Arts DEVO

Out with the old words A picture of 2013 is worth 555 words from a year’s worth of Arts DEVO:

• The election is over. The End of Days passed us by. The Jersey Shore has been canceled. Post-2012 life is pretty sweet.

• That specific unrestrained, kinda noisy, uncomplicated, fun, universal chord that resonates with my natural frequency. (I call it J-major, the J chord, the Jason button …)

• This weekend kicks off Chico’s four-month-long puke-a-punch-a-papilloma-thon.

• Leave your knife at home. I get it. Your knife is super sweet! Now that we agree on that, leave it in the dartboard.

• How badass is it to have in our midst a news anchor who made a rap album called Gangsta Planz?!

• “I bought a knife from you last Friday night. Just wanted to say you seem like a pretty awesome kind of guy.”

• There is shit, and there is Shinola. As it was and ever shall be. I just try to keep my eyes on the flowers and keep my nose open and my shoes as clean as possible.

• Now, as much as I believe that sometimes a firm sock in the crotch can greatly reduce one’s dickishness, I don’t think getting physical with these particularly stiff members of the Protect Marriage lobby would do anything but bolster their cause. However, maybe if a judge or nine were willing to punch some D, we could start down the road of being a less dickish country.

• Like everyone else, I have my preferred styles of music, and not every genre moves me. But what is consistent from showcase to showcase, and from band to band, in Chico, is how much I enjoy the people making music of every style. I’ve always said that musicians are my favorite kind of people, and it’s in Chico where that notion was born and has been nurtured.

• Who’s going to update the Sniffle Scale?!

• Did you know cherries can be an extremely effective diuretic? I did. But that didn’t stop me from eating the fresh, sweet fruit for breakfast, lunch and dinner all day long …

• My journalism school was right here at this paper, and I learned how to write and edit and look at the world as a reporter from all the editors and writers I’ve shared my time with here.

• And there’s no better oil than the emulsified goodness running through deer brains, and lucky for the kids there was a skull full of such treasure lying at their feet. So Ranger Hannibal Lecter then invited the youngsters to dip their hands right in and …

• Just standing in the garden gets my happy juices flowing as much as running, or playing music, or drinking happy juice. Now, a day without getting my hands dirty is an incomplete day.

• Prohibiting live music in restaurants that serve alcohol? What’s the police chief been drinking? … Is there anyone other than book-burning preachers who actually believes this will have any result other than destroying art and business?

• Art runs deep in Chico, and we are all tapped into it.

• Keeping Chico weird is the guiding principle behind this column.

• And thank you … for instigating a conversation, making me think and keeping me honest.

• Of course, when I say “demon mask,” I mean a “snuggly hoodie” and maybe a sweater (I could catch my death out there!).

• Pack it all up and throw the tree on the pyre.