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What does it take to make wood sing? We sit down with Marimba One founder Ron Samuels to follow the arc from a Humboldt State spark to an Arcata workshop that supplies universities, symphonies, and soloists worldwide. Ron shares how an early encounter with African-style marimba led to years of hands-on experimenting, nights in woodshops, and the hard-earned knowledge of how to tune a bar so that overtones line up, resonators breathe, and a melody stays clear even when the room is alive.

We dig into the craft behind the music: arches carved into the underside of bars to shape harmonics, resonators adjusted with precision plugs to balance warmth and brightness, and modern tooling—custom extrusions, injection-molded interfaces, and CNC machining—used not to mass-produce, but to stabilize frames and protect tone. Ron breaks down the differences between marimba, vibraphone, and xylophone, and how thoughtful engineering can make an eight-foot, 300-pound instrument feel responsive under the mallets. Along the way, we swap listening notes, from Bach’s cello suites on marimba to jazz vibes and a Rolling Stones classic that quietly features the instrument you didn’t know you knew.

The conversation turns to sustainability with a breakthrough: a synthetic alternative that finally sounds like true rosewood. After years of R&D, player tests, and careful sourcing, the team unveiled material that keeps lines articulate without the harsh ring that plagues other substitutes. It’s conservation through acoustics, a practical path for schools, ensembles, and touring artists who need consistency and conscience. Grounded in Humboldt County’s creative network—engineers from Yakima days, artists, and builders—Ron’s shop also invests locally with school tours and concerts at the Arcata Playhouse.

If you love craft, sound design, and the human stories behind great instruments, this one’s for you. Hit play, subscribe for more conversations with builder-founders and artists, and leave a review telling us your favorite marimba recording or the question you want us to ask Ron next.

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About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond

Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.

We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.

We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!

Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!

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Roses blooming in February changed everything. That’s how Dr. Keith Flamer knew College of the Redwoods would be home—a place where Marine Corps grit and Jesuit heart could fuse into a people-first campus that serves Humboldt with purpose. In a wide-ranging conversation, we trace his path from Chicago’s west side and brand management at Kraft to graduate work at Gonzaga and two decades leading CR through change with transparency, humor, and resolve.

We dive into the big pivot shaping community colleges: meaningful careers that don’t require four-year debt. Dr. Flamer lays out why CR’s future is anchored in healthcare pathways and skilled trades—nursing, allied health, welding, construction technology, aquaculture, and climate resilience. These programs move students into well-paying jobs faster, strengthen the regional workforce, and create stackable on-ramps for first-generation learners and working adults. Along the way, we talk student housing, a new PE and field house, upgraded athletics, creative arts improvements, and the Del Norte healthcare education center—projects designed to turn access into persistence and graduation.

Policy and funding challenges are real, but they’re met with open books and decisive collaboration. Dr. Flamer walks us through balancing budgets without cutting opportunity, building partnerships with local industry and elected leaders, and keeping equity, inclusion, and community engagement at the center. Post-pandemic lessons—flexible online learning, tele-services, smarter scheduling—are now tools for long-term success. And beneath it all is a personal ethic: love people first. That’s the leadership that connects CR to Humboldt’s fabric, sends students seamlessly to Cal Poly Humboldt when it fits, and holds space for respectful disagreement as the community grows.

Come for the story, stay for the playbook: practical steps to build programs that pay, campuses that belong to their neighbors, and a legacy defined by service. If this conversation resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—we read every word.

Support the show

About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond

Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.

We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.

We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!

Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!

Find us on You Tube, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok!

Send us a text

Some conversations change how you see your neighbors. This one does. We sit with longtime educator and advocate Nezzie Wade to explore why Humboldt County’s per-capita homelessness ranks among the highest in the country and what can actually move the needle: community-first design, small-scale villages, safe parking, and dignity-forward services that meet people where they are.

Nezzie's story threads from Catholic schooling and decades of teaching sociology to co-founding Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives (AHA). Along the way, she lays out a clear diagnosis: California’s housing targets are chronically underbuilt; income thresholds exclude those in crisis; and institutional models struggle to support people who’ve been surviving outside for years. The alternative is both humble and powerful—mutual aid as infrastructure. Think tiny house villages that function like neighborhoods, with roles and support baked in, not imposed. Think safe sheltering that invites participation and grows stability.

We also spotlight AHHA’s mobile shower program: a custom trailer with ADA access that’s delivered more than 7,000 hot showers and services to 16,000+ guests across Eureka, Arcata, and McKinleyville. It’s a blueprint for practical compassion—hygiene, food, clothing, and referrals—built on local donations and grit, not red tape. Nezzie makes a direct ask: partners with land near transit, donors willing to seed operations and simple utilities, and listeners ready to help turn proven concepts into living spaces.

If you care about Humboldt, housing, or humane policy, this conversation gives you facts, context, and a path to act. Subscribe, share with a friend who cares about solutions, and leave a review with one idea you’d support locally—land, funding, or time. Your voice helps build the village.

Support the show

About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond

Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.

We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.

We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!

Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!

Find us on You Tube, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok!

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A fight that ends in a handshake. A rural theater that sells out in Los Angeles. A historic bar that becomes a stage. Michael Fields joins us to trace a life built on place, grit, and the belief that the best stories come from the people right in front of you.

We start with his leap from Jesuit classrooms and Vietnam-era protests to the San Francisco Mime Troupe and the early days of Del Arte. Michael walks us through the big experiment: a rural training center paired with a professional touring company that took original work from Blue Lake to the Bay and on to LA. The turning point arrives with a piece on the Fish Wars that rockets them onto critics’ lists, packs houses for months, and proves that bold, locally rooted storytelling can travel. Along the way, we get the road lore: the car that fills with smoke from the inside, the Boston bar where every backstage crew eats, and the Greek restaurant that quietly keeps a company alive.

Then we come home to Humboldt. Michael explains how an Irish playwright inspired him to turn the Logger Bar—Humboldt County’s oldest continuously serving bar—into a creative venue where you can sip a pint while the band kicks up a live, local show. Logger Legends celebrates the talkers, the lookers, and the lovable liars who give a town its voice. We celebrate Eric Hollenbeck and the Blue Ox through Radio Man, a production that left hard-bitten men wiping their eyes. And we look forward: the riverfront, the levee, new gathering spots, and a call for leadership that favors distinctive local spaces over bland, copy-paste development.

If you care about community theater, rural arts, Blue Lake history, or how a bar becomes a civic living room, you’ll find a lot to love here. Hit play, share it with someone who loves Humboldt culture, and leave us a review so more neighbors can find these stories.

Support the show

About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond

Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.

We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.

We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!

Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!

Find us on You Tube, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok!

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A small stage can change a whole town. That’s the heartbeat of our conversation with Jackie Dandeneau , the executive artistic director behind Playhouse Arts, conductor of the Blue Lake Community Choir, and one of the community builders shaping Arcata’s creative life. We swap stories about saving a venue, turning it into a citywide arts engine, and how a Tuesday night show can feel like church when the room leans in.

Jackie takes us from a farm near Jasper to national theater tours, radio drama in Vancouver, and eventually to Blue Lake, where the Arcata Playhouse became home base. We dig into how the Playhouse grew beyond performances: writing the City of Arcata’s strategic arts plan, placing artists in schools, and creating Our Space, an arts-and-wellness program for houseless neighbors that restores dignity through making. When KHSU went dark, the community lit a new signal—KHHA 94.7 LPFM—broadcasting from a converted storage unit with big spirit and a local-first roster that keeps Humboldt’s voices on the air and in your earbuds.

We share favorite shows and why they hit so hard, from an all-women mariachi band filling the room with new songs and new neighbors, to intimate sets where the audience becomes the magic. Jackie’s lens is clear: gratitude is a balm inside pain, justice is the work of designing belonging, and succession is generosity in action—handing over the reins so a legacy no longer depends on one person. We close with what’s ahead: holiday pantomime chaos, porch festivals, poetry in the marsh, line-dancing fundraisers, and how to rent the Playhouse when your crew needs a seasonal home.

If this resonates, tap follow, share it with a friend who loves local arts, and drop a review. Your support helps more people find the creators, venues, and programs that keep Humboldt connected.

Support the show

About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond

Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.

We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.

We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!

Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!

Find us on You Tube, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok!

Send us a text

Ever wonder how we might bridge the seemingly unbridgeable divides in our society? David Frank's journey from East Coast political science graduate to Humboldt County media advocate offers a roadmap worth exploring.

Growing up in a household where defending your opinions and understanding opposing perspectives was expected at the dinner table, Frank developed skills that would serve him throughout life. "My parents always expected us to be able to converse intelligently and defend our opinions and then kind of pivot to understand people that disagreed with us," he explains. This foundation in civil discourse shaped his approach to media and community engagement.

After arriving in Humboldt County in 2004 as a caregiver for a friend, Frank quickly put down roots, bartending at Plaza Grill and Abruzzi for over a decade before joining Internews, an international media nonprofit. His passion for policy analysis and community dialogue led him to host shows on KMUD and Access Humboldt, including "You Are Here" and "Redwood Wonk," where he explores local manifestations of national issues.

What makes Frank's perspective particularly valuable is his commitment to being a bridge-builder. As a former delegate to the California Democratic Party, he positioned himself as an observer of the schism between establishment and progressive wings, using his media platform to share insights with the community. Rather than stoking division, he focuses on creating spaces where people can listen to each other and work toward solutions.

Frank identifies three critical issues facing Humboldt County: healthcare access, climate-related concerns (including wildfire and insurance challenges), and broadband connectivity in rural areas. He advocates for community forums that bring together academics, policymakers, and residents to address these challenges collaboratively. "We can solve problems locally, we address problems locally, we lead by example as citizens here in our own community," he asserts.

Ready to join the conversation about building a more connected community? Follow Frank's shows and initiatives as he continues his mission to fight "the good fight" through civil discourse and community engagement. The path to healing our divisions might just start with a conversation in your own backyard.

Support the show

About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond

Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.

We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.

We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!

Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!

Find us on You Tube, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok!

Send us a text

Step into the extraordinary life journey of Brett McFarland, a musician whose path from Midwest farming to Humboldt County outlaw country is nothing short of cinematic. This deeply moving conversation reveals how Brett's search for a fresh start brought him to Northern California's emerald triangle, where he established himself as an organic farmer before becoming entangled in the cannabis cultivation that defined the region.

When federal agents built a conspiracy case against him based largely on hearsay, Brett found himself serving nearly four years in prison—a crucible that would transform him forever. The raw vulnerability with which he shares his incarceration experience is breathtaking, particularly as he describes discovering a Hawaiian forgiveness prayer that helped him release the bitterness threatening to consume him: "I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you."

Music became Brett's salvation behind bars, playing on battered guitars for fellow inmates, creating moments of connection amid dehumanizing circumstances. Yet his return to society brought new challenges, as post-prison trauma strained his marriage to the breaking point. In a moment of profound honesty, Brent reveals how therapy helped him recognize his hypervigilant state and ultimately save his relationship.

The conversation's most powerful revelation comes when Brent describes finally overcoming his fear of "not being good enough" to embrace music publicly. After seeing Willie Nelson perform in 2023, something clicked: "Not next year, today." The floodgates opened—from opening for blues legend Earl Thomas to recording in Nashville, his authentic outlaw country sound quickly gaining global recognition.

His performance of "How We Do It In Humboldt" captures the spirit of a community that embraces outsiders and second chances, written by someone who has lived its highest highs and lowest lows. Don't miss Brett's upcoming shows in Sebastopol and Trinity Center, with hints of a special Eureka Theater performance coming soon.

Support the show

About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond

Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.

We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.

We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!

Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!

Find us on You Tube, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok!

Send us a text

Forget everything you thought you knew about rural healthcare. In this eye-opening conversation, Michael Keleman, CEO of Providence Health Serving Humboldt, shatters the "medical desert" stereotype by revealing how metropolitan-level medical care exists in this coastal Northern California community.

Having worked for healthcare giants including Stanford, Kaiser Permanente, and Sutter Health, Keleman brings a unique perspective to Providence's operations in Humboldt County. With surprising candor, he shares how the community performs robotic thoracic surgeries, offers comprehensive oncology services, and provides advanced trauma care—all services you might expect only in major urban centers.

The conversation explores the rich history of St. Joseph Hospital, which began in 1912 when twelve Sisters arrived from France with a simple but revolutionary mission: "Go out into communities, find like-minded individuals who share in your values, find a problem and solve it." That outreach-focused foundation continues to shape Providence's approach today.

What truly distinguishes Humboldt's healthcare landscape, according to Keleman, is the unprecedented collaboration among providers. Unlike the competitive environments he experienced elsewhere, here competitors regularly come together to address community health challenges collectively. This "Humboldt way" extends to physician recruitment, with initiatives like "Home in Humboldt" bringing together the Coast Guard, Cal Poly, and local healthcare systems to attract medical talent.

Perhaps most revealing is Keleman's personal discovery of Humboldt's unique community bonds. Despite being relatively new to the area, he articulates a profound insight: "Humboldt's the first place I've ever lived where I understand the concept of community... I've never really understood the depth of a relationship until I moved here."

Ready to challenge your assumptions about what's possible in rural healthcare? Listen now and discover why this CEO believes the future of medicine might be found not in crowded urban centers, but in collaborative communities like Humboldt County.

Support the show

About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond

Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.

We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.

We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!

Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!

Find us on You Tube, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok!