The Royal Scam 

On this year's 4/20, let's all take a moment to celebrate the true message of legalizing marijuana in the American way: Commodifying the struggle for freedom against oppression so that a small handful of rich assholes can get even wealthier without the unpleasantness of restorative justice for the millions of lives destroyed by the long cruelty of prohibition. You can track this trend the same way you can track the lineage from Woodstock to Coachella: Follow the money, because in this country, it's always ever just about money. I don't really smoke weed (or go to large music festivals, for that matter), but I can appreciate a good scam when I see one. I can imagine a day when the remaining illusions have evaporated, as there are no more counterculture elements left to strip-mine, and we are all simply paying a premium for brief endorphin breaks from the pain and crushing stupidity of a totalitarian commercial culture of pure transaction and grift. Or, you know, the whole thing might collapse from the accumulative weight of its own contradictions — who can say? For my part, I'll temper this brooding vision with a nice menu of fairly awesome shows in this latter week of April. Have at it.

Thursday

Local guitar playing and soothsaying storyteller Anna Hamilton brings her trio and its blues to the Basement tonight for a free recitation at 8 p.m. I remember her tunes and chatter fondly from the good old days at the Clam Beach Inn (RIP), where she'd take over a corner and fill the barroom with her earthy magic that expanded as the beer taps flowed like the wavy drizzle in the backyard Strawberry Creek forest basin. Here's a glass tipped to those memories and a sip in honor of those to come.

Friday

I like it when a new group I haven't heard before drops a line to let me know about an upcoming gig because I am given the chance to see what the music makers (and the dreamers of dreams, per Willy Wonka quoting the poet Arthur O'Shaugnessy) are up to. But things really line up and start sparking and twitching for me with the holy amperage of life when I actually love the music they send. I got treated to just that sort of galvanic shock this week when Liz, aka Trash Panda, from the new Eureka duo Hermit Crab sent me the goods: a link to their latest work, The Earth is Visible from Space. Dear lord of the deadly glowing seas, what a beautiful, stuttering mess of sputtering beats, all chopping through a tideline of battered shoreline debris and foamy toxic unguents. Samples, beats, sax, voices, all funk-scuttling over an ambient mapped fallout zone of music, land-mining Mother Nature with barbs of exploded pop culture and crooning about the mess. This trash is a blast and I love it. I beg you to see, hear and fear for yourself what I mean, which you can do at the Miniplex at 9 p.m. for $10. B. Writes provides R&B support and album cover artist Jullia Finkelstein will be making live paintings. Put your ear to page and hear the thwack, because I just stamped this one with my "gig of the week" notary mallet.

Saturday

I'm too far removed from cannabis culture to comment on the current street value of 4/20 as a holiday, but I have to imagine it's been a cycle of diminished returns regarding coolness in the wake of legalization, market busts and gross spurts of venture capital. Like music festivals and world travel, the online cult of the self has turned everything spontaneous and exciting into a teeming social media world of curated projections lacking anything resembling human reflection. All populated by a hierarchy of influencers whose language is a megaton chorus of babble. I try not to think about it too much. However, I do need to think about a fun gig for today, and rather than make a list of the many hyped-up musical smoke-outs, I'm going to suggest the OTT. show at the Arcata Theatre Lounge at 9 p.m. ($25, $22 advance). This British electro artist has been pumping out his ambient dub and club tracks for more than 20 years while holding it down as a respected engineer and producer in the professional level of the industry. This show looks like a good time without any prior obligations.

Sunday

Fans of ensemble vocal jazz and pop are in for a treat this afternoon when the Mad River Transit Singers present a matinee performance at Fulkerson Hall at 2 p.m. ($10, $5 children and seniors, free to Cal Poly Humboldt students). The program will include an array of swing and jazz standards, as well as some pop gems by the likes of Willie Nelson and local hero Sara Bareilles.

Monday

The calendar marks the onward tapping of time, and once again the first days of the working week is capped off with a 7 p.m. installment of Metal Mondays at Savage Henry Comedy Club. Tonight's fare includes two Midwestern touring bands, Cincinnati's power-violence crew Slut Bomb and noise violence mercenaries Blackwater Snipers from Chicago. Local heavy hitters Malicious Algorithm and Brain Dead Rejects will bring it on as well ($5-$10 sliding scale).

Tuesday

CPH begins its 11th annual Hip Hop Conference today with a 5:30 p.m. keynote speech from OG guru and Public Enemy mastermind Chuck D at the Van Duzer Theatre. This is a free event, but check the university's website for registration and seating details, as space is often a factor for an event such as this.

Wednesday

Speaking of hip hop (and for that matter, an organic, career-length artistic celebration of the fun side of weed) Houston's screwball master MC, guest star and laid back producer Devin the Dude is posting up at Humbrews tonight at 9 p.m. on a stop on his Whole New Ballroom tour. He might be a few days late for 4/20, but I have no doubt the vibe won't be affected in the slightest, and, although it's easy to over-simplify his act as a rolling carnival of High Times, the Dude has got effortless flow rolling over a production style that is deceptively brilliant in its underlying smokescreen groove. He's a peer-respected icon at the top of a game he helped develop over decades ($25).

Collin Yeo (he/him) only has nostalgia for the world that could have been. And Super Metroid, from soundtrack to story — that game was a masterpiece. He lives in Arcata.