BLC-Anigif

today

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

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9 a.m. Arcata Farmers' Market Arcata Plaza

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9:30 a.m. Discovery Walk: Unknown Waterfront See Event Description

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9:30 a.m. Manila Dunes Restoration Manila Community Center

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10 a.m. Manila Dunes Guided Walk Manila Community Center

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10 a.m. Library Book Sale Humboldt County Library

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10 a.m. Dia de los Muertos and Mexican Folk Art Sale Private Eureka home

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10 a.m. Final Arcata Farmer's Market Arcata Farmers' Market (off the plaza)

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11 a.m. Donlin Foreman Dance Workshop Dell'Arte

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2 p.m. Humboldt Coastal Nature Center Draft Trails Plan Walk Stamps House

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5 p.m. Bati Zado and Show Redwood Raks World Dance Studio

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6 p.m. The Tumbleweeds Chapala Cafe

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6 p.m. Ali Chaudhary (jazz duo) Libation

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6:30 p.m. Not Evil, Just Wrong Humboldt Area Foundation

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7 p.m. Guitar Stan (country) Old Town Coffee & Chocolates

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8 p.m. Guitar Orchestra of Barcelona Arkley Center for the Performing Arts

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8 p.m. Stones in His Pockets Arcata Playhouse

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8 p.m. A Christmas Carol North Coast Repertory Theater

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8 p.m. Donna Landry Swing Dance Moose Lodge

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8 p.m. North Coast Wind Ensemble Fulkerson Recital Hall at HSU

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8:30 p.m. The Last Minute Men (international) Cafe Mokka

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9 p.m. Ian McFeron Band (folk rock) Six Rivers Brewery

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9 p.m. The Michael Paul Band WAVE @ blue lake casino

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9 p.m. The Generatorz (classic rock) Central Station Cocktail Lounge

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9 p.m. Taxi Bear River Casino

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9 p.m. VJ Itchie Fingaz Pearl Lounge

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9 p.m. Jack Ruby Presents + Blue Street + Acufunkture (DIY rock) Jambalaya

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9 p.m. 2nd Annual Scorpio Bash The Red Fox Tavern

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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. Jemimah Puddleduck (rock) Humboldt Brews

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10 p.m. White Manna + Midday Veil + The King Salmon Duo (rock) Jambalaya

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11 p.m. Radio Moscow (psychadelic blues) + Mosquito Bandito (one-man surf/garage) 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.

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Aug. 21, 2008

Friendship Nation

By Foot Village. Tome Records.

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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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