Chicago-based reissue label Numero Group has released a number of collections of excellent out-of-print and never-released soul singles from the late 1960s to the early ’70s in their Eccentric Soul series. It begs the question why some of these artists, such as Richard Cook (on the Atlanta-based Tragar/Note label) or Renaldo Domino (on Chicago’s Twinight […]
Music
Coverage of the music scene in Humboldt County with upcoming shows from locals and out-of-town acts, reviews, interviews and more.
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Who is Jacob Fred?
There was some sort of time zone mix-up when I called Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey leader/pianist Brian Haas in Tulsa, his home since he was four. When we connected later I learned he was in a meeting with some people from the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra to plan a concert for early next year, in which […]
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The Eternal
Sonic Youth provides the bridge between 1970s post-punk experimentations (and noise) and the contemporary noise-core and Black Metal movements, while including an eclectic variety of musical genres flowing beneath its span. So it’s no great surprise to discover that Sonic Youth drew on some of those contemporary influences, within the band’s own evolution, for their […]
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Music for the People
The title track of the Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars record boils it down: "Living like a refugee is not easy." That’s an understatement, especially when you look at the life of someone like the group’s young rapper/drummer, who calls himself Black Nature. He’s no longer a refugee, in fact he’s currently living in San […]
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Viva La Juerga
Looking for something cool to do in San Francisco on a Friday night, we somehow ended up at The Rickshaw Stop, where bicycles hung from the ceiling and a band called Diego’s Umbrella was on stage. I’d heard about the S.F. band’s cross-genre mash-up; they’d played their "Mexicali Gypsy Pirate Rock" in Humboldt a few […]
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Hansel and Gretel
Kids’ dance productions are about that: kids dancing. Artistic director Victor Temple’s version of the siblings sent to the woods fairytale gave a lot of kids a lot of chances to dance up a storm. His choreography, appropriate to the abilities of the children, gave them their proper placement in the oeuvre of classical ballet. […]
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Actor
St. Vincent is an unusual character. Berklee College of Music dropout, Polyphonic Spree alumnus, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter, Annie Clark adopted her stage name, "St. Vincent," from the New York hospital where poet Dylan Thomas died (hours after being carted out of the White Horse Tavern). In 2007, after touring with Sufjan Stevens’ band, Clark […]
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101 Milestones
It doesn’t get any more Humboldt than Bill Morrill, creator of 101 Milestones. Morrill wasn’t exactly born here in Humboldt County, but he moved here in ’72 so forget about it. He’s been here for days. Some time ago, back in 2004, Morrill came up with the 101 Milestones concept. Morrill recognized how rich the […]
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abstract dissident
He calls his new album Newspeak, a reference to George Orwell’s 1984 that’s far from accidental. Ivan Ives was born in Russia, son of a dissident artist. "My dad’s still not welcome there," he told me, calling from L.A. "Even though it’s kind of a democracy now, there’s still a lot of KGB around and […]
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Black Monk Time (reissue)
Hailing from Germany, The Monks were an unconventionally timeless band, making their mark with a single record. Originally released in Europe on Polydor in 1965, with only 3,000 records issued, Black Monk Time failed to garner U.S. distribution. And after three-odd years of exhaustive touring, the band dissolved. It would be difficult to imagine then […]
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Please, Please, Please
Can’t say exactly when it was, maybe nine or 10 years ago, when I first saw JP Hasson performs as Pleaseeasaur. The made-up dinosaur was one of many personas he took on that night in the Plaza Grill View Room, singing and dancing to intentionally cheesy nightclub music in front of a portable back-drop that […]
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City of Subdued Excitement
What if a drug existed that gave you energy, inspired you toward happiness, was only addictive in the most positive sense and cost under $20 for a near-lifetime supply? What if all that was true of a particular new CD? Music is just about the cheapest mood-altering substance out there. Let’s say I bought City […]