Arts DEVO

Hardcore time machine Imagine how hectic Chico would have been if during the early ’80s hardcore heyday, both horror-hardcore pioneers The Misfits and the original hardcore band 7 Seconds had been playing in town during the same week?

While it might not have the same oomph some three decades later, founders of those two bands will be performing in Chico within a day of one another this week: Wednesday, Nov. 17, Misfits (and Samhain) founder/vocalist Glen Danzig visits the Senator Theatre with his band Danzig in support of their latest disc, Deth Red Sabaoth, and the next night (Thursday, Nov. 18) at Café Flo, 7 Seconds frontman Kevin Seconds performs a solo acoustic set.

Even though I was the right age, I never much went in for hardcore punk back in the day. I knew a ton of people who did, and just as they welcomed the wedge-head in the sleeveless INXS shirt, I was cool hanging with the dudes doing kick-flips and listening to The Meatmen after school.

We built this city Got a random e-mail on Monday that turned out to be one of the arts highlights of the year for me. Under the subject line “Art you may have wanted, but didn’t know it” came three glorious JPEGs from what artist Aaron Belcher calls his Gone Awry series. In the style of the screen prints of Michael Schwab, and reminiscent of the popular (and similarly indebted) iconic Chico prints by local artists Jake Early and Ayejay Morano, his pieces are not discriminatory in their representation of what makes Chico, well, Chico (the “Halloween” print is now available at Art, Etc. for $45). For lack of an artist’s statement, I swiped a paragraph from Belcher’s e-mail:

I do not work as an artist. This is not due to lack of desire, ideas or any restraining orders preventing me from doing so, but more because I’ve spent my life working in jobs that seem to carry me further and further away from doing anything creative. These posters (I currently have about seven in various stages of finish) were initially conceived and roughly executed in Dylan [Tellesen’s] Illustration class at Butte College, and I’ve recently been working with my wife, who is pretty much a genius at production design and finish, to get these to where I’ve envisioned them in all their incendiary glory.

DEVOtions

It’s getting’ pretty arty out there. Many new intriguing shows up now:

• 1078 Gallery: Brad Thiele’s culminating MFA exhibit will be a work in progress (using the medium of words) from its opening Nov. 15 through the closing reception Dec. 1, 5-7 p.m.

• University Art Gallery: Adopt one of Trevor Lalaguna’s baby elves at his Masters exhibit Nov. 15-19. Artist talk Nov. 18, 5-7 p.m.

• The Turner: After Ukiyo-e: Modern Japanese Prints, a collection of Japanese wood-block prints shows through Dec. 4. Curator’s talk Nov. 18, 5:30 p.m.