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Volume 21 Issue 8
Columns
October 13, 2014
Letter From the Editor
For 20 years The Synthesis’ goal has remained to provide a forum for entertainment, music, humor, community awareness, opinions, and change.
Publisher/Managing Editor Amy Olson amy@synthesis.net
by Amy Olson
amy@synthesis.net
This Week...
Cold Blue Mountain
PAGE 8
Exotic Adventures in Smalltown, USA
by Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff
PAGE 5
Creative Director
Howl
Tanner Ulsh graphics@synthesis.net
howlmovesmountains.tumblr.com
Entertainment Editor
PAGE 7
Alex Light Alex@synthesis.net SynthesisWeekly.com/submit-yourevent/
Productivity Wasted by Eli Schwartz
Designers
pwasted@synthesis.net
Liz Watters, Mike Valdez graphics@synthesis.net
Deliveries
by Bob Howard
Contributing Writers
Zooey Mae, Bob Howard, Howl, Koz McKev, Tommy Diestel, Eli Schwartz, Mona Treme, Emiliano GarciaSarnoff, Jon Williams, Crown, Alex O’Brien
Madbob@madbob.com
by TripHazard
Jessica Sid Vincent Latham
PAGE 17
Nerd
Dain Sandoval dain@synthesis.net
Director of Operations Karen Potter
Owner
Bill Fishkin bill@synthesis.net The Synthesis is both owned and published by Apartment 8 Productions. All things published in these pages are the property of Apartment 8 Productions and may not be reproduced, copied or used in any other way, shape or form without the written consent of Apartment 8 Productions. One copy (maybe two) of the Synthesis is available free to residents in Butte, Tehama and Shasta counties. Anyone caught removing papers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. All opinions expressed throughout the Synthesis are those of the author and are not necessarily the same opinions as Apartment 8 Productions and the Synthesis. The Synthesis welcomes, wants, and will even desperately beg for letters because we care what you think. We can be reached via snail mail at the Synthesis, 210 W. 6th St., Chico, California, 95928. Email letters@ synthesis.net. Please sign all of your letters with your real name, address and preferably a phone number. We may also edit your submission for content and space.
210 West 6th Street Chico Ca 95928 530.899.7708 editorial@synthesis.net
PAGE 16
The Frugal Terran
Photography
Ben Kirby
PAGE 7
Immaculate Infection
Joey Murphy, Jennifer Foti
Accounting
PAGE 4
Scene Report Hardly Strictly
Trigger Hippy
PAGE 18
PAGE 19
Free Culture by Alex O’Brien amateurzen.us
PAGE 19
スーパータイム by 船長クジラ
PAGE 20
Kozmik Debris by Koz McKev
kozmckev@sunset.net
PAGE 21
From The Edge
by Anthony Peyton Porter
PAGE 22 COVER ART Matt Loomis FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO 3
PET OF THE WEEK
Barn Burning Cl are nce Clarence is a sweet, fun loving dog who is ready for his furever home! He loves a nice long walk but settles quickly when it’s time to relax.
2580 Fair Street Chico, CA 95928 (530) 343-7917 • buttehumane.org
Now Hear This SYNTHESIS WEEKLY PLAYLIST The Game
What is commerce? Technically speaking (I know, you love when I speak technically), there are two definitions: the activity of buying and selling, and the general social dealings between people. When a place is zoned “Commercial,” I’ve always assumed that means it’s zoned for the exchange of goods/services for money, but does it also cover the second definition—does the government have the right to regulate socializing? For example, do you need to be zoned Commercial to have your friends hang out and watch old movies for free? What if the movie wasn’t in your house, but, say, projected on the wall of the shed in your backyard? So long as it doesn’t violate noise ordinances, one would think that’s pretty much nobody’s business, wouldn’t one? The Barn is an odd duck—both the building and the collective. The building at 164 E 11th st is zoned for “Residential/Mixed Use,” meaning it can’t be a storefront or a for-profit venue, but it can (theoretically) be used for housing or office space. That’s fine, right? You can throw a party at your house or office, just don’t charge money.
Tanner The Game - “Hit ‘em Hard” Liz Red Hot Chili Peppers - “Otherside” Mike Jayceeoh - “Baby” Becca Big Sean - “I Don’t Fuck With You” Andrea Hozier - “Take Me To Church” Alex Chasms - “N.V.S.” 4
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 13 2014
Here’s where it gets tricky: They don’t charge admission or require any contributions to use the space, it’s just a loosy-goosy hangout for people who like to create and appreciate art. The collective doesn’t even require fees of its members, you can just show up, but several of the members do pitch in on the rent. So, is it commerce? Let’s go back to that party we were talking about—what if you couldn’t make the rent on your house and a few of your friends (some of whom came to your party) gave you $20 later that week? Was that movie night now the same as operating an unlawful theatre? Should you be fined $1000 by the city for violating your zoning? Should you have to
pay somewhere around $5000 (depending on who’s holding the moving target) to try to get your house/shed rezoned? According to the city (and whichever bitchy busybody made it their crusade to shut this thing down, ahem), yes. They’ve threatened to levy as much as $30,000 in fines if members of The Barn continue to assemble for their month of horror movies—and presumably any other reported activities—offering the alternative of filing that $5000-ish fee to apply for commercial zoning that may or may not even be granted. Now, I’m no fancy big-city lawyer, but I’d say that’s horse apples. Horse apples though it may be, the money just isn’t there to fight this. Even though they’ve put a ton of work and emotional investment into the building, it’s of no use to the collective if they can’t actually use it. Fortunately, The Barn is not the building, it’s the people; they’re determined to see this thing bloom wherever it’s planted, and they’re looking at a potential new location. It’s still going to be a complicated line to waddle (duck call back!)—maybe it always will be when dreams don’t fit the mold. Wherever the Barn ends up, I truly hope the city recognizes that a bunch of artists hanging out together is a far cry from a commercial enterprise and are done with this threat-offines nonsense. At the very least, the next location won’t come with the neighborhood Mrs. Kravitz and her misguided power trip.
Here We Thieves Remain A TRIP THROUGH THE CHICO MUSEUM’S LATEST EXHIBIT I don’t care about the Mechoopda Maidu—the original inhabitants of this place where I now live. I don’t care about their suffering and all that befell them. I live here on the land that was once theirs, and which was slowly swindled and stolen away from them, along with their way of life, and I don’t care. These are the looming, closeted thoughts that I’m contending with as I step slowly across the carpeted museum floor from a placard illustrating the Maidu conception of the seasons to bring myself before a small model of a Maidu hut, circular and with a slice missing, so that we can see inside; see how they once lived. Sure I “care” about them now, as I drift around this new exhibition at the easily avoidable, nearly empty and yet important Chico Museum, which is called Mikćʡapdo: This is Our Home, Here We Remain. As I read the words and look at the pictures and hear the recorded voices and imagine, I care. I have thoughts; I have feelings. But these thoughts and feelings are thin, incommensurate. They should be bigger, I think, but they’re not. And in two hours they’ll be gone—replaced by to-do-lists and insecurities and the new things in front of my eyes. I guess that’s just the way with these things. We are an amnesic, forward-facing people; I’m an amnesic, forward-facing man. We are prospectors, still. Now I’m standing in front of a beautifully written historical timeline exhibit presented by Wells Fargo, The Rotary Club and Omega Nu Sorority, with words and pictures and small historical items, arrowheads and so forth. “Era One, Endings and Beginnings,” it reads. And then: “Spring was for hunting and fishing and gathering food, but in summer the Maidu fled to the cool hills and mountains,
returning in fall to prepare for winter. Then came the trappers and explorers, the cattle, corrals and fences, hogs, cabins, ranchos and land grants, traders and malaria. Then came the miners. The condor vanished and the elk, antelope and grizzly, and there were fights and treaties and retaliation and disease and relocation.” It goes on from there. That was just the beginning, as it says. The carpeted floor, the cool, temperaturecontrolled air, the tasteful museum lighting, the headphones full of stories, hung up crooked, stepping slowly, foot over foot, sideways, imagining, caring, taking in, forgetting, stepping slowly, foot over foot. Now a headdress of Red Tail Hawk feathers, now the knowledge of a population of some 8000 reduced to 547 today, like any other fact, mixing in my mind and diluting down with other facts, now a handsome beaded dancing dress, now sanctioned child-enslavement, now an abalone necklace, now a people’s land, once without end—endless—reduced to little more than a cemetery, tombstones tipping over in the black and white picture, now a “tumtum”—a cradleboard made of willow shoots, oak and buckskin, now forced relocation, a long slow march, foot over foot, forgetting already, forgetting the worst part of the whole thing, along with powerlessness and death, now stepping sideways, the air conditioned and temperature controlled, foot over foot, imagining, caring, forgetting already, forgetting the way dreams are forgotten, the way shadows recede, over the carpeted floor, in the temperature-controlled air and the tasteful museum lighting.
Exotic Adventures in Smalltown, USA
by Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO 5
On The Town 6
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM
PHOTOS BY JESSICA SID
OCTOBER 13 2014
Research Assistants Begin this story at synthesisweekly.com/ research-obstacles-pt-1 Howl walked swiftly down the hall, stone arches high above passing over and behind him, supporting a ceiling tall enough to accommodate the forty foot tall giant that followed behind. Like the library itself, the giant was formed of massive stone slabs, and like the stones of the library, the giants were covered in countless carvings, glyphs meticulously carved into the rock, relating the history of… well, the history of whatever was related there. Howl was down here to learn all of it, to read every story, but after the perplexing realization that the written histories were changing and shifting constantly, his fervent scholastic resolve had relaxed somewhat. Even now, a faint rumbling could be felt through the boy’s feet as stones making up the hallway shifted, rotated, adjusting their records to more accurately represent the everchanging accounts they recorded. The hallway ended, opening to a square-ish room with a ceiling that reached high—higher, until even Howl’s giant companion was dwarfed. The boy approached the room’s center, a bowl resting on a dais there, a black liquid filling the bowl. Bent so close to the scentless, fathomless liquid that the tip of his nose tingled, Howl whispered, “The green room.” The whole library shook, and the floor began a slow rotation. The stone giant’s dimly glowing eyes absorbed it all in silence, only its slightly opened mouth revealing its wonder. Three hundred years and more had passed since Howl had constructed this creature, and all but the most recent moments of its life had been spent alone, in darkness, guarding a room Howl had then promptly forgotten about until recently. Its rumbling baritone was added to the grinding of the library’s shifting. “The green room is where I was made?” “That’s right,” came the boy’s reply. The floor’s slow spin came to a halt, and three openings now awaited their choosing. Howl approached the hall directly opposite them, which shortly ended in massive double doors, their stones moulded to imitate the trunks
The Shadow of Mordor ORCS, GHOSTS, THE WORKS
of redwoods. At the boy’s request, the giant pushed them open, revealing another square room. Dirt was piled around the perimeter, having poured from the room’s gaping holes— where Howl had pulled stones out, perhaps losing their stories forever in the process, to construct the giant, who had walked to the far right corner, contemplating what grew there: A glassy, crystalline substance reached out of the floor’s corner in jagged spikes, pulsing a soft, green light. “What is it?” the giant asked. “It… hurts. I don’t want to look away.” An enormous finger approached the growth, not quite making contact, trembling. “You can call it Love, if you’d like,” the boy said, “It’s the stuff I placed inside you, so you’d start thinking.” He stood, arms folded, considering the creature. How would this thing react, if there were more of it? How would the library react? And would this giant’s new friends, which the boy had resolved to create, be unique in any discernable way? Or, would Howl have five identical, gigantic, ugly clones of the first? The stone giant turned its glowing, green eyes to regard the boy. A few moments passed, then the boy shrugged and began directing his friend to pull more stones out of the wall.
Howl howlmovesmountains.tumblr.com
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the more anticipated titles to come out recently. The latest from Warner Brother’s Interactive Entertainment, Shadow of Mordor has been hyped no small amount, and worked from a huge budget. It is, rather undeniably, AAA. It is also, notably, set entirely in Middle Earth, the best known region of the Legendarium, the signature creation of the impossibly influential J.R.R Tolkien. It includes Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, Men of Gondor, and no less than Sauron and his Ring. It could be called a franchise game, as I would easily call many of The Lord of The Rings games, but it doesn’t seem to be playing up, or siphoning off of, the brand. At least, not majorly. You play Talion, an undead Ranger of Gondor, killed by the servants of Sauron and possessed by an ancient, enigmatic, Elven wraith. The plot is somewhat straightforward in motivation and movement: kill the Orc army, stay hidden, build an infrastructure of rebellion, and get revenge. The scenes are cinematic, with adequately written dialogue and skilled voice actors, and the graphics really pull their own weight (and then some) in assisting in a sense of place and conveying facial emotion. Although somewhat hard to follow, predictable, and non-canonical, the story is presented well enough to keep the player entirely well interested, even speculative. Mechanically, it quickly becomes apparent that the game borrows heavily from WB’s own Batman: Arkham series, with quick, counterbased melee combos, heavy enemies that necessitate dodging, and a stealth system. It has an air of the very similar Asssassin’s Creed in its open parkour and emphasis on
stealth kills, and none of the basics of ability and movement seem new. It’s immediately tempting to see Shadow of Mordor as lacking originality, but give it some time alone with you, and you’ll see that there are new, brilliant ideas. The Orc army is led by Captains and Warchiefs, and these bestial warriors are not ordinary grunts. Each one is randomly generated from pools of available names and traits, and the variety and uniqueness of these traits makes each leader a sort-of unique encounter. A definitive hierarchy comes into place, and as you eliminate one, more come up. Power struggles ensue, risks are taken, and opportunities for tactical assassination arise constantly. Or you could randomly run into one in the field, and hope you’re feeling lucky. The “Brand,” one of the most innovative abilities in the game, comes into place over half of the way through the game, which I found much too late. Talion grabs an Orc and dominates its mind, enslaving it. This can be done to grunts, Captains, and Warchiefs alike. The organic hierarchy that once existed only to be torn down can now be taken advantage of, and the game becomes a fascinating struggle of building an army, but far too late to fully ride out and enjoy this mechanic. Shadow of Mordor, like many of WB’s games, is a AAA title filled with repetition and emulation that adds great new ideas that very likely will be emulated by many in the future. This game is a helpful reminder that AAA does not have to be a pejorative, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed any of the Arkham or Assassin’s Creed games, and to new and veteran gamers alike.
Productivity Wasted by Eli Schwartz pwasted@synthesis.net
FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO 7
NEW LP, OLD BLOOD, OUT NOW; TO BE PERFORMED THIS FRIDAY BY ALEX LIGHT ART BY MATT LOOMIS Quite the band name, isn’t it? As far as metal names go, it’s one of my favorites. It’s simple, it sounds heavy, and wouldn’t you know it— their music actually sounds cold, blue, and mountainous! The last year saw members Brandon Squyres, Will McGahan, Sesar Sanchez, Adrian Hammons, and Daniel Taylor go underground while they recorded their sophomore release Old Blood with Chris Keene. I’d say it was a year well spent. The music brings all the gloominess you love about doom metal, but doesn’t shy away from adding generous portions of melody, à la Explosions In The Sky. The five songs are largely made up of short climbs up the proverbial mountain slope (clean guitar tones, pianos, string section) and long, harrowing episodes on that cold, blue summit of theirs, where there’s nothing to do but scream at the swirling winds as they bite into your skin. Brandon: Everything I write has always been a story of some sort; 8
when I hear the music, I picture something happening, like a soundtrack to something. I don’t know how to write choruses. This is the first band in awhile where I could have choruses, but I don’t know how to write that way. I feel weird repeating things. All these songs go together in a big story: There’s this group of people that have been taken over, for so long that they’ve almost lost who they are.
SEED OF DISSENT Brandon: So, “Seed Of Dissent” starts with a small group of people remembering how they used to be. They start planting a seed of dissension towards the governing body, in order to take back what’s rightfully theirs. Our drummer’s really good at… everything. He wrote the piano parts for this song and performed them. It’s nice to throw in other instruments that you can’t do live.
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 13 2014
Who did the strings? Brandon: [Our drummer] Daniel Taylor did cello, [our bassist] Adrian Hammons did stand-up bass, and Caleb Strait did violin. Sesar: When you write an album, and it’s being recorded, a lot of people shy away from extra instruments, but if you have access to it, and you have time… those instruments are around, you can put ‘em in there! As long as it makes sense; if you’re forcing it, there’s no reason to do it. But since Daniel is an accomplished piano player and he was able to write the part on the spot, based on the song’s riff, it just made sense. It’s good to keep an open mind in that area because it adds another layer to the band. How do the piano and strings in the beginning of the song fit into the story? Brandon: The conquered people have grown complacent with their place in this new society.
Everything’s working like a welloiled machine… The piano and strings part is where nothing has upset the norm yet. When the heavy guitars come in could relate to when people are saying, “Hey, we don’t need to take this.” Sesar: It’s the calm before the storm. Not many waves, but you can feel change is coming.
NEW ALLIANCES Brandon: Our character is now gathering alliances in secret to attack this governing force. The quiet part in the middle is another “calm before the storm;” when the heaviness comes back in, is where they have the first sneak attacks. I was thinking about colonial times, like rebels attacking British outposts. Sesar: This is my personal favorite of the whole album. I had a chance to write one of the riffs, in one of [our guitarist] Will’s songs. That never happens. Brandon: Will comes with full songs, and you’re not putting anything into them. I’ll tell him a part doesn’t work, and he’ll just take it home, and come back with it
changed. That’s just how he works. Sesar: I just like this one. It comes with that quiet middle part, which is not something you usually hear us doing. It just goes on forever and ever… I like that about it, it takes a lot of patience to get through.
THE STRONGEST WILL Brandon: “New Alliances” leads to the first real push, which is “The Strongest Will.” They don’t have the numbers, and they’ve been found out. Will their will be enough to take them forward? At the end of this song is when the enemy brings out cannons. The resistance was making progress, but there’s a reason why that governing force is in power. They have the numbers and everything. Sesar: What I like about this song is, it’s completely different from the rest of the album. The other songs have a dreary sound; this one’s almost upbeat. The resistance is coming into the village, they’re kicking some ass... A more upbeat, rockin’ song. We could talk about the music video…
Brandon: One thing that’s fun about making videos is, these stories and lyrics are so heavy. They’re not happy and fun, but we’re all happy and fun guys. It’s fun to be able to express that side of the band; it doesn’t have to be this grim, dark video. We take our music seriously, but we’re not completely serious people. Sesar: It goes to show that whatever image of people you have in your head, it’s usually not what you think. Most of the time, people who are playing heavy music are some of the nicest dudes you’ve ever met. I’ve met people in indie bands and acoustic acts who are complete assholes, not fun to be around at all. They take themselves way too seriously. Brandon: Just the fact that we made a music video shows that we’re serious about what we’re doing. But you can still have a sense of humor. Sesar: Brandon was pretty much the brain child of this video. It ended up working out perfectly. Brandon: I’d always wanted to make a ‘90s hip hop video, just filled with ridiculousness.
RETREAT Brandon: “Retreat” starts with our character waking up. Everything’s black, completely decimated after what happened in “The Strongest Will.” Can’t hear anything, can’t see anything… There’s no more sun, because there’s just ash everywhere. They hear the sound of retreat and all take off. The whole song’s about the pain they’ve experienced… and trying to convince people to not give up; even though so many of them got decimated, it’s still worth fighting for. Any parallels in your experience you want to bring up? Brandon: I was doing a lot of genealogy, actually, learning about my relatives, Native Americans and stuff. One thing I found was that my relatives had to give up a bunch of land… Basically, to become recognized as Native American they would have had to give up everything they had, just to put their names on this roll. They decided they’d rather keep their land than be recognized. I was talking to my grandparents about how hard it was for them, to FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO 9
then be shunned by their people for not doing it. I was thinking about how not to give up, about perseverance through pain. I didn’t necessarily use lyrics along those specific lines, because I had the story to write… but it’s just hard to see people’s history wiped out, when they don’t have a choice about it. Sesar: It’s the other side of the LP. “Retreat” for me is a return to what kind of a band we are. The main difference between this album and the last one is, not only the cohesiveness of this one, but also this dark, dreary theme between the music and the lyrics, which stems from the story itself. You’re on this high in “The Strongest Will,” you’re persevering, then the next thing you know, you’re slapped with reality, the way things really are. Brandon: It’s definitely the saddest song. I loved the really long screams on it. Brandon: There’s so much pain for these people, I felt the long screams filled the space better.
DEMISE
10
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 13 2014
Brandon: The resistance has convinced everyone to give it one more go. “Demise” was based on the fact that, regardless of win or lose, they’ve lost. The land that they’ve loved is changed forever. I left it open-ended as to whether they win or lose, because it doesn’t matter. They won’t be forgotten, regardless. It’s a really long fuckin’ song. Sesar: This is one of the songs I actually had the pleasure of bringing to the table. The rest were mostly Will-based. This one started with the beginning guitar riff, which eventually became an acoustic riff. I wasn’t sure where it was gonna go. The band decided to just play it over and over again, and make it heavier and heavier. As an example, for [the band] Crowbar to get heavier, they get slower. So “Demise” got doom-ier, it got sludgier, and in the end, the song was just two riffs. But those riffs are so slow, and so punishing; you can do a lot of stuff with a lot of simplicity. Brandon: And Sesar gets to solo! Sesar: Yeah, I got to solo for longer than I should ever have. It took me six hours to
write. I just sat there and played that solo over and over again… but I was really glad. It was cool to hear from the guys, “Oh, that’s good enough to on the album!” [laughs]
filled. Chris Keene’s gonna be playing organ and piano for us live at this show.
Brandon: Finally, you did something good enough! [laughs]
Sesar: I want to give a huge shout out to Cory at Halo Of Flies records, who’s been instrumental in getting this record out quickly. On vinyl, no less. It’s out now on LP.
When I was writing that last part of the song, I was thinking of a fist fight between two people. Even if you win a fist fight… your hand hurts. Even if you win, you’re still in pain. I’m glad I don’t get in fights anymore. It always sucks, you always feel bad. At the end of that song we have an organ on the recording, and it really fills up a space in between guitar and bass, a mid-tone that makes everything heavier. Sesar: Yeah, we were like, “It’s slow here! It sounds like there’s room! Why don’t we put some organ on it?” and it worked. Organ is heavy as fuck. Brandon: It filled out that sound that I feel like you get more when you’re listening to things live, but on the recording, sometimes there’s that middle ground that needs to be
EPILOGUE
We plan to tour pretty extensively next year, after everyone’s done with all their obligations… by then our split LP will be out. Old Blood was initially gonna be eight songs, but it was too long. So these were the five best songs that actually went together. Brandon: We recorded the other three songs anyway. Two of them are gonna be on a split LP with Ninth Moon Black. It’s a story about being out on the ocean without food. See Cold Blue Mountain perform their new album live this Friday, October 17th at Cafe Coda, with support from Armed For Apocalypse and The Shimmies. $7, 8pm.
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Chicken Strip Sand only $6.99 before 6 PM TWO BUCK TUESDAY 6-11pm $2 Rolling Rock, Olympia & Single Wells $2.50 PBR, Coors and Double wells
WING WEDNESDAY! $2 for 3 Wings 8PM-Close $2.50 Fire Eater Shots $5.50 DBL Bacardi Cocktails $5 Sailor Jerry DBLs All Day Every Day
Daily Happy Hour from 4-7PM
Chicken Waffle Wed.! 8 ball Tourney 6pm sign-up Happy Hour 2-6pm M-F $1.00 off Sierra and Dom Pitchers $1.00 off PBR and Olympia Pool Rates Cut in 1/2!
Reuben Sand w/ fries or salad $6.99
Mon-Fri Happy Hour 12-4PM $3 Sierra & Domestic Pints $3.50 Soccer moms $6 Dbl Roaring Vodka
Daily Happy Hour from 4-7PM PBR $2.25 Everyday!
Chico Jazz Collective 8-midnight Happy Hour 2-6pm M-F $1.00 off Sierra & Dom Pitchers $1.00 off PBR and Olympia Pool Rates Cut in 1/2!
Baby Back Ribs $11.99 Philly Cheesesteak $7.99
Daily Happy Hour from 4-7PM
Rock Out at The DL! Enjoy Live Music, Great Grub, and 10 9' foot tables Open @11am All ages untill 10pm
10 oz. Tri-Tip Steak w/ Fries or Salad & Garlic Bread $8.99 8pm-Close $4 J채ger $5.50 DBL Vodka Red Bull $2.50 Kamikaze shots FREE Pool after 10PM
$3 Sierra and Dom Pints $ 3.50 Kamis ALL DAY! Come see our beautiful Patio! Happy Hour 4-6: Menu cocktails $1 off. Sierra Nevada Draft $3 Live music 8-10
Closed
Come see our beautiful Patio! Happy Hour 4-6: Wander Food Truck on the Patio 6pm
Open 9PM Bartender Specials $3 14oz. Slushies $4 20oz. Slushies
$5 Sailor Jerry DBLs All Day Every Day Join us for Beers on our Patio Bar! Happy Hour from 4-6.
SUNDAY
Open 9PM Bartender Specials $3 14oz. Slushies $4 20oz. Slushies
Mon-Fri Happy Hour 12-4PM $3 Sierra & Domestic Pints Weekend Blast Off!! 8-close $5 Blasters
We open at 12:00pm.
SATURDAY
Full Bar in Back Room Weds, Fri & Sat Nights! PBR $2.25 Everyday!
Tacotruck.biz and Beers on the Patio!
Open 9PM Bartender Specials $3 14oz. Slushies $4 20oz. Slushies JAGER PROMO 10-CLOSE
WE OPEN AT 12:00PM MIMOSAS WITH FRESH SQUEEZED OJ FOR $5 UNTIL 5PM.
CLOSED
HAPPY HOUR 4-7PM Beer Week Guinness cocktail specials Beer coozie giveaway at back bar
8pm-Close Pitcher Specials $6.50/$9.50/$13 FREE Pool after 10PM
6pm-Close $4.50 Grad teas $3.50 All beer pints FREE Pool after 10PM
Open at 11AM $4.50 Bloody Mary $5.50 Absolut Peppar Bloody Marys Noon - 6PM $8 / $9 SN Dom Pitchers $5.50 DBL Bacardi Cocktails
Daily Happy Hour from 4-7PM Full Bar in Back Room Weds, Fri & Sat Nights! PBR $2.25 Everyday!
Rock Out at The DL! Enjoy Live Music, Great Grub, and 10 9' foot tables Open @11am All ages untill 10pm
Baby Back Ribs w/Salad, Fries & garlic bread $11.99 8pm-Close $4 Single/$6 Double Jack or Captain $3 Sierra Nevada Pints FREE Pool after 10PM
10AM -2PM $5 Bottles of Champagne with entree $4.50 Bloody Mary $5.50 Absolut Peppar Bloody Marys
Daily Happy Hour from 4-7PM PBR $2.25 Everyday!
Free Pool with Purchase! 1.00 off Sierra and Dom Pitchers $1.00 off PBR and Olympia Cans
$5.49 Grad/Garden/ Turkey Burger w/fries or salad Bloodies $3 Well, $4 Call, $5 Top, $6 Goose Mimosas $2/flute, $5/pint $6 CHEAP Beer Pitchers FREE Pool after 10PM
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 15TH saturday Foctober r i d ay 418th -7pm
SATURDAY JAGER 10-CLOSE
GIVEAWAYS GET FUNKY WITH HAPPY HOUR HAP YB HOUR! T H E P U SCOUTS BEER AND LIVE MUSIC & BBQ 337 Main St. Responsibly 530-343-1745 Please Drink
12
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 13 2014
Please Drink Responsibly
watch the giants Closed
Go DownLo
BEAR-E-OKE BURGER MADNESS! Bear Burger with fries or salad for $5.49. 11am-10pm.
Happy Hour 11-6PM select bottles & drafts $3
CLOSED
2 FOR 1 BURGERS ALL DAY !! MINORS WELCOME!
CLOSED
CLOSED
WATCH THE 49ERS MONDAY @ 5:30PM & SUNDAY @ 5:30PM
LATE NIGHT EATS! kitchen open until 1 AM Closed
Go DownLo
BEAR WEAR! 1/2 off while wearing Bear Wear. MUG CLUB 4-10PM
$2.50 Select Sierra Nevada or Dom Drafts $2 Kamis -any flavor All Day
$3.50 Tea of the Day Bartender Specials Happy Hour 4-8pm
Happy Hour 4 - 7pm
Progressive Night:
$1.50 sliders and other cheap eats!
8 - 10pm $1 Dom, Wells & Sierra Nevada Pale Ale 10pm - Close: Up $0.25 per hour til closing
All 16 oz Teas or AMF $3 All Day
$3.50 Skyyy Vodka Cocktails $3.50 Tea of the Day Bartender Specials Happy Hour 4-8pm
1/2 OFF EVERYTHING!!!
4-6PM $1 Dom Drafts $2 SN Drafts & Wells $5 DBL Captain Buck Night 8-Close $1 wells, SN Pale Ale, Rolling Rock, Dom Draft $3 Black Butte $4 Vodka Redbull
Closed
Happy Hour 11-6PM $3 select bottles & drafts
9pm - Close $2 12oz Teas $3 20oz Teas $2 Well, Dom Bottles & bartender Specials $5 Vodka Red Bull
Happy Hour 4 - 7pm
4-6PM $1 Dom Drafts $2 SN Drafts & Wells $5 DBL Captain 8pm - Close $4 151 Party punch 22oz. 8 - 9pm $1 Pale Ale & Dom.Draft Up $0.25/ hr until close
Closed
$3.50 Tea of the Day Bartender Specials Happy Hour 4-8pm
Happy Hour- 4-7pm $5 Fridays 4-8pm Most food items and pitchers of beer are $5
Power Hour 8 - 9pm 1/2 Off Liquor & Drafts (excludes pitchers) 9PM - Close $3 Pale Ale Drafts $9.75 Pitchers
Open at 9PM
LATE NIGHT EATS! kitchen open until 1 AM
Closed
FOOTBALL 3 WINGS FOR $2 $5 DOUBLES 4:00 - 5:30 PM
WACKY WEDNESDAYS ( 8 - cl ) DJ Party 4 different DJ’s $1 wells $2 calls $2 domestic bottles $6 pitchers of well drinks
Go DownLo
Happy Hour 4 - 8pm Ladies Night! 88 pm - CLOSE $5 Pabst pitchers $2 shot board $4 Moscow Mules $3 Jamo and Ginger Buck Hour 10:30 - 11:30
Early Bird Special 9-10PM 1/2 off wells
Happy Hour 4 - 8pm
Early Bird Special 9-10PM 1/2 off wells
FIREBALL FRIDAYS!!! 8PM - Close $3 Fireball Shots $4 Big Teas $3 Coronas
TRIKE RACES! Post time @ 10pm. Win T-shirts and Bear Bucks. MUG CLUB 4-10PM LATE NIGHT EATS! kitchen open until 1 AM BURGER MADNESS! Bear Burger with fries or salad for $5.49. 11am-10pm.
1/2 OFF COVER before 10PM
MUG CLUB from 4-10PM
LATE NIGHT EATS! kitchen open until 1 AM
$2.50 16oz Wells All Day
Select Pints $3
LIVE MUSIC 1/2 OFF COVER before 10PM
Opening at 8pm for 80's NIGHT!! 8 pm - CLOSE $4 Sauza Margaritas $3 Kamis $3 Shocktop & VIP pint
KARAOKE "INDUSTRY NIGHT" 8 PM - CLOSE HALF OFF ALMOST EVERYTHING!(Except Red Bull and Premium Liquors) Specials All Day!
CAPT MORGAN PROMO 10-MIDNIGHT
LATE NIGHT EATS! kitchen open until 1 AM
LIVE MUSIC 1/2 OFF COVER before 10PM Call To Rent For Private Party
191 E. 2ND ST • 898-0630
NEW THIS WEEK...
BURGER MADNESS! Bear Burger with fries or salad for $5.49. 11am-10pm.
$4 Sex On The Beach $4 Sierra Nevada Knightro ON TAP $1 Jello Shots 7-10PM $3 Fireball
$4 World Famous Bloody Joe $5 Premium bloodys your choice of vodka
LATE NIGHT EATS! kitchen open until 1 AM
$3.50 Tea of the Day Bartender Specials Happy Hour 4-8pm
Hot "Dawgs" ALL DAY!
JAGER PROMO 10-CLOSE
Champagne Brunch 11am - 2pm $4 Champagne with entree
Champagne Brunch and SPORTS!
$5 bottles of champagne 10-2pm every sunday morning 134 Broadway St, Chico, CA | 530.893.5253
BOTTLE SERVICE Now Available! Call for reservation 898-9898 Large selection of wines, sangrias and Martinis.
NO COVER
Early Bird Special 9-10PM 1/2 off wells
Go DownLo
$1.50 sliders and other cheap eats!!
All day every day
Mon. - Sat. 4PM - 6PM $1 Dom. draft, $2 SN Draft and Wells Power Hour 8 - 9PM $3 Pale Ale Drafts $9.75 Pitchers
BOTTLE SERVICE Now Available! Call for reservation 898-9898
NO COVER
Open at 9PM Large selection of wines, sangrias and Martinis.
CLOSED
CLOSED
Open ‘til 1AM
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
$1 WELLS, DRAFTS, DOM. & SIERRA NEVADA 8-10PM PROGRESSIVE 10-2AM
$1 WELLS/ROLLING ROCK, PALE ALE & DOM.
$1 PALE ALE & DOM.
UP 25¢ PER HR. UNTIL CLOSE
$3 BUTTE PORTER $4 VODKA REDBULL
$4 151 PARTY PUNCH $5 DBL CAPTAIN
UP 25¢ PER HR. 8PM-CLOSE
NO COVER FRIDAY & SATURDAY
1/2 OFF ANY ENTREE WITH
ANY BEVERAGE PURCHASE EXCLUDING BRUNCH MENU FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO 13
This Week Only... Fine Dining in the Tradition of Southern Italy
SUBMIT YOUR EVENTS TO CALENDAR@SYNTHESIS.NET
BEST BETS IN ENTERTAINMENT
SICILIAN CAFÉ Wednesday, October 15th
Warm Up The Winter at Sicilian Cafe!
CHASMS, ALL YOUR SISTERS (SF) ORANGE STREET STUDIO
COVE, SAMA DAMS 1078 GALLERY
Farm. Fresh. Italian.
Thursday, October 16th
Saturday, October 18th
1020 Main Street Chico 530.345.2233 14
Thursday, October 16th
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 13 2014
Chasms sounds the way you’re wanting it to—’80s drum beats, reverb-laden guitars, and vocals that sound like you’re being called across the River Styx by your long-deceased Native American great-great-grandmother. They construct these long-short doom-pop dirge-songs, and in case this isn’t indie enough for you already, there’s only two of them. Also from San Francisco, All Your Sisters sounds like if Pretty Hate Machine went through a wormhole in space-time and popped out again, strangely distorted, in 2014. Also ft. Ave Grave. 5th & Orange St., $5, 6:30pm.
HELLOGOODBYE BMU AUDITORIUM
Listening to Cove is like riding a slow, slow, sweet, sweet wave, with every instrument taking its time before chiming in, but then speaking with grace and clarity. Blending a very California-ish relaxation with a Vampire Weekend-ish optimism, these guys are great for listening to with closed eyes, and a tapping foot, and a slight smile. The other out of town band Sama Dams is like if Dirty Projectors were high on opium—er, if they were even higher on opium. Also featuring Clouds On Strings. $5-$10, 7:30pm
Vocoder nerd pop at BMU! Think of high school dances, pink running shorts, and songs almost as good as Passion Pit. Actually, Hellogoodbye manages a much more human and touching sound, even while staying with the classic lyrical subjects of love and girls and skinny white boys having big hearts and stuff. The shows are much better than the recordings. Also featuring Surrogate and Wanderers & Wolves. $20 general, $10 students, 7:30pm.
EAT. DRINK. PLAY. Find Out How you Can Play Pool for Only $1/Day!
TRACORUM LOST ON MAIN
Rock. Soul. Rhythm. Shred. This is San Francisco’s Tracorum, bringing intensely happy rock that will have you twisting your hips before you have time to figure out what their band name is supposed to mean. Each of these four Bay Area musicians plays as if they were born with the instruments in their hands, and the joy they exude is palpable. Also featuring Jive Coulis from Ashland, OR. 9pm.
LESSONS, LEAGUES AND TOURNAMENTS! GREAT FOOD! LIVE MUSIC! 319 Main Street (530) 892-2473
New & Exciting:
Ongoing Events:
14 Tuesday
13 Monday
1078 Gallery: COVE, Sama Dams, Clouds On Strings. $5-$10, 7:30pm Bell Memorial CSUC: Hellogoodbye, Surrogate, Wanderers & Wolves. $20 general, $15 students, 8pm Blue Room: “Seminar” by Theresa Rebeck. $12 adv., $15 door. 7:30pm Chico Theatre Company: Legally Blonde, The Musical. $20 adults, $12 children, 7:30pm Laxson: Mary Chapin Carpenter, ft. Tift Merritt. $38 adults, $10 students. 7:30pm
porcelain. 10am-5pm Blue Room: “Seminar” by Theresa Rebeck. $12 adv., $15 door. 7:30pm Chico Theatre Company: Legally Blonde, The Musical. $20 adults, $12 children, 7:30pm Church Of Nazarene (Oroville): 19th Annual Alcoholics Anonymous Women’s Celebration of Recovery. Workshops, refreshments, entertainment. $25, 8am4pm Idea Fab Labs: The Labs & monca present the art of three CSUC graduates. Free, 3-6pm Lost On Main: Tracorum, with Jive Coulis. 9pm Monstros: Monstros Almost 10 Yr Bash. Severance Package, Icko Sicko, Born Into This, Strange Ones, Ryan Davidson, Badger, Tri-Lateral Dirts Commission, Aberrance, more TBA. $5, 8pm Sierra Nevada: Single, Fresh, Wet & Wild Harvest Festival. $75, $30 designated driver, 1-6pm
17 Friday
19 Sunday
1078 Gallery: Evolfo, Sofa King. $5-$10, 7:30pm Sierra Nevada Big Room: Pimps Of Joytime. $25, 7:30pm
15 Wednesday
Orange St. Studio: Ave Grave, Chasms, All Your Sisters. $5, 6:30pm Sierra Nevada: Celebration Release Party. $5, 6-10pm
16 Thursday
1078 Gallery: Thick And Thin. $10-$15, 7:30pm Avenue 9 Gallery: OneEared Mouse live music. Free, 7-9pm Blue Room: “Seminar” by Theresa Rebeck. $12 adv., $15 door. 7:30pm Cafe Coda: Cold Blue Mountain, Armed For Apocalypse, The Shimmies. $7, 8pm Chico Theatre Company: Legally Blonde, The Musical. $20 adults, $12 children, 7:30pm Chico Womens Club: Achilles Wheel. $10, 7:30pm LaSalles: Return Of The Mack-Mack Morris. 9pm Maltese: Alli Battaglia & The Musical Brewing Co. $5, 9pm
18 Saturday
Avenue 9 Gallery: Open Studios with demonstrations in collage, oil, watercolor, &
Avenue 9 Gallery: Open Studios with demonstrations in collage, oil, watercolor, & porcelain. 10am-5pm Laxson: The Hot Sardines. $25 adults, $10 students, 7:30pm
The Bear: Bear-E-oke! 9pm Chico Art Center: Open Studios Art Tour. 10am-4pm Chico Art School & Gallery: “Explorations In Paint.” 12-5pm Chico Womens Club: Prenatal Yoga. 5:306:30pm DownLo: Open Mic Night. Free. Pool League. 3 player teams, signup with bartender. 7pm. All ages until 10pm Empire Coffee: Portrait Drawing Group art show. 7am-7pm Maltese: Open Mic Comedy or Music, alternates every week. Signups at 8pm, starts at 9pm. Mug Night 7-11:30pm The Tackle Box: Latin Dance Classes. Free, 7-9pm University Bar: Free Pool 6-8pm Yoga Center Of Chico: Sound Healing w. Emiliano. Breathwork, Meditation, Healing.
Chico Women’s Club: Afro Brazilian Dance. 5:30-7pm DownLo: Wednesday night jazz. 8 Ball Tournament, signups 6pm, starts 7pm Duffys: Dance Night! DJ Spenny and Jeff Howse. $1, 9pm Empire Coffee: Portrait Drawing Group art show. 7am-7pm The Graduate: Free Pool after 10pm James Snidle Fine Arts: Paula Busch-”Japan.” 9am-5pm The Maltese: Friends With Vinyl! Bring your vinyl and share up to 3 songs/12 minutes on the turntable. 9pm-1am Panama Bar: Game Night. Prizes & Specials. Free to play! The Tackle Box: Line Dance classes. Free, 5:30-7:30pm. Swing Dance classes. Free, 7:30-9:30pm University Bar: Free Pool 6-8pm Woodstocks: Trivia Night plus Happy Hour. call at 4pm to reserve a table. Starts at 8pm
14 Tuesday
16 Thursday
100th Monkey: Fusion Belly Dance mixed-level class, with BellySutra. $8/ class or $32/month. 6pm The Bear: Open Jam Night, bring instruments, 9pm-1:30am Chico Art Center: Open Studios Art Tour. 10am-4pm Chico Art School & Gallery: “Explorations In Paint.” 12-5pm Chico Women’s Club: Yoga. 9-10am. Afro Carribean Dance. $10/class or $35/mo. 5:50-7pm. Crazy Horse Saloon: All Request Karaoke. 21+ DownLo: Game night. All ages until 10pm Empire Coffee: Portrait Drawing Group art show. 7am-7pm Holiday Inn Bar: Salsa Lessons, 7-10pm LaSalles: ’90s night. 21+ Panama Bar: Tropical Tuesdays ft. Mack Morris & DJ2K. 10pm Studio Inn Lounge: Karaoke. 8:30pm1am The Tackle Box: Karaoke, 9pm University Bar: Free Pool 6-8pm Woodstocks: Trivia Challenge. Call at 4pm to reserve a table. Starts 6:30pm
15 Wednesday
The Bear: Trike Races. Post time 10pm Chico Art Center: Open Studios Art Tour. 10am-4pm Chico Art School & Gallery: “Explorations In Paint.” 12-5pm
The Beach: Live DJ, no cover, 9pm Chico Art Center: Open Studios Art Tour. 10am-4pm Chico Art School & Gallery: “Explorations In Paint.” 12-5pm DownLo: Live Jazz. 8-11pm. All ages until 10pm Empire Coffee: Portrait Drawing Group art show. 7am-7pm The Graduate: Free Pool after 10pm Has Beans Downtown: Open Mic Night. 7-10pm. Signups start at 6pm Holiday Inn Bar: Karaoke. 8pm-midnight James Snidle Fine Arts: Paula Busch-”Japan.” 9am-5pm LaSalles: Free live music on the patio. 6-9pm Maltese: Karaoke. 9pm-close Panama Bar: Buck night and DJ Eclectic & guests on the patio. 9pm Quackers: Karaoke night with Andy. 9pm-1am University Bar: Free Pool 6-8pm Woodstocks: Open Mic Night Yoga Center Of Chico: Ecstatic Dance with Clay Olson. 7:30-9:30pm
17 Friday
The Beach: Live DJ, 9pm Cafe Coda: Friday Morning Jazz with Bogg, happy hour. 10am-2pm Chico Art Center: Open Studios Art Tour. 10am-4pm Chico Art School & Gallery: “Explorations In Paint.” 12-5pm
DownLo: ½ off pool. All ages until 10pm. Live Music, 8pm Duffys: Pub Scouts - Happy Hour. 4-7pm Empire Coffee: Portrait Drawing Group art show. 7am-7pm The Graduate: Free Pool after 10pm Holiday Inn Bar: DJ Dance Party. 8pmmidnight James Snidle Fine Arts: Paula Busch”Japan.” 9am-5pm LaSalles: Open Mic night on the patio. 6-9pm Maltese: Happy hour with live jazz by Bogg. 5-7pm. LGBTQ+ Dance Party. 9pm Panama Bar: Jigga Julee, DJ Mah on the patio. 9pm Peeking: BassMint. Weekly electronic dance party. $1-$5. 9:30pm Quackers: Live DJ. 9pm Sultan’s Bistro: Bellydance Performance. 6:30-7:30pm University Bar: Free Pool 6-8pm
18 Saturday
The Beach: Live DJ, 9pm Chico Art Center: Open Studios Art Tour. 10am-4pm Chico Art School & Gallery: “Explorations In Paint.” 10am-12pm DownLo: 9 Ball tournament. Signups at noon, starts at 1pm. All ages until 10pm Empire Coffee: Portrait Drawing Group art show. 7am-7pm The Graduate: Free Pool after 10pm Holiday Inn Bar: DJ Dancing. 70s and 80s music. The Molly Gunn’s Revival! 8pm-midnight James Snidle Fine Arts: Paula Busch-”Japan.” 9am-5pm LaSalles: 80’s Night. 8pm-close Maltese: Dragopolis. $3, 10pm Panama Bar: DJ Eclectic on the patio. 9pm University Bar: Free Pool 6-8pm
19 Sunday
Chico Art Center: Open Studios Art Tour. 10am-4pm Dorothy Johnson Center: Soul Shake Dance Church. Free-style dance wave, $8-$15 sliding scale. 10am-12:30pm DownLo: Free Pool, 1 hour with every $8 purchase. All ages until 10pm Empire Coffee: Portrait Drawing Group art show. 7am-7pm LaSalles: Karaoke. 9pm Maltese: Live Jazz 4-7pm. Trivia 8pm Tackle Box: Karaoke, 8pm
FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO 15
Leave ‘em Wanting More PROCRASTINATING BY LISTENING TO VOMIT LAUNCH, AND RUMINATING OVER MODERN TRENDS TOWARDS MUSICAL SELF-INDULGENCE. I’m supposed to be writing this column, but I find myself procrastinating by communicating with the denizens of the Twitterverse—and by watching a full-length video of Trish’s old band Vomit Launch playing a set at the Cattle Club, in Sacramento, back in 1992. During the early ‘90s I was all metal all the time—AC/ DC was my version of “easy listening.” As a result, more alternative and indie bands like Vomit Launch never really made it across my musical radar. If they did, I likely would have dismissed them as “gay.” It was a long time ago, and I was not the enlightened soul then that you see before you now. Practice Makes Perfect In the video the band is really tight, and that’s no accident. By 1992 Vomit Launch had been playing for six or seven years. Trish tells me they used to practice two nights a week, rain or shine, whether or not they’d played shows recently. They’d get back from a tour of the Northwest on Monday night and then hit practice on Tuesday. This is probably obvious to some of you, but practice is what makes bands shine. A good song or a good sound is a solid place to start, but practicing that song until you can barely stand it is what lets the dynamics and nuances emerge.
On The Town 16
PHOTOS BY VINCE LATHAM FACEBOOK.COM/VANGUARD.PHOTOGRAPHY
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 13 2014
I’ve played in bands for years, err, decades I guess. I’ve always looked forward to practice.
Shows are great fun, but they go by in a blur. You spend hours loading gear, sitting around, waiting to play, and then your thirty minute set is through and you’re waiting around to collect what little money there may be before loading up and going home. Playing in front of a crowd is gratifying, and it is where you are able to see how your music is really affecting people. Practice is where you get to stretch out, shoot the bull, drink a few beers, try some new ideas, and relax musically. Short and Sweet I suppose there is no right or wrong way to do music, but lately I’ve noticed an alarming trend of bands playing extended sets of relatively uniform sounding songs. I’m a big fan of shorter sets, particularly if you’ve got more than three bands on a bill. Bands that consistently play too long should be pilloried. It’s one thing to steal the night because your band is tight, and dynamic, and delivers a crystalline set; it’s another to suck all the energy out of the room by testing the limits of human endurance. Be respectful of the other bands on the bill. There’s an adage that my musical colleagues and I have always held dear: “Leave ‘em wanting more.” You’re not the Boss, deliver six or eight of your very best songs and get the hell off the stage. Well, I’m told by the experts that there is a 50/50 chance of rain tomorrow and the Death or Glory is not going to apply another layer of tar to its own roof, so I’m off until next week.
Immaculate Infection
by Bob Howard
Madbob@madbob.com
The Power of Planning Ahead WRITING A TREASURE MAP Treasure maps are fun things to follow because they lead you to treasure. But consider the person who wrote the treasure map—they already have treasure, or they already know where it is. That’s an even better position to be in. In modern times, the practice of planning ahead for purchases is rather like writing a treasure map. Planning ahead for purchases of all kinds acts as a treasure map, because you can avoid paying higher prices out of desparation—often referred to as “the convenience fee.” Gas stations sell a one liter bottle of sugar water for $2, while Grocery Place offers twice as much at half the price. Why would anyone buy at the gas station? Convenience. It would cost you (the buyer) time and energy to travel to Grocery Place, and you want that drink right away, so you are willing to pay a higher monetary cost. By planning ahead, you can use your time, energy, and money efficiently—stopping at Grocery Place when you are already in the area. A friend told me she and her husband eat on three dollars a day, combined. She explained they plan their meals, buy in bulk, don’t eat out, and are essentially vegetarian. Sure, they might have a busy day where a tire gets blown and they grab a burger, but they get right back to the plan the next day. They can weather a convenience storm because they are prepared. (Uncle Scar was right.) You can plan ahead by learning the regular
price of products. Heck, start with beer: Prices vary by store and location, so you might find Sierra Nevada is cheaper at a CVS than at the liquor store, while the opposite is true for a 30-pack of ditchwater lager. Assignment of the week—pick one product you buy regularly (e.g. a gallon of milk) and then track the price of that item at a few different locations. You’ll get a good picture of the average price, and can then recognize a deal when you spot one. To reward yourself, buy that item at the cheapest place. Planning ahead doesn’t end with food. Plan on where you want to live. Rent is all about location—the further you’re willing to travel to get to class, the cheaper it’ll likely be. Maybe find a place in Chapmantown and get a used bike. Or enjoy the free student shuttle service, even if that means getting to campus an hour before class starts. Signing a year lease is a big deal, and looking for a month to month might be a better idea. If you need to sign a year, try and use that to negotiate a bit—even rent lowered by $25 per month will save you $300 over that year. All the landlord can say is “no,” and then they’ll still offer it to you at the originally offered price. You’ve lost nothing, and might gain something—a glint of treasure on the horizon.
The Frugal Terran by TripHazard
PHOTOS BY VINCE LATHAM FACEBOOK.COM/VANGUARD.PHOTOGRAPHY
On The Town
FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO 17
Trigger Hippy A Powerful and Charismatic Musical Vehicle for Greene, Osborne, Others BY ALAN SHECKTER It didn’t take long for Trigger Hippy’s spicy cauldron of driving road-house jams and emotion-filled power ballads to visibly win over a sold-out crowd on October 9 at the intimate Center for the Arts in Grass Valley. Recently tagged as an “Americana super group” by Rolling Stone, Trigger Hippy features the multi-talented guitarist/keyboardist Jackie Greene, dynamic vocal powerhouse Joan Osborne, Black Crowes drummer Tim Gorman, famed session guitarist Tom Bukovac, and bass player/songwriter Nick Govrik. There ain’t no smoke and mirrors here; it’s all talent, mutual respect, quality songs, and great stage presence, and the band seemed to visibly have a good time doing it. While Gorman and Greene first conceived Trigger Hippy five years ago, the band is gaining lots of traction amid national buzz surrounding its self-titled, debut album, seven songs of which were showcased here live. And good for them that they are doing it largely on the strength of their own songs. Jams are great, and these consummate professionals laid down some epic improvisations, with Greene and Bukovac often trading leads, but it takes solid, well-constructed songs to lay the foundation for these jams. Trigger Hippy has this aspect covered. With Greene on keyboards, the show began with a blast with a super-charged rendering of Albert Collins’ old blues piece, “Snatchin’ it Back.” “Dry County” followed, a funky altcountry offering, and the first of the night to showcase the fine dual-lead-vocal interplay between Greene and Osborne. “Heartache on the Live” was next, presenting more of the dynamic magic that the two possess as a vocal tandem. That magic was never more on display than on two of the night’s covers: Bob Dylan’s romantic “Tonight I’ll Be Stayin Here With You” and the Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down.” Osborne, who had plenty of success in the mid-1990s—and later accompanied Phil Lesh & Friends, which is where she and Greene first worked together—was exceptional on 18
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 13 2014
the provocative, slower-tempo blues number, “Pretend You’re in Love,” pausing mid-song for some seductive interludes. “Jackie honey, I know you’re a young man,” she teasingly stage whispered, “but I bet you have something to say about love.” Greene answered back with some beautiful, emotional organ passages. Following that, Osborne said to a huge ovation, “I want to ask the ladies in the audience. Did you enjoy that? I know I did!” This may be finest band incarnation yet for Greene, the versatile Sacramento-based songwriter and rock ‘n’ blues man who has had tours of duty with his own band, of course, as well as with the Black Crowes, Phil Lesh & Friends, the Skinny Singers (featuring Mother Hips’ Tim Bluhm), and the Bob Weir, Chris Robinson, and Jackie Greene Trio. Greene will return to Chico on December 4 and 5, performing two acoustic benefits for KZFR-FM at the Chico Women’s Club, along with brother and Walking Spanish front man, Alex Nelson.
Stuart Ross WAY BACK STUARTROSSMUSIC.COM
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival BY LIAM MCCARTHY Waiting for the seventy-one. I’d remarkably remembered everything I needed out of the car, a good night’s sleep is underneath me and I’m sober. I watch as an eclectic crowd of tattered shirts and suits begin dismantling the order of the bus system, way down Market Street. It’s damn hot. It’s my first year at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival; I’m getting in for free like everybody else; all this is bringing on an elated smile. By the top of Haight Street the dismantling is beginning to look like a full blown urban aneurysm for the poor seventy-one bus and her unshakable driver. Spanish and German words fill the air, a conservative looking woman sits beside her wildly misfit deadhead husband in a dull purple shirt. They’re talking about John Prine. I think the Germans and a zenned out pit-bull are talking about Prine too. Our driver, in thick Asian accent, just wants everybody to “get the fuck off the doorsteps!” Immediately my shoes and I are separated; I’m slipping, descending through what is likely the worst of all possible entrances, stumbling sideways into hundreds of thousands of people with a beer in my hand, panting. I slurred over countless blankets, through intimate make-out sessions and makeshift sandwich boards, not a single dirty look coming my way. Dripping beer and apologies over a line of people, I imagine all this behavior would have thrown me far off the
social vibrations at Outside Lands, or Treasure Island. It must be the divine plan for this stripped roots music echoing in my inebriated ear—a stress-reduction therapy offered from Emmylou Harris or Jeff Tweedy—which emits from receivers out into the cypress trees. Hardly Strictly is brimming with a peaceful feeling missing from festivals half the size, festivals which advertise themselves in deceptively kaleidoscopic banners and wavygravy fonts. In the best sense, I begin to feel like John Prine and Dave Rawlings had really decided the previous night to play a show with a load of friends in the most obvious place on earth. When Deltron 3030 hip hop (hardly) offsets the beat—people keep a rambling grin. A tangle of trees offers sanctuary from the harsh, unseasonable San Francisco sun; a long bent trunk draws a line between the sounds of Built to Spill closing up and Mavis Staples’ thunderous cover of “The Weight.” My blood alcohol content has peaked and troughed, I’m experiencing a slight tingle in my legs and patches of light in my vision (here it comes, ma)—“The Weight” was written for this feeling. Sitting beside me is a man in mid 30s, smoking (merely) a cigarette. In soliloquy-form, I express to him my feeling for the cadence of this festival, the sense of ease in people, the fenceless feeling. “A hippy isn’t usually a hippy,” he says back to me. “A hippy only feels like one when you can see they’re gravitating towards benevolence.” For a brief moment, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was sounding like 700,000 people doing just that.
With endearing insight and perfectly dolloped irony to match the most iconic bards, Stuart Ross is a threat to your prescribed epistemology. To be honest, if you’re not sure whether your existential foundation can endure some tectonic shift, you may not even want to bother queueing up his fulllength album, Way Back. I feel the music in my bones, but I am a word man at my core, and the lyrics that Mr. Ross writes are top notch. He also plays acoustic guitar well, and can professionally plot out a course on the piano. Most everyone will have their lives’ trajectories magnified by at least one of these narratives. To digress to an even more inwardlooking vantage, there may be tears. Way Back begins with the bright and promising instrumental piano track “Easy Does It,” but quickly presents an extensive menu of raw, sparsely elegant courses like the title track (an historic enigma), “The Beaver Parable,” in which daydreaming is glorified and commerce is reduced to “saying thank you in cash,” and “You Are My Blood,” which is as powerful a juxtapositioning of eternal, unconditional love and living, breathing mortality as has ever been written. For my money, “Surprise,” although singularly quirky and off-the-cuff, is near the top of this heap of poignant, free cultural work. It’s an epic poem of one soul’s place in time; a tale that evokes an empathetic tear or three by reminding me that “nobody knows, hard as they try,” but that we “got it all on the video” and can always “watch the playback.” “Some Trouble” colors in the other end of the lucky listener’s spectrum with absurd laughter at the expense of a “thief, drunk,
scallywag” pizza thief—“wide-eyed and terrified”—barrelling down Bourbon Street before earning himself a “standing spot in the tank tonight” from the variety of trouble that’s “paid to keep you in line.” It should be noted that Way Back is capped on both sides by light, joyous solo piano pieces; in closing we are treated to the rollicking landscape of “Palomita”. In addition to the elegant bookends, “On My Day Off” and “Ginsberg” also provide complementary instrumental intermissions for the listeners. The warm, fuzzy feelings that come with listening to Way Back make one wonder if Stuart has any familial relation to Bob Ross, the great warrior of love with paintbrush and palette. Stuart Ross is, among other things, a singer songwriter from Austin, Texas. He’s starts with no plans or ideas and takes what the gods give him. Sometimes he thinks he’s really on to something and he keeps at it and he thinks it through and sometimes he gets to the end and he’s like, wow! Most of the time, no. – From Stuart’s “About” blurb on Jamendo.com I’ll never have enough, but I’m getting there. – Stuart Ross This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Free Culture by Alex O’Brien amateurzen.us
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OCTOBER 13, 2014 BY KOZ MCKEV
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Valuable lessons are being learned as you apply your passions toward a meaningful quest. You are becoming more of a lover and less of a fighter. It occurs to you that having love requires that you be willing to give something up in exchange. Thursday through much of Saturday finds you in a generous mood. This is a good time for creative pursuits. Playful attitudes and coming from the heart is what this is all about. You never totally lose your child-like qualities, and why should you? Make art and live the dream.
Work peacefully and diligently toward the goal that you want to accomplish. Come to terms with setbacks. Keep the team spirit thing going. Be sure to give, and know that you aren’t alone when it comes to wanting to make things better. Be realistic about your limits and what you are working with. Saturday night and Sunday are the best times for you to recreate this week. Find love through service, and see service as love. You will have to get your hands dirty. It’s alright; hard work can be altered into smart work.
Mercury is back in your fifth house, encouraging you to refine your creation. Matters of the heart may need to be gone over. Flirtations during Mercury retrograde should never be taken too seriously. Be spontaneous and enjoy good situations as they come up. Look for the good in what you already have. Travel can be fun but expect delays. Attend to matters of the heart. Work on organization, helping others and improving your own personal health. Be honest about your own faults when confrontations do come up.
Proof of the truth should be evident. Be kind but stay firm as to where your boundaries lie. The moon goes into Cancer late Monday afternoon through all of Wednesday. You are keenly aware of how you feel in your current domestic situation. The weekend might be good for a little escape, however there is a chance you could make a little money if you stick close to home. All in all, it’s up to you to bring together the kind of people that you like to be associated with. Honor your parents, all the while expanding your view of family.
Libra is the sign of your neighbor or sibling. The sun is in your third house of communication. It’s a time when you want to engage with your peers and get caught up on the latest gossip. Education and access to information become more important. Energy picks up with the moon in Leo and a grand trine between Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus between Thursday and early Saturday. Realize the good luck and good fortune that is around you. Seek to work on that which is in front of you. Be curious at a safe distance.
Going the distance is one of your personal values. Seek out ways to strengthen your level of integrity. It’s time to put on a new and better face. Mercury is retrograde in your house of finances and values. The moon goes into Virgo Saturday afternoon at 4:08pm PDT and stays there through the following Monday. You may be dreaming up a new way to make money. Play music and sing songs. Do things to strengthen your voice. Take time to look at all the things that you are grateful for. Find ways to make happiness sustainable.
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces
All eyes are on you, as you are the flavor of the month. Think about recent changes and do what you can to improve the quality of flow in your life. Venus in your first house brings the essence of sweetness close to you. Thursday and Friday look good for socializing and throwing parties. Attend to your responsibilities early in the week. The weekend looks better for laying low and taking stock in what you already have. Keep all your vehicles in top operating order. Mobility is important, yet it’s best to wait before pursuing something new.
Mercury is back in your twelfth house, giving you messages about the law of karma. Be merciful and do good deeds. The Sun and Venus in your twelfth house cause you to have to confront your inner demons and desires for secret sexual unions. Saturn is good at keeping you in check by either depressing you or exhausting you. It’s often darkest before the dawn. Friends may come to your aid on Tuesday and Wednesday. Saturday night might be nice for a social gathering. Work on ways to improve your finances.
You like to take things to the limit. If there is a subject to be an expert on like sports or movies, you’re likely to take the ball and run with it. Try not to be so domineering, as you have the confidence of Mars in your sign. Higher ethics and spiritual values are the houses you should dwell in. Competition for the sake of entertainment is shallow, although it appears friendly. Don’t be afraid to go to a place of depth and substantial knowledge. Thursday and Friday are lucky days for you this week.
Expectations and responsibilities are the main course of your meal these days. Rise up to what is right. People continue to look up to you for some sense of assurance that everything is going to be alright. What you’ve done in secret is known, so get over yourself and play by the rules. By Sunday you may get it; begin to walk your talk. Warning: old habits are hard to break. You may need to make sacrifices to make things right. Image doesn’t mean poop. Being real means being as honest about your weakness as you have been with your strengths.
Harvest blessings as you find yourself in a fortunate position. We are in a constant struggle to make things right. Don’t expect to please all the people all the time. If you are in a good partnership, you will find the gold in that relationship this week. Experimentation is encouraged during this cycle. You just need to be ready to accept the unexpected. Thursday and Friday are your best days for romance and negotiation. Do things to bring up everyone around you; that could mean a spontaneous adventure of some sort.
Feel free to howl out in pain if you need to. Just do it in a pillow unless you want someone to call the authorities. Your psychic feelers are out there and not all that you are sensing is comforting. Late Monday afternoon through Wednesday you’re feeling good and playful. Loving and creative vibrations flow. After that it will be making peace with the challenges you are already facing. By Saturday evening you feel a little more positive and at peace. Be glad that you are needed, and know that you provide a service that people are grateful for.
Koz McKev is on YouTube, on cable 11 BCTV and is heard on 90.1FM KZFR Chico. Also available by appointment for personal horoscopes call (530)891-5147 or e-mail kozmickev@sunset.net FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO 21
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M0lina I first saw Forough (fuh-ROO) Molina (Mo-LEEnah) when she asked me for my support at the Farmers’ Market one morning, and I promised to look her up online. I liked her, although she looked me right in the eye, an old trick. I once met a governor of Illinois who was later convicted of some shenanigans, or maybe folderol, and I most remember his piercing stare. It was nearly hypnotic and he was a thief and a charlatan the whole time. Molina didn’t seem like that, just direct. I saw her the next time at the forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters in the Chico Silly Council room, and then she and I talked on a bench at One Mile. I was thinking of writing about her candidacy, but for the hour or so we sat there and the week since I haven’t thought up words to do her justice. She’s a benign tsunami, kind and warm and relentless. I bet she’s a tough teacher. Here’s where I get to mention Miz Richie, an English teacher I had at the end of high school. We knew Miz Richie was immaculately dressed and accessorized and made-up, and looking at my yearbook fifty years later I realized she was also mighty fine, though just out of range for sixteen-year-old perceptions. Miz Richie has nothing to do with Forough Molina, except she was a tough teacher, too, and I wanted to give her late props. Molina asked me why I wanted her to win, and I said because I got a good vibe from her at the Farmers’ Market, and she seemed like a regular person, believable, with manageable neuroses, and tough, too. 22
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 13 2014
Sometime there on the bench she mentioned having raced bicycles, and so what I thought was a certain temper, as with steel, was exactly that. Bicycle racers are tough mothers. Another snap judgment supported. She was also riding a 1970s-era Schwinn, my hometown brand. I’m a certified Schwinn Service Specialist, so her wheels gained her a lot of cred with me. Molina grew up poor in Chico, which I bet no other candidate can claim and which is reason enough to vote her onto the Silly Council. We didn’t talk about many issues. She actually knows what public schools are for and that police need better training, and that’ll do for the time being. Forough Molina strikes me as someone who won’t last long as a Silly Council member and who will be a big help while she’s there. As much as anything, I trust her. I don’t mean I’d rely on her in all situations. With my child? Absolutely. In a gun fight, maybe not. I don’t expect to agree with her decisions on the council all the time, though that would be nice. I trust that how she votes will be because of what she feels is best for ordinary people in Chico. The wealthy and business owners have plenty of influence on, in, and throughout the Chico Silly Council. I trust Forough Molina to represent those of us with no business, few skills, half-assed healthcare, and no cash reserve. When she wins.
From The Edge
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