Arts DEVO
Save me, art scene!
Arts DEVO is a slave to the internet right now. I’m just trying to stay connected to people as I shelter in place, but with that comes being connected to all the anti-science, anti-mask, anti-human-decency […]
Arts & Culture
Arts & Culture
Streaming cinema
Even before the shelter-in-place shutdown, I hadn’t been inside a movie theater much at all in 2020. Part of the reason for that was simply that I was seeing quite a lot of really good […]
Arts DEVO
The musical eccentrics among us
Did you know the “Last of the Vaudeville Cowboys” lives right here in Butte County? How ’bout the banjo player/historian known as the Banjo-Ologist? Or one of the founding members of 1960s/70s weirdo-rock crew Charleston […]
Arts & Culture
Band practice blues
I broke quarantine for band practice. And so did my bandmates. (Sorry, fellas. I ratted you out.) I don’t regret it. Before getting together, we charted our connections for any sketchy contacts, an ad hoc […]
Arts DEVO
One new album; one new video
It has been eight years since longtime Chico singer/songwriter Fera (aka Mike Strishak) has put out a proper album of new material. This month, as a gift to sheltering-in-place music fans hungry for tunes, he […]
Arts & Culture
Virtual campus
Last week, Chico State President Gayle Hutchinson announced that, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the university will hold a virtual graduation commencement ceremony (May 15) instead of an on-campus event. It’s the final nail […]
Arts DEVO
The show MUST go on again
“Lincoln Center at Home.” Ugh, no thanks. I mean, unless you’re a Saudi prince or a member of the royal family, going to your living room to enjoy the opera or symphony is like hanging […]
Arts & Culture
Go to your window
In Fairbanks, Alaska, there are moose in someone’s driveway licking salt in the snow. A sleepy dog is splayed out on a patio as the sun sets in Australia. Looking down from a high-rise apartment, […]
Arts & Culture
Walk the talk
“Creativity is a survival strategy.” That line is part of a quote by art critic Jerry Saltz that opens the most recent Art Talk newsletter put out by longtime local arts activist, teacher and painter […]
Arts & Culture
Disco party in your living room
What do you miss most as you wait out the coronavirus? If the answer is dancing, then Chico disco-pop duo Astronaut Ice Cream has solved one of your problems. Guitarist Kirt Lind and singer/beat-maker Heather […]
Arts & Culture
Arts DEVO
Poetry-in-place
Read aloud the poem below, yelling the word “Corndog!” every time it appears: CORNDOG!Corndog!amber brownCorndog!perfect coreCorndog!what are we eating?Corndog!what are we rooting for?Corndog!got a bad taste in your mouth?Corndog!you know what will get it outCorndog!down […]
COVID-19
New music today (whichever day this is)
Chico’s shelter-in-place soundtrack has some new tracks this week: Longtime Chico music dude Cameron Ford splits his musical time these days between his solo pop-rock works and his chill Yoga Beats releases. For his latest, […]
COVID-19
Rally ’round small businesses
The economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus response has been devastating for small-business owners and employees in Chico, as well as the rest of the country. In the last two weeks of March, roughly 10 […]
Arts & Culture
Virtual icons
Altogether, Chico Art Center (65), The Bookstore (44) and Pageant Theatre (40) have been around for a total of 149 years. While the future remains uncertain for all businesses and nonprofit groups, these three local […]