Arts Devo

‘AXIS BONA VITA’ Last weekend, a life-changing discovery was made at DEVO H.Q.: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is a 1.1-mile walk from our front door. Arts and Mrs. DEVO have lived in our current home for more than three years and we just connected those dots on our neighborhood map! So, on Saturday, we set out for a short, sunny afternoon walk and made our way to the Mothership in the same amount of time it would’ve taken for our usual weekend jaunt downtown.

The walk provided a refreshing change of scenery as we haphazardly wound our way through Chapmantown, greeting many tiny dogs in the middle of streets and happening upon some really cool art along the way—like the mysterious “Treeface” in one random yard, and a groovy brick-and-recycled-bottle wall (decorated with fun handmade ceramic tiles) built by local artists Carob Bradlyn and Justin Cooper around the hugest cactus I’ve seen in Chico in one corner of their arty compound.

I always feel kind of spoiled in Chico, with this warm community of friends and freaks and all the richness of life it provides, but this Sierra Nevada realization has brought home how just about everything I could want—downtown, the brewery, Bidwell Park, theater, Chico State, tacos, live music, alternative newsmedia—is within a 1-mile radius of my axis bona vita. Thank you, Chico.

And, since it was just as gloriously spring-like on Monday, I ventured into the western quadrant of my sphere for a cup of Jon & Bon’s fro-yo (vanilla with peanut-butter granola topping) and an impromptu Chico State artwalk. Highlights included the sugar-glass rhino sculptures in the Art Department’s B-So Space by MFA candidate Travis Wood; San Francisco painter Kara Maria’s multistyle collages at the University Art Gallery and the recently installed “Facewall” sculpture on the Second Street side of the new Taylor Hall building—featuring nearly 1,000 metal faces modeled after university employees and Chico community members. Visit www.facewall.me to see who made the wall.

Listen, it’s The Pageant! The Pageant Theatre is killing it over the next couple of weeks, bringing some incredible live music to play along with some intriguing special features. First, for the Saturday, Feb. 27, showing of what’s billed as “the maddest story ever told,” the 1968 horror/black comedy Spider Baby, local faves The She Things will kick off the Late Show party with a set of throwback garage rock while the audience throws back some cold beers. Music at 10 p.m.; film at 11. Two weeks later, it’s the nearly 100-year-old German silent film Nosferatu (1922), the first-ever vampire film, with an original soundtrack that will be performed live by Austin, Texas, band the Invincible Czars. Advance tickets ($10) are available (at the box office and at Melody Records) for the two showings on March 10, at 6 and 8:30 p.m.