Bear River Casino 090208

today

8:30 a.m. Audubon Society Field Trip See Event Description

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8:30 a.m. Alzheimer’s Resource Center Volunteer Training See Event Description

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9 a.m. Arcata Farmers' Market Arcata Plaza

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9 a.m. Speakers' Symposium College of the Redwoods

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9 a.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens Foundation Speakers’ Symposium College of the Redwoods

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9 a.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens' Speakers' Symposium College of the Redwoods

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9 a.m. Fall Rummage Sale Arcata United Methodist Church

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9:30 a.m. AAUW Meeting See Event Description

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9:30 a.m. Little River State Beach Restoration See Event Description

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9:30 a.m. Sierra Club Headwaters Hike See Event Description

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10 a.m. Lanphere Dunes Guided Walk See Event Description

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10 a.m. 5th Annual Synergy Fair Arcata Community Center

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10 a.m. Go Green and Boost Your Bottom Line Wharfinger Building

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11 a.m. Sustaining Excellence and Enthusiasm in Health, Relationships and Work Carlo Theater (Dell'Arte)

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noon KEET's Kids Club Morris Graves Museum of Art

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1:30 p.m. Humboldt County Historical Society Humboldt County Library

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2 p.m. Arcata Marsh Field Trip Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary Interpretive Center

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4 p.m. Woodside Preschool’s 36th Wine and Ale Tasting Gala Adorni Recreation Center

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4:30 p.m. Harvest Dinner and Bazaar Humboldt Grange

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5 p.m. A Toast to Music Christ Episcopal Church

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5:30 p.m. Elvis and the Hound Dogs + Stolen Taxi Trinidad Town Hall

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6 p.m. The Tumbleweeds Chapala Cafe

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6 p.m. Arts Alive! Various Locations

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6 p.m. Day of the Dead Exhibition Ink People Center for the Arts

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6 p.m. Bar None 10th Anniversary Eureka Labor Temple

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6 p.m. Randy Spicer Piante Gallery

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6 p.m. Gallery Open for Arts Alive! Four Paths Gallery and Studio

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6:30 p.m. ShinBone (Blues R&B) Eureka Theater

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7 p.m. Mike Craighead and Sari Baker Old Town Coffee & Chocolates

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7 p.m. Harvest Concert Arcata Presbyterian Church

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7 p.m. 2 Left Feet Dance Project Redwood Raks World Dance Studio

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7:30 p.m. Joe & Me Cafe Mokka

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7:30 p.m. Cyrano de Begerac Eureka High School Auditorium

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7:30 p.m. Torch Song Summit Eureka Women's Club

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7:30 p.m. Jeff DeMark and the LaPatinas Westhaven Center for the Arts

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8 p.m. Stones in His Pockets Arcata Playhouse

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8 p.m. Humboldt Bay Brass Band Fulkerson Recital Hall at HSU

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9 p.m. Synergy Six Rivers Brewery

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9 p.m. Arts Alive! with Akaboom Sound Pearl Lounge

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9 p.m. Tempest WAVE @ blue lake casino

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9 p.m. Back In The Daze Dance Party Central Station Cocktail Lounge

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9 p.m. Swingin' Country Band (country) Bear River Casino

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9 p.m. The Zygoats + Alder Camp (rock) The Lil' Red Lion

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9 p.m. DJ Knutz (funk) Muddy's Hot Cup

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10 p.m. Music by DJ Sidelines

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10 p.m. DJ Icy Hot Aunty Mo's Lounge

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10 p.m. These United States (indie folk) Humboldt Brews

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11 p.m. Hellbound Glory The Alibi Lounge and Restaurant

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previous columns

Sept. 4, 2008

Indigo Shoes

By Absynth Quintet. Sidenote Records.

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Aug. 28, 2008

Parc Avenue

By Plants and Animals. Secret City Records.

read >
Aug. 21, 2008

Friendship Nation

By Foot Village. Tome Records.

read >
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  • The Baseball Project The Baseball Project
<em>Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails</em>

Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails

By The Baseball Project. Yep Roc Records.

By Mark Shikuma

The merger of Scott McCaughey from Minus 5 and Steve Wynn, former leader of the LA-based ’80s band the Dream Syndicate, makes for a perfect doubleheader. Together, the songwriters have culled baseball folklore, stories and forgotten personalities to inspire a new album that, to borrow baseball verbiage, goes the distance. With the contributions of REM/Minus 5 guitarist Pete Buck and drummer Linda Pitmon, the stories are fleshed out in music and the music rocks, with the loose spontaneity and tight playing of a killer band.

McCaughey is a walking "project," soliciting the aid of Pete Buck, John Wesley Harding and Wilco band members, among others, to present 2006's Minus 5 release, best known as The Gun Album. Wynn has also a long history of collaborating on side projects, from Danny and Dusty (with Green on Red's Danny Stuart) to Gutterball (with members of The Long Ryders and House of Freaks). In their respective solo work, they've both displayed similar roots in rock, alt. country and folk, all infused with a strong garage sensibility. So McCaughey and Wynn's collaboration seems a natural.

The songwriting duties are split between them. In the opening cut, "Past Time," with a dense Neil Young/Crazy Horse wall of guitars, McCaughey asks, is it necessary to care about baseball lore, "So long ago, so long, Pastime, are you past your prime?" He would later answer that question with his song, "Satchel Paige Said," about the legendary Negro League/Major League pitcher. "No one ever did what he has done. And we don't look back..."

It is Wynn, however, who blasts a number of songs over the fence, so to speak. From his hilarious "Ted Fucking Williams," quoting Boston Red Sox outfielder (and arguably one of the best batters in Major League baseball), to "Gratitude (For Curt Flood)," set to a monster-movie-soundtrack, about the outspoken centerfielder Curt Flood, Wynn delivers musical fastballs with engaging, and often ironic, narratives. His "curveball" arrives with the stunning "Fernando," sung entirely in Spanish, paying tribute to the amazing Mexican L.A. Dodgers pitcher, Fernando Valenzuela. It's executed with sincere tenderness and affection, accompanied by McCaughey's Norteño-like accordion part.

McCaughey and Wynn's reflections on baseball and its folklore suggest that we indeed need to "look back" upon our cultural history, by looking at the enormous amount of stories of forgotten participants. And all the while, they turn up the instruments, allowing the rough edges to the foreground. No one will mistake this for John Fogerty; this ain't no Centerfield. The first volume of The Baseball Project is a deep shot over the left field fence.

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