Sorry about the brief intro, but like Lewis Carroll’s running plot device, I’m late for the party. Have a great week.
Thursday
Savage Henry Comedy Club is hosting the first Barnstitch Artist Collective fundraiser for the Ink People Dream Maker Project and queer BIPOC creative nonprofit. The all-ages punk show is at 7:30 p.m., with a suggested donation of $5-$20, and will feature the bands Something Wicked, Executive Order, Woke Agenda and Eugene’s own Sargent Pitviper.
Friday
Speaking of all-ages gigs, the Siren’s Song Tavern is hosting a dance night for everyone at 8 p.m. tonight, featuring the mighty Makenu and DJ Amaru. A 10-spot will get you in the door, you dig?
Saturday
While many things have changed in the fallout plague years of the “post” pandemic — RIP to the Alibi, for instance — others are showing signs of coming back. For instance, a former live luminary of that much-missed venue is stopping through town again on tour, this time hitting up the Shanty, which is about as good as it gets when it comes to the sort of joint this fella should be seen and heard in. The fella in question is Bob Log III, who is arguably the greatest primitive rock concept act on the planet since the death of Lux Interior permanently shelved The Cramps 17 years ago. Imagine a helmeted stuntman in a one-man band inflatable pool party playing some hot transistor shit on the gee-tar and foot drums and you still won’t really have enough to go on. Just roll through the Shanty tonight around 9 p.m. and check it out. It don’t cost nothing but the temporary death of your boredom.
Sunday
The ninth annual Humboldt Steel Pan and Percussion Festival is happening from 1 to 7 p.m. in the Sapphire Palace at the Blue Lake Casino today. Don’t be discouraged by the venue, this gig is not only all-ages, but free to get in, which means you and yours can all enjoy the malleted madness of acts like San Rafael’s Pandemonium, the Humboldt Calypso Band, Pan Fest from Massachusetts, Blue Dragon Steel Band and the Arcata High School Steel Pan Club. Sounds like a blast to me.
Memorial Day
“Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers.” — George Carlin, Back in Town, 1996.
Tuesday
Charlotte, North Carolina-based singer/songwriter Bryan Bielanski is a high energy, fun and happy guy who writes high energy, fun and happy songs which he tours the world playing. He clearly loves what he does and does everything he can to make his audience love it, too. Which is refreshing to me at this stage of the current world, because fuck it, there’s not enough of that sort of thing going around right now. Highly motivated people in the year 2026 who are affable and joyous rather than utterly demonic are not at all as common as I would like. So hurray for Bryan, and please consider heading over to the Eureka wing of the Redwood Curtain Brewery at 6 p.m. for a free live showcase of the man and his tunes. I bet you’ll have fun.
Wednesday
Speaking of things utterly demonic, colonial genocide is still ongoing in occupied Palestine on our dime, so the least we can do is acknowledge it. Even better, you can check out the last film in the Shine a Light on Palestine spring film series at the Minor Theatre tonight at 7 p.m. and contribute to aid for families in Gaza directly with your ticket price donation of $10-$20. Tonight’s film is the 2025 historical drama Palestine ’36, set at the beginning of the three-year Arab revolt against colonial rule in British Mandate Palestine two decades after the Balfour Declaration. This one looks pretty interesting and, while I’m not familiar yet with many of the names from the largely Palestinian and Middle Eastern cast in this award-winning Oscar contender, Liam Cunningham and Jeremy Irons are always a delight on screen. Check it out.
This article appears in ‘Devastation’.