Life is weird. Have you noticed that? When you’re a kid, you think you have it all figured out, then you get older and realize you don’t know much at all, then you think realizing you don’t know much is some sort of sign that you’re ahead in the game, but then something comes along […]
The Setlist
Our picks for the week’s best live music plus interviews and music news.
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Thinking Out Loud
Let’s look ahead to the end of the month for a moment: The 39th annual Summer Arts and Music Festival takes place May 30 and 31 at Benbow and features headliners JJ Grey & Mofro — think blues, funk, soul, rock and gospel — and Blackalicious, a Sacramento hip-hop duo consisting of rapper Gift of Gab and […]
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All Kinds of Music
It’s a long list of goodness, friends. Let’s dive in. Thursday: All You Need is Love (and Money) All right, so there’s a benefit for Boys and Girls Club of the Redwoods at the Jambalaya with music by Beatles tribute band Silver Hammer, plus Triple Junction. The Club is running in the red, says show […]
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An Epic Week (!!!)
Guys! This week is nuts! I feel like I’m 15! So many exclamation points!!! Forget about sleep or saving money or anything other than getting yourself out to at least one of these excellent shows! Friday: A Thing! It’s not just any ol’ thing, The Stringthing. It’s a very special type of thing. With strings! […]
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Mood Music
You know when you’re in a kind of mood and then music comes to you that does more than reflects that mood, it soaks right into you and you soak in it, revel in it, until that weird sadness you were feeling evaporates away with the music? That’s where I found myself while listening to […]
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Classics, Rock
Hi, Humboldt! This week’s Setlist comes to you from New Orleans’ Faubourg Marigny district, adjacent to the French Quarter, drenched in musical history, tasting of Sazerac rye and smelling like a barbequed shrimp po’ boy. No wonder, then, that we’re highlighting the jazzy greatness of Ryan Keberle and Catharsis taking place Monday night at the […]
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Fill Your Ears
Hello, Humboldt! I’m writing to you from San Francisco’s Outer Sunset district, the final leg of a coastal trip that included seeing SF’s very fine Western swing band The Vivants at Smiley’s Saloon in Bolinas — Smiley’s is the oldest tavern west of the Mississippi, how about that?! — and shooting pool for hours in […]
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The Odd, The Fad and the Heavy
Before we get into where you can go with your bodies, let’s talk about where you can go with your ears. This week marks the debut of a new KMUD program, The Adventurous Ear in which host John Hardin shares unusual, interesting, genre-defying music, and talks to the artists who create it — including Humboldt […]
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Life’s a Beach
Sunday evening found me neck deep in my computer, clicking back and forth between work stuff and Facebook. I’d stayed up late the night before judging Drag Wars — tough gig! — and was struggling to finish a project that should’ve taken me an hour but, despite my efforts, remained undone after several. My neck […]
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Existential Options
Welcome to this week, which, like many weeks, features a variety of sounds to please, challenge and motivate you. What a grand time to live. Thursday: Be open Starting things off, you’ve got the inherently fascinating RedRumsey, brainchild of Oly’s Vern Rumsey, best known for his seminal, post-hardcore ’90s band, Unwound. During that decade it […]
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Meditate on This
Sometimes I wonder about things. The sort of questions many of us ask ourselves: What am I doing here? Where am I going? Will people take care of me when I’m old? Why do I care so much whether or not people go see live music? That latter one especially. One reason is that, much […]
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Style Counsel
L et’s mix it up a bit. Pick something you wouldn’t usually gravitate toward and give it a go. Remember, you can always leave discreetly, especially if you sit in the back and duck out during a break. At least you’ll have attempted to expand your horizons. Friday: High-falutin’, funk or a holler? When’s the […]