JANUARY 19 2015 — FREE
VOLUME 21 ISSUE 21 January 19, 2015 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 Sandoval amy@synthesis.net
THIS W E E K
The She Things
C OLUMNS
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CREATIVE DIRECTOR
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
by Amy Sandoval
Tanner Ulsh graphics@synthesis.net
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ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
NO MIDDLE GROUND
Arielle Mullen arielle@synthesis.net SynthesisWeekly.com/submit-yourevent/
by Sylvia Bowersox
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ASSOCIATE EDITOR Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff emilianogs@gmail.com
PRODUCTIVITY WASTED
by Eli Schwartz
DESIGNERS
pwasted@synthesis.net
Liz Watters, Mike Valdez graphics@synthesis.net
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DELIVERIES
IMMACULATE INFECTION
Jennifer Foti
by Bob Howard
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Madbob@madbob.com
Zooey Mae, Bob Howard, Howl, Koz McKev, Tommy Diestel, Eli Schwartz, Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff, Jon Williams, Sean Galloway, Alex O’Brien
PAGE 17 LETTERS TO DESMOND
by Zooey Mae
PHOTOGRAPHY Jessica Sid Vincent Latham
zooeymae@synthesis.net
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NERD
Dain Sandoval dain@synthesis.net
ACCOUNTING Ben Kirby
SUPERTIME!
Blood Cabana
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by Logan Kruidenier logankruidenier.tumblr.com
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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.
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LE T T E R F R O M T H E E DI TO R
PET OF THE WEEK
Su pe rgirl My name is Supergirl! I love to snuggle up in warm spots with other cats and just hang out. I have a very mellow and easygoing personality that I think you will find is just right. I’m very independent but I love cuddle time too.
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NOW HEA R THI S
Migos
TANN ER
Migos - “Fight Night”
LI Z
Daughter - “Candles”
MIK E H A LEY
Kennedy - “Karate”
BE C CA
Lana Del Rey - “American”
DI N A H
Bear Lincoln - “La Manera”
AND REA 4
Chris Brown - “Private Show”
Ghostface Killah - “Center of Attraction”
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM
JAN 19 2015
Dust and Cobwebs – Final Thoughts Standing in the room with my father, surrounded by the mountains we’d moved, we passed ancient treasures back and forth, examining them in the sunlight. It was something incredibly special to hold those long forgotten objects in my hands again, they brought a sense of reality to a time that had grown vague and abstract. I followed them like breadcrumbs to the world of my childhood: My little brother in that tiny blue checked robe, laughing and jumping over my dad who rolled toward him in a game we called Steamroller; combing through the pile of legos on the mustard yellow blanket; the toy shelves in the closet where we kept the Knight Rider dashboard and the snap case of Hot Wheels... My dad in his orange and brown striped shirt raking pine needles in the yard; teaching me to ride my bike while camping in Fort Bragg; holding my hand as we walked the trail to the beach... The curtains in my mom’s sewing cubby at the far end of the walk-in closet, where she taught me to make little purses with her scraps; laughing as I made blanket nests and hatched the plastic eggs her stockings came in... One memory led to another, illuminating the dark corners. I realized that this was all unknown to him—he
had no idea that I carried these moments tenderly in my heart, that my childhood had been filled with love and that those gestures had impacted me so deeply—the chance to share that with him was priceless. We found boxes that held my grandmother’s keepsakes: bundles of postcards from her husband during World War II, newspaper clippings, photographs, pictures my dad had drawn as a child. Pieces of his life and hers and the world they lived in. Over these weeks, as we cleaned and cried and shared these memories, a sense of ease settled over us. It was like finding no monster under the bed. Just like that we were free of the unspoken tensions that had made us feel so distant, free of the inadequacy and guilt I’d been bringing there for years. We were walking side by side again in the same world, talking about funny things we liked and musing over shared perspectives, talking about our hopes and planning projects together. I saw him in a way I never quite could before: the man he is, the man he was, the child—all of them the same regardless of everything that had passed.
Somewhere along the way to adulthood my siblings and I (like so many in our generation) made a silent declaration—we were independent, we were not the perpetual children of our parents, we were not to be ruled by obligations. Arguments about politics and religion and feelings that made us uncomfortable could just be abandoned—aggrandized— rather than acknowledged and set aside like so much junk. We would choose new families and enjoy being seen as the people we’ve become, the edited versions. We never realized we were abandoning parts of ourselves, and in the process picking up unnecessary burdens of guilt. Our first room was finally complete. The cobwebs had been cleared, the vacuum had pulled astounding amounts of dust from the carpet that rose in clouds as the tank filled, over and over until it rose no more. This room would never again be a graveyard of clutter and loneliness, never again would it be an impassable range of mountains.
by AMY SANDOVAL amy@synthesis.net
NO MIDDLE GROUN D
ON T H E TOWN — V INC E L AT H A M FACEBOOK.COM /VAN G UARDPHOTOG RAPHY
No Middle Ground: my life after Baghdad My husband and I were sitting at an outside table at Sierra Nevada having lunch, when I suddenly had something else to blame on the Iraq war: My bottom left molar. The crown had cracked, again, and instead of chewing on the gristle of a grilled chicken sandwich, I was chewing on slivers of temporary crown. My tongue was already being sliced by the jagged edges that the crown left behind. “Jeez,” I mumbled. “What happened?” asked Jon, looking up from his iPad. “My tooth. The crown broke. And I just got it fixed.” “My poor honey, you have had more trouble with your teeth than a tweaker. Since I met you, it has been one dental disaster after another,” he declared, focusing on my mouth like he could actually see the wounded tooth. “Maybe, but not this tooth. This tooth is the Army’s fault. Don’t you remember? In Baghdad, I needed a root canal and was in massive pain and the doctor at the hospital in the Green Zone... ah... Ibn Sina, gave me Percocet to hold me over to the next day and I took two Percocet with a beer and then
started that fight with that guy and loudly told everybody that I was going to jump off the high dive with that Russian dude and some kind soul walked but really carried me back to my trailer and the next day the Army dentist did the root canal and packed it with gauze and then covered it over and sealed it without telling me about the gauze and how it needed to be removed and surprise, surprise a year and a half later there wasn’t a whole lot of tooth left for my dentist to cap when I got home and the gauze was black and disgusting and the tooth was decayed all to hell. Remember, you said that I always had bad breath?” My husband looked straight into my face for a moment with that “I can’t believe you remember so much and got it out in all one breath” look that he has been giving me since the first second we met. “Disgusting breath as I remember. But Army dentists are normally better than that.” “Not in Baghdad during the war, they weren’t.” I blame everything in my life that annoys or hurts me on the war. One day I just started doing this, and it felt great. It is what my therapist
calls a coping mechanism. Every day I find a new thing to blame on the war. I missed out on my son’s life... Iraq. I slept with the wrong people... Iraq. I handled my divorce badly... Iraq. Three tours, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the VA put me on on too many pills... Iraq. My father died, I feel out of place in the world, My stepdaughter hates me… Iraq. I jump at loud noises, I can’t find a parking place, I can’t find a job, my hair cut looks terrible, and the unfortunate facts that I will never make love in a castle or be best buds with a rock star... Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. All of it’s Iraq’s fault. I was in Iraq for a total of 32 months, starting out in uniform as an Army broadcast journalist, and then as a State Department press officer at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. I finally came home after a short stint handling the press for SIGIR, the watchdog agency responsible for overseeing the 49 billion dollars American taxpayers spent on reconstructing the newly democratic Republic of Iraq (we’ll get to that later).
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PR O DU C T I V I T Y WAST E D
Cahors Sunset DEPRESSING, SLOW, AND KIND OF SWEET Cahors Sunset is a lean little game made in Adobe Air, a program I didn’t know even existed until I tried to run Cahors Sunset. It caught my eye because it was strange, and almost absurdly French. You control Valentin Puget, a sixty-year-old native resident of Cahors, France, who is entering the twilight of his life. The game is simply a matter of choosing randomly presented decisions for Valentin, to whom the years are not kind. Each month a choice is made on how to allocate Valentin’s time and resources, which is followed by a random event, then memories, then current events. The choices one makes to help manage Valentin’s life are always ones of sacrifice: helping his mood often comes at the cost of his health, helping his social life almost always hits his bank account. Managing the life of a retiree does not sound glamorous, and indeed it is not. Decisions like “Eat a Good Cheese” and “Stay at Home to Read” are not enlivening in the least, and that is, perhaps, the point. Set in the ‘60s, Valentin’s own slow struggle to stay afloat is interspersed with news of the French Empire’s own gradual dissolution, and the most interesting parts of the game are often the simple reading of Valentin’s memories, current life, and those of his friends and family. The strange and troubled future of France contrasts with Valentin’s romantic past, and as the two meet closer in the middle, Valentin grows older and weaker, and the reasons that Valentin once had for living fade away.
The game slowly becomes a lingering existential question: how do you really want to live, how important is it to still be there in the morning? Valentin has children, and his children will miss him, but they have their own lives, even their own children. Many of the events and choices in the game blur together and repeat, giving a sense of monotony, all set to the backdrop of yellowed photos of Cahors. If you can keep Valentin alive to the age of seventy, the game runs out of memories to give you, and Valentin no longer cares about current events. In the suddenly frozen monotony of the aging man’s life, left behind by the future and distant from the past, it hardly feels like you’re playing a game anymore; you’re simply left to ask: how long do you want to live? Cahors Sunset is absolutely not for everyone; it’s slow, existential, a touch maudlin, and French as a baguette in a beret. It has some negative aspects; namely, its difficulty works against the revelation of story and memory, in the risk of Valentin dying before all his memories are retrieved. It is, however, also a thoughtful game—one that asks us to strike a difficult balance between staying alive and staying afloat in a world that has simultaneously slowed and sped up. It’s a game that asks us to give some thought to the later years of life in a medium that has had little of such thought.
by ELI SCHWARTZ pwasted@synthesis.net
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JAN 19 2015
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The Media Can’t Get Enough of “Black Violence” by ALISA BUTLER When I turn on the TV or pop a movie in, I can’t help but notice that an association between black people and violence is portrayed everywhere. I’m not saying that because I’m a black woman and therefore prone to exaggerating or being dramatic; I’m saying it because it’s true. I have this violent stigma attached to me due to violence portrayed in the media, and I can’t be quiet anymore. Examples of this are very successful movies like Friday and Boyz in the Hood. These are “classics”—I’m not denying that fact at all. I’ve definitely been among those who watched Friday every chance I got (it comes on TV often enough). But why are these movies so popular? Growing up, my family watched anything that had black people in leading roles to support our community. The violent stereotypes were not something we took notice of. Violence in the black community is expected because it’s pushed down our throats, then that same violence in black communities is depicted in various media outlets... it’s getting old. There is this idea that these stories represent what it is to be black. Trust me, there is no one definition of what being black truly is. What you see in a movie does not define me or how I am in my daily life. It’s time to turn off the TV and see who we really are as people, and more importantly, individuals. You might be pleasantly surprised. The average TV viewer or moviegoer sees these depictions and thinks that black people = violence. I have never been violent or been in a fight in my life but I am pretty
positive that people look at me and think I could explode at any moment. I’ve walked down the street and children have looked stunned and afraid of me. People have crossed the street just so they wouldn’t be on the same sidewalk as I was. There have been times where I wanted to stop and cry. A combination of anger and agony is how I can explain how I feel, but that does not come close. You would think Shrek is stomping towards them, but I’m sure they would have preferred that.
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After the decision to not indict the officer who shot Mike Brown, I felt eyes burning holes in my back everywhere I walked, even more so than usual. I felt like people expected me to be loud and to become violent at any moment. That’s not me. I was extremely upset about the decision but I wasn’t going to start setting couches on fire around town. (Why is that a thing again?) Do I have to walk around with a permanent smile on my face and a shirt that says “It’s OK Don’t Be Afraid. I’m Not Going to Get Violent”? I don’t think I’m a threatening looking woman but one of my old friends told me that before she met me, she was afraid to approach me because I looked intimidating. She towered over me, but she was afraid of me? Whoa. She didn’t know anything about me but my physical appearance. Sure I wore baggy khaki pants, but did being black and having baggy pants make me scary? Really? And people think it’s ridiculous to be afraid of clowns.
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by Zooey Mae
I can say with confidence that in my tenure at Synthesis, I’ve never interviewed a band who laughed more. The She Things, a babe trifecta of impressive composition, have recently taken Chico by storm with their high energy shows, and catchy songs with beats that would drive even the heaviest foot to compulsive tapping. Self-described as “stupid Ramonsian girl pop riding a howling wave of glitter trash,” The She Things are poised to be Chico’s new favorite band. Band members Chelsea Rose (drums), Christina Burnham (guitar and vox), and Kerra Jessen (bass and vox) recently met with me on the stage at Duffy’s to discuss their music, hate mail, and pizza.
Kerra: Like years. Me and Christina have talked about it for five years.
Can you talk a little about how The She Things came about?
Kerra: Lots of false starts. We had some cool covers, we were doing things like “Walking After Midnight,” and—
Kerra: It’s been a longstanding dream. Christina: A long time.
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Christina: Kerra came up with the name, and we just envisioned the band. We heard the name and we were just like, this is the band, this is the idea. Kerra: [laughing] It was either going to be The She Things, or The She Its. Christina: It was a really longstanding dream, but we were just very busy with The Shankers and The Hambones, we just had other shit going on. We got together a few times, but it never really clicked…
Christina: More country-type stuff. We didn’t really have a direction.
JAN 19 2015
Kerra: We didn’t have a cohesive thing yet. Except for “Peach Comb” and “Make Out Monster,” those are two songs that were born all those years ago. And then it just gelled, because The Shankers started only playing once or twice a year, and The Hambones just sort of leveled out because Trent started his own band (Trox & The Terribles), so me and Christina were both freed up. At that point we were just like, let’s do it, dude! It was now or never. Christina: And I found my guitar, it’s my guitar soulmate. I’ve been wanting to play guitar for a long time, and I picked up that guitar and it was like, this is the one. It had the right tone, the right feel, it was just like, this is The She Things guitar. Kerra: So the name came together, and the guitar came together, and then we were like we need a drummer. Because it’s a girl band. Even though it might seem kinda cliche, that’s just always the way
we wanted it to be. We just wanted to rock out with babes. How would you describe the concept of the band? Christina: I just want to play music that people want to dance to, and have fun. That’s major for me. Kerra: Same. Christina: If I’m not having a good time, and people aren’t having a good time, then I don’t know what I’m doing there. [laughs] Kerra: Yeah, we just want to play good rock-n-roll with that sixties flavor, and some surf-beach-ish shit. The concept is there because that’s our natural aesthetic anyway. It comes naturally. The songs kind of write themselves. Christina: And we don’t really try for that sort of thing. We play, and it just happens. [laughs]
Kerra: Yes! We were talking about that, we were saying it’s really the only stuff that we can write. [They all laugh] It’s just what is in me, and what is in Christina and Chelsea. Christina: It just clicks. I’ve been in lots of other bands and had lots of fun, but no other band has really clicked like this. Kerra: Same. It feels like… nirvana. Not the band, the feeling. [They all laugh] Chelsea: There have been moments when we play a song for the first time, and it clicks in this way that we’re all like, what?! It just feels like we’ve played it before. [Christina and Kerra nod enthusiastically] That’s not something that you get all the time. Christina: It’s like a triangle. A magic babe triangle. [laughs] Kerra: It’s how we fit together, we
all just get along really well. And that’s another thing too: I don’t know if it’s a concept per se, but just, friendship. Just having fun with each other. It’s like a mojo workout, to quote the 5.6.7.8s. Every time we practice, even if I’m not having a great day or I’m feeling super down, by the end of practice I feel great. Just to get it out. [Christina and Chelsea agree] Do you have plans to tour? Christina: Yeah, we’re thinking of doing a little summer tour on the west coast, probably alongside Trox. Kerra: It’s so convenient! Christina: We share a lot of the same equipment, so that makes it easy. Kerra: We’re like brother-sister bands. Christina: Because our boyfriends are in that band. Kerra: Brother-sister bands, in an incestuous sort of way. [They all laugh] That sounds really bad. They’re our brother boyfriends. They’re my bros. They’re your bros. [laughs] What is the male equivalent of a groupie for you guys? Kerra: Should we name names? [They all laugh] There’s a few people that come out to our shows, that I guess would be our groupies. They’re like cute, happy-go-lucky boys that come out and dance. They have a great time, they come out and just have huge smiles on their faces. You know. Cute boys. [They all laugh] Christina: Cute boys dancing. We have a lot of girls too. We have tons of babes that come out. [Kerra and Chelsea agree]
Kerra: We don’t sexually discriminate. [laughs] We like all the groupies. I think an all-girl band in this style might have been something that Chico was missing.
it up. I think they may have been joking. Was it someone local who sent that? Kerra: His profile is blank.
Kerra: Sure, I think we fill a niche in this town that hasn’t really been filled for a while. I mean, there’s Trucker’s Wife, and Hot Flash… It’s being done all over, everywhere, but not so much in Chico. One of my favorite bands that isn’t really around anymore, they’re out of Tucson; The Okmoniks, Justin from Nobunny was in that first [before Nobunny]. They’re such a party, vocal band… and they’re not an all-girl band, but it has a female vocalist. There’s definitely quite a few girl bands that we draw influence from that we feel like… we’re trying to bring to Chico. And elsewhere.
Christina: But his name is David Allen. I think it’s kind of awesome. I don’t think we ever say on our profile that we love Satan… It’s kind of a joke. I mean, people take themselves so seriously.
I saw on Facebook that you got your first piece of hate mail, can you tell me about that?
Chelsea: Oh yeah, now it all makes sense.
[They all laugh] Kerra: That was so trippy! Christina: I think it’s kind of awesome. Kerra: Yeah, I opened it and spammed it, and then was like oh no! It went away! Christina: Also it goes on forever. Chelsea: You just keep scrolling and scrolling. I didn’t even read the whole thing. Christina: It goes on forever. You could read that for an hour. And I was like, that is cool. Kerra: It sounded really schizophrenic. It was crazy. Someone said it was song lyrics from some song, but I didn’t look
Kerra: Yeah! You’re getting so worked up! It’s crazy. Chelsea: The one photo where we played at that place where there’s a pentagram in the background. Kerra: Oh! Yeah I remember that. Christina: I wrote “All hail Satan, pizza, and glitter” on that picture.
Kerra: That long message wasn’t even his first one. First he wrote something like, “you ladies serve Satan?!” And we just ignored it, it sat in our inbox for five days. Christina: And then he sent another one that was like, “Fuck you for Jesus!” [They all laugh] Chelsea: We should write a song about it. You could probably just use his email as the lyrics. [They all laugh] Chelsea: We could just scream the whole thing! Kerra: We would have to project it in front of us, because there’s no way I could remember that whole thing. We’d have to do it karaoke style, it’s so long! FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO
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[A side conversation about Facebook stalking vs. real-life stalking ensues] Kerra: Well anyway I invite him to come to a show. I want to see what he looks like. I wonder if he’s local. Christina: Maybe it’s just a spambot. Or a troll. Maybe it’s just an angry dude that has a Google alert set up for bands who love Satan, and he just copy/ pastes that whole message into an email.
Kerra: That was so weird.
Prince cover night.
Christina: That was it. That was at our Duffy’s show, on this stage actually. There was just tons of feedback, it was going crazy.
Christina: Yeah, but I don’t really know how to play guitar yet. [laughs]
Kerra: Yeah, our Duffy’s show was definitely a bit rough, but people still seemed to have a great time. We still got a lot of positive feedback. Christina: And I got my guitar fixed. Kerra: Oh, nice!
Christina: That had to have been copy/pasted, it was too long for him to just sit there and write that! But I’m glad we got some hate mail. It means we’re doing something. [They all laugh]
[A side conversation about Christina’s guitar breaks out]
Have there been any other weird occurrences besides the “Fuck you for Jesus” incident?
Kerra: Not really, I mean we have that one house show lined up.
Kerra: No, everyone has been really nice, the shows have all been really fun. Christina: Except that one show where my guitar was possessed. 10
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM
Any upcoming shows you want to let people know about besides your show at Monstros?
Christina: Do we have that lined up? Chelsea: That’s not for sure yet. [They all laugh] Kerra: We did get asked to do the JAN 19 2015
Kerra: Prince is a little ambitious. It’s a great idea, and we were flattered to be offered that opportunity, but we really want to focus on recording, hopefully we’re going to do the cassette tape project with Scott [Barwick]. And we want to book that tour, we need to sit down and really figure out what we want to do. We’re fine with slowing down on shows. We did those four in a row really fast. Christina: Yeah, we don’t want to oversaturate Chico. It’s easy to do. And as much as we’d like to do a Prince cover, we have our own covers we want to do. There’s a few in the works that we want to work on. Kerra: We might be playing the house party that’s after the Prince cover show.
want to have a party, house shows take priority. We miss house shows. What do you charge to play a house show?
Kerra: The 5. 6. 7. 8s. Definitely The Ramones and the Beach Boys. Just really fun, upbeat, beachy… Christina: Trashy.
Kerra: They usually just ask for a little bit at the door, three to five dollars.
Kerra: Anything trashy.
Christina: And some beer to drink while we’re there. Party supplies. [They all laugh]
Kerra: Budget rock.
Anything else you want to add?
Christina: Um…
Kerra: I don’t know, I guess maybe just bands that we love?
Kerra: Hail Satan.
Such as? Christina: Not The Donnas. Kerra: Not The Donnas. [They all laugh] Christina: The bird from “Surfin’ Bird.” The Mummies and The Brentwoods.
Chelsea: That’s our ticket.
Kerra: That’s some obscure, surfgarage shit right there.
Kerra: If you have a house, and you
Christina: Link Wray, The Ramones
Christina: Yeah.
Any final thoughts?
Chelsea: And pizza! [They all laugh] Christina: Fuck you for Jesus! I think that’s a great place to end. Come revel in the babeliness that is The She Things on January 24th, 8pm at Monstros Pizza alongside Trox & The Terribles, and Max Pain And The Groovies!
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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
Homemade Soup Daily We open at 12:00pm.
SATURDAY SUNDAY
Tacotruck.biz and Beers on the Patio!
WE OPEN AT 12:00PM MIMOSAS WITH FRESH SQUEEZED OJ FOR $5 UNTIL 5PM.
Full Bar in Back Room Weds, Fri & Sat Nights! PBR $2.25 Everyday!
HAPPY HOUR 4-7PM Beer Week Guinness cocktail specials Beer coozie giveaway at back bar
Open at 11am $4.50 Bloody Mary $5.50 Absolut Peppar Bloody Marys Noon - 6PM $1 OFF SN & Dom Pitcher $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
CLOSED
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
the paul collins beat w/ THE RICH HANDS AND QuasiMofos
STARTS AT 9PM - $5 COVER PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM
JAN 19 2015
6pm-Close $4.50 Grad teas $3.50 All beer pints FREE Pool after 10PM Coors Light Promo 6-8PM
Open 9pm Bartender Specials $3 14oz. Slushies $4 20oz. Slushies
monday january 19
12
8pm-Close Pitcher Specials $6.50/$9.50/$13 FREE Pool after 10PM
(530) 343-7718 337 Main St
Fire Grill &
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
Bar
Monday - Friday HAPPY HOUR 4-7PM $1 OFF ALL DRINKS (excludes energy drinks)
2 FOR 1 BURGERS ALL DAY !! MINORS WELCOME!
CLOSED
Under New Management!
Happy Hour 4 - 7pm
Progressive Night:
Try Our Food Menu
$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
JANUARY 23RD 7:30 PM
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
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
Monday - Friday HAPPY HOUR 4-7PM $1 OFF ALL DRINKS (excludes energy drinks)
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
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
Under New Management!
Happy Hour 4 -7pm
Try Our Food Menu
$1.50 sliders and other cheap eats!!
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
LATE NIGHT EATS! kitchen open until 1 AM
WACKY WEDNESDAYS (8pm - close ) 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! 8pm - 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 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!
TRIKE RACES! Post time @ 10pm. Win T-shirts and Bear Bucks. MUG CLUB 4-10PM LATE NIGHT EATS! kitchen open until 1 AM
1/2 OFF COVER before 10PM
BURGER MADNESS! Bear Burger with fries or salad for $5.49. 11am-10pm. MUG CLUB from 4-10PM
$2.50 16oz Wells All Day
LATE NIGHT EATS! kitchen open until 1 AM
Select Pints $3
$3.50 Tea of the Day Bartender Specials Happy Hour 4-8pm
Monday - Friday HAPPY HOUR 4-7PM $1 OFF ALL DRINKS (excludes energy drinks)
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 Domestic Drafts $9.75 Pitchers $5 Dbl Sugar Island Rum NO COVER
LATE NIGHT EATS! kitchen open until 1 AM
$4 Sex On The Beach $4 Sierra Nevada Knightro ON TAP $1 Jello Shots 7-10pm $3 Fireball
$3.50 Tea of the Day Bartender Specials Happy Hour 4-8pm
Saturday & Sunday HAPPY HOUR 3-6PM $1 OFF ALL DRINKS (excludes energy drinks)
Hot "Dawgs" ALL DAY!
Mon. - Sat. 4pm - 6pm $1 Dom. draft, $2 SN Draft and Wells Power Hour 8 - 9pm $3 Domestic Drafts $9.75 Pitchers $5 Dbl Sugar Island Rum NO COVER
LIVE MUSIC 1/2 OFF COVER before 10PM Early Bird Special 9-10pm 1/2 off wells LIVE MUSIC 1/2 OFF COVER before 10pm Go DownLo
BURGER MADNESS! Bear Burger with fries or salad for $5.49. 11am-10pm.
$4 World Famous Bloody Joe $5 Premium bloodys your choice of vodka
Champagne Brunch 11am - 2pm $4 Champagne with entree
Saturday & Sunday HAPPY HOUR 3-6PM $1 OFF ALL DRINKS (excludes energy drinks)
Champagne Brunch and SPORTS!
CLOSED
KINGS VS WARRIORS
8PM TO CLOSE $6 DOMESTIC DRAFT & JACK/JACK HONEY SHOTS
134 Broadway St, Chico, CA | 530.893.5253
OPEN DAILY A T
1 1
A M
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
KARAOKE T H U R S DAY AT 9 P M
LATE NIGHT EATS! kitchen open until 1am
DJ & DANCING
Sunday
F R I DAY & SAT U R DAY AT 9 P M
HAPPY HOUR
Champagne Brunch 10am-2pm Every Sunday $3 champagne with purchase of an entrée
FRIDAY
4 P M -7 P M M O N DAY- F R I DAY
SAT U R DAY + S U N DAY 3 P M - 6 P M
177 E 2nd St, Chico (530) 895-8817
9 6 8 E A S T AV E FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO
13
THIS W E E K O N LY — B E ST B E TS I N E N T E RTA I N M E N T
SUBMIT YOUR EVENTS AT SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM/SUBMIT-YOUR- EVENT
Fine Dining in the Tradition of Southern Italy
SICILIAN CAFÉ MONDAY, JAN 19TH
MONDAY, JAN 19TH
CILLIAN VALLELY & KEVIN CRAWFORD
Celebrating 30 years !
Farm. Fresh. Italian.
1078 GALLERY
DUFFY’S TAVERN
Do you really love that one song that the Pub Scouts play? Break out the kilts and hit the town for a tasty Celtic treat. Just don’t be the guy that paints your face blue, Braveheart style. Actually, you know what? Go crazy. Kick off your week right. (Wait—were all those references about Scotland? Whatever.) 7pm, $20, all ages.
Whaaaat? Phil Collins? I love Phil Collins—that song “In the Air Tonight” is amazing! I can’t believe he’s playing at Duffy’s, that’s crazy. Maybe he’s doing this like some special “back to his roots” experience to recapture his inspiration and give something back to his hardcore fans. It doesn’t matter, I’m so there. Oh, wait, Paul Collins? Oh, that makes a little more sense. 9pm, $5
MONDAY, JAN 19TH
THURSDAY, JAN 22ND
POOR PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM
FAT PIG: THEATRE THURSDAYS
100TH MONKEY COMMUNITY CAFE
BLUE ROOM THEATRE
A collection of short films about poverty and house-less-ness taking place at the awesome 100th Monkey Community Cafe. 50% of ticket sales go to the 6th St Center for Youth, while the other 50% gets split between Without A Roof’s street outreach program and a single, tiny-and-yet-huge project: building a portable mini-house for this really cool kid named Adam. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get to this super positive event! 6pm, $10
As well all know, most people who partake in “the Theetar” are millionaires who wear monocles. But for the small contingent of theatre fans who are broke as shit, this new Theatre Thursdays thing at the Blue Room is a big, fat, obese deal. That’s because the first 80 people get in on a pay-what-you-can basis (though, let’s face it, it’s really a pay-what-you-want-within-the-limits-of-your-guilt-andshame-basis.) Speaking of shame, Neil Labute’s play concerns body shaming, BBW, and big, big love. 7:30pm, $15/presale or $18/door.
1020 Main Street Chico 530.345.2233 14
PAUL COLLINS , THE RICH HANDS, QUASIMOFOS
JAN 19 2015
This Week...
KULCHA KNOX W/ DHYLAN’S DHARMA
JAN
23
THE NIBBLERS W/ DJ SPENNY
JAN
24
THE NEW MASTERSOUNDS W/ GRAVYBRAIN JAN
27
Upcoming shows... 02/06 | WAKE OF THE DEAD 02/07 | OTEP 02/12 | KARL DENSON (TINY UNIVERSE)
On
Main
02/13 | SPIRITUAL REZ
319 MAIN ST | DOORS OPEN AT 9PM | HALF OFF DRINKS BEFORE 10PM
F EATURED EV EN TS
19 MONDAY
5th and Main: The People’s Palooza. 10am-1pm 100th Monkey: Poor People’s Film Festival. 50% of ticket sales go to Without A Roof’s street outreach and A Tiny House for Adam, the other 50% go to 6th st Center for Youth Doors 6pm, $10 1078 Gallery: Cillian Vallely & Kevin Crawford. 7pm, all ages, $20 Duffy’s Tavern: Paul Collins, The Rich Hands, QuasiMofos. 9pm, $5 Sierra Nevada Big Room: The Wood Brothers w/special guest Mandolin Orange. SOLD OUT
20 TUESDAY
Senator Theater: Halestorm w/ Furlough Fridays. Doors 7:30pm, show 8:30pm. All ages, $20/ advance
21 WEDNESDAY
Laxson Auditorium: Tango Buenos Aires: Song of Eva Perón. 7:30pm, $36/premium, $28/ adult, $26/senior, $18/youth, $10/Chico State Students.
22 THURSDAY
Blue Room Theatre: Fat Pig. 7:30pm, $15/presale or $18/ door. Take advantage of Theatre Thursdays: first 80 people paywhat-you-can. (doors open at 6:45pm) LaSalles: Happy Hour with Tyler DeVoll. 4pm-8pm, 21+ Valene L. Smith Museum of Anthropology: Opening Reception for “Leaping Lemurs and Mysterious Crimes: On the Trail of Physical Anthropology,” an exhibit taking us from our evolutionary roots to modern humans. 4:30pm-6:30pm
23 FRIDAY
1078 Gallery: Live music by Eat The World, Elusive, The Sounds Good. Fundraiser for Inspire students to take part in Sojourn to the Past. Doors 7:30pm, show 8pm. All ages, $5 . Blue Room Theater: Fat Pig.
O N G O I N G E V E N TS
7:30pm, $15/$18 Cafe Coda: The LoLos, Ghost Tiger, Tom & Jerry, Sid Prinz. 7:30pm, all ages, $5 DownLo: Electric Redemption Project LaSalles: Welcome Back Party (EDM). 10pm, 21+ Lost On Main: Kulcha Knox, Dylan’s Dharma. 9pm, 21+, $12/ advance, $15/door Tackle Box: Live music from Northern Heat. Women’s Club: KZFR Presents Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real. 7pm, all ages, $20 Women’s Health Specialists: Celebration of Choice, celebrating Roe vs Wade. Live Music by Pat Hull. 4pm-7pm, all ages, free
19 MONDAY
24 SATURDAY
100th Monkey: Fusion Belly Dance mixed-level class, with BellySutra. $8/class or $32/month. 6pm The Bear: Open Jam Night, featuring a different live band opening each week. Bring instruments, 9pm-1:30am Chico Art Center: Member Showcase. 10am-4pm 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 Holiday Inn Bar: Salsa Lessons, 7-10pm LaSalles: ’90s night. 21+ Panama Bar: Tropical Tuesdays ft. Mack Morris & DJ2K. 10pm Studio Inn Lounge: Karaoke. 8:30pm-1am The Tackle Box: Line Dance Lessons, 6:30pm-7:30pm. Karaoke, 9pm-1am, 21+ University Bar: Free Pool 6-8pm Woodstocks: Trivia Challenge. Call at 4pm to reserve a table. Starts 6:30pm
1078 Gallery: Live stand up comedy, John Ross and Don Ashby headline a show featuring Dutch Savage and Matt Redbeard from Humboldt. $10, 8pm Blue Room Theater: Fat Pig. 7:30pm, $15/$18 The Beach: Back to School Bash. Free prizes and give-aways! 9pm Cafe Coda: Furlough Fridays, Bogart the Monster, Eat The World, Wanderers and Wolves. Doors 7:30pm, show 8pm. $5 LaSalles: Happy Hour with Bradley Relf. 4pm-8pm, 21+ Laxson Auditorium: Jeff Bridges and the Abiders. 7:30pm, $68/ premium, $58/adult, $56/senior, $40/youth, $10/Chico State Students. Lost On Main: The Nibblers (Sac) and DJ Spenny. 9pm Maltese: The Maker’s Mile, Foxy Jeff, Shu Lace. 9pm, $5 Tackle Box: Live Music from Chad Bushnell Yoga Center of Chico: Open Heart Dances/poetry/chanting. 7-9pm, 18+, $5-$10 suggested donation
25 SUNDAY
Sierra Nevada Big Room: Mia Dyson w/special guests The Silent War. Doors 6pm, music 7:30pm. $17.50
100th Monkey: Healing Light Meditation, 7pm-8:15pm The Bear: Bear-E-oke! 9pm Chico Art Center: Member Showcase. 10am-4pm Chico Womens Club: Prenatal Yoga. 5:306:30pm DownLo: Open Mic Comedy Night. Free. Pool League. 3 player teams, signup with bartender. 7pm. All ages until 10pm Maltese: Open Mic Music, 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 (no relation). Breathwork, Meditation, Healing.
20 TUESDAY
21 WEDNESDAY
The Bear: Trike Races. Post time 10pm Chico Art Center: Member Showcase. 10am-4pm 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, Lois, and Jeff Howse. $1, 9pm Farm Star Pizza: Live Jazz with Carey Robinson and Friends. 6pm-8pm
The Graduate: Free Pool after 10pm The Maltese: Friends With Vinyl! Bring your vinyl and share up to 3 songs/12 minutes on the turntable. 9pm-1am The Tackle Box: Swing Dance classes. Free, 5:30-7:30pm. Swing Dance classes. Free, 7:30-9:30pm. Open Mic, 9:30pm-12am University Bar: Free Pool 6-8pm Woodstocks: Trivia Night plus Happy Hour. call at 4pm to reserve a table. Starts at 8pm
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 Tackle Box: Karaoke with DJ Andy. 9pm1am, 21+ Quackers: Live DJ. 9pm Sultan’s Bistro: Bellydance Performance. 6:30-7:30pm University Bar: Free Pool 6-8pm
22 THURSDAY
24 SATURDAY
The Beach: Live DJ, no cover, 9pm Chico Art Center: Salon d’Art, a holiday sale by local artists. 10am-4pm Chico Art Center: Member Showcase. 10am-4pm DownLo: Live Jazz. 8-11pm. All ages until 10pm The Graduate: Free Pool after 10pm Has Beans Downtown: Open Mic Night. 7-10pm. Signups start at 6pm Holiday Inn Bar: Karaoke. 8pm-midnight 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 Pleasant Valley Rec Center: CARD World Dance Classes. 6-7pm/youth 10-17, 7-8:30pm/adults. $20/4classes Quackers: Karaoke night with Andy. 9pm1am Tackle Box: Karaoke with DJ Andy. 9pm1am, 21+ University Bar: Free Pool 6-8pm Woodstocks: Open Mic Night Yoga Center Of Chico: Ecstatic Dance with Clay Olson. 7:30-9:30pm
The Beach: Live DJ, 9pm Chico Art Center: Member Showcase. 10am-4pm DownLo: 9 Ball tournament. Signups at noon, starts at 1pm. All ages until 10pm The Graduate: Free Pool after 10pm Holiday Inn Bar: DJ Dancing. 70s and 80s music. The Molly Gunn’s Revival! 8pm-midnight LaSalles: 80’s Night. 8pm-close Panama Bar: DJ Eclectic on the patio. 9pm Tackle Box: Karaoke. 8:30pm-midnight, 21+ University Bar: Free Pool 6-8pm
25 SUNDAY
Chico Art Center: Member Showcase. 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 LaSalles: Karaoke. 9pm Maltese: Live Jazz 4-7pm. Tackle Box: Karaoke, 8pm
23 FRIDAY
The Beach: Live DJ, 9pm Cafe Coda: Friday Morning Jazz with Bogg, happy hour. 10am-2pm Chico Art Center: Member Showcase. 10am-4pm Chico Creek Dance Center: Chico international folk dance club. 7:30pm, $2 DownLo: ½ off pool. All ages until 10pm. Live Music, 8pm Duffys: Pub Scouts - Happy Hour. 4-7pm The Graduate: Free Pool after 10pm Holiday Inn Bar: DJ Dance Party. 8pm-midnight LaSalles: Open Mic night on the patio. 6-9pm Maltese: Happy hour with live jazz by Bogg. FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO
15
O N T HE TOW N BY JE SSICA SID
LE T T E R S TO D E S M O N D
Choose Your Own Adventure: A Meditation On Packing It’s 11:56pm. You’re flying out from the San Francisco airport tomorrow afternoon. Others might choose to visit a tropical destination in the winter, or take a quick trip to the coast to stand on a cold beach and reflect on all their mistakes (and there have been many), but not you, smartiepants. Brace yourself, idiot—you’re going to the Midwest. Minnesota, specifically. Land of fried things and the largest ball of twine in the country (Fame!). It all started when one of your favorite people moved back to the land of corn-fed accents and the never-ending supply of jokes about people from Iowa.1 It’s time to pack. You now have some serious decisions before you: A. You stay up packing until 2am. After a few hours of restless sleep wherein you have relentless stress dreams about missing your flight, you awake to find that you have indeed missed your flight. To simulate the Minnesota experience, you spend the weekend eating your weight in deep fried cheese while mourning the absurd and paltry hours of every liquor store in town. B. You get all your packing done in a timely fashion. What an adult you are! Your mom was wrong about you, you definitely have your shit together. Instead of all that last minute shuffling you’d normally do, you spend the twelve hours leading up to your flight looking through all the dogs available in northern
California on Petfinder. At the last minute, you ditch out on your flight to Minnesota, choosing instead to drive at breakneck speed to Redding to save the cutest little Kelpie on death row. C. In keeping with your packing traditions of the past, you drink a bottle of wine to help you relax. When you arrive in Minnesota you open your bag to find all you’ve packed is more wine and wool socks. No wine key. You soothe your mental and emotional anguish by going to the Mall of America and throwing wine bottles through the windows of Alpaca Connection and the Hard Rock Cafe. Your trip to the midwest culminates with your worst mugshot to date, and a carry on packed to the gills with broken glass. D. You struggle valiantly to get your column in before the looming deadline, while you really should be packing. Somewhere in between trying to sort socks by warmth and trying to find a good graphic for your column, you fall into a Google vortex, simultaneously confounded and and impressed by the high number of image search results of dogs in airplane costumes.
by ZOOEY MAE zooeymae@synthesis.net
Q: Why do birds fly upside down when flying over Minnesota? A: Because they’re saving all their shit for Iowa. 1
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SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM
JAN 19 2015
IM MAC ULATE IN FE CTION
ON T H E TOWN BY J ES S ICA SID
Read, then Read Again It was a Long Time Ago in a City Far, Far Away By the time this is printed Trish and I will have celebrated our fifteenth anniversary. It’s hard to believe that fifteen years ago we had just driven a rented Buick back from Las Vegas and officially became husband and wife. I was a mere twenty eight years old at the time, and while I don’t feel any older, if I look closely in the mirror there are some telltale signs of the passage of time. Marriage is not an institution I had envisioned for myself, but that was before I met Trish. After that I felt I had to be with her, and luckily for me she felt the same way. Trish has given me much—love, a house, a life, some really terrific sex, and much more. She basically grandfathered me into the Chico music scene and introduced me to some of the best musicians in town. She also restored in me a love of reading. Trish is the single most avid reader I have ever met. Our house is a veritable library and she cherishes her books, reading some of them over and over again. I read a lot when I was a kid, but as soon as puberty hit the burden of homework and sports conspired to sap me of the energy and desire to read. College only confirmed my anti-reading bias as hours not spent studying were consumed surfing or smoking weed. I didn’t pick it up again until I moved in with my wife. Now I read regularly, daily. I get through a good couple of dozen titles a year and I am a better writer, and maybe even a better person for it.
Inherent Vice. The first time I read it was a few years back. I love private investigator stories and found the title in the ARC thrift store. It looked right up my alley, but I was unfamiliar with Pynchon’s writing. I soon found myself in over my head. After a few pages I realized this was not your straightup detective thriller. Still I plowed through it, feeling mentally confused and exhausted, and congratulated myself at the end like a not particularly competent runner might congratulate themselves after wheezing and stumbling through a half-marathon. Then I heard they were making a movie out of it and I was stumped. I hadn’t even been able to discern the plot. I decided I had better reread the book. I did and it was as if a heavy fog had lifted. The second time through the characters I could barely remember and the imagery that worked to obscure the plot blended seamlessly into a sublime story that expertly rides on the border between the necessary order of story construction and the untethered chaos of psychedelic imagery. Polarity A friend of mine went and saw the film and told me he loved it—then a client of mine told me her sister had viewed it and told her it was: “the worst movie I’ve ever seen.” To me that is an endorsement. Anything everyone likes I’m generally not interested in—but if a lot of people hate it and a few people love it, well sign me up.
Inherent Vice I recently re-read Thomas Pynchon’s
by BOB HOWARD Madbob@madbob.com FACEBOOK.COM/SYNTHESISCHICO
17
HELL IS PARADISE BY TOMMY DIESTEL To be in a band it takes guts. Hard work, determination, and guts. If most bands went through what Blood Cabana has, they wouldn’t be bands anymore. These guys have been rocking hard since 2011. Plagued with lineup changes totaling three singers, three bassists, and finally locking in a hard hitting four piece, Blood Cabana never said die. Instead, they came back with a vengeance. Fresh off the presses, Hell is Paradise is Blood Cabana’s debut EP. Now the boys are thrashing the North State, and leaving no survivors. I sat down with Zach Donnelly (drums), Jimmy Dawson (guitar), and Zak Marasti (vocals) to talk about the album, and what lies ahead.. What is it that sets Hell is Paradise apart from your other recordings? Zach: It’s kinda a fresh sound that we’ve been working on. It took writing like ten songs that don’t really sound much like this to create this new sound we’ve been going for. That sound really shows on the album.
18
SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM
Jimmy: I agree. Zak: It’s definitely better than our last recordings. It’s a lot more full. The demos we did weren’t even fully put together from what I remember. The ones with Jimmy on vocals—we kinda just went in and did it real quick, and even the first one I did vocals on we didn’t spend too much time on. A couple we went for one or two recording sessions and threw it on a CD. Jimmy: We were trying to play live and people would say “Oh, you need a CD.” So we put something together to get shows. Zach: And we were experimenting. Not only with the recording process but with different songs and people too. Zak doing vocals or bass, Jimmy doing vocals. We had another guy Zach do vocals too. After one demo he kinda dropped outta the picture. So it’s been a lot of experimenting with the demos. Now we knew what we were going to record. We knew who was playing what.
JAN 19 2015
Jimmy: It became more than just trying to lay tracks down to get gigs. We had a mission. We spent more time and money on this than our other recordings. Zak: Different guy too. Scott Barwick at Origami Lounge recorded us. He’s done more of our style than previous guys. So that was nice. Zach: As an engineer, Scott knows how to do it with the metal. Zak: He was all about getting it done fast too. And good. So y’all have gone through a lot of lineup changes in the past few years. You had a couple singers and bass players in the band. What challenges are there trying to build as a band without having a consistent lineup? Zach: It’s been tough. Jimmy spent a lot of time teaching Zak, and then our current bass player, Jared, how to play in our style, also all the riffs and songs we’ve written.
Zak: It took me some time to learn. Zach: Yea, Zak was first our guitar player. Then he switched to bass. Then to vocals after doing a track on our last demo. That was a couple years ago. Zak: About a year. That was when we really all came together as the full force of us four playing as a group. Before as a three piece, it was kinda going slower than expected. Now it’s been a bit easier without having to jumble around between singing and playing bass at the same time. Jimmy: It just sounds fuller too. Way more badass. Yeah, having heard you guys a bit, the new lineup is definitely solid. Zach: As a four piece we’ve practiced a lot. Jimmy: And a five piece, and a three piece. Zach: One thing I can say about
this band is that in the last eight months, the practice space has been the place to just come together, link up as a group, and hammer shit out. And we’ve been at it pretty vigilantly. You just released Hell is Paradise with Aberrance, Epitaph of Atlas, and Chemical Burn at Monstro’s Pizza. How did it go? Zach: It was a good turnout. A lot of our friends and fans were there. Jimmy: It was a nice transplant of Magalia and Chico. Our old singer even did a guest song with us. Zak: What’d they call us? Chico Banana Metal? Zach: Blood Banana Zak: I like that sound. Zach: We’ve known Aberrance for a while and have played lots of shows together. It’s always something to look forward to. Always a good time. It was cool to
release the EP with them too. What’s next for Blood Cabana? Zach: On the 16th we begin our Northern California tour. We’ll be playing in Sacramento, coming back to Chico for a show before heading to Cupertino. Jimmy: And other places. They’re on our bandpage. Zak: We’re excited to play around and get our music out there. Anything else you’d like to say about the album? Jimmy: It’s the story of many melded into one focus. All of us wrote different parts of each song so we each brought something to the table, but it also branches into topics like war and the destruction caused from it. Zach: Very aggressive stuff. Zak: I tried to listen to the songs and write a story the best I can. The
emotion is there already. You write the best stuff when you bring it out. Zach: “Lost Souls” is about the dark side of inspiration, Creating through not understanding, and the dark side of freedom. Jimmy: And about the struggle of life. Asking questions about what’s really here. Zach: These darker elements inspire us. We can create something out of them. Cuz that’s metal. Heavy metal. Zak: “Red Door” is about friends making bad choices and not letting them hold you back. Kinda like moving on but not forgetting. “Lester Dean” is about seeing sick people as the dead. As it gets more aggressive, the lyrics go along with dealing with them and separating yourself from it. Zach: We put a lot of time working on something we’re proud of. I think we have it. Fast, and good. This album is fast and good.
*** So it is indeed. The time and energy spent on the album surely shows in the fury of each song. The crushing guitars, machine gun fire drums, and enraged vocals are all polished to a level only ritual practice provides. Jarring progressions and flying guitar riffs slice through the wall of sound. If that doesn’t cut you in half, the breakdown will leave you crawling on the floor. The deeper into the bowels of Paradise you go, the harder it is to escape the insanity. Powerful vocal roars reverberate off thunderous drum lines until there is nothing left. Hell is Paradise is eight head slaughtering tracks of ripping fast metal. The album starts with a haunting piano intro before Lester Dean ignites with the furry of a hurricane. “Red Door” and “Murder on the Beach” both keep the energy spiked until *spoiler alert* the guys turn it down for “Blood & Sand,” a melodic acoustic song that leads to yet another gut wrenching metal massacre. The piano intro and “Blood & Sand”
show their versatility. It’s as though they’re lulling your guard down before ripping you asunder. And the title track “Hell is Paradise” does just that. The power behind the vocals and chugging guitars is earth shattering. “Broke” and “Lost Souls” continue the carnage with dark imagery and throttling riffs. A unique blend of thrash and groove, Hell is Paradise is a tropical smoothie of your organs blended up and served back to you. Maybe with a hint of bananas. Yet crunchy and jagged. If I could drink it on a beach of ground bones while sitting by the ocean of blood at a cabana lounge, all while being served by a headless bartender, I would. Always. Because, Metal. Blood Cabana will be tearing it up on their Nor-Cal offensive to draw support for Hell Is Paradise when this comes out. They’ll be hitting Sacramento before returning to Chico once again. Wednesday January 21st, they’ll be destroying a house show near you. Check the Blood Cabana Facebook page for more info and tour dates. If
you’ve never seen Blood Cabana live, make sure to catch the show. If you’ve only seen Blood Cabana play “real” venues, definitely go. I’ve never seen a band cause so much chaos in a living-room/basement/ apartment complex parking lot before. Once a kid smacked me in the face flying through the drum set, and Zach never lost the beat. Bodies were flying everywhere. Another time, a fan nearly broke his arm in the pit. Blood Cabana always puts on a crazy performance. The fans love it. They love to do it and they do it well. Blood Cabana are more than just up-and-coming kids in the neighborhood. They’re polished, yet still raw, and bring a level of professionalism uncanny for musicians their age. Blood Cabana’s sound and style has been hand crafted and dialed in for years now. It’s about time they unleashed their fury upon the unsuspecting mortals. No one will see it coming until it’s too late. And there will be blood… cabana.
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GREAT SHORT STORIES Lotus Land, written by local writer William Wong Foey Local writer William Wong Foey author of best selling novel: Winter Melon releases his new book Lotus Land, a short story collection of bold and amazing stories of desire, despair, courage, and redemption. Available at Lyon’s Book Store at 135 Main (Chico) and in paperback & e-book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, & Direct Music Cafe. A special thanks to all the people who purchased my debut novel: Winter Melon.
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SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM
JAN 19 2015
by logan kruidenier logankruidenier.tumblr.com
January 19, 2015 By Koz McKev ARIES
TAURUS
GEMINI
CANCER
LEO
VIRGO
We are moving a little farther away from business and closer to social organization. The sun moves from your career house to the house of helpful friends and future planning. Mars continues to move through your twelfth house. Take time to meditate and pray. Get rid of subconscious hostilities. Seek a group of people who affirm your social values. Ask your friends what you might be able to do better. The moon will be in Aries over the weekend. This is a good time to initiate goals, work on challenges, and commit yourself to a worthy cause.
The last several weeks have been about higher learning, exotic experiences, travel and education. This week you begin to focus on your talents and skills, career ambitions and how to adjust to the public demands. Mercury begins its retrograde journey on the 21st and won’t go direct till February 11th. Until the dust settles, love what you do and do what you love. The weekend looks good for focusing on spiritual karma and helping those who are isolated. Keep on seeking higher ground and demonstrate good intellectual abilities.
The worst is over, and the best is yet to come. You’ve struggled a little bit with other people being in control of the things you own and need. A transformation has taken place in your life during the last several weeks. The sun moves into your ninth house of education, philosophy, travel, and having a higher form of morality. Mercury slows into retrograde mode on Wednesday. Continue to work on the things that are in front of you. You may need to take some risks in order to achieve the goals you are pursuing. Welcome positive change.
Using your imagination and intuition is key to being able to navigate the next several weeks. The new moon Tuesday is in your eighth house of death, sex, birth, other people’s property, and occult studies. When things get tough be sure to ask for help from others. Mercury goes retrograde on the 21st, forcing you to be conscious and aware that there are two sides to every story. Thursday and Friday are your luckiest days this week. You may need to take some initiative over the weekend in regards to career and public image.
Hard work has dominated your life for the past several weeks. You are moving into a period where you can breathe a sigh of relief. Partnerships and relationships come more into focus. The possibilities for romance begin to increase. Due to Mercury retrograde, guard against saying things that others might misunderstand. The new moon highlights your love life, mates, and contracts. Strive to be more fair and just in all that you do. Be the kind of person who you could fall in love with. The weekend looks great for travel and exploration.
The past several weeks have been helping you to remember matters of the heart. You may want to recommit yourself to serving others with your abilities. Health issues can’t be compromised. Do whatever is necessary to maintain good health. Mercury going retrograde brings a chance to improve on whatever service you offer. View smiling as a form of love and service. Try not to take anything too seriously. Avoid being a critic and a buzz-kill. Learn to support team efforts. Reorganize to make your life more efficient.
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
PISCES
Better days are ahead. Joy and love will be what you’re pushing. Creativity will begin to kick in for you. You’ll be more conscious of matters of the heart. Art, music, theater, and dance will be on top of your to-do list. The new moon is about being smarter, feeling luckier, and paying more attention to matters of the heart. Tuesday and Wednesday are especially fortunate days for you. This is also a good time to pay attention to your health. Mercury retrograde puts a magnifying glass on the people, places, and things that you love.
This is probably the most introspective time of year for you. Matters regarding family and emotions present their own challenges. The new moon illuminates memory and teaches about history particularly when it comes to ones own heritage. You feel invigorated by creative projects with Mars transiting your fifth house. Mercury retrograde will put more of a focus on domestic projects. Realize that the past affects the present both positively and negatively. Helping parents and grandparents is good karma. Stay true to your spiritual values.
You are becoming more responsible day by day. You are more aware of your limits. You are getting rid of the things that are no longer working for you. You are taking your ideas to a place of manifestation. The new moon brings helpful friends and helps with planning for the future. Seek a sustainable model rather than a whimsical pop-cultural fad. Mercury retrograde could bring a lot of he-said/she-said in your social circle. Life is getting better in some ways, yet more difficult in other. Look for solutions rather than dwell on problems.
You appear to be ready to make something happen. This is a time when you are focused on personal finances, food, oral hygiene and how your neck is feeling. Saturn is in the 12th house of karma. This is when being responsible pays off. The new moon puts an emphasis on your personal values, resources and family situation. Pay attention to what is being said. Be more practical with your spending. Hold off on all luxuries until at least mid-February, otherwise Mercury retrograde is about to teach you a lesson regarding impulse buying.
You’re a little less concerned with your career and more concerned with your social standing. The new moon in Aquarius puts the focus on social groups, innovative technology, and preparing for a better future. Saturn transiting your eleventh house makes the revolutionary side of Aquarius more tangible. You are able to step into new territory in a more powerful way. Your ideas are more likely to be embraced. Be conscious about what you want to do. Be open to revising things a few times. The weekend looks good for brainstorming.
You are entering the dream space where imagination rules. There may be a sense of isolation and the thought that you might be going crazy. The new moon presents a period for working out your karma. Pay attention to messages in dreams. Help those who are in prisons, hospitals, and rest homes. You have more courage and energy with Mars in the first house. You are likely to make career improvements with Saturn moving through your tenth house. The moon will be in Pisces on Thursday and Friday. Be available for service.
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
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U NS O LI C I TED A DV IC E
Anthony Peyton Porter is taking the week off an will return shortly.
You Are an Enormous, Eternal, and Majestic Mountain
Welcome to Unsolicited Advice, an open column space for anyone who wants to tell someone, or everyone, what’s what. Submit your 500 words to editorial@synthesis.net
Don’t sell yourself short and don’t let money be an obstacle for you or those around you. Money is just the fuel for the fire. Be willing to let it burn.
You are an enormous, eternal, and majestic mountain. Before you set out to discover this world, take the time to find your own paths, peaks, and rivers. Discover what you are good at. Then get better at it. If you are interested in something, you’re probably a natural. Try on hats that look good on the rack and see if they fit. Don’t be discouraged when they don’t; just check them off the list, and move on. Be willing to scare yourself with calculated risks… if it doesn’t kill you, it’s still an option.
After you find yourself, all you have to do is BE yourself… just remember to do it LOUDLY. Organize, create, cause a scene. Don’t hesitate when you know the timing is right, and don’t be afraid to go against the grain for something you believe in. If you stick to it, the grain will change to fit your needs.
Don’t start a business, a project, or commit yourself to another person’s life until you’ve discovered who you are… and your partner(s) have done the same. Play the long game and enjoy every minute of it. It may take half your life to pursue all your myriad talents and interests enough to know which paths deserve your focus—just imagine how much more you’ll accomplish with all those skills in the second half.
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SYNTHESISWEEKLY.COM
JAN 19 2015
The most important skill you can cultivate is learning how to relate to people. Everything else is a close second. We all have far more in common that we can know at a glance. Find those common threads with the people you meet. Learn how to see the bigger picture when getting to know someone. Be willing to judge, just don’t do it harshly. You’re no angel either. Craft your own story, memory by memory, while taking the time to listen to others tell their tales. Learn from everyone. The most important ingredient for success is enthusiasm. If somebody sees what you’re doing and wants to be involved, find a place
for them. Help others find their passions. They will remember you for it. The world’s smartest people will tell you that it’s more important to be kind than to be intelligent. Everyone you’ve ever met would rather hangout with a dumb nice guy than a smart asshole. Don’t sacrifice a friendship for a head-trip. Forgive as a matter of course, and change your course if necessary. No matter who tells you to, don’t hate anyone. Hate is in the past, put effort into being the future. Stop saying “but,” instead learn to say “and.” Don’t say “I have to,” remember that you “get to.” ...Opportunity is everywhere, so don’t wait for it to knock, become it instead. ...and if the goal is to write 500 words or less, write 500. Exactly.
by JULIAN RUCK