Days of Lore

To you, the student As you read this you’re probably sitting in a classroom under blinding fluorescent lights while the professor prattles on about how difficult his or her class is going to be this semester and that the book they’ve just written for the course is going to cost in the neighborhood of $100. All I can say to you is … keep reading …

Fool’s gold What you hold here in your grubby little mitts is like gold … the gold of God … OK, you’re actually holding God in your hands right now. The Chico News & Review used to be the campus newspaper (cleverly titled The Wildcat) before it split from campus in 1977. It’s the place for arts and entertainment coverage in this one-horse town. I don’t usually toot my own horn, or anyone else’s for that matter, but we did win first place for best arts coverage in the 2005 California Newspaper Publishers Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, beating other weeklies like the San Francisco Bay Guardian. We also have the most comprehensive calendar section, which will lead you to a bevy of things to do and see—rock shows, theater, art galleries, sports and film (if you’re looking for the Wednesday night kamikaze special, we can’t help you). Sure, there are other sources, but we’d like to think we put out a pretty solid product.

Birth of a nation The 1078 Gallery opened the doors of its new location (820 Broadway) this past weekend with a four-band bill that included local singer-songwriters Aubrey Debauchery and Jon Wesley as well as Onyx and June Madrona from Olympia, Wash.

The audience that came out and withstood the muggy air to listen to some eclectic acoustic music was a good mix of hipsters and sophisticates, and it was the perfect beginning to what will surely become one of the preeminent all-ages music venues in town.

The sound system and the acoustics sounded excellent and the place is booked solid through October with an impressive and diverse lineup of local and touring artists including alt-country troubadour Richard Buckner, The Velvet Teen (with The Americas’ Casey Deitz), W-S Burn, Abominable Iron Sloth, Barbara Manning, Tall Birds, Division Day … hell, check out the complete roster yourself at: www.myspace.com/1078performances.

And after the gallery’s successful, mellow debut, things only get louder from there this weekend—Thurs., Aug. 24, will bring a little electronic experimentation with Portland’s Ghosting and Bonus, New Zealand’s Pumice, which will perform with the minimalist man-and-his guitar approach of GMS (Bay Area) and local experimental kooks, Agent Meecrob.

If punk rock is your thing, Monstro’s Pizza (628 W. Sacramento Ave.) is hosting an all-ages show this Fri., Aug. 25, with L.A. psychobilly band The Gallows, Black Breath (former members of USS Horsewhip, and locals Zabaleen, The Shankers and Strange Groove. And Sat., Aug. 26, will be a solid rock show with local favorites Machinegreen, deerpen with Pets in Trees and Didley Squat down at Off Limits. The show starts at 9:30 p.m., and it will be one of your last chances to catch deerpen before they play their final show in September. OK, your weekend is set.

We will rock you We at the CN&R have a few things up our sleeves as well with our local music compilation about ready to roll in September. There will be two discs that cater to whatever mood you’re in—the mellow CD includes artists like Chris Schadt, Aubrey Debauchery, Dialecs and DJ Holger Honda, and the second has the dirty stuff like The Makai, Squirrel vs. Bear, The Shankers and Con-Tra-Band. Not only that, we’re hosting a gang of shows next month to kick off the CD’s release. Stay tuned for more details.

School daze It’s not so bad, really. Just be smart on your four-year odyssey of becoming smarter. And don’t allow that tenured professor to jump up on his or her soapbox and mold your minds like a lumpy lump of clay.

“A witty saying proves nothing”—<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> </script>