Music

Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945 at Nine Miles, Saint Ann, Jamaica. Legend that he is in the world of reggae, his birthday is still commemorated long after his death, and most years the Bob Marley celebrations stretch through the entire month. The Ragga Muffins Tour is one such Marley-esque congregation, a string […]

The CDs arrive in an unending stream. The mailman sticks them in the slot in my front door; FedEx and UPS drivers block the street in front of my house to drop them off; promoters leave them on my porch or mail them to the Journal office; bandmembers slip them to me at shows. I […]

Not long after Los Lobos’ Louie Perez called me last week, we got to talking about our kids. He has several, and spoke of his oldest son who, when he graduated from high school, announced that he was moving out of the house. His plan was to spend a couple of years "concentrating on the […]

It’s a Sunday morning and Hello Stranger is off the road for a change. Lead singer/keytar player Juliette Commagere is supposed to be finishing up a new song for band practice that afternoon, but, admitting she’s a procrastinator, she’s more than willing to put the task off to chat. She’s at home in West L.A. […]

The metaphor was unfortunate, even if it did declare itself a metaphor. The subhead in the Times-Standard preview of Wednesday night’s Winter Ruckus 4 promised "six exciting acts that plan to metaphorically burn the place down." Of course the hardcore hip hoppers, Tech N9ne, Potluck, LCA, Subnoize Souljaz and Blaze Ya Dead Homie do not […]

It’s been a while since Thad Beckman lived here in Humboldt. The blues guitarist/songwriter left for Texas a few years back – Austin to be specific – and then moved on from there to Portland, Ore., home to a substantial Humboldt ex-pat community, not that he’s exactly part of it. When I got hold of […]

For some guitar players it’s BB King, Eric Clapton or maybe Jimi Hendrix who provides inspiration to rip out a stinging lead run. For a young Bobby Radcliff, growing up in suburban Chevy Chase, Md., it was "Magic" Sam Maghett, a funky bluesman from Chicago. While still a teenager Radcliff ran away from home and […]