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ENLARGE
The voice of Lake Tahoe has become louder. Storytelling songwriter Darin Talbot narrates and sings tales of his home and his passion on “Around Tahoe,” a historical guide and double CD.
“I always tell people I am either completely insane or I’m truly onto something,” said Talbot, best-known for performing with his guitar aboard the Tahoe Queen and at ski resorts. “You need to have that unfettered, undying passion for the lake where you are so obsessed with it that you would actually do something like this. Nobody could ever question if I like Lake Tahoe or not.”
“Around Tahoe” is a labor of love for Talbot. He intended for motorists to play the CDs as they circle the lake. They include 19 stories about Tahoe, which educate visitors and tell tales that not even lifelong locals have heard, pointing out points of interest — or “Cool Spots” — places to eat, drink, walk dogs or sight-see. Twenty-two of Talbot’s greatest hits from his four albums — songs about Tahoe and its lifestyle — play in between the stories.
“It’s spoon-feeding,” Talbot said. “Let’s face it: Who wants to read a book when they are on vacation? And little Joey and Suzie in the back seat will have a better time, too. Now they have talking points and conversational pieces for the rest of the trip. This might make them care.”
Subtitled “The ultimate tour guide for driving around the world’s most beautiful lake,” the CD has been an instant success. The Aug. 28 is already available in 55 locations.
“What’s most interesting is not just Snowshoe’s stories, or just Captain Dick’s story, or just Mark Twain’s involvement, or Sam Giancana with the Cal-Neva,” Talbot said. “It’s really the whole of them together. That’s what proves the incredible magnet that Lake Tahoe is. I’ve been saying for years there’s very few places that has the magnetic pull that Lake Tahoe has. There’s something in the middle of that lake that tugs at people and makes them do things.”
Homespun stories abound about Tahoe notables, authors Mark Twain and John Steinbeck, the hermit of Emerald Bay Captain Dick Barter, and the Native Americans who gave “The Legend of the Big Water” its name. Tales about Snowshoe Thompson, the Sierra’s greatest mailman, are told, along with those of Frank Sinatra and Sam Giancana of the Cal-Neva casino. The disc also includes the story of the Donner Party and the unlikely success of the 1960 Winter Olympic games.
McAvoy Lane, the longtime Twain impressionist from Incline Village, narrates in the voice of Twain, who said Tahoe possesses “truly the fairest sight the earth affords.”
Capt. Dick Barter’s passion for the lake was remarkable. A former undertaker, he moved to Fannette Island in 1883.
“When I think about the most quintessential local of Lake Tahoe I think Captain Dick has to be at the top of the list,” Talbot said. “Not only did he love living at Lake Tahoe, he cherished it so much that out of fear he never left his home out of fear of somebody taking it. But when it came down to it he had his weakness just like every other local.”
Barter’s weakness was a desire for whiskey. So the few times he would leave the island, he would row 17 miles up to the bar at Tahoe House in Tahoe City. Foolhardy, a liquored-up Barter would row back to Lake Tahoe’s only island, fearing that he might lose his home. On one occasion his boat capsized, and he had to swim. Barter survived, but he had to cut off his frostbitten toes, which he saved in a jar.
“Beyond the stories and the history, the most compelling magnetism is how it effects the local, who says, ‘I’m gonna stay here now and just live here,’ ” Talbot said. “Those stories happened over and over and over here.”
Talbot said Snowshoe Thompson and Squaw Valley ski resort founder Alex Cushing are two of Tahoe greatest heroes.
“In terms of merit and dignity, Snowshoe has to be on top,” he said. “He was the most dignified, most generous, most crazy, all at the same time. Captain Dick’s stories are as interesting as anybody’s for sure, (but) he was just trying to preserve his house. He wasn’t doing anything to better mankind.
“Alex Cushing made the impossible happen. People don’t realize it was almost basically impossible. Go to any other place for the Olympics anywhere, and you couldn’t finds a more compelling place for the most improbable Olympics ever. There was nothing there. No town. Not even a ski resort, and he got it. It was an unbelievable, miracle type of thing.”
Some of the stories are oft-told legends that are possible to disprove. For example, oceanographer Jacques Cousteau did not explore the lake in search of “Tahoe Tessie,” its mythical sea monster.
“I don’t go to the length to say I am a fictional or nonfictional storyteller,” Talbot said. “My job is to tell the story as it is myth, as it is folklore, as is truth, published, unpublished. In any great place where you go, folklore is part of the history. It depends on how you present it. If you say this is the undeniable truth, you put yourself in a bad spot. If we get some criticism, if we get some feistiness — that’s good. We’ve got people talking. We’ve got people interested.”
Talbot will update “Around Tahoe” (Web site: www.aroundtahoeonline.com) and changes and updates occur. For example, 2007’s Angora fire is a contemporary event as historic as any. Talbot calls the first edition a template.
A 6-year-old Talbot was introduced to Lake Tahoe in 1978 on a family camping trip at Sugar Pine Point State Park. His mother asked his father, “Wouldn’t it be great if we lived here?”
The epiphanic patriarch decided to make quality of life a priority over a standard of living, and he moved the family from Southern California to the east shore of Lake Tahoe.
Darin Talbot is a second-generation Lake Tahoe romantic, and a backcountry snowboard pioneer who equally loves the beach lifestyle here. He’s not shy about wanting to be Lake Tahoe’s equivalent to Hawaii’s Don Ho, and it would be hard to argue that he wouldn’t be an ideal emissary for the “Jewel of the Sierra.”
“Around Tahoe” concludes with environmental efforts to preserve Lake Tahoe.
“It ends with a lasting impression to protect the lake, and people might take ownership in it,” Talbot said. “Tahoe has never been put on the pedestal it deserves. It’s up in the clouds. Maybe they won’t take it for granted, and maybe we’ll make much better tourists.”
“I always tell people I am either completely insane or I’m truly onto something,” said Talbot, best-known for performing with his guitar aboard the Tahoe Queen and at ski resorts. “You need to have that unfettered, undying passion for the lake where you are so obsessed with it that you would actually do something like this. Nobody could ever question if I like Lake Tahoe or not.”
“Around Tahoe” is a labor of love for Talbot. He intended for motorists to play the CDs as they circle the lake. They include 19 stories about Tahoe, which educate visitors and tell tales that not even lifelong locals have heard, pointing out points of interest — or “Cool Spots” — places to eat, drink, walk dogs or sight-see. Twenty-two of Talbot’s greatest hits from his four albums — songs about Tahoe and its lifestyle — play in between the stories.
“It’s spoon-feeding,” Talbot said. “Let’s face it: Who wants to read a book when they are on vacation? And little Joey and Suzie in the back seat will have a better time, too. Now they have talking points and conversational pieces for the rest of the trip. This might make them care.”
Subtitled “The ultimate tour guide for driving around the world’s most beautiful lake,” the CD has been an instant success. The Aug. 28 is already available in 55 locations.
“What’s most interesting is not just Snowshoe’s stories, or just Captain Dick’s story, or just Mark Twain’s involvement, or Sam Giancana with the Cal-Neva,” Talbot said. “It’s really the whole of them together. That’s what proves the incredible magnet that Lake Tahoe is. I’ve been saying for years there’s very few places that has the magnetic pull that Lake Tahoe has. There’s something in the middle of that lake that tugs at people and makes them do things.”
Homespun stories abound about Tahoe notables, authors Mark Twain and John Steinbeck, the hermit of Emerald Bay Captain Dick Barter, and the Native Americans who gave “The Legend of the Big Water” its name. Tales about Snowshoe Thompson, the Sierra’s greatest mailman, are told, along with those of Frank Sinatra and Sam Giancana of the Cal-Neva casino. The disc also includes the story of the Donner Party and the unlikely success of the 1960 Winter Olympic games.
McAvoy Lane, the longtime Twain impressionist from Incline Village, narrates in the voice of Twain, who said Tahoe possesses “truly the fairest sight the earth affords.”
Capt. Dick Barter’s passion for the lake was remarkable. A former undertaker, he moved to Fannette Island in 1883.
“When I think about the most quintessential local of Lake Tahoe I think Captain Dick has to be at the top of the list,” Talbot said. “Not only did he love living at Lake Tahoe, he cherished it so much that out of fear he never left his home out of fear of somebody taking it. But when it came down to it he had his weakness just like every other local.”
Barter’s weakness was a desire for whiskey. So the few times he would leave the island, he would row 17 miles up to the bar at Tahoe House in Tahoe City. Foolhardy, a liquored-up Barter would row back to Lake Tahoe’s only island, fearing that he might lose his home. On one occasion his boat capsized, and he had to swim. Barter survived, but he had to cut off his frostbitten toes, which he saved in a jar.
“Beyond the stories and the history, the most compelling magnetism is how it effects the local, who says, ‘I’m gonna stay here now and just live here,’ ” Talbot said. “Those stories happened over and over and over here.”
Talbot said Snowshoe Thompson and Squaw Valley ski resort founder Alex Cushing are two of Tahoe greatest heroes.
“In terms of merit and dignity, Snowshoe has to be on top,” he said. “He was the most dignified, most generous, most crazy, all at the same time. Captain Dick’s stories are as interesting as anybody’s for sure, (but) he was just trying to preserve his house. He wasn’t doing anything to better mankind.
“Alex Cushing made the impossible happen. People don’t realize it was almost basically impossible. Go to any other place for the Olympics anywhere, and you couldn’t finds a more compelling place for the most improbable Olympics ever. There was nothing there. No town. Not even a ski resort, and he got it. It was an unbelievable, miracle type of thing.”
Some of the stories are oft-told legends that are possible to disprove. For example, oceanographer Jacques Cousteau did not explore the lake in search of “Tahoe Tessie,” its mythical sea monster.
“I don’t go to the length to say I am a fictional or nonfictional storyteller,” Talbot said. “My job is to tell the story as it is myth, as it is folklore, as is truth, published, unpublished. In any great place where you go, folklore is part of the history. It depends on how you present it. If you say this is the undeniable truth, you put yourself in a bad spot. If we get some criticism, if we get some feistiness — that’s good. We’ve got people talking. We’ve got people interested.”
Talbot will update “Around Tahoe” (Web site: www.aroundtahoeonline.com) and changes and updates occur. For example, 2007’s Angora fire is a contemporary event as historic as any. Talbot calls the first edition a template.
A 6-year-old Talbot was introduced to Lake Tahoe in 1978 on a family camping trip at Sugar Pine Point State Park. His mother asked his father, “Wouldn’t it be great if we lived here?”
The epiphanic patriarch decided to make quality of life a priority over a standard of living, and he moved the family from Southern California to the east shore of Lake Tahoe.
Darin Talbot is a second-generation Lake Tahoe romantic, and a backcountry snowboard pioneer who equally loves the beach lifestyle here. He’s not shy about wanting to be Lake Tahoe’s equivalent to Hawaii’s Don Ho, and it would be hard to argue that he wouldn’t be an ideal emissary for the “Jewel of the Sierra.”
“Around Tahoe” concludes with environmental efforts to preserve Lake Tahoe.
“It ends with a lasting impression to protect the lake, and people might take ownership in it,” Talbot said. “Tahoe has never been put on the pedestal it deserves. It’s up in the clouds. Maybe they won’t take it for granted, and maybe we’ll make much better tourists.”
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