the hum / By Bob Doran

Talkin’ Nocturnum

Eureka’s new nightspot, plus a Zappaphile weekend, Taarka and Diplo

(March 26, 2009)  Anyone out there ever eat at O-H’s Townhouse? It was a classic old-school steak house, a place where you could pick out your meat from a glass-fronted case, then hit the bar for a shot of straight whiskey to be sipped while sitting in a cushy red Naugahyde booth.

The cushy booths are still in the neon lit bar, but that’s about the only thing recognizable since dreadlocked hip hopper Gil Miracle bought the place and set about transforming it into a nightclub called Nocturnum, a name derived from the Latin — carpe nocturnum, seize the night.

GALLERY >

“I don’t really want to be the face of Nocturnum,” said the humble Miracle (and yes, he was born with the name). “It’s not about me. I’ve been throwing shows for five years and it’s always been about the music, about the vibe.”

Miracle moved to Humboldt in 1996 straight out of high school, coming from Oklahoma to go to HSU, and, like many, stuck around. He went by the name Pendragn when he worked with J the Sarge in Optimystic Populists, aka Opti-Pop, creating a Humboldt take on underground hip hop. That underground vibe will likely carry through to the club’s style.

“My own music was coming from a much more conscious and aware perspective,” he said. “We weren’t trying to promulgate the stereotypical imagery and concepts you hear in most rap music. We were trying to bring something different to it. And you know there’s an inherent underground nature to being a hip hopper in Humboldt. Of course a white middle-class kid in the hills of Northern Cali is a little bit removed from the source of the art form.”

Thursday, March 26, opening night, Nocturnum starts strong, bringing in none other than the legendary Brooklyn-born rapper KRS-One, co-founder of Boogie Down Productions way back in the day. Known as “The Philosopher,” KRS-One was one of the first to integrate Jamaican-style toasting into rap. As the late Bradley Nowell noted, his conscious lyrics “brought hip hop to a higher level.”

Friday Nocturnum becomes Rockturnum, with harder-than-steel Arcata band Magnum, instrumetalists 33 & 1/3 and Nipplepotamus.

Saturday’s show features cutting edge turntablist DJ Z-Trip, a mash-up pioneer who played Coachella and Bonnaroo and opened for the Rolling Stones. More recently he’s known for a pair of polit-mash-ups, “The Obama Mix Pts. 1 & 2,” commissioned by Moveon.org.

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE >SHARE