The Most Wonderful Time of the Year 

Full disclosure, I absolutely love autumn. In fact, fall is one of the only times I feel justified in my general instinct to cloister myself away from the rest of the human world while finding a balance between social isolation and subterranean slumber. This might seem like a cop-out to many of you and I accept that notion. However, I have planned and noted my own obsolescence in measures for years now and I desire no swan song, grand pyramid or "two vast and trunkless legs of stone" crumbling in the desert as a monument to myself. I am willing to enjoy every decaying season with a burrowing nod to my own eventual disintegration in the larger timescale.

But I will take the time to celebrate those of the younger generations who have no interest in going away quietly without kicking and screaming. Or, in the case of Greta Thunberg, telling the entire ruling elite to their faces that they are complicit in the destruction of the living planet and that they will find no quarter in her sympathies. Good for her. And woe is to the candidate in the 2020 election who has tried to find a compromise with the death factories of global capitalism and the military industrial complex. I'm looking at everyone who has any interest in some form of business as usual as general policy. You cannot serve two masters on this issue.

For the rest of you, be discerning, examine your consciences and don't be afraid to aim higher than you think is possible. Why not? We might be on track to lose everything anyway.

Have a good week.

Thursday

RampArt Skatepark has an all-ages metal show going on tonight at 8 p.m. ($8). Oneric Eclipse from Santa Rosa joins forces with Oakland's Ails — featuring members from Bay Area powerhouse from the past Ludicra — for what is certain to be an evening of balls-to-the-wall noise terror. Eureka fiends Ghoulhand and Miasmic provide harsh sepulchral ambience.

Friday

While Fringe Festival is ongoing in Eureka — you can catch local storytelling giants The Comix Trip at Siren's Song and Synapse at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively, for a mere $5 — Diego's Umbrella is likely to draw a jam-friendly crowd at Humbrews at 9:30 p.m. ($15). However, as far as unmissable entertainment goes, my money's on the dry humor of lesbian cancer survivor Tig Notaro, who has laid her life's incidents and accidents out in fluorescent clarity and rawness for decades to lucky audiences around the world. You can be among the elect by showing up at the Van Duzer theatre at 8 p.m. and, for a reasonable $49, you can hear the latest chapter in the saga.

Saturday

A pretty righteous local music team-up is happening late in the evening tonight at the Alibi. Surf-thrash high tide heshers The Sturgeons are bringing brackish bay water to irrigate the bleached-bone peyote planter boxes of Opossum Sun Trail's mirage garden to unite the ecstatic trippers of the world who are dying of thirst in the desert or amongst the breakers. In other words, $5 at the door gets you some real good surf 'n turf tunes at 11 p.m.

Sunday

I like to recommend some less conventional shows when I get the chance, so here I go again. Highly talented songwriter, upright bassist and folk singer Amy LaVere will be appearing at a private house party in Arcata this evening at 7 p.m. with her husband Will Sexton on acoustic guitar. For nearly 30 years Ms. LaVere has made music that has flown in the highest circles of the homespun world of country and Americana music. Her voice has been celebrated from her current home of Memphis, Tennessee, to her native Shreveport, Louisiana. I wouldn't miss this one if I were you. The tickets are $20-$30 sliding scale, all proceeds go to the artist. For more information, call or email Charles Lancaster at (805) 440-4625 and [email protected].

Monday

For a half century, the Jamaican vocal trio Mighty Diamonds has skirted on the borders of mainstream reggae success with a sound that is both vintage and exploratory. Tonight the group comes to Humbrews to celebrate its riddim and dancehall legacy at 10 p.m. ($20, $18 advance). Dubtonic Kru opens.

Tuesday

It's the second all-ages show at RampArt Skatepark this week and this one's on the punk spectrum. The headliner is Finland's oddly named hardcore act Bad Jesus Experience, while local bands Dead Drift and Sad Krotch also have a place reserved onstage when the games kick off at 8 p.m. A mere $5 will get you through the doors into the half-pipe playground.

Wednesday

The Growlers return to the 707 to bring its dyspeptic Los Angeles sad-beach sound to the Van Duzer Theatre at 8 p.m. ($35). Shimmering bursts of summertime sadness mixed with sweet tin-and-chrome-plated harmonies await the public. Imagine diving in the early Nintendo 8-bit landscape of an LA beach only to find a bed of neon oysters full of day-glow pearls. That's the sort of adventure your ears are in for tonight.

Full show listings in the Journal's Music and More grid, the Calendar and online. Bands and promoters, send your gig info, preferably with a high-res photo or two, to [email protected].

Collin Yeo would like to remind you that we are the music makers, and we are the makers of dreams. We are also the people who could really learn a lesson about curtailing our single-use plastic consumption. He prefers he/him pronouns and lives in Arcata.