“‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.”
Joseph Brackett Jr., Shaker Elder, 1848.
If you ever find yourself in the right place, please invite others in.
Thursday-Danksgiving
Love it, leave it, or transform it into supper with family, friends and loved ones, tonight still commands enough swing as an American holiday to change the all tides of entertainment, so no live events suggested this evening. If you are in the first camp, please do it big; if in the second group, jam out at home with a big bird finger pointed at the big bird-eating holiday. And if you are in the final camp, do it big but with a better sense of purpose than tradition dictates. And no matter how you feel, consider donating some time, warm clothes and food to those less fortunate than yourselves. Our best blessings are those we give away.
Friday
Local blues master Buddy Reed is playing a solo gig at the Kaptain’s Quarters tonight at 8 p.m. He might not be accompanied by his backing band Th’ Rip It Ups but I guarantee ripping licks will still be on the menu.
If you are feeling like making some noise of your own, the Miniplex is hosting a Black Friday karaoke night at 9 p.m., with an emphasis on post-punk, goth, dark and new wave music. Both of these gigs are free, which is my way of saying a quiet slur towards the notion of spending big bucks on this ugliest of make-believe, market-indexed consumer holidays. Make a special monetary dispensation for refreshments and tips for the staff and entertainers, though. I’m not a man married to purity tests.
Saturday
Speaking of free shows, tonight’s offering at the Logger Bar is a near certified burner for those of you into the tried-and-true sonic landscape of the blues power trio. Jesse Mills Band fills out all the spaces in ways that such acts make a habit of doing, with a rock-solid rhythm section holding up some soulful licks and vocals. The music gets going at 9 p.m. and, as I have mentioned before, this is one of those pairings of venue and band that can’t be beat.
Sunday
There is a lot of silence in the evenings around this holiday, so I’ll drop an ongoing performance that can be enjoyed as a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee. The Ferndale Repertory Theatre presents the second weekend of its version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. This show has undergone many iterations since its TV debut in the 1950s, and today’s stage adaptation is based on the 1997 TV version with the fairy godmother played by Whitney Houston — may she rest in peace. It’s a classic tale with roots from ancient Greece to the Disney canon, and a family treat in any form. The ticket pricing is structured as follows: $18 general, $16 for students and seniors, and if you feel like going in a proper gaggle, you can catch a price break at $14 per ticket with a minimum of 10 tickets purchased.
Monday
A quiet night, so I would like to point out a historical coincidence that might have some bearing on our current political landscape, depending on one’s viewpoint. Dec. 2 is a special day for the coronation of final emperors. In 1852 you had Louis Napoléon Bonaparte III, the nephew of that famous conqueror of Europe, and generally regarded as a rotten piece of idiot fruit from that lineage, thus putting truth to the concept of the decay of inherited titles, nostalgia for a “lost” empire, and power through name recognition. For more on this, I invite you to read Karl Marx’s essay “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” if you feel so inclined to learn about the events surrounding this last monarch of France.
Dec. 2, 1908, saw the ascension of the last emperor of China, the 2-year-old Puyi, whose life saw him graduate from a Caligula-like tormentor of court eunuchs, to a deposed puppet emperor of a Japanese-controlled puppet state, to a Soviet prisoner and, finally, repatriated to China. There, humbled and powerless, he was pushed by a relatively gracious Chairman Mao to write a biography about his journey from Emperor to citizen-comrade. There are many lessons about the value of aristocracy and revolution in both cases, and a quiet night of study might be a good place to look for them, for those inclined. I’ll probably just watch a movie.
Tuesday
Multi-instrumentalists, Grammy winners and married duo Mark and Maggie O’Connor bring their bluegrass and beyond virtuosity to the Van Duzer Theatre tonight at 7 p.m., where they will showcase Mark’s holiday vision, An Appalachian Christmas. The title rather says it all but still, there’s a frisson between the players as they trade off instrumental and vocal performances written to evoke the traditions of the mountain fiddle reels married to the sound and spirit of Christmas. This is a fine gig to kick off the yuletide season ($50 general, $15 far balcony).
Wednesday
A lot of people have favorite auteurs, many of whom came to prominence in the art decade of the 1970s. Mine tend to be all over the map, with a common port of call being a career started under the wings of recently deceased super-producer Roger Corman. Among his many acolytes and proteges, one has always stuck out for me. Blame it on my elder millennial placement in experiencing popular culture, or my love of anyone who loves their subject — in this case cinema — to such a degree that they are essentially human Mentats and living encyclopedias. Joe Dante is the first director I think of in that category, a living treasure of soft-spoken brilliance who happened to make some of my favorite mega-hits, cult and gross-out films of the decade in which I was born. Tonight at the Arcata Theatre Lounge you can enjoy one of his genuine masterpieces. Gremlins 2: A New Batch is a meta-narrative sequel designed to provoke thought among the kids looking for something new, while pissing off the avaricious Hollywood producers looking for a cheap repeat of a blockbuster formula. Doors are at 6 p.m., the show starts at 7 p.m., there’s a raffle in between and $6 will get you in the door, while $10 will let you leave with a poster. This one is really good, for those with the eyes to see.
Collin Yeo (he/him) is thankful for all the people of conscience who are feeding the light of the great furnace, while trying to guard against the damage of its heat.
This article appears in Holiday Gift Guide 2024.