The Setlist

It’s the first official weekend with most of HSU’s students out of town. Many of us (underemployed alumni ourselves) get to breathe a sigh of snobbish relief. Arcata returns to normal — whatever the hell that means — and we are spared the constant reminder of how innocent and carefree our lives used to be […]

I originally hesitated to jump on the bandwagon of grieving for the former artist known as Prince, not because he wasn’t deserving, but because the outpouring was near universal and ubiquitous. Now, a few weeks since his passing, I feel comfortable reflecting on our loss, and the temporal nature of other artists and entertainers. Like […]

In a sense, all songs are stories; the ones with lyrics are little more explicit (sometimes), but even instrumental music shares something about the human experience. In many cultures — I’m guessing — songs and music are more clearly understood as a vehicle for a story. That’s not to say that we don’t understand that […]

With Humboldt County’s weather confused about if it is spring or summer, I, like many others this past weekend, found myself down on the banks of the Mad River taking in the 80-degree heat and working on my sunstroke. As the kids splashed around in the still-chilled waters, I reached into our “river bag” and […]

It was in no way planned, but the recent death of Merle Haggard provides an awkward, yet perhaps fitting, opportunity to shine a light on a local band influenced by his “Bakersfield sound.” A cover band they’re not, but Cliff Dallas & the Death Valley Troubadours play what I think they call “Mojave Country Twang” […]

Our brains are hardwired to be empathetic; that is, we have the ability to “understand” another’s experiences. I’ve heard the term “mirror-neurons” thrown around as a way of explaining it, but let me give it a go here. When we see someone experiencing or expressing an emotion — be it happiness, sadness, fear, love, etc. […]

Since you’re a loyal “Setlist” reader, you know I am not above exploiting my children in order to fulfill my word count. In general, I’m just not above exploiting my children. So, not too long ago I found myself showing parts of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival to my 9-year-old son. The context or reasoning […]

St. Patrick’s Day is upon us (or past us, depending when you read this), the day us non-Irish look to simplify and reduce an entire culture to a Hallmark-esque version of binge-drinking balderdash ending in a black-out. Then there’s the day after St. Patrick’s Day, when we are biologically reminded that we are not Irish […]