The Conductor

Jul 17-23, 2025 / Vol. 36 / No. 29
Carol Jacobson and the Eureka Symphony By Collin Yeo

Cover Story

The Conductor

Sweatshirts and jeans brushed against silk dresses and suits, leather and corked dress shoes creaked across the same carpeting as sneakers and sandals. Attending any night during the five programs and 10 performances of the Eureka Symphony’s 2024-2025 season pulled one into a bright, buzzing world peopled by an audience from every stage of life,…

Music Tonight: Wednesday, July 23

At 7 p.m., Northtown Coffee is hosting an all- ages punk show with area maniacs Image Pit joining up with Cheshire High to represent the local scene and welcome L.A. pop punk touring act Pelo Grande to the 95521. $5-$20 sliding scale covers a lot of financial wiggle room.

Crabs’ Backs Against the Wall After a Tough Series

Last week’s big story was the San Francisco Giants drafting the Humboldt Crabs’ Elijah McNeal, the 18-year-old, 6-feet-3-inch, 180-pound infield prospect out of Dublin, California. Having graduated high school in May, McNeal joined the Humboldt Crabs for the summer. Now, McNeal has signed with the Giants organization and went from batting practice in Arcata to…

Music Tonight: Tuesday, July 22

One more shout out to the Outer Space, with an all-ages alt-folk show, featuring Autumnal from Colorado along with tourmate Public Diary and the dream-folk stylings of local band My Ex- Wife. It’s $10 for this one, with the usual caveat of no one getting turned away because they don’t have the dough. 7:30 p.m.

Music Tonight: Monday, July 21

Mondays are great for hidden gem shows and tonight is one such perfect jewel. Animal Piss, It’s Everywhere from Western Massachusetts not only sits on the shortlist for strangest band names to ever grace this page, but the band is also fantastic, with an outsider country sound that is so far beyond it should be…

Symphonies and Blue Lake’s Quandaries

This week, Setlist columnist Collin Yeo joins us to talk about Carol Jacobson of the Eureka Symphony and his story about how both have enriched our community’s music scene. Then we’ve got an update on the Blue Lake City Council recall, which could leave remaining members unable to fill its ranks. Hit subscribe for weekly…

Music Tonight: Sunday, July 20

New York-based Jalopy Records act Jackson and the Janks are a garage band who pump out rhythm and blues motion under a gospel spell to make a fine night of dance floor ecstasy for all comers. Extra icing on the show is local band The Cowtown Sound, who will make it shake, rattle and roll…

Music Tonight: Saturday, July 19

Cellist Rebecca Roudman leads Dirty Cello, a San Francisco band that kicks out the jams – from funk to Americana and all points in between, with the titular instrument providing the filthy and slick lead work where one would more commonly find an electric guitar. This globetrotting band is doing something right, as it has…

As One Airline Sets to Depart, Another Prepares for Arrival

Breeze Airways, which bills itself as the “Seriously Nice” airline, will be landing at the Arcata-Eureka airport starting early next year. Today’s announcement of the flights to Burbank beginning March 12 — and the option of connecting flights to Provo, Utah — comes just days after fellow low-cost carrier Avelo Airlines broke the news it…

Without Precedent

If a group of disgruntled Blue Lake residents succeeds in their effort to simultaneously recall three members of the city council, it will thrust the city into unprecedented territory. According to Journal consultations with more than a dozen legal experts and legislative analysts, the triple recall would leave the city with a council potentially unable…

The Rubáiyát of Ishmael Reed

I have a cut-up style I use when I want to get into a certain way of thinking. I’ve arranged my room around this practice: Pacing between my bookshelves and wardrobe, music blasting out of a speaker somewhere in a low corner behind me, cats lounging in various windows. I use the clutter of books…

A Maximalist Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is one of the most produced and adapted plays in the history of western culture. Its themes and quotations are intricately woven into our cultural zeitgeist. A myriad of options are a click away on streaming devices. Sure, you can watch Romeo and Juliet with guns and…

Dog Days of Summer

This last week was the most grueling week of the summer for our Humboldt Crabs. With the exception of a travel day on Monday, the boys have played a game every single day since the Fourth of July, including two on Saturday. This Crabs team has impressed all year, but they took things to another…

Cronenberg in The Shrouds

THE SHROUDS. It’s a fascinating thing, having spent the better part of a lifetime with the work of revered artists, to watch them age in the weird, liminal space of their output. In the past, they would often end up back at the bottom tier of an industry that no longer had a use for…

‘What’s Wrong with this Picture?’

Editor: There is something that Californians can do besides wring our hands about the passage of HR1, the “Big Ugly Bill” (“Huffman: Senate Budget Bill a ‘Betrayal,'” July 3). We are a “donor” state. In fact, California’s donation is by far the largest in the nation, providing about $83 billion more to the federal government…

‘Onwards!’

Editor: Although belated, I offer cheers, appreciation, and a gratitude shout out to Thadeus Greenson for all his good work and dedication during his time at the helm of the North Coast Journal (“In Gratitude” and “Editorial Changes and a Fond Farewell,” July 3). Who among us did not benefit in some way from his…

Free Will Redux

“We are not captains of our ships. Our ships never had captains.” — Robert Sapolsky, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will When things get weirder — and I suspect that, politically, the weirdness is just beginning — I’m in the habit of remarking to whomever is listening, “We’re just running on a program…

Nightfall

To be outside as the sky darkens An evening so calm you can Hear the river even over The chorus of frogs. To breathe in the air of paradise As stars begin to bloom In the moonless sky, multiplying Until the heavens shimmer. I bathe my soul in the endless Wonders of the universe And…

The Ruprechts are Celebrating

Ted Ruprecht left us in December after 96 years of a very full life, and Joan followed her sweetheart in February, age 90. Professor Theodore Ruprecht was one of the founding members of the Humboldt State College Economics Department. Joan Ledgerwood Ruprecht was a microbiologist who worked at the Humboldt Country Health Department, where she…


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