Here, There and Everywhere
Inside the up-and-coming corporate cooptation of the ‘buy local’ movement
Cover Story
Here, There and Everywhere
HSBC, one of the biggest banks on the planet, has taken to calling itself "the world’s local bank." Winn-Dixie, a 500-outlet supermarket chain, recently launched a new ad campaign under the tagline, "Local flavor since 1956." The International Council of Shopping Centers, a global consortium of mall owners and developers, is pouring millions of dollars…
Hooray incompetence!
When L.A. Times travel writer Christopher Reynolds arrived at the Arcata-Eureka Airport recently, his luggage did not. Could it have been snagged by the Humboldt County Convention and Visitors Bureau ? Reynold’s unplanned delay resulted in this handy list of “Six things to do in Trinidad while waiting for your airline to fulfill its obligations.”…
Sound of Moolah goes Viral
habits. Remember Dr. Ring’s Single-Payer Puppet Show ? We wrote about the local contribution to the health care debate in April when the musical puppet show, The Sound of Moolah , was a work in progress. Since then the troupe has taken the show all over the county with plans in the works for a…
Eureka feels gassy
This happens periodically, but it’s still worth noting: Eureka has once again taken then title for highest gasoline prices in the lower 48 , according to the American Automobile Association. AAA Northern California spokesman Matt Skryja explains, “California is among those states that have the most noticeable low demand for retail gasoline.” So, wait. How…
Snoop: A Big Louie’s Man?
Snoop: A Big Louie’s Man?: You might have thought that Snoop Dogg would have preferred APD or Big Pete’s, but you forgot one thing: The D-O-Double-G kicks it OLD SCHOOL. So says this TMZ post on Snoop’s Humboldt County pizza-buying
Pilgrimage for Michael
You may remember Mary Ann Lyons from last year’s presidential race. She was Humboldt County’s Obama Girl , the early adopter who ended up running the local portion of his campaign. Last week we got a call from her. She was on the road, on her way to Los Angeles. She was among those who…
NCJ Alum on Japan Election
NCJ Alum on Japan Election: Former Journal reporter Japhet Weeks, now a student at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, produces a video report on the Tokyo elections for the New York Times. (As usual, Japhet’s wife Yulia contributed to the report.) You might recognize the Weeks multimedia style from their NCJ report on…
Macca Brands Fortuna Fan
Hoopa! This ultra-awesome YouTube video was shot at the Paul McCartney show in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Saturday: The girl jumping up and down, barely able to contain herself, is 19-year-old Audrey McCombs of Fortuna. McCombs is a guitarist, tuba player, HSU music student, salesperson at Fortuna Music Mart, and — as evidenced by the…
Backbone Fire on Twitter
Backbone Fire on Twitter: Follow Monday! Hey, Humboldt County, guess who’s joined the Twittersphere! That’s right — it’s the 6,000-acre, 25-percent-contained wildfire burning in the hills east of
Humboldt known for wine, ag and kickass…
bicycling! That’s what Jason at the Ice Harbor Brewery in Kennewick, Wash. says he thinks of when he thinks “Humboldt County.” “Oh, and the ocean.” “Not pot?” “Well, that’s kind of a given,” he says. OK, back to the roadtrip/vacation.
Pot Hero
It seemed the whole NorCal pot activist community had gathered — not to mention patients, musicians, families and community members. The group smoked, danced and sweated in the July Upper Lake heat to live reggae acts and some weed-loving Mendo hip hop as well. Donations for the Eddy Lepp cause were collected, and a rainbow…
Living La Vida Local
At least for a week, I’m living the local life. At the request of Scott Menzies, one of the coordinators of the Humboldt County Independent Business Alliance (HumIBA), I took the "Go Local" pledge for Independents Week, the first week in July. Basically what it amounts to is promising to do most of my shopping…
Reggae Dreaming
The core members of local reggae band Woven Roots live way out in the hills above Willow Creek on a pair of homesteads where there is no cell phone reception. Connecting meant scheduling a time when the band’s guitarist, Gueren, could get to a hotspot on Friday Ridge. Gueren discovered this remote area when he…
Friendly Fire Fight
Up in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, our first serious wildfire of the season is burning. It was sparked by lightning on July 1, along with 15 other fires on the Six Rivers National Forest that have since been doused. The Backbone Fire exploded from 300 acres to 3,300 acres between Saturday and Monday as it…
That’s a Wrap
We have received notice that some local videographers are massing to storm the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors next week in response to the “Rebranding Humboldt” YouTube campaign we wrote about a couple of weeks ago (“Rebranding Humboldt,” June 25). The videographers, we understand, are more than a little incensed that out-of-county talent was hired…
Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at more than 30 participating locations in Arcata. Visit www.artsarcata.com for even more information about the event or call 822-4500. Arcata Artisans 883 H St. (13) Wine served to benefit Breast Health Project; Jeannie Fierce, paintings and hats; Eve Miller, glass…
Can’t Buy Soul
Editor: I think Richard Grabowski’s simplified way of dividing people into those who are for good jobs and those who are against them is nonsense ("Mailbox," July 2). A more accurate characterization of the divide, if there is one, is between people who are willing to sacrifice the things we love about living in Humboldt…
Fool on the Hill
Editor: This just in — "Rebranding Humboldt" (June 25)? Yes, it’s a whiff of Ferndale dairyaire. So 19th century, to try once again to overpower the more relaxing odors of the Mateel ("South to whose north?" the poet namer wrote). Get with the program, dudes. I for one am burnt out on hearing that timber…
Lessons from the Road
For the last month I’ve been on a book tour. Book tours consist of long periods of time away from home that are mostly spent wandering around in airports, reading incomprehensible driving directions while missing exits and finding creative ways to run your bar tab through the expense report as a bridge toll or a…
California’s Finest
Editor: I would like to thank the North Coast Journal for your recent articles regarding the indigenous peoples of Humboldt and Del Norte counties. I am especially appreciative of Tony Platt’s article on the history of graverobbing that still occurs among Native American graves in our region ("Grave Matters," June 18). It is important that…
Cecil and Jordan in New York: Stories
The last few decades have seen an explosion of autobiography and memoir in the comics world. High profile works like Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Marjane Satrapi’s Persopolis have drawn mainstream attention, and publishers Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly have made it their mission to showcase work that is a conscious antithesis to the fantasy and…
Pinko Rags
Editor: I found your article by Marcy Burstiner comical ("Media Maven," July 2). Leave it to an academic journalism professor to be absolutely clueless as to how the real world actually works. I shook my head at her lamenting can’t-we-all-come-together plea to media and suggestions for the near-dead Times-Standard. She apparently is unaware that most…
Bitte Orca
Brooklyn singer/songwriter David Longstreth is a deconstructionist. He gained a divisive reputation with his project/band Dirty Projectors and its 2007 release, Rise Above, a dismembering of songs from Black Flag’s Damaged. The rearranging of the originals was so extreme that it bordered on kitsch. But, from a laptop art school perspective, it was also very…
Dry is from Mars, Wet is from Venus
Maybe Humboldt isn’t the best location for clear skies. After all, our airport was originally built so World War II pilots could practice landing in fog. Even here, though, we should occasionally be able to spot our closest planetary neighbors this month. Throughout July, Venus and Mars dance close to each other in the morning…
Art on Film
Fans of Humboldt artists Stephen Vander Meer and Jim McVicker can now delve deeper into their respective worlds through two new films: More From Life a film by Vander Meer, and Jim McVicker, a way of seeing, created by Petter Granrud and John Crater. Well known for his Los Bagels "Clothed Tuesday" design, probably better…
Mann Up!
Previews Opening Friday, July 10, is Bruno, a mockumentary that finds Sacha Baron Cohen as the gay Austrian fashion designer inveigling people to make fools of themselves. Rated R for pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language. 83m At the Broadway, Mill Creek, Fortuna and Minor. In I Love You Beth Cooper,…
