Creative Connections
By Wendy Butler
Ashland, Ore.-based singer-songwriter duo Jeff Pevar and Inger Nova Jorgensen are the special guest performers for Which Way The Wind Festival’s concluding event tonight (Saturday, Oct. 15) Songs Of The Wind, which will begin at 7 p.m. and will be held at the festival’s venue Synapsis, 1675 Union St., Eureka.
Pevar is a guitarist, composer, producer, performer and multi-instrumentalist, who has worked on stage and/or in the studio with world-renowned artists including Ray Charles, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bette Midler and Joe Cocker, among many others.
Pevar served alongside Russ Cole as a juror for this festival’s Songwriter Contest.
Jorgensen, also an accomplished sculptor and painter, formerly lived in Humboldt County. She said she’s looking forward to returning for this performance.
The two have been writing and performing music together for 17 years, and that was before they were married. Marriage is a partnership, of course, but for them so is writing music.
“Certain songwriters write numerous songs a week,” Pevar said. “I feel lucky if I can get a number of songs a year, so Inger has been really pushing us to work on our own music and really helps me solidify and focus my songwriting because we write together.
“A lot of times Inger is coming up with the lyric-center focus and then we’ll like look at the language together and maybe tweak it a little bit, but Inger is very much the poet in this songwriting duet,” Pevar said.
A recent song with working title “I’m A River” is a good example of how the two partner in a song’s composition.
Jorgensen said the words came to her while she was in her art studio.
“I was feeling a lot of angst around the times we’re in basically; it was during the pandemic,” Jorgensen said.
An excerpt: “There’s a babe crying out for a mother, a man standing on the corner carrying a sign, a woman in the hospital fighting for her life, I’m here feeling sorry for mine ...”
Jorgensen noted a connection we all have with each other even in the most dire of circumstances, and that is what she sought to express in these lyrics.
“There’s this sort of sense of loss that a lot of us have and a lot of grief, I believe, and so it’s kind of just a metaphor to that,” she said.
Pevar said the creative process whether in music or visual art cones back to the individual doing the creating.
“When I’m playing, it’s an extension of my heart,” he said. “When I play that note, even though that note is on every guitar that’s ever been made, when I’m playing it, it’s my note.” And that is comparable to Jorgensen in her art studio working with clay. “It belongs to her.”
The nonprofit Which Way The Wind seeks to engage the community in discussions about current world crises, including nuclear proliferation, global warming and environmental degradation. Since this organization’s inception in 2018, the arts have played a principal role.
Pevar and Jorgensen both feel the arts are a powerful communicator.
“Our jobs as artists are to bring beauty and life of some kind, hopefully things that are more light than dark into the world,” Jorgensen said. “When we bring art pieces or music pieces forward, it affects people emotionally and might affect them in a way that allows them to open their hearts to certain things that they wouldn’t normally be open to or they wouldn’t feel until they saw that piece of art or heard that piece of music, and so I think it all just ties into the healing of the planet.”
Pevar agreed with and added to Jorgensen’s statement about art’s importance.
Art and music, Pevar said, can be “magnets” to bring people together to be aware of and discuss heavier issues.
“It’s about all the various people who have forethought and awareness of these issues which some people do not,” he said. “It is the gathering of all the minds that can bring about change, I believe.”
Tickets available by clicking here: Order Tickets Here Or get your tickets at the door.
Melodic transformation
Which Way The Wind Festival concludes tonight (Saturday, Oct. 15) with Songs Of The Wind at 7 p.m. at Synapsis, 1675 Union St., Eureka.
The evening features performances by the top three winners of the festival’s Songwriter Contest:
First Place: Marcia Mendels/”California Burns”
Second Place: Anna Hamilton/”I Told You So”
Third Place: Matthew Wallace/”Song for the Doomed”
Also performing will be FireSign, a Humboldt-based band drawing inspiration from folk, pop and indie rock, and The Nu Heavenly Tone Singers, directed by James Harris, this group performs selections from the gospel music genre.
The evening’s special guest performers are Jeff Pevar and Inger Nova Jorgensen.
Jorgensen, also an accomplished sculptor and painter, has been writing music with Pevar for 17 years. Pevar is a guitarist, composer, producer, performer and multi-instrumentalist, who has worked on stage and/or in the studio with world-renowned artists including Ray Charles and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Pevar also served with Russ Cole as a juror for this festival’s Songwriter Contest.
Speaking of singer-songwriter pairings, FireSign’s acoustic guitarist Jim Hubbard and wife Tamara (a vocalist in FireSign) began singing together the day they met.
“Music has been a foundational part of our marriage,” Jim Hubbard said. “We wrote a song for our wedding and the music is engraved on our wedding bands.”
Hubbard is also a WWTW Festival Steering Committee member. He said this festival and how it has united our creative community - including the talented musicians on tap for tonight - makes him hopeful for the future.
“I have always loved the way songwriters can speak to an issue through a melody,” he said. “ (And) bring the message to the listener in a way that reaches our emotions with the sound and the lyric. This type of communication can reach people in a way that is unique and can have a lasting impression.”
Tickets available by clicking here: Order Tickets Here Or get your tickets at the door. Please be on time.
Enlightening and powerful words
It’s not about choosing the correct words all the time; it’s about choosing to choose words.
Words don’t decide how situations will resolve, but they do communicate irresolution, which is undeniable progress toward finding connection.
Which Way The Wind Festival presents: POETIC MUSINGS: THE CAPACITY TO SEE BEYOND THE VISIBLE tonight (Friday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m. at Synapsis, 1675 Union St., Eureka.
The featured poets are Jerry Martien, Katy Gurin, Larry Crist, Anne Fricke, David Holper and Vincent Peloso.
This event is hosted by Jeff DeMark.
Musical accompaniment will be provided by Lettie Love and James Zeller.
Says DeMark: “Well, I'm just happy to introduce these great local writers and maybe toss in a bit of my own writing ( not too much). WIth North Korea sending missiles over Japan and Russia talking about nuclear weapons, the threat of nuclear madness is unfortunately very current.
“After all these years one would've hoped the world's leaders would forever ban these weapons, but so often ego and power supersede logic and peace. I know this night and the poems that will be read will shed light on various aspects of this issue in a beautiful and very direct way.”
Tickets available by clicking here: Order Tickets Here Or get your tickets at the door. Please be on time.
Katy Gurin
Jerry Martien
Sea level rise, nuclear rods storage on panel agenda tonight
Which Way The Wind Festival continues tonight at 7 p.m. at festival venue Synapsis, 1675 Union St., Eureka. The presentation this evening is titled HUMBOLDT BAY: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES . This is a panel discussion followed by an opportunity for the audience to ask questions and engage in the discussion about topics that range from local efforts to address sea level rise to PG&E nuclear fuel rods storage.
Tonight’s panelists: Cal Poly Humboldt Asst. Prof. Jennifer Marlow, Three Degrees Warmer co-director; Alec Brown, graduate student; Jennifer Kalt, Director, Humboldt Baykeeper; and Stephen Kullmann, Commissioner, Division 3, Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation & Conservation District.
WWTW Chairperson Jack Irvine noted numerous challenges facing Humboldt Bay and our surrounding communities.
“Humboldt Bay has the fasting rate of sea level rise on the West Coast.,” he said. “As the sea level rises, the area around the Bay is sinking because of tectonic activity. At current modeling of sea level rise we can expect 1 foot of rise by 2030 and by 2060, the water level will increase by 3.1 feet. "
“Nearby low-lying residential towns, wastewater treatment plants and portions of Highway 101 will be flooded and rendered non-functional and uninhabitable.
“Understanding these challenges gives us the opportunity to begin to plan for mitigation and management. Our panel will discuss how our community can prepare for what is coming and how we, as citizens, can become engaged with these solutions.”
Advance tickets are still available: Order Tickets Here Tickets will also be available at the door. Please be on time.
Tuluwat (formerly Indian Island) was one of several locations on which the Wiyot people held World Renewal ceremonies. The island is located adjacent to Woodley Island in Humboldt Bay. Photo by Wiyot Cultural Center Manager Marnie Atkins
Laughter’s necessity: ‘Cabaret’ performs Wednesday
Sometimes the best antidote for seemingly unsolvable problems is simple laughter.
Which Way The Wind Festival presents: BURLESQUE, COMEDY AND SONG: THE WHICH WAY THE WIND CABARET Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. at Synapsis, 1675 Union St., Eureka.
This production features Larry Crist, Bob Morse, Wendy Butler, Mike Murdock, Arnold Waddell and Bernadette Cheyne. Live piano accompaniment is provided by Ryan McGaughey.
This show mixes classic plays with a generous helping of songs (remember Tom Lehrer?).
War? Nuclear threats? Pollution? Government? Truths versus lies? Heavy, huh?
There are times when it is necessary to just laugh and get on with it.
John Heckel directs this production.
“Sometimes the issues surrounding a potential nuclear fiasco become so outlandishly real our only viable reaction is laughter.,” says Heckel. “Arguments made for nuclear deterrent strategies become so painfully absurd our only remedy is revolutionary collective humor. “
Tickets available by clicking here: Order Tickets Here Or get your tickets at the door.
Larry Crist and Mike Murdock in "Burlesque, Comedy and Song: The Which Way The Wind Cabaret." Photo by John Heckel
Nuclear dangers, treaties, military spending discussed
Which Way The Wind Festival presents: WHERE WE ARE GOING: NUCLEAR ARMS, TREATIES AND DEFENSE SPENDING, This panel-audience discussion will be held Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. at Synapsis, 1675 Union St., Eureka.
Festival organizers’ goal for this event have assembled panelists who will provide important information and lead discussion, inquiry, reflection and insights about the issues.
People have become complacent about the threat of nuclear weapons even though this threat has increased considerably since the mass demonstrations of the early 1980s. However, with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear bombs in the Ukraine and with the instability in East Asia and the Middle East, concerns about these weapons are again on the minds of many people.
In this panel, experts on efforts to reduce the threat of nuclear weapon usage and on the long-term health effects of radiation will discuss the threat posed by nuclear weapons. Panelists will also discuss the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and steps that you can take to support efforts for abolition of these weapons amidst the growing danger of nuclear war.
The panelists: Dr. Robert Gould, President, SF Bay Chapter Physicians For Social Responsibility; Jackie Cabasso, Western Sates Legal Foundation/Mayors for Peace; Dale Preston of Hirosoft International.
The discussion will also consider how we can begin to rein in the out-of-control US military budget, which adds to global instability, and delivers profits to major military contractors while doing little to make the US or the world a safer place as well as diverts resources needed to deal with climate change, health care and social inequities.
The evening will include time for audience questions and discussion of the issues raised.
Advance tickets are available: Order Tickets Here
Pictured below: Dr. Robert Gould with his grandsons Dylan DeMarco (left) and Jacob DeMarco at a rally in Livermore in 2019.. The rally’s title was "Designing Armageddon at Livermore Lab.”
Dr. Robert Gould with grandsons Dylan and Jacob DeMarco at "Designing Armageddon at Livermore Lab," a rally held in August 2019. Submitted photo
Festival Artists Recognized
“The Tao Of Unknown Autumn Harmony”/Augustus Clark
Anytime the word “contest” is used, there, of course, is an underlying thought that someone will win, someone will lose.
Everyone who submitted a work to our Call To Artists contest is a winner regardless of whether you received an award. Thank you for being part of this amazing exhibit. It is diverse, powerful, heartfelt, and a true example of the collective power in our art community, not to mention a testament to the imagination and strength of our whole Humboldt County community.
The art will be on display through Saturday, Oct. 15 at our festival venue, Synapsis, 1675 Union St., Eureka, and then at Redwood Art Association, 603 F St., Eureka, Nov. 15-Dec. 12. A First Saturday Night Arts Alive reception for the artists and the public will be held Saturday, Dec. 3, from 6-9 p.m.
The award recipients are as follows:
Best of Show/Augustus Clark
First Place/Matt Dodge
Second Place/Doug Freie
Third Place/James Zeller
Honorable Mentions:
Erica Brooks
Allen Cassidy
Lori Goodman
Kjerstine Jennings
Pat Kanzler
Soph Kastel
Christine Kelly
Reuben Mayes
Emily Silver
Christy Tjaden
Thank you to all exhibiting artists. And thank you to our jurors Tamara Hubbard and Libby Maynard.
“The Tao of Unknown Autumn Harmony” / Augustus Clark
Madaket Bay Tour
Jerry Rohde (pictured) along with Aldaron Laird will lead a tour of Humboldt Bay aboard the Madaket as part of Which Way The Wind Festival. The event will be held Sunday, Oct. 9, 1 p.m. Embarks at Madaket Plaza., Eureka. The boat ride will include discussion about sea level rise and PG& E’s storage of nuclear fuel rods and potential effects on our Bay communities. Wiyot Cultural Center Manager Marnie Atkins will be the guest speaker on the tour. Attendees are also invited to visit the Cultural Center following the boat tour. Singer-songwriter Lyndsey Battle performs before the tour, beginning at 12:15 p.m. on the Plaza. To order tickets, click on the Which Way The Wind Festival or Home icons at the top of this page or Order Tickets Here
2022 Festival Preview
Which Way The Wind Festival returns Oct. 7-15, with multi-disciplinary arts events, panel discussions and two contests, one for visual artists and one for songwriters.
Individual festival events will begin at 7 p.m. at Synapsis, 1675 Union St., Eureka, with the exception of a Madaket Bay Tour, which is at 1 p.m., on Sunday, Oct. 9, and embarks at Madaket Plaza, First and C streets, Eureka.
Click the Which Way The Wind Festival icon at the top of this page for a complete schedule of events.
2022-23: The Great Loop
The 2022-23: The Great Loop. The Golden Rule is a project of Veterans For Peace. We aim to advance Veterans For Peace opposition to nuclear weapons and war, and to do so in a dramatic fashion.
We have recovered and restored the original peace ship, the Golden Rule, that set sail in 1958 to stop nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands, and which inspired the many peace makers and peace ships that followed.
The reborn Golden Rule is sailing once more, to show that nuclear abolition is possible, and that bravery and tenacity can overcome militarism.
In September 2022 we plan to take Golden Rule by truck to Minneapolis to begin “The Great Loop”. The voyage will take 15 months and we will visit approximately 100 cities and small towns in 10,000 miles.