Respect the Quilt
Quilters, says Susie Freese, are like Rodney Dangerfield. “We get no respect,” she said in a telephone interview a month before the Heart of the Redwoods Quilt Show. “People don’t really understand what we do, and they don’t know how to value it.” Freese and the 175-member Redwood Empire Quilters Guild to which she belongs hope…
Alleged Energy Scam Has Eureka Residents Up in Arms
A video of a Humboldt Hill resident chasing two alleged scammers down the street while exchanging insults has generated more than 15,000 views on Facebook. The video, posted Tuesday evening by Bill Yeater and shared on several crime-oriented Facebook groups, shows a young man and woman walking rapidly away from Yeater, who is holding two…
The Huff Among Democrats Suing The Donald
Remember last week when 200 Congressional Democrats filed a federal lawsuit alleging that President Donald Trump has been profiting from business dealings with foreign governments in violation of the Constitution? Well, North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman was one of them. In a Facebook post, Huffman explained that the lawsuit stems in part from Trump’s refusal…
TL;DR: So Unpopular!
Busy week? We get it. So in the event that you haven’t been able to find the time to sit down and sludge through the 2,000 words of unpopular opinions that was last week’s cover story, we’ve got you covered with a brief synopsis. We’re also taking this opportunity to — perhaps unpopularly — announce…
Bivalve Bacchanal
You could get just about any creative approach to raw or barbecued oysters on Saturday at the 27th annual Oyster Festival in Arcata – except oyster-flavored ice cream. Staff from Humboldt Creamery, who were passing out free ice cream in the Family Fun Zone, said they might work on that for next year. The Arcata…
Music Tonight: Monday, June 19
New York Jazz is on tap tonight at the Palm Lounge in the Eureka Inn starting at 7 p.m. and for free. I’m told that Brian Post & Friends are playing standards and “Blue Note” which I’m assuming has something to do with Blue Note records. This talented quartet is made up of HSU professor…
Best of the Oyster Fest
Upsets and new blood (brine?) marked this year’ Arcata Bay Oyster Festival. As crowds swarmed the plaza, lining up for paper trays of oysters, judges (myself among them) sampled entrants in the Best Raw, Best Cooked, Best Non-oyster and, for the first time this year, Best in Show. The new Best in Show category, according…
UPDATE: CHP ID’s Redding Man Killed in Suspected DUI Crash
UPDATE: The deceased man has been identified as Jarrod Waddle. Previously: A 35-year-old Redding man was killed early this morning when he lost control of his SUV and hit a tree off South G Street. The man, whose name is being withheld until officials can notify his family of his death, is suspected of having been…
Meltdown
Artisanal toast hasn’t yet made its way past the Redwood Curtain but expect it soon. Just wait. Until then, you can work on grilled cheese. The Artisan Cheese Factory, née Loleta Cheese Factory (252 Loleta Drive, Loleta), upped the ante on its bevy of samples when it opened the Queso Kings grilled cheese bar in…
Music Tonight: Saturday, June 17
It’s Oyster Fest today, so come up with a game plan in your head before getting silly day-drunk and making a total ass of yourself. If you want to frontload it pretty hard while the sun’s out, who am I to judge? Just have a plan to get home safely and try not to be…
Contest Countdown!
Hey, Shutterbugs, time is running out! The deadline to enter the Journal’s 2017 reader photo contest is fast approaching. So, between now and midnight on June 19, grab your camera and document your community, whatever that means to you — your people, your neighborhood, your city, your ecosystem, your culture — and send us your…
Sea You There!
Humboldt’s bounty of seafood gets its day in the sun times two this weekend. We love our oysters (and so does the rest of the state — oysters from Humboldt Bay make up about 70 percent of those eaten). We grill ’em, shoot ’em raw, spice ’em up and eat ’em pretty much any way…
Va Va Voomin’ Through the Decades
Take a strip through time with Va Va Voom Burlesque’s Dancin’ thru the Decades! On Saturday, June 17 at 8 p.m. at the Eureka Theater ($20 premier, $15 premier advance, $15 general, $12 general advance). Meet the newest members and participate in games and a 50/50 raffle. Doors at 7 p.m., 21 and up.
Music Tonight: Friday, June 16
Sticking with Mad River Brewery here for a minute, local country lovers Cadillac Ranch are making the blocks-long trip to the Tap Room to get you up and swaying the night away. As you guessed, it’s a free show starting around 6 p.m. Kids are welcome and so are dogs as long they’re on leash,…
Music Tonight: Thursday, June 15
Longtime and local bluegrass band the Compost Mountain Boys return to their gig at the Mad River Brewery and Tap Room up in oft-sunny Blue Lake. They’ll start playing at around 6 p.m. and will probably keep picking away for about two and a half hours. It’s a free show — as MRB does —…
HumBug: Clever Orchids
Today I was discouraged that there were a lot of people down along “my” stretch of the river. They stir up the bugs, making getting good shots difficult. Sure enough, although I saw several dragonflies, none seemed in the mood to pose, so I walked near the outer edge of the riverbed where the trees…
Unpopular Opinions
This is Genius In this oh-so-polarized country of ours, it’s important to give voice to the voiceless, to make sure people hear the unpopular opinions of the day, right? After all, without unpopular opinions we never would have had child labor laws, women’s suffrage, the civil rights movement or an end to the Vietnam War.…
A Cannabis Chasm
Community Development Director Rob Holmlund found himself navigating some strange territory last week while taking the Eureka City Council’s input on the future of recreation marijuana in the city. Instead of focusing on zoning districts and buffers, Holmlund was left to fact check one councilmember’s understanding of chemical compounds in medical marijuana. He also heard…
Black Lives and Good Faith
Last week, the Humboldt Bay Fire District Joint Powers Authority told firefighter Matt McFarland after a hearing that he can’t wear a small Black Lives Matter pin on his uniform. McFarland may just want to wear that pin, but the rest of us need him to. This is for all of our safety. I live…
In Defense of MSG
They’re not like salt crystals, exactly. They’re longer, like white bugle beads from a glamorous 1920s dress. In a pile, they sparkle like dreamy snow in a stop-motion Christmas movie. And when judiciously added to food, they’re goddamn magic. Monosodium glutamate, or MSG, is much maligned, right up there with high fructose corn syrup and…
The Kids are All Right
As I wrote this column on Sunday evening in my “office” (a shed in our backyard) a serendipitous moment occurred. Over the occasional sounds of our dogs barking at absolutely nothing, I heard our son and daughter listening to Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” while lying in the hammock and grass (respectively). Perhaps as Father’s…
The shadows of ravens
Over and over Again Colliding colliding with reality with desires, with ires Colliding with demands with dreams, with needs Colliding with rages and appeases With limits with visions With Nightmares Colliding with the shadows of ravens
Causes and Conditions
Humboldt County’s children are not being afforded the protection they deserve. This is the conclusion of the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury, which recently released two reports about our child welfare system. One, about response times for “at risk” children, includes a triangle of finger-pointing between the three entities most responsible for responding to signs…
EPD Chief Headed to Santa Cruz
The straw that broke Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills’ will to stay in Humboldt County seems to have come not through politics or crime reports but, instead, through a pair of familiar local foes: weather and failing infrastructure. Mills, who announced last week that he’s accepted an offer to become Santa Cruz’s next police chief,…
Smells Fishy
Editor: The letter from Mr. Brennan (Mailbox, June 8) regarding the news media was very direct and accurate. Particularly the New York Times and the Washington Post, in that they publish information from a “reliable source.” How true is it? There is no way of validating this information. They are using their name to promote…
‘A True Friend’
Editor: I strongly disagree with the letter to the editor in the June 8 North Coast Journal titled “Enemy of the People.” A free press is integral to our democracy. While journalists make mistakes, I believe the overwhelming majority take their jobs seriously in seeking the truth. The writer has obviously accepted the President’s propaganda…
A ‘Nonviolent Force’
Editor: Knowing both of the men featured in your (June 8) cover story, “Masterpiece,” I read it with great interest. I thought Thad did a great job of capturing the intelligence, compassion and decency I have come to recognize in both Chief Mills and Blaze. It was gratifying to see them exchange points of view without…
‘Nuclear Batteries’
In keeping with the “unpopular opinions” theme of this issue, I want to make a case for nuclear power. Not nuclear power as we normally think of it — vast generating stations (and equally vast price tags) with their domed reactor buildings and shapely cooling towers — but small modular reactors, or SMRs. Comparing SMRs…
House of Horrors
Reviews IT COMES AT NIGHT. As the recent tidal wave of smaller, independent horror movies seems to have receded a bit, we have the opportunity to consider their merits and shortcomings. As I’ve remarked (probably too many times) before, there were within that group a few very pleasant surprises. As with anything of value, though,…
Singles at the Eureka Theater
This Friday, remember what it was like to be young, single and looking for love — and the grungy soundtrack that accompanied all of that — at the “tribute for Seattle musician Chris Cornell” screening of Singles (1992) — a film in which Cornell and Soundgarden were featured prominently — on June 16 at 7:30…
Humboldt Junkies Vintage Market
The Humboldt Junkies Vintage Market & Trailer Rally is back at Rohner Park this Friday and Saturday, June 16-17. Find treasure at the Friday night Junk Jubilee from 4-9 p.m., and come back Saturday for the Market & Trailer Rally from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to dream about your next vacation. There, you’ll find…
The International Stage
Each summer, Dell’Arte International sets the stage(s) for five weeks of performances known collectively as the Mad River Festival. The school’s annual showcase of original plays, comedy, street theater, live music and family fun is back for its 27th year June 15 through July 15 and, as always, has something for everyone. If you haven’t…
