Arts DEVO

Get in the Annie Bidwell spirit It’s time to pony up for your local nonprofits, Chico. The North Valley Community Foundation just opened its annual Annie B’s Community Drive, and for the next two months all monies donated to the participating local groups (everyone from the library to local arts groups to the Butte Humane Society) will be matched with a grant of 10-15 percent of the amount donated to each specific organization. Visit www.nvcf.org and do what you can.

Arts cut, the good kind Next Thursday, Aug. 9, at 9 a.m., Mayor Ann Schwab will preside over a ribbon-cutting for some new public art at the affordable-housing complex Parkside Terrace Apartments (2162 Hartford Ave.). The installation is actually made up of two separate pieces, by two local artists—a ceramic- and glass-tile mural by Janice Hoffman and a 12-foot stainless steel and prismatic-glass sculpture by Owen Gabbert.

Art school Chico State’s School of the Arts has published its programming for the 2012-13 academic year, and there is the usual embarrassment of art, music and theater riches on tap, thanks to the university’s students and faculty. I’m particularly interested in the theater department’s take on Arabian Nights (opening Nov. 6) and the New Music Symposium (Feb. 28-March 1) featuring visiting minimalist composer Paul Dresher, who will perform a program “for electric guitar, quadrachord and marimba lumina.”

Look for copies of the school’s Kaleidoscope publication—featuring the full School of the Arts and Chico Performances schedules—around town and check out the digital version online at www.schoolofthearts-csuchico.com (coming soon).

Shiny happy chunks of sharp metal in your face Much like the ancient city of its namesake, Salt Lake City’s Gaza has been invaded by many outside influences. However you define the different styles that might be at play—metalcore, grindcore, prog-metal, crust, sludge, thrash—the end result is something that just sounds really super pissed off. I have no idea what the lyrics are to “Not with All the Hope in the World” from the band’s just-released No Absolutes in Human Suffering, but it is some impressive heavy, bowel-wobbling noise and probably isn’t about not worrying or being happy. Maybe I’ll ask ’em about it when they come to Origami Lounge, Sunday, Aug. 5, to make loud with Eagle Twin, Amarok and Armed for Apocalypse.

Beware the Feistodon Speaking of really loud metal, you may have heard that Canadian singer/songwriter Feist (“1, 2, 3, 4, tell me that you love me more”) and prog-metal monsters Mastodon put out a split 7-inch to honor Record Store Day earlier this year. Well, this week the two tracks featuring the disparate artists covering songs by each other (Feist doing “Black Tongue” and Mastodon “A Commotion”) were finally made available digitally. To celebrate they’ve also just released a really cool interactive video of “A Commotion” that lets the viewer/listener slide a fader back and forth between Feist’s original and the Mastodon cover, blending the two as you see fit. Go to www.listentofeist.com or www.mastodonrocks.com and mix it up.

DJ Matticulit has left the county A quick shout out to my boy Matt Siracusa, the longtime CN&R photographer and Arts DEVO BFFF has taken his camera and turntable skillz (and m-f’n suaveness!) to S.F. to show The City how things are done. Good luck, my friend.