Arts DEVO

Arts DEVO’s big four In this column, I love talking about local arts (and about myself), but more often than not, what I’m actually thinking about is one of four things: basketball, new music, David Lynch and my dog. And, as faithful readers already know, sometimes those subjects push their way into this space. This is one of those times.

Basketball Since 1985, when the team moved to Nor Cal from Kansas City, Mo., the Sacramento Kings have been the closest Chico would ever get to having its own major pro-sports team. And so, it comes as a great relief that the team for which I root is staying in Sacramento. There are new owners, and a new coach—and a new downtown arena is in the works as well. And, by some miracle the pure-shooting, über-atheletic Ben McLemore fell into the team’s lap as the No. 7 pick of the recent NBA draft! With a shooting stroke that’s been compared to Ray Allen’s (McLemore’s scoring efficiency during one year at Kansas rivaled even current Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry’s freshman year at Davidson) and the skills and athletic ability to be an elite NBA defender, McLemore has the potential to become not only the best player from this year’s draft class, but also a perennial all-star and cornerstone of the team.

It looks like the new Kings owners think so as well, since they made room for McLemore by sending their current starting shooting guard (and former Rookie of Year) Tyreke Evans to the New Orleans Pelicans for point guard Greivis Vásquez. I love Evans, but I have no problem trading out one talented scorer for another younger one and getting a pass-first point guard (whose first name is Greivis!) as well.

These are special times, my friends. It’s good to be a Kings fan.

New music Thank you (thank you, thank you!) to local mustachioed keyboardist and appreciator of righteous dance-beats Kirt Lind for his pro summer-jam tip: “Is This How You Feel?” by New Zealand’s The Preatures. Slide over to the stereo and turn up this sneaky groove and watch the party start to move.

David Lynch The Big Dream, my favorite filmmaker’s second solo album, is not so sneaky. But it does have its own kind of grooviness—swampy, dark, scary, repetitive grooviness. With Lynch singing/speaking surreal disembodied blues (and playing some guitar) over the top, the overall effect is a fairly uncomfortable and somewhat grating moodiness that is, of course, awesome. The album comes out July 16, and is streaming for free online at Pitchfork.

Puppy dogs There she is, probably anxiously anticipating my arrival as I write this. I better go. “I’m a-comin’, Honey!”

DEVOtions

Old hats, new bands: Two new local crews featuring familiar faces spanning the history of Chico’s music scene will be hitting the stage together this Saturday, July 13, at the DownLo. First, former Asskickers dudes (and members of dozens of other bands before and after) Bob Howard, Scott Pressman and Steve Bragg join up with bassist Alex Kokkinakis (Disorderly Events) in The Vesuvians (which Howard described as “a mix of rock and indie, with elements of Americana”), followed by Kerra Jessen and Johnny Meehan (aka Kerra and Johnny Shanker) and drummer Jake Sprecher (The Yule Logs) showing off their new trio, The Persian Skirts. Heather Michelle opens.