100% Humboldt
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 Northcoast of California 100%!
Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt
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100% Humboldt
#83. The Musical Life of Elle Penner: How Elle found her voice in Humboldt County
From the scorching heat of Red Bluff to the cool, misty forests of Humboldt County, Elle Penner's life journey unfolds like a well-composed jazz standard—full of unexpected turns yet beautifully cohesive. As she sits across from Scott Hammond in her tie-dye dress shirt, Elle radiates the kind of authentic warmth that defines both her professional and artistic lives.
"I love that I get to work hard at things that I feel good about," Elle reflects, capturing the essence of her dual passions. By day, she serves as an adoption social worker, helping families navigate the complex emotional terrain of welcoming new members and honoring each person's unique story. This fulfilling career emerged from her undergraduate fascination with refugee communities and international relations at UC San Diego, where she spent weekends helping families from Burundi acclimate to American life.
The musical countermelody to Elle's social work began in childhood, harmonizing with her siblings Devin and Brianna in what she jokingly calls their "Von Trapp family band." Though this musical thread temporarily faded into the background during her college years and early career, it reemerged magnificently when her brother moved to Humboldt for graduate school. Through a serendipitous "momager moment" at a local gym, the Penner siblings connected with Zach Zwerdling, who recognized their exceptional talent and helped launch several musical projects.
Now fronting the jazz ensemble Young and Lovely, Elle brings both classic standards and reimagined contemporary hits to venues throughout the county. Whether performing at Fieldbrook Winery, the Botanical Gardens, or the upcoming Jersey Scoops Lolita Block Party, her mesmerizing vocals create spaces where community members connect through music. Additionally, her work with Humboldt Musicians for Peace demonstrates her commitment to using art as a vehicle for positive social change.
When asked what she hopes to be remembered for, Elle's answer speaks volumes: "That Elle got us thinking about how we treat anyone we meet." This simple yet profound aspiration underlies everything she does—creating spaces where families feel supported through life's transitions and where audiences experience the transformative power of music. Subscribe now to hear our full conversation with one of Humboldt County's most captivating voices, both on and off the stage.
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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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends and neighbors of all ages. It is Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt Podcast, with my new, my amazing best friend Al Penner.
Speaker 2:Al Penner yeah, you got it right. Good job, best friend, I know Well that's what best friends do.
Speaker 1:You know what I knew? It was going to be a musical day, so we should start with a song, but I brought my song shirt, my only tie-dye dress shirt. Is that something?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, and it's got some teal on it, and teal is one of my brand colors, so good job.
Speaker 1:I've seen you wear teal, so tell us the Elle story in a couple of minutes. Where were you born and who are you? How'd you get here?
Speaker 2:Where was I born in? How did I get here? Okay, couple minute version would be that I was born. Thank you for that reminder. Right the microphone. I was born in Red Bluff, California, which is three and a half hours further down and it's half an hour north of Reading.
Speaker 1:Super hot.
Speaker 2:Very hot, it's very hot. It's just a gas stop off of the I-5. Or you can go 299 to 5 or you can go 36. And I don't ever go 36, 299. But anyway, I was born there, I spent all of my childhood there, but I would vacation with my family up at Sumeg State Park on summers.
Speaker 2:So my happiest summer memories are of here. So, then, to be able to move here, after getting employment here, and live where I grew up, vacationing feels absolutely surreal, and I never get tired of seeing the fog, I never get tired of being cold.
Speaker 1:What are those? My son Jesse loves the fog. He goes. Is it raining? I go. Yeah, he goes. That's perfect I go. You're just weird, son. He lives in Amsterdam, so they love it. It's crap weather all the time. Oh, fabulous yeah.
Speaker 2:He digs, so they love it. It's crap weather all the time, oh fabulous.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he digs it.
Speaker 2:If it's gloomy, I'm so pleased. I'm thoroughly thrilled.
Speaker 1:Because you're used to 127 and 10 months.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like it's 117 several times during the summer, just normally. Like once you're in June, if you're in the 90s, you're like yay cool Right, it June.
Speaker 1:If you're in the 90s you're like, yay, cool Right, it got down in the 90s and it was perfect.
Speaker 2:And at night it doesn't get cool over there. It doesn't really cool off. No, no, Like my dad, I remember growing up like he would, you know, wake up at like 2 am to open windows and run the whole house fan because that would be the coldest air, but then you'd have to shut it pretty soon because you're just going to start sweating in your sleep.
Speaker 1:So did you graduate Red Bluff High or whatever it would be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, red Bluff High. We have one public high school and my dad was a teacher there and so was my grandpa and so was my uncle, and mostly teachers were in my family, are in my family, were in my family, are in my family. So, yeah, graduated from Red Bluff High and then I wanted to go to a UC and I was guaranteed admission into UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis, but I wanted to go as far away from Red Bluff as I could. San Diego, la UC, san Diego, good school, it's a great school yeah.
Speaker 1:Hometown, that's a great school. Yeah, hometown, that's your hometown, not La Jolla.
Speaker 2:Not La Jolla.
Speaker 1:Oh, national City, the underbelly. Oh Ooh, lower middle class, hippie, feral child with real long hair. You can't tell now, and like Peter Frampton now he's all bald. It's funny, oh man. But yeah, that was for the days. It was the blue collar, but we had fun, played at the beach and it's hard to not have fun in San Diego. It is really hard to not have fun in San Diego so college days. I bet you were a hoot in college.
Speaker 2:I was quite a creature in college Quite a creature who wasn't Quite a creature in college, quite a creature who wasn't. Yeah, I was, you know, in my late teens and early 20s and I was an international relations student and very much wanting to learn about American government and international phenomenons and interactions. I was like how did we get refugee camps? Like how did that happen? And how did various very long wars? What was their starting point? Like what are these untanglable messes that we have in the society of the globe? What are we doing right now to untangle them and how are we failing and why?
Speaker 1:Clearly, we're failing the questions, the questions of the ages. Yeah, yeah, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's what I was really interested in in my undergraduate years. And yeah, uc San Diego had like the seventh best international studies program in the nation. So killer area and area, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:Did you ever go to Blacks Beach?
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, yeah, that was a frequent stop because it's very, very close to campus. And very private or not so private yeah. For those of you that know that joke yeah, there's like kind of the college kid area and then there's the not college kid area.
Speaker 1:Right Sailors.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know it's good surfing though.
Speaker 2:No, it really was. Yeah, and I dated a surfer for a while. It was very cool to see like there were periods where that algae, that spialuminescent, would come.
Speaker 3:Oh.
Speaker 2:And so, like I'd watch my boyfriend do, like his little surfer man dude skus through the waves and it like glow and light up around him. It was fun. Yeah, and I liked us. We would pick a part of a beach that was not popular. Tourists wouldn't go, it was like ugly. So it was always private and nice. There weren't a lot of people, and I would like go down to the beach in my stilettos and short skirt. It's a long walk. It's a long walk. It's a hike. I wanted to earn my beach trip.
Speaker 2:I earned it, so I would go down and I'd have a journal that I would write in or I would read a textbook, and then I'd have my iPod and I would just do weird dancing in the waves because no one was there to see me, because no one liked that ugly patch of beach.
Speaker 1:It's the perfect place, though it was great Snow people.
Speaker 2:It was great, and I'm notoriously bad at dancing and not body coordinated at all, so Remember Elaine on Seinfeld.
Speaker 1:You ever seen that?
Speaker 2:one. Ah, yeah, there's that hole. Yeah, the kicks the little kicks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, that's classic at our house. Kids were raised on Seinfeld in the office.
Speaker 2:Same yeah.
Speaker 1:Same. A lot to learn there.
Speaker 2:So much Right, so much of life. You can fit quotes from either of those shows into just about any day of life.
Speaker 1:That's what she said.
Speaker 2:That is what she said.
Speaker 1:She did say that. See what I did with that. Oh, I knew I'd have to be sharp today. That might have been the pinnacle of how.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, If we could find a way to fit in the quote where are the turtles? Where?
Speaker 1:are the turtles.
Speaker 2:Do you remember that scene? So, michael Scott, it's the office and they're going and they're trying to hit, like do gift baskets to places.
Speaker 1:Right, oh, the walnut, the chocolate turtles.
Speaker 2:The chocolate turtles. And then they get offended at one of those business owners.
Speaker 1:Because he eats some of the turtles on the gift bag when? Are the turtles the basket.
Speaker 2:Where are the turtles? Where are they? Sometimes I just yell that to my sister.
Speaker 1:No context. I love it. Yeah, that sometimes random is good. Is that where he crashed his car into the pond? Yes, he freaked out so bad at the end of the episode.
Speaker 2:Yes, the machine knows and he just drives straight into the pond.
Speaker 1:He goes right on the GPS. It's a pond For you Office fans and Steve Carell. It kind of lost a little bit after he left it lost a whole lot. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It lost a little bit. After he left. I lost a whole lot. Yeah, I lost a lot. I only really like watching seasons two, three and a little bit of four, and that's even before he left, but I don't know, my standards are unique, says a lot about you, the whole office thing that you're a season two through four. Kind of gal says a lot about you.
Speaker 1:You narrowed it right down. She's that. So did you get your master's at UC San Diego.
Speaker 2:No, I didn't. No, I didn't. I graduated from UC San Diego with that bachelor's degree in international sociology, and then I was going to go off to the Peace Corps. Oh rad, I had minored in French literature and I'd also taken a year of Arabic in college there and loved it.
Speaker 1:Is that different from Farsi?
Speaker 2:Yes, it is.
Speaker 1:It's different.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is. They're both beautiful languages. But, yeah, arabic is different. I had friends who spoke Farsi, but the one I learned was Arabic. And so, yeah, there was a point in time where I was dating someone where I was like you know what I really need to not date this person. And I keep on getting back and dating them and I think like they've followed me to Europe when I moved away to Europe and studied in France. But if I went to the Middle East or Africa, I bet you they wouldn't follow me.
Speaker 1:And so then I was like, well, peace Corps would take care of that and I'll just be like hey, I speak French or Arabic. You should put me in either Africa or the Middle East, because I'm running from this boyfriend this stalker.
Speaker 2:He's so hot, but he's pretty stalky.
Speaker 1:You can take the good with the bad.
Speaker 2:You gotta, you gotta, you know you find it, where you can get it, and so but anyways, yeah, I graduated and I had like this little waiting period where I needed to have the approval happen. So I moved back home to wait it out and then fell in love with my daughter's dad. We got married and then I did not go to the Peace Corps, then got married and then I did not go to the Peace Corps then. But eventually, when it was hitting me of like, okay, I'm working editing photography stuff, learning how to Photoshop, I'm doing makeup, you know, makeovers for brides I was working for a very fancy wedding photography business.
Speaker 1:And Red Block.
Speaker 2:I was working for a very fancy wedding photography business In Red Block. They're located in Las Molinas, but they're like one of the top sellers for, like the San Francisco area and LA people hire them quite a bit too.
Speaker 1:Las Molinas, that's really small, I know.
Speaker 2:I know, but they're geniuses.
Speaker 1:And they live in Las Molinas. And they live in Las Molinas. It's hotter there than Red Block.
Speaker 2:It is, but it has better Mexican food.
Speaker 1:Killer oh Salt.
Speaker 3:And then there's Cottonwood.
Speaker 1:My friend lived there. He goes hell is a local prefix, it's so hot, it's so fun.
Speaker 2:I remember like one time in Red Bluff I was sitting staring at our beloved minerals shop called Gommers. It's like a stones and minerals shop and I was just looking longingly inside. I wanted to go in and then I see this angry man who's got this car. That's like the hood is smoking and he's on the phone and he's like I am in the armpit of hell with my cars broken down and I can't get out, I'm going to die here.
Speaker 1:Actually, he was wrong. That's Bakersfield or Red Bluff. Okay, how?
Speaker 2:many poor little towns in California. Can we hate on today? Oh poor.
Speaker 1:California. Porterville is a close third.
Speaker 2:I haven't. I don't know that I've been there.
Speaker 1:Joni's from there. It's a good place to be from.
Speaker 2:My aunt says that about Red Bluff it it's a good place to be from.
Speaker 1:My aunt says that about Red Bluff. It's a little like National City, which isn't quite a pit and it's not as hot, but it's also kind of I don't know. There's all kinds of you know what. I went back and I figured it out. Okay, it's families trying to raise families and doing kids trying to raise adults.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And it's hard and it's expensive. Yes, and it's hard and it's expensive. Yes, even in the most lower middle class parts it's like it's that struggle for not just survival but just to do the mission man.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:You know, to take care of kids.
Speaker 2:Truly truly it is, and I don't know that's after having lived, spent my childhood in Red Bluff, which was pretty isolated from society. We were always about 15 years behind fashion trends. I shopped at I mean the place to get clothes was Walmart.
Speaker 1:There was not a mall. Guess where this shirt's from.
Speaker 2:Is it from Walmart?
Speaker 1:Funny story.
Speaker 2:Oh no, I'm scared.
Speaker 1:It's a, so whenever I go to Medford my whole family hates on me because they don't hate me when I go to Trader.
Speaker 2:Joe's. Trader Joe's, that's okay, no, you can't hate on that, we go there all day. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't get hated on when I go to Costco because well, there's no sales tax in Oregon Cool. However, when you go to the big Walmart, to get your oil and stuff. Oh yeah, it's like Joni goes yeah, you can't, and she rolls her eyes and then somehow I drag everybody along and all the grandkids.
Speaker 2:You do it, they go with you. Of course Do they groan in pain.
Speaker 1:No, they squeal with joy because they get a free Hot Wheel. Grandpa buying the kids off? God Don't worry about it. I got this.
Speaker 2:You are saving Walmart.
Speaker 1:Single-handed With my $1 Hot Wheels. Everybody gets one Hot Wheel and they always want to upgrade. Can I get the $7 one?
Speaker 2:I go dude. The agreement is the $1 Hot Wheel. $1 Hot Wheels. It almost sounds like you're going to say Hot Wings. I've been watching too many Hot Wings episodes. The Hot Wings. I almost sound like you're going to say hot wings. I've been watching too many hot wings episodes, but Hot Wheel, yeah, hot Wheel at Walmart.
Speaker 1:They do have hot wings, yeah, so did you pursue post-grad stuff?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so okay. So then, yeah, I was in Red Bluff and I was working for the photographers who I'd hired for my wedding and doing Photoshopping stuff and that was after I did a year of long-term French substitute teaching at the one high school where, like, she'd been my French teacher and then she had cancer and so then she asked me to come do it. So I did that. But then, yeah, after several years of doing photography editing, I was like I don't know how much longer I can do this. I want to do something.
Speaker 1:That means something different were you musical then with devon and brianna?
Speaker 2:yeah, well, no, well, we, we weren't musical in that period because my brother was off in the marines and my sister was off at undergraduate college herself. Um, where'd she go? She also went to UC San Diego, cool yeah.
Speaker 1:In the footsteps. Yes yes, because I just kind of envision you guys as the Von Trapp family.
Speaker 2:We're pretty Von Trappy.
Speaker 1:The hills are alive.
Speaker 2:Those hills off in Red Bluff. They were alive Because, yeah, when we were far younger, as like little babies you know, my dad taught Devin and I how to harmonize and we were in like a family band.
Speaker 1:It's cool you might say the bluffs are alive with the sound, the bluffs we could sing that one a little later. Yeah, have you heard that joke? Can you sing over the hill and far away? Oh my gosh like if you can't sing or if you, could you sing that over the hill?
Speaker 2:and far away. Could you do that? Help us out?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Not you, but you could sing here pretty quick. So guess what? You got a master's somewhere.
Speaker 2:I got a master's at CSU Chico when my aunt was like, what did you like about your undergraduate degree? And I was like, well, I liked that I could hear 10 languages in one day working with refugees. I liked that I could hear 10 languages in one day. Working with refugees, I liked that I was helping families navigate difficult times.
Speaker 1:In San Diego.
Speaker 2:In San Diego. Yeah, I mean, I loved it so much that, even beyond doing like my internship for a quarter, I kept spending one day a weekend with a family originally from Burundi, africa for a year. One day a weekend with a family originally from Burundi, africa for a year. Every Saturday I would hang out with their family and just help them feel like they were connected to the area that they'd moved to. That was so different from where they'd come from and also different from the refugee camp they lived in for 10 years.
Speaker 1:Did they make you family?
Speaker 2:They did. They really did. Yeah, like I would, of course they did. I would like teach the kids. I would help, I would teach the kids little art lessons. We would go to the park, we'd go to the beach, we'd all play together and run in the waves. They made me dinners.
Speaker 2:We would just do stuff together. And then when they moved to a different state they hooked me up with another family who they wanted to be supported, and I did that until I graduated. I love that. With another family who they wanted to be supported, and I did that until I graduated, I love that. But anyways, my aunt was like okay, well, if you let's take away the international components and what is left?
Speaker 2:because you're stuck in Red Bluff, you're, you know, but you haven't popped out any kids yet. So grad school, the time is now.
Speaker 1:And I said Chico's 45 minutes away, chico is 45 minutes away.
Speaker 2:And so she was like well, honestly, you're talking about helping families, you're talking about dealing with crisis, you're talking about human relation and hardship. That is social work.
Speaker 1:Perfect. And I was like oh, and that's what you do now, that's what I do now and with that thought, if you're just joining us, my new best friend, elle Penner, is telling her life story and we're getting to the music part and the Chico State part. And there's always the partying part at Chico State we'll talk about, but I digress. So Chico State did you live right in town?
Speaker 2:I didn't, I actually lived in. He was my husband at the time. My husband and I lived in my grandparents basement and he worked like three jobs so that I could go to school. Because in that grad program, while it was paid for by a stipend that I agreed to do where I would work for CPS or the state for two years after that, there was no way that I could work a job while being in that program.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Because nine to five I was taking classes, or I was intern, I was working for free.
Speaker 1:So you're grinding all the time.
Speaker 2:Grinding, grinding, grinding. So yeah, lived in a basement for like two years and went to Chico, did not do any partying and I felt kind of on the older end of things.
Speaker 1:Bummer, bummer, dude, Bummer, such a bummer. It's kind of past the party arc of Chico too, because it was like, I think, in the late 90s, 80s.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, by 2017, they'd pretty much mailed it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my daughter went there. Yeah, she graduated during COVID. Oh it out. Yeah, my daughter went there. Yeah, she graduated during COVID. Oh my gosh, we went over and got her early. So it's Taco Tuesday in McKinleyville. At Beaupre, taco Friday.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:We get the phone call and McKayla goes hey mom, what are you doing? Not much. What's going on? Well, there's five of us left in the dorms because they cleared out the campus. Oh gosh, and you understand McK. Michaela's in a wheelchair, so she's handicapped and brilliant, and lovely. She majored in history. How cool. I was wondering that maybe you wanted to come get me tomorrow.
Speaker 3:Tomorrow, Tomorrow Jodi goes tomorrow.
Speaker 1:She got in the car and went and snagged her and she never went back. She graduated Okay At Chico State, mckinleyville.
Speaker 2:Chico State, McKinleyville.
Speaker 1:And good job Shout Chico State, mckinleyville. Chico State, mckinleyville. And good job. Shout out to Michaela Hi Michaela.
Speaker 3:Good job, Michaela.
Speaker 1:Did good, good call. Yeah, a lot of people had to go away and graduate elsewhere. Sad yeah, weird, weird time. That was a weird time. So you got your degree in 18, 17?
Speaker 2:17. Yeah, and then straight out of graduating I landed a job here in Arcata. And I was nervous before I landed that job because where I was interning was with Shasta County CPS and the emergency response unit. That was not my cup of tea. I tell you what.
Speaker 1:Pretty radical kids.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought that it was going to be something that that was going to be in my wheelhouse, because I was like adrenaline pumping, going in there and figuring out what's going wrong and putting a stop to it. That sounds, you know, in like defending the rights of children, hero stuff. I wanted to. I thought that that's what I wanted to do the pressure of seeing situations and sometimes being the only one, because the law enforcement were understaffed so they could not go with you and you know.
Speaker 2:so like I had to go in a meth flop house behind behind a shack that had, like this car seat thrown on top of like a volleyball pole and cactuses to scare you, and I was a five foot three young woman going into a trailer alone with a six foot three man who was testing positive for meth and really didn't want his children to be taken from him.
Speaker 2:It's kind of badass. It was something. It was something I was like. This is not sustainable for me long term. I think not the emergency response part of it, Maybe the ongoing part where I'm partnering with the parents on working to reunite with their children.
Speaker 1:The investigations and the other part of that, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So the front line would be tough.
Speaker 2:The front line is yeah. The front line is so yeah, I did it for a year and then was like and then they were like OK, well, when you graduate, we're going to put you right in ER. And I was like wait, wait, wait, maybe not ER. Can I do later on part? And they're like no, we trained you for ER, that's where you're going.
Speaker 1:So then that should go, whatever memorial.
Speaker 2:No, I was at. That was with Shasta County.
Speaker 1:Actually that I that I entered so Redding, yeah, redding, so working right in the ER.
Speaker 2:Well, emergency response CPS.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's different.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's different. Yeah, er, I did have friends who did work as social workers in ER and their stories were crazy, I bet yeah.
Speaker 1:Those are pretty wild. Yeah, see the tragic, the underbelly, the heart stuff. Yeah, the darkness that is us sometimes.
Speaker 2:You witness a lot. I witness a lot of pain, physical pain, emotional pain and that's true in the child welfare system as well. So, anyways, I didn't want to get hired there, and so when there was a job that opened up in Arcata with the state those are rare to open up as jobs Doing what? Working with adoption. That's what you do now right, that is what I do now.
Speaker 1:In Arcata.
Speaker 2:In Arcata. Yeah, oh yeah. What agency In Arcata option piece, instead of create a whole other unit for themselves to have to manage it. So we work alongside with CPS social workers, but we, technically, are employed by the state.
Speaker 1:Oh, I got to use my prop Okay. It's remembered, but I don't have my pointer, so I'll use my arm. Arcata California.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Is located in Humboldt County, also in California, also in California, also in California. And it's right there at the top of the bay. Do you see where the 101's going north?
Speaker 2:I see it.
Speaker 1:There's the bay Home of the next bay trail. On the 28th it's going to open up. Oh my gosh, Everybody's losing their minds.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's going to be so cool.
Speaker 1:Yes, so we could ride from our house way up by Swim, by Clam Beach, all the way down to the nuclear power plant. Just go down there and warm up, turn around, we're going to head on down to the nuke plant. Have a, anyway, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the 28th, that's so exciting.
Speaker 1:It's going to be huge. I see, they're just like that's one little stretch. When we drive in from McKinleyville, there's like one little stretch right by Jacobs and they're just, oh man.
Speaker 2:You can almost taste it. Are you a bike rider? I'm really into walking. I walk, walk, walk, and especially with how gorgeous it is around here, you can walk through forest. If you walk outside, if you live close enough to a forest, it doesn't take much to walk through one.
Speaker 1:Big Dew ends up here, yeah, sumeg, arcata Forest, prairie Creek.
Speaker 2:There's the one by the zoo in Eureka, the Sequoia Forest.
Speaker 1:Right, and then there's Skywalk up above. Yeah, there's the Skywalk up above and Ewoks on the Skywalk?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's all sorts. Have you played there? Yeah, just outside of it, Just well, in the park, in the park itself, the park itself.
Speaker 1:We'll talk about that in a minute. So you are absolutely taking care of people, taking care of kids.
Speaker 2:I are absolutely taking care of people, taking care of kids. I'm yep for my nine to five job. It's working with children, but it's also working with families. It's essentially helping families figure out how to have a new addition to their group and then learn how to gel together and learn how to honor each other's stories before they found each other.
Speaker 1:Wow. So my podcast coach back East who does a lot of behind the scenes stuff, her daddy is Tom Rector from Thomas Home Center, who teaches adoptive parents, and I'll turn you on to him when we're done. Oh cool, I'll give you a link. Oh nice, shout out, tom Rector. Actually probably right up there. Brilliant, like you, oh. And is talking about how we're raising adults. I just saw some clips, so I know this.
Speaker 3:We're not raising.
Speaker 1:we're raising adults, and it's all about how to do that right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:For the parent and for the kid, and there's a way to do it there is. There's ways to do it and there's ways to not do it.
Speaker 2:There are several ways to do it and there's ways to not do it. There are several ways to do it and there are plenty of ways to not do it. And man, what a challenge. I mean being a parent myself. How many times have I experienced self-doubt on like am I doing something? I don't think I can even really—I'm not smart enough to figure out what's exactly best for my specific child. But how do I do something for her that's good? How do I figuring out how to respect a child, like what does it look like to give respect to a two-year-old?
Speaker 1:And listen, and listen.
Speaker 2:To their opinions. And what does it look like to give respect to a six-month-old? Like you know? Like every human deserves respect, even if they're under 18. Yeah, you know, and so like every human deserves respect, even if they're under 18. Yeah, you know. And so like what does that look like? How do you do it?
Speaker 1:Good, some of us actually wrote a book about that.
Speaker 2:Every Day Dad.
Speaker 1:Written by that guy when he had a little bit more hair. So I told Pastor Joe today at lunch I go, it was a therapy book, it was just getting it all out. Yeah, nah, amazon, if I had to live on it I would be dead by now, would you? The whole family would be dead. But you're right, there's ways to do things and to not do things. Yeah, yeah, I love the fact that you take care of families and kids. So you love Tom Rector because he speaks. He goes all the way around the country, talks to adoptive giant. I'm just going to call congregations conventions. Oh nice, he's that dude.
Speaker 2:Nice, one of those dudes.
Speaker 1:So day job, clark Kent, taking care of people in Arcata and families.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And let's talk about the night job. So, superwoman, I'm starting to think of a female Clark Kent, anyway, yeah what with that so? Then the glasses come off and the suit comes off, and here you have a cape. Yeah, sometimes Do you wear a cape when you perform.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, sometimes we find things that are very cape-like, especially if we're doing kind of like the drag jazz thing or during Amber Soul days. You know like, especially if we're doing kind of like the drag jazz thing or during Amber Soul days, you know like Brianna has like that moth wingy capey sort of thing that we did we used for one of the Eureka Friday Night Markets when it was the theme was Animal Kingdom.
Speaker 1:So there's some stuff that's kind of cape like. So hey, before we talk, band and music.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Could you sing a little song?
Speaker 3:Could I sing a little song? Could I sing a little song?
Speaker 1:Anything that you have in mind. Bethany thought the doxology would be amazing.
Speaker 2:Okay, oh, yeah, want to do that one, I know that one, this one goes out to Bethany Shea. This one's for you, bethany. Yeah Be, okay. Yeah, just got to like remember being in the Penner family family gatherings. We're right about to have dinner and we're all going to sing it, okay.
Speaker 3:Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Speaker 2:Now I miss my Nana, very Now I miss my Nana.
Speaker 1:Very nice. Where's Nana now? Nana, you know what? So AI has some things to say about you. Oh, I rarely quote my little cheat notes here, but this is pretty cool, okay. Al Penner's voice is a tapestry of rich tones and heartfelt expression, weaving together elements of indie pop, gospel in a way that feels both timeless and contemporary Really.
Speaker 2:AI what.
Speaker 1:AI digs you, man. Whether she's belting out anthems that demand attention or crooning soft introspective ballads, elle's vocal range and emotional depth shine through. What, oh my gosh? Actually I like this.
Speaker 2:I don't want a robot to make me cry.
Speaker 1:No, Stop it, Stop it AI.
Speaker 2:I'm supposed to hate you, no.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're supposed to hate AI, didn't you? Fans often describe her performance as mesmerizing. Her ability to connect listeners through her music is the hallmark of her artistry. Wow, that's pretty bomb. Oh my goodness, I like that and I've watched people come up as I have to say, hey, wow, thanks. I'm just a McKinleyville person that lives in a trailer and you performed at the park and my sister and I, we love you and you're always gracious.
Speaker 2:I want to be.
Speaker 1:Also a different skill set and lovely. Oh thank you, yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you and thank you, ai, for all of those words. Thank you for yeah, so, yeah, well, thank you and thank you.
Speaker 1:AI. Thank you For all of those words. Thank you for the words. Yeah, no, every once in a while, AI just really nails some stuff.
Speaker 3:So it's worth reading.
Speaker 1:So Young and Lovely is your primary musical outlet.
Speaker 2:The primary one these days.
Speaker 1:Yes, it is Give us the story arc on y'all. What's that about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, that started here in Humble. That became a thing out of an offspring of us doing other musical things when really my sister and I were badly and my brother were badly, badly wanting to get back to jazz. My brother and I had found jazz when we were little babies, in high school, and we used to like go play at retirement homes and sing for folks there.
Speaker 1:Jazz, jazz Of course Only jazz. Like Miles Davis.
Speaker 2:Yes, louis Armstrong, ella Fitzgerald, frank Sinatra, sarah Vaughan, billy Holiday. We found jazz when I was, I think, 15 or 16, and Devin was 14. And so, anyways, and that changed Devin's life finding jazz music Because from there then he just fully focused on that and ended up getting recruited into the Marine Corps All-Stars Jazz Band, which is where he was at for seven years. Quite a pianist, he is incredible. Where's he now? He's now in Chico, area Gotcha.
Speaker 1:Yeah, shout out to Devin.
Speaker 2:Hey Devin.
Speaker 1:I bet Devin watches.
Speaker 2:He might. It's long, I don't know if he has that much time.
Speaker 1:I know he has to drive somewhere.
Speaker 2:He could do it in the car yeah, you could listen. You could listen, dev, you don't have to watch your sister, just listen to her. Yeah, whoa, hey, hey-o, big sister moment, anyways. But yeah, so we had, we had found it and loved it in our teen years, um, and then, while devin did it for his career, it just kind of hibernated, for me and my sister was just something we listened to, mostly right out after that, um who else, during that time, everybody else is listening to?
Speaker 1:I don't't know.
Speaker 2:Pop.
Speaker 1:ACDC. Yeah, yeah, and Red Bluff, you know Van Halen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'd be here in back in black playing, you know like, while we're about to watch a football game, not?
Speaker 1:Bruno Mars.
Speaker 2:Thunderstruck, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I think in Bruno Mars by the time I was in undergraduate college.
Speaker 1:He he was there, he was doing his thing, so they're tripping on the usual and you guys are tripping on, yeah, jazz just obsessed, obsessed with jazz.
Speaker 2:I like that's pretty cool it was, it was, it was fun, it was good, so, so anyways. But then, in humble, when devin moved here and he was like he moved here to go to grad school but could not abide not playing music and so went and tried to like tell the various restaurant owners here, like hey, I played at fancy, high-end restaurants in San Diego jazz music on the side. Here's my website, here's how I sound you did or Devin. Devin did.
Speaker 1:In the military.
Speaker 2:No, devin, when he moved here to Humboldt he tried.
Speaker 1:But he played in San Diego.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he did. He played in San Diego he moved here to Humboldt.
Speaker 1:He tried, but he played in San. Diego, yeah, he did he played in San Diego Because he was in the Marine Corps at Pendleton. Yes, for a while. Guess whose dad sold insurance on Camp Pendleton? Oh my gosh, look at this world. Bob Hammond, whoa. And one of my first girlfriends in Chula. Vista was Dawn Annis, A-N 16. Her daddy was 81.
Speaker 3:Oh Whoa.
Speaker 1:Real digression, but carry on.
Speaker 2:So yeah. So when Devin moved here to Humboldt to go to grad school, couldn't bear not to play, tried to like get restaurants. And they're like nope, we have our people, we have our musicians. There are musicians here and we already have them. And so then Devin was just like oh, what do I do? And one day my mom was visiting and hanging out in a gym and Zach's wordlings wife was in the gym and talking about how his band needed a sub pianist.
Speaker 2:Wow, and so then the mommies talked to each other, wives, zach, it was like a momager moment. And then, yeah, once Zach found Devin, the mom network, the moms the moms. So he, she introduced you guys to zach yeah, she introduced, uh, she got zach and devon meeting up, he like did a substitute keyboard thing for the ghost train at the time. And then, uh, nate was like no, this needs to be the main pianist.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And then he was. And so, yeah, anyways, a bunch of different musical projects came out of Devin, getting to know the Zwirling family, and Young and Lovely is honestly my favorite one of all of the.
Speaker 1:So there's several different bands that you've played still.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did Amber Soul, which was like that glam pop rockish kind of band and that did stuff for a couple of years and then Young and Lovely, and Amber Soul existed at the same time and then, once my brother had to move, amber Soul could not survive what Devin was doing of playing two different keyboards with four different patches. Like nobody wanted to sign up to do that crap.
Speaker 1:How do you do that?
Speaker 2:But there are plenty of folks who are accomplished in jazz here who could help carry Young and Lovely. So we're really thrilled that the musicians of Humble like stuck by our jazz band so we could Brianna and I could keep singing.
Speaker 1:Somebody said the hardest working band in town. You guys play a lot, quite a lot.
Speaker 2:Oh, quite a lot. That's good we do, we do play a lot.
Speaker 1:We're thrilled that people want us to have you played there. You know we haven't?
Speaker 2:I go there a lot to hear the Opera Alleycats play.
Speaker 3:When I have free time. Is Tim in that?
Speaker 2:Tim Randles is in that one on Tuesdays and Matt's on Fridays.
Speaker 1:Okay, what's Matt's last name?
Speaker 2:Matt Senno.
Speaker 3:Matt.
Speaker 2:Senno Heard about him. He's an angel.
Speaker 1:He's an angel, he is. There's some left. Yeah, matt Senno. Okay, he's a keyboardist too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he plays piano Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, shout out to Zach. Zach's like Bill Graham, you know, discovering bands. Who was the guy with the big beard that produced Johnny Cash at the end?
Speaker 2:Oh, famous producer Colonel, what's his name?
Speaker 1:Big beard Rick Rubin.
Speaker 2:Oh, rick Rubin. No, not Colonel, so Rick Rubin.
Speaker 1:Rick did like the whatch. You want to call it Beastie Boys.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Rick was bad at A Wow.
Speaker 2:Kind of like Zach. Kind of like Zach.
Speaker 1:But a different community. This is the Zach show, so we'll see how AI does with my transcript. Zach Zwerdling.
Speaker 2:Zach Zwerdling. Yeah, yeah, but no, truly, it's really. It truly is because Zach saw talent and wanted to nurture it and wanted to gather other folks around it that any Penner related music happened here at all. Because, yeah, devin was knocking on doors and just being like nope, nope, nope, nope.
Speaker 1:Weird huh, who you know. Yeah, that's cool. So he's yeah, he's promoter mentor yeah, that's cool. So he's yeah, he's a promoter mentor. Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2:He's a looker-outer for the musicians.
Speaker 1:A looker-outer. I think I get what that is. So a couple of stories from the band, a couple of memorable moments.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:During, before, during or after, like something crazy happened. How about a story? Okay, like you were in Old Town, it was Thursday, Friday Night Market and there's Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin, he was Looker Outer.
Speaker 2:Oh man, if only we had that. Well, you know, okay, it's not. It wasn't a young and lovely story, but there was for Harmonic Howl. Just recently we were playing at a protest. We were up top, we were singing Brianna's original song, which we only started writing original music were in Harmonical, singing to, like a bunch of protesters, Original the Isle, which you can find on Spotify and iTunes and YouTube anywhere. The Isle by Harmonical and walking by us was Sarah Bareilles, cool, just walking on by and I was like how freaking cool.
Speaker 1:That's cool. She was just in the area.
Speaker 2:She was in the area and she was among the people who were having their freedom of assembly, freedom of speech moment.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 2:There she was and I was like all I could do to not be like everybody, let her live her life, yep.
Speaker 3:Let no, no.
Speaker 2:Let her live her life. Yep, let her be cool Let her live Like like I get to do that when I'm not in my wig and I look very and I don't have makeup on, I look very different. Nobody stops me, Nobody thinks anything of me.
Speaker 1:I get to just live my life, also young and lovely. So I'm asking for Sarah Bareilles or Guy Fieri to be my number 100th guest.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh yes.
Speaker 1:I got an email to one already. Good.
Speaker 2:We'll see. We shall see. They're from Humble yeah.
Speaker 1:They're both 100% Humble.
Speaker 2:They are, they're 100%.
Speaker 1:Juice. Yeah, I mean, they would just be great.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I'm shocked that I got invited, since I'm like I've only been here for eight years. I've like, barely put barely put time in.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me. Hey, come on, you're now local. Hey, speaking of which, if you're just joining us, it's Al Penner, from the Young and Lovely and from Taking Care of Families. And it's time for the time of the show where we do the, the quiz. Oh, oh what but, wait oh my gosh a dick. Taylor craft chocolate black fig bar black fig oh, gotta love dick, do you want to do an improv on the black fig bar real quick while you hold it?
Speaker 1:and yeah, you can't have it yet because you've got to do the quiz. Okay, I'm gonna let you hold it. Okay, sing about it. Oh, could you do an improv like a? Yeah like a okay, adam and dustin, this is your, this is your whole sponsorship right now all right, deanna.
Speaker 2:When you're walking along and things are going wrong, know what you gotta do. Get some Dick Taylor.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Get some Dick Taylor in your hands, find a place to get to a band and sing some jazz and eat it in your hand. It's Dick Taylor.
Speaker 3:Dick Taylor Taylor Taylor. Dick Taylor Taylor Taylor.
Speaker 2:Nothing wrong. Sing a song and eat some Dick Taylor. There it is.
Speaker 1:Beautiful, gorgeous. First time you've ever heard that song.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's good, Nothing wrong. Sing a song. What the crap Al.
Speaker 1:With a bar in your hand and you're going downtown. I forgot how that went. We'll play it back.
Speaker 2:We'll play it back.
Speaker 1:So thank you, that's pretty good. 72% dark Ooh, 72, that's a good number. Yeah, so many come before you, like Bethany and Adam Dick.
Speaker 2:He's been on.
Speaker 1:Who should have brought. I think he brought it and I just didn't have. I wasn't that smart, he didn't have. I think he brought his mandolin and he could have just jammed. Oh, he could have jammed, but you know what? The day is early.
Speaker 1:The day is early, we're going to have a few more episodes before number 100. Yeah, so question number one Okay, elle, you get the day off. Unlimited resources. Do whatever the heck you want to do, whomever Mm-ver, day off, paid, day off, unlimited budget. What do you do in Humboldt? 9 am, 9 pm, go 9 am to 9 pm.
Speaker 2:Okay, first thing that I do because it feeds my soul the very most is to go to Sumeg State Park and go down to Agate Beach Agate Beach is my happy place to agate beach. Agate beach is my happy place, so I will sit there and look through the rocks for agates and listen to nat king cole's version of star dust. Um, so that's how I'll start my day. That's going to be what? At least an hour and a half easy, maybe two hours plus drive time. The coffee beans that they get from the Sebastopol place, the Flying Goat Is that what it is? Flying Goat, those beans I mean, I'm stuck man. Really, that's like all I can handle having now is and I've got an espresso machine at my house. Do you buy their beans?
Speaker 1:I buy those beans, do you buy them from them or do you buy them from Sebastopol?
Speaker 2:Well, no, I buy them from.
Speaker 1:Brio. What brand is it? Again Flying Goat?
Speaker 2:Flying Goat. They have a picture of a goat on their bag, which I'm sad about. They used to just have a brown paper bag and it looked kind of cute, but now there's art on it, which yay art, but it's a goat. So there it is.
Speaker 1:You ever had Phil's Coffee in the Bay Area? P-h-i-l-z.
Speaker 2:I've heard. I actually. No, actually I did just the other day. Tyson made me some coffee one morning and he said, hey, Blake went to San Francisco and he brought back some Phil's and I was like, oh, I like this coffee Was it okay. Yeah, it was good.
Speaker 1:Oh, the experience is cool. They only have like 20 stores and they there Outstanding. Hey, question number two Yep, you get to go on. Well did you finish? Question number one. So you went to Brio.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm already moving on here. Agate Beach Brio. I'd probably buy a book from somewhere in Eureka maybe Eureka Books I would get a book. And then I would probably eat dinner at the Venetian, because they have a chicken piccata and I'm a sucker for chicken piccata. Oh, so I would go there for that. They also have fun drinks. And then I would try to finish out the day, except I can't remember how late Jersey Scoops is open. Oh, good question, because their ice cream.
Speaker 1:It's killer.
Speaker 2:It's so good.
Speaker 1:Pretty good. Joni's a big fan.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:I had Thomas on a couple episodes ago. I saw him. Guess who got a spare pint of ice cream? You did, I'm talking about Nice, but he got a Dick Taylor bar. So what am I? Hey, he's did pretty well.
Speaker 2:There you go. Question number three Two.
Speaker 1:Where. Yeah, I was going to ask the trail question what do you love about your life right now?
Speaker 3:Ooh.
Speaker 2:Hmm, about my life right now. I love that I get to work hard at things that I feel good about, Like whether it's with my work or with music or with community organizing. I feel good about everything that I'm doing, and that's not how I've always felt in my life. You know you don't always get to feel happy about what you have going on.
Speaker 1:I love that answer. It's good, so it's not work.
Speaker 2:It's not really work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, find what you love, and you'll never have to work another day of your life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good one. Well, question number three Okay Ready.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:This is for all the marbles here. Oh, and you know that I make this crap up as I go. I do too. Okay, it's just Okay, scott, it's just. This is just transparent BS going down here. I'm going to ask you, I guess favorite restaurant, couple of restaurants you'd love to go to, unlimited budget.
Speaker 2:In Humboldt or outside of Humboldt?
Speaker 1:No in.
Speaker 2:Humboldt In Humboldt, oh man, I love, oh you know what the freaking fries. I've gone back to this place and they're not open and I want them so bad, the fries that are at the the Carter house. Yeah, yeah. So one time I was like they're so good. I was sitting like in their lobby of the of the inn and then in front of the fireplace.
Speaker 1:And big fan.
Speaker 2:And they like gave me a drink. And then they're like oh, by the way, you could order some food right now and the the Parmesan was so dag nap fresh on those fries and the consistency, it was like I felt like I was in San Francisco.
Speaker 1:Sweet. The Bolognese fries are killer. Oh, bolognese, bolognese fries are killer. Ugh Bolognese Bolognese.
Speaker 2:Bolognese.
Speaker 1:Bolognese. Bolognese.
Speaker 2:Sweet.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm. Repeat that for a while. Well, hey, listen, congratulations. Oh, and then I win, because you're a winner. Oh, winner, chocolate black fig. Do you know that these are the whole bar? Swear this. Oh, 240 calories for an entire bar. 240, yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean if you ate this in one sitting.
Speaker 1:It probably wouldn't feel good. No, but half of them. It's amazing. So I present you with your new Dick Taylor bar.
Speaker 3:Dick Taylor.
Speaker 1:Thank you, thank you, thank you. So your turn Call out all the band and all the stuff. Shoutouts when do you find, where do we find your music? How do we book you? How do we get autographs? Do you sell swag Photo ops? How do we connect with y'all and the bands?
Speaker 2:Yeah, with all my stuff. Okay, so Young and Lovely. You can find us by going to Facebook and searching Young and Lovely, or Instagram and searching Young and Lovely At Facebook. We really try to let you know through Facebook events when things are happening.
Speaker 2:We give you at least a few weeks notice of what's going to be going down. We have a lot going on in June and we have a lot generally going on in the summer. The weather is nice, there's outdoor things. So, yeah, we're going to be at Fieldbrook Winery this month. We're going to be at the Botanical Gardens this month. We're going to be at the Jersey Scoops Lolita Block Party this month.
Speaker 1:What is that? End of the month.
Speaker 2:That is, on the 21st. That's one more week away from the day that we're filming this Right June 21st.
Speaker 1:You know Thomas and Cody. Obviously yes, I do know.
Speaker 2:Thomas and Cody.
Speaker 1:Yeah Cool.
Speaker 2:They had us for the first year, they did it last year and they're bringing usems throughout the decades with a folksy twist.
Speaker 2:Name a song or two, oh my gosh, we're going to where we do a version of Jolene by Dolly Parton. We do a version of Falling by Alicia Keys we do. Britney Spears is toxic, we do, we do. Oh' Toxic, we do, we do. Oh, what's what's up? What's going? Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah. Great song. Just sitting down and relaxed and maybe sipping on a glass of wine and you want to have the most emotionally satisfying sing-along. Those songs are for you.
Speaker 1:Cool, love it, so we can find you on Facebook.
Speaker 2:You can find us on Instagram, that band Harmonic Howl Okay. And then I'm trying to think if there's any other projects that I have going on. Well, I'm also a part of Humboldt Musicians for Peace, which is now like a coalition of a bunch of different musicians who are wanting to provide community activist support, so that if you have something where you would like uplifting, empowering music, then you can get it.
Speaker 2:Call y'all. Call them, hit us up. There's an email address. I think probably just Google Humboldt Musicians for Peace Humboldtmusiciansforpeacegmailcom. No, that's what it is.
Speaker 1:There it is Easy. Last question Okay. What do you want to be remembered for? What are we saying at your celebration of life?
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, Okay, hmm, I think what I hope they say at my celebration of life is that Elle got us thinking about how we treat anyone we meet Nice, that's what I'd like, that's good. Maybe thinking a little differently than you thought before you met me about how you treat the people you meet.
Speaker 1:I love that and it rhymes good it does. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, enjoy that chocolate. It's really good. I love that and it rhymes good it does.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. Yeah, enjoy that chocolate, it's really good, I am so excited.
Speaker 2:I know, Now I'm going to have to have my sister come up with better Dick Taylor jingles, because, yeah, we need to improve.
Speaker 1:We'll see Next time you're back, okay, well, that concludes it for tonight. Folks, thanks for joining us. 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond. Hey, vote for us this month on the North Coast Journal Best of Humboldt. Vote In the bonus section. Vote often. You can do it daily. Like us, love us, tell us what you feel on all the socials and catch us on any podcast, youtube and on Access Humboldt. The cool guys down there at CR, yeah. And we'll be back next time. Scott Hammond 100% Humboldt, with my friend Al Penner signing off.
