Episode 96 · Michael Fields · October 26, 2025
Michael Fields talks with Scott Hammond about the path that brought him from a Jesuit education and early theater work into Dell'Arte, and then into a life rooted in Blue Lake. He shares stories from the early days of the company, touring work, and how the town and the bar became part of the same long Humboldt story.
Watch the conversation
What this episode covers
- Growing up in the Seattle area, Jesuit schooling, and an early turn toward theater during the Vietnam era
- Finding his way to San Francisco, then to Dell'Arte through work at College of the Redwoods
- The early days of Dell'Arte in Blue Lake and the building that became The Logger Bar
- Touring theater, including the kind of work that put Dell'Arte on the map beyond Humboldt
- Why Blue Lake, the bar, and the local community became home over the long run
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Transcript
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Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends and neighbors, Scott Hammond on the 100% Humboldt podcast. I don't know why I'm looking around like it's some sort of- … I'm lost, with my new best friend, Michael Fields.
Michael Fields: Nice. Thank you.
Scott Hammond: Welcome, Michael.
Michael Fields: Thank you for having me.
Scott Hammond: How are you?
Michael Fields: Good.
Scott Hammond: I like my new question that I open with, "Hey, what's your deal?"
Michael Fields: What's my deal?
Scott Hammond: What's, what's… Michael, what's your deal?
Scott Hammond: Uh-
Michael Fields: I have so many deals right now.
Michael Fields: Uh-
Scott Hammond: You, you, you're the lo- owner of The Logger Bar-
Michael Fields: Right
Scott Hammond: … in Blue Lake, California.
Michael Fields: Yep, I am, and I, uh, for 45 years I was part of
Michael Fields: Dell'Arte-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Michael Fields: … um, starting in '75. I came up here to Humboldt in '75 to work at Dell'Arte. I was 21, and got in a fight in the first five minutes I was in
Michael Fields: Blue Lake-
Scott Hammond: Sure you did
Michael Fields: … in Walt's Friendly Tavern.
Scott Hammond: Right. Walt's? It wasn't the, uh-
Michael Fields: It was-
Scott Hammond: … Red River Rose?
Michael Fields: No, the Rose was there, but, uh… And I was afraid to go in The Logger at 21, 'cause I was long-haired from San Francisco, and-
Scott Hammond: All those loggers
Michael Fields: … that wasn't gonna fly, you know?
Scott Hammond: Oh, they would just get your ass kicked.
Michael Fields: Yeah, but-
Michael Fields: … it was a funny story. The fight was funny because we, he asked me to dance with his wife-
Scott Hammond: Ooh
Michael Fields: … and I said no.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: And we got what I'll call a good ol' boy fight, where you grab each other and hit each other on the back. Nobody gets hurt.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Fields: You break a lot of stuff.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: They push you in the street. And, and then he stuck out his hand and he said, "Friends for life."
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: And I said, "Okay." And then 30 years later, I was working in the theater at Dell'Arte, and I heard the Humboldt pipe band start, and I love the pipe band. They're-
Scott Hammond: Right
Michael Fields: … I mean, one of my favorites. And so I said, "Let's take a break. I wanna go to the bar and hear, hear 'em play one."
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Fields: I walked over, and I'm standing next to the guy I got in the fight with 30 years
Michael Fields: before.
Scott Hammond: Is that right?
Michael Fields: And he says, "Hey, what happened to your hair?" It used to be dark, of course.
Scott Hammond: Sure, and long.
Michael Fields: I said, "I don't know. What happened to your teeth?" You know? We're too old to go back there, but –
Scott Hammond: Fair
Michael Fields: … it's fair.
Scott Hammond: That's a fair question.
Michael Fields: Right, exactly.
Scott Hammond: That's funny. Yeah, well, I used to have hair.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: I-
Scott Hammond: My kids go, "What happened?" I go, "Well, you and drugs and time."
Michael Fields: Right, exactly, and all that good stuff.
Scott Hammond: Wear and tear, and look, look what y-
Michael Fields: Uh
Scott Hammond: … look what you did to me, children. So, uh, t- tell us the, the arc of the story then. So you, you were a Bay Area guy?
Michael Fields: No, I, I grew up in, uh, Kirkland, where Costco was born.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Fields: Uh, outside of Seattle, and, uh, was a working-class town when I came up. But my dad came out of the Navy in World War II in, uh-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Fields: … on the GI Bill, first of his family to go to college.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Michael Fields: Went to Seattle University, which is Jesuit.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Fields: And that's where he met my mom. But he wanted to put all of his kids through Jesuit
Michael Fields: schools-
Scott Hammond: Nice
Michael Fields: … and I was the oldest, so I went to Seattle Prep, which is, sounds fancy. It was all boys.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
Michael Fields: It wasn't that fancy.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
Michael Fields: But, uh, number one football team in the State of Washington. I was an all-state middle linebacker.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Fields: Uh, I loved football.
Scott Hammond: Good for you.
Michael Fields: Had no interest in theater, absolutely
Michael Fields: none.
Scott Hammond: You were gonna play ball.
Michael Fields: Right. I was, wanted to f- I wanted to play for, I don't know, U D- I was too, I was too slow, basically. I wasn't fast enough.
Michael Fields: But, uh, the, you know, you were, well, you're a child of that era.
Michael Fields: Uh-
Scott Hammond: I am
Michael Fields: … you were drafted, it was the height of Vietnam, when you were 18, and then you w- were in, went in when you were 19. At least that's the way it was for me.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: So when I turned 18, they pulled the lottery. They had a lottery. They pulled my number, which was number five.
Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.
Michael Fields: So I got reclassified the next day-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Michael Fields: … and, uh, had a year before I went in.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
Michael Fields: And the day I pulled the draft number, I, uh, uh, my girlfriend at the time said, "Let's go see a play." I said, "Are you kidding me?" Last thing-
Scott Hammond: What's a, what's a play?
Michael Fields: … I wanna do… We went to University of Washington, which is right across the road from Prep, and, uh, saw the San Francisco Mime Troupe do Dragon Lady's Revenge, which was all about the Vietnam War.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: And I walked up to them afterwards and I said, "Can I join your theater company?" And they said no-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Michael Fields: … because I didn't know anything.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: I said, "Well, what can I do?" And they said, "You can join a guerrilla theater company." And I didn't know what that meant. I mean, I, it could've been, like, dressing up like a gorilla, you know?
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Fields: And, uh-
Scott Hammond: Not what they meant.
Michael Fields: Not what they meant. But I was to sit in front of a Meth- no offense to Methodists, please, a Methodist church on a Sunday morning with a sign that said, "Stop the war."
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Michael Fields: They came out of church and kicked the crap out of me.
Michael Fields: I mean-
Scott Hammond: Really?
Michael Fields: And, and I was a big boy then. I mean, I had muscles all over the place, and thank God.
Michael Fields: But, uh, it was a little epiphany. So I went to San Francisco, which was… and got into the theater scene from there.
Scott Hammond: A good Jesuit boy-
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: … protesting in the Methodist Church.
Michael Fields: Right, exactly.
Scott Hammond: Today, that would probably play really well, I think.
Michael Fields: Oh, it'd probably play really well.
Scott Hammond: Methodists would love you.
Michael Fields: I mean, I didn't-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … think much about it, but… And then I went to the University of San Francisco, which is Jesuit, too, and, uh-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Fields: … I, I got a really good education.
Scott Hammond: Jesuits are cool.
Michael Fields: They're very cool.
Scott Hammond: Definitely the, the cool, the cooler of the Catholics.
Michael Fields: They say they teach you not what to think, but how to think.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: And, and I think that's, in my experience, has been true.
Scott Hammond: I have a g- guest coming up. She's, uh, educated Jesuit school in Bur- in
Scott Hammond: Bakersfield.
Michael Fields: Okay.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, and I under-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … she told me a little bit about it. I go, "Some of those fathers were really progressive-"
Michael Fields: Yeah, they're very progressive
Scott Hammond: … dudes. Yeah, make, made you think.
Michael Fields: They made you… Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: They, they really made me think.
Scott Hammond: Let's talk about Jesus for a while.
Michael Fields: Yeah. Let's not.
Scott Hammond: Let's not. Yeah, we don't even know each other.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: So, so y- so you lived in the Bay Area and went to U- UCSF?
Michael Fields: And then Carlo, um, Mazzone Clemente and his wife, Jane Hill, who founded Dell'Arte, were running a festival called The Grand Comedy Festival at Kuala
Michael Fields: Lulu at, uh, College of the Redwoods.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Michael Fields: And my mentor at the time in San Francisco, a guy named John Collins, who's passed on,
Michael Fields: he, uh, he arranged for me to meet… I was doing Hamlet at 21.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
Michael Fields: Pro- way before. I have no idea. I don't have memories of it, you know?
Michael Fields: But, uh- He, uh, introduced me to them. They saw the show, and they said, "Well, would you like to come up here for a…" It was like a summer stock, like a season.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. At CR all summer?
Michael Fields: At CR all summer.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: And I said, "Sure. Why not?" I, you know, they paid-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … which is unlike most
Scott Hammond: You got money
Michael Fields: … of the things.
Scott Hammond: You could eat.
Michael Fields: So I came up here and, uh, really fell in love with the place.
Michael Fields: And-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Fields: … they had an really interesting idea. Karla was a bit of a maniac, as most people will attest.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Michael Fields: Uh, but they had… And Jane is still alive and doing, you know, she's an amazing woman. Uh, but they ha- their idea was based in a very old French Jacques Copeau, which is to do a rural training center-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Fields: … and a professional touring company.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: And they did that.
Scott Hammond: And that was the model.
Michael Fields: That's what Dell'Arte became-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Fields: … here in the US, and, uh, it was quite, quite exciting at the beginning. We had no money at the beginning.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Fields: But we still did a lot of good stuff.
Scott Hammond: So did they leave CR, and then go buy the building in Blue Lake and base there?
Michael Fields: Same time, they bought the building in Blue Lake for $25,000.
Scott Hammond: Oh, geez. That thing's-
Michael Fields: In 1974.
Scott Hammond: What was it? Was it-
Michael Fields: It was an Odd Fellows Hall.
Scott Hammond: That's right, it was an old Odd Fellows-
Michael Fields: And, and, uh, then over the years it had become a movie theater,
Michael Fields: and a- There was a barber shop. It was-
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Michael Fields: There were all kinds of things, you know, over the years, but-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Fields: … and when Dell'Arte bought it, they, I mean, there was horror in the town because no one understood what-
Scott Hammond: Who are these cats?
Michael Fields: Who these people are and what the hell is going on. But it was, it was pretty great to be there in the early days.
Scott Hammond: 'Cause this is a working class town still. There was a l- there was a logging town, right?
Michael Fields: It was total. The mills-
Scott Hammond: Mills
Michael Fields: … were running.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: I mean, I own The Logger now, where we open at 3:00 and we close at
Michael Fields: midnight.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: In those days, the bar, at 6:00 AM if you drove by The Logger, it'd be full, 'cause they're getting off their shifts-
Scott Hammond: Right
Michael Fields: … up in Korbel and-
Scott Hammond: Gotta go have some therapy.
Michael Fields: Yeah, exactly.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: And he would cash checks for them.
Scott Hammond: Is that right?
Michael Fields: Y- yeah, so it was… It, it, I, I love the history of the, now that I own it, I just love the history of it. It's the oldest continually serving bar in the county.
Scott Hammond: Is that right?
Michael Fields: And the reason for that is that during the Prohibition, they opened a shoe store in the front and sold pints of moonshine out the back. So they c- I, it, they found a way, you know? I l- I love it.
Scott Hammond: I gotta, I gotta go get my shoes done, honey.
Michael Fields: Right, exactly.
Scott Hammond: Be back in about-
Michael Fields: I'll be back in about three hours
Scott Hammond: … four hours.
Michael Fields: Yeah, exactly.
Scott Hammond: See you tonight pretty late.
Michael Fields: But it's, uh-
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Michael Fields: Yeah, it was, it was quite an adjustment for the town, for everybody. But, you know, one of the things which I really love about Blue Lake and about this place in particular is we lived there. We had kids.
Michael Fields: We,
Michael Fields: we were just, eventually just people-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … like everybody else.
Scott Hammond: Just fit right in.
Michael Fields: You fit, and you become part of the community, you know? We fished. We did our, you know, we liked that stuff, too.
Scott Hammond: Went to the school meetings.
Michael Fields: Went to the schools.
Scott Hammond: PS-
Michael Fields: Yeah, exactly.
Scott Hammond: … PTA meetings.
Michael Fields: Exactly, all that stuff, so yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's, what a great community.
Michael Fields: It is. It is.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, Joni and I live in McKinleyville up on Dallas Prairie, and that was our first date night, to go to Mad River Brewery.
Michael Fields: All right.
Scott Hammond: And we were lucky to get an hour and a half, um-
Michael Fields: Right
Scott Hammond: … off and to go out there and, and have a beer in the sunshine, 'cause it
Scott Hammond: was 20-
Michael Fields: And the brewery is still going strong.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: It's such a beautiful place. You know, there's a lot of, there's a, there's a lot of good stuff happening.
Scott Hammond: In those days it was fun, the Bob Dylan birthday party.
Michael Fields: See, I don't remember that, but-
Scott Hammond: That's what I'm talking… I bet you don't. Yeah, so, so you, you came from, so did you live at, in Eureka when you were at the CR thing, and then move out to Blue Lake-
Michael Fields: We actually lived-
Scott Hammond: … to go-
Michael Fields: They housed us in Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Michael Fields: Um, and then we transported down to CR and did a, a summer stock, as you do three or four shows in repertory, and they had good audiences. CR had a nice theater.
Michael Fields: Um, they-
Scott Hammond: Theater was nice
Michael Fields: … they, so-
Scott Hammond: Is it the same one they have now, or did they rebuild?
Michael Fields: They rebuilt, I think.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Michael Fields: They built a new one. But they did two years of that, and then w- we got a, a grant, I think, from the National Endowment for the Arts to do a play that combined Native American mythological characters and Commedia characters, and tour it. So we toured it here-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Fields: … and then we took it to the Bay Area.
Michael Fields: And then the mime troupe, uh, which eventually I worked with a lot of those people-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Fields: … they went to Europe. We did their park season in San Francisco, and-
Scott Hammond: Oh, nice
Michael Fields: … and then the iconic thing happened when Joan Shirley, God rest her soul,
Michael Fields: uh, she played a character called Scar Tissue, which is a rural detective. We did a piece on, uh, the Fish Wars, which were in the early '70s, or not early, late '70s, up on the Klamath, and, uh, went to LA, and the LA Times ran a review. I was sleeping on a floor. We, this was not fancy touring.
Michael Fields: I was young.
Scott Hammond: It sounds really sexy.
Michael Fields: Yeah. Right, right.
Michael Fields: And, um-
Scott Hammond: Beverly Hills?
Michael Fields: Yeah, it's, no, way out somewhere in Hollywood. Uh- … but the person said, uh, who was, I was staying with, she said, "Hey, let's look at this, uh, look at the LA Times." And the review said, "You gotta see this," something like that, the
Michael Fields: headline.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: "Sold out, uh, three months in six hours, eight shows
Michael Fields: a week."
Scott Hammond: Far out.
Michael Fields: And then-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Michael Fields: … we're on the map in home, at home.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Fields: That's what put us on the map back here in Humboldt.
Scott Hammond: What year was that?
Michael Fields: 1981 or '2, I forget.
Scott Hammond: I remember that.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It was a big deal.
Michael Fields: Big deal. So-
Scott Hammond: Did it sell out up here?
Michael Fields: Oh, yeah. Once, then everything, then we started getting-
Scott Hammond: That's a lot of sellouts.
Michael Fields: That's a lot of sellouts.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Michael Fields: So-
Scott Hammond: Where'd you perform it?
Michael Fields: At the Odyssey Theatre in Santa Monica-
Scott Hammond: Oh
Michael Fields: … which isn't big, but I'd look out and I'd see people like Johnny Carson. I mean, and they're gonna steal your material. That's what they're looking for.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Fields: But that's all right. They were in the audience, you know?
Michael Fields: So-
Scott Hammond: Saw Carson.
Michael Fields: Yeah. So we had a lot of comedians come and see it.
Michael Fields: Um-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … and that was, it was great. It was actually-
Scott Hammond: Who was coming up then that you remember that would come out?
Michael Fields: Oh, geez
Scott Hammond: It's pre-Seinfeld, I mean
Michael Fields: Pre-Seinfeld, so it was really the old ones
Scott Hammond: Like Joey Bishop and-
Michael Fields: Joey Bishop, Milton Berle. You know, I mean, those are the-
Scott Hammond: Those cats
Michael Fields: … those are the oldies would be-
Scott Hammond: Steve Martin?
Michael Fields: Steve Martin.
Scott Hammond: No
Michael Fields: We, I'd just look out through the curtains and see if I could see anybody
Michael Fields: that I knew.
Scott Hammond: Wow. Yeah
Michael Fields: You know, but it was, it was quite the experience, and then we started touring. And then when you start touring, then you get to be, you know, that's a whole different life.
Scott Hammond: Right. Right, the rock and roll road show.
Michael Fields: Yeah. Well, it's-
Scott Hammond: Can be
Michael Fields: … yeah, can be pretty hard.
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: I was gonna write a memoir. I started it, but energy and time, you know, uh, it's called, uh, The Car Was on Fire From the Inside. And it's a true story of touring up-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … the I-5 corridor, and the, literally, the touring car caught on fire from the inside.
Scott Hammond: Is that right?
Michael Fields: Yeah, and the smoke-filled car from the inside.
Scott Hammond: From the inside.
Michael Fields: Yeah. It was crazy. It was a crazy day.
Scott Hammond: You guys are from Humboldt.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Michael Fields: So-
Scott Hammond: So what would you tour at? Would you go up, like, through Bakersfield and then
Scott Hammond: Fresno or-
Michael Fields: We would go, uh, normally we'd write-
Scott Hammond: Sac?
Michael Fields: … a piece that we do here-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Fields: … and then we would take it to San Francisco first because we had an audience there-
Scott Hammond: Right
Michael Fields: … a loyal-
Scott Hammond: Following
Michael Fields: … a following there.
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Fields: And we'd do SF and then Berkeley. We'd do Julia Morgan in Berkeley, and, uh, then we'd go to LA direct, 'cause those you get the reviews, and you need that to get the grant support and the-
Scott Hammond: All the things
Michael Fields: … all those other things. And then we could do S- we started doing San Diego on a regular basis.
Scott Hammond: Really? What theater?
Michael Fields: Uh, San Diego Rep.
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Fields: And, uh-
Scott Hammond: My hometown
Michael Fields: … yep, we did a couple of co-productions with them.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Fields: Uh, big shows in their new space down at the, that shopping place. I forget the name of it, but it was right downtown.
Michael Fields: And did a, those were great times in San Diego.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, the Gaslamp District down there?
Michael Fields: Yes-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … the Gaslamp District.
Scott Hammond: That would've been brand new-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … when you guys were down there, yeah.
Michael Fields: Yeah. It was relatively new all along.
Scott Hammond: That was, growing up, that was all, uh, just boarded up, trashed up, old downtown, beat up-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … rail yards, all the, the Hyatt and all that was all just muddy rail yards with just crap in the, um-
Michael Fields: And this Horton Plaza.
Scott Hammond: Correct. Hort-
Michael Fields: That was the name of the place where the rep was. It had two theaters.
Scott Hammond: Horton was famous.
Michael Fields: Was he? I don't, I d- I don't know the history.
Scott Hammond: Preachers and prostitutes and the whole nine. It was pretty dicey, dude.
Michael Fields: Yeah, I, it was, it was interesting. It's a beautiful place, and I went back-
Scott Hammond: Oh, it's lovely now
Michael Fields: … about e- about four or five years ago for a conference and stayed across the street. It's all, they're even doing it again. It's transformed again.
Scott Hammond: It's, it's lovely. It's-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … as a kid, we, we lived in National City just to the south, and I'd get on a bus-
Michael Fields: Uh-huh
Scott Hammond: … at 10, 11, 12 years old, and you could take the bus for 50 cents and, and play downtown for, you know, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Michael Fields: Wow. Wow.
Scott Hammond: You know, Jack in the Box-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … and the Spreckels Theater, and they had pinball and arcades, and you'd go buy the white, White Album for seven bucks, and it was just a, uh, get up on top of the parking structure and throw pennies and spit- … and spit.
Michael Fields: It's the, it's the life, you know?
Scott Hammond: It's a dr- dreamy, dreamy fun day.
Michael Fields: Yeah. Yeah. I, uh, remember a Greek restaurant we went to in, out- outside of Horton Plaza, and the woman loved us, loved the show. You, you sometimes find that on tour. You find a restaurant or a bar that people, you keep going back to.
Scott Hammond: They know who you are.
Michael Fields: They know who you are-
Scott Hammond: Ah
Michael Fields: … and it becomes ideal. In Boston, of course, we were at a restaurant bar with a cook named Tiny, 400 pounds, and, uh-
Michael Fields: … and all of the theater workers in Boston go to this bar, and you just, it's great. You just find your people, you know?
Scott Hammond: That's cool. I like the, the, the road stories.
Scott Hammond: So you-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … maybe the memoirs are gonna happen.
Michael Fields: Well, it'll happen at, at some point. It's just, you know. There's a lot going on 'cause I'm doing a lot of theater in
Michael Fields: the bar-
Scott Hammond: Ah
Michael Fields: … which is,
Michael Fields: I got I come from an Irish family.
Michael Fields: Now they're-
Scott Hammond: In your bar, in your bar currently?
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Okay, cool
Michael Fields: So my, yeah, right, like, next two weeks from now we'll be doing one. Uh, but my family had some Irish roots, and, uh, I went back to Ireland in '81, I think it was,
Michael Fields: to, I came from Catholic from the north.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: So it was hard times.
Scott Hammond: Derry, area-
Michael Fields: The entire, the ter- yeah, Londonderry is where I went-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Michael Fields: … and was arrested by the British Army for looking like a terrorist, which, okay, I kind of do in the right light.
Michael Fields: But, you know, uh-
Scott Hammond: You sure do
Michael Fields: … I was detained.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Keep an eye on this guy.
Michael Fields: But, uh,
Michael Fields: it was, uh-
Scott Hammond: That was in the day, though, where it was-
Michael Fields: It was the Troubles
Scott Hammond: … ten, ten sh-
Michael Fields: Height of the Troubles, and, uh-
Scott Hammond: The Troubles
Michael Fields: … yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: And it, but it's, it, it, I saw a bunch of shows in Dublin in the south,
Michael Fields: and, uh, one of them was by a playwright named JB Keane, and he just inspired the heck out of me. He was dead already then, but he owned a pub in Cork in the south.
Scott Hammond: Been there, yeah.
Michael Fields: And, uh, he s- he said, uh, I mean, he basically wrote about whatever he saw in his pub.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Michael Fields: And then he, they said he was never gonna make anything of himself because it was too provincial, and he said, uh, "We'll see." He became the most popular playwright-
Scott Hammond: Is that right?
Michael Fields: … in Ireland.
Scott Hammond: In all of Ireland.
Michael Fields: In all of Ireland. But he said, one of his patrons said to him, "You have the best job ever. You listen to what we say, you write it down, and you charge us to hear it." And I think that's exactly the bar, the bar plays, we're doing one called Logger Legends in two weeks-
Scott Hammond: Huh
Michael Fields: … are really funny, very musical, but based on-
Scott Hammond: Nice
Michael Fields: … local people and conversations.
Scott Hammond: Who would be the backup with you on that? Would there be other, a band or-
Michael Fields: Oh, the band is our, it's, it's my favorite four people around, Marla Joy, Jeff Kelly, Tim Randalls, and Mike Lebole are the four-piece band, and we put them in the back. We seat 60 people. You can drink during the show.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
Michael Fields: Yeah, how about that?
Scott Hammond: That's a feature.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And y- and it's not free
Michael Fields: No, it's not f- none of it's free. Uh, it, but we sell out because it's fun.
Scott Hammond: Sounds like a great time.
Michael Fields: And it's a great time, you know?
Michael Fields: So that's coming up, and then there's one after that. I mean, so there's a lot of stuff going on.
Scott Hammond: What's it gonna be called again?
Michael Fields: Logger Legends, Liars and Lookers.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Fields: And lookers was my dad's phrase for men and, that didn't, gender didn't matter.
Scott Hammond: That's a looker.
Michael Fields: He's a looker. She's a looker. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: There's a looker. Yeah.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I know what that is.
Scott Hammond: So, uh-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … uh, if you're just joining me, it's my friend Michael Fields from The Logger Bar in, in Delorte and other places on Earth.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And, um, uh, what a pleasure. So tell, tell me more about, um, if one wanted tickets for that, so this is a little shout out-
Michael Fields: Oh
Scott Hammond: … shout out moment.
Michael Fields: Sure.
Scott Hammond: Is there a website?
Michael Fields: Um, yeah. It's a weird name, but I'll spell it for you. It's Long Shatter. L-A L-O-N-G-S-H-A-D-R.
Scott Hammond: Shatter.
Michael Fields: Shatter, and it was because that was the sign on my driveway when I bought my house.
Scott Hammond: Ah.
Michael Fields: 'Cause I live on a side of a hill with a cut.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: So we get those, in the wintertime, shadow.
Scott Hammond: Long shatter. A long shatter.
Michael Fields: Yeah, you get those shadows that you, you don't get that afternoon sun like
Michael Fields: you-
Scott Hammond: No
Michael Fields: … you do in some places.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Fields: So that's why it's named that, but it was also about letting in the light. We started it during COVID and, you know, everybody was kinda shut in, and
Michael Fields: so-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Fields: … how we do that, and, uh, but there's a website you can go to.
Scott Hammond: Ticket-
Michael Fields: .com. You get tickets, you get informa- you get everything.
Scott Hammond: Long Shatter, S-H-A-D-E-R.com?
Michael Fields: That's D-R.
Scott Hammond: D-R.
Michael Fields: Shatter.
Scott Hammond: .com.
Michael Fields: .com, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Nice. So you can pick up tickets there, or can you buy them at the bar?
Michael Fields: Or you can go… You can buy them from me, anybody at the bar, but you come-
Scott Hammond: You got-
Michael Fields: I bartend one day a week, Wednesdays, 3:00 to 6:00.
Scott Hammond: 3:00 to 6:00.
Michael Fields: I was bartending more, but it was starting to slowly kill
Michael Fields: me. So I thought, "Nope, let's do one day a week." It's fun. I love… I wanna know all the systems in the bar. I wanna know the locals, and they're great locals.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Fields: So yeah.
Scott Hammond: Oh, so g- salt of the earth, man.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: So we started dating there and going to, y- you know, after 40 years of
Scott Hammond: marriage-
Michael Fields: Wow
Scott Hammond: … maybe we were 35 at that point, just really falling in love with the town and the-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … people and the, the, the, uh, the C- the Old Crows and-
Michael Fields: Oh, yeah
Scott Hammond: … Lola's and, and the bands that, you know, were playing there and, um-
Michael Fields: The Old Crows have saved my life on a couple of big occasions. And-
Scott Hammond: Real quick, let's, let's define Old Crows-
Michael Fields: Old Crows, yeah
Scott Hammond: … for those that don't know. So it's a, it's a men's club?
Michael Fields: Yeah, kind of.
Scott Hammond: They wear bowling shirts.
Michael Fields: Yeah. They're, it's not-
Scott Hammond: They're blue
Michael Fields: … a fancy club.
Scott Hammond: It's-
Michael Fields: And they basically do good works. I mean, that's what they-
Scott Hammond: They're do-gooders, right?
Michael Fields: They're do-gooders.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: And, uh, so, uh, I do a St. Patrick's Day deal. It, uh, Kate, who owned the bar before me, had started it, uh, but I make about 80 pounds of corned beef at the Grange behind it.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
Michael Fields: And we bring, cover the pool table. We bring it over with the cabbage and the potatoes and the bread and-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Michael Fields: … lay out a thing. And somebody said, "Oh, they'll just… You know, it's a donation. They'll rip it off." I said, "They didn't. Everybody's so great."
Scott Hammond: So great.
Michael Fields: You, you know, you, we pay for it all by donations.
Scott Hammond: Perfect.
Michael Fields: And, uh, but the Crows do it. They cook.
Scott Hammond: They're the, they're the guts there.
Michael Fields: They're, they're, they're the heavy lifters for this event, and then the pipe band plays, and the pi- Vanishing Pints play, and the, you can't move in the
Michael Fields: bar.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: You, it's packed.
Scott Hammond: And the Guinness is flowing that night.
Michael Fields: And the Guinness is flowing, yes.
Scott Hammond: Somebody told me at lunch today Guinness Zero is, is delicious.
Michael Fields: Yes.
Scott Hammond: I've never tried it.
Michael Fields: I've only tried it once. Um, we carry Guinness in the can now, but I would love to get it back on tap.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: People love Guinness as a dark-
Scott Hammond: Yes
Michael Fields: … beer option.
Scott Hammond: Yes.
Michael Fields: Uh, and we have a lot of beers. Oh my God, we have a lot of beers, but, uh-
Scott Hammond: Famous for the beers.
Michael Fields: Famous for the beer.
Scott Hammond: Because-
Michael Fields: A beer and a shot if you're gonna come when I'm bartending.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Michael Fields: Don't ask me for a grasshopper, you know?
Scott Hammond: Ain't gonna happen.
Michael Fields: Yeah, it's not gonna happen.
Scott Hammond: They, um, yeah, uh, we, we, uh, we're in Ireland, so my Ire- Ireland story is that we were in
Scott Hammond: Cobh-
Michael Fields: Uh-huh
Scott Hammond: … um, which is outside of Cork. It's the-
Michael Fields: Right
Scott Hammond: … it's, so we were on a ship. So we came into, we did, um, um, we were north of there. We came into Cobh, and we went down to, um, the little village of, I'll think of it in a minute. Anyway, we came back. We're having a Guinness at, you know, f- as a meal at
Scott Hammond: 1:00.
Michael Fields: Right.
Scott Hammond: And here comes this stumbling, "Hey, Sean, what are you doing here?" Sean falls into the bar, and Sh- and Sean suffers with what they call the
Scott Hammond: affliction.
Michael Fields: Yes.
Scott Hammond: "Hey, Seanie, can we, can we get you to get going now? Come, well, come back later or something." And it was just an amazing cultural, iconic experience, and the guy that owned the bar had won it, um, in a, he was a, he was a Guinness, uh, something. He had something to do with Guinness, but he had won the bar-
Michael Fields: Wow
Scott Hammond: … in a lottery. And it was kind of an interesting story, and, um, as, uh, as Irish, it was fun, man.
Michael Fields: Oh, I l- I love it. My daughter-
Scott Hammond: Sweethearts
Michael Fields: … my daughter is, well, now she's in her 30s, and she's in Kabul, Afghanistan, working for the UN.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Fields: Scares the crap out of me, but-
Scott Hammond: I bet, yeah
Michael Fields: … but she's, she has red hair, born redhead.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Michael Fields: And, uh, when she was, like, seven, I guess, seven or eight, I took her and her brother, who's a little older, to Dublin. I had, I was directing a show in Copenhagen, had a week off. Took them. Their mom's Danish, and, uh, she was holding my hand. We were gonna take the tour at Trinity College in Dublin.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Michael Fields: Just 'cause I like to get the history from-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Fields: … seeing it, you know, instead of-
Scott Hammond: Right
Michael Fields: … so we're, we were about to start. She looks around, and everybody has red hair, and she goes, "I wanna, I'll come here to college."
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: And I said, "Okay." You know?
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Fields: She did.
Scott Hammond: And she did it.
Scott Hammond: Good.
Michael Fields: She went to Trinity. She met an Irish guy. She's been with him for seven years. He's a Dubliner, so-
Scott Hammond: Beautiful
Michael Fields: … I've had reason to go back. Re- lots of reason to go back.
Scott Hammond: Love, love that story.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: So, uh, hey, let's do the, uh, quiz show now.
Michael Fields: All right.
Scott Hammond: So, uh, we have a sponsor here. They're, uh- You might be familiar with the, uh, the folks at Dick Taylor Chocolate.
Michael Fields: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Dick Taylor Chocolate, located in Eureka, California, the winners of something recently that was huge, and they just keep winning. So, um, this is a Belize Toledo 72% dark chocolate, and don't grab for this too quick 'cause you have not earned it yet.
Michael Fields: Oh, I, I probably won't earn it, but-
Scott Hammond: Oh, I don't know
Michael Fields: … yeah.
Scott Hammond: You, you got a shot.
Michael Fields: You're right.
Scott Hammond: So, so here we go. Are you ready?
Michael Fields: Yep. Sure. There you go.
Scott Hammond: Question number one, what's your best day?
Michael Fields: What's my best day?
Scott Hammond: What was your best day, if you can remember the day?
Michael Fields: Oh, probably the day that I just… I mean, I am- been with my current wife for 22 years. The day we got married was a really great day.
Scott Hammond: Nice. That's a good one.
Michael Fields: Yeah. It was great.
Scott Hammond: Hear that, hon?
Michael Fields: We got married to the Law & Order theme.
Scott Hammond: Oh, that's pretty funny.
Michael Fields: It's pretty fun. It was what, really a blast though, was not-
Scott Hammond: Was that at Del Arte?
Michael Fields: No, it was at Cal Arts on the, what they call the lido deck at
Michael Fields: night.
Scott Hammond: Huh. Where's that?
Michael Fields: Cal Arts is in Valencia, just north of LA.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Fields: It's… Yeah, so it was beautiful.
Scott Hammond: Weather was great.
Michael Fields: Weather was hot. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Right, right.
Michael Fields: It was nice.
Scott Hammond: LA.
Michael Fields: It was great. It was a great day.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, we're going down in another week or so.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: We're, uh, gonna go out to Ojai. You ever been out there?
Michael Fields: Just once, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Ojai Valley's pretty cool.
Michael Fields: I hear that.
Scott Hammond: It's, uh, my wife's from there, and she's gonna give us the tour and-
Michael Fields: Good
Scott Hammond: … we stay at the Blue Iguana.
Michael Fields: Oh, wow. There you go.
Scott Hammond: So there you go.
Michael Fields: There you go.
Scott Hammond: Don't tell anybody.
Michael Fields: I won't.
Scott Hammond: Next question.
Michael Fields: Yes.
Scott Hammond: For all the mar- well, some of the marbles, uh, Michael, what was your worst day in
Scott Hammond: your life?
Michael Fields: Uh, the worst day. That's a… I, I, I haven't had very many real- what I would call really
Michael Fields: bad days.
Scott Hammond: That's cool. I like that.
Michael Fields: Um, honest to God, no- nothing comes to mind in the sense of having a terrible day.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: Um-
Scott Hammond: We all get a, we all get a bad day, but-
Michael Fields: But not a-
Scott Hammond: … not the worst day
Michael Fields: … not the worst day. I haven't had that yet.
Scott Hammond: No.
Michael Fields: Maybe that's a good thing.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: It's, it, it's hanging out there waiting for me.
Scott Hammond: Stick around.
Michael Fields: Yeah, exactly.
Scott Hammond: Um, so what… Question number three.
Michael Fields: Yes.
Scott Hammond: We fund your whole day to go have fun. It's, money's not an object. It's in Humboldt, 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM. What's your ideal day that you'd go out and have fun here in beautiful Humboldt?
Michael Fields: In beautiful Humboldt County? I would go to the beach to start. Um, I don't go to the beach enough-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … and, and it's so close. And-
Scott Hammond: It's so close
Michael Fields: … and honestly, I love the walk around Trinidad Head.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: And, uh, to do that, and then to come back and have breakfast at the
Michael Fields: Seascape.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Fields: And, uh, and then-
Scott Hammond: Good start
Michael Fields: … as a good start, right. I like Six Rivers Brewery for a little lunch.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: You know, and then Redwood Forest for another good walk.
Scott Hammond: There you go.
Michael Fields: Uh-
Scott Hammond: Arcata.
Michael Fields: Arcata. I love the Minor Theater.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: Um, and then, uh, I took my bar staff on a, a pub crawl for Christmas a couple years ago, and we ended up at… One of the bars is The Shanty in Eureka, which is a dive. We went only to dives.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.
Michael Fields: But I-
Scott Hammond: Oh, a dive bar crawl
Michael Fields: … dive bar crawl. But The Shanty is one of my favorite dives, and-
Scott Hammond: That's the one right down by the Eagle House, down on Third.
Michael Fields: Yes. Yeah, yeah. It's right down there.
Scott Hammond: They do live music too, right?
Michael Fields: They just started again.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: Used to be, when I got here, it was a strip club. I never went in 'cause it scared me too much.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Fields: But-
Scott Hammond: So it should
Michael Fields: … so it should. Uh, but the… I guess they've opened up… One of the bartenders there, Nick, is a, a patron at The Logger, and he told me they opened up that old room again for live music.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Fields: They have a wonderful outdoor area.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, they have a big outdoor, yeah.
Michael Fields: Yeah, and it's, you know… It's, it's, it's a great dive.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. So what other, what other bars did you crawl?
Michael Fields: We went to, uh,
Michael Fields: uh, what's the one in Ferndale? The Palace.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Fields: Ernie's.
Michael Fields: Um-
Scott Hammond: Ernie's is definitely divey.
Michael Fields: I love Ernie's.
Scott Hammond: Small.
Michael Fields: Small.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: So I thought, "I'm not a…" It's funny, when you own a bar, or I, this is for me, I stu- I don't drink as much as I used to. I mean, I wasn't al-
Scott Hammond: Good
Michael Fields: … you know, I just don't.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: And it's nothing… I can't point to anything to say this change… It could be getting older too, you know, but so I thought, "What should I drink on this bar?" 'Cause I don't wanna get stuck on a pub crawl with my, you know-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Fields: … you know, so-
Scott Hammond: You're the boss.
Michael Fields: Yeah. I thought, "I'll have a Manhattan," which I have to make sometimes, and I can.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: But I, I wanna taste how other people do it, so I went to… You know what the worst… I'm sorry, s- I shouldn't say the worst. I'll say the best. The best was Ernie's, and the cheapest
Michael Fields: was Ernie's.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Michael Fields: Others got way more expensive, and one didn't even… I don't know. It was D-
Scott Hammond: What'd they put?
Michael Fields: … Des Moines, Iowa. It wasn't a Manhattan, I'll tell you.
Scott Hammond: What'd they put
Scott Hammond: … What'd they put in here?
Michael Fields: Des Moines, I- I don't know what they put in there, but it wasn't what goes in a
Michael Fields: Manhattan.
Scott Hammond: Watch it, buster. I'm from Iowa.
Michael Fields: Right. So-
Scott Hammond: Sioux City
Michael Fields: … so, uh-
Scott Hammond: South Belle
Michael Fields: … anyway, it was… Yeah, it was, it, it was, it was wonderful. But I do love The Shanty, and I love the food in Eureka and Old
Michael Fields: Town.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: I like Old Town, period-
Scott Hammond: Old Town's cool
Michael Fields: … you know, to be, uh, to close out a day in Humboldt County, to be-
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah
Michael Fields: … 'cause you can, you can walk to everything too, you know.
Scott Hammond: Oh, it's all right there.
Michael Fields: So-
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Were you around for the Old Town Bar & Grill back in the day?
Michael Fields: Yes.
Scott Hammond: The shows and-
Michael Fields: Oh, yeah. I went-
Scott Hammond: What's her name?
Michael Fields: I went to Lazio, Deborah Lazio.
Scott Hammond: Debbie, Deborah Lazio.
Michael Fields: Yeah. I used to go to a lot of stuff in, in Old Town, and 4th of July celebration, you, when you could take the train all the way from Blue Lake to Arcata, Arcata to Eureka.
Scott Hammond: That's right. They ran the trains.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: And that was wonderful. No driving-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … you know?
Scott Hammond: And you're gonna get a train, or I'm sorry, you're gonna get a trail-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … at some point from Blue Lake to Arcata, right?
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: That's-
Michael Fields: That's the hope
Scott Hammond: … it's in the books, yeah.
Michael Fields: It ends at The Logger. That's a good place to have it end
Scott Hammond: That actually does.
Michael Fields: Yeah. It stops at The Lager.
Scott Hammond: So last question that I wanna tell you-
Michael Fields: Yeah. Yeah
Scott Hammond: … about Mad River Rose stories.
Michael Fields: Okay. Sure.
Scott Hammond: You seen… Remember Rolls Rock, the band?
Michael Fields: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, they were, they were something. Hey, last question.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Who are you, and what do you, what do you want? What's your deal?
Michael Fields: Uh, I'm a, I'm a theater maker at heart.
Michael Fields: Um, and it's what has driven me, and I've been so lucky. Donald Forrest, who was my partner and passed away, uh, almost exactly a, a year ago, y- two years ago, uh, Donald and I came up together. Our sons are nearly the same age. They're best friends still.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: You know, um-
Scott Hammond: Is he a Blue Laker?
Michael Fields: He was, because we were in the company together for such a long time, but we always talked about two things, that we
Michael Fields: aren't done, that we might be older, but we aren't done-
Scott Hammond: Good
Michael Fields: … making stuff, and two, how grateful and lucky we were to make a life in this work rather than
Michael Fields: be y- y- you know, have to work for
Michael Fields: the man-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … or the system, or… We made our own choices.
Scott Hammond: That's great.
Michael Fields: We made our own lives. Yeah, there were consequences to some of those choices, but-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Fields: … but we, we did it, and I, we were very grateful about that. We had a lot of great talks at the end.
Michael Fields: Uh-
Scott Hammond: That's beautiful
Michael Fields: … and, uh, but that, that's… So yeah, we're not done.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: I'm not done making stuff.
Scott Hammond: Oh, I think you're just getting started.
Michael Fields: Yeah
Michael Fields: .
Scott Hammond: Next, next level, dude.
Michael Fields: Next.
Scott Hammond: Come on.
Michael Fields: Yeah . So.
Scott Hammond: Let's go, baby.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You're just getting rolling here. That's my theory. I think there's a lot of-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … uh, next levels-
Michael Fields: Oh, and that if we-
Scott Hammond: … if we choose them
Michael Fields: … if we choose it, the best work, your best work's in front of you, I think.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: And it's not about work or labor. It's about, for me, it's about the creative work is in front of me.
Scott Hammond: Speaking of AI and-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … what AI has to say about you-
Michael Fields: Yes
Scott Hammond: … this, this is a new feature in the, in, in the show.
Michael Fields: Yeah .
Scott Hammond: We'll see … We'll see if the-
Michael Fields: I'm sure AI has a lot to say about me
Scott Hammond: … Nick, let's see if this tracks. Uh, Blue Lake's a small town known for its vibrant art scene and close-knit community. I love that. Annie and Mary Days.
Michael Fields: Yeah, it is.
Scott Hammond: Uh, you guys just had that Hoptoberfest thing-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … and stuff in Perigo Park.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I worked at Perigo Park for a summer. I was a recreation aide back in-
Michael Fields: Okay
Scott Hammond: … 100 years ago. Rec major, Humboldt State.
Michael Fields: There you go.
Scott Hammond: Not Cal Poly. Humboldt State. Uh, graduate of Dell'Arte International School of Physical
Scott Hammond: Theater. Um, I liked what it said here, that you're about,
Scott Hammond: um, community resilience and demonstrating, uh, dedication to theater as a medium for meaningful dialogue. I, I love that, and it calls you a community guy, and, um, arts as a means of connection and healing. Blue Lake is… M- See if this is a quote you made. We'll see, we'll see if he claims this one.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Blue Lake is more than just a place to live. It's a home for creativity and collaboration. Probably could've said that.
Michael Fields: Yeah, I could've said that.
Scott Hammond: So this is a nice quote. I, I think that's fair.
Michael Fields: Yeah, it is, and, uh, it is an extraordinary community.
Scott Hammond: It real- it really is, and, you know, Joni and I could afford to live there. We'd probably sell our house in… Decent house in McKinleyville, but we, um… I guess that's what makes it a treat. It's 32 in McKinleyville, and then it's 82 out in Blue Lake, and we're-
Michael Fields: Right
Scott Hammond: … come out in our trunks.
Michael Fields: Exactly.
Scott Hammond: We're swimming.
Michael Fields: Well-
Scott Hammond: This is great
Michael Fields: … it was interesting when I was teaching at the school, the students, a lot of international students, and those students would come and knock on my door at all hours, and I thought I couldn't live… I didn't have kids then, but, so I moved out to Warren Creek 'cause it's halfway in between, 10 minutes to Blue Lake, 10 minutes-
Scott Hammond: Perfect
Michael Fields: … to Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.
Michael Fields: And I could afford it then. Actually, it seemed like a lot then, but-
Scott Hammond: Yeah, and now it's a d- it's a bargain.
Michael Fields: It's a bargain .
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I spent, like, a lot of money on our house.
Michael Fields: Right.
Scott Hammond: It's 250 to build a house on a, on an acre.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Man, did I get ripped off.
Michael Fields: Yeah
Michael Fields: .
Scott Hammond: Wait a second. Maybe we did okay.
Michael Fields: May- I think you did great.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: We did great, nine kids later, and, um… You know, I, I love, as a comment to what you said, I love the, you know, n- not quite I did it my way, but I, I was able to forge a way-
Michael Fields: Right
Scott Hammond: … in a county that's tough to survive in, much less thrive in, and y- and you did it with an art, an artful pizzazz and panache and to do, to create, and to do all that. That's, I… Kudos, man. Right on.
Michael Fields: Well, thank you.
Scott Hammond: Uh, and the kudos is you, my friend-
Scott Hammond: … winner, winner, chicken dinner. Uh, Eddie's coming home with the chocolate bar.
Michael Fields: All right.
Scott Hammond: All right?
Michael Fields: Thank you so much, Scott .
Scott Hammond: Courtesy of Dick Taylor Chocolates.
Michael Fields: Ah, I love Dick Taylor.
Scott Hammond: Oh, man, they're, they're amazing.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Great guys.
Michael Fields: Yeah. Terrific.
Scott Hammond: You ever heard of Huckleberry Flint play?
Michael Fields: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Oh, I guess they do. They played at… They, they play at the-
Michael Fields: They play out there pretty-
Scott Hammond: … the Folk, Folk Festival
Michael Fields: … well, not regularly, but that Folklife every year
Scott Hammond: … with Patrick.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Uh, we used to never see them. Now we don't miss them.
Michael Fields: Yeah. They're really good.
Scott Hammond: There's another Folklife Festival. Uh, it's, Patrick bases a lot of the shows out there, doesn't he?
Michael Fields: Yes. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: The amphitheater at Dell'Arte was-
Scott Hammond: So-
Michael Fields: Where we moved it when it… Used to be at the ranch above Arcata, and then it moved to-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … yeah
Scott Hammond: … perfect venue, outdoors.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Summer.
Michael Fields: People love it.
Scott Hammond: Oh, they eat it up, man. I love going there.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Um, we missed it this year. We were traveling, but, um, every summer we try to make a show, a couple.
Michael Fields: That's great.
Scott Hammond: So some more of the festivals then. So you have, uh, Annie and Mary Days.
Scott Hammond: You got-
Michael Fields: The… But what they now call the Mad River Festival, the Bodewad, which is the-
Scott Hammond: Bodewad
Michael Fields: … Wiyot name for the river.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Michael Fields: And, uh, they, we, we… The Lager, along with Hounds of Humboldt, which takes care of dogs, does block parties. Like, we just did one f- on Hal, or c- week ago, where they, we close off the street, and there's vendors and
Michael Fields: stuff.
Scott Hammond: All of downtown.
Michael Fields: All, all of downtown.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
Michael Fields: And, uh, there's another one at May Day, a May Day festival, but we do that along with other people in the community, and-
Scott Hammond: So you know Marvin Samuels.
Michael Fields: Oh, sure.
Scott Hammond: What's up, Marvin, with your tie-dye ways?
Michael Fields: He's now writing a column for the Mad River Union.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, I read that-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … pretty regular.
Michael Fields: So-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … yeah, I see Marvin a lot.
Scott Hammond: They call him Scoop Samuels. What's up, Scoop?
Michael Fields: No, he does a lot. Uh, you know, he used to run the chamber, too, for a while in Blue Lake.
Scott Hammond: Oh, he's, he's a great guy. And then Rick, his friend-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … uh, Cadillac Ranch.
Michael Fields: Cadillac Ranch. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Tell me Rick's last name. I should know it.
Michael Fields: Rick Levin.
Scott Hammond: Levin, great guy.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: All those guys, man, and, um, uh, Joel, they just lost Joel, one of the Crows.
Scott Hammond: He was-
Michael Fields: Oh, yeah
Scott Hammond: … a nice man
Michael Fields: I went to his memorial thing.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: A sweet, sweet guy.
Michael Fields: He used to come in The Logger dressed in a s- impeccable suit-
Michael Fields: … which is just rare to see. It- nobody blinked an eye, but he looked amazing.
Scott Hammond: He wore that suit.
Michael Fields: And he would drink Chivas scotch, which I loved. So, you know, he was… I loved Joel. He was a wonder. I was on the Blue Ox board for maybe 20 years, and Joel was on it for a short time.
Scott Hammond: Oh, is that right?
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: With Eric Hollenbeck?
Michael Fields: With Eric, Eric Hollenbeck, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Saw him on a TV show, it was a YouTube video, testifying before the state of Oregon in Portland,
Scott Hammond: 1994 or '5.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And he had dark hair and Pendleton. And, and, and there's Al Gore and Hillary.
Michael Fields: Oh, yeah. He-
Scott Hammond: And he's telling The Logger story, the, the story of… I don't know what they were testifying about, but it's like, oh, this dude's the
Scott Hammond: real deal.
Michael Fields: Well, we… I did, uh, Radio Man, the play that was-
Scott Hammond: Right
Michael Fields: … came out of his episodes of his life.
Scott Hammond: Did you write that?
Michael Fields: No. Jim McManus was a playwright from back east, came out. But he spent a lot of time here, and then I directed it with the cast, and we did it at Del Arte.
Michael Fields: And it was-
Scott Hammond: Right
Michael Fields: … a powerful, powerful piece of work.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: It was really, really powerful to look in the audience of 150 people and have people, men in their 60s weeping.
Scott Hammond: Beautiful.
Michael Fields: I mean, I think that is a testament to Eric's stories and everything else, but it's, it's a, it's a lot of powerful stories, and The Ox is a very special place.
Scott Hammond: And then Eric went and did the, uh, uh, the Craftsman, right?
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: On Discovery-
Michael Fields: The Craftsman series on Discovery
Scott Hammond: … or the, uh, DIY Network, whatever the-
Michael Fields: Yeah, yeah
Scott Hammond: … part of Discovery-
Michael Fields: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … family it is
Michael Fields: … the Magnolia Net… I forget what it was.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: But it was something, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. What a sweet guy.
Michael Fields: He's a very sweet guy, very-
Scott Hammond: He sat here and drank scotch, first guy-
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: First… The last guy I ever had a drink on the set here. No, he had a great… No, he… All the stories.
Michael Fields: Yeah, all the stories.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. In fact, of, of the hundred, almost a hundred, uh, podcasts, he is, is probably the, the most viewed.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: I'm sure it is.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, 'cause he's-
Michael Fields: I'm sure it is
Scott Hammond: … he's living history and, and a sweetheart.
Michael Fields: Did he, he tell you the story about getting dropped off after his dad died, so they shipped him home to Humboldt, and they dropped him in Oakland in the middle of the night? He'd never been to Oakland.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: He'd never been out of Humboldt except to go to Vietnam.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: And, uh, he hitchhiked the wrong way, ended up in San Jose.
Scott Hammond: Oops.
Michael Fields: And somebody picked him up, a guy he thought may not have been real, because the guy drove him all the way to Eureka and dropped him at the-
Scott Hammond: Got, got, got an angel.
Michael Fields: Yeah, he got an angel-
Scott Hammond: A Jesuit angel
Michael Fields: … to, to take him all the way home.
Scott Hammond: I love it.
Michael Fields: So, yeah, it's-
Scott Hammond: I think he did mention that.
Michael Fields: Yeah. That's wild.
Scott Hammond: He still thinks 'cause it was, "He took me all the way to the door."
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Something like that, that he was just like, "What?"
Michael Fields: And I never went to Vietnam because Nixon canceled the draft a week before my induction.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: It was just-
Scott Hammond: On the edge
Michael Fields: … luck.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: It was nothing… I had a lot of my fam- not a lot, a few of my family members died over there, and my daughter taught English over there for a while.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Fields: So I went over to see her, excuse to go to Vietnam, and, uh, what an amazing country. Everybody's-
Scott Hammond: It's supposed to be great
Michael Fields: … under 30.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: It's incredible.
Scott Hammond: It's supposed to be great.
Michael Fields: I loved it.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. G- good experience?
Michael Fields: Yeah, great experience.
Scott Hammond: The, um… Yeah, what a, what a guest. Hey, if you're just joining us, and you're pretty late-
Scott Hammond: Uh-
Michael Fields: By the way
Scott Hammond: … uh, my f- my new best friend, Michael Fields from Blue Lake and Del Arte and, uh, The Logger Bar, and, um, what, what do you see for the future for Blue Lake? What, what, what would you like to see and what, what do you
Scott Hammond: envision?
Michael Fields: Oh, what an interesting, interesting question, Scott.
Michael Fields: It's… There's been a little bit of community kerfuffle, as I'm sure you've read in the
Michael Fields: news-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … and stuff around.
Scott Hammond: Oh, there is something going on in Blue Lake.
Michael Fields: Oh, yeah.
Michael Fields: And it's-
Scott Hammond: Let's recall our entire government
Michael Fields: … and it's, exact- Well, it's… There,
Michael Fields: there's the state housing mandate, and I don't pretend to understand it, but there's, there's a lot of land down by the river that people are s- has considering how to develop and what to do with. And how that gets washed in the long term is gonna determine a lot about the future. There's not a lot of stuff to do in Blue Lake without… Well, they just built a s- a skate park, which is
Michael Fields: wonderful.
Scott Hammond: Right. They got the bi- BMX track happening.
Michael Fields: And they got the BMX track down there, which is wonderful.
Scott Hammond: Is that opened? Are they running on it?
Michael Fields: Yeah, I think so.
Scott Hammond: All right, cool.
Michael Fields: We get a lot of bikers. I mean, not pedal bikers, not mountain bikers.
Scott Hammond: Well, you get all the mountain bikers that go up to the-
Michael Fields: Yeah, yeah
Scott Hammond: … to the, uh, uh, the, the fishery, right?
Michael Fields: Right.
Scott Hammond: Hatchery.
Michael Fields: They come up there, too. So we get stuff… I see a lot of bikers in the bar.
Michael Fields: And, uh, but it's gonna be determined by, uh, there's n- the rest- It needs a restaurant.
Michael Fields: It needs a, it needs so- I mean, the, the-
Scott Hammond: A Murphy's
Michael Fields: … a Murphy's. We have Murphy's in Glendale, but-
Scott Hammond: Doesn't count.
Michael Fields: Yeah. It's… It needs something, and, uh, and I think if they can figure out not to worry that people moving in aren't-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Fields: … gonna be the end of the world-
Scott Hammond: Right
Michael Fields: … because I don't think they will be.
Michael Fields: They never-
Scott Hammond: Nor do they want a Dollar General.
Michael Fields: No, they don't want any of that stuff.
Scott Hammond: No.
Michael Fields: And, uh, it, you know, the, the town used to have such remarkable, unique thi- like Starto's, the cafe.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: That was a fantastic little place, and, uh- More of that kind of stuff
Scott Hammond: Did she shut that down?
Michael Fields: Oh, he got killed. It was terrible.
Scott Hammond: Oh, is that right?
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Michael Fields: It was a terrible thing. Uh-
Scott Hammond: I think I know that story a little bit.
Michael Fields: Yeah. So… But it's always… That cafe, when I got here, was a Mexican cafe.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Michael Fields: And then it became The Cozy Corner, where she would yell at you to put your own money in the till because she was too busy. Make your own tea. And we, we put all of the Critics' Circle Awards that Larete got, we put them on the Coke machine at The Cozy Corner Cafe.
Scott Hammond: Sweet.
Michael Fields: So, you know, it's… But it was a center. The Log is like that. It's a living room.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: But you need more of that.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: There needs to be more of that in town, and that's my hope for the future.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: And it's a lot of younger people now. There's more kids. But you can't get too NIMBY, "not in my backyard" kind of-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Fields: … otherwise nothing changes, you know?
Scott Hammond: Right. It'll s- it'll stagnate, if you will.
Michael Fields: It'll stagnate, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, and it's gotta be something more than the casino and the gas station.
Michael Fields: Right. Yeah, it's gotta be something that, you know-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … that's something for the community, so.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. We're going out to the casino tomorrow for Mary Keane's We Are Up-
Michael Fields: Oh, yeah
Scott Hammond: … uh, fundraiser.
Michael Fields: That's a great project, too.
Scott Hammond: Oh, she's great, and it's a great program.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: The ranch is gonna be beautiful.
Michael Fields: Oh, good.
Scott Hammond: Wonderful. So th- when you say river, uh, waterfront, are you talking about down by the levee?
Michael Fields: Yeah. The levee where the old, uh, ultra power plant used to
Michael Fields: be.
Scott Hammond: Right, right, right.
Michael Fields: That whole area begs-
Scott Hammond: For development of some sort
Michael Fields: … for development of some sort.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: That is… And there's been all, all kinds of ideas and plans, and people make drawings about stuff, but the, the… You know, it's, it's begs something fun and creative-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Michael Fields: … and not just-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … you know, two-story housing.
Scott Hammond: Let's get a leader.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Let's get somebody to lead this thing.
Michael Fields: Right, exactly.
Scott Hammond: And get it out of committee, 'cause the committee will go on for another decade.
Michael Fields: Decade, exactly.
Scott Hammond: Or decades, even.
Michael Fields: Decades, I agree.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: It's gotta have something, a momentum.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: Uh, because it, it… There's… It's great land down there.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Oh, it's beautiful. Beautiful walk.
Michael Fields: Yeah, yeah.
Scott Hammond: We frequently do that before we go sit and relax.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Um, yeah, no, I, I'm very, really envious. What a great, what a great place. Um, hey, any parting shots? Anything you'd like to add to,
Scott Hammond: um-
Michael Fields: Mm
Scott Hammond: … an already nice time together?
Michael Fields: Uh, not particularly. I mean, I thank you for h- for doing this. This is important.
Scott Hammond: Thank you.
Michael Fields: Um, and I think that one of the things that this program, you know, the theater that is not just the remake of something done 100 times, uh, is you tell the story. There's a lot of stories. Eric Hollenbach, those are the stories we need-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … to tell. People need to be able to, to get those out into the bloodstream, because they're, they're powerful, and they come from here. And, and that-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … that is important that it come from place, I think-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … not just from, uh, um, the media that we see on our televisions.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. And this'll go on… It'll be on YouTube for a couple of years. My friend, my friend Peter Starr says, "You're an archivist of people."
Michael Fields: Yeah, yeah. Well, that's-
Scott Hammond: Thank you. I think that's good.
Michael Fields: It's very good.
Scott Hammond: It's something-
Michael Fields: I think that's very important that there be-
Scott Hammond: … worthwhile
Michael Fields: … that that, that be done.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. So, uh, how do you wanna be remembered? What's your… What would be your legacy or, um, when we go to your celebration of life, what would you like on your tombstone? That, that question.
Michael Fields: I haven't thought about a tombstone legacy, but I d- have already written my
Michael Fields: obit.
Scott Hammond: Oh, nice.
Michael Fields: Uh,
Scott Hammond: Give us the highlight. Give us the highlight reel.
Michael Fields: No, it's about-
Scott Hammond: Good.
Michael Fields: I just wanted to make it funny, uh- … you know. Uh, and I, and I, I end it with a joke that I probably shouldn't tell on the air. It's not a dirty joke. There's no bad words. There's no… But it is, uh… Actually, I'll tell it and you can cut it, can't you?
Scott Hammond: You probably shouldn't tell it, but go for it.
Michael Fields: Okay. It's not a bad joke. It's… This is how my obit ends. It's, uh, the… There is a walrus, and he's driving over the Santa Monica Hills to the ocean, and it's very hot, and his car starts to miss, you know, its engine's missing. So he pulls into a little garage, and it's very hot, and he says, "Can you take a look at the car?" And the guy says, "I can take a look. I don't know if I can fix it today." But the walrus goes and gets a soft ice cream cone 'cause it's hot. But he's a walrus, so he can't really hold it very well, so it's melting all over him and his face. And he goes back, uh, to, to the, uh, garage, and he asks the mechanic, "What is it?" And he said… The mechanic turns and looks at him, and he says, "Looks like you blew a seal."
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Fields: There's your joke.
Scott Hammond: Ba-dum-bum.
Michael Fields: Bum. That's your joke.
Scott Hammond: It's hard to get that on a tombstone.
Michael Fields: Yeah, it is. You can't put it on a tombstone, but, uh,
Michael Fields: yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: Uh,
Scott Hammond: That, that had some nuance to it.
Michael Fields: You gotta think about it, you know?
Scott Hammond: Wait a minute. I know the Santa Monica Hills. Like, what, what was the, uh, canyon? Laurel Canyon.
Michael Fields: Laurel Canyon.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: That drive is amazing, yeah. But I, uh, I just wrote an obit, if you have a second, and I don't mean to put you-
Scott Hammond: Sure, you're fine
Michael Fields: … for a guy named Brad. We don't even know his last name for sure. He was a regular at the bar.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: We called him Three Finger Brad because he had literally three fingers left on his right hand, and, uh, the… He told so many different stories about how he lost his fingers. Nobody knew the truth.
Scott Hammond: Nobody really knew.
Michael Fields: And he passed away, but I c- he didn't have anybody. There was no family. There was nothing. So-
Scott Hammond: Oh
Michael Fields: … one of our other patrons… That's the great thing about patrons in a bar. They take care of each other, and they really do care. Took him to the hospital. My wife went and saw him off, um-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Michael Fields: … and I wrote an obit, and I got it in the North Coast Journal.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: And even though Hank called me and he said, "You write a lot of funny stuff."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Fields: "You… Is this real?" And I said-
Scott Hammond: Is this-
Michael Fields: … "It's about as real…"
Scott Hammond: Hank's with Loco.
Michael Fields: Oh, Loco.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Fields: Right.
Scott Hammond: That's why.
Michael Fields: The Loco, and who's on North Coast Journal? Somebody asked if it was legit.
Scott Hammond: Uh, could have been any one of their editors
Michael Fields: Any one of their editors-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Fields: … came and talked. Anyway, it was, uh-
Scott Hammond: Did you publish it?
Michael Fields: Yeah. It got published, and we had to pull a picture from Pinterest 'cause we had no photo of him, so it is not his photo. And it got published-
Scott Hammond: Hilarious
Michael Fields: … it's on the wall in the bar, but it's like he-
Scott Hammond: How long ago was that?
Michael Fields: Uh, about six months, I would say.
Scott Hammond: What was his name?
Michael Fields: Brad Thornton.
Scott Hammond: Thornton. I'll look it up.
Michael Fields: Look it up because-
Scott Hammond: On the local obit
Michael Fields: … it's a hysterical obit.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Michael Fields: 'Cause I write… It's all fiction, and it all talks about his time with Dick Cheney in the CIA-
Scott Hammond: Sweet
Michael Fields: … and his playing note- for Notre Dame's number one football team, a-
Scott Hammond: Forest Gump?
Michael Fields: Forest… He never did any of this stuff.
Michael Fields: Um-
Scott Hammond: And how he lost his finger. How did you write, uh, of the loss of the digit?
Michael Fields: Oh, he… It was a bet with a friend over who would lose their fingers
Michael Fields: first.
Scott Hammond: He chopped.
Michael Fields: Yeah, they chopped it off. And, uh, but th- flash forward, mundane, I'm at the, some store g- buying a leash for my dog, and… 'cause she's 100 pounds and brokers.
Michael Fields: And, uh, I, uh, ran into a guy I knew, and he said, uh, "Hey, nice obit for Brad," he said, "but you missed the part about him being a champion surfer." And I said-
Scott Hammond: Great
Michael Fields: … "Get out of here." He is not a champion surfer. But that was… I think you do homage to people-
Scott Hammond: Beautiful
Michael Fields: … you know, as-
Scott Hammond: I love it
Michael Fields: … yeah, in that way.
Scott Hammond: A tribute.
Michael Fields: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Hey, thanks for being here.
Michael Fields: Thank you, Scott.
Scott Hammond: Appreciate it.
Michael Fields: Appreciate the time.
Scott Hammond: And I'll, I'll see you in Blue Lake.
Michael Fields: You will?
Scott Hammond: Yep. And thanks for listening. If you just, uh, joined us, you know, you're really late to the show. And, uh, but you could still like us and love us-
Michael Fields: Exactly
Scott Hammond: … and subscribe to us and-
Michael Fields: Exactly
Scott Hammond: … send, send money and, and pictures and, and, and good wishes and prayers. So, uh, uh, we are heading toward number 100 really soon, so that'll be cool.
Michael Fields: Congrats. Good.
Scott Hammond: And, uh, thanks to my main man, Nick. And yeah, uh, uh, please like us and, and see us on YouTube and, uh, all the, all the podcast platforms.
Michael Fields: Fantastic.
Scott Hammond: And 100% Humboldt, Scott Hammond. Make it a great day, and thank you, Michael.
Michael Fields: Thank you, Scott. Appreciate it.