It’s official. Reggae on the River is going home to French’s Camp, the bend in the Eel where it all began. Last week the Humboldt County Planning Commission signed off on a new Environmental Impact Report submitted by the Mateel Community Center and approved the nonprofit’s plan for a concert the first weekend in August […]
Bob Doran
Freelance photographer and writer, Arts and Entertainment editor from 1997 to 2013.
Posted inMusic
Humboldt Crows
When Chicago-based singer/songwriter JT Nero, leader of the rock/soul/country band JT and the Clouds, started thinking about making a solo acoustic album, he ended up collaborating with his friend Allison Russell, a banjo/ukulele picker and vocalist from the Canadian urban folk outfit, Po’ Girl. Their respective bands had played together over the years, forming […]
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Who Will Pay the Piper?
The stewards of Arcata’s now-defunct redevelopment agency were scolded by a former member Thursday morning, as two contractors worried aloud about when or whether they’ll get paid. The fretting came as the panel debated what to do about roughly $2 million that the state says was improperly spent and now needs to be returned. The […]
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Eureka! (It’s TEDx Eureka)
The Journal’s Field Notes columnist Barry Evans was among the deep thinkers dropping knowledge at TEDx Eureka, which, as Evans pointed out somewhat ironically, took place in Arcata in December. Humboldt’s first such event featured talks on a wide range of topics, everything from recycling and roller derby to the American Revolution and the environmental […]
Posted inMusic
The New
Well, we all survived the end of the world, and Xmas, and whatever other holiday you might have celebrated. (Is Kwanza over?) All right, on to the next round of themed parties. It’s not quite as cataclysmic as the Mayan end times, but Monday marks the end of another year and the beginning of […]
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Top 10: East West Rail Line
It’s not a new idea. Preliminary plans for a rail line connecting Humboldt to points east were discussed in the late 19th century, but a north-south line was built instead. Landslides put that one out of commission, and there has been no rail service to Humboldt since 1999. In its absence, the dream of an […]
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Top 10: The Year in Pot
It’s an undeniable fact: Cannabis is big business in Humboldt. Marijuana was on our top 10 story list in 2011, and the year before, and the year before that and farther back into distant news archives. This year some of the biggest news was national, with voters in Colorado and Washington State legalizing recreational […]
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Apocalypse Now?
This morning, as in 12/21/12, the Mayan’s last day, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s office posted this photo of a cataclysmic rending of asphalt on Covelo Road, aka Highway 162, described by friend of the Journal Mike Wilson as, “Kind of like every scene in the movie 2012, only a much much smaller version.” Is this […]
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Zombie Apocalypse
Philip Anderson didn’t look too far gone. Blood was dripping from his mouth, his shirtsleeve was torn, he was pale and his eyes were slightly sunken. But his demeanor was positively chipper. Anderson was happily teaching the living how to survive the zombie apocalypse. This was back in October during the Zombie Invasion of […]
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Green Party
The crowd jostles for position around an octagonal glass case that glows in the dim light, peering in as if it held precious jewels. The case holds a couple of hundred green marijuana buds, entries in what’s billed as “the world’s only outdoor organic cannabis competition,” the annual Emerald Cup. Here in the Grower’s Pavilion […]
Posted inMusic
The End (or Whatever)
The end of the world Friday? I doubt it, but who knows? Maybe those ancient Mayans knew something we don’t. Or maybe they simply created a calendar that tracked the passing of time, the changing seasons. Friday is also the solstice: We officially shift from autumn to winter, a traditional time to gather together to […]
Posted inMusic
Songs for the Season
You don’t hear The Babes often. The group of 25-30 women singers only does a couple of concerts a year, one in the spring and another around Christmas time. Carol Ryder, musical and artistic director of the Humboldt Light Opera Company, leads the ensemble. “We call ourselves The Babes, although officially we’re the Humboldt Light […]