Top 10 Stories
of 2010
Cover Story
Top 10 Stories of 2010
1. Right Makes Might Sure, it was well known in advance that this would be a conservative year on the national stage. Fox News ranters were raising the faithful to arms, and the president could only stand aside looking befuddled by it all. But the strange passions of the Tea Party surely couldn’t find purchase at…
Committee Narrows Fourth Ward Choice to Bohn, Ciarabellini
A few moments ago, Eureka Mayor Frank Jager told the Journal the subcommittee that has been interviewing applicants to fill the vacant Fourth Ward seat on the City Council has narrowed the field to two: Rex Bohn and Melinda Ciarabellini. Jager said that he will announce his choice Monday, after which the City Council should schedule…
Big Oakland Weed Warehouses on Hold
The Bay Citizen reports that the Oakland City Council last night caved to pressure from the feds and suspended plans to license four large-scale industrial marijuana grows within its city limits. According to the Citizen, city staff is going to rejigger the proposal to smooth out potential conflicts with state law, then bring it back before…
The Solstice Eclipse
Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010, will be the first time since 1638, and only the second time since year 1, that the winter solstice date coincides with a total lunar eclipse. Totality in Humboldt County (PST) starts at 11:41 Monday night, ending at 12:53 Tuesday morning. Please do whatever it takes for a clear sky…
Captain Beefheart, Legendary Avant Garde Musician and Reclusive Trinidad Resident, Dies
Rolling Stone reports that he died today due to complications from multiple sclerosis. Entertainment Weekly adds that he passed away “in a northern California hospital.” We’ll see what we can get. UPDATE: Assistant Coroner Charlie Van Buskirk that Beefheart died at Mad River Hospital early this morning. He knows this only because hospital staff called him with…
Shikuma’s Top Shelf LPs 2010
Saturn Sings — Mary Halvorson Quartet — Firehouse 12 Emerging from the burgeoning contemporary NY jazz scene, guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson has developed a unique and innovative guitar style, expanding her band and her repertoire on an ever-evolving scale. Exciting, unpredictable and brilliant. Rain on the City — Freedy Johnston — Bar/None NY singer/songwriter…
Top 5 + 5 – Spencer Doran
Shangaan Electro — V/A – Honest Jon’s Life-affirming electronic dance music from South Africa with a 180 bpm synth-marimba blur that unknowingly refracts current trends in international club music (namely, Chicago juke and UK funky house) back into the global dancefloor ether…amazing YouTube videos to boot. Florine — Julianna Barwick — Florid Kickstart-funded a cappella EP…
Jay’s Top 5 + 5 Books
The Professor by Terry Castle By itself, the title piece, a self-deprecating coming-of-age memoir, would be one of the most engaging books of the year, but add Castle’s brilliant and idiosyncratic literary/cultural/personal essays and it becomes essential reading. She’s funny as hell too. Long, Last, Happy by Barry Hannah A posthumous overview of a great…
Christmas is Safe
By this point, you are no doubt familiar with the war on Christmas order of operations. Every year, like clockwork, some podunk town renames its “Christmas Parade” as a “Holiday Parade.” Citizens get upset. Fox reports. America decides. Someone sells some books. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Is the war real? Maybe. But when it comes right…
Discussing Humboldt’s Future
Well, okay. Now what? In last month’s election, Humboldt County residents, as well as the whole of California, decided legal weed was not for them and voted down the hotly debated Proposition 19. Regardless of whether or not you believed its passage would have been beneficial to our region or not, had it passed, it…
The Plame Game
Previews TRON LEGACY. Sequel to the 1982 Disney video game flick Tron has Jeff Bridges returning as Kevin Flynn, a vid-game creator who disappeared into a digital world he’d created, leaving a young son behind. When his grown-up son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) finds out where he is decades later, he too enters the game on…
Through the Roof
Westhaven resident Allan Woodworth recently got a letter from his insurance company, Allstate, informing him that they were terminating his homeowner’s policy. Outraged, he called his local agent, who explained that his property has been classified as a level-10 fire risk, the highest possible ranking. The ratings, he was told, are calculated by a national…
No Place Like Home
While the club scene will taper off for a few weeks, as it does every year around the holidays, those of you who had the foresight to snatch up tickets months ago will have the unique privilege of enjoying the sounds of Humboldt’s most famous daughter. Yes, kids, Sara is coming home. Since she last…
The Train Geeks Return
You know what I just remembered? It’s nearly 2011! And do you know what that means? It means that the North Coast Railroad Authority is just a few short months away from relaunching railroad freight service to and from Humboldt County. Yes, the repairs must be nearly all in place. The tracks between here and…
Simple Winter Song
Sing a simple winter song When day is…
Red Letter
Editor: It’s that age old dilemma: I don’t know whether to kiss or slap him. Last week (Dec. 2), Andrew Goff wrote a scintillating, splendid, superb, sensational column announcing Red Grammer’s return in the Calendar section (those were the letter “S” lyrics to the song he quoted). In each of the five years I’ve been…
McKinleyville Arts Night
1) A&L Feed, 2308 Central Ave. 2) Plaza Design, McKinleyville Shopping Center. Ellen Briggs, Simple Gifts, watercolor paintings; Pete Zuleger, guitar.3) Stork’s Nest, McKinleyville Shopping Center. Rosie Crossen’s Kindergarten/1st grade class at Trinidad School: Mixed media art work; visit Santa Claus.4) North Coast Gallery, McKinleyville Shopping Center. Lauren Lester, paintings.5) Friends of the McKinleyville Library,…
Of Pentaprisms and SLRs
Most serious photographers I know worship at the altar of the pentaprism, the key component of a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera, and its digital equivalent, the DSLR. One look through the viewfinder of an SLR usually suffices to convince the most loyal “point and shooter” that the image they’re seeing is richer, more accurate…
Dec. 16-31, 2010
Dec. 16. Birthdate, in 1775, of Jane Austen. You know what to do. Dec. 17. Many small greenhouses pay their bills in winter by filling their empty, sunlit spaces with poinsettias, making them a virtuous purchase for those who wish to make only virtuous purchases during the holiday season. Dec. 18. We are acquainted with…
Not Just For Breakfast
The slurry of local eggs that have come slithering down the supermarket aisle pleases me. Isn’t it awesome? We used to have to truck through the hills in search of a hand-lettered “EgGz” sign, to get a fresh dozen for $2. Now they’re available alongside kohlrabi and Jujyfruits at many a hometown mart, shells charmingly…
