Even for fire-wary and -weary Californians like myself, it’s been hard to comprehend the destruction of the Camp Fire, the Nov. 8 wildfire that decimated the town of Paradise in Butte County. That morning I was in Sebastopol, more than 100 miles from Paradise as the smoke flies. We woke up to clear skies. By […]
Mad River Brewing Company & Tap Room
Posted inMusic
The Fruits of Autumn
I spent last night sleeping under a fig tree on the grounds of a farm my friends just purchased. Not one of those farms, by the way, although that doesn’t matter in my opinion, but a bona fide organic food producer. After a great dinner I slept under that tree with my girlfriend and dreamed […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Hum Plate Round-up
Hotsy totsy School cafeteria lunches don’t have their bad reputation for nothing. Those of a certain age remember when ketchup was declared a vegetable and meatless Fridays meant frozen fish sticks or pale, Styrofoam-y squares of pizza. Still, did you secretly revel in those fish sticks and their accompanying tartar sauce packets? Was there shameful […]
Posted inMusic
Blues, Loops, Peyote Rock and Soulgrass
Thursday Bluegrass returns to the menu at the Mad River Brewery Tap Room this evening around 6 p.m. courtesy of the Compost Mountain Boys. As usual, this is a free show, but that doesn’t mean you can’t throw a few shekels toward the band. The Old Steeple in Ferndale is starting off its season with […]
Posted inMusic
Get Close
Thursday It’s not often that you can find a free show from the Absynth Quartet but tonight is one of those rare nights. AQ4 will be up at the Mad River Brewing Co. Tap Room doing its polka-dot grass thing at 6 p.m. Bring the kiddos down to groove along. Out of Chicago comes the […]
Posted inMusic
Festivals and More Festivals
Thursday It’s been festival season here on the North Coast for a bit now as we’re well over a month into summer, but the jewel in Humboldt County’s festival crown shines in SoHum starting today. The Mateel Community Center is putting on the 33rd Reggae on the River at French’s Camp right before the Humboldt/Mendocino […]
Posted inMusic
Stop and Hear the Roses
It’s not often that I’m impressed with the trajectory of humankind. I wonder if we’ve hit a plateau and just can’t biologically evolve in any significant relation anymore to the technology we’ve created. The quantity of experience, and the quantity of stimuli that surround us in the 21st century is really mind-boggling, if we take […]
Posted inMusic
Get the Folk Up
Thursday You might want to start getting comfortable up in Blue Lake in the run up to the Humboldt Folklife Festival. Start off this evening at the Mad River Brewery with folky fiddle tunes from Fingal, which will be starting it up around 6 p.m. and for free. Remember, kids and dogs are welcome, but […]
Posted inMusic
Kicking Off Summer
Thursday Electric-acoustic “mayhem” are on the bill this evening at the Mad River Brewery Tap room in Blue Lake at 6 p.m. Returning to the outdoor stage is Kaptain Kirk’s Kosmic Koncoction, which will be jamming the eclectic tunes free of charge. Three hours later, David Dondero — whom NPR hailed as one of “the […]
Posted inMusic
Rock Rock
Where did “Southern Rock” come from? The easiest answer is “The South” but you already knew that. Things get a bit more complicated after that. With a measure of the blues (from the South), early rock ‘n’ roll (built off the simplicity of the blues) and country music, Southern Rock has mutated and changed over […]
Posted inMusic
Entertained to Death
Technology giveth, and technology taketh away. I’ve been pondering this thought for a while now. I won’t claim to be a fully out-of-the-closet Luddite, but compared to many — my children especially — I am far more wary of the trade off between what we get from technology and what we give to technology. Specifically, […]
Posted inMusic
About Bob
My freshman year in high school, I’d hitch rides to school with my friend Cameron and his mother. Cameron and I would groggily listen to cassettes his older brother gave him: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan. We listened to Dylan from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan up to Blood On the Tracks and anything […]