Arts Devo

I’m not the clone, he’s the clone Hi … Arts DEVO actually got another friend request from you yesterday … which I did not ignore. I have accepted a couple dozen friend requests from you and almost everyone else I know on Facebook. I now have thousands of friends! You should do the same. Hold your cursor over the “accept” button and press it! PLEASE DO ACCEPT A NEW ONE FROM ME EVERY TIME YOU GET ONE … WE ARE ALL D-E-V-O!!!

Rock with a side of dirty sauce Woo hoo! A new all-ages music venue has popped up in Chico. Over in the student-heavy south campus ’hood, right in the middle of it all at Five and I, Ike’s Place sandwich shop has started hosting occasional shows. Last weekend, Oakland emo-ish pop-punkers (with the perfect name) Pity Party were joined by locals Sunny Acres and Helicopter Kids for a lively Sunday night gig, which was followed by what I’ve heard was a roof-raising tour kick-off party for PERVERT the following night. Ike’s manager and booker Ben Schlotthauer is an alum of Chico State’s SOTA Productions program and he says he has a handful of shows in the works for the fall/winter (bands can message him at facebook.com/IkesChico about playing). Next up: an amazing three-band bill featuring super-rad punky indie rock from San Jose’s awakebutstillinbed plus locals Thin Air (solo experimental chillness) and Helicopter Kids (punk trio), Thursday, Oct. 18.

Art walk warm-up The annual countywide Open Studios Tour hosted by Chico Art Center kicks off the weekend of Oct. 20-21 (and continues Oct. 27-28), but if you’d like to tour some art, like, today (Oct. 11), cruise down to Chico State for the fall semester Open Studios: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. for the BFA studios in Ayres Hall; noon-2 p.m. for the MFA studios and Interior Architecture students in the Arts & Humanities Building; and 1-4 p.m. for the BFA studios in that same building.

Art grant deadline Yo, local artists. Thanks to the recent reinstatement of designating 1 percent of the city’s transient occupancy tax for local arts, the Chico Arts Commission is now accepting applications from artists and arts organizations for the City of Chico Arts Grant Program. The deadline is tight, however. You have until Monday (Oct. 15), at 4 p.m., to visit nvcf.org/city-of-chico-arts-grant-program and apply for a share of the approximately $27,000 available for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

Support local filmmakers I recieved an email from Sue Hilderbrand, producer/director for the nearly complete documentary American Totem, this week letting me know that her film is in the running for distribution support from Duplass Brother Productions via something called the Hometown Heroes initiative. To qualify for the next phase in the competition, Hildebrand says that her film about gun violence in America needs to get 1,000 supporters and raise $25,000 in donations. Visit seedandspark.com/fund/americantotem to help.

Chico playlist, part three Dang! I thought I’d wrapped up my local music roundup last week, but it turns out there was an amazing release that just slipped past my radar. Longstanding local punk-rock power-trio Severance Package just dropped the download/streaming version of its long-awaited new album, Pariah Days, and it is a fierce and fun slice of catchy, riff-tastic, fist-pumping punk rawk. “Scissors Gonna Cut Ya” is the hit single, but my current jam is “Fear Farina,” a modern American anthem for the pissed-off, frozen-with-fear masses. CDs and other merch is on the way, but you can download the tunes today: severancepackage.org/album/pariah-days