Arts DEVOté

Hell yeah!
You’ve been punked! You have not stumbled into some new Chee-ko party column for hotties and burners. You’ve been duped into reading about … local art? WTF?!

For newcomers, you’re at the doorstep of the bi-weekly (for now) home of one Arts DEVOté. For all of Chico’s arts news, arts dirt and happy-fun-arts-goodness, this is the place where you’ll want to come from now on.

Let us learn.

Welcome, my children
It’s customary at the beginning of any new season—whether it be in advance of the fall TV lineup or between the cracks of spring training bats—for columnists to preview what’s in store and to give pointers as to what to watch out for. So, for the Chico arts programming season that kicks off in conjunction with the 2006-07 school year, A.D. will do … nothing. It’s impossible to do justice to the wide range of theater, visual arts, music and spoken word that is about to become available to your brain in the coming months (plus, he already did it for the CN&R’s annual Goin’ Chico guide.

Instead of adding a ridiculous list to your already overburdened college brains, A.D. will make getting into the local arts groove easy by making one very fun and comprehensive recommendation. Write “Crux, 6-9 p.m.” in the Sept. 1 square on your calendar and circle it. Set aside your most fly set of threads. Proceed to 1421 Park Ave. and join the zany crew of the Crux Artist Collective for the opening reception of Spare Change: The Art of Z-Man, Faydog, Matt Loomis and Aye Jay! In one three-hour setting you will meet one of the more energetic groups of local artists and their fun-loving friends. You’ll also get to witness a couple of Chico’s favorite pop-culture junkies/artists in Loomis and Aye Jay! (the latter is the creator of the Gangsta Rap Coloring Book and will be debuting his new Heavy Metal Fun Time Activity Book, with forward by Andrew W.K.), plus hear local acoustic siren Aubrey Debauchery, local rappers Faydog and Dr. Becky Sagers, Ph.D. And as if that all weren’t enough, Litterthugz DJ, Doug Surreal will be performing as well.

Two words: Scene-ster.

Bi-Weekly DEVOtions

• University Film Series: Indies Under Fire: The Battle for the American Bookstore , Tues., Aug. 28, 7:30 p.m. in the Little Theatre (Ayres 106) on the Chico State campus.

• Art First Saturdays: Chico’s art walk is only once a month, and this is the first one of the school year, so the arts community has to be bringing out the freshest, bestest stuff. Sat., Sept. 1, 4-8 p.m. (look for the art map in the Aug. 30 CN&R).

• Art in Public Places Committee: Meets Fri., Aug. 24, 3:30 p.m. in the city manager’s conference room on the third floor of the Chico Municipal Building, 411 Main St.