Arts DEVO

Hopelessly DEVOted I am out, Chico. I am filling my face with stinky cheese as you read this. I am walking all day with Mrs. DEVO on ancient streets and not having anyone expecting anything from me at any time. I leave you with a few DEVOtions this week … and a guest DEVO next week.

Au revoir.

• Bloomsday: It’s almost June 16, that notable day on which the Celtic Knights of the Sea men’s choir joins Ulysses fans from around the world to pay homage to the date on which Joyce’s character Leopold Bloom embarks upon his odyssey in the classic novel. Music, food, drink and a performance of “Molly’s Soliloquy” by Hilary Tellesen will come together at the Blue Room Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m. And if you’re feeling a little inadequate for not having read the challenging classic, just take 60 seconds or so and watch the Ulysses for Dummies animated crib notes at www.dannydries.com/Ullyses/ch-1ulys.html. You are welcome.

• You’ll miss him when he’s gone: Tino Marrufo is a stud. Excuse me, CAMMIE Award-winning drummer Tino Marrufo is a stud. Now, take that jazz-chop drum studness and add it to the stud-riffic-osity of trumpeter Rocky Winslow. That’s enough, right? You’d see that, like, right now, no matter where and when it was happening. What if you added Eric Peter on the seven-string guitar, a couple more horns in the form of saxophonist Greg D’Augelli and trombonist Juan Aguilar and the young stud-ette Kaytlin Hansen on upright bass? Without hesitation, you’re throwing 10 bucks, minimum, at that. What if, instead, you just showed up at Duffy’s Tavern on Sunday, June 14, forked over a mere $1, bought several drinks with the scratch you saved and sat gratefully enjoying some of the best Chico has to offer? Again, you are welcome.

• La fin d’oreilles: Maybe you’ve thought, as I have on occasion while watching them perform, that the members of Chico’s La Fin du Monde seem like musical scientists as they navigate the burly terrain of their elaborately constructed prog mazes with cold-blooded focus (there’s a quote for the press kit, guys … you’re welcome!). Turns out, there is some proper science in the ranks: Guitarist Chris Roberts and bassist Mike Crew have put sonic and electrical concepts into practice with their new custom speaker cabinet business, Monolith Cabs. Visit their site (myspace.com/monolithcabs) and read about things like birch wood and frequency response, and flip through the pics and see why their creations are dubbed Monolith. As the esteemed Sir Gene Simmons might once have said, “The size of one’s amp stack is directly proportional to the volume that speweth forth.”

• L’origine du monde: