Arts Devo

Live at The Box “Our Man Burger consists of a half-pound polish dog, one pound of beef, eight slices of cheese, a jalapeño and 14 slices of bacon served on a 14-inch bun and topped with all the fixings and a side of fries.” Holy moly. When the Tackle Box goes big, it goes biggest. Not only does the south Chico bar and grill cap off its burger menu with that beast (for $25), longtime booker Shaina Paulsen has put together a winter/spring live-music calendar that is just as huge—an impressively eclectic roster of visiting big-ticket rap, reggae, punk, rock and country acts. Starting with red-eyed rapper Afroman this Saturday (Jan. 25), a sampling of what’s coming to town over the next three months includes Black Uruhu (Feb. 3), Nappy Roots (Feb. 8), Brother Ali (Feb. 19, in conjunction with JMax Productions), Colt Ford (Feb. 21), Jason Boland & The Stragglers (March 20) and skate-punk pioneers Agent Orange (April 29, also with JMax). Dang!

New year, new noise In addition to The Empty Gate’s excellent Grand Mal hyped in these pages last week (hear/buy it at emptygate.bandcamp.com), there are a couple more new local releases that have dropped this month.

Newish punk quartet Shadow Figures released its debut EP, Tony Morale, on drummer Josh Indar’s Shut Up Records (shutuprecords.bandcamp.com/music). Hot track: the bouncy, melodic and snotty “Shallow Graves.”

And young psych-metal band Kratom will celebrate its new album, Zykodelyk, with a release party this Saturday (Jan. 25) at the Naked Lounge.

A year on the trails Mr. and Mrs. DEVO have made a pact to spend as much time on the trails in 2020 as possible. To that end, Santa left a copy of Sierra Club’s Hiking Butte County under the tree ($11.95 at Mountain Sports), and in addition to adventures farther afield, we are going to earnestly try and hit most of the “35 great hikes in and around Butte County” by next holiday season. So far, we’ve ticked off a couple of our regular Bidwell Park paths, as well as Gray Lodge Wildlife Area in Gridley. (Go now and see the tens of thousands of snow geese before they move on!)

A good complement to a few of the trails in Hiking Butte County is the new The Trees of Bidwell Park, by Roger Lederer and Carol Burr. The two retired Chico State professors (of biological sciences and English, respectively) have crafted a lovely guide to the park’s Gymnosperms and Angiosperms—with drawings of whole trees as well as individual leaves, flowers and seeds to help identify them. Available for $19.95 from Stansbury Publishing at heidelberggraphics.com, as well as local bookstores and amazon.com.