Cover Story
‘Kindness Made Audible’
Inside a bright blue cottage tucked along a quiet street, members of the Arcata Threshold Choir gathered on a recent Saturday morning to rehearse in the living room of co-founder Jane Riggan. With white song books tucked in their laps, the group settled into chairs and sofas encircling the warmly decorated space awash in color…
The Upside Down
In the 1950s and 1960s, sweeping into a dining room or a backyard barbecue with a cinched waist and pineapple upside down cake for company was the height of suburban hostessing. The magazine clippings and index cards bearing recipes for America’s own version of tart tartine could have built a land bridge to Hawaii. But…
CDCR: Pelican Bay Inmates Shot After Attacking Staff; Several Injured
Pelican Bay State Prison officers opened fire on a group of inmates who allegedly attacked staff members trying to break up a fistfight this morning, sending five to the hospital with gunshot wounds, according to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation press release. Eight staff members were also hurt and two remained hospitalized, the…
Belles of the Ball
On Saturday, May 20, in the frenzied lead-up to the even more frenzied Kinetic Grand Championship, a new Rutabaga Queen has once again ascended to her throne at the annual Rutabaga Ball. The Bayside Grange was the setting for a glitter bomb of grandeur as aspiring queens competed in talent, Q&A, Ball Gown and Bay…
Music Tonight – Wednesday, May 24
Bob Dylan turns 76 today and that means it’s time for the seventh annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash happening at Blue Lake’s Mad River Brewery at 5 p.m. Local musician/promoter/engineer/nice guy Chris Parriera has been organizing these tributes so make sure you thank him for all the hard work. I know Bob’s voice isn’t for…
Gov Taps Elvine-Kreis as Humboldt’s Next Judge
Humboldt County will soon have a new superior court judge. Gov. Jerry Brown announced this afternoon that he has appointed Conflict Counsel Greg Elvine-Kreis to the judicial seat vacated by Bruce Watson’s retirement in January of 2016. While Watson’s term ended at the beginning of this year, Elvine-Kreis’ will run until January of 2019, meaning…
No Foul Play Suspected in Death of Massachusetts Man
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said no foul play is suspect in the death of a 44-year-old Massachusetts man found on the bank of the South Fork of the Eel River over the weekend. According to a press release, Eric Christian Mineau, whose body was located near the base of a Garberville cliff, sustained injuries that…
Arcata Moves Forward With Sanctuary City Status
The Arcata City Council took the first steps toward becoming a sanctuary city this week in a reversal of position from one month ago when a divided board stopped just short of the declaration. After the 4-1 vote on May 16, Councilmember Michael Winkler stated he supported the body of the ordinance but cast his…
Music Tonight – Saturday, May 20
One of the more cheekily named local bands, For Folk’s Sake — or is it For Folks’ Sake? — are at the Mad River Brewery Tap Room at 6 p.m. and for free. Enjoy the show, the local beer and feel free to let me know how to spell the band’s name correctly. “One-Man-Psychedelic-Acoustiloop musician”…
No Homeless People in Southern Humboldt?
The Humboldt Housing and Homeless Coalition has sent out a press release with information about the most recent Point in Time Count, which took place in late February. The press release charts a general decrease in homeless people tallied across the county, dipping from 1,180 to 618 in the last two years, a drop of…
Music Tonight – Friday, May 19
Sticking with Blue Lake, you’ll find the country stylings of Cadillac Ranch at the Mad River Brewery Tap Room at 6 p.m. Same deal as usual, it’s free and all ages, but feel free to tip the band. The RLA Trio is hosting its third show in the Westhaven Center for the Arts Jazz Series…
Lawson’s Mom Announces $10K Reward, Issues Emotional Plea to Witnesses
The mother of slain Humboldt State University sophomore David Josiah Lawson stood on the campus quad yesterday afternoon and announced a $10,000 award for information leading to the arrest and conviction of her son’s killer and issued an impassioned plea for witnesses to come forward. Flanked by family, Arcata Police Chief Tom Chapman and a…
Spurred On
Want to make a Texas-sized difference in a youngster’s life? Do you enjoy barbecue, beer and country music? Then saddle up for the Silver Spurs Gala taking place Saturday, May 20 from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Fortuna River Lodge ($50, $40 advance). This evening of dinner and dancing benefits Wild Souls Ranch, a…
Crowned Royal
It’s the middle of May and in Humboldt, that means one thing: Kinetic madness is right around the corner. Priming the pump (we came up with that) for Memorial Day weekend’s Kinetic Grand Championship is the annual Rutabaga Ball, happening this Saturday, May 20 from 7 p.m. to midnight at the Bayside Grange Hall ($12,…
Ocean View Cemetery Workers Accused of Golfing on Graves
A video of what appears to be maintenance workers golfing in the veteran’s section of Ocean View Cemetery has stirred up some controversy. The Newtons, a vlogging family whose YouTube channel features stories of dog rescues, vegetarian cooking and kids’ Christmas hauls, all here in Humboldt County, uploaded the video on May 17. In it,…
Music Tonight – Thursday, May 18
Get your bluegrass on tonight as our own Compost Mountain Boys are back doing their string thing at the Mad River Brewery Tap room at 6 p.m. Like all MRB shows, it’s free and all ages. Just don’t let your kids sip your beer alright? Once you’re done there, leave the kids in the car…
Persepolis
One night a month, the Arcata Theatre Lounge donates its space, rent free, to a nonprofit for a fundraising event. This month, it’s Breakfast all Day Collective, showing Persepolis, the award-winning animated film that follows a young girl coming of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution on Friday, May 19, at 7:30 p.m.…
Eureka Ordered to Pay $90K in Police Video Case
A Humboldt County Superior Court judge has ordered the city of Eureka to pay Davis attorney Paul Nicholas Boylan almost $90,000 for his work defending the Journal from a city appeal that sought to block the release of video footage of a controversial arrest. “This shows there’s a price to the city’s legal adventurism,” Boylan…
Gambling
It was home, Until it wasn’t. Moving vans Fast foods Tissues and fear Framing every day, Never stopping To talk about Who was there, And who wasn’t.
HumBug: Glowworms and Fireflies
This time of year, if you’re out and about in the late afternoon and a small black beetle trimmed in orange, sporting an ostentatious set of ferny antennae lands on your arm, don’t be alarmed. It’s only a male Douglas fir glowworm (Pterotus obscuripinnes) looking for love. They land and fan the air with that…
About Bob
My freshman year in high school, I’d hitch rides to school with my friend Cameron and his mother. Cameron and I would groggily listen to cassettes his older brother gave him: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan. We listened to Dylan from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan up to Blood On the Tracks and anything…
High on the Hog
Back when I lived in Brooklyn, shopping “locally” was a real problem. I made the effort to eat organically and locally, but it proved prohibitively difficult. There was no supermarket within walking distance so for daily purchases I had to content myself with the corner bodega. Whilst rich with such nominal luxuries as Bustelo coffee…
Battle Cry
In a May 11 press release, the newly assembled Humboldt County Growers Alliance announced its mission as a trade association of local cannabis farmers and business owners who have pledged “to work in a responsibly regulated industry.” Later in the release, the group states its desire to support the values of Humboldt communities, maintain a…
The Lens of Experience
It’s been with great sadness and a lingering sense of hope that I’ve watched news of David Josiah Lawson’s killing and its aftermath reverberate through Humboldt County. No matter what happened at a Spear Avenue house party on April 15, the violent death of a 19-year-old Humboldt State University sophomore should be cause for honest…
It’s About Time
When English novelist H.G. Wells published The Time Machine in 1895, the novel’s plot device uncannily presaged Albert Einstein’s 1905 Theory of Special Relativity. In Wells’ yarn — since copied, adapted and butchered hundreds of times in books and movies — the unnamed Time Traveller simply adjusts the dials of his titular steampunk contraption to…
Throwaway Throwbacks
Reviews SNATCHED. When Amy Schumer, building on the success both of her stand-up comedy and subversive, hilarious TV show Inside Amy Schumer, made her first foray into the Hollywood mainstream, she did it like a cagey pro. Teaming with director Judd Apatow, starring and working from her own screenplay, she came out with Trainwreck (2015).…
Monopolized
Editor: The institution of Humboldt State, particularly the University Center Board of Directors, needs to be held accountable for the decisions they’ve made on behalf of the student body (NCJ Daily, April 27). Their decisions, particularly the 2011 choice to establish Follett Corporation as the primary owner of our bookstore, have impacted the financial crisis…
‘A Punishing Experience’
Editor: Having lived in Honeydew for 37 years, I have travelled the route of the May 20 Tour of the Unknown Coast bicycle race innumerable times in my vehicle. Never have I seen the road in such horrendous condition as I did on my last transit, May 9 (“Board of Supervisors Talks ‘Band Aid’ Funding…
Restoration
Editor: Regarding the North Coast Journal’s May 4 article, “The Butterfly Effect,” describing Daniel Veillieux and Joseph Ferber’s inspiring vision to transform Arcata into a wildlife habitat: Why must all the plants be native? What about roses and lilacs? The simple answer is that wildlife populations need native plants to eat and use for nest-building,…
Choices in Sum
Editor: The tragedy of the young men at an all-night, drunken party started long before one of them was stabbed. Choices were made that had absolutely nothing to do with the color of anyone’s skin. The sum of those choices ended horribly. The tragedy continued when, without knowing the facts, the race card was played…
Oyster Fest Kick-Off Party
Getting excited about Oyster Fest? It’ll be here soon. Not soon enough? We hear you. Thankfully the Oyster Fest Kick-Off Party is this Thursday, May 18 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Plaza View Room ($15). Whet your appetite for the full day (only a month away!) with delicious oysters on the half shell, appetizers…
Aerials in Wonderland
Ready to see Alice in Wonderland in a whole new light? How about suspended and twirling above you on silks? Mad! Don’t miss the dazzling spectacle Aerials in Wonderland, Friday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 21 at 1 p.m. at Synapsis Nova ($10) with a bake…
