Arts DEVO

Beware the Ghost Deer And there Arts DEVO was, hanging with the bro-in-law, both of us puffing our chests out a bit after calculating that we’d coaxed 6.5 percent alcohol-by-volume from our ridiculously hoppy home-brewed IPA, when I was almost immediately knocked back down to Earth by a couple of Scottish punks. James Watt and Martin Dickie, founders of BrewDog brewery in Fraserburgh, Scotland, are the Scottish punks in question, and in the latest issue of Beer Advocate magazine I just read that the boundary-pushing brewers have created the strongest completely fermented (no distilling at all) beer in the world, the Ghost Deer. The blonde ale measures a brain-cell-annihilating 28 percent (ABV), but the real kicker is how the boys say the beer must be served: “There is only one Ghost Deer head and this beer will only ever be available on draft, served in a stemmed glass, direct from the mouth of the deer himself.”

Speaking of deer Have you seen the new sculpture in front of the Elk’s Lodge? The giant elk (provided by an anonymous donor) stands with its antlers held high in the parking lot, making for an impressive welcome to the grounds. I think it might actually be my new favorite local horn-themed sculpture, beating out Owen Gabbert’s “Fred and Ginger” sculptures (aka “the horns”) in Chico City Plaza.

Honey Badger is my dad The rest of this column is devoted to shout outs, and the first goes out to Papa DEVO. Dad had heart surgery this past week, and the DEVO clan gathered up in Redding to smother him with love and bear witness to pop’s tenacity as he went from operating table to sitting at home watching the 49ers game in four days. Like the much-vaunted Honey Badger, dad is one tough sonofagun, and wasn’t about to stay tied to his hospital bed, so of course my sisters and I have given him a new nickname for life.

I’m so glad you’re doing well. I love you, Honey Badger.

Hank! It’s official. CN&R News Editor Melissa Daugherty and her husband (local guitar hero) Matt are now a three-piece. Little Henry was born last week, and is happy and healthy at home with the family unit. A big congrats and good luck to the Daugherty family from everyone in the News & Review family.

Howard is a good egg I also need to give a retroactive shout-out to my office-mate and CN&R Calendar Editor Howard Hardee. He moved to Chico from Alaska for the job two months ago (and even brought his band, Some Kind of Sorcerer, down with him!) and even though I think he’s rad, I haven’t even so much as given him a catchy nickname. In the spirit of this CN&R poetry issue, I’ll just have to write Howard a poem … with some help. I typed “Howard is a good egg” (twice) into Chris Seidel’s Heretical Rhyme Generator (www.pangloss.com/seidel/Poem/) and here’s what came out:

Howard is a good egg
While I ride my friend Bessie, our USDA hog
stupid they’ve been covered with eggs
Till she, at last, emerged with juice-stained togs

Howard is a good egg
Much like a chunk of steak dissolves in Pepsi
stupid they’ve been covered with eggs
Reality is a staircase leading nowhere.