Hiya, readers. I'm sorry to tell you I have come down with a silly summer cold — this, after a friend exclaimed last week, "You never get sick!" — and am writing to you through a raspy, snotty filter of no fun. But fun remains to be had, and I encourage you, as always, to seek it out.

Reggae Reggae Reggae

First, let's note that this weekend boasts the most important fundraiser of the year for the Mateel Community Center (and several other nonprofits who make a large portion of their yearly budgets from their food booths). Going Thursday through Sunday, the longest-running reggae/world music festival in the U.S. celebrates its 31st anniversary at French's Camp along the banks of the Eel River. Tickets were still available as of press time. See more in this week's calendar and visit www.reggaeontheriver.com for the entire line-up and all the information you require.

Thursday

Requiem for a dream (pop)

The Portland band Appendixes sounds like how I feel — minus the mucus. (There's a quote for the press kit.) Let me rephrase: The PDX-based Appendixes play music that stretches and folds like they're pulling taffy made from the saltwater of your tears in a candy shop built on the desires you've let slip away. Yep. Wear shoes you like because you'll be gazing upon them while you sway your way through the evening. This glimmering evening manifests at Richards' Goat, includes locals Float Forward and Venus Milk, starts at 10 p.m., will run you $5 and is 21-and-over.

Friday

What a piece of work is man Speaking of hallucinations, five-piece Insects Vs. Robots is described as a "psychotropicturesque quasi-nomadic music tribe roaming the jungles of Los Angeles." The band should be expected to employ violin, charango, guitar, drums, bass, voice, harp, banjo, kazoo, harmonium, Saran Wrap, sitar, megaphone and various other sonic utilities together, producing otherworldly, folksy and, at times, volcanic rock. Expect to dance. Eureka's highly pedigreed, blues-flavored (and well-organized) Cold Blue Water — fresh from Roll on the Mattole — joins. At the Jambalaya, doors at 9 p.m., music at 10 p.m., 21-and-over, and, yes, I too would like to know what the cover is, but alas, this info exists on not a single one of the several places I looked for it online. Perhaps you'll see a flyer. I'd pay at least $15. (Trivia note: IVR includes Micah Nelson, son of Willie, but the band doesn't seem to make a big deal about that fact.)

Saturday

If music be the food of love, play on

Speaking of blues-flavored, this weekend is the Blue Lake Blues Festival, the highlight of which is the Buddy Brown Blues Festival, an annual all-day acoustic and electric blues event at Perigot Park featuring some of Humboldt County's favorites: Secret Club, Buddy Reed and the Rip It Ups, Uptown Kings, Jim Lahman Band and Black Sage Runners. The fest kicks off at 11 a.m. Tickets are $8 in advance at The Works, People's and Wildberries, $10 at the door. Kids under 12 free. Proceeds benefit the Humboldt Folklife Society's folk music school.

Tuesday

In your mind's eye

This is a live music show you can enjoy in the comfort of your own home because it takes place on the radio. Move the furniture out of the way and tune into Los Ensemble Economique at KHSU 90.5 FM (or via www.khsu.org/listen_live) at 10 p.m. for The Rubs, a punk/power pop/garage band out of Chicago — indeed, The Rubs are a veritable "who's who" of the Chicago garage rock scene. Totally free! All ages! (Pro tip for the grown-ups who have to work in the morning: Brush and floss before you start rocking out so you can switch from moshing around your living room to flopping on your bed without pause.)

The earth has music for those who listen

Lacking my own synapses firing, I've borrowed a bit from minds who've outlasted time thus far. Thank you to William Shakespeare, Hubert Selby Jr., Hans Christian Andersen and George Santayana. (English majors and other lit freaks, please feel free to play find-and-match-the-quotes. I'll be over here drinking tea, thinking of a prize for the winners.)

Etc.

Full show listings in the Journal's Music and More grid, the Eight Days a Week calendar and online. Bands and promoters, send your gig info, preferably with a high-res photo or two, to [email protected].