Even if you don’t have fond flashback memories of the late Joan Schirle in the role of Mary Jane and the music from the 2011 production of Mary Jane the Musical, I highly recommend seeing Mary Jane the Musical 2: The Grandson at the outdoor Dell’Arte Amphitheater stage in Blue Lake. (Dress warmly, bring a […]
Arts + Scene
Reviews, interviews and upcoming highlights from the week in visual and performing arts around Humboldt County.
Posted inScreens
“Obsession” is a Hard Watch, Hard Recommend
OBSESSION. Stephen King once wrote that many of his best stories started with a “What if?” What if vampires invaded a small New England village? What if a bullied high school girl turned out to have supernatural powers? What if the person you love suddenly loves you back, and that turns out to be the […]
Posted inPoetry
Waxwings
The dawn after you diedThe cedar waxwings cameFirst one, then a dozen, then a throngThe cotoneaster, twenty-thousand berries strongSupported them easily The tree got taller as the birds got fullerThen the empty-nester stood too tallTo see its flock dig up their leavingsFrom the ground below Six feet under another treeTwenty-thousand secondsSince life felled youLies a […]
Posted inArt Beat
Fired Up for Flatmo Alley
Three weeks ago, local artist Duane Flatmo went public on social media with some personal health news and an invite to a June 13 party in Eureka: “Hope to see you at this event. Some of you might know already that I have been given some troubling health news and would love to see friends […]
Posted inScreens
Master Classes
DISCLOSURE DAY. When I last wrote or even thought critically about Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans, 2022), I recalled my adolescent resistance to his work, realizing in hindsight that my affinity for snark and edginess (it was the 1990s) had veiled my eyes, or at least inured me, to the integrity and mastery underpinning all of […]
Posted inArt Beat
Open Studios 2026
In case you missed a chance to visit some of the studios and galleries of the 150 local artists participating in the 26th annual North Coast Open Studios event last weekend, no worries. There’s still time to visit many of their studios and galleries located between Eureka and Trinidad and east to Willow Creek this […]
Posted inScreens
“Tow” Might Be Good for You
TOW. Is a judicial system, ostensibly built to protect the citizenry but susceptible to the manipulations of commerce and greed, inherently cynical? Possibly. Is a movie, replete with marketable stars, that explores an individual’s struggle against such a corruptible system, also cynical? Hopefully not. What about the critic who, in the face of such an […]
Posted inFront Row
River City Wows
I remember when Lea Salonga and Daisy Eagan won Tony awards in the same year, 1991. Watching a Filipina and an 11 year old recognized on Broadway’s biggest night was inspirational and transformative as it affirmed all that is possible in the art I was quickly falling in love with. Likewise, watching performers like Michaela Band, […]
Posted inPoetry
There Is A Story
There is a story,a story acting like a ribbon would in the wind,twisting and dancing. In this story she is like a hillrolling wet and green under a yellow sun. She is that sliver of moonbright in the dark summer night. She is surrounded by childrenand music, snow and breath and flowers,righteous indignation and a certain way […]
Posted inScreens
‘Backrooms’ Breaks Out of the Internet
BACKROOMS. In order to talk about Backrooms (2026), A24’s newest psychological horror directed by breakout filmmaker Kane Parsons and based off his cult YouTube series, it is important to take a few steps back to look at the veryinternet-based origins of this film’s unsettling landscape. The film’s endless mono-yellow passages and torturous fluorescent light invoking […]
Posted inScreens
Folk Horror Summer
PASSENGER. Sunken in our seats after the now usual set of car commercials that precede the previews, the trailer for Passenger was a welcome jolt. A likely pair of dudes pull over on a dark backroad for a potty break that escalates to creepy disappearance, sudden shock, gore, specter-sighting and a cracking jump scare. It boded […]