Arts Devo

Summer’s over, what did you make? Arts DEVO has made no secret of the fact that his favorite season is summer. More daylight, more free time, and more exploration—feeding the spirit and freeing the brain for creative endeavors. This year, looking back with fresh eyes, I’m humbly stoked at what was made of the 2016 session. Most notable for this column is the fact that some free-spirited dudes and I have been unabashedly sweating (a lot) over a batch of noisy pop tunes, recording and preparing to release them for public consumption in the coming months.

All that sweating (seriously, a ton—greasy man-sweating) makes me wonder about what other wood-shedding has been going on in our overheated little hellzone. What have you been cooking this summer? Send me your art so I can share it with Chico.

Psycho-biddy soirée The Royal Court of Chico’s ISCCD (Imperial Sovereign Court of the Czaristic Dynasty) is throwing a fundraising party at the Pageant Theatre this Saturday, Oct. 1, with a movie and a drag show. The movie is the wonderfully overdramatic 1962 psycho-thriller What Happened to Baby Jane?, and the drag show will take place during the intermission. Hosting the festivities will be a couple of familiar drag queens—Claudette DeVersailles and Sondra St. James—as the film’s notorious characters, Baby Jane (Bette Davis in the film) and Blanche (Joan Crawford), respectively. The Pageant activities kick off at 10 p.m., with a preparty around the corner at Ultra Beautician at 8 p.m.

Yeah, it’s still alive! If you ask this local arts-watcher, the 1078 Gallery is Chico’s most precious arts resource. For 35 years, the gallery has kept Chico from being lame by sticking to its mission of offering “exciting exhibitions of contemporary and experimental artworks in visual, musical, literary, film and performance mediums.” To celebrate its birthday, the 1078 is holding an exhibition titled 35 Alive, showcasing works by artists involved in the gallery’s entire history. It opens today, Sept. 29, and the reception—with live music by Cat Depot—is this Friday, Sept. 30, 5-7 p.m.

Food trucks and jockey boxes Chico Beer Week is a week away! (Visit www.chicobeerweek.net and see how the calendar of local beer-centric events is shaping up!). To kick off the week of craft-beer exploration, the Chico News & Review Foundation, along with Fork in the Road, is putting on Brewfork: A Craft Beer and Street Food Rally Thursday, Oct. 6, 5:30-8:30 p.m., at Patrick Ranch. There will be a dozen local food trucks on hand plus breweries from around California—Sierra Nevada, Knee Deep, Drake’s, Wildcard, Rubicon, Etna, Ballast Point, Lost Coast, Feather Falls Casino, Feather River and up-and-comer Secret Trail—pouring samples of their beer to raise money for the CN&R Foundation and its mission of supporting investigative journalism.

Go dté tú slán I’m long overdue in giving props to local Celtic band Ha’Penny Bridge for once again being on the bill of the KMVR Celtic Music Festival, which takes place Sept. 30-Oct. 2, just up the road at the Nevada City Fairgrounds in Grass Valley. This year marks the festival’s 20th anniversary, and joining Ha’Penny Bridge (playing multiple times over the weekend) will be the likes of Molly’s Revenge, Wake the Dead and many more. On Friday night, there will even be a “Royal Tournament,” featuring full-contact jousting, dancing horses, sword fights and hand-to-hand combat. Badass! More info at www.kvmrcelticfestival.org.