Point-In-Time
A countywide survey reexamines the harsh lives of Humboldt’s homeless
Cover Story
Point-In-Time
The young man was sitting alone on the second floor of the Humboldt County Library, headphones around his neck and a gray stocking cap smushed onto his head. He was focused intently on the newspaper page in front of him, manipulating a ball-point pen over it with such all-consuming concentration that he didn’t notice when…
CR President Jeff Marsee is Job Hunting
In an e-mail to colleagues and members of the board of trustees last night, embattled College of the Redwoods President Jeff Marsee announced that he’s one of three finalists for the position of president/superintendant at San Joaquin Delta Community College District in Stockton. The revelation caught many off guard. “It was definitely a surpise to me and,…
Video of the Richardson Grove Protest
UPDATE 3:35 p.m.: Lt. Murl Harpham of the Eureka Police Department responds to the “moments that deserve further explanation.” Plus, an apology from this reporter after the break. Access Humboldt today posted this video, which shows footage from the rally that took place Monday outside the Eureka offices of Caltrans in protest of the planned…
Richardson Grove Protesters Rally at Eureka CalTrans Office
More than 100 protesters gathered this afternoon outside the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 1 office in Eureka to voice their opposition to the Richardson Grove Improvement Project. The project, which has already received environmental approvals, would remove several trees along Hwy. 101 through Richardson Grove State Park to facilitate a road realignment. The…
A Poem from the Poem Store
Jacqueline Suskin’s Poem Store set up shop at Eureka Books for February’s Arts Alive! Her method: You pick the subject and the price, she creates a custom poem.
Amore: The Story of Italian American Song
Lady Gaga and Madonna may not seem very ethnic (except for their Catholic rebellions) but they are among the latest in a long line of pop singers with an Italian heritage. Mark Rotella’s chronicle describes the careers of the best known (such as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Tony Bennett and Dean Martin) as well as…
Saturday Classes?
Editor: I am outraged by the stupidity and use of Russian KGB tactics in relation to the Carlos Espinosa affair at Arcata High School (“Search & Suspend,” Jan. 20). To say they blew it big-time would be the understatement of the year. What should have been an excellent educational opportunity, like having his class explore…
Head in The Cloud, Feet on The Beat
[image-1] There’s a fortuitous synergy that seems to happen each time I begin gathering material for this column, some event in the art community relevant to what I intend to write about that calls out for recognition. This time out I envisioned a wide overview of how those in the Humboldt art scene use the…
Don’t Blame KHSU
Editor: I love Dave Silverbrand. I respect his TV work, his compassion and his sense of humor, to be sure. I am surprised and rather taken aback however, at his linkage to the “Media Maven” article (Jan. 6) discussing the lack of local press noting the death of Captain Beefheart (“Mailbox,” Jan. 13). In his…
Classy Lady
The 1956 Broadway production of My Fair Lady, written by Lerner and Loewe, with legendary director Moss Hart and costumes by Cecil Beaton, won lots of theatre awards. But it was a national phenomenon in ways that can never happen anymore, regardless of how much money Broadway blockbusters now collect. Its stars (especially Rex Harrison…
Arts Alive!
1. WORLD CUP 1626 F St. Natalie Craig, Collages of the Past Decade; music DJ Kisseeface. 2. TREASURE TROVE 609 E St. Denise Miller, fabric artist specializing in quilted wall hangings and more. 3. EUREKA INN 518 Seventh St. 4. HUMBOLDT ARTS COUNCIL at the Morris Graves Museum of Art 636 F St. Performance Rotunda:…
The Science of Jazz Piano
Vijay Iyer is at the top of his game and on top of the jazz piano world. He’s been recording since the mid-’90s, but the mostly self-taught American-born son of Indian immigrants really broke through with his 2009 trio album Historicity, a collection mixing original tunes with pieces by Andrew Hill and Julius Hemphill and…
Can’t Win for Losing
(Editor’s note: This is an edited version of an homage that originally appeared in CounterPunch, the progressive newsletter from Petrolia.) John Ross died recently at age 73, a victim of liver cancer, in the care of his dear friends, Kevin and Arminda, in the village of Tepizo, Michoacan. I doubt that we will ever see…
MediaNews Impact Reports
In many communities, if you buy a 100-year-old house, preservation laws restrict what you can do with it. You can’t flatten it and build a new faux Tudor McMansion, for example. If the land you buy has old growth trees on it, you are sometimes restricted in what you can do with that land. It’s…
Gathering Talent For Your Convenience
In our YouTube era, bemoaning the shortening American attention span has… Whoa, speaking of which, did you guys see that crazy in-and-out dunk this week on YouTube? So crazy! Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. It takes a lot to hold our gaze these days. Mixing it up never hurts. Taking the “variety is the…
Natural and Organic
The Bee Eaters are on the road again. In fact not long after cellist Tristan Clarridge called from the Sacramento Airport, he was getting into a van to head for the first gig on a tour that brings them back to Arcata Friday. The band had just flown in from Nashville where they were mixing…
Jason Statham Is Not Gay
Previews SANCTUM. A group of hot-shot spelunkers gets more than they bargained for when they explore “the mother of all caves.” Inspired by the near-death experience of co-screenwriter Andrew Wight, who found himself trapped in an underwater cave. Shot in 3-D using the Fusion Camera System developed by James Cameron for Avatar. 103m. Rated R…
The Granddaddy of Them All
The hiccupping sound of ska is alive; in fact it appears to be eternal. It might seem unlikely since its roots go back to the early ’60s in Jamaica where it was soon supplanted by reggae, but if you drop by the Jambalaya any given Monday night, where Gabe from Pressure Beat Soundsystem spins ska…
Cache Flow Problems
Last Friday morning, Andrew I. Jones — a McKinleyville-based publicist, Web designer and publisher — logged onto his popular parenting blog, Thingamababy, to add a comment to one of his posts. But he was having some problems. He refreshed and refreshed, but thingamababy.com wasn’t showing his comment. So he tried again, but received the same…
Boomerangers
When I moved to Humboldt County in 1980 one of the first people I met was Fred Griffith, who then ran a shop in downtown Eureka. I had come to town dreaming of becoming a publisher. Fred briefly rented me a commercial space in an alley behind F Street, and was gracious enough to give…
The Gorge
The gorge is far off atop the wild…
Singing the Blues
Most people opt for blue when asked what their favorite color is (mine is black). Here are some thoughts about the color: Why is the sky blue? Above the atmosphere, unfiltered white sunlight is actually a blend of colors from red to violet (ROYGBIV, if you remember your high school mnemonic). Our blue sky comes…
For Now
Memphis photographer William Eggleston gained instant notoriety when his first major solo exhibition of color art photographs, William Eggleston’s Guide, opened at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1976. The New York Times called it “the most hated show of the year.” At the time, art photography had not yet embraced color. His show…
PC, Mayo-style
Editor: Your article on the Humboldt County Planning Commission was mostly on-point and well received (“Hot Seats,” Jan. 27). A few points need clarification, though. My comment was intended to convey that my priorities are to protect this region and our property rights and civil liberties. Had I not lost the cell connection, I would…
