Arts DEVO

It begins School is back and so are all the groovy jams, metalcore and DJ dance parties that will fill up local stages and calendars from now through the end of spring. That’s all there and everyone knows where to find it. But, if you’re like me, and you want a little more variety and to tickle more than two brain cells at once over the next few months, here are several unique, Arts DEVO-approved options for fairly Jäger-free ways to be stimulated in Chico.

• Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m.: EEliterate Friends of The Bookstore, at Blue Room Theatre. Another benefit for The Bookstore, this one a theater-and-music variety show that includes Martin Chavira’s original Glorious Tales of Olde Chico: Chapter 8: Attack on Bidwell Mansion, among other shorts and songs.

• Jan. 31, 8 p.m.: San Diego’s Sleep Lady swings a wrecking ball of beautiful noise into Café Coda. West by Swan and The Pageant Dads open.

• Feb. 2, 8 p.m.: Mark Growden, Mandalyn May and Jonathan Huffman at MÁNÁS Art Space.

• Feb. 6-March 13, noon: Lunchtime Sci-Fi flicks series. As part of its Infinity and Beyond: Humanity’s Quest to Explore Space exhibit, Chico State’s Museum of Anthropology is hosting free showings of vintage sci-fi films (bring a sack lunch—refreshments provided). First up: Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (Feb. 6).

•Feb. 10-13, 7:30 p.m.: The Last Man on Earth, at Lost on Main. Four showings of Craig Blamer’s (loose) stage adaptation of the Vincent Price film.

• Feb. 16., 7 p.m.: The Love Seat Diaries, at 1078 Gallery. Local experimental goofballs The Pageant Dads wrote and will perform this interactive comedy-musical about four fathers of beauty-pageant daughters, trying to help one of their own find true love for Valentine’s Day.

• March 1, 7:30 p.m.: Composer Paul Dresher at Rowland-Taylor Recital Hall. As part of the Chico State Music Department’s annul New Music Symposium, Dresher will come to town with his frequent collaborator, Joel Davel, and his invented instruments (including his 16-feet-long, four-stringed Quadrachord) for a multi-genre, experimental performance.

• March 6-12: 12 Ophelias at Chico State’s Wismer Theatre. Shakespeare’s Ophelia lands in Appalachia with Rude Boy Hamlet and brothel-owner Gertrude for a surreal summer of sex and song.

• March 14, 7:30 p.m.: Remembering Doc Watson at the Sierra Nevada Big Room. The music of the recently departed folk legend is celebrated by two of his longtime sidemen—David Holt and T. Michael Coleman—and American acoustic-guitar wiz Bryan Sutton.

• March 28, 8 p.m.: Choices: Glitter Wizard at Monstros Pizza or Hive Dwellers (featuring Calvin Johnson) at Café Coda.

• April 4-14: Lord of the Flies, at the Blue Room.

All your fantasies will come true Just a quick reminder to all my sexy readers that this column will be transformed for the Valentine’s Day issue (Feb. 14) into Arts DEVO’s Groovy, Funky, Stanky Sex-Advice Column. Send your questions, letters or fan fiction to jasonc@newsreview.com by Feb. 8.