Arts Devo

To the riff raff: We salute you! Arts DEVO loves that Chico is full of freaks who are really good at getting weird and having fun, and before I share a very Chico calendar of freakiness coming this weekend, I need to dip into the pool of wild fun that flooded the 1078 Gallery on a stormy Saturday night this past weekend. Things got really nuts and really fun when 24 local bands and all their friends showed up to party hard and show their roots at the freewheeling 1970s Punk Cover Night. Full disclosure: This columnist was the organizer of the event, but this isn’t about me. I bring it up for one reason: It needs to be put on record that, on a night overflowing with noteworthy performances, local garage-rockers Severance Package, with guest vocalist Tommy Ghiorso (of Criminal Wave), completely ruled with a thrilling version of AC/DC’s punk-spirited, riff-tastic classic, “Riff Raff.” It was a jolt of electrical energy that evoked the dangerously wild spirit of the song’s originators and got all the beautiful freaks moving: “I ain’t done nothin’ wrong/I’m just havin’ fun!”

And coming up for all you riff raff, in addition to the usual dive-bar, live-music, community-theater antics, there’s an impressive schedule of Chico-ness (plus another batch of storms) on tap this weekend:

• Thursday (tonight), March 10: Live soundtrack at the Pageant Theatre, with the eclectic bohemians of Austin, Texas, band The Invincible Czars playing “ein symphonie des gravens” alongside two showings of the 1922 silent vampire flick Nosferatu (6 and 8:30 p.m.).

• Friday, March 11: Reception for [notes from the field], a collection of new mixed-media drawings by one of Chico’s favorite freaks, Dragonboy—at Great Northern Coffee, 3:45-5:45 p.m.

• Saturday, March 12: Idea Fabrication Labs has invited all makers to showcase their technologies, art and crafts and share their skills at its annual Maker Showcase. Stop by between noon and 6 p.m. and see what Chico makes. And, that evening (starting at 6 p.m.), over at another lab—the Habitat Lab—it’s the Burnal Chiquinox, a “gathering of Burners and non-Burners” at the midway point between Burning Man events, with music by GravyBrain plus other avant garde performances.

• Sunday, March 13: What better way to enjoy gospel music than sitting by the river with a Bloody Mary in your hand? The Second Sunday Gospel Jam—hosted by Collin Wiley and Katie McConnell—welcomes all sinners to bring an instrument and join the gospel-music jam, from 3 to 6 p.m.

• Bonus: The kooky riff raff behind the That’s That public-access show—“where we talk about what’s going on with our friends and what’s going on in the North State”—debuted the program last Friday on the BCAC.tv public access station (channel 11). Hosted by director Jef Anderson and co-hosted by Jesse Shepherd, the first episode featured, among other things, a Martian weather forecast with the Weather Daddy (Elliot Maldonado); a discussion with Chico State philosophy professor Robert C. Jones on the existence of numbers; and Angie Taylor demonstrating how to make croissant-weiners, aka Pocket Dogs. The show will air Fridays at 8 p.m. and previous episodes are archived on the That’s That YouTube page; visit www.thatsthat.show for the link.