A little after 8 a.m. this morning, my cell phone rang with a distinctive chime indicating a text message. Offering advance warning, it told me I was about to receive a text from someone using Yahoo text. A couple of minutes later the text came. The message from someone I did not recognize, “scott.shawn22,” was […]
Bob Doran
Freelance photographer and writer, Arts and Entertainment editor from 1997 to 2013.
Posted inMusic
Subliminal Ecstatic Truth
It was some time in 2001 when filmmaker and renegade ethnographic culture warrior Hisham Mayet started gathering with like-minded friends in Seattle to share experiments in gathering sights and sounds of faraway cultures. The result was a record label and indie film distro called Sublime Frequencies. We spoke about the label’s origins on Monday, Sept. […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Well, If You’re Travelin’…
The Autumnal Equinox is coming up. It’s not until next Friday, but this being the weekend before, it’s time for another North Country Fair, Saturday and Sunday on the Arcata Plaza. The roots of the very Arcatan harvest festival celebrating the changing of the seasons go back to 1974. As usual it’s put on by […]
Posted inMusic
Honest Compelling Music
While jazz saxophonist Donny McCaslin currently lives in New York City, he’s a California boy originally, raised in the Santa Cruz area. He’s back on the West Coast this week on a tour that brings him to Arcata Thursday to open the new Redwood Jazz Alliance season with a show at HSU’s Kate Buchanan Room […]
Posted inMusic
Thoughtcrime Music
From the outside it looks like any other garage in a suburban neighborhood, but as you approach you hear the barely muffled sound of a raging post-punk band. The mattresses, carpet remnants and other sound baffling lining the walls inside the dark practice space barely contain the controlled chaos as Winston Smith prepares for a […]
Posted inMusic
Humboldt Country
Are you ready for some country music? It’s one of those weekends, you know, when people pull out their boots and cowboy hats, start dropping the “g” from the ends of words and sayin’ y’all. All around American music icon Willie Nelson plays on the racetrack at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds on Friday night with […]
Posted inNews
“This Is the Future”
It’s finally complete. After years of operating a state-of-the-art alternative energy lab in a collection of dilapidated buildings in the back of Humboldt State’s now-empty University Annex, the Schatz Energy Research Center moved into its new digs on Friday, celebrating with the grand opening with the requisite speeches and an open house. The brand new […]
Posted inMusic
Willie Etc.
CenterArts dominates Humboldt’s September concert scene with a trio of high profile shows starting with the biggie: Willie Nelson and Family playing Friday, Sept. 9, on the racetrack at Humboldt County Fairgrounds in Ferndale. Don’t need to say much about Willie — he’s an outlaw country icon with a songbook as deep as the ocean. […]
Posted inMusic
Seventy Senses
Does Humboldt move to a reggae beat? My esteemed colleague A. Goff suggests as much discussing the Kiwi reggae band Katchafire, which plays an AS Presents show at the Depot Tuesday (see our Calendar section). Reggae trivia side note: The band took its name from the title of the first American release by The Wailers. […]
Posted inNews
Kinetic Museum Problem Resolved?
At its heart the press release sent out last week by the Kinetic Universe was a plea for help. “CALLING ALL ANGELS AND ECCENTRIC MILLIONAIRES: SAVE THE KINETIC MUSEUM!” it shouted in its all caps title. The problem laid out by Kinetic Universe President Kati Texas seemed dire: “Despite every effort of fiscal and human […]
Posted inMusic
Shades of Ethiopia
Meklit Hadero had been working late the night before she called from her San Francisco home. “If you’re in the middle of writing a song, you can’t let it go until it tells you it’s done with you,” she said. Hidden in that explanation is a hint at how she relates to music — her […]
Posted inMusic
Bummer in the Summer
It’s back — again. The not-quite-moribund Placebo Collective marks the 10th anniversary of Bummerfest this weekend, expanding the all-ages, all-local alt. music event into a two-day marathon. For those who don’t remember Placebo, we offer a brief history. Founded by a group of teens in 1999 in an Arcata warehouse, the youth organization’s worthy goal […]