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

Jan. 29, 2009

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

By E. Lockhart. Hyperion Books

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Jan. 15, 2009

The English Major

By Jim Harrison. Grove Press.

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  • Clam Beach Run, photo by Arleen Olson Clam Beach Run, photo by Arleen Olson
  • Fall trees, photo by Arleen Olson Fall trees, photo by Arleen Olson
  • Moonset behind Pewetole Island, photo by Arleen Olson Moonset behind Pewetole Island, photo by Arleen Olson
  • Spotted owl, photo by Arleen Olson Spotted owl, photo by Arleen Olson
  • Summer Arts festival, photo by Arleen Olson Summer Arts festival, photo by Arleen Olson
<em>Humboldt Wild </em>

Humboldt Wild

By Arleen Olson. Self-published.

By Katherine Almy

"The people here are tenacious," says photographer Arleen Olson about the people of Humboldt County. "They just get something in their heads and they do it -- just like I did this book."

The book is Humboldt Wild, a self-published photography book, a project that Olson describes as "monumental." Starting with no knowledge of the publishing business, she took seven years gathering and winnowing photos, writing text and captions and formatting the book before becoming sole marketer and distributor.

There have been coffee table books documenting the wild beauty of our home in the past, but this one is unique in the way the photographer places the people of Humboldt in that natural setting. Using aerial photography, she shows us the towns nestled in river valleys. The human residents of Humboldt and evidence of their creativity are pictured alongside wilder residents. And, most notably, an entire section is dedicated what Olson calls, "the crazy, wild events that we put on." The book travels from south to north, and in the final section, chronicles a year's worth of special events in the area.

For locals, the book captures familiar, well-loved scenes: an elk ambling in front of Orick's Little Red Schoolhouse, the moon setting behind Pewetole Island or the spruce tree whose roots cascade down an old redwood stump in Arcata Community Forest. You may find your neighbors or friends -- I've spotted a couple of people I know. You may even see yourself!

For non-locals, it begins to explain the mythic quality of life here. But resident or not, you will see, in Olson's images, a perspective of Humboldt that you haven't seen before. You may have been to Blues on the Bay, but have you seen it from Woodley Island with an egret in the foreground. Some of us have seen a spotted owl during Godwit Days, but only in Humboldt Wild can you see the split second before an owl captures a mouse in its talons. "It took me two years ... I had to go back time and time again," Olson said about capturing that image.

Olson was a woman with a dream, and she persevered until that dream came to fruition. In this way, she is an example of what she believes to be the key to the singularity of Humboldt County. "It's really the people of Humboldt that make it so amazing," she said.

Throughout the month of February, large format prints of Humboldt Wild photographs will be on display at the Morris Graves Museum, downstairs in the Floyd Bettiga Gallery. Olson will be there on Saturday, Feb. 7, from 6-9 p.m. for Arts Alive! to talk about her work, and of course to sign her book.

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