You know what? Let’s keep this one short, sweet, free and easy. If you like crowds and a spectacle, head to the Arcata Plaza anytime after 10 a.m. for the North Country Fair and its famous parade. If you want more intimate Sunday amusement, go to Fieldbrook Winery at noon for an afternoon with the […]
Compost Mountain Boys
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Music Today: Sunday, July 14
Summer means a great many things around here. Chief among them is a certain clustering of musical events as the weather hits peak shine, and the population reflects stalwart locals anchored in place amid a steady motion of tourists and newcomers, filling in the void left by departed students. One such cluster is Annie and […]
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Summer Breeze
“July is dressed up and playing her tune,” is the relevant line from this week’s headline song, a dark, soft rock masterpiece from way back when. The question is, are you listening and from where? For my own part, I am temporarily housebound, recovering from a wee medical thing from last week (I’m fine), and […]
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Meltdown Fest
It’s been a bad week, to be honest. My news-addicted mind experienced a mild apoplexy at two items I can’t help but treat as related. The United Nations has released a stunning report that humans — and more specifically our exploitative world economic engines — are accelerating the extinction of some million-plus species of plants […]
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Niche and Nuance vs. Nazis
When Janis Ian wrote her seminal song “At Seventeen,” she started with the perfect stanza about tragic, trapped, popular and doomed teenage girls who peaked too soon: “I learned the truth at 17/ That love was meant for beauty queens/ And high school girls with clear-skinned smiles/ Who married young and then retired.” She goes […]
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Balance in the Force
Beatles or Stones? It’s a silly question that’s at least 50 years old. My wife answered “The Beatles” without hesitating. Yet it’s one that haunts many of us music lovers who hold cherished spots for both in our hearts. Would modern music exist as anything even close to resembling itself had John and Paul never […]
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Folklife Does ‘Send me Back Home’ for Merle
A full house experienced a magical “Sing Me Back Home” tribute to Merle Haggard at Saturday’s closing performance of the Humboldt Folklife Festival in the Dell’Arte Amphitheatre in Blue Lake. The “Merle choir,” which performed the tribute, was put together with members of different local bands who shared a common bond in that they all […]
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From the Hum: Fulks is a gas, girls are badass, a little sweet bluegrass
Singer-songwriter delight Chicago singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks makes a rare West Coast appearance at the Arcata Playhouse. Intimate, yet roomy; sophisticated, yet never uptight; with great sound and wonderful people, the Playhouse is one of Humboldt’s top venues. And Fulks is a fascinating performer, with live performances that feature improvised rearrangements of his original songs, off-the-cuff […]
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Jump Around
We’ve reached that time of year when live music options briefly wind down. It’s a bit of a shame, since we have also arrived at that time of year when the nights are at their longest. But before you resign yourself to: a.) once again going through your entire Seinfeld DVD collection because Christmas sucks […]