c-2022-12-01

EDITORIAL

What has City Council learned?

by Jason Cassidy jasonc@newsreview.com

A

s this issue headed to press, results from the November general election remained unofficial, but the final tally indicated who will sit on the Chico City Council the next two years. Tom Van Overbeek joins re-elected Kasey Reynolds and Dale Bennett in the majority with conservative holdovers Andrew Coolidge, Sean Morgan and Deepika Tandon, while Addison Winslow replaces outgoing Alex Brown as the solitary progressive.

So, apart from a shift in the gender balance (two women instead of three), the council moves ahead virtually unchanged from the current configuration. Will the next group act differently? That depends on what, or if, the conservatives learned from the past two years.

First, the 6-1 majority is not a mandate. November marked the city’s second election by districts versus citywide candidates; conservatives only got 5.6 percent more of the vote (a 1,151 margin out of 20,403 total ballots in the four council races). Add in the Chico Unified School District race, and the edge narrows to 2.2 percent (a 991 margin out of 44,601 total votes). Either way, the council’s balance does not reflect the city’s. Chicoans across the political spectrum have criticized the

LETTERS

Applauding the healers

Re: “Rallying around the kids” (Feature, by Ashiah Scharaga, Nov. 3)

I have to commend people like Kayden Schroyer and Carrie Dawes, those students and faculty who went through the 2018 Camp Fire along with their supporters and family and friends.

My wife and I lost our home and almost all our possessions in that fire, including all our college and grad school records and diplomas, all our elementary and high school records and transcripts, and everything else we’d kept and stored our entire lives (including family photos and so much original art). In a sense, we lost part of our identities, including most of the papers

majority on its receptiveness, or lack thereof, to input. Public speakers tell the council they feel unheard on myriad matters: homelessness solutions, development, cannabis, redistricting. Should the conservatives emerge from the election emboldened, preserving the status quo as their M.O., they’ll miss an important message from their constituents.

Even ideologues realize the current council’s mistakes— many stemming from decisions that prompted the Warren v. City of Chico lawsuit. But the list goes beyond conservatives’ approach to unhoused Chicoans (see “Year in Review” feature, page 12). Just two examples: restoring a shelter crisis declaration they opted to let expire and decommissioning, then restoring, the city’s Climate Action Commission.

We’re not sold that Chico needed a new city manager when the council ousted Mark Orme. If something from his tenure endures, hopefully it’s strategic planning just before his jettison. Council members set priorities for the city, but even more importantly, they learned to consider implications—wide ripple effects—of their actions. That lesson may be the most important as the new majority pushes forward. Ω

End note

The list. It’s my method for everything, and for compiling the one for this column, the criteria is: What’s on my mind? And is any of that also on the community’s mind?

In the notebook at this writing: World Cup, guitar effects pedals, Theme of 2022?, election results, Guillermo.

World cup? Hmmm … It is on the world’s mind, and I do have one eye on the second half of England v. USA as I type, but I’ve got nothing. (Turns out, neither did either side in this match that ended 0-0.)

Guitar effects pedals? On this list? I might have a problem. Although, if y’all were as obsessed with them as I have been lately, this column would be finished in record time.

Theme of 2022? Election results? In the introduction to this issue’s annual Top Ten stories list (page 12), the CN&R poses what the theme for the year might be, and I was very thankful there was no life-changing catastrophe—e.g., Trump, wildfire, Trump, global pandemic, Trump, wildfire—to color the year.

Personally, 2022 was defined by emotional extremes. My stepdad (the dad who raised me) died during the holidays last year, and less than a year later, as we were preparing for his belated celebration of life, my birth father passed away as well. On the sunnier side, with COVID restrictions largely lifted, I was able to spend more time with family and friends, finally could play live music again and was fortunate enough to travel to Europe ... twice!

and records that gave us those identities.

Fortunately, we had good home insurance and all that it entails, and we’ve found a nice home here in Chico, in a good neighborhood, with great neighbors.

But the catch is that we’re both older now and we can’t return to Paradise, or to our lives there, so we have to work with what we have and appreciate it.

The advantage that Kayden and her friends (who lost homes in Paradise) have is that they are young and so they have years to build a new life.

Unfortunately, we realize that no matter how young you are when this kind of catastrophe occurs, it’s still very difficult to survive these

experiences psychologically intact.

On edge in the valley

Have you seen the billboard on Skyway heading into Chico? It’s got a bunch of happy kids standing behind an historic rock wall. The only words are “Valley’s Edge,” as in the proposed Valley’s Edge development as big as, did I read, Gridley? That Valley’s Edge?

I guess those kids are the ones who are not going to be living in

As for locals’ minds, issues around homelessness were at the forefront again in 2022. The recent election has shown that most local voters prefer get tough over give help rhetoric. Chico’s City Council has now swung right four out of the last five elections (with a 6-1 advantage on deck), with “public safety” as the nerve the conservatives have tapped. (Never mind that public safety has been a priority for both right- and left-leaning candidates.)

Guillermo? Bill “Guillermo” Mash is on the minds of so many. As this issue went to press (Nov. 28), he was being removed from life support after suffering a heart attack a week or so earlier. I count Guillermo among my dearest friends. In fact, I don’t know that there’s a person who is as universally adored/admired by Chicoans than the humble, kind citizen journalist, community builder and tireless advocate for the unhoused.

As I join Chico in holding Guillermo and his family close in our collective heart, I can’t think of a better way to punctuate this year than to share his own words (from the 2017 CN&R Local Heroes issue), with a wish that those in local government read them, too.

What’s uncomfortable for many people is to meet people where they’re at. It changes people’s lives. Because it shows them immediately that you care. … [Ask] “How can I help you?” And just help them.

Cassidy is editor of the Chico News & Review

Dave

Marks Chico

Should the conservatives emerge from the election emboldened, preserving the status quo as their M.O., they’ll miss an important message from their constituents.

Jason

Oppose Valley’s Edge

V

alley’s Edge, the enormous (1,448 acres) sprawl project east of Bruce Road, would forever change the character of Chico. With over 2,700 housing units and a projected population of over 5,000 people, this proposed development rivals the size of Durham.

“But we need housing!” we hear pro-growth politicians say. Of course we do—affordable housing. Valley’s Edge is planned as a homeowners association (HOA) development for people coming from cities to escape sky-high real estate prices. Valley’s Edge loudly touts its trails, parks and open spaces, but those will be restricted to people who can afford luxury houses and HOA fees.

Instead, Chico needs to give attention to those who live here; to create community improvements, bikeable, walkable neighborhoods and improved roads

with more trees. We need small infill projects near goods and services. We need redevelopment projects that turn vacant lots, empty buildings and run-down properties into beautiful, livable housing at an affordable price.

What we don’t need:

• Increased traffic and congestion, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions that would come with Valley’s Edge.

• The destruction of a beautiful habitat of wetlands, riparian plants and animals, and mature oak trees for an urban sprawl project.

• Greater fire risk by developing land that was the buffer for the Camp Fire. We need this fire-prone land to continue as open space.

• Threats to our precious water from 5,000plus residents who will draw on the increasingly stressed Lower Tuscan Aquifer.

Join Smart Growth Advocates—along with the Sierra Club, Butte Environmental Council, Altacal Audubon Society and Mt. Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society—to oppose Valley’s Edge. Attend the Planning Commission meeting on Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. Write to the Planning Commission: nicole.acain@Chicoca.gov. Learn more at smartgrowthchico.org. Ω

by Susan Tchudi The author is cohost of “Ecotopia” (KZFR, 90.1FM), a Butte Environmental Council advisory committee member and co-founder of Smart Growth Advocates.

Hank

by Melissa Daugherty melissad@newsreview.com

Jessie

I’ll do just about anything for my son, Henry. I was reminded of that during a trip to Bidwell Park after a recent big storm, the one that flooded the banks of Big Chico Creek and downed that giant 80-year-old oak tree on the north side of Sycamore Pool.

That day, my husband and I, with 5-year-old Henry in tow, bundled up and, like others suffering from cabin fever, set out to survey the scene. By then, the water had receded to just below the edge of the pool. Hank had brought with him Jessie from the Toy Story franchise. She’s the cute, red-headed yodeling cowgirl doll—pull her string and she says things like, “Sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln!” and “Yodelaheehoo!”

I’d purchased Jessie the previous day, and Henry seemed pretty enamored with her. That’s why I was surprised when he hurled her into the raging water, right where the creek ends and the pool begins. You’ve got to be kidding me, I thought to myself as I turned to my husband and he turned to our son, whose face instantly told us that he regretted his compulsion to see if she could swim.

Turns out, Jessie’s a floater. Seconds after she started bobbing downstream, I dropped my bike to the ground and started sprinting. I was wearing boots that are better suited to horseback riding, and I’m completely out of shape, but somehow I caught up with her in a flash. Problem is, she’d drifted just out of arm’s reach. I had to make a splitsecond decision—was I willing to get into the frigid, swift-moving water to save a doll?

Apparently I was, so long as I could hang on to one of the ladder rails. So, I ran ahead of Jessie, threw my gloves to the ground and prepared to hop in at some stairs about midway down the pool. Behind me, on a bench, a young couple watched me react as Jessie floated to the center. Moments later, a glimmer of hope emerged. The rapids started pushing her back toward the edge—yet not quite within reach.

I need something to grab her with, I thought. I ran up the bank to some of the branches and twigs left over from the flooding. The sturdiest one gave me an extension of an extra arm’s length. By the time I turned around, Jessie was getting close to the end of the pool. If she went over the dam, that’d be all she wrote. She’d wind up snagged out of sight or maybe even make it to the Sacramento River.

A little girl, probably a year or so older than Henry, gasped when she saw the recognizable doll bobbing along. “It’s Jessie,” she lamented to her father. They froze in suspense after I sprinted past; a few others looked down from the footbridge feet away.

I got ahead of the doll by about 10 feet, dropped to my belly on the cold concrete, chest over the water with arm and stick outstretched.

The moment of truth …. Got her! Crisis averted.

Henry didn’t get Jessie back that day. I put her in a cup holder on the ride home. After she dripped dry in the shower, I pulled her string. Her response: “Yeehaw! I’m so happy you’re my friend.”

Melissa Daugherty is on a break this month. Enjoy this classic Second & Flume column, originally published Feb. 9, 2017.

Melissa Daugherty is editor-at-large for the Chico News & Review

Best memory of 2022?

HayashidaKnight nonprofit administrator

I think getting back out in the world with my family, doing fun things again. We have been to Laxson to three or four different shows; we’ve been down to the Bay Area for family trips.

Joseph Harris student

It would be meeting my girlfriend, and we moved in together and we got a cat. It’s been a lot of fun.

the more than 50 percent of the houses planned that are for 55 and older. And I guess that considering many parents of that age child in Chico can’t really afford the not-very-affordable housing in the proposed development, they won’t actually live in the development.

Maybe they are looking for entry into one of the development’s parks that as non-residents they won’t be able to play in. Maybe they’re the visiting grandchildren of the out-of-town wealthy retirees who will come to northern California to better their lives. People who would like to come to beautiful Chico and sit in their houses looking out on what was and should be the 1,448 acres of “valley edge” land left as the open space, wetlands and wild fire-buffer zone that it is right now.

We have stopped these kind of outrageous bad-for-Chico developments in the past. We got educated. We spoke out. We supported the folks most in the fray with our dollars.

Let’s do so again! Go to smartgrowth chico.org.

Kathleen Faith Chico

The myth of pro transients

I think the best memory is going to be that things started coming back to life. I love dancing, and all of sudden, there have been dances to go to. It felt like life became more normal again. We connected with people; we got to see our families; we got to dance; we got to go to restaurants.

Kevin Lanzinger cybersecurity

How close we were able to bond—family and friends. COVID forced everyone inside, obviously.

When you’re not able to move around and do things, you find ways to do things— video games, [going to] parks—to be around people.

According to data from the Homeless Data Integration System (HDIS), “very few people [less than 5 percent] experiencing homelessness accessed services in more than one California Continuum of Care,” the organized group of service providers for a county. The idea of “professional transients” is not supported by the facts.

If this were a real issue, we would’ve seen Chico’s homeless people moving to Medford, Eugene and Marysville to get into Hope Village, Opportunity Village or 14 Forward. If you’re so poor you can’t afford rent, moving is a huge and expensive job. You have to give up everything except what you can carry, buy a bus ticket and leave the community you know well to go to a new place with many unknowns—for a slim chance at a shelter bed?

The “magnet” issue is not really an issue. Furthermore, we have talked about this with the directors of these shelters and all concurred that attracting out-of-towners has not been a problem for them.

Charles Withuhn Chico

Write a letter

Tell us what you think in a letter to the editor. Send submissions of 200 or fewer words to cnrletters@newsreview.com. Deadline for January 5 print publication is December 16.

Chris

Despina Gurlides math teacher

Asked in downtown Chico

DOWNSTROKE

BEYOND COVID: RSV, FLU

Local health officials have broadened their focus on COVID-19 to include other respiratory viruses that have hit the North State hard—and early—this holiday season.

RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) in particular has stretched medical services. Enloe Medical Center has had to look beyond impacted Sacramento and Bay Area hospitals to transfer patients, but even facilities in Reno have been filled. Dr. Marcia Nelson, Enloe’s chief medical officer, told the CN&R that RSV usually peaks in January and, though the illness typically affects young children, is striking older kids and even adults.

Influenza also picked up earlier than normal, but COVID so far has not been as serious as last winter. As of the CN&R’s deadline, Butte County Public Health reported an average of eight new cases a day and no deaths since Nov. 16. Public Health Director Danette York still recommends vaccination against the newer strains and face coverings in public group settings.

NEWSLINES

In this together

Climate Cafe creates welcoming space to process feelings of climate anxiety

Kim Michl-Green likes to start Climate Cafe gatherings with a request.

She asks the people who’ve assembled at the South Chico Community Assistance Center to go over to a windowsill illuminated by lamplight. There, they find an assortment of natural objects. Pick the one that speaks to you the most.

Among the objects are a pine cone, a shriveled citrus fruit, a feather, a dried flower with magenta petals and a simple pebble.

UNIVERSITY PREZ RETIRES

Chico State will have a new president next year as Gayle Hutchinson has announced her retirement after six years heading the university.

Hutchinson (pictured), Chico State’s first woman president and the Cal State University system’s first openly gay president, said in her announcement last month that “the time has come for me to focus on my overall well-being and to spend active, quality time with my incredible wife and life partner, Linda Allen.” She will remain through June 30; her priorities include bringing on a chief diversity officer and improving policies and practices of campus police.

To hire her successor, CSU leaders are selecting a committee of campus and community members to conduct a national search.

by Ashiah Scharaga ashiahs@ newsreview.com

Where to go The Climate Cafe is hosted monthly at the South Chico Community Assistance Center, 1805 Park Ave. The schedule is pending for 2023. Find out more by emailing info@southchicocac.org.

Once they’ve decided, attendees grab a multicolored pillow and sit on the wood floor, object in hand. Then everybody introduces themselves and explores the significance of the object they chose: What does it make them feel, and how does it relate to their feelings about the climate crisis?

What follows is a free-form, informal discussion. Attendees are invited to get comfortable and enjoy food and drink while unpacking the difficult topics of the climate crisis and climate anxiety. Nina, Michl-Green’s dog, serves as an emotional support animal, snuggling with people while they share.

Climate cafes are designed to be confidential, nonjudgmental spaces where people can openly share their feelings about the climate crisis. There is no call to action, no activity sign-ups nor future commitments expected.

Michl-Green launched these free monthly gatherings in August through her work with the nonprofit South Chico Community Assistance Center (see infobox). The cafes have become a vital

outlet for people to process their climaterelated emotions and anxieties, find community support and feel more empowered about tackling what often feels like an insurmountable challenge. It’s a vulnerable space where people express a range of emotions including grief, sadness, despair, dread, hopelessness and anger, Michl-Green said, but it’s also one that cultivates connection, a sense of belonging and validation from others, providing relief and hope.

“We’re seeing there’s a lot of cognitive barriers behind people being able to grasp the weight of the climate crisis. It’s too much to bear,” Michl-Green said. “It’s really important to be able to have spaces to have conversations and look at it with other people, because when you look at it with other people it makes it more bearable.”

Global to local

Michl-Green, a recent Chico State graduate with a degree in psychology, first heard about climate cafes through Mark Stemen, a professor in the geography and planning department at Chico State who also serves on the city’s Climate Action Commission. They met when she enrolled in one of his classes.

“He was kind of the first radical professor that I had at Chico State who was willing to look with both eyes open at the climate crisis and be able to hold those kinds of feelings and validate them back to me,” she said.

One day after class, he brought up the concept of climate cafes, which are hosted by different organizations around the world and are modeled after death cafes, where communities gather to openly discuss their thoughts and feelings about death and dying in an informal setting.

Michl-Green began researching the topic, which she found to be a perfect intersection of her background in psychology and her concerns regarding the climate crisis. She received her training and certification to facilitate cafes through the Climate Psychology Alliance, an

Kim Michl-Green, right, leads the Climate Cafe at the South Chico Community Assistance Center with support from center board member Mark Stemen.

PHOTO BY ASHIAH SCHARAGA

Climate Cafes are designed to be nonjudgmental spaces where people can share their feelings and speak openly about the climate crisis.

PHOTO BY ASHIAH SCHARAGA

international group of therapeutic practitioners, researchers, artists and individuals focused on “attending to the psychology and emotions of the climate and ecological crisis,” according to its website (climatepsychologyalliance.org).

Stemen, a center board member who spearheads the organization’s climate initiatives, partnered with Michl-Green to provide the physical space for the cafe. He’s a regular attendee who said the most rewarding part for him is hearing “the shift in people’s voices as the cafe evolves” and the change in their outlook from one of despair to hope.

“You can tell that they really needed this space and that when they found it, it’s really magical,” Stemen added.

Michl-Green initially didn’t know what to expect when it came to community reception of the cafe, she said. However, attendance quickly grew to capacity (about a couple dozen) with minimal advertising—mostly via social media and word of mouth—and people have been very open.

“I’ve been surprised in people’s ability and desire to get vulnerable and really share, because it’s hard to get vulnerable with a bunch of people, especially when you don’t know them and you’re in a new space,” she said. “Every meeting, I think, someone cries, which is great! It’s so great that people are able to express themselves and feel safe enough to do so.”

Attendees are a mix of new faces and regulars, which Michl-Green said she believes speaks to “the very high need for these spaces.” The center would like to expand its offer-

ings and host more than one climate cafe a month, given the interest, but that will depend largely on financial support via donations, Stemen added.

Jared Geiser has attended a couple of the local gatherings, where he has been able to connect with others who also understand the severity and seriousness of the climate crisis, he said. Geiser, who is involved in multiple climate and environmental advocacy groups, started experiencing intense grief while learning about climate change as a Chico State student, feeling overwhelmed by the weight of the knowledge he gained about climate projections and ecosystem and species collapse.

“There’s been times I’ve had severe climate anxiety, just worried about the future, and I haven’t had places to turn,” he said. “As people learn about the greatest threat of our time, having that outlet in Chico for people to connect with others and share their thoughts and feelings allows it to be more bearable and acknowledge the elephant in the room—and that’s climate change.

“The Climate Cafe provides such a valuable space to connect with other people that are concerned about it and make me feel reassured that we can tackle this issue when we come together,” Geiser continued. “When you talk about it, it helps you feel empowered. We’re not in this alone. There’s other people who care about this.”

The internal, emotional work the cafe encourages can help people get to a place where they are ready to take direct action.

“It makes us more empowered to confront and challenge things that

are threatening the climate,” Geiser said.

Nurturing resilience

During the November cafe gathering, Stemen chose the wooden floor for his natural object. He ran his hands along the boards as he spoke about how the old building had once gone through restoration. He noted the hard work that was put in to preserve the floor, the foundation of the group’s meeting that day.

This made him reflect on his involvement in climate work and with the cafes—he wants to lay a strong foundation to help younger people cope and forge a better future.

Stemen and Michl-Green spoke of the value of having a cafe in a place like Chico—a frontline community that has experienced extreme heatwaves, severe drought and mega wildfires as a result of climate change.

“This is really a way to help increase our compassion stamina. To rebuild our own inner resilience to then help create the space for outer resistance,” Stemen said. “This is really the inner work that allows us to keep going. Burned-out people can’t help a burned planet.”

At that same gathering in November, Michl-Green shared that she recently planted a passion fruit vine. She tended to it with no expectations, and it flourished. One day, she was delighted to notice dozens of caterpillars on the leaves and in the flowers.

It was a reminder of the power one seemingly small action taken by one person can have on the environment. Not all is lost, and humans can make a difference and help the world recover, she said.

Rather than carrying the weight of everybody’s grief, uncertainty or dread as climate cafe facilitator, Michl-Green shares the same experience as many of her attendees: “I always leave the space feeling uplifted … more hopeful and optimistic,” she said.

“I really do think it comes down to the solidarity and the validation of other people,” Michl-Green added. “I think that there’s nothing that we can’t accomplish when we’re all together.”

Located in a region that’s witnessed extreme heatwaves, severe drought and mega wildfires, Chico is a good fit for a climate cafe organizers say.

Good to be back!

I paid 2 dollars for an organic red onion! So now I have planted a garden…with lots of onions, and garlic of course. Produce prices are going up… It’s time to garden.

I am offering you my newly invented electric tiller.

• Light 3.2 lbs. it gets the weeds out… no bending, saves the back.

• 10-volt lithium battery, yes with charger

• Very strong motor, you cannot stop it…well you could but it would be hard.

• Great for blending compost into the soil tilling around trees and rose bushes. trenching for drip lines and planting

• Comes with a bonus blade a crack weeder that gets the weeds out of cracks fast and easy, driveways, sidewalks, patio bricks. The Royal Weeder…the perfect “electric” tool for the causal to professional gardener. Makes a wonderful, useful gift!

Fred Marken (founder of La Salles, Grilla Bites, Organic farmer and other adventures) and now back in Chico.

10TOP stories of 2022

City manager out

Thursday, March 10, Chico City Manager Mark Orme joined Mayor Andrew Coolidge for a state of the city videoconference presented by the Chico Chamber of Commerce. The next afternoon, Orme and the City Council gathered on the second floor of the Old Municipal Building for a strategic planning session.

Little did he know that these two events would cap his nine-year tenure at City Hall. Orme was halfway out the door at a special council meeting Coolidge called for March 23 and officially out of a job at a second special meeting March 25, having resigned in lieu of termination.

The council appointed Police Chief Matt Madden as interim city manager without advising him in advance (see “What Were They Thinking?” page 18). Within a week, the city started searching for a new interim city manager—and the council hired Paul Hahn, retired county chief administrative officer, April 13 to bridge the timespan to a permanent city manager.

The CN&R, among others, speculated that council conservatives had their eye on Mark Sorensen, a former Chico mayor working as city administrator in Biggs. Sorensen got the gig June 30—the day after Madden announced his retirement from Chico PD after 30 years in law enforcement. Orme recently interviewed for a city manager position in Florida.

BY CN&R STAFF

What’s the theme of 2022 for Butte County?

Maybe it’s recovery. Illness and death of the COVID-19 pandemic greatly diminished early in the year, leading state and local officials to lift most restrictions. People are back to hanging out with each other and arguing over politics.

Maybe there is no theme. In a county that’s suffered one catastrophe after another in recent years, not having an overarching trauma to define us is a welcome relief.

What follows are the 10 topics that rose to the top of the stories the CN&R told over the past 12 months.

Supporters pray with Mark Orme (with tie in center) while awaiting the Chico City Council’s decision about his future as city manager on March 25.

PHOTO BY EVAN TUCHINSKY

Redistricting fallout

With 2020 census data released last year, legislative bodies at state and local levels began the once-in-a-decade exercise of redistricting. Stakes are always high—balances of power hinge, in large part, on the distribution of voters.

The relatively rural North State districts for Congress and state Assembly remained functionally the same as safe seats for Republicans. Within Butte County, however, lines shifted significantly for the Board of Supervisors and the Chico City Council, while the Chico Unified School District (CUSD) and Chico Area Recreation and Park District (CARD) drew districts for the first time.

The county’s redistricting proved the most contentious. On a 3-2 vote, supervisors chose a map that created two western agricultural districts but also cut into Chico four ways.

Chico Supervisors Debra Lucero and Tami Ritter, the opposing votes, alleged gerrymandering—asserting that the new map packed Democrats into a single district to get more Republicans elected.

Local Democrats mounted

a referendum drive but failed to get enough signatures. Ritter handily won reelection in June, while Lucero lost the seat for the new District 2 to Chico Police Sgt. Peter Durfee.

The City Council adjusted the initial districts it drew for Chico just two years earlier. Ultimately, council members went with a map put forward by citizen Nichole Nava, who ran for a seat in November, that also stirred complaints

of gerrymandering (though no push for a referendum or legal challenge). The 5-2 vote had dissent from Alex Brown, who opted not to seek reelection, and Dale Bennett, a council appointee whose short-term election in November fell under the previous configuration.

In the final tally, City Council race results showed Vice Mayor Kasey Reynolds winning a second council term; tenants’ rights activist Addison Winslow defeating Nava; businessman Tom Van Overbeek also securing, and Bennett retaining his seat.

CUSD’s foray into districting also sparked divisiveness, notably from Chicoans who opposed the school board majority following state health department mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Politicization carried over to the election, in which two trustees (Thomas Lando and Matt Tennis) faced off in one district and one trustee (Kathy Kaiser) gave way to a colleague (Eileen Robinson) rather than compete in their district. Lando and Robinson secured new terms; Rebecca Konkin won a duel of newcomers in the western, rural district.

COVID’s peak and descent

COVID-19 shaped 2021. This year, Butte County followed the country (and much of the world) in pivoting to lesser urgency as the pandemic peaked in January and variants of the virus proved more contagious but less deadly.

Drought: Year 3

On the eve of 2022, Californians were drenched and hopeful. The 2021 holiday season saw record-breaking amounts of rain and snow for the state, but those December storms did not carry over into the the new year. In fact, so far, 2022 has been California’s driest year on record. Most of last December’s gains in the Sierra Nevada snowpack quickly melted and evaporated away.

California’s current drought began in early 2020; state and county emergency orders have been in place since the summer of 2021. In Butte County, the modest overall amount of moisture over the past year has only slightly improved the situation, moving most of our area from “exceptional” to “extreme” drought.

In March, after Californians fell short of Gavin Newsom’s 15 percent voluntary water-reduction goal, the governor issued an executive order for water suppliers to implement drought contingency plans. The measures largely impacted industrial landowners, but domestic users, in addition to being required to implement common-sense conservation practices, were

instructed to water lawns no more than twice a week.

Persistent drought conditions led to increased wildfire danger (though thankfully no major conflagrations for Butte this year) and shrinking reservoirs. As of Nov. 23, the water level at Lake Oroville was at 662 feet elevation with storage about 28 percent of capacity (56 percent of historical average). There also has been been an increasing number of domestic wells going dry in the county’s lower elevations. Last year, 44 dry wells were reported. By June 21, that number already was 72, according to an August Drought Emergency Update by Butte County Office of Emergency Management.

In June, the Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation released the results of a Drought Impact Analysis Study. The report outlines myriad ways drought has affected this region, including Butte and surrounding counties’ increased dependence on tapping into precious groundwater reserves. In 2021, extraction from the county’s two major subbasins— Butte and Vina—exceeded sustainable yields by 74 and 10 percent, respectively.

Jan. 10 marked COVID’s crest locally with 395 new cases reported that day and a seven-day average of 286. Twenty-eight county residents lost their lives to COVID in January. Flash forward 11 months: County Public Health reported no cases Nov. 22, with a seven-day average of eight, and no deaths since Oct. 16.

The omicron variants that emerged this year spread more readily but caused milder symptoms than previous variants. As a result, government officials have loosened restrictions, such as eliminating mask mandates. Butte County, Chico and the state have ended, or are in the process of ending, their emergency declarations. Businesses reopened fully. Schools returned to full inperson learning after utilizing remote instruction or hybrid options.

Local health officials stress that the pandemic is not over and encourage precautionary measures such as testing before and after gatherings with elderly, vulnerable people and wearing masks for large public events.

2022 Chico City Council district map.

Still unsettled

Homelessness in Chico has dominated public discourse for roughly a decade now, shaping city elections and fomenting bitter divisions among the citizenry. The City Council’s priorities, policies and plans—many of questionable substantive value and legality—have shifted dramatically in the past few years, but 2022 kicked off with the most significant event to date in the long-running drama: the January settlement of the Warren v. City of Chico lawsuit.

The outcome was a victory for homeless advocates for several reasons. The agreement with its monetary award ($650,000 to Legal Services of Northern California and $12,000 each for the eight unhoused defendants) affirmed claims the city’s enforcement policies—rousting encampments without shelter alternatives—were unconstitutional. Furthermore, the city had to implement new camping enforcement rules and ensure there was shelter available before forcing campers to move. All of these efforts would include input and oversight from Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC) for the next five years.

This led to the opening, in late April, of the Chico Emergency Non-Congregate Housing Site (commonly referred to as the “Pallet Shelter”) next to the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds. The facility features 177 units of 64 square feet, potentially providing shelter for 354 people, and provides daily meals and on-site workers to connect residents to needed services.

Still, the site has been a source of controversy, even before it opened. Some homeless advocates objected to the city contracting with the Jesus Center to manage the site, saying the faithbased nonprofit lacked experience with harm-reduction practices and that rules the organization implemented created barriers for potential guests. Complaints continue, with some social workers and unhoused people saying the shelter remains too difficult to get into, though it’s never been at capacity.

Meanwhile, the city continues to play whack-a-mole with homeless encampments, albeit now under the scrutiny of LSNC; disagreements over the city’s adherence to new rules have landed the parties back before a judge multiple times. With Chico voters passing a so-called quality of life measure, which expands public nuisance codes to city-owned properties (see “What Were They Thinking?” page 18), and a conservative-heavy council still in place, the issue seems still unsettled.

Roe, Roe, Roe the vote

June 24—the day that the United States Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling—will forever be remembered as a day of infamy for advocates of body autonomy and the right to choose. Not only did the decision remove constitutional protections for abortion, it exposed the fragility, and cast doubt on the future, of civil rights for LGBTQ people, same-sex marriage laws and, some say, democracy itself.

People swarmed to the streets across America to protest this decision, including in Chico. Hundreds gathered in the Chico City Plaza on May 3, when the draft decision leaked. County Supervisor Debra Lucero,

The voice of a majority of California voters also was heard, loud and clear, on Election Day (Nov. 8), when more than 65 percent said yes to Proposition 1—a ballot measure amending the state constitution to prohibit the state from interfering with or denying an individual’s reproductive freedom while ensuring the right to an abortion and contraceptives. Similar measures were approved in Vermont and Michigan, while Kentucky, Kansas

Chico’s first local sales tax

The city is short on money— that’s been a familiar refrain since the Great Recession, when municipal leaders started addressing structural budget deficits by scaling back services and cutting employees. Roads have deteriorated to a paving condition index of poor; other infrastructure maintenance and Bidwell Park remain underfunded.

Ahead of the 2020 election, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a progressive-majority City Council failed to advance a half-cent sales tax increase. The

current conservative majority voted to place a 1-cent increase on the November ballot despite high inflation, rising fuel costs and individual members’ stances regarding tax increases.

A coalition spanning the political spectrum, from former mayors to the Chamber of Commerce, campaigned on behalf of the tax measure, projected to add $24 million a year to city coffers. (For reference, the city’s 2022-23 budget totals $211 million—allocating $97.4 million to operations, from the general fund, and $113.6 mil-

lion to improvements, from the capital projects fund.)

Voters approved the tax increase with 52.t percent in favor.

City Councilwoman Alex Brown, congressional candidate Max Steiner and former congressional candidate Audrey Denney were among the masses, whose collective voices could be heard across the street in City Council chambers during the meeting that night. More demonstrations followed.

and Montana rejected anti-abortion initiatives.

A city vehicle sits on site at the non-congregate housing property, aka the Pallet Shelter.

PHOTO BY KEN SMITH

Hundreds rally at City Plaza before the Chico City Council meeting May 3 following news of a draft Supreme Court decision reversing Roe v. Wade

PHOTO BY EVAN TUCHINSKY

PHOTO BY TIFFANY TERTIPES

Re-open for business and fun

The only certainty during the COVID19 pandemic was change, especially for those who own local businesses. When the economy reopened, residents saw a new lay of the land in Chico. Some businesses kept their COVID

adaptations such as outdoor seating and curbside pickup. Others showed up in new locations (e.g., Music Connection, the Roost, Om on the Range) or showed off newly remodeled digs (Cafe Coda, Naked Lounge).

Some (Maltese

Bar & Tap Room, Alpaca Bob’s, Blue Room Theatre, et al) were forced to shut their doors for good.

As the pandemic receded and locals slowly started to return to public gatherings, familiar entertainment options remained

on the calendar—plays from most of the community theaters, concerts at the El Rey and Senator theaters and Chico Performances shows at Laxson Auditorium. The Sierra Nevada Big Room has yet to re-open for live shows, but there are a handful new music venues that have blossomed, including the Mulberry Station brewery/pizza joint; Om on the Range; the lounge at Gnarly Deli; Naked Lounge’s new stage; and the new indoor addition at Secret Trail Brewing Co.

After a year-and-a-half of uncertainty, Chico singer Max Minardi was back on a consistent show schedule, playing regular haunts like the patio of Secret Trail Brewing Co.

Finally junked

For 16 years, the saga surrounding Chico Scrap Metal has played a major role in city politics and resulted in all kinds of drama. The business was first ordered to move from its E. 20th Street location by the city in 2006, as directed in the Chapman/Mulberry Neighborhood Plan, but the business refused to go without a fight. The ensuing years have been filled with extensions and reversals from the City Council, legal battles and lots of twists and turns, including the city suing a sitting council member, Karl Ory, over his involvement with advocacy organization Move The Junkyard.

Now, at long last, it appears to be over. CSM stopped accepting recycling last year, citing difficulties resulting

from the long fight; and on Feb. 28, the business shut down its operations for good.

But is it really the end? Even as the property closed, co-owner Kim Scott said the business intended to keep fighting in court to get the city to help pay roughly $4.5 million for the move (her estimates for new property, infrastructure and permitting). The Scott family’s scrap operations continue at sites in Durham and Oroville.

And there’s the matter of the property left behind, which is still owned by the Scotts and could be valuable to new buyers—if it’s properly cleaned up. A historical auto-wrecking business operated on the property for decades even before CSM occupied the site. The Department of Toxic Substances Control detected lead, chromium and other dangerous contaminants there in 2007.

‘No Hotel’ protests

California Park residents learned three years ago, during the week of Thanksgiving no less, that a developer planned to build a four-story hotel on the southwest side of their neighborhood. The parcel borders Bruce Road between Highway 32 and Sierra Sunrise Terrace—the latter being the vehicular access point for not only the hotel but also a cluster of residential communities for seniors.

Members of homeowners’ associations within the vicinity coalesced into a group called No Hotel California Park to oppose the project.

Designed as a TownPlace Suites of 112 rooms on 4 acres, the Marriott hotel reached the city Planning Commission this summer.

Commissioners denied the application for a use permit on a 3-2 vote with two absences. But the developer appealed to the City Council, which overturned the Planning Commission’s decision. The council’s action, on a 5-1 vote (Kasey Reynolds dissenting, Alex Brown absent), left the door open for a further appeal by

referring the project to the Architectural Review and Historic Preservation Board.

Former Chico Mayor Karl Ory, an organizer of Move the Junkyard, has objected to Chico Scrap Metal’s longtime location on E. 20th Street.

PHOTO BY EVAN TUCHINSKY

Signs from members of the No Hotel California Park group remain at the door of chambers before the Sept. 3 Chico City Council meeting on the project.

PHOTO BY EVAN TUCHINSKY

PHOTO BY GIANNA MINARDI

What were they thinking?

A few head-scratchers from local government in 2022

Don’t fence it in

After an unsightly fence popped up around City Plaza in late 2021, the city of Chico and the Downtown Chico Business Association (DCBA) claimed it was necessary to enable construction and operation of an ice rink for the holiday season. The fact that fence stayed up until April—even though the rink

stopped operating in January—gave weight to suspicions of homeless advocates that the barrier’s true purpose was to block access to the park. When the fence went up again in November for the controversial attraction’s second coming, the DCBA was quick to declare it would be come down much sooner. It did.

Quality control issues

Conservatives on the Chico City Council have used the term “quality of life” like a marketing slogan for their agenda, perhaps nowhere more obviously so than with the Protect Chico’s Quality of Life Act. Vice Mayor Kasey Reynolds proposed a combination ballot measure and city commission drawn—loosely, turns out—from a Sacramento city initiative. The goal: Let citizens hold the city accountable, financially, for unresolved complaints of public nuisances. Skepticism from her colleagues led to a review by the city attorney (poor) that led to a watered-down version appearing as Measure L on the November ballot. Opponents, and this newspaper, saw it as a thinly veiled antihomeless stunt, but most voters disagreed and the measure passed by a wide margin.

Dispensary delays

Despite a strong majority of Chico voters approving commercial cannabis back in 2016, opponents on the City Council have spared little effort in sludging up progess. That includes suspending the application process, repeatedly rewriting rules and demanding more money from wouldbe retailers. Only three of the dozens of hopeful applicants—many of whom lost countless dollars and hours in pursuit of a permit—will be allowed to open shop. The first, Sweet Flower, part of a chain of dispensaries based near Los Angeles, is expected to open in Meriam Park this month.

I signed WHAT?

On Jan. 4, the Chico City Council voted unanimously to sign the Warren v. City of Chico lawsuit settlement. But in a letter dated 10 days after that, Vice Mayor Kasey Reynolds asked the federal judge overseeing the case for

Now you see him ...

When the Chico City Council parted ways with City Manager Mark Orme in late March, the process took six hours over two special meetings in three days. At some point during all those deliberations, council members decided to appoint then-Police Chief Matt Madden as interim city manager, bypassing Deputy City Manager Jennifer Macarthy. Thing

is, no one took the time to check with Madden. So, as City Attorney Vince Ewing announced the news, the chief was as surprised as anyone. He took the job but immediately sought to get out of it—and, mid-April, the council hired a replacement (Paul Hahn, retired Butte County chief administrative officer). Madden returned to Chico PD … and soon retired.

take-backsies. Reynolds claimed she wasn’t aware the vote was on the final circumstances of the settlement, wasn’t aware of some of the document’s details, was concerned about being on record sup-

porting it and asked (in underlined text) “would it be possible to not sign” the document she’d already signed off on until the council met again Jan. 18. The judge effectively said, “No.”

This season, organizers say the fence around the City Plaza would come down once the ice rink is set up—and it did. For the first go-around, it remained up far beyond the skate season.

PHOTO BY JASON CASSIDY

Chief of Police Matt Madden sits in the interim city manager’s seat, briefly.

PHOTO BY EVAN TUCHINSKY

Arts & Culture

THE MAVERICKS: A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TOUR Dec. 13

facebook.com/blueroomtheatre

DIRECTING ONE-ACTS: The Department of Music and Theatre presents four student-directed one-acts. Friday performances include “No Exit,” directed by Gabriella Saxon; and “Tuesdays and Sundays,” directed by Ciara Christian-Berg. Fri & Sat, 12/9-10, 7:30pm. $7. Wismer Theatre, Performing Arts Center. (530) 898-6333 www.csuchico.edu/soa

THU1

Music

DRAKE NIGHT: Celebrate the music of the Canadian rapper with JMax Productions and 6 God. Thu, 12/1, 9pm. $12. Om on the Range, 301 Main St. jmaxproductions.net

HIPPY HAPPY HOUR: Live music during happy hour by Doug Stein, Bryan Gravy and a rotating cast of local musicians. Thu, 12/1, 4pm. Free. Om on the Range, 301 Main St.

MARISA ANDERSON: The New Yorker magazine called Marisa Anderson “one of the most distinctive guitar players of her generation.” Locals Donald Beaman and Cat Depot open. Thu, 12/1, 6:30pm. $12-$15. Pageant Theatre, 351 E. Sixth St. pageantchico.com

FRI2

Special Events

COMMUNITY TREE LIGHTING: The City Plaza tree gets lit up for the holidays. Fri, 12/2, 6pm. City Plaza, downtown Chico. downtownchico.com

DECEMBER

ONGOING

Galleries & Museums

1078 GALLERY: Precious and Intelligent SelfContained Multitudes, works by Tamara Murphy. Through 1/8. 1710 Park Ave. 1078gallery.org

CHICO ART CENTER: Beyond Craft, group show with pieces “lovingly fabricated and conceived in the rich and varied arts and crafts tradition,” according to juror Adrienne Scott. Through 12/4. Also, Small Works, a jury-free exhibit of 12-inch x 12-inch artworks. Through 12/31. 450 Orange St. chicoartcenter.com

GATEWAY SCIENCE MUSEUM: From Earthquakes to Epidemics, an exploration of the impact of natural and man-made disasters and pandemics in California, using the humanities as a lens to give context to the impacts of recent and historic disasters in the Golden State. Through 12/17. $5-$7. 625 Esplanade. www.csuchico.edu/gateway

MUSEUM OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ART: Black Voices in Art and Footsteps to You,

contemporary art created by Northern California Black artists; a collaboration with Butte County Office of Education and Black Voice Foundation. Through 12/4. 900 Esplanade. monca.org

THE TURNER: Making Her Mark, celebrating women printmakers in the Turner collection, investigating the links between women’s work and artistic labor. Through 12/17. Arts & Humanities Building, Chico State. www.csuchico.edu/turner

Holiday fun

CHICO ICE RINK: The plaza is transformed into a winter wonderland for the season. Through 1/9. $4-$8. City Plaza, downtown Chico. (530) 345-6500. downtownchico.com

PARADISE ICE RINK: The annual holiday tradition returns to Paradise. Through-1/2. $14. Terry Ashe Recreation Center, 6626 Skyway, Paradise. paradiseprpd.com

SANTA AT CHICO MARKETPLACE: Santa is at his holiday shop (next to American Eagle) for visits and photos. Through 12/24. Check website for schedule. Chico Marketplace, 1950 E. 20th St. (530) 343-0706. shopchicomarket place.com

with Holiday Season Festivities

Markets

FARMERS MARKETS: Butte County’s markets are open and selling fresh produce and more. Chico: Downtown (Saturdays, 7:30am-1pm); North Valley Plaza (Wednesdays, 8am-1pm); Chico State University Farm (Thursdays, noon-4 p.m.). Magalia: Magalia Community Center (Sundays, 10am). Paradise: Alliance Church (Tuesdays, 7:30am-2pm); “Farmers Market Mobile,” 1397 South Park Drive (Thursdays, 2pm).

Open Mics & Karaoke

CASINO COMEDY NIGHT: Live comedy every other Thursday at the Spirits Lounge in the casino. Thursdays, 8pm. Gold Country Casino & Hotel, 4020 Olive Highway, Oroville. goldcountrycasino.com

COMEDY THURSDAY: Weekly comedy show and open mic hosted by Dillon Collins. Thursdays, 8pm. Free. Bella’s Sports Pub, 231 Main St. (530) 520-0119.

GNARAOKE: Karaoke hosted by Donna & Mike. Thursdays, 7pm. Free. Gnarly Deli, 243 W. Second St.

OPEN MIC AT THE DOWNLO: Hosted by Jeff Pershing. Sign up to perform two songs. All

ages until 10pm. Fridays, 6:30pm. Free. The DownLo, 319 Main St.

OPEN MIC COMEDY: Open mic comedy night hosted by Dillon Collins. Wednesdays, 9pm. (Sign-ups 8pm.) Free. Studio Inn Lounge, 2582 Esplanade. (530) 520-0119.

SECRET TRAIL OPEN MIC: Weekly event at the brewery. Wednesdays, 6pm. Secret Trail Brewing Company, 132 Meyers St., Ste. 120.

Theater

ANOTHER NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS: Santa is staying over, whether you want him to or not, in this modern holiday musical. Thurs.-Sat., 7:30pm; Sun., 2pm, tbrough 12/18. $22-$25. Chico Theater Company, 166 Eaton Road, Ste. F. chicotheater.com

A FAMILY CHRISTMAS CABARET: California Regional Theatre presents a variety show of holiday music faves. Thu-Sat, 12/15-17, 7:30pm & Sun, 12/18, 2pm. $18-$20. First Street Theatre, 139 W. First St. crtshows.com

A FRESH INK CHRISTMAS: Four writers—Allison Fradkin, Jennifer Foreman, Lola Parks and Sam Lucas—submit one-acts for this holiday-themed version of the Blue Room’s Fresh Ink contest. Thu-Sat, 8pm, through 12/17. Blue Room Theatre, 1005 W. First St.

BIZARRE BAZAAR

Dec. 3-4 Silver Dollar Fairgrounds

IS YOUR EVENT LIVE?

SAT3

Special Events

BUTTE COUNTY TOY RUN: All motorcyclists welcome for annual Christmas toy drive/run. Call for info. Sat, 12/3, 9:30am. Silver Dollar Fairgrounds, 2357 Fair St.

CHIKOKO’S BIZARRE BAZAAR: Chikoko arts/fashion collective hosts its annual craft, art, food, etc., holiday vendor market. Sat, 12/3, 10am. Silver Dollar Fairgrounds, 2357 Fair St. (530) 895-4666. chikoko.com

GLORIOUS SOUNDS OF THE SEASON: See Dec. 2. Sat, 12/3, 7:30pm. $20. Harlen Adams Theatre, Chico State, PAC 144. 530-898-6333. csuchico. edu/soa

HOLIDAY IN PARADISE: A holiday music and performance fest with Paradise Community Chorus and Paradise Symphony Orchestra. Sat, 12/3, 7pm. $15. Paradise Performing Arts Center, 777 Nunneley Road, Paradise. paradise symphony.org

STANSBURY HOME VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS: See Dec. 2. Sat, 12/3, 12pm. Stansbury Home, Fifth & Salem Streets. thestansburyhome.com

Music

BRITTANY AND THE BLISSTONES: Live island pop/ folk from Brittany and the band. Sat, 12/3, 4:30pm. Free. The Barn at Meriam Park , 1930 Market Place. meriampark.com

WHEY JENNINNGS: His grandfather was the legendary Waylon Jennings, his grandmother Jessi Colter, and Whey is bringing his pedigree and rough-around-the-edges barroom country to the Box. Sat, 12/3, 9pm. $30-$35. Tackle Box, 379 E. Park Ave. tackleboxchico.com

SUN4

Special Events

CHIKOKO’S BIZARRE BAZAAR: See Dec. 3. Sun, 12/4, 10am. Silver Dollar Fairgrounds, 2357 Fair St. (530) 895-4666. chikoko.com

GLORIOUS SOUNDS OF THE SEASON: See Dec. 2. Sun, 12/4, 2pm. $20. Harlen Adams Theatre, Chico State, PAC 144. 530-898-6333. csuchico.edu/soa

HOLIDAY IN PARADISE: See Dec. 3. Sun, 12/4, 2pm. $15. Paradise Performing Arts Center, 777 Nunneley Road, Paradise. paradise symphony.org

STANSBURY HOME VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS: See Dec. 2. Sun, 12/4, 1pm. Stansbury Home, Fifth & Salem Streets. thestansburyhome.com

Music

JOE PRATT: Solo set. Sun, 12/4, 3pm. Secret Trail Brewing Company, 132 Meyers St., Suite 120,.

GARLANDS & GARTERS

Dec. 10 El Rey Theater

DOWNTOWN OROVILLE TREE LIGHTING: Carriage rides, Santa, caroling and the lighting of the tree. Fri, 12/2, 4pm. $5. Oroville Convention Center, Oroville. (530) 552-1233. orovillechamber.biz

GLORIOUS SOUNDS OF THE SEASON: The Chico holiday tradition features music and other performances presented in kaleidoscope, with players from all student and faculty ensembles performing in all parts of the theater. Fri, 12/2, 7:30pm. $20. Harlen Adams Theatre, Chico State, PAC 144. 530-898-6333. csuchico.edu/soa

NOVEMBEARD BASH 2022: The Chico Beard Collective’s annual fundraiser culminates after one month with the measuring and the shaving. Tribute band Van Hagar performs. Fri, 12/2, 7pm. $10. Chico Eagles Lodge, 1940 Mulberry St.

STANSBURY HOME VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS: Santa, entertainment, spiced cider, homemade cookies, holiday raffle and Victorian decorations. Fri, 12/2, 6pm. Stansbury Home, Fifth & Salem Streets. thestansburyhome.com

Music

BAD BUNNY PARTY: Celebrate the music of the Puerto Rican rapper with JMax Productions. Fri, 12/2, 9pm. $12. Om on the Range, 301 Main St. jmaxproductions.net

CHARLIE ROBINSON TRIBUTE NIGHT: A tribute show to honor Chico guitar legend, Charlie Robinson, with dozens of local musicians and many former students performing. Fri, 12/2, 6:30pm. $25. Chico Women’s Club, 592 E. Third St. eventbrite.com

DUFFY’S HAPPY HOUR: The Pub Scouts bring traditional Irish music weekly to Duffy’s. Fri, 12/2, 5pm. Free. Duffy’s Tavern, 337 Main Street. 530-343-7718.

LANGDON KENNEDY: Live music. Fri, 12/2, 5:30pm. Odyssey Winery & Vineyards, 6237 Cohasset Road.

LIVE MUSIC IN THE LOUNGE: Live music and DJs for dancing in Spirits Lounge. Fri, 12/2, 8:30pm. Free. Gold Country Casino & Hotel, 4020 Olive Highway, Oroville. goldcountry casino.com

OLDEGARD, WEST BY SWAN, VIKING SKATE COUNTRY: East Bay anarcho folk rockers Oldegard join Chico noisy crews West by Swan and Viking Skate Country. Fri, 12/2, 7pm. $10. Naked Lounge, 118 W. Second St.

CALIFORNIA COUNTRY: Free live country music in the pub. Sat, 12/3, 10:15pm. Free. Feather Falls Casino & Lodge, 3 Alverda Drive, Oroville. featherfallscasino.com

LIVE MUSIC IN THE LOUNGE: Live music and DJs for dancing in Spirits Lounge. Sat, 12/3, 8:30pm. Free. Gold Country Casino & Hotel, 4020 Olive Highway, Oroville. goldcountrycasino.com

TAYLOR SWIFT NIGHT: Celebrate the music of the pop star with DJ Blade Trip. Sat, 12/3, 8pm. $13. Senator Theatre, 517 Main St. jmaxproductions.net

JOSIAH JOHNSON: Formerly of The Head and the Heart, Josiah Johnson performs an intimate set inside. Seth Prinz opens. Sun, 12/4, 7pm. $12. Argus Bar + Patio, 212 W. Second St.

TUE6

Music

SPOON BENDERS & KADABRA: Portland noisemakers Spoon Benders and Spokane’s Kadabra put on a proper rock show for the holidays. Local Vik Whistle opens. Tue, 12/6, 9pm. Duffy’s Tavern, 337 Main St.

THU8

Music

HIPPY HAPPY HOUR: Live music during happy hour by Doug Stein, Bryan Gravy, and a rotating cast of local musicians. Thu, 12/8, 4pm. Free. Om on the Range, 301 Main St.

FRI9

Special Events

PSYCHEDELIC PSHYO: Tom Bomb host this show with comedians taking psychedelics before their stand-up sets. Presented by Funnyball. Fri, 12/9, 8pm. $10. Gnarly Deli, 243 W. Second St.

Music

DUFFY’S HAPPY HOUR: The Pub Scouts bring traditional Irish music weekly to Duffy’s. Fri, 12/9, 5pm. Free. Duffy’s Tavern, 337 Main Street. 530-343-7718.

GOOD OL’ BOYZ: Country rap live. Fri, 12/9, 9pm. $10-$15. Tackle Box, 379 E. Park Ave. tackleboxchico.com

LIVE MUSIC IN THE LOUNGE: Live music and DJs for dancing in Spirits Lounge. Fri, 12/9, 8:30pm. Free. Gold Country Casino & Hotel, 4020 Olive Highway, Oroville. goldcountry casino.com

WALKER & ROYCE: EDM party presented by EPIC Productions. Fri, 12/9, 8pm. $20-$30. El Rey Theater, 230 W. Second St. elreychico.com

SAT10

Special Events

GARLANDS AND GARTERS: A jolly, naughty, 21-plus burlesque and drag variety show with

performances by Malteasers, The Stardust Revue and more. Sat, 12/10, 7:30pm. $20$25. El Rey Theater, 230 W. Second St. elreychico.com

OROVILLE PARADE OF LIGHTS: A hometown Christmas in historic downtown Oroville with floats, vehicles, horses, music and Santa riding a fire truck. Free. Downtown Oroville. Sat, 12/10, 6pm. Downtown, Oroville. visitoroville.com

Music

ANYTHING FOR SELENA: Free live Selena covers in the pub. Sat, 12/10, 10:15pm. Free. Feather Falls Casino & Lodge, 3 Alverda Drive, Oroville. featherfallscasino.com

BASSMINT: Dance to bass music every second Saturday night. Sat, 12/10, 9pm. Om on the Range, 301 Main St. facebook.com

CHUCK EPPERSON BAND: Live set by long-time Chico musician. Sat, 12/10, 4:30pm. Free. The Barn at Meriam Park, 1930 Market Place. meriampark.com

LIVE MUSIC IN THE LOUNGE: Live music and DJs for dancing in Spirits Lounge. Sat, 12/10, 8:30pm. Free. Gold Country Casino & Hotel, 4020 Olive Highway, Oroville. goldcountrycasino.com

SUN11

Special Events

BLOOM MARKETPLACE HOLIDAY MARKET: Holiday faire with 30-plus local makers, crafters, designers, artists and their handmade and small-batch goods. Sun, 12/11, 12pm. Free. The Barn at Meriam Park, 1930 Market Place. meriampark.com

HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR BY DIVINE SUNDAYS: Holistic market with crafts for the holidays. Plus, Santa! Sun, 12/11, 11am. Chico Women’s Club, 592 E. Third St.

Music

PETER WILSON WITH BOB LITTEL: Local guitar and harmonica duo. Sun, 12/11, 3pm. Secret Trail Brewing Company, 132 Meyers St., Suite 120.

TOMMY EMMANUEL: A longtime fave of North State music fans, the Australian acousticguitar virtuoso returns to Chico. Guest guitarist Mike Dawes joins him on the Laxson stage. Sun, 12/11, 7:30pm. $30-$46. Laxson Auditorium, Chico State. (530) 8986333. chicoperformances.com

TUE13

Music

THE MAVERICKS: The Mavericks’ holiday show features the band’s Christmas originals as well as other holiday favorites. Featuring roots-rock prodigy JD McPherson. Tue, 12/13, 7:30pm. $50-$72. Laxson Auditorium, Chico State, 530-898-6333, chicoperfor mances.com

THU15

Music

ARGUS XMAS SHOW: The downtown bar’s annual holiday party, featuring the dueling piano magic of the Kelly Twins. Thu, 12/15, 8pm. $25-$50. Argus Bar + Patio, 212 W. Second St. facebook.com

HIPPY HAPPY HOUR: Live music during happy hour by Doug Stein, Bryan Gravy, and a

rotating cast of local musicians. Thu, 12/15, 4pm. Free. Om on the Range, 301 Main St. facebook.com

THE SUN FOLLOWERS: Local duo featuring Ben Ruttenburg and Samantha Francis. Thu, 12/15, 4:30pm. Free. The Barn at Meriam Park, 1930 Market Place. meriampark.com

FRI16

Special Events

THE NUTCRACKER: Northern California Ballet’s production of the traditional holiday production that follows Clara through the Land of Sweets to the tune of Tchaikovsky’s iconic score. Fri, 12/16, 7:15pm. Paradise Performing Arts Center, 777 Nunneley Road, Paradise. paradiseperformingarts.com

Music

ACHILLES WHEEL: The Nor-Cal psychedelic rock/ bluegrass crew returns to Chico. Fri, 12/16, 6:30pm. $15. Chico Women’s Club, 592 E. Third St. eventbrite.com

DUFFY’S HAPPY HOUR: The Pub Scouts bring traditional Irish music weekly to Duffy’s. Fri, 12/16, 5pm. Free. Duffy’s Tavern, 337 Main Street. 530-343-7718.

LIVE MUSIC IN THE LOUNGE: Live music and DJs for dancing in Spirits Lounge. Fri, 12/16, 8:30pm. Free. Gold Country Casino & Hotel, 4020 Olive Highway, Oroville. goldcountry casino.com

SAT17

Special Events

CHICO COMMUNITY BAND - HOLIDAY CONCERT: The Community Band’s annual winter holiday concert of family-friendly festive tunes. Sat, 12/17, 7pm. Free. Barn at Meriam Park, 1930 Market Place. meriampark.com

THE NUTCRACKER: See Dec. 16. Sat, 12/17, 2:15pm & 7:15 p.m. Paradise Performing Arts Center, 777 Nunneley Rd., Paradise. paradiseperformingarts.com

Music

THE NUTCRACKER

Dec. 16-18

Paradise Performing Arts Center

rotating cast of local musicians. Thu, 12/22, 4pm. Free. Om on the Range, 301 Main St.

FRI23

Music

DUFFY’S HAPPY HOUR: The Pub Scouts bring traditional Irish music weekly to Duffy’s. Fri, 12/23, 5pm. Free. Duffy’s Tavern, 337 Main Street. 530-343-7718.

LIVE MUSIC IN THE LOUNGE: Live music and DJs for dancing in Spirits Lounge. Fri, 12/23, 8:30pm. Free. Gold Country Casino & Hotel, 4020 Olive Highway, Oroville. goldcountry casino.com

SPAZMATICS: The ultimate 80’s tribute band. Fri, 12/23, 10pm. Free. Feather Falls Casino & Lodge, 3 Alverda Drive, Oroville. featherfalls casino.com

THU29

Music

HIPPY HAPPY HOUR: Live music during happy hour by Doug Stein, Bryan Gravy, and a rotating cast of local musicians. Thu, 12/29, 4pm. Free. Om on the Range, 301 Main St.

SEASON OF Charity

LIVE MUSIC IN THE LOUNGE: Live music and DJs for dancing in Spirits Lounge. Sat, 12/17, 8:30pm. Free. Gold Country Casino & Hotel, 4020 Olive Highway, Oroville. goldcountry casino.com

MR. CROWLEY: Ozzy & Black Sabbath covers in the pub. Sat, 12/17, 10:15pm. Free. Feather Falls Casino & Lodge, 3 Alverda Drive, Oroville. featherfallscasino.com

SUN18

Special Events

THE NUTCRACKER: See Dec. 16. Sun, 12/18, 2:15pm & 7:15pm. Paradise Performing Arts Center, 777 Nunneley Rd., Paradise. paradise performingarts.com

Music

THE SUN FOLLOWERS: A holiday-themed set. Sun, 12/18, 3pm. Secret Trail Brewing Company, 132 Meyers St., Ste. 120.

MON19

Special Events

NOCHEBUENA - A CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR: Artistic directors Kareli Montoya (Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles) and Jaime Cuéllar have created a holiday experience celebrating the traditions and customs of Christmas in Mexico with an all-star cast of musicians and dancers. Mon, 12/19, 7:30pm. $25-$46. Laxson Auditorium, Chico State, 530-898-6333. chicoperformances.com

THU22

Music

HIPPY HAPPY HOUR: Live music during happy hour by Doug Stein, Bryan Gravy, and a

SUGARHILL GANG: The OG rap crew is “gonna move you outta this atmosphere” at the Box. Thu, 12/29, 9pm. $25-$30. Tackle Box, 379 E. Park Ave. tackleboxchico.com

FRI30

Music

DUFFY’S HAPPY HOUR: The Pub Scouts bring traditional Irish music weekly to Duffy’s. Fri, 12/30, 5pm. Free. Duffy’s Tavern, 337 Main Street. 530-343-7718.

NEON VELVET: 1980s dance music in the pub. Fri, 12/30, 10pm. Free. Feather Falls Casino & Lodge, 3 Alverda Drive, Oroville. featherfalls casino.com

SAT31

Music

NEW YEAR’S EVE WITH DECADES: Butte County’s favorite cover band plays for the NYE crowd at the casino. Sat, 12/31, 10:15pm. Feather Falls Casino & Lodge, 3 Alverda Drive, Oroville. featherfallscasino.com

NIGHT RANGER: Night Ranger, known for its megahits “Sister Christian,” “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” and “When You Close Your Eyes,” performs for New Year’s Eve bash at the casino. Sat, 12/31. $59-$79. Gold Country Casino & Hotel, 4020 Olive Highway, Oroville. goldcountrycasino.com

SUN1

Special Events

POLAR BEAR PLUNGE: A loosely organized local ritual. Show up before 1pm at the One-Mile pool and have a pal waiting with a towel on the other side. Sun, 1/1, 1pm. Sycamore Pool, Bidwell Park.

The holidays ring pretty hollow if all they are about is presents and good cheer. For many, this time of year is especially tough. If you’re looking for somewhere to donate money, supplies or your time as a volunteer, plenty of places could use the help: Chico Housing Action Team: Visit chicohousingactionteam.net or call 530-399-3965 for more info.

Far Northern Regional Center: 530-895-8633, farnorthernrc.org.

Jesus Center (including the Pallet Shelter): Call 530-345-2640 or visit jesuscenter.org for info.

North Valley Community Foundation: Visit nvcf.org or call 530-891-1150 to donate and for more information.

Safe Space Winter Shelter: Check online at safespacechico.org and follow on Facebook.

Salvation Army: Info: chico.sal vationarmy.org; 800-SAL-ARMY.

6th Street Center for Youth: Call or visit site—530-894-8008; 6thstreetcenter.org.

True North Housing Alliance (including the Torres Community Shelter): 530-891-9048, truenorthbutte.org

Youth for Change: 530-877-1965, youth4change.org.

Advice from the landfill

BY ANH NGUYEN

From operating the Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility to implementing programs that divert waste from landfills, the Butte County Public Works Waste Management Division provides friendly advice to correctly dispose of and recycle your holiday trash.

“Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility (NRRWF) typically receives about 7 tons of cardboard per month, but in January it doubles, likely because of online shopping,” Solid Waste Division Manager Eric Miller says. “Before throwing the cardboard in the recycling bin, we ask customers to flatten the cardboard.”

Recycling 1 ton of cardboard can save 390 kWh of energy, about 46 gallons of oil and around 6.6 million BTU’s of energy, according to Waste Management’s website. Waste Management, a private waste collection and recycling company, serves Chico and other areas throughout Butte County.

The NRRWF recycles cardboard but not packaging waste, such as plastic shrink-wrap, bubble wrap or Styrofoam. “We recommend that customers call local shipping stores to see whether they can reuse bubble wrap,” Miller says.

Considering eco-friendly gift wrapping? Wrap gifts in scarves, sheets, tablecloths and even paper bags to reduce wrapping paper waste. “Wrapping paper and tissue paper are recyclable and can be put in your recycle bin,” according to Recycling Coordinator Valerie Meza.

“Another waste stream that increases after the holidays includes covered electronic waste such as computers

and TVs,” Miller says. “We have seen a 12% increase in electronic waste the last few years.”

During COVID, more people upgraded their electronic equipment, like TVs and laptops, for both working and entertainment purposes.

“We promote the reuse of usable TVs, furniture or appliances that are in good condition,” Meza says. “You can donate (unused clothes and old furniture) to the Restore Housing for Habitat, Goodwill, Salvation Army or similar organizations. Or sell usable homewares on either Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.”

Christmas trees at its green waste facility in Paradise; Waste Management and Recology will accept curbside Christmas tree pick up though January throughout their service areas in Butte County. Boy Scouts Troop 2 in Chico will collect and recycle Christmas trees by appointment. Contact Boy Scout Troop 2 at https://www.troop2chico.com/christmas-tree-pickup.

Also consider ways to reduce or divert food waste from those holiday feasts. The California Department of Food and Agriculture reports that approximately 6 million tons of food waste is annually discarded. Non-perishable foods (foods in unopened cans or boxes) may be donated to local food banks.

ERIC MILLER

How about ‘holiday’ green waste? Remember to dispose of your Christmas tree and your wreath by removing wire and plastic, tinsel, lights and ornaments before throwing your wreath and tree in your green waste bin.

Northern Recycling and Waste Services will accept

Though food waste is compostable, it should not be mixed into your green waste bin. And be careful with what you put in your recycle bin. Used foil from food preparation, plastic utensils, plates and cups from restaurants may not be recyclable even though some products are advertised to be compostable. Cartons that contain a mix of plastic and foil are not recyclable.

The holiday season is usually a time when many householders clean up their homes and replace old items. This holiday season start new family traditions. Upcycle old goods for resale or reuse. Generate less trash. And reduce your food waste. Changing these behaviors will not only save you money, but will also help conserve environmental resources and extend landfill life.

Self-service recycling bin at the NRRWF which accepts flattened cardboard only. NRRWF cannot recycle Styrofoam, plastic shrink wrap, or bubble wrap.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BUTTE COUNTY PUBLIC WORKS /NRRWF

‘Just play music’

I n 1945, Charlie Robinson scored his first guitar gig, playing Saturday night dances at The Diamond Springs Hotel, in the heart of California’s Gold Country, for $5 a week.

by Ken Smith

kens@ newsreview.com

Preview:

Charlie Robinson Tribute Night, featuring performances by former students and fellow musicians.

Dec. 2, 6:30 p.m. Pre-sale is sold out; limited number of standing-roomonly tix at door.

Chico Women’s Club

592 E. Third St.

Charlie Robinson Friends and Fan Page (featuring links to recordings and videos): facebook.com/groups/ 3383107251978860

“The band was booked to play from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., but I could only play until midnight because of the child labor laws,” Robinson said during a recent phone interview.

“I was only 12 years old at the time.”

Robinson played thousands more gigs in the intervening eight decades and has taught the instrument for more than 60 years, earning a reputation as the North State’s preeminent axeman while inspiring and instructing generations of players. Though primar-

ily a jazz musician, Robinson is accomplished in other genres and is well known for carrying guitar duties on the old Moriss Taylor country-music variety television show.

As he prepares to celebrate his 89th birthday this month (Dec. 10), a number of fresh efforts celebrating his contributions to local music are underway, including a sold-out tribute show at the Chico Women’s Club (Dec. 2), newly remastered recordings made available on the internet, and a Facebook group (Charlie Robinson Friends and Fans Page) chronicling these efforts and highlights from his storied career.

“Charlie has been a huge inspiration for my teaching and playing,” local musician and educator Peter Berkow said. “A lot of other people in town

have also been inspired by him, musically and as a human being. He lives life right.”

Banding together

Berkow is part of a group of Robinson’s fans/friends/fellow musicians spearheading these efforts, along with other local music luminaries Bob Littell, Bruce MacMillan, David Elke and Tom Haber. Berkow credits Haber with the original idea of paying tribute to the venerated Robinson and said the group came together with a few phone calls, with each man bringing expertise and ideas to the table.

The Dec. 2 event, presented by Chico Concerts, will feature the men spearheading the tribute as well as dozens of other musicians Robinson has shared the stage with, including several of his students. Berkow said many

participants will be traveling from all over the country to perform. Several more Robinson devotees have volunteered to emcee the event and record the audio and visual action.

The Facebook page, launched in mid-October, features photos and video footage from Robinson’s career as well as personal reflections from those who know him. Local musician Kevin Killion is an administrator on the page and is helping to curate that portion of the efforts.

Elke began taking lessons with Robinson in the mid-1990s and for several years taught guitar at Butte College—the same classes that Robinson himself taught during the school’s early days, at its original Durham campus. Elke developed and heads the school’s recording arts program and figured his skills were best directed toward preserving and sharing Robinson’s music.

“I realized that, after all these years, I didn’t have any recordings of Charlie,” he said, “so I went on a mission to find everything I could.”

Elke started at online music depository/marketplace Discogs and found a vinyl album from 1982 called The Fusion Trio, featuring Robinson with bassist Kevin Axt and drummer Lew Langworthy. A call-out on social media led to people handing over “all kinds of random cassette tapes and old CDs.”

He eventually gathered six albums, which he re-recorded in order to enhance the sound and remastered to high resolution. Then, he enlisted the help of his partner, Lisa Langley, to do new artwork for the albums, which have been uploaded to YouTube and Archive.org and are available to stream or download.

Elke said he also found some live recordings of Robinson and crew playing a dance at a local venue and of what seem to be practice recordings for some of the albums. He doesn’t plan to release those but also has uploaded to YouTube videos of Robinson giving lessons and being interviewed by Elke.

Considering Robinson’s unquestionable skill and busy performing

schedule in years past, it’s not a large body of recorded work. Elke credits this to Robinson’s relatively shy and modest demeanor, qualities that led Moriss Taylor to nickname him “Bashful Charlie.”

“Knowing him for 30 years, from what I understand, he just cares about playing guitar,” Elke said. “He didn’t care about being in a band or trying to get famous or playing with famous musicians; he just wanted to play guitar and practice all the time. He just wanted to get better and better at guitar. And he did.”

Living legacy

Robinson’s legendary modesty remains intact. Asked how he feels about these recent efforts, he let out an “Aw, shucks”-chuckle and said, “I haven’t even got the words to say how much I appreciate it, man.”

“He always goes, ‘Oh man, I can’t believe they’re doing all that,’” the guitarist’s daughter, Ja-Key Robinson, said. “He’s never been really demonstrative with his feelings, but he has these little catchphrases that let you know he’s really tickled by all of it.”

Ja-Key is far less stoic: “To us he’s just our dad,” she said. “We forget sometimes what he means to the community, and it’s wonderful to be reminded. It’s huge, and it’s overwhelming, and it brings me to tears.”

She said the support and appreciation for Charlie comes at an important time, as her father faces functional decline at his advanced age. Still, he kept teaching lessons at Music Connection until August and continues to give online lessons—despite the fact he finds it harder and harder to play the instrument he’s devoted his life to.

Yet, he has no regrets: “I can satisfy myself with that because I’ve had a good 80 years with it, and not too many guys have that. ... I’m really appreciative of the time because I’ve learned so much, I can’t even believe it, so much good stuff about music.

“It’s so much fun, it a great outlet, and you learn a lot, about music and about people. I tell you, if you want a lesson in life, man, just play music.”

Devotees salute local guitar legend Charlie Robinson

Charlie Robinson

PHOTO BY ALAN SHECKTER

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‘The envelopes, please ...’

Welcome to the 15th edition of Art DEVO’s annual local arts and culture awards ceremony. The envelopes, please …

by Jason Cassidy jasonc@ newsreview.com

Best news:

The scene is back

How good did it feel to order that first pint or cappucinno, sit down with others likewise imbibing and just be normal? If you’re like me, then the first few postCOVID-restriction events were dicey as you tried to navigate socializing and breathing with others again, but it appears most of us are back in playing shape.

The producers have been producing something fierce, with full schedules at Chico State (Chico Performances, School of the Arts), JMax Productions, El Rey Theatre, the community theaters and local galleries. The independent promoters kept Chico’s clubs stocked with touring and local acts—Outpatient Records at Argus; Valley Fever at Duffy’s and Naked Lounge; and both Chico Concerts and KZFR at Chico Women’s Club.

It’s devastating to have lost some of the key community outlets—Maltese Bar & Tap Room, La Salles (final day Dec. 11), Tin Roof Bakery & Cafe, et al.—and there’s still no word as to when live music will return to the Sierra Nevada Big Room. It’s also a huge bummer to hear that The Yule Logs, the hardest working band in snow biz, have called it quits.

But it is heartening to see so many new or revamped businesses providing food and/or fun! Om Foods (now Om on the Range) has a new, bigger home, and joined Naked Lounge and Secret Trail Brewing Co. in building a new stage for live music. Gnarly Deli, The Roost, Sicilian Cafe and Music Connection all moved downtown. The Farmers Brewing Co. pub is open; Winchester Goose re-opened in new, bigger digs; Bill’s Towne Lounge turned into the Asian/fusion cocktail lounge The Bowery; and a bunch of new restaurants— Lili’s Brazilian Bistro, Halal Boss Smokehouse, Savor Ice Cream, DeMilio’s Italian Deli & Bakery, etc.— have broadened the local palate.

Best feel-really-good story:

Pat Hull

One minute, Chico’s favorite musical son was on the soccer pitch; the next, he was in the ICU fighting to recover from a subarachnoid hemorrhage. A month later, he was almost completely back on his feet, and this fall he was back with his band and back on stage celebrating the release of a lovely new album, et al. (available at pathull. bandcamp.com). Here’s one (out of context) line from the subdued piano song “Tailspin”: I lived and died, and

lived again, cursed myself, and sang a sigh/ Oh to see the small delights

Best local artist: Chloe Brandii

If you release two albums (People and People Pleaser), star in lead roles of sold-out musicals (Arial in The Little Mermaid; Maria in West Side Story) and garner millions (!) of TikTok views of your singing, you are doing something right. If you do all that by your 18th birthday, you just win.

Best way to honor a local legend:

Charlie Robinson Friends and Fans

The local guitar legend has had health issues as of late, and the music community that’s been inspired, and often trained, by him is supporting him in multiple ways: a tribute show (Dec. 2 at Chico Women’s Club); a remastering of his various recordings (by local engineer/ guitar stud Dave Elke); and a donation drive and socialmedia campaign on Robinson’s behalf. (For more on the man and the plan, see “Just play music,” page 25.)

Best local album:

Beyond the Gate, Henry Crook Bird

The best kind of folk music—telling moving stories with twangy plainspoken vocals and impressive acoustic guitar finger-picking. henrycrookbird.bandcamp.com

Best local songs:

“Clear,” by Scout; “In Between,” by Madde; “Race the Sun,” by Henry Crook Bird

Best live theater:

Death Clock Paradox, the garage production of an “original play with music” by local playwright Wade Gess; Legacy Stage’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, bringing Shakespeare back into Bidwell Park; and Dracula: A Musical with Bite, Amber Miller’s reworking of the classic vampire tale with a cast of local musicians and a sold-out run at Theatre on the Ridge.

Best art shows:

Sisko Lives at MONCA; Chikoko’s Pod at 1078 Gallery

In memorium:

Jeff Wozena (1/3/22), local musician

Jim Walker (6/18/22), former Chico vice mayor; parks commissioner

Tom Nickell (7/19/22), former Chico vice mayor; CARD board member; parks commissioner

Dan Grover (7/27/22), accessibility advocate; live music fanatic

Reed Applegate (8/29/22), art collector/patron; MONCA benefactor

Randal Ahlswede (9/21/22), local musician

Carey Wilson (9/27/22), Chico’s drummer Ω

White Lotus, westerns, windmills

Rich assortment of entertainment now streaming

Robert). Nichola McAuliffe plays the witchy Black Eyed Mog with eerie zest, and Rafe Spall scalds as the blighted David Melmont, another Brit run appallingly amuck in the Wild West. Gary Farmer plays a cheerfully duplicitous store owner, a Kickapoo named Clarke.

Out in the Open, a stark and gripping 2019 Spanish film (HBO Max), has been described as a “Spanish western”—which is true enough, up to a point. Set in 1946 and filmed almost entirely in the rugged terrain of Andalusia, it’s also a coming-of-age tale with elements of revenge tragedy and political parable threaded in.

Spanish tradition of the picaresque novel, with its rascals and rogue heroes, also looms large. That’s evident in the political and cultural undercurrents of the action, and director Benito Zambrano and his cast give it a special comic-dramatic intensity in the scenes where the characters, and the Kid especially, lie to each other while also trying to convey at least part of the urgent truth of the moment.

Young Jaime López is very effective as the Kid. Luis Tosar has an intense gravity as the Moor, an almost-broken man whose dignity, both fierce and humble, is unflagging. Capataz (played with smooth, chilling authority by Luis Callejo) is a superb study of an autocratic mindset fueled by a suave blend of sadism, narcissism and self-deception. The Kid’s fraught encounter with a legless beggar (Vicente Romero) at an abandoned ranch is a little masterpiece in its own right. Its surreal mixture of pathos and rage might seem a momentary resurrection of the cinema of Luis Buñuel.

Iwas late getting fully started on The White Lotus (HBO Max), but upon hearing that the start of Season 2 had a reference to Chico State in it, I went directly into that season premiere, then binged all of Season 1 in the days before the new season’s second episode aired. A scrambled entry, but it didn’t take long to get me hooked.

by Juan-Carlos Selznick

ing emphasis is on incisive and antic parallels and contrasts among the characters and their relationships. Most of the characters are American, but much of it, with its undercurrents of tender irony, works brightly as an intergenerational comedy of manners, with a lively touch of continental bedroom farce. Its wry, subtly shifting perspectives on its characters make it a comedy worth taking seriously.

The series is the creation of Mike White (School of Rock, Chuck & Buck, etc.). The first season is set is Hawaii, and the second moves on to southern Italy, but the central premise remains as before: a gaggle of tourists, families, lovers young and older, and assorted hangers-on caught up in a charmingly ironic series of emotional entanglements in and around a posh resort. It’s a dark-humored romantic comedy with a beguiling mixture of nuanced characterization and prickly satire.

Jennifer Coolidge, the lone major carryover from Season 1, is wonderful as a buffoonishly needy heiress in dogged pursuit of romance. But the scripts’ abid-

The English (BBC/Amazon Prime), a six-episode western set in Wyoming circa 1890, feels at times like a strange and intriguing hybrid as it comes to life in wild territory somewhere between classic westerns and Masterpiece Theatre. But, fear not, it more than makes the best of those paradoxical-sounding qualities.

As a western, it’s handsomely visualized and boldly plotted. Its Masterpiece aura is both circumstantial and crucial: The lead character and several others are English gentry, and while it’s got plenty of action and wide open spaces, its greatest dramatic power resides in superb exchanges of dialogue that sometimes seem almost Shakespearean.

Lady Cornelia Locke (an excellent Emily Blunt) has come to

America to track down the man she says has killed her son. From the outset, her progress is impeded by an assortment of villains (most of them either English or Irish), but she soon makes common cause of a sort with one Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer, also excellent), a Pawnee cavalry scout who has just finished his tour of duty when Lady Cornelia finds him held prisoner by redneck renegades. They become partners in peril, by turns protecting and/or rescuing each other. And, a seemingly predictable romance soon follows, albeit in mostly unexpected ways. The story confers hero status upon them both, but neither of them behaves like the stereotypical western hero.

British writer-director Hugo Blick has a fine cast on hand for the film’s gallery of paradoxical characters. Esteemed actors Ciarán Hinds and Toby Jones are very sharp as fearsome blackguards in the opening episode. Irish actor Stephen Rea, looking suitably uncomfortable in cowboy togs, plays an equivocating sheriff named Marshall (first name:

The central characters are a child, a shepherd and an autocratic landowner. Known only as “the Kid,” the child is a runaway, a fledgling rebel fleeing the life of a peasant family trapped in indentured servitude. The escape runs into difficulties right from the start, but the Kid soon finds himself in the somewhat precarious company of a rough-hewn sheepherder, a gruffly philosophical loner known to the locals as “the Moor.” In his curmudgeonly avuncular way, and by fits and starts, the Moor becomes the Kid’s part-time protector, mentor and role model. All the while, Capataz, the dictatorial landowner, is in hot pursuit of the both of them, especially the Kid, whom he views as a cherished possession.

Based on a novella by Jesús Carrasco, this “western” feels a little like a compact, transplanted variation on Huckleberry Finn, but with rural post-Civil War Spain as the backdrop. Nevertheless, the

In The True Don Quixote (multiple streaming services), Danny Kehoe (Tim Blake Nelson) is an adventure-loving librarian in rural Louisiana. In the midst of an emotional crisis, he becomes convinced he’s the modern incarnation of Cervantes’s Don Quixote and, with his saturnine buddy Kevin (Jacob Batalon) serving as his squire “Sancho Panza,” launches into a DIY string of Quixotic misadventures in and around the local parish. It’s a homely little indie comedy (written and directed by Chris Poche), but with special help from Nelson’s performance, it comes across with enough humor, irony and pathos to give it a quixotic vitality of its own.

The True Don Quixote

Jennifer Coolidge is Tanya McQuoid-Hunt in HBO’s The White Lotus.

ARTS DEVO

by JASON CASSIDY • jasonc@newsreview.com

YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE ARTS Arts DEVO’s mission for his 19-plus years at the Chico News & Review has been to completely own the arts scene, to be so juiced into all aspects of it— from the big-stage promoters to the small-stage sound guys—that the newspaper and the community would be inseparable. It’s been more difficult to maintain since the beginning of COVID, but I’m grateful (and pretty proud) of the fact that the paper has remained committed to the arts despite the lack of its usual resources.

Thanks to our advertisers, reader contributions and pandemic relief, the CN&R has been able to afford printing a monthly edition of this community newspaper (as well as publishing online) since the initial COVID shutdown. However, with the temporary federal monies now gone, we need to find additional sources to fund the paper.

The latest idea? Give Butte County more arts coverage.

The CN&R has proposed a partnership with our local public radio station, North State Public Radio, where we would provide the station with regular arts previews, reviews, interviews and calendar listings—local coverage that the CN&R already produces—for a fraction of what it would cost the station to produce it all from scratch.

Part of the pitch is to illustrate the paper’s hard-earned connection with this community. For 45 years, the CN&R has been the most trusted source for arts and cultural activities in Butte County. We’ve published countless previews of concerts, plays and exhibits; reviewed myriad restaurants, films and shows; written features on thousands of fascinating locals; and kept the county in the know with the most comprehensive arts and culture calendar in the North State. We have promoted the great venues, artists and complementary/supportive businesses through popular special issues (Best of Chico, Goin’ Chico, etc.) and special events (CAMMIES, Chico Beer Week, etc.).

All that to say that the CN&R has deposited a lot into Butte County’s cultural bank over the years, and now we are are reaching out to request a small withdrawal—not money, just a voice of support.

If you feel the CN&R has supported your local arts and you want it to continue doing so, consider adding your name to the effort. Visit chico.newsreview.com/chicoartscollab, read the proposal to NSPR/Cap Radio, see the current list of signees, and if you agree with this push to strengthen the area’s arts coverage and promote the local scene/economy, let us know by sending an email to chicoartscollab@newsreview.com.

Thanks!

Enjoy our scrumptious food menu as you experience an ever changing collection of artisan beers. Come check out our new expansion!

2070 E 20th STE 160 Chico, CA 95928 PHONE: 530-894-BEER (2337)

DEVOTIONS

One of the best times of year to see a show in Chico is around the holidays. It’s cooler out, folks are in a festive mood, and joining a local crowd in warm a bar is a great respite from pressures of the season, whether it’s for chill tunes or something more hectic. And there are some amazing options on the calendar: Dec. 1, 6:30 p.m.: The New Yorker magazine called Marisa Anderson “one of the most distinctive guitar players of her generation,” and she’s going to be playing an intimate show here at the Pageant Theatre with locals Donald Beaman and Cat Depot.

Dec. 4, 7 p.m.: Josiah Johnson, formerly of The Head and the Heart, at Argus Bar with opener Seth Prinz.

Dec. 6, 9 p.m.: A proper high-energy rock show at Duffy’s Tavern with Portland noisemakers Spoon Benders and Spokane’s Kadabra, plus Chico’s Vik Whistle opening.

CN&R presents CAMMIES 2019 at Sierra Nevada Big Room.

Marisa Anderson

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Journalist Hadley Freeman interviewed Aries actor William Shatner when he was 90. She was surprised to find that the man who played Star Trek’s Captain Kirk looked 30 years younger than his actual age. “How do you account for your robustness?” she asked him. “I ride a lot of horses, and I’m into the bewilderment of the world,” said Shatner. “I open my heart and head into the curiosity of how things work.” I suggest you adopt Shatner’s approach in the coming weeks, Aries. Be intoxicated with the emotional richness of mysteries and perplexities. Feel the joy of how unknowable and unpredictable everything is. Bask in the blessings of the beautiful and bountiful questions that life sends your way.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Of all the objects on Earth, which is most likely to be carelessly cast away and turned into litter? Cigarette butts, of course. That’s why an Indian entrepreneur named Naman Guota is such a revolutionary. Thus far, he has recycled and transformed over 300 million butts into mosquito repellant, toys, keyrings and compost, which he and his company have sold for over a million dollars. I predict that in the coming weeks, you will have a comparable genius for converting debris and scraps into useful, valuable stuff. You will be skilled at recycling dross. Meditate on how you might accomplish this metaphorically and psychologically.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Tips on how to be the best Gemini you can be in the coming weeks: 1. Think laterally or in spirals rather than straight lines. 2. Gleefully solve problems in your daydreams. 3. Try not to hurt anyone accidentally. Maybe go overboard in being sensitive and kind. 4. Cultivate even more variety than usual in the influences you surround yourself with. 5. Speak the diplomatic truth to people who truly need to hear it. 6. Make creative use of your mostly hidden side. 7. Never let people figure you out completely.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In my dream, I gathered with my five favorite astrologers to ruminate on your immediate future. After much discussion, we decided the following advice would be helpful for you in December. 1. Make the most useful and inspirational errors you’ve dared in a long time. 2. Try experiments that teach you interesting lessons even if they aren’t completely successful. 3. Identify and honor the blessings in every mess.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “All possible feelings do not yet exist,” writes Leo novelist Nicole Krauss in her book The History of Love “There are still those that lie beyond our capacity and our imagination. From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written, or something else impossible to predict, fathom, or yet describe takes place, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feeling, the heart surges and absorbs the impact.” I suspect that some of these novel moods will soon be welling up in you, Leo. I’m confident your heart will absorb the influx with intelligence and fascination.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo author Jeanette Winterson writes, “I have always tried to make a home for myself, but I have not felt at home in myself. I have worked hard at being the hero of my own life, but every time I checked the register of displaced persons, I was still on it. I didn’t know how to belong.

Longing? Yes. Belonging? No.” Let’s unpack Winterson’s complex testimony as it relates to you right now. I think you are closer than ever before to feeling at home in yourself—maybe not perfectly so, but more than in the past. I also suspect you have a greater-than-usual capacity for belonging. That’s why I invite you to be clear about what or whom you want to belong to and what your belonging will feel like.

One more thing: You now have extraordinary power to learn more about what it means to be the hero of your own life.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It’s tempting for you to entertain balanced views about every

BY ROB BREZSNY

subject. You might prefer to never come to definitive conclusions about anything, because it’s so much fun basking in the pretty glow of prismatic ambiguity. You love there being five sides to every story. I’m not here to scold you about this predilection. As a person with three Libran planets in my chart, I understand the appeal of considering all options. But I will advise you to take a brief break from this tendency. If you avoid making decisions in the coming weeks, they will be made for you by others. I don’t recommend that. Be proactive.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet David Whyte makes the surprising statement that “anger is the deepest form of compassion.” What does he mean? As long as it doesn’t result in violence, he says, “anger is the purest form of care. The internal living flame of anger always illuminates what we belong to, what we wish to protect, and what we are willing to hazard ourselves for.” Invoking Whyte’s definition, I will urge you to savor your anger in the coming days. I will invite you to honor and celebrate your anger and use it to guide your constructive efforts to fix some problem or ease some hurt. (Read more: tinyurl.com/AngerCompassion)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian comedian Margaret Cho dealt with floods of ignorant criticism while growing up. She testifies, “Being called ugly and fat and disgusting from the time I could barely understand what the words meant has scarred me so deep inside that I have learned to hunt, stalk, claim, own and defend my own loveliness.” You may not have ever experienced such extreme forms of disapproval, Sagittarius, but—like all of us—you have on some occasions been berated or undervalued simply for being who you are. The good news is that the coming months will be a favorable time to do what Cho has done: hunt, stalk, claim, own and defend your own loveliness. It’s time to intensify your efforts in this noble project.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The bad news: In 1998, Shon Hopwood was sentenced to 12 years in prison for committing bank robberies. The good news: While incarcerated, he studied law and helped a number of his fellow prisoners win their legal cases—including one heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. After his release, he became a full-fledged lawyer and is now a professor of law at Georgetown University. Your current trouble isn’t anywhere as severe as Hopwood’s was, Capricorn, but I expect your current kerfuffle could motivate you to accomplish a very fine redemption.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “I stopped going to therapy because I knew my therapist was right, and I wanted to keep being wrong,” writes poet Clementine von Radics. “I wanted to keep my bad habits like charms on a bracelet. I did not want to be brave.” Dear Aquarius, I hope you will do the opposite of her in the coming weeks. You are, I suspect, very near to a major healing. You’re on the verge of at least partially fixing a problem that has plagued you for a while. So please keep calling on whatever help you’ve been receiving. Maybe ask for even more support and inspiration from the influences that have been contributing to your slow, steady progress.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): As you have roused your personal power to defeat your fears in the past, what methods and approaches have worked best for you? Are there brave people who have inspired you? Are there stories and symbols that have taught you useful tricks? I urge you to survey all you have learned about the art of summoning extra courage. In the coming weeks, you will be glad you have this information to draw on. I don’t mean to imply that your challenges will be scarier or more daunting than usual. My point is that you will have unprecedented opportunities to create vigorous new trends in your life if you are as bold and audacious as you can be.

Data Breach at CorrectCare

Integrated Health (CCIH), a thirdparty administrator under contract with the Health Net Federal Services (HNFS), Business Associate of California Correctional Health Care Services and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CCHCS/CDCR), discovered that two file directories on CorrectCare’s webserver had been inadvertently exposed to the public internet. The file directories contained patients’ health information protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

What Happened?

On July 6, 2022, CorrectCare confirmed that a breach of regulated information occurred when a misconfigured web server led to exposure of patient information contained in two file directories as early as January 22, 2022.

CorrectCare’s security processes were able to detect and remediate the exposure in less than nine hours after discovery. Correct Care immediately engaged a third-party cybersecurity firm to conduct a forensic investigation to analyze the nature and scope of the incident. Between September 1, 2022, and October 5, 2022, the investigation determined that at least 438,000 CDCR inmates/

patients who received medical care between January 1, 2012 and July 6, 2022 were among those individuals whose data was potentially impacted. CorrectCare cannot confirm that any patients’ personal information was copied from its web site or used inappropriately. However, it is notifying the public because protected health information was accessible to unauthorized persons.

What Information was involved?

The patient information involved in the data exposure included full name, dates of birth, social security number, and limited health information, such as diagnosis code and/or Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) code.

What is CorrectCare Doing? Correct Care takes the privacy and confidentiality of patient information seriously. CorrectCare has hired cybersecurity experts to conduct forensic investigation and have implemented specific steps to further enhance the security of its systems and further protect the information of its clients.

CorrectCare also conducted multiple searches to confirm the exposed data were not available on the dark web and contacted the federal and state regulatory agencies. The security and confidentiality

of patients’ health information is critical to CorrectCare. While there is no indication that any protected health information was used inappropriately, CorrectCare is notifying affected individuals that their information was potentially compromised. CorrectCare is also offering complimentary 12-month membership of Experian’s IdentityWorks to access credit and identity theft monitoring services, including dark web monitoring for one year to any individuals impacted by this event.

Any individual who believes their data may have been exposed are encouraged to enroll in Experian’s IdentityWorksSM by visiting experianidworks.com/plus (use Activation Code YJWF423PWC) or calling toll-free 844-700-1314 (reference Engagement Number B079693 and Activation Code YJWF423PWC) for additional information, Monday through Friday from 8 am – 10 pm Central, or Saturday and Sunday from 10 am –7 pm Central (excluding major U.S. holidays). Any questions regarding this matter also can be sent to: CorrectCare Privacy Office, PO Box 1178, Montebello, CA 90640.