I’ve got rambling on the mind, and not the verbal or written sort in which I usually engage. I’m thinking about traveling because I’m going to be doing some of that in a short while. I won’t say where and I won’t say when, but I will be doing the rare move of breaking containment from Humboldt County and the West Coast in pursuit of something completely different. I won’t be gone long, and I won’t interrupt my weekly work in this column while I’m away. I’m looking for a wilderness of sorts, something past the fringe of what I’m used to, a place where people speak with unfamiliar accents, the air smells different and the humidity brings a snap and crackle to the sky. Maybe I’ll see some birds I’m not used to seeing here. I don’t ask for much, and any chance to get away for a while is a massive luxury anyway, which, like most uncommon treasures, comes with a fair amount of fear and apprehension. To say I don’t come from wealth and privilege is an understatement, and the traveling I did when I was much younger operated on very thin margins. I hear a lot of talk from people worrying about America becoming a police state, and I immediately assume they have never traveled extensively by Greyhound, as I did in my youth. I watched Texas cops kick over people’s luggage as they tried to get a little rest while waiting for a late-night changeover from Dallas to New Orleans, and that was one of the nicer police-to-public interactions I observed from the broke side of the road. I am blessed by a little less poverty these days, so I won’t be riding as rough as I used to, but that doesn’t change conditions for those who still do. I can’t imagine things have improved much since the days of W. Bush — quite the opposite, it would seem. Still, I’m not looking for trouble and strife, and I never have. I am looking to see what’s out there beyond our Emerald Curtain, and if I make it back with enough of myself intact, I’ll share some of my observations. Until then, look below for a fine week of local entertainment to fill your last lap of August.
Thursday
The good folks at the Creative Sanctuary are continuing Homage to the Message, a chronological celebration of various satellite members of the Jazz Messengers. This installment is all about the tunes of trumpeter and composer Lee Morgan — gone too soon at the age of 33, when his girlfriend shot him between sets at an East Village club in the late hours of a New York winter’s night. Thankfully, his music lives on, even if tonight’s performance will be sans a trumpeter. That’s just fine, tromboner James Zeller, bassist Danny Gaon, tenor sax player Tree, pianist Matthew Seno and drummer Ramsey Isaacs are guaranteed to hold it down. The show’s at 7 p.m. at the Arcata Playhouse and there’s a sliding scale cover of $10-$30 to keep the musicians happy.
Friday
It’s Metal Friday over at Savage Henry Comedy Club, and tonight’s show is a special one, as it is kicking off a 24-hour telethon to raise donations for the struggling club. We don’t have very many all-ages spaces for comedy and loud, heavy music, and losing this one would be a grave blow to our local music scene. So consider showing up at 8 p.m. with some donation money in hand and enjoy the fine musical antics of Brain Dead Rejects, Cheshire High and Hillsick.
If you feel like double-dipping for your night’s fun, head over to the Miniplex after 9 p.m., where HISPanic! at the Disco will be DJ-ing the finest party mix of reggaeton, cumbia, Latin club bangers and all points in between on the groove highway. It’s $5-$10 sliding scale.
Saturday
If you are in the mood for some funky country-etched rock and folky jump blues, the Logger Bar is the place to be. After 8 p.m. you will find two fine specimens of Americana sounds from the local scene, Corduroy Gangsters and Idle Spurs. It won’t quite be a honky-tonk, but it’ll be within whistlin’ distance of it, and free at the door to get in.
Sunday
It wouldn’t be a proper calendar year in Humco without a visit from Afroman, the busy cult-famous rapper and occasional presidential candidate whose prodigious output eclipses his early claim to fame, 2000’s “Because I Got High.” The man tours relentlessly and kicks out blunt wrapped comedy jams nearly yearly, so he’s a legend in my ledger. Tonight’s show is at the Arcata Theatre Lounge, sometime after the doors open at 7 p.m., and you can find tickets online for $37.18. You know what to do.
Monday
I’m going to keep pumping up shows at Savage Henry Comedy Club for as long as it takes for the ship to right itself, the public to keep it afloat and beyond. I have an agenda when it comes to keeping our offbeat and one-of-a-kind clubs alive, particularly those who host all-ages shows, because Lord knows that was the sort of fun that saved my young ass time and again when there was nothing better to do. So come check out Metal Monday at 7 p.m., featuring Portland’s Silver Talon, Oathbound from Seattle, Strider and Hillsick. Everything from dark gothic to metalcore to stoner doom is on the menu tonight, and at a sliding-scale entry fee that starts at $5, you can’t beat the price.
Tuesday
A quiet night for music under the waxing crescent moon. Choose your own adventure.
Wednesday
The Miniplex is hosting a mid-week creepshow with Loveland, Colorado’s Doom Scroll, an acoustic crust punk band with a unique sound built on heavy picking and the loud/quiet dynamics and bratty singing from the heyday of American emo music. If that scratches your itch, come get some relief tonight at 7:30 p.m. Also on the docket are Trinket and Sincerely Yours. Get in the door with $15 for a night of side-bangs head bopping.
Collin Yeo (he/him) does not want to become a cautionary tale or an urban legend, but wouldn’t mind being an occasional anecdote. That seems all right.
This article appears in ‘No Signs of Recovery’.