Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Freakshow
Posted By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill on Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 5:00 PM
The sideshow takes center stage when the Enigma (also known as that guy who's, like, covered in jigsaw puzzle tattoos) and his partner Serana Rose visit Synapsis Studio in Eureka on Saturday with their Showdevils act. Ever see a guy drive a nail through his tongue? Would you like to? Then show up at 10 p.m. with $10 and a strong stomach for some post-Vaudeville music and stunts that make the guys from Jackass look like, well, jackasses. And if you need to see weird tricks with straws and sinus passages one more time, the wince-inducing duo is at Nocturnum on Tuesday at 9 p.m. for another $10.
Frankly, the mystery wrapped in a riddle and tattooed in a puzzle that is the Enigma draws a crowd just standing around. Feel free to stare when he signs copies of the new Ripley's Believe it or Not book (that's his mug on the cover) at Northtown Books on Saturday at 10 a.m. Jealous of his inked-up hide? Don't hate. Make an appointment and the Enigma will tattoo his signature puzzle piece on you himself. It's a start.
The Dear Departed
Posted By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill on Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 1:04 PM
After the costumed bacchanalia of Halloween comes Dia de los Muertos (that's the Day of the Dead for those of you who took French in high school), a kind of welcome home party for those who've passed on. Get a little taste of the tradition at Los Bagels shops this week — check out the ofrendas (altars to the dear departed) and whimsical skeleton-filled art. In Eureka, don't miss Greta Turney's bony R2-D2. If you're dying for a snack, try some lightly sweet and spiced pan de muerto (dead bread) loaves.
If you're not already celebrating with friends and family, join the celebration at Sunrise Cemetery in Fortuna — which has been busy lately for a graveyard — on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Kristy Carlsen of College of the Redwoods gives a history of the holiday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., and Real de Mexico plays mariachi tunes from 11:30 a.m. There's also a walking tour and a chance to do some traditional arts and crafts. If it gets chilly, warm your bones with some pan de muerto and a nutty Mexican hot chocolate.
Best Of: The Making of
Posted By Grant Scott-Goforth on Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 10:08 AM
Check out this video of Lynn designing and creating the frame, with tunes from this year's favorite band. Thanks for voting!
Saturday, October 26, 2013
From the Hum: Saturween!
Posted By Jennifer Savage on Sat, Oct 26, 2013 at 10:00 AM
Who cares about Halloween proper when a whole weekend awaits? Consider costumes strongly encouraged. All following shows happen on Saturday and are 21-and-over unless noted.
Brooklyn band The Shondes are “too wild to ignore,” according to Rolling Stone’s review of the band’s latest effort, The Garden. Oft-described as a mix of riot grrrl, orchestral indie, punk and klezmer (really), The Shondes offer a level of musical cool not often seen in these parts. If you’re 21-or-over, you can see them in the Eureka Inn’s Palm Lounge at9 p.m.-ish. Did you know kids who eat oatmeal in the morning do better on tests? True! I read it somewhere. Combine two-thirds cup of unfiltered apple juice with one-half cup oatmeal, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a half-teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, quickly reduce heat and cook for three-to-five minutes. Top with one-quarter cup crushed walnuts. You’re ready for work!
Pirates and the Pine Box Boys
At Six Rivers Brewery’s Pirate's Ball, Colonel Jimmy and The Blackfish splice the main brace with murder balladeers The Pine Box Boys. DJ Anya launches around 9 p.m. Continue the pirate theme with a breakfast rum cocktail: three ounces rum, plus one ounce fresh lemon juice and one ounce maple syrup. Goes well with French toast.
Samba and soul
Do-gooders at Humboldt Baykeeper present Baykeeper’s Ninth Birthday Bash with SambaDá, Samba Da Alegria and DJ Mantease at the Arcata Theatre Lounge. SambaDá unites the Americas by combining Brazilian natives Papiba Godinho and Dandha da Hora’s profound knowledge of Afro-Brazilian song and dance with the entire band’s take on samba-reggae-funk. Samba da Alegria is a community dance and drum troupe whose “soul purpose” — if that was a typo in the press release, I love it — is to provide “a celebration for and with the community.” Doors opens at 8 p.m. and $25 tickets are available at Wildberries, The Works and Baykeeper’s office. You’re sore from dancing all night. Just lay out a spread of coffee, milk, bread, jam, cheese and fresh fruit and spend the morning lazing and grazing.
Ramp up the volume
The good cause-o’ween continues at RampArt on with the uproariously named one man death country hellbilly band Joe Buck Yourself, gypsy punk band Viva Le Vox and New Orleans’ psychedelic punksters PonyKiller. Both Joe Buck and Yeo play in separate bands with Hank 3, who you might have seen at the Mateel last week. All ages! All ages! All ages! Cover is $5, doors at 7 p.m., music at 8 p.m. A good morning for a smoothie: frozen banana, a big glob of peanut or almond butter, a couple tablespoons of good cocoa, a dash of cinnamon and you’re good to go. Some people enjoy kale in these things.
Globally grooving
On the south end of the county, KMUD Radio and the Mateel Community Center host the annual Halloween Boogie with Heavyweight Dub Champion featuring Dr. Israel, Liberation Movement, Ganga Giri and El Radio Fantastique.
Heavyweight Dub Champion features a globally flavored rotating collection of MCs and musicians, Australia’s Ganga Giri is a world-renowned didgeridoo virtuoso and SF’s El Radio Fantastique features the charismatic songwriter, dumpster diver and one-time gravedigger Giovanni DiMorente. Doors at 7 p.m. Tickets are $27 advance — they’re $30 at the door. All ages! Garberville’s Woodrose Café opens at 8 a.m.
The Twilit Zone
Back up in Eureka, The Ink People and Synapsis present “an evening of the unexplainable,” with aerial performances, magic, sideshows, live music from The Monster Women (retro garage band in space) and Blood Gnome (spooky synthpop), plus DJs Zanapod and Onhell transforming the space into “the wondrous dimension of the imagination between waking and dream.” The $20 ticket includes dancing, themed performances, food and one drink. Tickets are available at The Works and All Under Heaven. Festivities begin at 8 p.m. All ages.
After this, you’re going to want the familiarity and comfort of pancakes. Use your favorite mix, then grate fresh apples and add a handful of chopped nuts to make’em that much healthier.
Honky-tonk and folk punk
The excellent advantage of Alibi shows starting so late — 11:15 p.m.-ish — is you can go to other gigs first and still drop in to catch, in this case, Humboldt’s fine Americana rockers Side Iron and East Coast folk punk artist Matt Pless. When Pless played out in Blue Lake a while back, I wrote, “The way Pless blends sincerity and rawness appeals.” Still true. Cover’s $5. You stayed up all night. Just go back to the Alibi, start with a Bloody Mary and stare at the breakfast menu till something sounds good. Order that.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Buzzed
Posted By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill on Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 5:07 PM
Is the whole disappearing bees thing keeping you up at night? Did that M. Night Shyamalan movie make it worse? Arm yourself with knowledge. Busybodies from the Humboldt Beekeepers Association and the Natural History Museum in Arcata have teamed up with local beekeepers for Bee Friendly Days today through Sunday at Eureka Natural Foods from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. They'll be discussing colony collapse, answering questions and letting you know what you can do to help bees.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Treat
Posted By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill on Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 4:00 AM
And some Halloween fun is just for the kiddies, like the costumed sugar high that is trick-or-treating. Only for kids. I'm looking at you, gangly teenage candy hogs.
Get started on Friday night in Ferndale with the Halloween carnival and dinner in Belotti Hall at the fairgrounds at 5:30 p.m. ($8, $6 kids).
In Eureka, little ghouls under 12 can troll for candy in Old Town on Saturday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. While you're there, check out the Discovery Museum's transformation into the Mystery Museum from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. ($5). It's still there behind the construction, and it's got Halloween crafts, games and fun the likes of which you have come to expect from the folks over there. Halloween party animals may want to hit up Boo at the Zoo over at Sequoia Park for the snake maze, scavenger hunt and the petting zoo on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. ($6, $5 seniors and active service members, $4 kids over 3). For the more sci-fi inclined, there's the Journey to Planet Possible at the Jefferson Community Center at 1 p.m., which has an underwater maze (mazes are hot right now) and a robot, but no scary stuff and no sugar.
In McKinleyville, the costume parade is on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the McKinleyville Shopping Center. Later on from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., you can take your costumed little ones to the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Bayside for treats, skits and a campfire. Not enough Sweet Tarts yet? Head back to Eureka's Henderson Center for more trick-or-treating on Sunday at noon.
On Halloween, trick-or-treat on the Arcata Plaza from 4 p.m. and join the Marching Lumberjacks in the costume parade at 4:30. After that you can round out the evening at the Arcata Community Center at 5:30 p.m. for the Under the Sea Halloween Carnival ($2 donation, kids under 2 free). Or bring your goody bag to Redwood Acres for the Faith Center's free Kid's Karnival for children 5th-grade and under (that's right teens, keep walking) from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with Jolly Jumps, cotton candy and candy candy.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Trick
Posted By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill on Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 5:00 PM
Some Halloween fun is for grown-ups — and no, we're not talking about skimpy costumes. Sometimes we're looking for a good scare. The Kinetic Lab of Horrors is back again this year with sculptural arts and body parts. The freaky lab techs take you on a tour of the facilities on Eighth and N in Arcata from 7 p.m. to midnight on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Halloween night ($10). It's a fundraiser for the Kinetic Race, and it's recommended for ages 13 and older, unless your kid is a straight-up gangster. Check out kineticsculpturelab.com for photos of last year and be honest with yourself about how much scare you can handle.
Blue Ox Millworks and North Coast Repertory are scaring the bejeesus out of people with the Haunted Mill tour from 8 p.m. to midnight Oct. 25-31 ($10). The tour, which promises "sexy zombies" — oxymoron? — benefits the theater, Blue Ox Youth and Community Radio. Children 12 and under must go with an adult who doesn't care if they ever sleep again. We're told that the bald gentleman in the posters is a lovely person, but he looks like he could make Hannibal Lecter pee a little.
Landlocked terror too mainstream for you? On Halloween night, you can climb aboard the Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum's haunted 1091, a ghost ship rife with the greatest generation's undead ($5). It's strictly 13-years and up, and as with any visit to a place you might want to run out of, you'll need flat shoes, ladies.
For more upscale heebie-jeebies, the Morris Graves Museum of Art is hosting Murder by Dessert's Murder at the Museum event on Saturday at 6 p.m. ($75, $50 members). A ghost named Ralph is said to haunt the place in a suit and fedora (not a bad look to be stuck with for eternity), and guests are invited to discover if he's a wandering spirit or just a hoax. Either way, there's a buffet dinner.
Finally, you can surround yourself with actual dead people at the Sunrise Cemetery in Fortuna for Grave Matters and Untimely Departures at 1 p.m. on Sunday ($15) and hear tales from the underground while the sun is still up. Not that you're chicken.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Wild Ideas
Posted By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill on Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 5:31 PM
Why aren't we done with philosophy? After thousands of years and a parade of togas, cravats and very tight updos, haven't we pretty much covered humanity's questions? Maybe. But given the fuss a controversial mind like Peter Singer's can still raise, probably not. The author of Animal Liberation and The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter, among other books, is visiting from his post at Princeton and giving a free lecture at the Van Duzer on Friday at 7 p.m.
He's a utilitarian (Team Kant), but without the special treatment for being human. Animal Liberation set the animal rights movement afire by questioning why human needs should be put above other sentient beings. (Maybe don't wear that leather jacket to the talk.)
Some other controversial positions on ethics: Abortion? No. Surrogacy? Yes. Performance enhancing drugs? Sometimes. Euthanasia? No. Redistribution of wealth? Yes. Eating animals? No. Bestiality? Sometimes.
I'm sorry, what?
But it's the why that's the thing. He's not just trying to take away all your fun — or give it back, depending on what you're into — Singer is looking at the way we live and asking if we're doing good or harm and if there is a morally responsible way to live. Which may be why we're not done with philosophy. Because the more we get used to the way we live, the more we have to question it.
From the Hum: Tonight's Art Rock
Posted By Jennifer Savage on Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 9:33 AM
Art-rocker Todd Clouser plays the Jambalaya. His latest record, Man With No Country, was produced by Anton Fier (Pere Ubu, Golden Palominos, Lounge Lizards) and is being released on Medeski Martin & Wood drummer Billy Martin's label, Amulet Records. "Those are pretty major artistic endorsements," says his promotions guy, reasonably. Music starts around 9:30 p.m. and show's 21-and-over. An 8.5 on this sounds-interesting-for-musician-types-and-what-else-you-going-to-do-on-a-Tuesday-night? meter.
Monday, October 21, 2013
From the Hum: Tonight's Goth Downer, Folk Upper
Posted By Jennifer Savage on Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 9:29 AM
If the Yogoman show(s) put too much happy into your life, balance things out with Troller and Ssleeperhold, two Austin bands bringing dark electronica to The Siren's Song. Bleak and ominous. Things start at 9 p.m., cover is $5 and all ages are welcome, so punish your bad children by making them stay up late on a Monday night listening to purgatory's soundscape. A 6 on the black-eyeliner-early-Halloween meter.
Birds of Chicago is a collective based around singer/songwriters JT Nero (JT and the Clouds) and Allison Russell (Po' Girl). Nero is "a poet of the everyday and the absurd, the lonely, the hopeful and the semi-hopeful ... He's got a fractured country soul croon, full of doo-wop ghosts and old time religion." Russell plays banjo, ukulele, guitar, and clarinet, is a top-shelf whistler and, most importantly, knows how to use her voice to lift us all up from our mundane lives into a purer world. You'll likely leave the 8 p.m. Arcata Playhouse show with a bit more grace than you had coming in — and for only $15 at the door. A 10 on the goddamn-that's-good-I-want-to-be-a-better-person meter.
Full Hum here.
