Who’s Your City?
Is it Eureka? Is it Arcata? Barflies, musicians, artists and sky bums mull the question
Cover Story
Who’s Your City?
Last week, we took it upon ourselves to once and for all solve the forever-niggling question: Arcata or Eureka, which is the superior specimen? The two cities have been duking it out since the 1850s when they were mere get-rich-quick settlements looking to profit off the gold rush in the mountains. And historian Jerry Rohde…
Who’s going to run KHSU?
You may remember that HSU announced an interim station management team after Elizabeth Hans McCrone was forced into retirement . As Advancement VP Rob Gunsalus wrote in his open letter to the community : We are exploring options for leadership of the station. Program Director Katie Whiteside and Director of Development Pam Long are assuming…
Today in Wiggins
The P-D lands the first post-“bullshit” interview with the senator. I’m bumping it up here into a new post because it’s a frightening, must-read piece. It’s absolutely clear that Wiggins is not well, and is in desperate need of the medical attention that her friends and associates insist she is not receiving. Instead, they’re propping…
The Evolving Wiggins Mystery
The Press Democrat comes through with a telling update. Santa Rosans close to the senator tell tales very similar to the ones that Humboldters tell in this week’s “Town Dandy,” which will go live right here at the stroke of midnight. P-D reporters Derek J. Moore and Mike McCoy provide a lot more detail, though:…
Wigged
That’s tellin’ ’em, California State Senator Pat Wiggins ! Let them eat cake! And give me two of whatever you just had! Via the Sac Bee ‘s Capitol Alert .
The Boy Bands Have Won
Remember the super catchy popular hit song “Tubthumping” from 1997? Sure you do, you still hear it played at major sporting events: “I get knocked down but I get up again. You’re never gonna keep me down ….” Perhaps the most popular protest song of the decade. Sorry, sports fans: Chumbawamba are a self-described “Anarchist…
Keep KHSU alternative, independent
Editor: Thanks for your article regarding the recent situation at KHSU. (“Station Identification,” July 31). While there are many disturbing aspects, the most disturbing is that a mid-level bureaucrat and the university president are wanting to make program and other policy for the community-sponsored station. The whole reason we have “alternative, independent” radio is so…
Easiest. Arrangements. Ever.
For the last month, I have stood guiltily by and watched my flower garden fade. The daisies, feverfew, butterfly bush and catmint have bloomed so aggressively that I couldn’t possibly keep up with them. After hacking his way through the flowers to get to the chicken coop recently, my husband meekly suggested that I could…
Horseplay
Editor: When I picked up the current issue of the North Coast Journal yesterday and read the boxed article about the Arcata City Council voting to prohibit Arcata residents from seeing the Lipizzaner stallion show at Redwood Acres, I was incredulous. (“Pretty War Horses,” July 31). It seemed like it must be a joke, but…
Osmosis is Awesome
Sap drips from the leaves of my indoor banana plant. Osmosis is the process that raises that sap against gravity. Osmosis causes our kidneys to retain more water in our blood after a salty meal. Reverse Osmosis (RO) is the preferred method for producing fresh water from ocean water. The U.S. is second only to…
Horsin’ Around
Editor: A friend of mine encouraged me not to write in, claiming Heidi Walters’ Lipizzaner stallion article was most certainly a hoax. But Ms. Walters’ specific references, rich with detail, regarding Arcata City Council policy, made the whole thing so darn believable. My own questioning gives me pause, as I develop a new appreciation for…
Where There’s Smoke
An old joke in journalism goes this way: A cub reporter comes back from a city council meeting and tells her editor there was no story. “What happened?” the editor asks. “It was canceled,” the reporter says. “City Hall burned down.” How big a newspaper plays a story should depend on how important a story…
Notes All Over
Editor: A few random comments. First, I do not share your dismay that the two young journalists who wrote the very sympathetic article about the illegal immigrants at Sun Valley Bulb farm have left the area (“Town Dandy,” July 24). Their headline, which included the phrase “bad immigration policy,” was pathetic. All across America, citizens…
Don’t Forget to Remember
There are these paradoxes: theatre, like movies, TV and major-publisher literature, is increasingly created by the young, to the extent that a writer for the Dramatist Guild’s magazine felt compelled to bravely suggest that good new plays could actually be written by playwrights over the age of 30. Yet theatre audiences are consistently and increasingly…
Second Friday Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at more than 30 participating locations in Arcata. Visit www.artsarcata.com for even more information about the event or call 822-4500. 1 East Side Deli and Market 420 California St. Russell Bashaw, natural patterns using blends of organic materials, watercolors and wood.…
Escape From Arcata
Artist Dennis Handy looks at home at his perch behind the desk in his converted Arcata studio/gallery, and his stocky frame, gray beard and casual manner would seem to mark him as a natural fit for the town. Paintings and vintage ?’60s concert posters cover some of walls, and his large white Norwegian forest cat,…
Triumph of the Costner
Previews Just in time to wipe away those August blues, Pineapple Express, which opens Wednesday, Aug. 6, is a stoner comedy from the very busy Judd Apatow factory. In a bit of a twist, the film is directed by David Gordon Green, better known in indie circles (most recently for Snow Angels) now trying his…
Clearing the Air
Allie Hostler, public information officer for the Hoopa Valley Tribe, is very worried about the hazardous conditions in Hoopa caused by the smoke from the large wildfires, which have been burning in the hills above eastern Humboldt County. “There is a general air of anxiety when the smoke gets into the valley,” said Hostler last…
Eureka’s Top Toto
In the Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West tells Dorothy, “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!” For some reason, the Wicked Witch of the West had a beef not only with Dorothy, but with Toto, too. Every time she encounters Dorothy, she has to mention poor little Toto,…
Song of the Lark
It’s a dream for traditional folk musicians: Lark In The Morning Music Celebrationis a week-long camp in the Mendocino redwoods with lessons and workshops on all sorts of instruments and traditional styles led by stellar players from around the world. Dancing, parties and picking sessions everywhere you turn. A fair number of musicians and dancers…
Portapalooza
All’s been quiet on the railroad for a few months. The old Northwestern Pacific line, that dead set of tracks from Humboldt County to the Bay Area, has been as quiet and trainless this summer as it has for the last 10 years. Strangely, though, even debate about the railroad seems to have gone on…
Secret Ingredients, Part 2
I have food prejudices like most people, but I have always felt uncomfortable with them. A half century ago, I watched with envy as patrons of the Grand Central Oyster Bar indulged in what looked like having sex in public; it would be decades later that I enjoyed my first oyster, and years more before…
Clear Signals
Editor: Your KHSU story was a terrific piece of journalism that looked beneath the surface narrative — university bureaucrats trying to stifle political expression — to reveal a much deeper story of competing perspectives and complex personalities (“Station Identification,” July 31). You showed that Democracy Now! is safe, and you pointed readers toward the issues…
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
In a 1989 article in The National Interest, the neoconservative political economist Francis Fukuyama declared that humanity was witnessing “the end of history.” With the Cold War winding down and Soviet Communism unraveling, “Western liberal democracy” had won the battle of ideologies, argued Fukuyama. People throughout the world were choosing deregulated free market economies and…
Thanks for KHSU story
Editor: I want to express my appreciation for your very thorough report on what has become a very complex and (of course) controversial issue in the community. “Station Identification” ( July 31) went beyond the surface and contemporary state of affairs to probe the larger context in which decisions on programming, fiscal matters and personnel…
All Over The Map
The Delta Nationals are a talented quartet of local blues-rooted musicians whose second album, All Over the Map, emerged earlier this year. As the title suggests, the album is a diverse collection of toe-tapping music authored by the band members. The Delta Nationals have created a wonderful boogie sound on this album which should resonate…
KHSU deserves better
Editor: That the university’s creature has turned around to bite it involves all sorts of delicious irony. (“Station Identification,” July 31). When Elizabeth Hans McCrone was pushed from her perch in Advancement, she needed a new place to roost. KHSU turned out to be the unlucky nest for this bird. As some may recall, KHSU…
