It�s Still All About
Music For Eldin Green
by Wendy Butler
The Eureka Reporter

Eldin Green calls himself a �band geek,� who, at 49, is still playing in rock �n� roll bands.
He isn�t doing it for fame or, heaven forbid, to make a living.

"It�s not about the money; it�s about the music,� he said.

That�s why he and fellow Eureka musician Mike Craghead in 2000 created the Web site www.HumboldtMusic.com. The Web site provides Humboldt County musicians, at no cost, a place to list their recordings and have them heard.

Its free resources also include individual Web pages for musicians, a directory to synopsize themselves and their work and a calendar to inform the public about upcoming gigs.

Musicians can also download performance contracts, chord charts, CD templates and software and music business links.

The site only lists Humboldt County-related material.

�(Its purpose) is to promote local music,� Green said. �You�ll find musicians who simply sit in their bedrooms and write music � (and) lots of musicians who compose and they have no venue.�
HumboldtMusic.com is not a nonprofit, but the company doesn�t make any money, he said.

�It�s a labor of love,� Green said.

Green�s love of this performing art goes back to when he was 9 years old, performing in school bands in Anaheim. A jazz teacher introduced him to the tenor saxophone and he was classically trained on clarinet at Cal State Fullerton.

In 1966, someone gave him a guitar. This and keyboards find their way into the many of his recordings. And, there have been many recordings.

Green has shelves in his home-studio lined with and boxes full of his recordings that go back to his first recording � an album � in 1978. He has performed live and recorded with a number of Humboldt County-based ensembles, including the Mike Craghead Trio and most recently, Dr. Squid.

He is also an accomplished music producer and for his label Top Secret Records � also known as his house � he has prepared CDs for Craghead and Dr. Squid, as well as other local bands/musicians Spudgun, Dave Wilson and John K Lucas.

He recalled producing �True,� a recent release by Craghead and Sari Baker.

�We did it in my kitchen � and in my son�s bedroom,� Green said.

Dr. Squid � Green, Bob Martinez, Rich Bittaker and Jerry Thompson � has released one CD, for which Green wrote the music and lyrics. He�s working on the group�s next one.

He has been told and he agrees that he becomes the character he�s composing a song about. An example of that is one of the cuts on the new Dr. Squid album � �Come On, Jane.�

He said he first thought of the song while watching a TV newscaster. A man becomes obsessed with her, but, unfortunately, his behavior is anything but menacing.

Green said imagined he was the man.

�It is about an inept idiot stalker whose old girlfriend is the girl named �Jane,�� Green said. �He�s trying to find her all the time, but � he�s falling down all the time. � He falls off the fence.�

Music is something in which he engages every day. A respiratory therapist at St. Joseph Hospital, Green said music is a needed respite.

�It�s always changing,� he said. �It is kind of part of my identity.�