Arts DEVO

Overflow of DEVOtion …

• Cold blue water: Local heavy-makers Cold Blue Mountain invited an impressive posse of local rocker chicks to jump in the pool for a backyard Chico/Beverly Hellbillies-style summertime party video in anticipation of their forthcoming new LP, Old Blood (out Oct. 7 on Halo of Flies Records—stream it now at cvltnation.com). Watch “The Strongest Will” at www.coldbluemountain.com … And! Not to be outdone, local outlaw rockers Northern Traditionz have put out their own slick new video featuring a literal truckload of local ladies in bikinis splashing along to their super-catchy new song “Truck Driver.” Check out www.reverbnation.com/northerntraditionz for a link to the video.

• A long, hot, dry, dirty, fuzzy, freaky summer: I like everything about local freak folker Bran Crown—smiling Don Parrish and his cut-off shorts and fuzzy face squawking about girls with blue hair and thinking about eating his own flesh on a desert island. Find his brand-new album, Summer Weaks (13 songs written and recorded this summer) at brancrown.bandcamp.com and start with “Painting Trees Won’t Help” or “Pale Blue Hair.”

• Go see Kyle: Chico, one of your favorite local singer-songwriters needs your help. Kyle Williams has entered the annul Guitar Center Singer Songwriter contest and in order to make it into the top 100 for a chance to be looked at by the contest judges, he needs his fans to follow and share his videos on the contest site. That includes the one for his sweet new song “It’s OK”. Go now! http://songwriter.amplifiertv.com/channel/ilovekylewilliams+

• Recommended listening: Two bands Arts DEVO saw live in the last week that are now taking turns riding the turntable that spins inside my iPhone (that’s how that works, right?): Still Flyin’, Sean Rawl’s come-one-come-all S.F. party band (“The Hott Chord Is Struck” is your new good-time jam), and Australian jangle-masters Dick Diver. Both crews are making a giddy mess all over your Bandcamps, Facebooks and YouTubes.

• Bang a gong: If a couple of guys eating Twinkies from a table on which a grown woman stands blindfolded doesn’t move you, then you might want to steer clear of Duffy’s Tavern on Saturday. The Gong Show talent competition (Sat., Sept. 27, 9 p.m.) is just one of many classics coming out of the woodwork for the downtown watering hole’s 25th anniversary celebrations. See Nightlife, pages 40-41, for more info.

• Heart helping: Tonight, from 6-8 p.m., a bunch of local musicians are hitting the stage out at Shenanigan’s Bar & Grill to help raise money for the medical costs for Jocko Giannecchini, a local man battling a heart condition and hoping to get on a transplant list. It’s $20 for appetizers and live music by Chuck Epperson, Aaron Pico, Lynn & Amy Brown, Dorrie Keefe & Chris Schadt and many more. Call 520-0308 for more info.