the hum / By Bob Doran

Festivus!

Add another to the series of local benefits for Haitian earthquake survivors: The Invasions play one Friday at the Ocean Grove with Brett the Truck opening; donation of whatever you can afford is encouraged.

Also on Friday, down SoHum way, Joanne Rand and the Rhythm of the Open Hearts play at Cecil’s New Orleans Bistro.

Fat Tuesday has come and gone, but the Mardi Gras-esque celebrations continue. In addition to the Rio Carnaval above, the Red Fox has its Second Annual CarnivalParty Friday night with Ponche bringing the AfroCuban vibe, The Bayou Swamis with sprightly Louisiana Cajun music, Brazilian drum and dance by Samba da Alegria, plus the Ya Habibi dance troupe, who don’t exactly fit the theme. (But hey, everyone likes bellydancers, so why not?)

Not interested in Winterfest or Carnival? Saturday night in Blue Lake the Logger Bar plays host to semi-official house band, The Brendas, plus Ray Gay and The Rent Boys and Dark River (“all the way from Placerville”). Dr. Squid is over at the Wave — you might ask Eldin Green to play something from his new album, Unbiased Opinion. (More on that another day.)

Other options: Catch local reggae star Ishi Dube Saturday at the Pearl. Or drive down to the Scotia Inn and dance to The Delta Nationals.

Veteran Jamaican roots reggae band Inner Circle plays the Mateel Saturday with Senegalese reggae singer Elhadji Niang (now a Humboldt local) opening. They call Inner Circle “The Bad Boys of Reggae,” not because they’re bad but to capitalize on their song “Bad Boys,” which is arguably among the best known reggae tunes ever. While the band formed in the early ’70s (an early iteration included Ibo Cooper and Cat Core, who later formed Third World), brothers Ian and Roger Lewis remain from the original lineup. They put out “Bad Boys” in 1987 — it was later adopted as the opening theme for the Fox reality show Cops and used in Bad Boys and Bad Boys 2, a pair of Will Smith/Martin Lawrence crime comedies. Everybody knows the chorus, “Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?” As a result, Inner Circle is still going strong.

There’s also a big reggae show Thursday (Feb. 25) featuring rising Jamaican conscious/roots star Tarrus Riley, touring behind his latest for VP, Contagious. “The reason why I called it Contagious is because I would love for everyone to catch it,” says Tarrus. “I don’t want my music to have boundaries of race, age, nationality or religion — I represent reggae, live music, and I want everyone to catch on to its positive, good vibes.” He’s on tour with Kingston-born Sherieta Lewis (who does backup vocals on Contagious) and his record producer, the amazing saxophonist Dean Fraser.

Remember Chris “Toosa” Berry? The formerly Arcata-based mbira maven moved to Zimbabwe (home of the mbira), then returned to live in New York and travel the world playing “Afro-electronica” on an electrified mbira as the Chris Berry Trio (aka CB3). The trio includes the rhythm section from Brazilian Girls (two guys, neither from Brazil) and typically tours with a fourth, some star from the jamband world. When they play Tuesday, March 2, at the Red Fox it’s with liquid guitar master Steve Kimock — a logical match since Kimock has been exploring African guitar styles in his own music of late. Should be a good one.

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