Summer comes in pieces, with many unofficial starting points before the solstice. Around here, one of those points is the beginning of the Crabs’ baseball season, which started Friday. Opening night is always a big deal in Arcata, with people of all ages filling the metal bleachers and picnic tables to root for the home team, the oldest continually running semi-pro collegiate team in the country. The packed crowd hums with not only the energy of the game, but the pursuit of drinks, eats and treats, and a shared vibrancy rivaling the warm, giddy joy of life seen among the mayflies, swallows and red-winged blackbirds curling and singing under the long sun. But I’m the music guy, here to drop some information about another irreplaceable tradition tacked onto the larger show surrounding the lighted diamond. I’m talking about the live music, thundering and delightful, rolling between the innings like salutary cannon-fire. I’m talking about the Crab Grass Band, supplying a soundtrack to the action since the summer of 1983. I spoke to co-founder Hugh Scanlon for a little rundown on the group’s history.
Scanlon is eager to show appreciation for those who helped get the ball rolling 42 years ago, when he was a forestry major at Humboldt State University. Most of his compatriots were from different academic disciplines and the project was never an offshoot of the university’s music program.
“A few of my friends and I were sitting in the stands at one of the games in the middle of summer, and we started talking about how the games could be more exciting with a little music, and gosh, this would be a good time to play.” Inspired by seeing live music between innings at Giants games at Candlestick Park, Scanlon, a trombone player with a proficiency in reading and arranging music, approached the Crabs organization with his friends and offered to play between innings. A deal was struck for free beer and hot dogs, and the Crab Grass Band, little more than a jazz combo, was born.
“This will be our 41st year of playing, minus the pandemic, when everything was shut down.” He continues with a quick overview of how the group expanded, both in sound by opening the setlist to tunes outside of the jazz and marching band repertoire, and through community outreach.
“We always wanted to be a part of the community, with locals coming from outside the college to play. People would ask how they could be a part of the band and we told them to show up,” Scanlon says. The tryouts were simple: bring an instrument, be able to read charts and have a desire to play. He notes how the music changed, too, with people bringing their own ideas for popular songs to play and finding ways to select the tunes with the most punch in the small time provided, arranged in a key that worked for the entire ensemble, without disrupting the operation as a whole.
“Our conductor is always making eye contact with the announcer so we don’t step on his toes,” Scanlon says. Beyond that, there’s also a protocol for playing songs to rile up the fans when the home team steps up to the plate.
“We try to make things peppy when the Crabs are coming up to bat and a little more casual when it’s the opposing team,” although, Scanlon notes, “We do take requests from the visiting players and sometimes remember their favorite songs for when they come back. We want people to have fun, and it’s always fun to see the other players dancing and shaking it, too.”
Other requests come from the musicians. Scanlon says that he tries to keep it fresh, mentioning a favorite is an electronic dance track from 2017 by Narco called “Timmy Trumpet,” which he brought to the group. Along with the songbook, the group has expanded, with the most players appearing on opening day, before settling into around 15-20 players for most of the season, including some junior high school students. On their first performance this year, Scanlon informed me there were over a dozen saxophone players alone.
Among them was alto sax player Janna Ostoya, who has been with the Crab Grass Band since the ’90s, and whose husband plays in the group as well. She says throughout the years of lineup changes, the overall vibe has stayed the same, which is always exciting, and “delicious in a way that goes perfectly with a hot dog and a beer.”
Even if, like myself, you’re not much of a hot dog eater or beer drinker, there’s a larger truth at work there, like the joyful perambulations of the many noisy citizens of summer — human, winged and otherwise. I’ll tip a glass to that. Go Crabs.
Thursday
The Arcata Theatre Lounge is hosting Thursdaze, the dancehall and reggae dance fest curated by DJs Sarge One, Rundat, Tanasa Ras and featuring the Fox Den Dancers. The fun starts at 9 p.m., and it’s only $10 to get in the door.
Friday
If you’d like to catch the Crab Grass Band in action between innings — and watch some baseball, too, I suppose — come out to the Arcata Ball Park tonight at 7 p.m. for the first game in a hometown series against the Fresno A’s. Yes, I call it the Ball Park and not Crabs Stadium because big lights and a few bleachers does not a stadium make, but it’s still a big fun time ($10 general, $4 kids 3-12).
Saturday
It’s a big show night tonight, which will hopefully make up for two quiet nights in the beginning of next week. Here’s what’s on the marquee for the evening. At 5 p.m., the Eureka Vets Hall is the venue for a benefit show for missing native man Ray Tsatoke, featuring Oakland grindcore band Bob Plant, power violence quartet Hong Kong Fuck You! from Tijuana, Mexico, Malandro, and locals Malicious Algorithm, Sew, Gourmandizer, Kolonizer and Brain-Dead Rejects ($15).
Over at the Arcata Playhouse at 7 p.m., the Creative Sanctuary presents the fourth show in the Jazz is Peace series called Right Here, Right Now, with original compositions by James Zeller and Katie Belknap, as well as some classics picked for the occasion and played by the aforementioned duo along with Humboldt Jazz Collective members Matthew Seno, Ramsey Isaacs, Ron Lee and Tree. Expect words and themes from Thich Nhat Hanh, MLK, Ursula K. LeGuin and bell hooks. Admission is a sliding scale $15-$30.
And finally, Sugar Boys are playing their last show and album release at the Wild Hare Tavern at 8 p.m. Also on board is the group The Disheveled, a name that could describe any number of rock bands in the area ($10).
Sunday
Another Sunday, another afternoon matinee of choral music at the Arcata Playhouse. This week it’s the McKinleyville Community Choir presenting its Spring concert at 3 p.m. Admission is donation only. Enjoy.
Monday and Tuesday
Remember those quiet nights I mentioned on Saturday? Well, they’re here. You’re on your own, so hang in there, kittens. Tomorrow night is going to be special.
Wednesday
Pierre Bensusan is a French-Algerian acoustic guitarist who has managed over a 50-year career to not only carve out his own sound from the brilliant force of his unique playing, but to become the master of one of the more versatile guitar tunings, DADGAD, which forms a bridge from Ireland to North Africa with its enigmatic, neither minor nor major key signature sound. I first became aware of his work as a young kid from a song bearing his last name and written in homage to him by the late master Michael Hedges, and have been a fan ever since. He is truly one of the greats, a world class musician and it will be a rare treat to hear him play in the intimate splendor of the Arcata Playhouse. The show starts at 7:30 p.m., and at $20 a ticket, you’d be wise to snag one ASAP.
Collin Yeo (he/him) likes the way the stark lights of the field evaporate into the cool darkness of the surrounding night, leaving the tight focus of the game to join the ceaseless inquisition of the sky. A triple play or grand slam isn’t too shabby either.
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This article appears in Humboldt Crabs Baseball.