I wasn’t born in Humboldt, but I spent enough of my formative years in McKinleyville to say — without flinching much — that I grew up here. And while I didn’t stick around for my whole life, I have been back in the general area for a while, and that reestablishment of residency has come with a few general obligations and curiosities. For instance, I have been following the story about the proposed Amazon warehouse and when the public had a chance to voice itself at the administrators from the planning department and the reps from Bezos’ leviathan last week at Azalea Hall, I popped my head in to take a temperature check. I didn’t stay for the duration, but I did thumb through the footage and reporting from some trusted primary sources to expand my impression. I am very proud of the community on this one. Well done. There are few times where your opinions are allowed airing — with little or no filter — at the bureaucrats and PR flunkies who serve at the pleasure of the assholes running this atrocity exhibition we call a country, and you all conducted yourselves marvelously. The clear flow of potable outrage you pumped into that sewer was as pristine as the stuff coming downstream from the planning department has been clouded at best. Undistilled clarity versus petulant poop-water. Well done.
You have absorbed what everyone who lives in rural America understands in their hearts but are often too afraid or brainwashed to express: Just because you live in a place that doesn’t have a surging economy within the nightmare of American capitalism doesn’t mean you deserve to be exploited and sold out. We live in a county where the monuments of failed boom-and-bust industries rot and bleach under the hot sun of a careless and evil economic system like dead coral reefs. We are not ignorant to these crude markers of exploitation, and if any critters schmoozing in the hot tub leach field where industry reps and the planning department cozy up think otherwise, they are the mistaken ones, not us.
Never be afraid to speak up, and don’t trust anyone offering you a glass of water from a tap they wouldn’t themselves drink out of daily.
Enjoy your week. You’ve all earned it.
Thursday
The Alley Cats might not be playing in Opera Alley tonight, but they’re still one of the finest jazz combos floating around the scene. The Basement also happens to be one of the finest venues to catch some late-week jazz. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the cover is only $5. What a treat.
Friday
It’s the second installment of Punks for Palestine over at the Outer Space tonight at 8 p.m. Come join Pest,The Woke Agenda,Duo Sonic and Kult of Indifference for a fundraiser for the people of Gaza who are suffering a genocide that you are not allowed to call a genocide if you want a place of respect and comfort in the liberal societies abetting that crime. Oops. There’s a suggested $5-$20 donation going to your fellow humans who are experiencing the worst horrors of collective punishment in the 21st century.
Saturday
The Miniplex is hosting a cool ambient folk-rock show tonight after 8 p.m., featuring two pretty neat artists named Sam. The headline fella is Sam Blasucci from Ojai duo Mapache, while the undercard player is a talented dude from Los Angeles named Sam Burton. Together they form a bill of live music that will take you on a cool ride and drop you off somewhere new from where you can ponder the journey ($20).
Sunday
There are few opportunities in life to experience more than 100 people singing at once. Those of you interested in having a proper taste of that vocal majesty ought to show up to Fulkerson Hall tonight at 7:30 p.m. There you will find choral director Rachel Samet holding court with the Humboldt Chorale, which joins forces with the University Singers for an evening of airy bombast. Some composer’s names that pop out from the program include Verdi, Mendelssohn and The Highwaywomen, but that’s barely touching the outline of a diverse and world-spanning selection of tunes. Come check it out. It’s free if you are a CPH student, only $5 for kiddos and $15 for the rest of us.
Monday
If you or someone you know is curious about what’s going on with the state of Jamaican reggae in the 21st century, you can shine a light on your inquiries at the Arcata Theatre Lounge tonight at 8 p.m. For $35 and a few hours of your time, you will receive a crash-course in the current models and cutting-edge rhythms of the form courtesy of Protoje and the Indiggnation.
Tuesday
There’s something sweet and delightful about the theme shows at Savage Henry Comedy Club curated by local comics. They seem silly and fun, while providing a way to interact with people in your community that can quietly battle the isolating alienation of our universally damaging cultural screen addiction. Tonight’s Comedy Spelling Bee, hosted by Brookey Haskell, doesn’t even cost a dime to enjoy and starts at 8 p.m. for those of us stuck in the early cycle of the working week.
Wednesday
In an unusual turn of affairs for a midweek date, there are two competing shows within walking distance of each other that both feature some fairly crucial veteran acts. What a gluttony of riches. First up at RampArt Skatepark at 7 p.m., you will find decades-long tour punk dogs and veteran T-shirt and battle-vest patch act Leftöver Crack jamming heavy with opener Spaceman Bob. A $20 bill will get you into the venue, which is probably the best spot in the county to see any metal and punk act.
Half an hour later at the Miniplex, the doors will open for an evening with Souled American, a very special duo from Chi-Town who basically wrote the blueprints for the No Depression-style of alt-country that more well-known acts like Wilco and The Mountain Goats have filled in the shading of ever since. It’s going to be a proper mini-theater affair, with limited seated tickets going for $30 and standing spots running at $25. If you are reading this and understand what is going on here, you should come through and help this one sell out.
Collin Yeo (he/him) abhors bozos.
This article appears in Summer of Fun 2026.