The Setlist

First up, the Humboldt Folklife Festival goodness continues through Saturday, July 19 – please see the calendar section for full listings, then round out your selections with the shows below, which include a number of formerly-of-Humboldt highlights. Thursday: Sparse and sophisticated Christian Lee Hutson is one of a new generation of American singer-songwriters clearly drawn […]

Somehow what should have been a lackadaisical post-holiday week turns out to have a number of potentially damn fine shows. Of special note, the joy that is the Humboldt Folklife Festival starts this Saturday with the Pilot Rock Ramblers and Clean Livin’ at the Mad River Brewery at 6 p.m. Other highlights include Monday’s Songwriter […]

Hey, baby, it’s the Fourth of July. What’s on your celebration agenda? Debating whether Americans are truly free given the shackles of income inequality, lack of adequate health care and steep decline in quality education? Getting ripped along the river, burning pallets and blasting fireworks until the night sky is as lit as your buddy […]

I recently found myself sucked into a debate about whether a band member deliberately shooting snot rockets and spitting onto the audience during a show improved or diminished the live music experience. The guy who attended the gig thought being the target of bodily fluid projectiles ramped up the excitement. Most of the rest of […]

It might feel like summer already, what with school getting out and Oyster Fest having happened and your friends lazing at the river (assuming they’re not too sunburned, poor things) while you’re stuck behind a keyboard typing out advice on how they should spend their nights. But technically, this Saturday is the formal ringing-in of […]

Hello! I’m here to tell you about some live music performances that will enhance your life, make you more attractive to others and ensure that you don’t become the kind of person binge-watching reality TV. Don’t say I didn’t tell you Here are some reasons you want to go to the Palm Lounge on Friday […]

Ah, baseball! What could be more feel-good than sitting in the stands, cheering on the Humboldt Crabs, seeing all the folks you only see in the summertime, wondering if the drunk hecklers behind you are going to spill beer down your back, right there at the Arcata Ball Park, where cowboys and hippies find common […]

Sometimes switching gears from reading the news to writing about music requires a sort of conscious cognitive dissonance. “Damn, people are messed up,” says my brain, reeling from shootings and kidnappings and other various expressions of hatred and instability. “Look at all the fine shows happening this week,” says my brain, hoping people will seize […]