the hum / By Bob Doran

Humboldt Culture

UKEsperience’s Lost Coast Sessions, pledge drives, Zoe Boekbinder, Skerdio

(March 18, 2010)  I wasn’t thinking about what goes into Humboldt culture when I sat down on the couch last night for a bit of channel surfing. Mondays my wife typically watches Antiques Roadshow on the local PBS outlet, KEET, and I’ll join her sometimes. Before the Roadshow we found KEET’s outreach queen, Claire Reynolds, introducing segments of A Taste of North Coast Cuisine, the locally produced series on Humboldt chefs, restaurants and food producers as she helped pitch for the station’s pledge drive.

Claire also mentioned another KEET production, the first in the Lost Coast Sessions series, which premieres Saturday, March 20, at 8:05 p.m. I was at the KEET studios on Humboldt Hill shooting photos when they recorded UKEsperience, my favorite all-uke band — a splendid time was had by all. My friend Ange’s brother, J.D. Lobue, flew up from L.A. to direct — he’s a Hollywood vet with credits that include Dharma & Greg, Soap, and, back in the day, Soul Train. Mike Dronkers was there as emcee and helped out on postproduction with his KHUM compatriot Larry Trask.

Ukesperience, live at KEET. Photo by Bob Doran.

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“The band played well. Everything worked out well,” said Mike. “Sam Greene edited the visuals. We spent a lot of time in the studio making it sound good; we took the recording and pimped it out.”

Mike hasn’t seen the end product, nor have I, but as he said, the music was great — I can’t wait to see how it turned out. The 8:05 start time is because the pledge drive will still be on. If you haven’t pledged yet, please do — it’s what makes public broadcasting work.

Speaking of pledge drives, it must be the season since KHSU starts theirs on Friday. Their pitch: “As the state budget tightens, so do state funds for KHSU’s license holder, Humboldt State University, so each year, KHSU is responsible for raising an increasing amount of its own operating budget through underwriting and membership.”

“We’re expecting to lose $20,000 a year in state funding for the next three years,” says new KHSU General Manager Ed Subkis. “We need to increase our local fundraising to make up for these cuts and sustain our services.”

They’re jazzing up the drive this time, including live music here and there: Folklife Woodshed (Sunday 5-7 p.m.) will run two hours with music by Humboldt Folklifers including, Sally Goodin‘ and The Spindrifters. Brooks Otis‘ show, Keys to the Highway (Monday 2-4 p.m.) will include Brooks playing with a few of his friends: Errol Previde, Ken and Maria Jorgenson, Joyce Hough and Fred Neighbor. Dub Cowboy‘s Reggae Jamdown (next Friday, March 26, 2-4) becomes the Reggae Pledgedown, with the possibility of live reggae. I help out with Vinnie DeVaney‘s eclectic show Fogou (Wednesday, 2-4), and we’re pulling together some live stuff. So far songwriter Josephine Johnson has agreed to show up (you can also hear her play Tuesday morning, March 23 at Has Beans). Again, if you’re a KHSU listener, it’s time to pony up and help keep Humboldt culture going.

If you’ve heard Zoe Boekbinder before, chances are it was as half of Vermillion Lies, a colorful neo-vaudeville trunk show that paired her with her big sister, Kim. Calling from Oakland, her current home base, Zoe laughed when I asked if they’ve had a falling out. What happened? “I was feeling like the project was more my sister’s than mine. Near the end I was writing new songs that were more personal to me and less theatrical and silly. I would bring them to my sister and she’d say, ‘That’s not really a Vermillion Lies song.’ And she was probably right. When we tried to play more serious songs it didn’t work that well because we were this kitschy band.”

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