7 Days of Karaoke
An epic journey into the heart of the Humboldt scene
Cover Story
7 Days of Karaoke
If you’re like us, these questions plague you: What is it about karaoke — singing other people’s songs, often badly — that brings tons of people to bars every night all over the country? Who are these people, what exactly do they do and why do they do it? And most importantly, is it physically…
Fast forward
There’s probably a whole lot of people around Humboldt County who got their first introduction to Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. (RFFI) a few months ago. A non-scandal had erupted, then quickly fizzled, over the work of Times-Standard reporter John Driscoll , who had been covering the Pacific Lumber bankruptcy hearings in Corpus Christi, Texas. A…
Big Church
On Sundays you’re lucky to find a spot to park at the confluence of Rohnerville Road and Highway 36. Dozens of cars line the edges of highway and road, and a hundred or so more cram into the big dirt parking lot of the white, old-fashioned church on the southwest corner of the intersection. Which…
Bridgeville limbo
Air pushing upcanyon ruffles the bright leaves of dainty poison oak twining up tree trunks as you exit the green tunnel of foliage that is Hwy 36 onto a dubious spur promising to take you to Kneeland. Suddenly, you’re in a movie-set clearing flooded by evening sunlight. You stop the car to get out and…
My first time
Anticipating my first summer in Arcata is like waiting for the lottery lady to pick the winning numbers. In this case, I’m hoping to win more than a few warm, sunny days and some social gatherings that include people other than my husband and me. I’ve heard mixed reviews on Arcata summers — enough bad…
Another festival, another show — Collective joy at Dell’Arte’s Mad River Fest
They ride beneath a diamond blue evening sky, with the silhouetted solitude of gold-green hills surrounding, and passing of course the wide phantom waters of the Blue Lake. They walk from quiet streets through the unassuming fence into the big backyard called the Rooney Amphitheatre. They seem mostly of the current theatre-going age: early to…
Flower filchers, redux — What drives the strange and scurrilous garden thief?
A few years ago, I wrote a tirade on the subject of flower theft. My front yard is full of flowers, and I understand what a temptation this can pose to people walking down the sidewalk. But some of the thieves in my neighborhood were particularly conniving, walking right up to my front door and…
Reverse engineering — From Ol’ Blighty, an ice cream flavor to obsess over
We are down to our last pint of Häagen-Dazs “Sticky Toffee Pudding” ice cream. I knew this would happen eventually, but I guess I was hoping for a reprieve. How, I thought, how could they possibly discontinue such a terrific product? Well, yes, it was one of their “contest” flavors, the ones they run for…
Clear, Clean and Strong
Lila Nelson was asking for requests on her KHUM radio show “Meet Me in the Morning.” Mine was for anything from the new album she’d been talking about earlier, Good Night Darling , by Huckleberry Flint. She picked the opening track on the disc, “Carpenter,” a mellow number about building a home penned by guitarist…
Mighty, Almighty
Previews The Christian-themed Evan Almighty may not have lived up to box office expectations last weekend, but I’ll bet that old reliable Bruce Willis will. Opening Wednesday, June 27, is Live Free or Die Hard, a.k.a. Die Hard 4, which brings back Willis’ John McClane. This time, McClane is after an Internet terrorist group which,…
