It’s been an active week for a news junkie like myself. Johnathan Franzen took a backheel approach to climate change in the pages of the New Yorker and, in doing so, cemented for all time the terminal uselessness of the establishment liberal position on nearly any topic. A brave banjo-wielding man busted the crap out […]
The Setlist
Our picks for the week’s best live music plus interviews and music news.
Posted inMusic
Bienvenidos
As an ad hoc cultural ambassador to the region and self-professed “music bozo,” I’d like to humbly welcome the assorted students of the area back to the academic grind. I won’t waste your time with a bunch of flutey language and annoying BS; I will instead direct your no doubt divided attentions to this big […]
Posted inMusic
No Country for Old Young Men
I’ll admit I am a bit of a jerk. I try not to be but my heart is heavy. The first election I was old enough to vote in was Bush vs. Gore and since then it’s basically been a backslide through unending war, recessions, bailouts for the financial industry and lately a gross turn […]
Posted inMusic
Beautiful Music in a Cruel World
Last week was marked by two high-profile deaths. The tragic suicide of troubled songwriter, poet and Silver Jews frontman David Berman, and the there’s-no-fucking-way-that-I-will-ever-believe-that-was-a-suicide demise of professional scumbag and alleged child pimp Jeffrey Epstein. And though both of these events happened in New York City, they are worlds apart: The latter has me watching with […]
Posted inMusic
Lawyers, Guns and Money vs. Us
It was a rough weekend for anybody who has a negative opinion about mass gun violence in America. I’d like to address this issue but I don’t want to do so broadly, so I will only speak to those who want to see change in the current trajectory of our country, and by the time […]
Posted inMusic
Reggae? Maybe …
The first big concert that I remember going to without an accompanying adult was Toots and the Maytals at the old Arcata Theater — when it was still mostly just a movie theater — sometime in my early teens. I can’t remember the date or my exact age because more than 20 years of life […]
Posted inMusic
Hot Summer Nights
Oops, I did it again. Another late night with one of my friends has led into a morning deadline panic and bleary-eyed struggle session with the English language. It’s OK, it was probably worth it. While I wasn’t in a Paris salon or a New York City coffee klatch, I would like to think I […]
Posted inMusic
Midsommar Blues
I started out this week’s column by just underlining in my notebook a bunch of punk shows happening around the bay. But my notebook, full of fliers and Cy Twombly-esque scribbles that pass as notes, tends to take on a stochastic process once the week gets fat and my deadline ripens, so I just let […]
Posted inMusic
Summer Camp Splendor
OK campers, pick a perch and cop a squat. I’ve got the 411 for you but this is not a recording and I will not be repeating myself. This week’s checklist of activities will include: the reunion of a local honky-tonk institution, visitors from Canada and England, booty shaking (no laughing, Johnson, or dammit, I […]
Posted inMusic
An Eye to the Sky
It’s the Fourth of July on Thursday and I’ll be skipping that day here this week. After all, what could I really suggest for you that would outshine this evening’s celebration of bellicosity and fireworks? Nothing. Which is exactly how I feel about this holiday in the age of Mitch McConnell. No push toward a […]
Posted inMusic
Tango and Experimental Jet Set
In spite of the notorious Humboldt summer entertainment slump, this week actually has some pretty nice offerings. There are many shows happening that are unusual enough to merit attention: Soundscapes and dance parties await your participation like mysterious invitations slipped under the door. There’s all kinds of good energy in the air. And if nothing […]