Los Hechados
Immigrant farmworkers in the company town of Samoa told to pack their bags
Cover Story
Los Hechados
On Friday, May 28, a young man who we’ll call “Slim” stood in the living room of the home that he has shared with up to 10 roommates at a time for the last 14 months. The week previous, Slim had received notice from the person who sublet the home to him and his roommates…
Reggae Rising’s Busy Beaver Survives
At their last meeting, the Humboldt County Planning Commission set a condition for approval of the Reggae Rising permit for this year — Tom Dimmick must pay off a slew of agencies he owed money to, or the party’s over. (See previous blog post for details.) When I tuned in the meeting tonight on TV,…
Whole Foods Yanks Kombucha
Whole Foods is pulling the fermented tea known as kombucha off its shelves, according to the Associated Press. And it’s not because the yeasty bacterial tendrils swimming about in this beverage, to which some attribute magical properties, make it look like a Snapple that’s been sneezed into all day. No, apparently the fermentation process can produce…
Grounded: One Less Flight from ACV
Humboldt County’s outgoing flight destinations continue to dwindle. After Aug. 22, Horizon Air will no longer offer its daily flights from the Arcata-Eureka Airport (ACV) to Seattle via Redding, according to a press release issued today. This news comes barely four months after Delta Air Lines abandoned ACV entirely, eliminating Denver as a direct-flight option…
Stick ‘Em Up, Friend
Now the Eureka Police Department wants to be your Friend. Yup, Facebook — www.facebook.com/eurekapd. There you’ll find what you’d expect to find : the wan, spooky scraggled faces of wanted suspects, news releases, and pics of cute Mounted Patrol horses, smashed cars, cats and other such fun stuff. Says the EPD’s news release on its…
Visual Blight or Gateway to the Future? (updated)
It took a Eureka ad hoc committee a year to draft “Wireless Telecommunications Facilities,” an ordinance that seeks to regulate the placement of cell phone towers within city limits. But it took only 30 minutes of public testimony to set it back at least another month. “We asked for an ordinance to protect the residents…
Minor Infraction
The Eureka Police Department arrested six people on Saturday for furnishing minors with hooch. How, you ask, did they catch half a dozen such creeps in a single day? It’s called a Decoy Shoulder Tap Operation, and here’s how it works: Some sleezoid corrupter of youth slithers his way toward a liquor store, cleverly hiding…
archy & mehitibel – tonight
Gale McNeeley in archy & mehitibel, tonight at the Arcata Playhouse – showtime 8 p.m.
Fargas Family Bust
Above: Humboldt County’s beloved Fargas Family Band, doing one of their signature sets. Everyone — everyone — loves a Fargas Family show. Below: The Anderson Valley Advertiser reports that bandleader Angel Fargas was recently on trial in Mendocino County, after having been busted with 70 pounds of weed. FREE ANGEL FARGAS!
McMenamins on the March!
We came to them on bended knee and they coyly rebuffed us. But the Portland Business Journal today delivers proof that the fabulous McMenamins hotel/pub/restaurant chain is still expanding, despite their coquettish protests to the contrary! Draft McMenamins for the Eureka Inn!
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) Arcata Artisans 883 H St. Mike Edwards, fine jewelry; MiMi LaPlant, paintings; Libby George, pastels; Jeff Langdon, mixed media 2)…
Don’t speak to me of raindrops
“Why do I have to imagine this?” Rain…
Outlaster
New York-based singer/songwriter Nina Nastasia released a steady stream of intimate folk-based recordings starting with her 2000 self-released debut, Dogs, slowly drawing in a growing number of admirers, most notably legendary British deejay John Peel and musician/engineer Steve Albini. The Shellac guitarist/vocalist/engineer has “recorded” every one of Nastasia’s albums, including her superb sixth full-length release,…
A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster
San Francisco-based author Rebecca Solnit explores how people responded to historical and contemporary disasters, from the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake to Hurricane Katrina. Her two principal findings contradict conventional expectations, and in Katrina particularly, suggest that what we think we know through media coverage is pretty close to dead wrong. From movies and TV as…
Rescuing the Chopped Salad
Salad at our house in the 1950s was iceberg lettuce with bottled “French dressing.” Seasonally, tomato wedges were added. On special occasions we slathered on Thousand Island dressing, an awful-but-addictive concoction of mayonnaise, catsup and sweet pickle relish, a highlight of childhood memories of vegetables. Mine was the age of Betty Crocker mixes and frozen…
Unobtainium, the Ultimate MacGuffin?
Even as MacGuffins go, the unobtainium in the hit movie Avatar was, to be charitable, a pretty thin plot device. As movie fans know, a MacGuffin is a Hitchcock-style catalyst that drives the plot of a film forward without really adding anything, such as “government secrets” in North by Northwest or the stolen 40 grand…
Open Up
You spent all afternoon picking and strumming, tinkering with the words, sacrificing meaning for rhyme, making the scansion flow just right. Had to axe that third verse. It had some good moments, but you gotta be succinct in this game, baby. Leave ’em wanting more. And now… yes, this is a good one, you can…
Look Inside
Ah, the weekend has arrived. Even without sunshine, the yard work beckons, the garden calls. Or maybe a late morning lie-in with a novel and mug of coffee. Or an escape to somewhere warm and sunny, assuming such places exist. In any case, why bother with trekking hither and yon to explore North Coast Open…
Converted to Apatow
Previews It’s back to the ’80s this weekend, with two major openings based on cultural touchstones from that era. The A-Team updates the kitschy ’80s TV series about rebellious commandos turned mercenaries. The new cast has Liam Neeson as Col. John “Hannibal” Smith (the George Peppard role), Bradley Cooper (The Hangover, Alias) as Lt. Templeton…
Post-genre
Mark Growden is described as a composer/performer rather than a singer/songwriter, although he sings his own haunting songs, sometimes with a band, but often on his own, accompanying himself on accordion, banjo and the droning shruti box. His tour in support of a new album, Saint Judas, is solo. It brings him to Garberville on…
DUI or Don’t I?
An anonymous tipster sent us a note and some documents Friday at 3:45 p.m. — shortly before quitting time, well after last week’s paper went to bed and just a few days before Tuesday’s election. The tip, as you all now know, was that Ryan Sundberg, candidate for supervisor from the Fifth District, was arrested…
Election Results
FOURTH DISTRICT Eureka Mayor Virginia Bass, partying down at Avalon in Old Town Tuesday night, had every reason to celebrate, what with taking a strong 48.3 percent of the vote by the time all Eureka precincts had been counted. But barring a miracle in the pile of absentee votes yet to be tabulated, her just-shy-of-50-percent…
Keep Singley Safe
Editor: As a member of the Singley Hill Homeowners Association, a neighbor and party to “the protracted legal battle with the Rancheria over the obligation, per its liquor license” I would like to make a few comments (“Waiting for Tish Non,” June 3). The Bear River Casino liquor license is a conditional license issued by…
