared desire to serve others.

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