The rains have broken for the moment and we are in the season of low sun, when the horizon can be a blinding thing to behold at the edges of the day, particularly in the hours leading to sunset. That December sun is really something, particularly if you are driving, riding a bike or trying to do anything oriented toward it. That’s nature though, we adapt to it, not the other way around, so I can’t complain as we approach the perihelion days of winter. I can, however, comment on humanity’s folly in attempting to artificially recreate a similarly obnoxious event in the form of too-bright LED (or sometimes HID) vehicle headlights, a regulatory failure on par with a train disaster, but played out in millions of atomized road experiences across the nation. I don’t want to give the impression that I think the driver is necessarily always an asshole in these cases, as the old saw goes, “Never attribute to malice that which can be explained more simply by ignorance.” If you are unaware of the blinding rays of your nighttime death machine, consider this a polite heads-up. However, if you do, in fact, know about the obnoxious and potentially deadly quality of the lights on your daily — and nightly — driver and simply don’t care, I have terrible news for you: You are a Grade-A, all beef, board-certified American Asshole. Chances are you take pride in this designation, given that a not-insignificant part of our national character is defined by a landscape of loud, proud, bullying, cowardly, ambient dipshits. So, I dunno, have fun with that.
And for the rest of you, have a great week.
Thursday
The Alley Cats have taken the “Opera” out of their name tonight because rather than playing at the Speakeasy, they will be hitting the stage for a free gig at the Basement instead. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Speaking of opera and 7:30 p.m., up at Fulkerson Hall you can enjoy a recital and Opera Workshop put on by some of the students at Cal Poly Humboldt. Expect tunes from Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutti and The Magic Flute, along with some more modern fare ($15, $5 for children, free to CPH students with a school ID).
Friday
Bay Area rap superstar and former collaborator and friend of the late, great Mac Dre, Andre Nickatina is back in town for an evening at the Arcata Theatre Lounge. As he is a man who needs little introduction in these parts, I’ll just add that doors are at 7 p.m., and tickets are going for $45, which, with the fees involved with buying online, brings us to the oddly satisfying palindromic number of $53.35. A half hour later at the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts, the Eureka Symphony is putting on its performance of the beloved piece of classical music liturgy, Handel’s Messiah. This is the first of two nights of this program, both featuring professional opera singers Clara Lisle, David Powell, Sara Couden and Kevin Thompson. Prices range from $21-$54, depending on seating, but in my experience, there ain’t a bad seat in the house when our hometown orchestra is playing.
Saturday
If you’re in the mood for some Christmas songs from the golden age of crooning by the fireplace, then tonight’s show at 7:30 p.m. at the Old Steeple is just the thing for you. Randy Cordeiro is not only a native Humboldtianite, but a rather well-regarded frontman in his touring Neil Diamond tribute band Super Diamond. Tonight he is going to treat you to a solo acoustic set of tunes from the smoky days of yore, when the likes of Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney teamed up to fill the silver screen with holiday cheer ($20, $18 advance). If it’s something a little more raucous you’re looking for, then head over to Humbrews an hour later, where you can enjoy the West Coast rock ‘n’ bluegrass sounds of returning road dawg quintet The Brothers Comatose. This sibling-led act has ripped it up on stages around the globe and made a name itself in the process as a proper heavy duty country grass band. Taylor Rae opens the night ($28, $23 advance).
Sunday
Sundays are always nice for matinee performances and the CPH Department of Dance, Music and Theatre is putting on a nice one at 2 p.m. today at Fulkerson Hall. The Mad River Transit Singers are presenting a jazzy, Afro-Brazilian program with a range of tunes written by the likes of Artie Shaw, Jorge Ben and an Afro-Cuban version of Cole Porter’s signature classic “I Get a Kick Out of You.” Tickets are $15 for the general publica, $5 for children and free-ninety-free for any CPH students.
Monday
Nothing much doing tonight that I haven’t already mentioned in previous columns, so instead I’d like to celebrate the 59th anniversary of the CBS debut of A Charlie Brown Christmas, one of the greatest to ever do it. And by “it,” I mean present a humane and anti-materialist vision of a holiday oversaturated by unspeakably crass commercial sewage — in this country at least. Also, hats off to Vince Guaraldi, the San Francisco jazz pianist who composed and arranged one of the greatest scores of all time, and an utterly brilliant, effortlessly simple blend of the beautiful and deeply melancholic feeling evoked not only by Christmas, but by universal humanity. Have a watch or a listen.
Tuesday
Sure, it’s a nice time of the year for good music and cheer, but how about some arts and crafts? The Logger Bar is providing the latter today at 6 p.m. with a holiday wreath-making workshop. Space is limited, so RSVP with the good people at the joint to reserve a spot and for more information on materials and such.
Wednesday
December is a perfect month to watch films about people stuck and snowed-in at a bucolic location, warmed by the heat of their cozy digs, and moved and haunted by the ghosts of things past and the possibilities to come. If this film had been a more faithful adaptation of its source material, rather than a stand-alone piece of cinema that famously pissed off its original author, it could also be regarded as a holiday-time redemption story, rather than the enigmatic and unsettling masterpiece it became. I am, of course, referring to Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film The Shining, which will be showing at the Arcata Theatre Lounge tonight at 7-ish p.m. (remember, the doors open and 6 p.m. and there’s a pre-show raffle, so showtimes can vary slightly). Come early enough to snag a seat. It’s only $6 to enter but $10 to leave with your very own movie poster.
Collin Yeo (he/him) has been listening to a lot of Slayer lately, particularly the track “Hell Awaits,” which does a fine job of describing American foreign policy. He lives in Arcata.
This article appears in Flash Fiction 2024.