Francis Vanek is a Pennsylvania-born but West Coast rambling ace saxophonist of the latter-day jazz genre. He is bringing his Quartet back to the Basement tonight at 7:30 p.m. for an evening of the good stuff that will heal what ails you for a mere $5.
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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Land Speed Record
The title of this week’s edition comes from Minnesota punk pioneers Hüsker Dü’s intense 1981 concert album, after the group had — allegedly — discovered a performance-enhancing drug that sometimes goes by the second word in the said title, but before they essentially invented pop punk. It is a rough and wonderful crash course of […]
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The Summer Wind
We have certainly entered the part of the summer where our nostalgia for the bright and lazy days of late June is colored by the scent of wood smoke and over-ripened fruit. The kind of sensation that curls over our nostrils and into our brains like the tendrils of cigarette vapors from Rick Blaine’s ashtray […]
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Music Tonight: Tuesday, Sept. 1
Taco Tuesday at Richards’ Goat is always a safe bet for a good time, but there’s really nothing finer than when the attached Miniplex has an early show to enjoy for after. Tonight has Norwegian-born, Berlin-based duo Soft as Snow, who take the format of DJ and MC and turn it into something else entirely […]
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Music Tonight: Monday, Aug. 31
It’s not every day around here you get the chance to check out a retro punk and garage band from Paris, and almost never on a Monday. But this is the last Monday of August, and things get a little weird in these parts when the locals brace themselves into a phalanx to handle the […]
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Music Tonight: Sunday, Aug. 30
MaMuse is a folk and soul revival act that began as a collaboration between musicians Sarah Nutting and Karisha Longaker in the deep end of 20 years ago in the rambling corridors of our home state that are leafier than they are paved. The two have since grown to a quartet, and are currently touring […]
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Music Tonight: Thursday, Aug. 27
The Rumba Madre may have started in Nashville, but the group is anything but another commercial country beerfart. The fellas play a hodge podge of punk, cumbia, reggaeton and dirty South trap bangers with a fluid beauty that must be heard to be understood. Returning to HumCo after not too long from their last show […]
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Read After Burning
Burnstitch Collective has been attached to many of the murmurs I hear about simple and great ideas around here, and I am going long this week to write about them because it’s both overdue and perfectly timely. They are putting on an all-ages DIY punk festival called Against All Odds at RampArt Skate Park this […]
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Music Tonight: Saturday, Aug. 22
If you have ever wondered what kind of magic lurks in our local electro music scene, you could hardly hope for a better showcase than tonight’s shindig in the Swan Room at the Shanty at 8 p.m. Elegant Humanoid, Hudson Glover and Shiny Eyes all represent both the best and most diverse examples of that […]
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Music Tonight: Friday, Aug. 21
The Arcata Playhouse is presenting a Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett Tribute Concert tonight at 8 p.m. The music will be provided by local jazzbos RLA along with Gary Lewis on saxophone and flute, while the voice will come courtesy of veteran singer Brad Curtis. At $20 a ticket, this gig is a bargain for […]
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Music Tonight: Thursday, Aug. 20
Robert Henry and the Repeaters are a country act from Portland, Oregon, that incorporates all the best parts of swing and honky tonk to kick up a good time like a pack of dust devils. Not only are they rolling through town, but they’re playing at the Logger Bar, one of the best venues for […]
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You Want It Darker
I’m writing this around the 90th anniversary of the murder of the Spanish poet Federico Lorca during the Spanish Civil War by the brutal Nationalist forces under the command of eventual dictator Francisco Franco. I say “around” because the actual timeline of his abduction and assassination is still uncertain, as are the whereabouts of his […]