Speaking of cumbia music and Latin grooves, if you really want to dance your ass down to a nub with some of the finest beat chugging sound blasters in the country, swing over to Humbrews at 9 p.m. for a hefty dose of Makenu, who have set the marker many times over for the county […]
Checkered Past
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The Merry Minuet
Today’s column is named after a Sheldon Harnick song, as performed by The Kingston Trio. It’s a satirical piece about unrest and violence in the world being solved by the modest proposal of unleashing the atomic bomb on the whole of humanity because “What nature doesn’t do to us, will be done by our fellow […]
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Music Tonight: Saturday, Dec. 21
Here’s a trio of ways to celebrate the longest night of the year, laid out in chronological form for your discernment. At the Arcata Playhouse at 7 p.m., singer and trombonist James Zeller presents the music of Chet Baker (and other Capricorns). He will be joined by his usual cadre of talented cats, Gabe Lubowe, […]
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Music Tonight: Thursday, Oct. 31
It’s the Big Spooky tonight. Rather than round up all the various activities available out there for all you Halloweenies, I’m going to stick to my beat and suggest three shows, starting in Ferndale and heading north. That ought to cover the geographic spread for many of you. Over at the Old Steeple at 7:30 […]
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Box of Rain
It’s fitting that the man who co-wrote the most famous song about dying, by a group called The Grateful Dead, would see fit to pass away during this period of days that finds the living in communion with the departed, surrounded — around here at least — by a fat backdrop of rain. More on […]
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Music Tonight: Friday, Feb. 23
Humbrews is hosting a night of local skanking and grooves when ska-mongers Checkered Past join forces with Caribbean Jazz Odyssey to keep the dancefloor bouncing. It’s $10 to get in, 9 p.m. is the advertised starting time and DJ Burnt Reynolds will preside over the in-between vibes.
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Music Tonight: Saturday, Dec. 16
Two shows tonight because things thin out a bit later on in the column, so I’m packing more options on the weekend. However, these are a toss up, happening at roughly the same time in two different cities, so you gotta pick one. At 6:30 p.m. at the Arcata Theatre Lounge, it’s Humboldt Surfrider’s fifth […]
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New Moon Fever
I don’t attribute much of human behavior to the far-out celestial bodies in our solar system. Credit that to a rebellious streak I’m employing against my now-deceased parents who met in the 1970s in a transcendental “community” that was somewhat active in that archetyping. I don’t worry about which planet is in retrograde. I do, […]
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Music Today: Saturday, July 29
The Mattole Grange in Petrolia is hosting the 30-plus annual Roll on the Mattole festival starting at high noon today. This fundraiser for the Honeydew Volunteer Fire Department is full of local talent, including Makenu, Alex Kent, Horse Mountain Band, Checkered Past, SoHum Girls and Elderberry Rust String Band. Entrance is free for kids 12 […]
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Roll Call!
It’s time for Roll on the Mattole, Saturday, July 29, from noon to midnight at Mattole Grange ($30, $25 seniors/students, free for kids 12 and under w/adult). The annual benefit for the Honeydew Volunteer Fire Department is a hot affair with dancing, drinks, food and craft vendors, a wildland firefighter challenge and a full day […]
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Nuclear Summer
I watched Oppenheimer this weekend and, as current movies aren’t my beat, I’m not going to comment on the film itself, except to say that “Property is theft” is a Proudhon quote, not from Marx. I felt a lot of things about the movie and, ultimately, left thinking about how depressed George Orwell was by […]
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Music Today: Sunday, July 9
We’re properly into the month of July, which means those of us lucky and local enough to stay through the warm months have some OG milestones to recapture and celebrate. Chief among them is Annie and Mary Day, Blue Lake’s tribute to a pair of bookkeepers who worked for the Arcata Mad River Rail Line […]