Last weekend, I decided to do something I occasionally find myself driven to with the same blind intensity of purpose that steers a spawning salmonid: I rewatched a favorite movie. Not just any movie, but one I consider to be perfect from the score to the atmosphere to the acting, just a wholly enjoyable experience. I am talking about 1984’s The Terminator. While watching it, I was hit with an interesting coincidence: Both the titular antagonist and the future soldier Kyle Reese are sent back in time on the night of Thursday, May 12, and the first action begins on the 13th, the night I was rewatching (which the filmmakers chose to make a Friday, despite that date falling on a Sunday in 1984). What does this coincidence mean? Probably nothing but it was still fun. I’ve done the same thing by accident when revisiting Bram Stoker’s Dracula (the book and the Coppola film), enjoying a darker (and cooler) midsummer Bloom’s Day that corresponded to the first nocturnal sleepwalks of the doomed Lucy Westenra. I like the idea of playing back-and-forth with time, running concurrent dates from different calendar years in a separate literary and/or historical universe. A favorite example of this is the play Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, which slowly welds two timelines together in one English manor house with a little help from a tortoise who inhabits both era’s sets. There are certainly worse depictions of the wheel of time and our links to the past than the slow perambulations of those round, long-lived, and placid reptiles. The famous tortoise Harriet was, whether or not she was collected by Charles Darwin, an exemplar of her species and died in 2006 at the ripe age of 175. I wonder how many coincidences she enjoyed during her time in the sun.
Enough of that. Let’s get on with another week of entertainment.
Thursday
Oryan Peterson-Jones continues his regular Thursday evening gig at the Humboldt Bay Social Club tonight at 6 p.m. For the uninitiated, this is a free presentation of world folk, Americana and various other stringed-styles played expertly by the man in question, who is himself a globetrotting collector of sounds.
Friday
With the Huckleberry Flint show at the Old Steeple sold out (according to the venue’s website, anyway), I’m going to recommend two shows in Arcata, both at 9 p.m. Once again, Humbrews is hosting the Stink Foot Orchestra, a group dedicated to playing the rock works of the late Frank Zappa, fronted by Napoleon Murphy Brock, one of the most popular vocalists from the 1970s version of his group ($25).
Meanwhile, over at the Miniplex, it’s a found-sound, psych-rock type of night, with Invisible Dog from Los Angeles teaming up with sometimes-locals Winter Band (featuring members from Comets on Fire and Skygreen Leopards) and Anthony Taibbi from White Manna’s act Spunflower. Ten bucks is beyond reasonable for a crack at hearing the assorted talent on deck.
Saturday
It feels like only yesterday when I last reported on this event, yet that is the ephemeral and fleeting nature of time; it tugs and curls away from us like wisps of morning fog or lace curtains rustling in the afternoon breeze, brief, halcyon moments guiding us to our end of days. I am of course talking about Goth Day at the Old Steeple, which this year will have a “vendor faire” from 1 to 6 p.m. Live music starts at 7 p.m., and will be provided by returning act Hollins and Hollins Mortuary Entertainment, aka The Pine Box Boys, a popular death-country act from San Francisco. The entrance fee to this all-ages event is $10, and there will even be graveyard tours during the daylight.
Speaking of $10, the Arcata Theater Lounge is throwing a Humboldt Rock Experience Show, where for a sawbuck at 7 p.m. you can enjoy the music of local acts Thundercloud, Red Hot Shame and young up-and-comers The Critics. Choose wisely.
Sunday
Poet and local treasure Jerry Martien is getting together with some friends to, among other things, honor the life of former Humboldt resident, songwriter and master picker, Thad Beckman, who died in January. The show will be held at the Arcata Playhouse at 7 p.m., and the first set of music and poetry will be called “Porch Blues,” a term that Martien and Beckman first coined in the early ’90s to describe their collaboration. Joining Martien is a cast of familiar local players, including Mike LaBolle, Fred Neighbor, Mike Emerson and Gary Davidson ($18).
Monday
Mondays are traditionally dedicated to the brave souls who serve at the public’s pleasure (and, unfortunately, occasional displeasure, due to a few over-entitled types), and the Logger Bar has a fine Service Industry Night that morphs at 7 p.m. into Rocker’s Reggae Night, curated by DJ Deaf-I. This is a free event and a lovely way to spend a warm Blue Lake night.
Tuesday
It is once again movie night over at the Humboldt Bay Social Club and tonight’s offering is The Simpsons Movie, perhaps the last somewhat-funny piece of entertainment created by the once-brilliant cartoon sitcom. It’s free to get in, and the show starts at 6 p.m. And speaking of movies, last week saw the loss of British composer Francis Monkman, who wrote one of my favorite film scores of all time for the 10/10 British gangster film The Long Good Friday. Do yourself a favor and listen to the main theme, for it is a banger and a half. And to connect the dots back to tonight’s fare, one of the film’s actors is a young Pierce Brosnan, who also appeared in a hilarious “Treehouse of Horror” episode of The Simpsons. And to tip my creative hand a bit, I’m listening to Monkman’s work while writing the very words that you are now reading.
Wednesday
It’s comedy night at the Arcata Theater Lounge, where at 7 p.m. you can enjoy the stand-up work of Los Angeles comedians Josh Edelson and Austin Silver ($15, $20 VIP, $10 advance).
If you’d prefer your comedy locally sourced and easier on the wallet, head over to Savage Henry Comedy Club two hours later, where Mark Sanders will be hosting his free Open Mark open mic, a mixed-bag of all types of performances, musical and otherwise.
Collin Yeo (he/him) not only envies the lifespan of the tortoise, but its impressive shell and handsome beak. He lives in Arcata.
This article appears in Drag for the Next Generation.