Arts And Entertainment

You could call Taj Mahal, birth name Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, a blues legend, but the guitar slinger’s sound goes far beyond simple 12-bar odes to failed love or tough times.

Arcata - The Reese Bullen Gallery at Humboldt State University will showcase a new rotation of its permanent collection in “Views from the Vault,” an exhibit of works handpicked by HSU students enrolled in the Museum & Gallery Practices class, commencing Thursday, Sept. 25. The public is invited to attend the opening reception that day from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

A monstrous forest fire that won’t end is threatening this small lumber town. People are arriving from all over to help fight it, and they are changing the town from within.

Renewing a performing partnership that goes back more than a decade, violinist Terrie Baune and pianist Deborah Clasquin headline a program of works by Dmitri Shostakovich and other Eastern European composers of the Soviet era.

A faculty and staff exhibition showcasing the talent of the artists who teach and work in Humboldt State University’s Art Department will be featured at the First Street Gallery in Old Town, Eureka. The exhibit will run from Aug. 26 through Sept. 21, with an artists reception on Sept. 6.

As students begin fall classes, Soprano Kamala Stroup Rocher, HSU Class of ’91, returns to campus for a voice recital featuring the works of Debussy, Strauss, Mozart and Verdi.

Music fit for a king might describe many classical pieces, especially those commissioned by monarchs and other high officials. But music actually composed by a king is rarely heard. On Friday June 6 at HSU, it will be, as performed by one of three chamber music groups of North Coast commoners to play that evening.

Arcata - From early childhood, pianist Ching-Ming Cheng assailed the keyboard with iron self-demand. She practiced so hard her mother had to stop her sometimes.

AS Presents “Hip Hop 101” featuring Brother Ali, Scarub, LuckyIam, Eligh from the Living Legends crew and Northern State on Thursday, May 8th at 8 p.m. in the Kate Buchanan Room, Humboldt State University.

More than fifty dancers perform thirteen original dances, several paired with original music by HSU faculty and students, in the annual HSU dance concert, PURE ABSTRACTIONS, this weekend only, Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Van Duzer Theatre.

Arcata – Historical Arcata photographs restored by two Humboldt State University seniors are on display this month at the Meridian Fine Art Gallery, coinciding with the town’s 150th anniversary year.

Humboldt State University’s Reese Bullen Gallery presents the 2008 Annual Juried Student Exhibition.

She is known as the most beautiful woman in the world. A Classical Age celebrity with a face that still launches a thousand magazine covers, the Queen of ancient Sparta has been trapped for 17 years in what looks suspiciously like a 1950s Egyptian hotel room, armed with a fly-swatter, trying to get an old TV set to work long enough to tell her news of the war being fought for her honor. She’s a sulky Sleeping Beauty waiting for her Prince (actually her King and husband) to come and rescue her.

Bay Area world music ensemble Gamelan X brings its high energy world music to Humboldt State University on Saturday, March 8.

Joanne Rand is well known as a singer-songwriter and recording artist, especially in California and the Pacific Northwest. What is less well known is that she is currently pursuing a degree in the Music Department at Humboldt State University.

Artist Mark Allen Soderstrom poses the question: How does one weigh a soul?

It’s just before dawn, and the fireflies are darting and glowing in the dark. Ominous sounds frighten them away, and as the sun rises, two armies of ants confront each other.

Associated Students Presents has a reputation for putting on great concerts at Humboldt State. Remember Lyrics Born at the ’06 Fall Harvest Fest? Or Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore thrilling live show in the Depot last October? That’s right, in the Depot. Any organization that can get the leader of one of alternative rock’s towering giants to play in a university food court is all right by us.

Eureka – An exhibit of “Hand Tools of Unknown Use and Other Works” by the Art Department chair at CSU-Stanislaus, Professor Gordon Senior, will be showcased at Humboldt State University’s First Street Gallery in Old Town, February 2 through March 9.

Arcata — After two runs in movie theaters and more than 2,000 performances on Broadway, Center Arts is bringing the hit musical Hairspray to HSU, affording north coast theater lovers the chance to see this unique comedy.

Arcata - Redwood Coast musicians comprising a trio of chamber groups will perform rare works by Mozart, Beethoven and Bach and classic ragtime numbers on Sunday, January 20, at 8:00 p.m. in Humboldt State University’s Fulkerson Recital Hall.

He’s won ten Grammys, an Oscar and scores of international awards; he was the first jazz musician to field a platinum jazz album and last Friday night, legendary keyboardist, Herbie Hancock, played to a packed crowd at Humboldt State’s Van Duzer theater.

Humboldt State University’s Reese Bullen Gallery presents works by San Francisco artist Kay Kang. A community reception is set for Thursday, Nov. 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibit then runs from November 8 through December 8.

The Solmitz Archive Exhibit in the HSU Library Lobby, November 6-26, shows the effect of Nazi regime on one Jewish family from Hamburg, Germany, whose descendants are now dispersed all over the globe.

Humboldt State University First Street Gallery presents “4 in October: Works by Alumni Artists,” Oct. 6 through Nov. 4, continuing the gallery’s program of highlighting artists who have studied at HSU.