My father, Charles Junior, his brother Carl and sister Mary Francis were born in a rented parsonage in Kernersville, North Carolina, where their father, Charles Senior, served as principal of a secondary school. After Charles Senior and his wife Mary built their home on Alamance Church Road on land given them...

Humboldt County opera lovers have a wonderful opportunity to experience world-class opera right here in Arcata. The Metropolitan Opera broadcasts select live performances to more than 2,000 theaters in 66 countries, including the Minor Theatre. A Saturday afternoon matinee at the Met begins at 10 a.m. here, a...

Good Company has been performing on the North Coast for years — rollicking reels, jigs, emigration ballads, ancient Irish airs and sea chanteys, inspired by musical traditions of Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Brittany, Appalachia, Arcata and beyond. From left: Patty McHaney, Bob Stockwell, Janet Finney Krull and...

My guess is I was born into music. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the maternity ward played soothing background music. I always remember Mom singing. Dad would get up a bit ahead of Mom and immediately turn on the radio. It played all day. In fact, much later, when those automatic timers were available...

As we enter heating season on the North Coast, recent pieces in Senior News have reminded us that wood smoke is not good for you. As Dr. Jennifer Heidmann pointed out in July (“The Last Straw,” page 5), although we have some of the cleanest air in the world, scrubbed by the Pacific Ocean, air pollution is sti...

Everyone knows that Mary Poppins was magical, but less well known is how the famed Disney nanny helped eradicate polio in the U.S. with her song, “A Spoonful of Sugar.” One of the most sugary and enduring movie songs ever, “Spoonful” grew out of a father’s conversation with his young son about getting the pol...