Arts Devo

This afternoon’s program: sound art Arts DEVO received a last-minute press release this week for a very intriguing event taking place, like, right now. Today (Oct.12), 4:30-5:30 p.m., in room 122, on the first floor of Ayres Hall on the Chico State campus, is a presentation of “Rainforest IV,” a sound-art installation created by students in David Dvorin and Sheri Simons’ sound art and intermediate sculpture classes. The piece is inspired by the “Rainforest” exhibits of experimental music pioneer David Tudor—a contemporary and collaborator of John Cage’s—and as the poster says, will involve “recordings played through suspended sculptures and found objects with their transmitted reflections through audio systems.” Join me in discovering what that all means.

More big words Thanks to a fundraising effort directed by community organizer Jessica Peck and facilitated by the Boys & Girls Clubs of the North Valley, Chico has a new mural. The huge rainbow-colored “Unity” mural went up a couple weeks ago on the Shubert’s side of the Boys & Girls Club downtown, and it was painted by Peck’s brother, Jed Speer, the same dude who did the “Love” mural on the Lulus.com building at Humboldt and Park avenues. It would seem the perfect message for the side of a building of an organization committed to enriching the lives of local youth. It’s the second in a planned trilogy of murals, the final one featuring the word “Peace,” scheduled to go up on the side of the Chico Peace & Justice Center in the summer of 2018. And, according to Speer, the “Peace” mural’s artist will be none other than world-famous street artist Shepard Fairey! For information on how to contribute to fundraising efforts for the new mural (or to suggest/offer surfaces for other community murals) contact Peck at (949) 939-3462.

Rad Max Gotta give a transatlantic shout out to local troubadour Max Minardi, who just flew over to the UK for a four-show tour through the southern part of the country, including a couple of gigs in London. Represent!

Pod bros With the start of a new season of Saturday Night Live comes the debut of a locally produced podcast devoted to the discussion of each week’s episode. The Bustcast Podcast, created and hosted by local musicians/brothers Nolan and Cameron Ford, is an hour-long program that is set to come out every Friday morning and will feature the Fords talking to a different comedian each week about the previous Saturday’s episode of SNL. So far they’ve had Ray Molina from Sacramento and Chicago’s Bill Gevirtz on the show, and currently they’re talking to New York comic Myq Kaplan.

The brothers bring complementary skills to the podcast, with Nolan’s work as music director and host at KCHO (North State Public Radio) and Cameron’s experience attending The Second City improv school in Chicago coming together for “Morning Rendition,” the NPR-style parody that opens each show. The sketches are silly and hilarious and kind of frightening, featuring such characters as future president Barron Trump taking a trip to Mars. Find episodes at soundcloud.com/thebustcast.

Waiting for this moment to arise The doors are open at 1431 Park Ave., and the badasses of the brand new Blackbird bookstore/gallery/cafe are ready to welcome you into their south Chico clubhouse. This week is a soft opening, but the day one scene on Monday was a lively mix of musicians, artists, community activists and scene-makers buzzing over cups of excellent coffee. Things kick off in earnest next week, when the shop goes full-time—Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.