Arts Devo

Put up yer dukes I’m on the Zoloft to keep from killin’ y’all—Mike Tyson

That’s right, Arts DEVO is a boxing fan. Well, my dad is a boxing fan, and as an impressionable little spud who would hang with him during television broadcasts of championship fights, I grew up on the sport. It’s weird to think about now as an adult who has never thrown a punch and who is not into any of the violent sports—boxing, MMA, football, hockey, etc. But the spark is still there. If I hear about a big match coming up, I’ll seek out the results and sometimes even follow up by searching YouTube for highlights (which will often send me down the digital rabbit hole of big moments in violence—from the top 10 Tyson knockouts to Kimbo Slice sending Big Mac to the dirty pavement in a street fight).

Boxing was one of our main areas of father-son connection, and growing up I became invested in the various narratives—especially of Dad’s heroes Muhammad Ali (he filled me in on his legend and his nonpareil trash talk as we witnessed him stumble at the end of his career) and Sugar Ray Leonard, whose redemption versus Roberto Durán was glorious in the famous “no mas” fight.

By the time Tyson came along, basketball, girls and rock ’n’ roll had taken over and I wasn’t sharing the couch as much. I do remember Dad being in awe of Tyson’s fearsome presence and terrifying power, but regretfully, we never watched him together. Of all the sport’s characters, it’s actually the troubled Tyson who remains the most intriguing to me (the 2008 documentary Tyson is brutal and amazing). And, it was seeing some random fliers of Iron Mike hanging on a couple of trees on Pine Street last week that sent me down Nostalgia Lane.

Trail blazed It was only a matter of time before the business owners in the growing booze district in south Chico took advantage of their close proximity and organized an event together. This weekend (Saturday, Aug. 11), four of the neighbors in the Park Avenue/Meyers Street warehouse district—The Commons, Secret Trail Brewing Co., Lassen Traditional Cidery and the new Cellar Door Cider—plus street-food vendors Gnarly Deli and Fusion Smokehouse are taking part in the Chico Beer Trail. It’s a walkable bar crawl and, according to Commons PR intern Allison Jones, a $20 ticket gets you free drink tastings and $2 off food and drink specials along the way. Find “Chico Beer Trail” on Facebook and buy advance tickets at thechicobeertrail.ticketleap.com.

More beer adventures Hey, remember how we like beer at the Chico News & Review? We do! And we are excited to once again present Chico Beer Week. This year, to avoid the crush of October’s many events—including Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.’s amazing Single, Fresh, Wet and Wild Hop Harvest Festival on Oct. 20 (tix on sale starting Aug. 23)—beer week has been moved forward a few weeks to Sept. 13-22. Keep an eye on chicobeerweek.net for updates and event listings and if you are a beer purveyor, be sure to submit your events for the beer-week calendar to chicobeerweek@gmail.com.