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 […]
Six Rivers Brewery, Tasting Room & Restaurant
Posted inEat + Drink
Humboldt on Tap
The first time someone offered me a shandy — and explained the ingredients — I thought it sounded disgusting. I ordered one anyway, because what’s the point of walking into a pub in London if you aren’t at least a little curious about what the locals are drinking? The combination, described to me as beer […]
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
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
Tropicalismo
It’s never easy nail down a music genre. As with many things ineffable, the more you describe them, the more elusive they seem. Much like quantum physics, the more microscopic your view, the more you see, ad infinitum. This paradoxical quandary hit me while trying to pin what it was about Sugar Candy Mountain that […]
Posted inMusic
Looking for America
Among the few American songwriters who have profoundly impacted the American Songbook as I hazily define it, most would agree Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan are somewhere toward the top of the list. I wouldn’t be alone in putting Paul Simon way up there, too. With his early songwriting career rooted in folk music and […]
Posted inMusic
4 + 20 More
Humboldt has its own complicated and multifaceted relationship with its best-known cash crop. Whether you are hip enough to call it cannabis or still call it “the dope,” it’s tough to fully appreciate the extent of its influence on our county. I don’t have the space/time/patience to go into depth here in this column but […]
Posted inMusic
Don’t Let Me Fall
It’s one of those great weekends where we have a chance to hear one of our hardworking local bands draw a line in the musical sand and commit its work into a recorded snapshot of time. All that’s a silly way of saying, Wild Otis is releasing its debut album called Don’t Let Me Fall […]
Posted inMusic
The Youngest
As an independant musician (i.e. poor) I’m always rooting for the underdog. The unknown songwriter struggling to afford coffee in the morning. The musician who has fully let down their parents. The goals of fame and stardom are for narcissists who spend more on haircuts than gear or practicing. The tangible goals for independent musicians […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Summer Sipping
Yes, sometimes sun is hard to come by in Humboldt County, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you don’t still want a cool summer cocktail. Six Rivers Brewery (1300 Central Ave., McKinleyville) is a big, warm, inviting place, even if that partial afternoon clearing never materializes. Its new outdoor patio makes Six Rivers a true […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Winter’s Brew
Finding a good winter ale is one of the best ways to get through Humboldt’s cold, dark and sometimes mercilessly wet winters. Locals know where to go to get the county’s richest and heartiest ales; dark mysterious brews that help insulate against the cold and don’t require near-freezing temperatures to be palatable. Everyone has a […]