Cover Story
Indebted
When notorious Humboldt County landlords Floyd and Betty Squires filed for bankruptcy protection in November, their finances became an open book laid out in a host of court documents filed in ensuing weeks. With those disclosures, one thing has become very clear: The couple’s expenses — including $30,000 worth of mortgage payments — are barely…
New California Proposal: A More Perfect Union?
Another move is underway to divide the Golden State, this time with a movement called “New California” issuing a “declaration of independence” this week, garnering news coverage across the country. A map on the movement’s website (which has the theme: A more perfect union) shows the proposed “new” state as including most of California’s counties,…
Music Tonight: Wednesday, Jan. 17
Berkeley’s Mike Silverman is an enigmatic fellow. A man who invented a bizarre instrument called the Magic Pipe and then mastered it. And then he learned how to make a living playing fantastic music with it. Imagine that sort of thing happening in any other magisteria in the creative world. He’s a unique guy —…
Dying and Destitute
Craig and Lisa Smith are running out of time. They’re dying. He has congestive heart failure and a cancer eating at his kidney. She has a severe respiratory illness and spends her nights plugged into an oxygen concentrator. But that’s not what they’re talking about today, sitting in the bed where they spend most of…
Music Tonight: Tuesday, Jan. 16
Phatsy Kline’s Parlor Lounge presents local singer and songwriter Chris Parreira at 7 p.m. Noted for his guitar playing, which is very Americana while exhibiting a jazzy and classical polish that belies his many years of scholastic musical study, Chris is a cut above most pickers and singers and is a bit of a local…
Eureka Women’s March 2018 Hits Streets Saturday
One year ago and one day after the inauguration of admitted sexual assaulter Donald Trump, the streets of Washington, D.C., cities across the United States and beyond filled with sign-carrying, pink pussy-ear hatted protesters taking part in the Women’s March. Eureka’s march was the largest in the city’s history, with organizers reporting some 7,000 to…
Music Tonight: Monday, Jan. 15
Siren’s Song has another all ages show tonight, this time the lineup is more metal than punk San Francisco’s death metal/crust crossover band Acephalix headlines with touring partners Scolex, a doom metal band from Oakland with hints of shredded death in their riffs at 7:30 p.m. ($8). Local metal openers Zelosis gets the pit warmed…
Blues at the Historic Eagle House
Legendary blues singer and harmonica player Curtis Salgado and guitarist and collaborator Alan Hager bring their new roots blues to The Historic Eagle House for an intimate performance on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. ($25). Local musicians Paul DeMark (drums) and Dale Cash (acoustic bass) sit in for a few songs.
Music Tonight: Sunday, Jan. 14
Gallagher’s Pub offers its Irish and Celtic music session starting today at 3 p.m. (free). Hosted by local musician Seabury Gould, this informal jam meet is the perfect thing for the casual or serious musicians and fans alike. Come listen or help play some tunes from the Emerald Isle for the Emerald Triangle. Phatsy Kline’s…
Eureka to Shutter H Street Squires Property
If you perused this week’s map and slideshow of properties owned by Floyd and Betty Squires, you swiped or paged by 833 H St. Yesterday, according to a press release from the Eureka city manager’s office, that property got a notice to be vacated by Jan. 22, at which time it will be boarded up.…
Music Tonight: Saturday, Jan. 13
Drum ‘n ‘ bass is making a sort of comeback in the local DJ scene and I couldn’t be happier. I prefer my electronic dance music to be low-concept and deep, pounding into my skull until all the connections are frayed and the only impulse left is the override switch designed to make your ass…
UPDATE: Blue Lake Area Rezoning Could Threaten Water Supply, Says District Manager
UPDATE: The Humboldt County Planning Commission ultimately approved the project that will see Mercer Fraser establish a cannabis extraction process near where much of Humboldt County sources its water along the Mad River. Several members of the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District Board, as well as community members, attended the public comment session to voice…
Holiday for a King
The time is always right to do the right thing.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Monday, Jan. 15 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the national holiday to celebrate the life and legacy of the minister and civil rights leader. Locally, there are two prominent celebrations happening to commemorate his birthday, honor his vision…
Music Tonight: Friday, Jan. 12
Abbie Gardner is a woman of many talents. As one third of the all-female folk trio Red Molly (named after a character in Richard Thompson’s magnificent song “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”), she pulls off vocal duties while deftly picking out melodies on her dobro and is known for her acoustic guitar and lap steel work…
HumBug: Pushing the Limits of Small
Taking a break from splitting firewood, I noticed dozens of tiny creatures flying in the sunlight. Curious, I captured first a gall wasp, then a tiny rove beetle and, finally, a creature too small for my eyes to discern anything other than a black speck crawling on my hand. A session with my dissecting microscope…
Steel Yourself
Humboldt’s biggest and best fishing contest is upon us. Humboldt Steelhead Days makes its run Jan. 13-Feb. 17 with countywide events aimed at raising awareness of the wild winter fish and its habitat and efforts to protect and preserve both. HSD is an angler’s dream with opportunities to see Humboldt’s scenic wintry beauty and the…
Locally Grown: America’s New Food Revolution
If you missed previous showings of Locally Grown: America’s New Food Revolution (or want a second helping), the documentary about Humboldt’s food revolution, you’ve got another chance when it comes to the Arcata Playhouse for a special screening and discussion on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. ($8 donation for the Locally Grown Food for…
Music Tonight: Thursday, Jan. 11
Kris Kristofferson needs no introduction at this point. His songs, usually covered by more famous artists like Janis Joplin or Johnny Cash, have been a staple of rock and country radio for nearly half a century. Still, if you are one of the lucky ones who bought tickets for tonight’s show at the Van Duzer…
Megafauna Goes Big
Armored glyptodontids and giant sloths feature in Arcata’s newest work of public art — and no, that’s not a metaphor. Pleistocene megafauna have returned to G Street in life-size reproduction and the city’s newest mural, generously scaled as it is at 12 by 39 feet, can barely contain them. “Pleistocene Era Megafauna of the Pacific…
Let’s See Some Interdistrict Transfer Papers
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That Rooster Never Bothered Me
Editor: After reading your article on “Something to Crow About” (Dec. 21, 2017), I felt the need to comment. I have lived in this unincorporated area of Humboldt County for over 30 years. Art Rush, the gentleman you interviewed for your article, has been a neighbor of mine for many of those years. Our neighborhood…
Knocking on Wood for Single Payer
Editor: I identify as part of the “small” very vocal group Dr. Jim Wood refers to in “Setting the Record Straight,” (Dec. 28, 2017). Whenever people say that there are insurmountable obstacles to getting something done, it usually means they do not want to do it, not that it can’t be done. If Dr. Wood truly…
Honor and Praise Native People
Editor: There is a tremendous amount of sick sniveling going on here in Liberal Country. The column by Tony Platt (“Trinidad, Do the Right Thing,” Jan. 4) goes on with the “same thing,” deriding local history. Get over it. Humboldt has gone the way all America did, by belittling native people and culture. Whites thought…
Arts! Arcata
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About a Boy
Review THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER. On the heels of my uncharacteristically optimistic (surprised myself with that one!) survey of the cinema of 2017 last week (“The Best of 2017,” Jan. 4), I can’t quite decide if I’m glad I hadn’t seen this yet. On one hand, it is certainly one of the most…
I’m Underwater
I see crystal clear bubbles floating all around my head like an iridescent halo. I glide beneath the waves, not thinking of the surface. Sometimes I long for the sun, to graze my long pale neck, to make me warm and whole again. But I remember, the sharp black mountains of coal piled up beached…
A Zealot’s Stand
California had its mellow harshed a bit last week when, just days after cannabis became legal for recreational users, U.S. Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions announced he was rescinding Obama-era Department of Justice protections against federal prosecutions of people operating lawfully under state medical marijuana laws. The news — coupled with the abrupt resignation of…
‘The Jury Heard It All’
I read Thadeus Greenson’s Dec. 2 posting on the Borges defendants’ motions for judgment and/or a new trial (“County Swaps Attorneys, Challenges $2.5 Million Wrongful Death Verdict”). I waited until the plaintiff’s formal replies were filed with the court and can now comment on these new developments. I am Daren Borges’ stepfather and attended the…
Physicians for Single Payer
Our current profit-driven health care system is closing physician practices and burning out doctors. The average American physician spends nearly nine hours a week wrangling with insurance companies and the average medical practice spends $72,000 per doctor per year just dealing with insurers. That’s why a majority of Humboldt physicians support a single payer health…
The Joy of Persimmons
In China, when my grandpa would come back from the market, he’d bring a little brown cloth filled with dried Hachiya persimmons — sweet and chewy, they were our special treat. In Northern California, we have plenty of persimmons from late fall through winter. Fuyu and Hachiya are the most common — the former is…
Go On Without Me
I went out a few times this last week, and I am paying for it now. From Blue Lake to Eureka, I trekked about for social and musical engagements, and now I am a wreck. I trusted you, Humboldt, and you have rewarded my childlike faith in your essential goodness by giving me your germs.…
Fun and Games Phatsy Kline’s Parlor Lounge
Just off the ballroom in the Historic Eagle House (where Salgado and friends perform) is the new Phatsy Kline’s Parlor Lounge, beautifully remodeled and ready for you and your friends to drop in for Comedy Open Mic and Board Game Night, Wednesdays from 8 to 11 p.m. (free). Bring your favorite game, grab a pint…
