Cover Story
A Homeless Survival Guide
The leaves in some states will be changing soon, colors of every hue — reds and yellow, brilliant orange, still a little bit of green and finally brown — will float to earth to help bring life anew. I’ve traveled all over the U.S. several times over the years but, to me, no matter where,…
Music Tonight: Wednesday (Addams), Nov. 1
It’s All Saint’s Day, and you want some contrition to temper the evil of last week. You want your “Ave Maria” after “A Night On Bald Mountain” from Fantasia. I have three free shows for you to fix your soul with and put a lid back on your demons. The Speakeasy has alternative house/jazz band…
Eureka Man Dies in Solo 299 Crash
A 40-year-old Eureka man died Monday night in a solo-vehicle crash on State Route 299 after apparently making an unsafe turn to the right that sent his truck and trailer into an embankment before overturning, according to CHP. Daniel Ryan Cox was wearing a seatbelt and traveling westbound in a Ford F-250 with an attached…
Music Tonight: Tuesday, Oct. 31
This is Halloween! Technically Halloween! Here are two Halloween costume party shows you can attend back to back. At 7 p.m. the Outer Space hosts Misfits cover band BRAINxEATERS, Julio Perdido (Spanish and punk covers), Daniel (pop-punk covers) and Muy Perraz’s “sex techno.” Various DJs spin ghoulish tunes and $5 will get you in with…
Here for the Candy
Trick or treat options ranged from candy to rocks (surprisingly popular!) in Old Town in Eureka on Saturday afternoon. A large crowd of costumed superheroes, Wonder Women, popular action and Pokémon characters, as well as costumed parents, wandered from participating stores on First, Second and Third streets to pick up the mostly sugary treats. Enjoy…
Music Tonight: Monday, Oct. 30
Get an early start on celebrating Dia de Los Muertos at the Van Duzer at 7 p.m. with L.A.’s Grammy-winning Latin rock group La Santa Cecilia, Mexrrissey (a delightful Mexican Morrissey cover band with Spanish-language vocals) and one of the world’s preeminent all female mariachi bands, Mariachi Flor de Toloache ($39).
Music Tonight: Sunday, Oct. 29
Acclaimed songwriter and musician’s musician Chris Smither brings his low-tenor rasp to The Old Steeple in Ferndale, where the doors will open at 6:30 p.m. ($25 advance, $30 door). His songs have been covered by everyone from Emmylou Harris to Bonnie Raitt and his tune “Leave The Light On” gives me goosebumps every time and…
Eureka Man Calls for Volunteer Action on Loose Needle Problem
“Stop thanking me,” says Brandon Krigbaum. The tall, bearded former wildland firefighter has been picking up and discarding loose needles in Eureka for a month and a half, and has gotten used to congratulatory messages on social media and his voicemail. At the Oct. 17 Eureka City Council meeting, Councilmember Kim Bergel lauded his volunteerism.…
Music Tonight: Saturday, Oct. 28
If I could Kyle Reese/Terminator-Skynet send myself back in time to tell dumb teenage me anything, I’d probably avoid mentioning the hellscape of the last election cycle and just make myself learn how to ride a skateboard and have fun while my body is still supple and quick to heal. Moms and dads: Don’t let…
Zoellner Takes First Step Toward Suing Arcata for Handling of Lawson Case
Kyle Zoellner, a McKinleyville man who remains the sole suspect named in the April stabbing death of Humboldt State University student David Josiah Lawson, has filed an initial claim for money or damages against the city of Arcata. Zoellner was released after a pre-trial hearing in May, with Judge Dale Reinholtsen determining there was insufficient evidence…
Spooky Dunes at the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center
Parents and kids, take a tour through the Spooky Dunes on Sunday, Oct. 29 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center ($5 donation, $3 members/Manila residents). See what spooky and silly characters you meet along the way. Come in costume! Call 444-1397 to reserve a spot for the one-hour tours.
Boo at the Zoo
Black Phillip was creepy but the goats are all cuddly at Sequoia Park Zoo’s Boo at the Zoo happening Sunday, Oct. 29, from noon to 4 p.m. (regular zoo admission). This family-friendly annual event has arts and crafts for the kids, creepy snacks, hot apple cider, a costume parade and contest, and the delightful animal…
Music Tonight: Friday, Oct. 27
Talented local early jazz trio Belles of the Levee will be singing and plucking tunes from The Great American Songbook at the Palm lounge in Eureka at 9 p.m. ($5). These ladies are fantastic live and the venue fits their vintage vibe well. The Arcata Theater Lounge is bringing back locally favored electronic act Minnesota…
Safe Trick or Treating for the Children of the Night
Is there a holiday kids love more than Halloween? (Nice try, Arbor Day.) They dress up, run amok and shriek with excitement — and all that before the sugar kicks in. So, where can you take your young Frankensteins and Rosemary’s babies for candy and spooky fun? On Saturday, Oct. 28, McKinleyville Safeway Shopping Plaza…
RampArt Skatepark Shred Fest 4
Dude. Grab your board and make waves to RampArt Skatepark Saturday, Oct. 28 for Shred Fest 4 from 3 to 10 p.m. (free admission). This fundraiser for area skateparks/activities has music, food and refreshments and a whole lot of skating, surfing, skate and BMX competitions as well as lots of fun activities for kids and…
Music Tonight: Thursday, Oct. 26
Since Halloween falls on a Tuesday this year (boo), most of us will probably be celebrating it sometime over that nebulous Twilight Zone period from Thursday to Sunday that many Humbolsheviks call The Weekend. But fret not, dear ones, here’s a bright side: If you celebrate Halloween over a premature weekend, you have at least…
HumBug: Halloween Spiders
With Halloween in mind, I set about looking for something creepy to photograph. According to some recent research, we humans are apparently programmed from a very early age to react to spiders and snakes. Looking for something dramatic to shoot, camera and flashlight in hand, I took a nocturnal tour of my backyard. This the…
Illicit Grows Face $10K-a-Day Fines
After months and months of trying to use the proverbial carrot to bring Humboldt County cannabis farmers into compliance, officials are now turning to the stick. According to Planning Director John Ford, the county’s code enforcement unit — which was moved under planning’s umbrella earlier this year — has sent out abatement notices to dozens…
Humboldt on Tap
I learned early on I don’t like drinking games. Competitive quaffing of the quantitative kind is rightfully the territory of stereotypes named Bluto. There are no winners. Drinking while playing games — be it poker, Settlers of Catan or softball — is noble but precarious if there’s money on the line. Perhaps the only good…
Trick or Treat Yourself
I don’t like Halloween. I have fallen asleep in a graveyard on two non-consecutive Halloweens. I once coated myself in homemade corn-syrup blood to the point where my own friends didn’t recognize me and I had to explain why my face was stained pink to my coworkers for a week. I have sat through the…
The swallows are gathering at Klamath Glen
The swallows are gathering at Klamath Glen. Queing up on the telephone lines, Chattering to their neighbors, Exchanging pleasantries and updates on Eggs laid and chicks survived or lost, Getting ready for the long trip south. It’s been months since they arrived in One large flock. Breaking immediately Into pairs, off they went to nest…
Away from the Rain
The first deluge of winter has come and gone, but it will be at least another month before extreme weather shelters open across Humboldt County. The shelters generally open when there is more than an inch of rain or temperatures fall below the low 30s, and are usually volunteer-led efforts that help people without homes…
The Bully in the Pulpit
Editor: To President Theodore Roosevelt, the term “bully” was an adjective meaning something was wonderful. As such, he coined the phrase “bully pulpit” to mean the country listens to the president when he speaks policy. Unfortunately, President Trump has some difficulty with this. First, he often changes his message from day to day, which leaves…
Meet Robert Hager
I don’t think I’ll ever forget the first time I met Robert Hager. It was about a year ago, a balmy Friday morning in September, and I showed up at the Budget Motel on Fourth Street in Eureka, which the city was condemning with little notice to residents. Hager was standing in the parking lot…
Sharktober, Part Four
The Sharkbanz, a chunky wrist-worn device advertised as “a convenient and effective shark deterrent for the beachgoer, swimmer and surfer,” sits on my dresser next to a stack of bills and behind the floral fabric pouch containing my father’s ashes. I was supposed to try it out back in the spring, write a little something…
A Microcosm of Life on Avenue Q
Avenue Q is a puppet show with humans. Or a human show with puppets. Whichever way you look at it, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx’s musical, now playing at Humboldt State University, is a smart blend of youthful angst and mature topics that brings to all-too-realistic life that treacherous bridge from student to responsible adult.…
Hot Shots
Reviews ONLY THE BRAVE. Director Joseph Kosinski’s last feature Oblivion (2013) left me with mixed feelings: beautifully made from a technical standpoint, vividly imagined, well cast and acted, and yet its story came apart midway through and never recovered. It was an exercise in frustration, in potential greatness lost to a screenplay that needed just…
Listening to the Universe with LIGO
For as long as our kind has looked up at night, all our information about the universe has come from electromagnetic waves: mainly visible light (amplified by telescopes since Galileo’s time), infrared and ultraviolet light and, more recently, radio waves. That is, until 5:51 a.m. Eastern time on Sept. 14, 2015, when a half-second “chirp”…
Hellraisers Have Halloween Fun Around the County
When it comes to Halloween thrills, do you prefer dancing in costume or flailing about in fear? Flailers, nothing gets your limbs thrashing like a trip through the dark passages of the Haunted Kinetic Lab of Horrors. The creepers at The Kinetic Sculpture Lab are freaking people out Oct. 26-28 and again on Oct. 31…
