Arts Devo

DEVOtions: art-season overflow October in Chico is for art and fun, and this year the art- and fun-makers have again created more than our calendars can hold. Arts DEVO’s running list of local shenanigans and arts gossip is bursting as well. Let it flow:

• Make a mural: The Butte Environmental Council is throwing a painting party this Saturday, Oct. 5, 3-6 p.m., where the public is invited to join local illustrator/painter/muralist Wyatt Hersey in creating a work that “reflects the beauty and resilience of this place we call home.” The BEC Mural Event (at 313 Walnut St., Ste. 140) also will feature live music from Thin Air and the new October Coalition (with members of This Band Is Your Band and WRVNG), plus Gnarly Deli sandwiches and kombucha from Chico Natty.

• Opening weekend: The theater season goes into overdrive in October, with the Blue Room Theatre, California Regional Theatre and the new Legacy Stage each opening a new show this weekend. See This Week, pages 22-24, for details.

• We all shine on: Those musical merrymakers of the Living Karaoke Band are at it again, this time taking on the catalog of John Lennon. In celebration of what would’ve been the songwriter’s 79th birthday, the crew of local ringers will back more than 20 singers for a greatest-hits concert benefiting Chico Housing Action Team, Saturday, Oct. 5, 7-10 p.m., at First Christian Church (295 E. Washington Ave.).

• … three banana four: Local live-music documentarian Bill DeBlonk just sent word that the fourth season of his Banana Grape Stomp is already underway on our local PBS affiliate, KIXE. Tune in Saturdays at 10 p.m. and catch his locally sourced concerts. Next up (Oct. 5): singer/songwriter Hannah Jane Kile filmed at Laxson Auditorium, Chico Women’s Club and the KZFR studios.

• Remember Botchii?! Chico ex-pat and one-time local extreme-noise-maker Tom “Botchii” Skowronski is now a filmmaker, and in addition to creating music videos for Chico bands like Surrogate and Teeph, he recently finished his first feature-length project. Skowronski wrote and directed the blood-soaked Artik—about a comics-obsessed serial killer—which has gotten a lot of notice at film festivals. Artik was just released on DVD and can be found at the usual online outlets (Amazon, iTunes, etc.).

• Book art: The Bookstore in downtown Chico is inviting all creative types to come into the shop (118 Main St.) and pick up a book “for alteration” to submit to its open-entry book-art show (reception Nov. 15). All artworks are due back at The Bookstore by no later than Nov. 13, at 5 p.m.

• Soft sculptures: A new exhibit by Sacramento artist Linda Gelfman has quietly opened at the Butte College Art Gallery (in the ARTS Building on the main campus). Cognitive Dissonance II – Be the Change is a colorful display of characters and wall-hangings made from upcycled thrift-store sweaters, socks and other clothes. Closing reception: Oct. 24, 4-6 p.m.