Fine Arts

Watch the fumes. Under the Hwy 99 bridge that passes over Lindo Channel, the installation of Chico’s newest art gallery is underway. Funded by a $10,000 grant from the city of Chico, and organized by local aerosol superstar Chase Moreau, the 99 Dreams aerosol mural gallery will cover both sides of the eight enormous (30 feet wide) concrete supports along the bike paths under the freeway overpass. The surfaces are all prepped, and half are already done or nearly done. There are a few graffiti-style pieces, and a few straight-up murals like the MLK with two children and the word “Dream” in cursive over a backdrop of multi-colored vertical bars (pictured) by Chicago artist team Jordan Nickel and Ben Bertucci. My personal fave so far is Rosalina Acevedo’s puffy clouds over a violet-ish sky with the black silhouettes of a lonely bunny and a unicorn floating by tethered to balloons.

An opening reception is planned for Sun., Oct. 30 (time TBA, call Gregg Payne for info: 228-3399).

A candy-coated clown they call the sandman. The calendar for those trippy folks over at the Crux Arts Collective (www.cruxarts.com) is as restlessly active as ever, full of the usual art shows, movie nights, open mics, dance nights and even the 2nd Annual Crux Fashion Show (Sat., Dec. 17). The big time event of the season for the warehouse art space though is its Evolution of the Dreamer Part III, a performance art production running for two nights, Fri. & Sat., Oct. 21 & 22, 8 p.m. The call was put out for performances from “10 seconds to 10 minutes” under the theme of “dreams,” and the entries for the wide open production are very eclectic. Examples leaked by Crux homegirl Christine Fulton include a piece that narrates the creation of the universe through the birth of matter via the original music and choreography of Weston Thomson, and Terry Dote’s one-man act about the individual torment of the cubical office device titled “Circa 1824: cube.” You know, the basics and stuff.

Life. Still a cabaret? Chico has three community theaters—the Blue Room, Chico Theater Company and Chico Cabaret—putting on full-scale productions pretty much year-round now. Add to that Chico State and Butte College’s stage productions and the other Butte County venues—the long-running Theatre on the Ridge in Paradise and Birdcage Theatre in Oroville—and one begins to wonder whether the local theater market might be a little flooded.

Chico Cabaret is definitely feeling the pinch. (It doesn’t help matters at all that rent on its Almond Orchard space doubled at the beginning of 2005.) According to theater director Phil Ruttenberg, the summer has been especially difficult for the Cabaret: “It’s getting a bit scary!” The current Twist and Shout Sockhop! production is a critical fund-raiser, so help a local nonprofit theater stay “alive and thriving” by joining the dueling Elvises and the rest of the ’50s and ’60s fun. Final two weekends: Shows Fri. & Sat., 7:30 p.m. through Oct. 29. More info at www.chicocabaret.com or 895-0245.