Arts Devo

I dream of tacos Arts DEVO has lived in Chico for 28 years, and one of the most memorable of my personal eras during that time was The Time of the Taco Truck in My Yard.

During the final year of my first stint at Chico State (1990-91), I lived in a big room in a big house off The Esplanade with four roommates. While there, I learned how to write songs on guitar, make some killer mix tapes and fail classes. One day, our super kind and chill landlord, Gary Nash (who also owned the property next door—a shuttered rib joint called Ribs City that he would eventually turn into Nash’s Restaurant), decided to rent the gravel lot that was our side “yard” to the El Grullense taco truck.

That’s right, every single day, inexpensive, amazing Mexican food was prepared steps away from my home. Needless to say, I ate tacos and/or burritos daily. The place even took checks. And, in an early example of my financial acumen, I would occasionally float a check as the month wound down and buy multiple burritos and tacos to stock up, praying for a favorable deposit that wouldn’t land until payday. Alas, those prayers went unanswered on more than one occasion, and my delicious stash came at a premium.

This just in OK, now that I’ve gotten tacos out of my system (or should I say, into my system—turns out I had “taco block” and couldn’t write about anything else until I ate some), I need to share a few big show announcements that came across my desk this week:

First, the folks at Chico Performances just gave me the scoop that they’ve added Buddy Guy to this season’s schedule. The Chicago blues trailblazer was here a couple of years ago, and will return to the Laxson Auditorium stage on March 20. More info will be online in early January, and general tickets will go on sale Jan. 11.

Next, JMax Productions just announced that the whirling, multinational, Gypsy-punk dervishes of Gogol Bordello are also coming back to Chico and will be tearing up the Senator Theatre stage on Feb. 24.

Last, the amazing Surfer Blood is bringing its reverbed-out version of noisy indie pop to Chico! The West Palm Beach, Fla., quartet will be here next month, Jan. 22, and playing with SF’s Terry Malts (featuring local man about rock, Jake Sprecher on guitar) at Duffy’s Tavern.

Curemas is coming Tune into KZFR 90.1 FM this Monday, Dec. 18, 7:30-10 p.m., for Curemas! Josh Indar, host of Eve of Destruction—that most excellent weekly plunge into the deep cuts of underground rock, punk and more—is shoring up the front lines of the “war on Xmas” with a new holiday tradition filled with nothing but the music of The Cure—like “you remember from December.”