Music

TLC Artisan Festival Manila, CA

/ N.Pearson / 1 Comment
@littlelostforest

Teach Learn Create Join us at TLC artisan fair on Manila. We will be holding space for artist as a nonprofit monthly. DM me to vend. #humboldt #art #420 #manila #eureka #arcata #calpolyhumboldt #paintings #littlelostforest

♬ Dreams (2004 Remaster) – Fleetwood Mac

October 29, 2022- (Manila, CA) I am honored to share my latest volunteer assignment at TLC and our first Artisan’s fair that took place last Saturday. TLC showcased seven local artists, a band, and DJ at their new building on the Samoa peninsula. The TLC location includes a wood and artist studio space and a festival location open for the community to educate, create, and display in a safe and judgment-free environment.

TLC, “Teach, Learn, Create,” is a nonprofit funded by Jonas Kavanaugh and Patrick Murphy, two Humboldt County artists whose goal is to promote community interaction, share the knowledge of entrepreneurship, and showcase local artists. Jonas with Monument Settings builds benches for Arcata Skate Park, the Eureka waterfront, and other local sites. His partner, Patrick, owner of Redwood Humboldt, facilitated an art gallery in Arcata and is known for his picnic-styled wood benches. Patrick closed down his gallery due to multiple hospital trips and brain surgery. He is now on a mission to allow artists the freedom to showcase their art and get it out in the public’s eye.

TLC has set up booths at the Medival Festival of Courage in Blue Lake and the Zero Waste festival in Fortuna. Now they have put on TLC’s first festival at its home location. They plan to have a booth at Humboldt Cal Poly and other upcoming events and host TLC artisan fairs bi-monthly. You, too, can be a part of TLC, come to our meetings every Monday from 6-7pm at 2050 Peninsula Dr., Manila, CA to be a volunteer.

Photographer Matt Fahey is a supportive volunteer of TLC, offering his extensive knowledge in photography and videography to help artists with product photography, commercials, and documentation. He vends Hypertufa (concrete pots), suitable for succulents and concrete/ upcycled stepping stones.

Andrew Morin, an active TLC volunteer, is a metal welding artist who incorporates local tumbled rocks. Anything from metal key rings to stone door knobs, hangers, and much more. He has been getting back into metalworking since moving to the area last year. He enjoys reusing steel from the scrap yard or from the locals. He also enjoys incorporating other local resources, including reclaimed wood. He makes practical pieces with fun features such as enamel and beach stones.

Micah Edgar is a music producer, musician, and sound engineer. He is an active TLC build crew volunteer. He has been producing music with a friend for a year and a half. He started working on custom instruments by repurposing old electronics about six months ago. Since then, they have changed the invention of sound and look forward to putting out their first album. Patrick and Micah collaborated on a tape loop sampling synth. Micah’s collaborative electronic music reminds me of an early-day Radiohead. You can find his music here.

Natascha Pearson (that’s me!) is also a frequent volunteer. I am an acrylic painter with themes of surrealism, the female body, mythology, and spirituality. I am also a practicing pagan supplying my community with altarpieces, salves, bath salts, and tarot readings under the name Little Lost Forest. I help connect artists and collectors to our TLC community. I also vend my husband, Jeremy Pearson’s paintings. He paints landscapes and space.

The Tea Fairy brought a child-friendly, fantasy shell-building station with moss, mushrooms, and natural goods to decorate in a shell! She also displayed degradable glitter, Dream Sachets, and needling art.

Mihael Kavanaugh preformed on stage. He is a singer song writer, and poet. His business is Fairwind Botanicals with lavender sprays and balms.

Primitive Roots with Fortuna farm owner Sarah (info@primitiveroots.art and FB at Primitive Roots 707) displayed resin and wood bowls, cutting boards, some with transformer-burned wood designs with a resin coating, unique cribbage boards, and much more. You can find a video of Sarah’s partner Loren woodburning with a neon sign transformer here and his IG.

Steadfast Creations offered knitted and crotched goods and cute octopus plushies!

Violinist, Uncle Steve, an Arcata local, played with band members Erick on drums, Joe playing keyboards, and Frank on the flute.

@littlelostforest

TLC Artisan Fair. Manila, CA Uncle Steve rockin the violin with this local band. #humboldt #artfair #tlc #littlelostforest

♬ original sound – littlelostforest

I look forward to more TLC artisan fairs, and I encourage you to spread the word to any upcoming artists still getting their feet on the ground to contact Patrick on the TLC Facebook page or come to a Monday night meeting to participate!

Medieval Festival of Courage

/ N.Pearson / 2 Comments

October 1, 2022- The Medieval Festival of Courage was hosted by Coastal Grove Charter (K-8th) in Blue Lake, CA. With 50 vendors, two stages, and three unique arenas, the festival attracted a large crowd dressed throughout the ages. I had the privilege of vending with TLC. My children, their friends, our friends, and school and work peers all came to indulge in the festivities. This two-day event spanned from Saturday to Sunday and was a very special showcasing of central Humboldt’s hidden gems.


At $10 a ticket, knights, wizards, queens, and kings entered the gates! Greeted by a sword-fighting arena for children and a few rowdy fathers, took on foam-covered sticks and fought to the death! The sword fighting arena was one of the most popular activities full of children’s rampage. The front stage was bedecked with belly dancers, clog dancers, poetry, and bagpipes. The days were full of thespians and musicians belching out their hearts in a medieval dialect. Surrounding the arena were vendors of jewelry, clothing, food, and wine. The cherry wine flushed the lady’s cheeks and beer overfilled grizzly bearded men’s mugs. Carmel dripped off green apples like witches’ muck, and meats and corn were cooked on open grills.


Over by the paddock was a tent for the kings and queens, dressed in authentic 500-1500 ce costumes excluded from the common folk. A large crowd lined the fences as men on horses jostled, flinging one another from the horse’s back. Between shows, men in armored suits and beautiful women dressed as royalty paraded the horses for the audience to touch. Within this arena were a petting zoo, a miniature pony ride, and even axe throwing! The animals warmed the children’s hearts while leaving their turds along the pathway.


Even though there was a metal fence on the high-top areas, I combined this arena as one. The front entrance welcomed the crowd to a beautiful children’s area and homely vendors. One tent offered toys for the children, blocks to make castles, animals to dress, and playsets decorated with dangling tassels and velvet flooring. A majestically dressed woman read stories from a book and welcomed groups on a story quest with the legend of the Sword in the Stone. Also displayed were gem vendors, free pin-making stations, and a gnome dome, the safe haven for the tired-out child to live in a fairyland.

Then there was “TLC” a non-profit showcasing local artists, including me! I represented Little Lost Forest displaying wands, resin trays, acrylic art, and ruins! I had the pleasure of live painting and reading tarot. My friend Savana showed her unique electroplating copper jewelry, and Patrick his locally made wood tables, mushrooms, and swords. We advertised for our upcoming festival in Manila next month! Behind the metal fence were aerial silk performers with young girls climbing the ropes! Musicians played at a small stage in the back, serenading us with the violin. A jump house, jewelry vendor, and archery station fit with plenty of room along the basketball court. Men, women, and children pulled back their bows and shot toward haystack targets. A few performers free-flowed with staff, poi, and Hoola hoops.

The Medieval Festival of Courage was a well put on event that brought the community together, offered affordable vending spaces, and showcased some top performers. The children ran the show, and Coastal Grove Charter did a good job relating its artistic and out-of-the-box curriculum. More adults (then I think would like to admit) dressed in their favorite garb and transported back in time. At the end of the day, the playful and innocent collaboration of our communities youth shinned through, and I can’t wait to return next year.

Renascence Music Festival Laytonville 2022

/ N.Pearson / 1 Comment
(Image by Lyjia)

Renascence means the revival of something that has been dormant.

A transformational festival is a music and art event that wakes the unconscious, resonates the soul and unleashes the skills trapped within.

June 10-12 (Laytonville, CA)- Renascence has been a music festival that has been thriving to come to existence through the creative minds of artist that have been attending transformational festivals since 2016. Aspired to have been in production since pre-covid, taking a major hit when the gathering was indefinitely postponed in 2020. The name Renascence resonates with attendee’s as they have been forced in their homes and away from community gatherings for the past two years due to COVID. The festival brought what we’ve been waiting for, a healing and rejuvenating experience. It was a beautiful relief and intimate reunion as we came into flow with the Renascence crew.

Volunteers began streaming in on Thursday, although the build crew had arrived the week prior. Gates opened to the public on Friday and people weeded through the quaint hippie town of Laytonville and on to the outskirts to the event.

Renascence was held at Mendocino Magic, an exclusive 600-acre campsite at the Holland Reservoir, which provides clean water to neighboring farms. With plenty of room to camp, attendees dropped off their gear and had the option to park in general parking or car camp. Glamping was also available! Cheerful camp host-squad was present and proud to share their “burning man” inspired foundation where they host other events such as stargazing, campouts, and paintball.

Three stages were conveniently placed within comfortable walking distances from camping areas. The Basin stage was hidden at the furthest North corner near RV camping, headlining DJs such as Angelic Roots, SUDS, Alien Kitty, and Bioship who threw down phat beats into the early morning, turning off its speakers at 8am. At Meadow Stage, across from artist camping and surrounded by vendors, live artist, and Couch Fam, hosted several more DJ’s including Beat Kitty, AN-TEN-NAE, Dev Step, and AHEE. The third stage, the Reservoir, hosted live music and EDM, situated along the waterfront under a comfortable shade structure, with amazing musicians such as Reverend Stefen Sams, Ancestree and LaPostive. With such incredible music comes fun, loving vibes.

Vendors, performing artists, and live artists filled this space with creative endeavors. Wire wraps and fine jewelry by Or Original’s, pipes and bongs by Leafy Green, and hand sewn jackets from Zuvuya by Representz Clothing. Headlining live artist, Joe Mallory (who painted at Renascence pre party), and guest artist Gabriel Welch. Alongside Elliot Bliss, Katie Rose and many more. Fire performers, aerial silk dancers, LED flow artists and exotic dancers left each stage a unique experience. Talk of the town was that the first Renascence was an artist party, we were left in awe flooded with talent all around.

Hiking trails, kayaks, clean swimming water and art sculptures made this more than a music festival but an exclusive experience. In between stages stood a tea teepee with psychedelic black light art and a patio where ayahuasca inspired music by Eostar and the WEB of ONE rang into the valley. Healing from the community coming together must have imprinted the land, by the time Sunday rolled around so did the heavy rains, which is always needed and appreciated in Mendocino County.

Co- founder and producer Tori Love made a statement on June 20th reflecting on the festival,

“We have been pouring our hearts and souls into creating something that is rooted deep within the magic that lies within all of us and nature divine. Curating an experience that juxtaposes wholesome and hyphy, creating a container for rejuvenation, love, inspiration, silliness and play, reflection and clarity, unification, and diversity…

We intended Renascence to be a releasing of old stigmas and selves whilst taking empowering steps together towards a brighter, more loving self and world…

These powerful intentions and this pure hearted magic that has been weaved into the birth of Renascence was overwhelmingly present at this year’s first Renascence Festival just a couple weekends ago,

We look forward to continuing to curate and bring forth an even more beautiful experience for all for many years to come!

This is just the beginning of a new era of gatherings based in love, community appreciation, integrity, diversity and inspiration!”

Tori Love

Volunteer lead and co-producer Jordan @santacruzceramics also states after processing the event, “My experience was humbling and gratifying. Being able to provide the experience of Renascence for our community was the single biggest undertaking of mind, body and spirit I have ever done. Working with Tori to bring our dreams into reality was a blessing along every step of the way and we’re so excited to do it again next year!”

Party-goer and old-school DJ, Lyjia (Tom Core) states, “Beautiful grounds and staff were welcoming. Had no idea what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. I had heard a joke that people party to bass music in the forests and didn’t realize it was true!”

I highly recommend checking the Renascence Festival IG (@renascencefestival) to view all the talent that attended, and I hope to see you there next year!

Mike Love 2022 at the Arcata Theater Lounge

/ N.Pearson / 1 Comment

May 31, 2022, at the Arcata Theater Lounge- Mike Love played reggae-styled jam music with a crowd full of loyal fans. His music was inspiring, and the attendees were ecstatic to dance to such a fruitful message. 

Mike Love shared a deep appreciation for Groundation, a band he opened up for when he first hit the road in 2013. While Mike Love’s band members had to take a step away from the road, he introduces his fill-in Ryan Newman, Groundation bass guitarist, who grew up in Arcata, CA, and Groundation drummer Paul Spina from Santa Rosa. His band also includes a trombone, saxophone, and keyboard player. They played songs from his newest album, a collaboration with Rising Tide, called Together.   

Play full screen for best video quality.

Mike Love is a vocalist and guitarist from Hawaii. He is known for creating unique harmonic noises from his diaphragm that have not been heard in mainstream productions prior. His looper, analog delay, and barefoot buttons also contribute to his branded sound. 

Renascence Festival Pre-Party

/ N.Pearson / 1 Comment

[Contains Adult Content] 

May 21, 2022- Arcata Theater Lounge hosts the Renascence Festival pre-party/ Mad Hatter Tea Party. With room to breathe, festy goers mingled and got down to dirty bass music. Headliner Ahee, known for his dubstep and 90’s smash mixes, drew in an eccentric crowd of all ages. Jewelry, merchandise, and crystal vendors lined the walls: local artist Joe Mallory painted acrylic on canvas with abstract surrealism concepts that opened the viewer’s third eye. Fire dancers and performers set the stage for theater doll Tori Love as Alice, who took away the show. Despite the teenyboppers, this was an adult party, and we can expect the Laytonville music festival to live up to this raunchy dance hall. 

Arcata Theater Lounge

Arcata Theater Lounge was opened in 1938, showing six films at a given time. Since then, the theater has expanded its offerings to include concerts and other events but still cherishes its vintage form. Drinks are affordable. Three levels from the stage allow for a pit, a dance floor with high chair seating, and a top-level for vending and coat check. The theater’s sound is crisp, without reverb despite the heavy bass. A comfy bean bag in the VIP lounge for the festy snoots. 

Ahee!

I was honored to speak with Chris Adams, a.k.a. Ahee, who has performed at music festivals like Infrasound, Excision, and Lucidity. His particular style could be categorized as “Alien Music.” While he makes the booties on the dance floor drop, he explores mixing his tunes with songs such as Eiffel 65’s Blue (Da Ba Dee) and All-Star by Smash Mouth. Besides his dirty bass and dubstep tunes. You can also find psytrance tracks and collaborations on Soundcloud. This DJ stands out for his relationship with his audience, feeling the crowd and recognizing them in his Facebook posts, never missing a group photo. Ahee creates tutorials on youtube so that you, too, can become a dubstep DJ with wubby bass. A lot of respect goes out to Ahee for being personal. When I asked him where he was from, it wasn’t a surprise that he answered, “I’m from here [Arcata, CA.]” Aliens like this come from out of the redwoods. 

Live artist Joe Mallory is nothing close to ordinary, inspired by psychedelic art and surreal nature. When asked, “What is this all about?” He replies, “Psychedelics play a big part but, as of recently, so does past life regression.” He explains to me that we come to this earth to experience and how each lifetime, we learn something new through life and death. He continued to share his past lives with me as a ceramics artist and his death by scooter. When asked how I could tap into past life regression, he replied to find an excellent psychic or look further into past life regression with a combination of psychedelics. Joe paints redwood trees, snowy mountains, and ocean landscapes with “moai” statues, oceans, and sacred geometry patterns. You can find Joe Mallory vending on the streets of Arts Alive in Eureka frequently. 

What would a Mad Hatter Tea Party be without Alice? And what better Alice than burlesque dancer Tori Love. Along with juggler Wiley, poi performer FigBungus and a fire spinning duet couple, these performers took the stage! Tori’s specialty twerk made this a randy R-rated performance! We can thank these performers for bringing the audience onto the stage for a costume contest. The winner, Mr.Komboujia, aroused the audience with his goldilocks wig and renaissance dress sporting and supporting Humboldt’s LGBTQ community. Also in the crowd were Little Lost Forest top hats that will be set up at a DIY station at the Mateel’s Summer Arts and Music festival. 

Are you dying to see more of the Renascence’s Crew? The festival will be held in Laytonville on June 10-12. Initially postponed due to COVID, Renascence’s team has been working hard to bring you a spiritually enlightening experience. We can expect to dance under the stars along with, aerial arts, amazing DJs, and vendors at this exquisite northern California event. Headliners include but are not limited to An-ten-nae, Mimosa, Atyya, Suds, and Beat Kitty.

600+ acres, fifteen minutes from downtown Laytonville. They encourage carpooling for parking is limited. Camping and glamping on site. They are still accepting vendor and volunteer applications. 

See you there!

Fernando Rebolloso: Breakbeat/ Progressive DJ

/ N.Pearson / 1 Comment

dallcineye@icloud.com 

*Breakbeats play in the background.* 

Me: Hello Everyone, today we will be interviewing Fernando Rebolloso. Fernando, can you please introduce yourself and your social media accounts. 

Fernando: Yes, my name is Mr.Rebelloso, also known as Medicine man or AKA. Blue Honey. Anyways the only social media account that I have is a sound cloud. You can type in my name in there. I’ll help you spell it out, Mr.Rebolloso, and you can find my mixes on there and whatnot, my music. Mostly my mixes, though.

Blue Honey

Me: Woohoo. What first sparked your interest in electronic music?

Fernando: Well, I was actually a kid when I first heard electronic music in the ’90s. I used to stay up until the middle of the night until 3 am with a tape recorder and tape deck trying to listen to Jam and Z 90, Alice DJ and Eiffle 65, all the European or just old school techno that everybody knows in the ’90s, you know the famous stuff. Then, later on in my early teens, I started going to raves, and that’s what sparked my interest. I went to Monster Massive. Monster Massive I saw DJ Ressa at Monster Massive, and he was killin’ it, and I was like, that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life, even if it’s a hobby or whatnot because people grow out of things or whatnot. But I’m still doing it, and I love playing electronic music, and my favorite genre is break beats, and my favorite artist is DJ Icey, and he is one of the artists that I love. He actually inspired me a lot in mixing and trying to produce and make remixes. 

Me: How did you start DJ’ing? 

Fernando: How did I start Dj’ing, well, I had a friend named DJ Drips in high school and I didn’t have no gear because my family was poor so I went to his family all the time because they had a lot of instruments and everything because they were churchgoers and his dad did the sound, so his dad had a lot of sound instruments and I got a lot of DJ gear and sound equipment, so his son and I started DJing together, but not really, he was really into hip hop, and I was into electronic music so he would let me come over and jam out and use his gear. Then, when I was like 19-20, I bought my own set of DJ gear. I started on STR-80s, and it had a little reverse switch and a bent tonearm, a one-a-be technique back then. And then I started playing records, and that’s how I started DJing in my early teens and twenties or whatnot. 

Me: Awesome. What technology and programs do you use now? 

Fernando: Right now I use, Serato and Pioneer. Those two. I like using the CDJ’s from the Pioneer record box. I’m pretty well versed because I grew up with the technology and the bugs that they’ve been trying to fix and all that stuff, and ya, those are the main two programs I’ve been trying to use, a record box and scratch Serrato. 

Me: What inspires your music?

Fernando: What inspires my music? Well, that’s a tough question to answer. I believe everything that is going on in my life helps me write a story every time I Dj. But that’s when I’m doing like a programmed mix or a freestyle mix that everyone can enjoy on sound cloud. But when I go out DJ, freestyle, I’m mostly in the party mood and just want to see everyone’s booty shake. That’s what inspires me when I play live. 

Me: I feel that. Where have you performed?

Fernando: I’ve performed a lot in San Diego, CA. I was one of the founders of Danksgiving San Diego for nine years. Rufio, you might recognize that name in San Diego. He’s the other founder. I’ve played at Spin Nightclub, I’ve played at the Fire Circle, I’ve played at Youtopia for a lot of years. In the beginning of my career, I played at a venue called Theater X. I was an intermission DJ. And also an after party DJ, in their underground storage area. There was like a staircase going underneath the building. I don’t know what you’d call that but anyways, a lot of places like that: small venues, small parties, the Jumping Turtle in San Marcos, CA. I played the Onyx room one time but mostly just a lot of random dessert parties, the Indigo Vertex, a lot of things like that. 

Me: Cool! How has your style changed over the years? 

Fernando: Well, I used to play a lot of acid breaks, but now I play a lot of booty breaks and quick mixing like hip hop style because I believe that today’s youth is so used to watching videos online and their attention span can’t keep attention to whatever they’re listening to- I totally forgot the question. 

Me: It was, ‘how has your style changed?’

Fernando: Sorry, I’m a little stoned. It’s changed a lot from progressive to party, back to progressive. It’s like I said earlier on in the interview, it depends on how I feel and what’s going on in my life-

Me: -a wide range of genres. 

Fernando: Oh yeah, exactly, you know Natascha. You’ve seen me play Drum and Bass, House.

Me: Some Oldies and Hip Hop stuff. How does your location and environment influence your music? You’ve gone through that a little bit, but do you feel differently in the desert than you would in Oceanside by the beach? What kind of genres and type of music interests you when you’re in these environments and locations? 

Fernando: That does influence me a lot. When I’m in the desert, I feel more spiritual, and I feel more at one with myself for some reason. If I’m in an earthy environment, you know I am Hispanic, so anything tropical, that helps out a lot for sure. I play more jungly music, whatever is more earthy like the greenery around me and the ocean as well. I try to play more progressive when I’m on the ocean. Super progressive because the ocean helps me out a lot. 

Me: Oh, I love that. What effects do you want your music to have on people besides shaking ass on the dance floor? What do you want them to walk away with? 

Fernando: I want them to walk away with being happy. Or at least to say, Ohhh that was sickkkk. You know how you guys feel when you walk away from a sick ass DJ playing. I get that effect as well. Mostly I want them to walk away with a feeling of being fucking happy. I don’t know how to describe it. It may be progressive because I use progressive music in my booty breaks. I just want them to walk away with a good experience and that they had a good time on the dance floor, and that they communicated with people or whatever they’re trying to do. Mostly happy I guess.

Me: How does music influence your life? What changes does it bring into your world? 

Fernando: Music has done a lot to me and my life. When I was a kid, I started off with classical music and then branched off into jazz, then rock, then hip hop, then punk, then street punk, and also like industrial and all that other stuff. It has a big influence on my life, and if music hasn’t been in my life, I’d probably be dead right now. To be honest, you know what I mean.

Me: It’s a lifesaver. 

Fernando: There you go. It is a lifesaver. Thank you, Natascha. 

Me: How does your lifestyle influence your music?

Fernando: My lifestyle is definitely pretty crazy right now. It influences my music a lot. Like I said, whatever I’m going through it helps me channel what I’m going through.

Me: How would you describe your lifestyle?

Fernando: Right now? As a nomad, as a traveler, a traveling musician maybe. That’s what I think. That’s all that I can describe as my lifestyle—living one day at a time and living to the fullest. 

Me: What advice do you have for novice DJ’s? 

Fernando: Umm, practice, practice, practice, and play from your heart. That’s all I can really say about that. There may be some people that don’t like you playing from you’re heart, but then you’re going to reconnect to that one person that is having trouble in their lives, that needs you in their life. If you can change one person’s mind on the dancefloor, I feel like that’s all you really need. It’s great. I don’t know.

Mr.Rebolloso at a Triptych Event.

Me: That’s beautifully said. Where can we catch you next? 

Fernando: Right now, I’m just doing online stuff. I’m hoping you can catch me back live anywhere, San Diego or in Eureka, CA, because right now I’m traveling between Southern and Northern California. I don’t know yet. I’ll keep you guys posted on my sound cloud. That’s all I can say is that you can catch me online right now until somebody books me again because of COVID and everything. You know how the world is. 

Me: Check out Fernando on his sound cloud and book him! Thank you, everyone, for tuning in, and thank you, Fernando! 

Fernando: Thank you, Natascha.

Me: I appreciate you.