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ED See SCENE, page 32

YOGA FOR ATHLETES See HEALTHLINES, page 12

How the war on drugs has wrought environmental damage in Butte County and beyond BY DAVID DOWNS PAGE

Chico’s News & Entertainment Weekly

Volume 37, Issue 13

Thursday, November 21, 2013

BRUTAL BIOPIC See REEL WORLD, page 37

AERIAL ECO-VIEW See GREENWAYS, page 16

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CN&R

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24 COVER STORY

ARTS & CULTURE

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Vol. 37, Issue 13 • November 21, 2013

CN&R 3

Send guest comments, 400 words maximum, to gc@ newsreview.com, or to 353 E. 2nd St., Chico, CA 95928. Please include photo & short bio.

Ending pot prohibition The CN&R has long been writing about the environmental

Protect your return on investment “D where you put up 100 percent of the capital, you, the mutual-fund shareholder, you take 100 percent of the risk, o you really want to invest in a system

and you get 30 percent of the return?” John Bogle was being interviewed for PBS documentary The Retirement Gamble and was referring to excessive fees in actively managed 401k retirement accounts, but this applies to all investments. Bogle, the founder and retired CEO of the Vanguard Group, is a proponent of index mutual funds, no-load funds, and low-fee mutual funds. He was referring to the gains that will be lost if you are by charged a 2 percent fee per year over a Charles 50-year investment horizon. I was skepStaser tical that these figures could be correct, so I decided to do the math. The author, a retired I have a bachelor’s degree in math math teacher, is a from Chico State, and am recently resident of Chico. retired from teaching math for 25 years. I started with a $100,000 investment at 7 percent annual gain reinvested over 50 years. That yields $2,945,703. Starting with the same $100,000 at 5 percent (less the 2 percent fee) over 50 years, you would have $1,146,740. Less the initial $100,000 at 5 percent, you have a gain of $1,046,740, and at 7 percent a gain of $2,845,703. As you can see, the 2 percent fee cost

4 CN&R November 21, 2013

you $1,798,963 of your potential gains. Your $1,046,740 is about 37 percent of the $2,845,703 you would have earned without the fee. The amount you lost due to the 2 percent fee ($1,798,963) is 63 percent of your potential earnings. How could it be that a 2 percent fee could mean that you would get only a little more than a third of your possible earnings and the mutual fund gets almost two-thirds? The reason is that you don’t just lose the 2 percent in your total account each year. You also lose the possible income that you could earn from that lost amount for up to the next 50 years. So, over your retirement investment life, it amounts to an enormous loss. I realize that 50 years is perhaps an unreasonable amount of time. I ran the numbers for 30 years, and you would get 50 percent (and lose 50 percent) of your potential gains. Many people will not be comfortable doing their own investing and will need help. Those people should still be very concerned about investment fees, as you can see how destructive they are to your returns. If you are just starting your retirement investing, don’t get caught putting up 100 percent of the capital and 100 percent of the risk and getting between a third and half of the income from your investments. Ω

degradation happening in Butte County and beyond due to the proliferation of marijuana farms in nonagricultural regions, the foothills in particular. Pot profiteers don’t grow there because the soil is good and the water is bountiful. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Clay soil isn’t hospitable to the plants and there’s a dearth of water to feed them. In truth, the reason cannabis cultivators have chosen to grow in the mountainous regions of the state is to shield their operations from law enforcement by setting up shop among the trees and other greenery that cover the landscape. Only these days, it’s impossible for them to go unnoticed. There are simply too many people attempting to cash in on the pot trade during this Gold Rush era in the realm of marijuana. The foothills, as described in this week’s Cover feature (see “Blame the policy, not the plant,” page 20) are dotted with extensive grows on clear-cut hilltops where cultivators are siphoning water from already limited supplies, leaching chemical fertilizers into nearby watersheds, and poisoning wildlife. So, what’s the answer? As we’ve said time and time again, the only way to truly solve the environmental harms resulting from the proliferation of pot grows is to legalize marijuana. That will bring cultivation into the open, eliminating the unintended consequences of illegality, including blight to the earth as well as crime. A move to legalize has slowly been gaining steam as the public and lawmakers come to realize that prohibition serves only to keep the profit motive in place. Indeed, even Butte County Supervisor Bill Connelly, who has seen firsthand the consequences of the war on drugs, in his District 1, which includes Oroville and the eastern foothills, is calling for legalization. He is joining a cadre of other conservatives who have seen the light. We encourage other local lawmakers to take up the cause. Ω

Compromise benefits all Chico’s Orchard Church was unfairly singled out as a magnet

for homeless and transient folks during recent city meetings at which the public was invited to weigh in on the issues plaguing downtown. Its “Church on the Street” ministry had been providing meals and fellowship to the homeless at City Plaza for more than five years without any complaints from the public or the city, and doing a lot of good in the process. As its advocates have noted, in the last year alone, the church has helped three people with addiction problems seek treatment, lent the support necessary for three people to pull themselves out of homelessness, and helped yet three others reunite with loved ones. In other words, Orchard Church was being part of the solution, not the problem. Still, as the rhetoric around homelessness reached fever-pitch, the church was criticized relentlessly by many in the public, including a business owner who labeled the church’s leader as a “ghetto pastor.” And its work to continue serving the needy came into jeopardy when a local business owner filed an appeal of its permit to operate at the plaza. Despite all of the pressure and condemnation, Jim Culp, Orchard Church’s pastor, took the high road this week by negotiating an agreement with the city of Chico that moves the organization’s weekly fellowship to the Chico Municipal Center sidewalk near the “Our Hands” sculptures (See “Compromise prevails,” Newslines, page 9). Culp should be commended for the compromise, which should quell the concerns of the appellant as well as others in the community who called for the church’s permit to be revoked. He and the church’s volunteers should also be commended for standing up for the down-and-out and not giving up on a ministry that benefits the entire community. Ω

Send email to chicoletters @ newsreview.com

SECOND & FLUME by Melissa Daugherty melissad@newsreview.com

For Hank Most of what I’ve written in this space over the past six months has focused on local politics and current affairs, but this week I’m dedicating Second & Flume to my 2-year-old son, Henry, who is the center of my universe and also happens to have Down syndrome. I’d always planned to someday write about what it’s like having a child with special needs as a way to advocate for people like him. I have a lot to say about how he has changed my life and my heart. But I wanted to do it on my terms—when I was ready to put into print something that is most precious to me. Life sped up that timeline this past weekend. That’s when I encountered, for the first time, an instance of overt prejudice toward people with intellectual disabilities. Two employees of a local grocer were stocking shelves at the front of the store and very loudly—and repeatedly—imitating the voice of someone with Down syndrome. At first, I thought I must be mistaken. I wasn’t. The two guys, who are in their 30s, were going on and on, shouting out the same sentence as they unpacked soup. Another employee, a woman stocking nearby, giggled like a silly schoolgirl as they continued for minutes and began recalling the television show Life Goes On, and imitating one of the central characters, Corky, who has Down syndrome. One of them started singing the show’s theme song before breaking back into the Corky imitation. There was other cruel banter, and that’s when I couldn’t take it anymore. I walked my cart straight up to them, and though I really would like to have had an earnest conversation about how people with Down syndrome are individuals who aren’t deserving of this ignorant commentary, I sort of lost it. “Hey, I have a kid with Down syndrome, and I find this really fucking offensive,” I told them. They looked extremely uncomfortable and both said, “I’m sorry.” I continued, “You never know who’s in here.” “You’re right,” one of them said, looking down. I was being placated, though. So, I turned to the other one. “I cannot believe you guys.” The second guy started saying something to the effect that they were acting out a scene from the show, as if that was an excuse. “I heard everything you said, and I’m telling you that it’s super offensive.” Silence. I walked off and ended up ditching my cart full of groceries and going home. I could tell other shoppers were offended, too, but they didn’t speak up, probably because they don’t know anyone with Down syndrome. Later, I wondered if they’d have stood by had these clowns been making racist, homophobic or sexist comments, or been making fun of some other marginalized group. I’m not going to mention the store by name here, because I don’t think these two are representative of the place. I’m just going to make a plea. If you hear someone making heartless or bigoted comments about vulnerable human beings, whoever they might be, please speak up. Do something. They need a voice.

Trio on homelessness Re “Fountain of infamy” (Cover feature, by Tom Gascoyne, Nov. 14): I have seen Jasper quietly sitting on benches or sidewalks downtown for years. He never appears to be on drugs or alcohol, nor does he seem to be bothering anyone. I had a feeling that he was a local boy. Due to his own personal problems, he is homeless and living on our public streets. Isn’t that enough punishment for him? Do we have to punish him further by saying that he has no right to be in our city as he is? What is the matter with people who want to kick those who are already down? Shame on you, Harold Ey and E-R Editor David Little, for your heartless attitude toward Jasper. Jasper is not a transient; he is a local boy who is having a difficult life. Why don’t you two try living outside for a few days and see how you like it? SUE EISSINGER Chico/Corning

What is homelessness? I’ve asked myself for years now. When I lived in Washington, I had friends who called the streets their home. Are they homeless? Home is where you live. I live in Chico; it’s my home. The idea of homelessness makes many conjure up images of someone who looks unkempt, perhaps dirty, asking for help or money; we call it begging or panhandling. These images are often scary-looking males whom some people might cross the street to avoid. I often hear the word “bum.” What I very seldom hear is that someone looks “in need” or “vulnerable.” We often think of “homeless” people as dangerous or unpredictable more than being vulnerable. The reality is that whenever you marginalize a population, it becomes very vulnerable—vulnerable to stereotypes and worse, vulnerable to becoming marginalized to the point where we don’t want to see it anymore. It’s time to take a compassionate case-by-case look at this instead of trying to solve it by sweeping it off the street. “Homelessness” is not going away unless we redefine it. RON TOPPI Chico

Rather than complain about how much of a nuisance the homeless population is, why not think about the bigger question: Why are there homeless in the first place? There is enough housing in Chico to give all of us a home, yet hundreds sleep on the streets, and empty homes continue to be built. What kind of system allows this? The same one that spends more money imprisoning us than educating us, where the dollar has overcome our sense of self-worth and overLETTERS continued on page 6

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shadowed our sense of community, so that we forget that most of us do not choose to be homeless. We are powerless to this system of “freedom,” and because we are powerless, we complain about those who are “lower” than us.

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It’s racist, not satire Re “Police drama” (Second & Flume, by Melissa Daugherty, Nov. 14): Do the citizens of Chico, and especially the few African-Americans who live here, need Police Officer Todd Boothe on the CPD? Of course he has his constitutional rights to post anything that he likes on his Facebook page. Can one separate his clearly racist statements from him performing his job without prejudice? Officer Peter Durfee, speaking from a “prepared statement” calling Boothe’s statements “political satire,” shows he is a man who doesn’t understand those words. I have read Jonathan Swift, and I know political satire when I read it. Here is something even more exiguous: “Durfee charges that Stone’s allegations endanger the lives of Boothe and his family.” Oh, right, The New Black Panther Party of Chico is looking for him and his family? There is no person who is not dangerous to someone else. JERRY HARRIS San Francisco/Chico

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Re “Pieces” (From the edge, by Anthony Peyton Porter, Nov. 14): Anthony Peyton Porter asks some interesting questions about Sean Morgan—our councilman who is trying to shut down the Orchard Church’s feeding of the poor. Porter wonders why anyone would “want to prevent poor people from being fed.” “What was in it” for Morgan, and does he “get some kind of gratification or satisfaction” from this effort? I doubt that Sean Morgan gets any satisfaction out of depriving anyone of a meal. His motivations have more to do with a desire to be associated with “winners”—like real estate tycoon Wayne Cook, for whom it appears Morgan runs errands. (And from whom Morgan can expect fat campaign donations.) It seems that more than a few people, unencumbered by conscience and empathy, are almost constitutionally predisposed to ingratiate themselves with the rich and powerful. They accomplish

this by doing their bidding. In the Morgan-type value system, having a place to shine among the elite eclipses all other concerns. History is replete with examples of this value system gone wild. What do you think motivated George W. Bush, other than deep insecurity and a lust for the approval of the “haves and the have-mores,” as he adoringly called them? Mr. Morgan has a bright future. PATRICK NEWMAN Chico

Bad call on sit/lie Re “Clear the sidewalks” (Newslines, by Melissa Daugherty, Nov. 7): Pushing a problem away doesn’t fix it. The “sit/lie” ordinance is a waste of the city’s time and resources. It’s simply bigotry toward the homeless, and it makes me sick. The current laws we already have that protect the community from antisocial behavior just need to be enforced properly. The only way to improve the homeless situation in this town is for the community to work together and help these people. When I say this, it’s always met with ignorance like, “Oh, let them sleep in your back yard then.” You know what? I have let homeless people stay with me; allowed them a place to shower, and use the Internet and a phone; and gave them some food. I’ve volunteered with homeless-outreach programs and shelters. If everyone who is able to could take eight hours out of each month to volunteer to do something to help someone else, I’m positive the homeless situation would be a lot better. These people are human beings. Maybe if you sat down and talked to them, and got to know what their situation is, you’d be able to see that not everyone on the street is there by choice, and they’re just as decent people as you, if not better. JASON PHASEY Chico

Aw, shucks. After reading the Sue Hubbard comment about no reason to be homeless because of the myriad services, I looked up her phone number to ask what they are and where they are. However, the phone had been disconnected. Maybe a lot of other people called before I thought to. She’s incorrect, however. It’s also disconcerting to read that the district attorney thinks sprinklers will act to curtail homelessness rather than noting a

national count of 5 million homeless people, with 20 percent of those in California. FRANCES BLANTON Chico

No more downtown hotel Re “Private security” (Newslines, by Tom Gascoyne, Oct. 31) and “Alone on a mountain” (Cover feature, by Allan Stellar, Nov. 7): I am distressed to read about the private militia in downtown. I come to Chico regularly and often choose to stay at a fine hotel there. I like to walk to dinner. I like to walk after dinner. Usually, if I am served more than I can consume at a restaurant, I save it for a hungry person on my way back. I have often chatted or played guitar with some of the “vagrants.” I find most of them to be humans just like me, only more unfortunate at the time. The homeless folks never made me feel uncomfortable walking around Chico, but the armed militia certainly does. I recently saw a video of many animals, from chimpanzees to a parrot, showing more compassion for other beings than Chico is showing for their less-fortunate people. I hope you can come to terms with this issue. Also, the cover story about Allan Stellar’s trek is fantastic. I am so jealous, and commend him on his ability to take advantage of the government shutdown in such a remarkable way. And I commend you for printing his story. I will be back, but I may not be staying downtown. BARCLAY W. NEUMANN Rocklin

An irresponsible story Re “Alone on a mountain” (Cover feature, by Allan Stellar, Nov. 7): Your cover story and related article was, at best, in poor taste. Glorifying trespass in Lassen Volcanic National Park and idealizing Edward Abbey and his Monkey Wrench behavior are not suitable topics for a responsible publication. If nothing else, we still are a land of laws. Applauding a renegade with a cover story encourages more of the same behavior. He should receive a citation and a fine instead. R. JUDD HANNA Mill Creek

More letters online:

We’ve got too many letters for this space. Please go to www.newsreview.com/chico for additional readers’ comments on past CN&R articles.

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Cannabis Cup judge Kevin Scott lights up at Harvest Fest 2013.

STUDENT KILLED BY TRAIN

A body reported lying next to the train tracks between West Sixth and West Seventh streets early Nov. 15 by an Amtrak engineer has been identified as that of 19-year-old Chico State student James Lowder. He was found at about 4 a.m. and was reportedly last seen leaving a nearby party just after midnight. It is not clear when Lowder was struck, police said. He may have been hit by another train passing through about an hour before his body was discovered. Lowder, a pre-business-administration student, was in his second year at Chico State. He came here from the Folsom area. The Butte County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation into the cause of death, and the university lowered its flag to half-staff in his honor.

PHOTO BY KEN SMITH

Smoking celebration

SCRAPPY THIEVERY

An alleged copper thief tied to hundreds of thefts dating back to last year was arrested during a Nov. 16 burglary in north Chico. Since 2012, Chico Police have received more than 200 reports of copper being stolen from air-conditioning units around Chico, according to a Chico Police Department press release. Shortly before midnight on Nov. 16, an officer responding to an airconditioning unit’s tamper alarm at 40 Philadelphia Drive found 46-year-old John Timothy McCrary on the scene dressed in all black. Once detained, McCrary was reportedly found to be in possession of burglary tools and methamphetamine. While the copper obtained from an airconditioning unit can be sold as scrap for $50 to $200, replacing an air-conditioning unit typically costs $3,000 to $5,000, or up to $25,000 for a commercial unit. McCrary was tied to 149 air-conditioningunit thefts and booked into Butte County Jail on charges of grand theft, vandalism, possession of burglary tools and possession of a controlled substance.

DOWNTOWN JEWELER TO CLOSE

Another longtime downtown Chico retailer is closing. Mundy & Company Fine Jewelers began its going-out-of-business sale Friday, Nov. 15. The store has occupied the space at 152 E. Second Street, between Peet’s Coffee & Tea and Woodstock’s Pizza, for 25 years. On Wednesday morning (Nov. 20), friends of store owner Barbara Mundy were helping with sales. Ben Marsdon said the first three days of sales after the closing was announced “were incredible. [The store] was totally packed, and they couldn’t keep up with the register.” He said the store will continue to offer jewelry at reduced prices and will most likely stay open until Christmas. Don Schmitz said Mundy was looking forward to golfing and hanging out with her friends. “Barbara served the community quite well,” Schmitz said. Mundy & Co. is the third longtime downtown business to close this year. In May, two clothing stores, Betty’s on Broadway and Katie’s Corner, shuttered their storefronts. Betty’s ended operations, while Katie’s relocated to the Chico Mall. 8 CN&R November 21, 2013

Supervisor seethes, pot smokers party in wake of county medi-pot amendments

“I pops,” Kevin Scott explained as he put the finishing touches on a medium-sized joint, at

’m looking for something that really

least the third he’d rolled in a half-hour while acting as judge for the Cannabis Cup competition at Harvest Fesby Ken Smith tival 2013, a 420-friendly event held last Saturday (Nov. 16) at kens@ the Tuscan Ridge Golf Course. newsreview.com Scott was one of a handful of judges seated at two tables in the back corner of a pair of 40-by40-foot tents on the lawn below the course’s clubhouse. The judges’ tables were covered with dishes brimming with marijuana buds and various smoking implements, including a 2-foottall bong just to Scott’s right. A nearby table showcased the competitors—jars and plastic bags filled with exotically named strains of pot, such as Purple Urkle, Deadhead 06, R&B, and Girl Scout Cookies. As the judges sampled each, rating them on such merits as look, smell, smoothness and taste, More curious onlookers stood nearby, information: some remarking on the judges’ Go to stamina, others vocally covetous www.western of their positions. psa.com to learn Scott said he’d got the job more about the Western Plant because he has friends at the Science Western Plant Science AssociaAssociation. tion, a local organization dedi-

cated to the advancement of cannabis causes, particularly siding with growers in the endless bickering over medicalmarijuana cultivation in Butte County. The WPSA hosted the Harvest Festival, now in its second year. “I’ve had my prescription for about 10 years,” Scott continued after lighting the joint, taking a hit and passing it to a young woman across the table. Further extolling his qualifications, he added, “Plus, I just have a lot of experience in the field.” The festival was attended by several hundred people. In the nearby clubhouse—where no smoking was allowed, though every other inch of the grounds seemed fair game—local bands Swamp Zen, Wake of the Dead, Pyrx and George Souza & The Funk Brothers played, and VIP attendees (who paid $100 as opposed to $15 for general admission) received gift bags and a catered meal. There were also glassblowing demonstrations, and booths featuring smoking paraphernalia and other pot-centric wares. The event did have some organizational problems. Bert “Buddy” Duzy, an initiative coordinator for the California Cannabis Hemp Initiative 2014—an attempt to get a proposition to legalize pot for recreational and industrial uses on next November’s statewide ballot—was scheduled to attend, but unable to confirm his

appearance with WPSA organizers. “I wasn’t able to contact anyone before the event, so I was hoping that someone would call me to confirm that I would be attending, but that didn’t happen either,” Duzy wrote in an email on Wednesday morning (Nov. 20). “I tried to locate the event on my GPS, but it took me to a random-looking spot on a dark highway and I couldn’t find any entrance or road around there.” The WPSA also didn’t answer postevent calls to provide further details about total festival attendance, funds raised, who won the Cannabis Cup or what the organization’s next maneuver may be, though the event’s webpage at WesternPSA.com summarized the group’s intent: “The goal of the 2013 Festival is to raise funds to put a Dispensary Ordinance on the November 2014, City of Chico’s General Election Ballot, and continue to fight for access to medical marijuana.” As the WPSA filled its war chest

for upcoming battles, medical-marijuana cultivation supporters and those opposed just finished their latest round of confrontation on Nov. 12, when the Butte County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 (with Supervisor Larry Wahl voting nay) to approve amendments to the county’s current ordinance. That ordinance, approved by the supervisors last spring with the caveat

that its effectiveness be revisited after a growing season, was the board’s third attempt at a workable law. It was drafted by an ad-hoc committee made up of constituents on both sides of the issue, including Matt Larkins, a WPSA representative (see “A Grand Compromise,” Newslines, Jan. 24). At the Nov. 12 meeting, Paul Hahn, the county’s chief administrative officer and clerk of the board, presented the board with two options, presented as Amendments A and B; the former included controversial moves to lower plant counts by eliminating an added allowance for immature plants, and to change the requirement that those who file complaints against grows live within 1,500 feet. Wahl moved to approve the first set of restrictions, but the move was not seconded. The board eventually opted for the latter option, which requires growers to live in a legal residence with proper, permitted septic and water systems on the land where marijuana is grown, in an effort to address some environmental concerns that have arisen. Civil penalties for non-compliant grows were also doubled. Wahl was the first to speak after public comment on the issue ran for nearly 90 minutes: “It’s pretty clear from the folks who’ve spoke this morning; the folks who’ve spoken before; the folks who’ve emailed, wrote letters and called and visited mine and other supervisors’ offices, that the people of Butte County want us to take a leadership role in restricting the use of pot-for-profit growing,” he said. As the conversation continued, Supervisor Steve Lambert said he thought the less-restrictive package was a “pragmatic” deal that everyone could work with, and encouraged attendees who were unhappy “no matter what side of the fence you sit on” to contact their federal and state representatives. Several times during the discussion, supervisors and community speakers lamented a lack of direction and ever-evolving marijuana laws coming from the state and federal levels. After the second, less restrictive package was approved, Wahl spoke up again. “In absence of solid or firm guidance from the feds or the state, I think it behooves us to take a firm stand on something, even if it might be wrong in two years,” he said. “We could wait, and wait, and wait and come back, and come back, and come back based on the changes that may or may not happen at the state or federal level. And quite frankly, what they do in Colorado or Washington is of no consequence to what we do here in California or Butte County. “I think what we are doing today is solidifying the profit of pot growers here in Butte County.” Ω

Compromise prevails Church moves weekly gathering to Chico Municipal Center of the most controversial items on the City Council’s agenda Owerenecamestill to an anticlimactic end Tuesday evening (Nov. 19), but there fireworks during the panel’s regular meeting.

Starting with the former, Orchard Church Pastor Jim Culp stuck it out through the meeting despite having already come to a compromise with the city regarding his congregation’s longstanding community-outreach efforts, gatherings that include providing meals and fellowship to those in need. During a break in the meeting, Culp explained he’d been working with city staff for several weeks, and that on Monday evening, Nov. 18—the night before the council meeting—the church had come to an agreement with the city. That eleventh-hour deal calls for the gatherings to move across the street from the City Plaza to the Chico Municipal Center near the sculptures known as “Our Hands.” Meeting at that location precludes the need for a city permit and allows the church more flexibility with the get-togethers. “The city recognizes our freedom to assemble any time business hours are closed,” Culp said. Orchard Church had been holding the gatherings Sunday evenings at City Plaza for more than five years, but the outreach became controversial in recent weeks as the community’s concern over problems associated with the local homeless and transient population reached fever-pitch. The ministry got caught in the backlash from businesspeople and others who charge that the folks the church serves were keeping patrons away from downtown. Some said the church’s outreach was drawing homeless people to the region. Despite jumping through various hoops, such as getting a permit from the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission and a special food-preparation certification from the Butte County Health Department, the church faced eviction from the plaza on the grounds of an appeal of its permit by downtown business owner Wayne Cook, owner of Hotel Diamond. In his appeal, among other reasons listed, Cook noted the largerthan-normal congregation of transients, saying the church’s gathering added to the problem. “Another magnet is precisely what isn’t currently needed,” he wrote. The compromise reached this week is not a contract, said Culp, but rather an understanding that the church has the freedom to assemble there. When the item was scheduled to come up for discussion, City Manager Brian Nakamura explained that Orchard Church had withdrawn its application for a permit and therefore Cook’s appeal was moot. Culp spoke later in the evening, during the business-from-the-

Volunteers organized by Chico’s Orchard Church serve dinner during a recent gathering outside of the Chico Municipal Center. PHOTO BY MELISSA DAUGHERTY

floor period, and thanked the council and city staff for helping the church come to a resolution with the city. He noted that it was the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. “I’m grateful that we’ve been given the right—the liberty—to champion this essential message: that all men and women are created equal—black and white, rich and poor, those with and without addresses. “We are a church that is committed to a nation, and a city that pursues hope. Hope is second chances, fresh starts, restored lives,” he said. Tuesday’s meeting also included the second reading of the

city’s so-called civil-sidewalks ordinance—also known as the “sit/lie” law. That agenda item was pulled from the consent agenda by Councilwoman Tami Ritter, who noted that there have been significant improvements in the atmosphere downtown since the reintroduction of two bicycle officers in the region. Four members of the public spoke about the law, with two opposed and the other two in favor. James Moody, a homeless man who had spoken during the ordinance’s introduction, asked the panel some tough questions when it came to the law: “What are you going to do with me?” he asked. “I’m a poor, old man who has bad health.” Moody said he has been in Chico since 1981, and lost his home about six months ago after losing his job. After the conclusion of the discussion, the council voted 4-2 in favor of the ordinance. Ritter and Councilman Randall Stone dissented. Councilwoman Mary Goloff was absent. Later, Stone was criticized for outing a Chico Police officer he says harbors racist views. Peter Durfee, president of the Chico Police Officers’Association, came out swinging, pointing to Stone’s recent allegations that the officer had posted racist content on Facebook. Going public with the allegations, Durfee said, violated the due-process rights of the officer, Todd Boothe; marginalized an entire association; and unjustly tainted every sworn police officer in the city of Chico. “Whatever our disagreements or personal differences may be, this was unprofessional, unexpected and unacceptable. This association protects your streets, your families and the city,” News jobs dwindle he said. Durfee went on to ask that Stone be removed Jobs in the newspaper business have been dwindling from the Chico Police Department Community for the past decade, especially for photographers. Advisory Board, that he recuse himself from any According to the American Society of News Editors, the number of newspaper photographer, artist and business that involves the CPOA and its memvideographer jobs has dropped by 43 percent bers, and that he give a public apology to Boothe, since 2000, from 6,171 to 3,493. Though more reporter and writer jobs have been lost his family and the members of the CPOA. in the same time (25,593 to 17,422), the relative percentage is 32 percent. Jobs for As is normal during business-from-the-floor copy editors, layout editors and online producers have dropped by 27 percent discussion, neither Stone nor the other council (10,901 to 7,980). Those numbers have leveled off a bit in the past three years, with members commented on what was said. The photographer jobs dropping at an 18 percent clip, and reporter and writer positions CPD’s administrative investigation into the slowing to a 6 percent slide, while copy and layout editor and online producer jobs officer’s conduct is ongoing. fell at a negligible 0.2 percent. The greater loss of photographer jobs is attributed to

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—MELISSA DAUGHERTY melissad@newsreview.com

NEWSLINES continued on page 10 November 21, 2013

CN&R 9

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on’t let the recent rains fool you—it’s been a dry year in Butte County. Or, perhaps more accurately, it’s been a dry decade. Serving Butte, Glenn & Tehama Counties During a forum in the packed 1209 Esplanade Ste 1 (corner of West 2nd Ave) Chico City Council chambers on 24 hr. hotline (Collect Calls Accepted) 530.342.2895 • 10am–4pm M–F or by Appt Nov. 14, representatives from the www.rapecrisis.org AmericanChi.net city of Chico, Butte County and the local water-advocacy group DESIGNER REP FILE NAME CNR ISSUE outlined the current JEN_PU JLD 10.23.08 RAPE CRISIS INTERV. &AquAlliance PREV. state of the county’s groundwater system and potential threats to its health, including climate change business & home networking sales & services: and the state’s controversial Bay $ 95 Delta Conservation Plan. • virus+Malware reMoval Speaker Christina Buck, a 95 water-resource scientist for the • pc tune–up $ Butte County Department of Water exp 12/31/13 and Resource Conservation, explained that about two-thirds of the water the county uses comes Keeping IT Simple from rivers, streams and lakes, while the other third is groundwa1299 East avE #b ter drawn from the Tuscan Aquifer. 530.342.1223 As indicated by measurements of www.ttLtechs.com six local water wells that have been info@ttltechs.com monitored since the 1940s, the county’s groundwater levels have been in decline for decades, Buck said. The water levels of those wells are currently at “historic lows,” while dozens of wells with monitors installed more recently have triggered low-water alerts based on levels recorded in a shorter timeframe. Dry conditions over the last dozen years have most likely played a part. In terms of annual precipitation, there have been two “wet” years—2006 and 2011—in the past 12, while the rest were below average or in the drought category. The amount of water drawn from the aquifer for human use is also a major factor. About 6 lucky respondents 90 percent of water used in Butte will win either: County is for agricultural purposes, while urban use and environmental * A $50 gift certificate projects account for the rest. to The Bookstore Durham-area farmer Ed McLaughlin offered a ground-level * A free pass perspective on Butte County’s to the movies groundwater issues. Due to the enormous amount of water Take the survey online at required for agriculture, McLaughwww.research.net/s/013547 lin said, there is a common percep-

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Christina Buck, a water-resource scientist for the Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation, spoke on local groundwater conditions during a forum in the Chico City Council chambers on Nov. 14. PHOTO BY HOWARD HARDEE

10 CN&R November 21, 2013

tion that farmers “use water excessively.” Because overdrawing the Tuscan Aquifer affects all county residents—not just farmers—McLaughlin championed a “nonpartisan balance” in which “everyone would share the burden” of proper water-resource management. As several speakers did throughout the evening, McLaughlin pointed south to the San Joaquin Valley—an area responsible for the majority of the state’s agricultural exports, which bring in an estimated $30 billion annually—as an example of how irresponsible groundwater management could affect Butte County. Due to subsidence—the gradual or sudden sinking of the surface of the ground, attributed to excessive water pumping—certain areas of the San Joaquin Valley have sunk dozens of feet over the last century. “Don’t think that can’t happen here,” McLaughlin warned. Since Butte County began measuring for subsidence in 1999, there has been no measurable change in ground level. However, Buck emphasized the importance of further understanding how the Tuscan Aquifer recharges and how much water can be safely drawn from it in order to avoid the San Joaquin Valley’s mistakes. Buck suggested looking to other areas of California that have been more proactive than Butte County in terms of groundwater management. One such option is “managed aquifer recharge,” which, according to the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, involves manmade infrastructure or landscape modifications to enhance the natural groundwater-recharge process. There is such a project currently being monitored in the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County.

“We can’t keep hoping for wet years,” Buck said. “We know water demands are greater than what we’ve gotten from these below-normal and drought years.” Later in the forum, Buck

spoke at length concerning a major threat to the county’s groundwater levels: drought due to climate change. California’s place along a jet stream makes long-term changes in annual precipitation due to climate change difficult to project, Buck said, though “drought is definitely a threat, and there’s not a lot we can do to control that.” While future precipitation levels are unpredictable, it’s certain that average temperatures are trending upward, Buck said, which will impact how much precipitation falls either as snow or rain. Less snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains would have huge implications for water management, as reservoirs such as Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville were “designed to manage snow runoff.” Barbara Vlamis, executive director of AquAlliance, highlighted another potential threat to local groundwater—the Bay Delta Conservation Plan backed by Gov. Jerry Brown’s office. The plan includes a pair of 35-mile-long tunnels to divert water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta south for agricultural use, and would cost an estimated $25 billion. Vlamis anticipates that diverting so much of the North State’s water to points south will only further stress Butte County’s groundwater supply. “[The tunnels] will drain our wallets and devastate our water resources,” she said. “It’s horrendous to even think about.” —HOWARD HARDEE howardh@newsreview.com

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$10.49 Toxic education Environmental group shines light on Oroville he Butte Environmental Council has TOroville launched an educational campaign in to help alert citizens to the dioxin

contamination that has plagued the southern part of town for decades. Billboards demanding action and a series of public forums have been funded by grants from Ventura-based outdoor-clothing company Patagonia Inc. and the Clif Bar Family Foundation. Mark Stemen, president of BEC’s board of directors, said Clif Bar and Patagonia both have campaigns aimed at helping lowincome communities deal with the toxic problems they may face. “They were very inspired by the issues and the work we’ve been doing in south Oroville,” Stemen said. Dioxins have been linked to human reproductive and developmental problems, damaged immune systems and cancer. In 2007, a report by the California Department of Public Health on cancer data found 23 cases of pancreatic cancer in Oroville in 2004 and 2005, which was twice the expected number. No official cause was ever cited, however. The presence of the contaminants has been linked to two fires at the now-closed Koppers wood-treatment plant in the Highway 70 Industrial Park. The first occurred 50 years ago and burned for a week, releasing clouds of dioxin-laced smoke that hovered over the small farms in the area. A second fire ignited in 1987, which led to the evacuation of nearby residents and once again released a plume of dioxincontaminated smoke over the area. Liver samples taken from two cows raised on the same farm showed similar levels of dioxin, even though one was slaughtered in 1985 and the other in 1988. This, according to a report in Environmental Health Perspectives, suggests both fires caused dioxin contamination, in the first case 23 years after the initial Koppers fire. In 1988, chicken eggs from 25 Oroville homes were collected and tested by the state. Of those, 72 percent showed dioxin contamination, including eggs from as far as 7 miles away from the wood-treatment plant.

More recently, dioxins have been traced to the Pacific Oroville Power Inc. plant, or POPI, a co-generation plant that closed down operations last year after it was investigated by the Butte County District Attorney’s Office for environmental violations. The plant, which initially burned scraps of wood from forestry operations to create electricity, began using “urban waste” as the timber industry slowed down. That waste included demolished buildings trucked to the North State from the Bay Area. Tests showed that resulting ash contained dioxins, including a huge pile that sat for some time off Hicks Lane in north Chico before it was recently hauled away to a landfill in Wheatland. But ash from the plant has also been used as a soil amendment in an orchard off Shippee Road in Durham and in corn fields in the Glenn County community of Artois. (BEC recently made a public records request for soil-test results from the area and were expected to receive those figures just after the CN&R’s press time.) POPI’s New Jersey-based owner, Covanta, is negotiating for out-of-court settlements for dioxin and heavy-metals contamination in several California counties. The action is being led by Butte County Deputy District Attorney Hal Thomas, who specializes in environmental law. The BEC effort has led to the formation of the Oroville Dioxin Education Committee (ODEC), whose goal is to “educate and prepare community members, to raise awareness, and to lead the effort to safeguard our community against dioxin,” according to a BEC press release. Thomas, who couldn’t talk specifically about the Covanta case, said he supports BEC’s work in Oroville. “I’m very happy with what they are doing,” he said. “It is great for public health.” Stemen, who is a professor of geography and planning at Chico State, said that it’s important to recognize that “environmental harms are not distributed equally.” “Some populations suffer more than others,” he said. “I think if you were to look at Butte County, you would find that the 95965 zip code [in Oroville] probably has more toxic waste than the rest of Butte County. I think the long-term success will be from those people organizing for themselves and fighting for the land they stand on.”

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CN&R 11

THE PULSE

HEALTHLINES

ENLOE OPENS PLAYGROUND

Enloe Medical Center opened a small playground across the street from the hospital’s Esplanade campus on Tuesday, Nov. 12. The equipment for the playground was donated by the Chico Rotary Club, according to an Enloe Medical Center press release. The playground is the first step of a broader plan to build a park in the space between Magnolia and Arcadian avenues, and West Fifth and West Sixth streets, the full construction of which will begin sometime in 2016. The park will be the final part of the Enloe Century Project expansion, which includes a parking structure, the new 191,000-squarefoot patient tower (opened in 2012), and the emergency-department expansion currently underway.

Left: Longtime yoga instructor and avid athlete Rex Stromness, 61, maintains that yoga is the foundation of his athletic pursuits.

Not so fluffy CN&R CN&R visits visits yoga yoga instructor’s instructor’s new new digs digs and and discusses discusses the the activity’s activity’s athletic athletic applications applications

Below: Stromness poses inside the Yoga Center of Chico, which he recently opened with business partner and fellow yoga instructor Tom Hess.

MORE STATINS ON HORIZON?

The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology have released new guidelines for the treatment of high cholesterol that could double the number of Americans on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. For years, the goal of doctors was to get LDL (or “bad” cholesterol) levels below 100; the new guidelines eliminate that target, as well as the cholesterol-level threshold for treatment, according to CNN.com. Rather, doctors will ask four questions, a “yes” to any of which will determine whether a patient should begin treatment. The questions are: Do you have heart disease? Do you have diabetes (Type 1 or 2)? Do you have a bad cholesterol level of more than 190? Is your 10-year risk of a heart attack greater than 7.5 percent? For people who don’t fit those criteria, according to the guidelines, lifestyle and behavior management should be enough to avoid high cholesterol.

CLOSE TO HOME

Over the past two years, the number of homeless people with mental illness in Alameda County has increased by 35 percent, a study finds. The report, based on a census taken earlier this year and compiled by EveryOne Home, found that countywide, there were 1,106 homeless individuals with mental illness, compared to 818 in 2011, according to California Healthline. Further, the number of mentally ill homeless people has doubled over the past decade. Elaine de Coligny, executive director of EveryOne Home, explained that Proposition 63 (also known as the Mental Health Services Act) funding was used to provide housing for the mentally ill homeless in 2006 and 2007, but that money has since been put toward sustaining those individuals rather than offering housing to others. EveryOne Home also cited the possibility of homelessness triggering mental illness, as well as better awareness of mental illness on the part of those surveyed as possible contributing factors. Send your health-related news tips to Howard Hardee at howardh@newsreview.com.

12 CN&R November 21, 2013

story and photos by

Howard Hardee

howardh@newsreview.com

Rnewly opened Yoga Center of Chico, recently met with the CN&R to discuss his ex Stromness, the owner of the

new yoga studio, but the conversation quickly turned to the perhaps underestimated athletic applications of practicing yoga. While Stromness and this reporter covered some of yoga’s more well-established health benefits—stress and anxiety reduction, increased focus and improved posture, for example—we found common ground in that we both believe yoga is a great addition to an athlete’s training regime. Stromness, a 61-year-old yoga instructor and part-time massage therapist who cycles, plays tennis and golf, and hikes, said he considers yoga the foundation of his athletic pursuits. Between playing baseball and ultimate disc, cycling, skiing and weightlifting, I’m also fairly active, but I hadn’t tried yoga until venturing into an In Motion Fitness yoga class a couple of months ago. I’ve enjoyed the physical challenge of practicing motions and positions simply not expected of one’s body on an everyday basis. More difficult still is syncing those motions with deliberate breathing patterns; I’ve found that while holding the most demanding poses, the natural reflex is to hold your breath as well. “Most people think they know how to breathe,” Stromness said with a laugh. “We’re doing it all the time, but most people are breathing with a very small portion of their capacity. During physical activity,

when your body is demanding it, you breathe deeply. In yoga, we practice it sitting still.” After a couple of months of regular practice, the potential health benefits of making yoga a habit are readily apparent. Immediately after a yoga class, I feel loose, well-rested and focused on my plans for the day. And maybe it’s my imagination, but I already feel more balanced and flexible while chasing after a baseball or Frisbee disc. Stromness said that the physicality of practicing yoga and its potential role in the training regimens of serious athletes often go missed. “Whatever you do, [yoga]’s a great complement,” he said. “Yoga prepares your body to do that activity to the fullest. You develop core strength, you’re extremely flexible, and your joints are looser, so you’re a lot less susceptible to injury.” About 40 years ago, when Strom-

ness was “a ski bum,” the lifelong athlete

was immediately drawn to the physical challenge of practicing yoga. “My friend and I, we had a lot of free time, and we found a book on yoga,” he said. “We just started practicing some of the stuff we found in the book. This was very early on—yoga was not yet mainstream.” Stromness didn’t get serious about the discipline until he went to Sonoma State College (now Sonoma State University) and took a yoga class through what was then “an experimental psychology department.” “It was just that it was a physical practice—you’re very focused on the body,” he said of why he found yoga initially appealing. “But it was also a way to get to know ourselves; it was the first thing I’d found HEALTHLINES continued on page 15

APPOINTMENT SWEAT FOR THE NEEDY Run for Food, the Jesus Center’s annual 5K run/walk fundraiser beginning and ending at One-Mile Recreation Area in Lower Bidwell Park, will be held on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28), starting at 9 a.m. Funds will help to shelter and provide meals for Chico’s homeless individuals. Registration is $20 to $30; go to www.runforfood.com to register or for more information.

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continued from page 12

Prior to opening Yoga Center

of Chico, Stromness twice led the Chico State men’s basketball team in 1 1/2 months of yoga practice,

Call 342-0100, go to www.yogacenterofchico.com or drop by the Yoga Center of Chico (250 Vallombrosa Ave., Ste. 150) for more information about the new center, its teachers and its schedule of classes.

helping the players develop flexibility, core strength and balance— things that “really translate well to the basketball court,” head basketball coach Greg Clink said during an interview earlier this year. “It’s incredible, the benefit the [players] get from it,” Stromness said. Unfortunately, for all their potential to help athletes, yoga classes typically aren’t well attended by men, Stromness acknowledged. “I’ve often had classes where it’s 25 women and me [teaching],” he said. “Men have this idea that [yoga is] more of a fluffy women’s thing, having never tried it, but most men who come and try it are [surprised] by how difficult it is and how good it is for you.” However, Stromness believes yoga’s reputation as a “fluffy” activity may be changing among college-age men, noting that classes he used to teach at the WREC had a noticeably higher ratio of men to women than other gyms in town. And once men try yoga, Stromness said, they’re likely to get hooked. “As soon as men come and experience it, they know.” Ω

WEEKLY DOSE Lesser-known yoga benefits Many of us know that increased flexibility and stress reduction are among the benefits of engaging in the practice of yoga, but there are others that may not be as well-known, including: • Healthier skin: Yoga helps increase blood and oxygen flow, resulting in more vibrant, healthy skin. • Relief from chronic health problems: Symptoms linked to cancer, drug addiction, diabetes, arthritis and migraine headaches can be relieved by doing yoga, according to the American Cancer Society. • Increased happiness: The supportive environment in which one often does yoga can allow one to more freely express positive feelings.

Source: www.cultivatingyour energy.com

RECYCLE THIS PAPER.

that felt like a spiritual practice to me. I found value in quieting my mind and getting away from the external world.” A little more than three months have passed since Stromness and Tom Hess, another well-known local yoga instructor, decided to open the Yoga Center of Chico. About a week before settling on the location for their yoga center, the pair agreed that they were ready to “leave the sports clubs,” after years of teaching at Chico Sports Club, In Motion Fitness and the Wildcat Recreation Center (WREC) at Chico State. “It was a big decision; it was scary to start a new business not knowing what would happen, but it’s already turned out great,” Stromness said. “People have been coming and we’ve been blown away by the support.” The center, opened last month, is simple but well-lit and beautiful, comprising a front lobby area, a small side office for one-on-one therapy, and a studio toward the back of the building complete with hardwood floors personally installed by Stromness and Hess. It all aligns with the pair’s vision for a space dedicated to yoga and meditation alone, rather a club offering many different exercise classes.

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CN&R 15

EARTH WATCH INDIGENOUS INDIGNATION

GREENWAYS

Bird’s-eye view

At the same time as United Nations delegates were gathering at the Warsaw Climate Change Conference in Poland, indigenous leaders from the United States, Mexico and Greenland held their own meeting to discuss climate change. On Veterans Day (Nov. 11), approximately 65 tribal elders came together at New Mexico’s Ghost Ranch to discuss “the need for individual action rather than government edicts, and of the difficulty—and urgency—of replacing economic questions with moral ones,” when it comes to tackling solutions to climate change, according to The Daily Climate. At the gathering, which was organized by the Montana-based American Indian Institute, attendees expressed dismay at what they see as a lack of meaningful climate-change action on the part of the UN. “I have nothing to say to them,” said Angaangaq, a representative of Greenland’s Inuit people. “Not one of those United Nations people responsible has ever changed. They are orators of the highest quality, but … the time for excuses has gone long ago.”

Above: Paraglider Jon Stallman has a unique vantage point from which to observe the natural world. PHOTO BY CHRISTINE G.K. LAPADO-BREGLIA

Left: A paraglider’s view of Upper Bidwell Park’s Bear Hole area. PHOTO COURTESY OF JON STALLMAN

MINING THE FAR NORTH

Greenland’s government has announced intentions to open up the country to the mining of radioactive materials. In late October, Greenland’s parliament voted in favor of lifting a 25-year ban on mining for such things as uranium, thorium and rare-earth metals in the hopes of securing the business of large-scale natural-resource importers such as China, according to an article on Russian news site RT.com. Australia’s Greenland Minerals & Energy already has its eye on a mineral field in the south of Greenland estimated to contain roughly 40,000 tons of extractable rare-earth deposits. Rareearth metals are used in the manufacturing of electric cars, smartphones, weapons and wind turbines. As Greenland’s prime minister, Aleqa Hammond, put it earlier this year: “Mining will come to Greenland.”

RECYCLE YOUR BUTT

The Canadian city of Vancouver has implemented the world’s first cigarette-butt recycling program. New Jersey-based global recycling company TerraCycle installed 110 receptacles bearing stickers reading “Recycle Your Butts Here” for the pilot project, which is expected to last four to five months, according to Canada’s Metro News. The butts will be collected and shipped to TerraCycle to be processed into industrial plastics. TerraCycle is funding the pilot project. “Vancouver was the first city [to do this], so we wanted to invest in it to make it happen,” said TerraCycle founder Tom Szaky, adding that two major American cities are considering following suit. One thousand additional cigarette-butt receptacles will be installed in high-density areas following the completion of the pilot project. Send your eco-friendly news tips to Christine G.K. LaPado-Breglia at christinel@newsreview.com.

16 CN&R November 21, 2013

Local paraglider sees the environment from a different perspective than most people by

Christine G.K. LaPado-Breglia christinel@newsreview.com

“Iis all about fossil fuel. Because, really, our ability to fly is based on nature’s enert’s displacing the idea that flight

gy—the sun heating the land, causing air to flow … vertically in the form of thermals,” said Jon Stallman, a local paraglider and paragliding instructor, of the eco-friendly sport of paragliding. “I think some people have the misconception that we’re just daredevils!” When he is gliding through the air, suspended in a harness beneath his paraglider’s curved fabric “wing,” Stallman is “immersed in everything to do with nature”—from reading the subtleties of the wind on tree leaves and branches below him, to studying the clouds, which “show the vertical movement of air. “It’s a partnership” between him and nature, he said of the sport. Stallman—who is also an engineering analyst and principal at local renewableenergy-analysis/design firm Energy XChange—has a unique vantage point from which to observe and discuss the natural world as he cruises through the air (usually 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the ground, sometimes as high as 12,000 feet)—both the beauty of it and instances of destruction done to it.

In a recent interview with Stallman, the talk immediately went to birds, and the joy derived from being in a position to fly through the air in close proximity to them, “playing” with them and observing their habits, as well as taking cues from them about flying conditions on any particular day. For instance, turkey vultures—those ubiquitous birds seen soaring in the air over the canyon in Upper Bidwell Park through which Big Chico Creek flows— “always know when the air is going to ‘shut down,’” he noted, adding that last year he “flew with over 35 vultures in Bidwell Park—all in the same thermal!” Bald eagles, Stallman offered, “have a daily commute: At the tail end of January through March, they will fly back and forth between Table Mountain and the [valley’s] rice fields during the daytime, presumably to hunt [in the fields].” Sometimes things get a little more raucous. As Stallman wrote in an article coming out in December in the U.S. Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association’s magazine,

More information:

Go to www.norcalparagliding.vpweb.com to find out more about Northern California Paragliding, Jon Stallman’s paraglidinginstruction company.

Hang Gliding & Paragliding, about a flight he took over the Owens Valley (east of the San Joaquin Valley): “I noticed two birds in my thermal suddenly get completely tossed upside down, tumbling, and flapping. Oh boy—hold on, it’s coming: Whack! My wing wadded up, whipped around 180 degrees, and snapped back open with a huge head-whipping jolt.” Other times, Stallman’s concern is

not so much with what is happening in the air as what is happening far down below. He has noticed, for instance, “a degree of trail erosion” in Upper Bidwell Park, where he paraglides regularly. “There’s been a lot of really good progress on trail containment, and more of it needs to be done to protect the thin soils,” Stallman said. “I can see that from the air. I can see the array of trails. I can see the vehicles from rowdy folks at Bear Hole, and I can see their donut tracks out in the field adjacent to Bear Hole.” That’s not all Stallman can see from the air when it comes to flying over the nearby foothills, and over forested areas not visible by drivers on roads and highways. “I can see the ‘forest projects’ that are going on—a lot of forest and ‘agricultural’ projects—and it’s questionable as to how environmentally sound those projects really GREENWAYS continued on page 19

What do you remember most about your first bike? I don’t remember too much about the bike. It was a red BMX. I do remember waking up real early and delivering newspapers. Also, I was always getting chased by dogs. What is your commute – route, how many miles, how many days a week, anything else? I work at the Torres Shelter full time riding to and fro daily. It takes me about 20 minutes to ride the 3.2 miles one way. I try to avoid car traffic. I love hearing the rooster’s crow while cutting through Chapman Town. What is your favorite thing about your bike(s)? It’s reliable. I usually feel physically and mentally improved after riding my bike. What one thing would you most like car drivers to know/do/change? I’m very defensive while riding and feel that the onus is on me to be safe, thus I would hope that car drivers just follow the rules of the road. How does bicycling reflect your philosophy about life? Why DO you ride? It’s economical and enjoyable, even when getting chased by dogs. Johnny Meehan, Torres Shelter- Service Coordinator

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ID’ING MUSHROOMS Learn how to identify and forage for mushrooms at the allday “Discovering Fungi” workshop on Nov. 23, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at Chico State’s Holt Hall, room 129 (and the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve). Sponsored by Friends of the Chico State Herbarium, the workshop will be led by Debbie Viess of the Bay Area Mycological Society. Cost is $100 ($90 for Friends of the Herbarium members). Go to www.csu chico.edu/biol/Herb/Events.html for more info and to register.

are,” he said, speaking in measured fashion, declining to be too specific. “When you get in the air, you can read so much more about human impact.” Stallman referred to the Oct. 4 episode of ABC News’ Nightline program, in particular a segment titled “Turf War: Gliders vs. Gravel Miners,” as a case in point. Filmed at the paragliding and hang-gliding mecca in Utah’s Traverse Mountains called Point of the Mountain, the segment is focused on the largescale, increasingly expanding bulldozing of the beautiful mountainous area by a mining company called Geneva Rock. “This is a common event we address,” Stallman said, referring to the destruction of unspoiled open spaces (perfect for paragliding due in large part to the way the wind

THE plays off of the shape of the terrain) by such entities as gravel-mining companies and developers. “Every year, at least one [paragliding] site goes away because of development,” he said. In the case of Point of the Mountain—where Stallman has spent considerable time paragliding— residents, environmentalists and recreationists recently formed a group, Save Steep Mountain, in an effort to preserve what is left of the mountainous area. The Steep Mountain/Point of the Mountain area of the Traverse Mountains is being eyed as part of the planned “phase 2” of Geneva Rock’s gravel-excavation activity. Dealing with ongoing challenges to both the protection of and access to open space—not only for those partaking in paragliding, but for hikers, bikers, campers and so on—is “an extremely common thing,” in Stallman’s experience. “All too often, people pit those two things—protection and access— against each other,” he offered. “There is a fine balance between protecting and accessing, and they need to work together, not against each other. “In the case of Point of the Mountain, it’s the access [by hikers, paragliders, etc.] that’s going to protect it.” There is such a thing as overprotection, however, said Stallman, which can virtually eliminate access to certain wild spaces. “If you overprotect, and reduce access, we’ll have to gain our appreciation of nature by watching the Discovery Channel. “And, because I have access to Bidwell Park, I’ll do anything to protect it and keep it in good condition.” Ω

UNCOMMON SENSE Cut back on Thanksgiving waste With the traditional emphasis on a bountiful harvest, Americans tend to equate Thanksgiving with lots and lots of food. However, about 25 percent of food prepared ends up uneaten, according to U.S. News and World Report, which offers the following tips (and more at money.usnews.com) to lessen holiday waste: • Less is more: The spread needn’t be inspired by a Norman Rockwell painting. Cut out foods that are not as healthful as they could be; for instance, ditch the can-shaped cranberrysauce loaf for a homemade version. • Use smaller plates: People can always go back for seconds, but uneaten food too often goes straight into the trash.

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IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR Local nice-guy (and martial-arts grandmaster)

Farshad Azad—who has been chosen multiple times by CN&R readers as Best Local Do-Gooder in our annual Readers’ Poll (including this year)—is continuing his good, community-minded work again this Thanksgiving season with his annual Thanksgiving Basket Brigade. Azad (pictured) and his students at Azad’s Martial Arts Family Center will be holding the 22nd annual Basket Brigade on Tuesday, Nov. 26, at 5:30 p.m., aimed at helping 200 needy families have a Thanksgiving dinner. They are seeking taxdeductible donations to help provide the necessary food: “With only $40, folks can help provide a complete basket of Thanksgiving dinner for a family of eight,” said a press release from the martial-arts center. Azad is also seeking suggestions for local families that are in need of food assistance this Thanksgiving (qualifications include being a first-time Basket Brigade recipient and having school-age children). Volunteers to help assemble the baskets at the event are also needed. Mail checks (payable to Ident-A-Child, with “Basket Brigade” in the subject line) to Help Farshad Azad and his Basket Azad’s Martial Arts Family Center, 313 WalBrigade provide Thanksgiving nut St., Ste. 150, Chico, CA 95928. Go to dinners for needy local families. www.chicomartialarts.com or call CN&R FILE PHOTO 896-0777 for more info.

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putting the word out that, once again, his organic-produce business is having its annual fundraiser for Heifer International, the nonprofit organization working to end world hunger by providing impoverished families with a sustainable food source in the form of livestock, instead of shortterm food aid. “This will be our sixth year raising awareness and donating 100 percent of our pre-Thanksgiving (Saturday, Nov. 23) farmers’ market sales,” wrote Martin in a press release. So, head on over to the downtown farmers’ market at Second and Wall streets this Saturday (7:30 a.m.-1 p.m.) and pick up some yummy, fresh cauliflower, broccoli, squash, etc., and help provide flocks of chickens, honeybee hives, goats, sheep and so on to needy families around the world.

DIFALCO WEIGHS IN In last week’s column, I devoted a considerable

amount of space to the plight of the huge historic valley oak tree growing in the vacant lot at the corner of Salem and West Eighth streets. Thanks to the recent actions of the city’s Architectural Review & Historic Preservation Board, the grand, towering tree is slated to be axed to make way for a couple of duplexes. However, the Butte Environmental Council has (thankfully) filed an appeal, scheduled to be heard next month. Robyn DiFalco, BEC’s executive director (who penned the appeal), sent me a few words by email recently, expressing her thoughts about the situation of this valley oak, as well as that of other heritage trees still standing in Chico. “The mature street trees of Chico are one of the things I love most about this city—and I’m concerned that they’re vulnerable these days,” DiFalco said. “At present, the city has no urban forester or tree crew on staff, the Tree Committee isn’t meeting for lack of city staff, and consequently, the Urban Forest Management Plan is still just a draft. “This is not just about one small project and a few trees—it’s partly a concern about the future of Chico’s urban forest.”

EMAIL YOUR GREEN HOME, GARDEN AND COMMUNITY TIPS TO CHRISTINE AT CHRISTINEL@NEWSREVIEW.COM

November 21, 2013

CN&R 19

BY DAVID DOWNS

C I L Y O , P E H T E T N A L M P A E L THHow the war on

T O N

he photo looks like something out of a horror film: A long, thin animal lays dissected on a white table. Metal tools pull the animal’s skin back to reveal its jellied, maroon-colored insides—all soupy, slick and lumpy. It’s the remains of a Pacific fisher, an 8-pound member of the weasel family that’s now hovering near extinction, thanks in part to illegal marijuana farming in the vast forests of California.

Fishers eat forest mice, and forest mice nibble the green stalks of still-maturing pot plants. So illicit growers, who toil deep inside California’s forests, spread powerful rodenticides—rat poison—on the ground near their cannabis crops. The mice eat the poisonous anticoagulants, get sick, and then the fishers eat the mice. Soon after, the furry forest weasels are melting from the inside out. Mourad Gabriel, a UC Davis doctoral student who has been researching the health of fishers across the state, showed me the photo, which he took as part of several years of research on the animal. Gabriel’s studies show that about 86 percent of fishers in California have been exposed to rodenticides, and that the percentage has been increasing in recent years. The habitat range for fishers also overlaps nearly perfectly with known illegal marijuana grows on public and private lands in the state. Called “trespass grows,” they’ve been found in medium- to old-growth forests in remote areas that range in elevation from sea level up to 6,000 feet, including the foothills and forests near Chico. Hard-line drug warriors in California and in Washington, D.C., along with environmental groups and the media, have seized upon Gabriel’s work this year. And, largely About this article:

This story originally was featured in the East Bay Express at www.eastbayexpress.com. 20 CN&R November 21, 2013

because of him, the Pacific fisher has become the 2013 mascot for environmental degradation wrought by pot-farming. But some Northern California officials who are on the frontlines of combating trespass grows say they’re only a symptom of a much larger problem: the drug war itself.

Blame pot —or blame the war on pot?

“My jaw dropped when I saw that study,” said Brad Henderson, who plans habitat conservation for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, referring to Gabriel’s research. In one study of 58 dead fishers, 79 percent had been exposed to rodenticides, and four died as a direct result of the anticoagulants. Gabriel also documented the first incidence of a mother fisher transferring the poison to her offspring through her milk. In another study, a male fisher was found dead in a marijuana trespass grow on July 31, with a pesticide-laden hot dog still in his throat. (The fisher didn’t choke on the hot dog. He was poisoned by an insecticide “associated with a marijuana cultivation site,” Gabriel wrote in one of his studies. “It means there’s no place safe for wildlife in California,” Henderson explained. “You can go way into the backcountry, and you got anticoagulant in predators.” New federal laws in the works would

drugs has wrought environmental damage in Butte County and beyond

stiffen fines for trespass grows. State officials are also assembling a 40-agency task force to tackle the problem. And the media—including Mother Jones, The New York Times and The Associated Press—has piled on coverage of the environmental dangers posed by trespass farms, including dead fishers; fish kills in streams sucked dry by pot-growing; illegal logging, grading and chemical use; and the lack of erosion controls. “I think it has reached a fever pitch,” said Gabriel of the news coverage. “I think it’s an escalating fever. We haven’t hit the top of it. We’re just scratching the surface. The more we scratch, the higher that fever is going to climb.” In fact, an increasing number of lawenforcement officials in the state and throughout the nation are now pointing to the environmental destruction caused by trespass

grows as justification for continuing the war on drugs and increasing government spending to stamp out marijuana production. Amplified by a willing national media, the environmental harms caused by pot have become “the new reefer madness,” said wellknown marijuana historian Dominic Corva. Others say the war on drugs itself is to blame for the environmental damage wrought by cannabis grows. Butte County Supervisor Bill Connelly, a conservative who describes himself as “definitely not an environmentalist,” shares this belief. He contends that ramping up the war on pot because of trespass grows will ultimately fail to either eradicate the farms or protect Mother Nature. As a result, he’s calling for the legalization of marijuana nationwide, joining a cadre of unlikely advocates on the right, including current Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey.

Although cannabis remains illegal under federal law, Americans consume an estimated 2,500 to 5,000 metric tons of marijuana each year, according to data from the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.

They argue that if pot becomes legal, then marijuana production will come out of the shadows and into the light, where pot will be grown legitimately on traditional farms like other crops. At that point, there’ll be no need for growers to head deep into the woods to produce weed, poisoning animals in the process. Although cannabis remains illegal under federal law, Americans consume an estimated 2,500 to 5,000 metric tons of marijuana each year, according to data from the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. About 30 million Americans smoke or eat cannabis products annually, and about 6 million people use pot daily. Weed is the second-most popular recreational substance in the nation, behind alcohol. Two-thirds of the pot consumed in the United States comes from Mexico, while about one-fifth of it is grown domestically, according to RAND estimates. California produces more weed than any other state and, according to a 2010 Central Valley California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program report, may account for as much as 79 percent of all domestically grown marijuana. The federal drug war also has had a huge impact on Northern California, said Corva, a Sarah Lawrence College professor who spent several years in Humboldt County doing an ethnographic history of pot-growing, and now also runs a cannabis-cultivation think tank in Seattle. Big swaths of this region were ravaged and abandoned by logging in the 19th and 20th centuries, and then some of those areas were resettled by back-to-the-land hippies in the 1970s, Corva said. Many liberal activists had dropped out of society after the upheavals of the 1960s, and for them, dope was just another plant in the garden. Today, $1 out of every $4 in Humboldt County’s economy can be traced to the weed industry, and the area’s rise to dominance in marijuana production can be traced directly to the drug war. Make no mistake: People grow pot for the money—either to save cash by growing what they personally need or to make money by selling it themselves, exporting it to other states or cultivating it for

ILLUSTRATION BY JASON CROSBY

An aerial view of a marijuana farm off Crystal Ranch Road in Butte County’s foothills near Feather Falls. PHOTO COURTESY OF BUTTE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

medical-pot collectives. Americans spend an estimated $15 billion to $30 billion per year on weed. The value of the nation’s cannabis per square foot is five times greater than that of poppies or coca, according to RAND. Currently, a pound of Mexican marijuana costs $50 in Mexico, $500 when it crosses the border, and up to $1,400 by the time it reaches New York. And a pound of high-grade California indoor-grown marijuana sells for $2,000 here and for $4,000 on the East Coast. Research shows that traffickers make about $1 for every mile they drive east from California. But that figure doesn’t reflect the actual cost of producing marijuana; rather, it reflects the risk involved in doing so. As much as 90 percent of the cost of pot is its risk premium, according to RAND. About 750,000 people are arrested annually for violating marijuana laws, and 40,000 people are in state or federal prison for it. In 2010, the government seized roughly 10 million outdoor plants. Corva said raising the price of drugs was one of the chief goals of the drug war. The thinking was: Price increases would dissuade impoverished users. What actually happened was the potential for intense profits drew the impoverished into the drug trade. Today, pot is one of the top 15 cash crops in the United States, RAND reports. And it’s no longer confined to just Northern California. There are black-market plantations hiding throughout the state’s 20 million acres of national forest, as well as in large tracts of private and tribal lands. Media portrayals of marijuana farming over the decades typically focused on the guns and violence associated with drug cartels. But in 2013, environmental harms became the central focus of the war on pot.

Butte County District 1 Supervisor Bill Connelly is known as a staunch conservative, but he’s calling for the legalization of marijuana to stem the unintended consequences of illicit grows, including the degradation of the environment. PHOTO BY MELANIE MACTAVISH

“We don’t grow tomatoes in Yosemite”

From above, the forests of Northern California appear to have chicken pox. Patches of rusty-colored boils dot the rugged, sun-beaten timberlands of southern Humboldt County. Swooping down into the region from the God’s-eye view provided by Google Earth, the rusty patches expand to reveal clear-cut hilltops. Humboldt State University environmental sociologist Anthony Silvaggio counts 600 of these patches covering the southern section of the county, each one centered over bald mountaintops arrayed with outdoor pot plants and greenhouses. “And that’s not all of them. ... There are hundreds more,” he said. “WAR ON POT” continued on page 22 November 21, 2013

CN&R 21

“WAR ON POT” continued from page 21

Zooming in and out on each site on his computer, Silvaggio noted how the farms are collectively sucking fragile watersheds dry. Then there’s the illegal logging and the rampant use of animal poisons— plus insecticides, herbicides, fungicides—and high-nutrient fertilizers. When the fall and winter rains come, uncontrolled erosion follows. A toxic brew of chemicals and dirt washes downhill into protected areas like the Eel River. The destruction is happening all across California now. Created in November 2012, Silvaggio’s research video got picked up by Mother Jones in February of this year and retitled “Google Earth Reveals Devastation Caused by Marijuana Growers.” A story by The New York Times followed. The Associated Press piled on, and Dan Rather recently toured the region in a helicopter for a report on AXS TV. In Butte County, Connelly, whose District 1 includes Oroville and the eastern foothills, where marijuana growing is rampant, has taken reporters to trespass grows on steep, 45-degree hillsides on private land. The illegal farms are studded with denuded trees and littered with poisons and fertilizers. During one tour, he looked downhill and described the fall rains sweeping it all—the chemicals and the toxic soil—down into the creeks, rivers and lakes. “It definitely has gone up in the last few years,” he said of the number of trespass grows. But are the impacts from potgrowing larger, or are we just paying more attention to them? The answer appears to be both. As far back as 1983, the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting made mention of environmental damage associated with forest grows, said Silvaggio. “The problem is not new. Everyone has known about this problem for many decades.” For example, the back-to-thelanders who seeded Humboldt’s pot industry were tree-hugging environmentalists first, and they have long been furious about the second wave of growers who moved in to wreak the same type of havoc as the loggers once did. Groups such as the Environmental Protection Information Center, Friends of the Eel River, and the Mattole Forest Futures Project have been advocating for clean pot-growing techniques—including water reclamation, erosion control and organic growing methods— since the 1990s. They’ve gotten a number of environmental groups in Northern California fired up about the issue for at least a decade. The clamor for more eco-con-

“There’s a need to keep it illegal. There’s this particular function it provides—that is law-enforcement money.” — Anthony Silvaggio, HSU environmental sociologist scious pot-growing hit a new peak in 2008 with the Hacker Creek diesel spill that fouled a whole watershed. “That broke the code of silence right there, and then people came out,” Silvaggio noted. But experts say what has really amplified the issue this year are two factors: Federal law enforcement has made environmentalism a new platform of the marijuana war, and the coverage by the media—which never tires of stories that combine shadowy, violent drug cartels with weapons, weed and helicopters— can now add cute dead animals to the mix. Humboldt State University sociologist Josh Meisel said he caught a glimpse of the federal government’s new messaging on pot two years ago in a meeting with Tommy LaNier, head of the White House’s National Marijuana Initiative. According to Meisel, LaNier said federal authorities “recognize that public opinion has shifted, and they can’t wage this battle on the historic platform of it being an issue of morality.” According to Meisel, LaNier said, “The public doesn’t buy that anymore. We aren’t going to win this as a battle of morality. We have to wage it in terms of the environmental destruction.” And in a podcast produced by the U.S. Forest Service in August 2009, then U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske said he wanted to build a coalition based on the environmental harms of pot-growing. “What seems to be missing from the regular media-reporting on the whole issue is how much damage is occurring to really pristine land,” Kerlikowske said. LaNier said in the same podcast: “We need to bring in ... the Sierra Club, environmental individuals; we need to bring in as many people, to get them on our side to go to Congress and say, ‘Hey, this is enough. Those are pristine lands that were set aside for the use of the public, not for the production of marijuana.’” The shift in strategy is traveling Attorney Chris Van Hook, founder of thirdparty organic certifier Clean Green Certified, in an organic outdoor grow in Humboldt County. An organic industry is expected to flourish should marijuana be legalized.

up and down the chain of command. For example, in a 2013 report on the results of a Central Valley marijuana sweep dubbed Operation Mercury, Benjamin B. Wagner, the U.S. attorney based in Sacramento, trumpeted the seizure of a half-million marijuana plants and the prosecution of 84 suspects. But, instead of focusing on charges of drug trafficking, violence or weapons, Wagner’s office highlighted the environmental damage that the suspects had allegedly caused. One 26-year-old Mexican citizen who was caught growing 16,205 plants in Sequoia National Forest “caused extensive damage to the land and natural resources,” Wagner’s office stated. “Native vegetation was cut to make room for the marijuana plants, and trash and fertilizer containers were scattered throughout the site, including in flowing streams.” Another Mexican citizen who was convicted of growing 8,876 pot plants cut down native oak trees: “The soil was tilled, and fertilizers and pesticides, including a highly toxic and illegal rat poison from Mexico called fosfuro de zinc, or zinc phosphide, were spread throughout the site,” Wagner’s office noted.

And even on the White House’s Web page on marijuana, the environment gets its own section, in which the administration states, “Outdoor marijuana cultivation is harmful to the environment.” Corva laughed when I read him the White House’s statement. “That’s ridiculous,” he said. “Outdoor is better. “Where does this come from?” he continued. “Sensationalist coverage of the exception rather than the rule, and also the conditions of prohibition, basically.” Meisel added: “There’s nothing about growing dope that has to involve massive amounts of energy, dangerous chemicals, water diversion, disrespect to your neighbors and killing animal species—just like we don’t have to do that growing tomatoes. And we don’t grow tomatoes in Yosemite. “These are unintended consequences of the policy, not the plant.”

Prohibition’s failure

Meisel said that the greenwashing of the war on pot “has become a tool to break the back of the legalization movement,” referring to the decision by drug-war enforcers to shift their rhetoric from the supposed dangers of smoking weed to the environmental damage caused by trespass grows in order to gain support among environmentalists for the war on pot. “It’s a strategy to undermine local growing across the board, as opposed to going after people who are violating environmental laws.” Norms have shifted around mari-

SALLY DIMAS ART GALLERY

Tommy LaNier, head of the White House’s National Marijuana Initiative, speaks before the Fresno County Board of Supervisors about the illegalities of medical-marijuana dispensaries back in 2010.

FREE! DRINK

FOUNTAIN

PHOTO COURTESY OF CALPOTNEWS

juana consumption, Silvaggio said. “Presidents have smoked weed. But there’s a need to keep it illegal. There’s this particular function it provides—that is law-enforcement money. “So they’ve switched tracks,” Silvaggio continued. “And this track has proved very useful.” But the way to halt environmental harms caused by growing pot isn’t through a new campaign against weed: It’s through legalization, taxation and regulation of cannabis, said Downey, the Humboldt County sheriff, during a public meeting with North Bay Congressman Jared Huffman on Aug. 29. “I’ve never been a big fan of legalization,” Downey told the crowd. “But right now, I think that’s the most logical way to end this drug war.” After all, it was the drug war that

COLOR, MAGIC Armed marijuana cultivators of an illegal trespass grow surround a poached deer. The government blames marijuana for the harm to wildlife, but activists finger anti-pot policy as the reason growers head to the forests. PHOTO COURTESY OF MOURAD GABRIEL/ PHOTO PROVIDED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

sent growers into the forest in the first place. And farming in the woods offers no particular advantage for growers—other than allowing them to avoid detection by law enforcement. “Are they up there for the dry weather, great soil and ample water?” asked celebrity growing instructor Ed Rosenthal. “No, they’re up there because it’s hard to get caught.” Legalizing marijuana and growing it on traditional farms, alongside other crops, also will eliminate the risks currently associated with pot production and distribution—and likely will reduce costs dramatically. According to RAND estimates, fully legalized, commercially farmed high-grade pot would cost just $20 per pound to produce. And low-grade weed would cost only $5 per pound. With profit margins so low, there simply would be no incentive to spend four filthy months growing weed in bear-infested backwoods, Silvaggio and other advocates of legalization point out. Plus, farming marijuana out in the open would be much better for the environment—there would be no need, for example, to siphon water illegally from creeks and streams. And

pesticide and insecticide use could be regulated—like it is for any other crop. “If it was grown like corn or hemp, it would be regulated, including the discharge of chemicals and the amount of water used and the way you grade,” said Connelly. In addition, organic pot-growing likely would sprout as a major industry. And because cannabis is a highly productive plant, it wouldn’t take up that much farmland. According to a RAND study, just 10,000 acres of intensively farmed land could grow all the dope Americans consume each year. California’s estimated share would total only 1,600 acres. By comparison, the state currently dedicates about 150,000 acres to pistachio growing each year. The relaxation of pot prohibition has already caused price drops in California, Colorado and Washington, but this half-solution has caused existing farmers to plant more to make up for lost profits. It’s going to take a true market crash from national legalization and regulation to halt wildland growing forever. “I think we’d see a decrease slowly in environmental harms, and then it would be minimal,” Silvaggio said. “Long term, we’d see a recovery in the ecosystem.” “Prohibition has failed and it needs to end,” he continued. “If we didn’t have prohibition, we would see this problem go away.” Ω

Reception Friday, Nov 22nd 4pm – 8pm A group show of local artists featuring painters, woodworkers, blown glass & jewelry.

Gallery Hours Tues–Sat 11am–4pm or by appointment

493 East Ave, Suite 1 (530)345-3063

With purchase of any Marinated Tri-Tip entree. Expires 11/27/13. Must present coupon.

NOW OPEN! COME VISIT OUR NEWEST LOCATION 995 Nord Ave • Chico 592.3605 • bulldogtaqueria.com (across from Safeway on Nord)

“I’ve never been a big fan of legalization ... but right now, I think that’s the most logical way to end this drug war.” —Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS VAN HOOK

22 CN&R November 21, 2013

November 21, 2013

CN&R 23

“WAR ON POT” continued from page 21

Prohibition’s failure

SALLY DIMAS ART GALLERY

Tommy LaNier, head of the White House’s National Marijuana Initiative, speaks before the Fresno County Board of Supervisors about the illegalities of medical-marijuana dispensaries back in 2010.

FREE! DRINK

FOUNTAIN

PHOTO COURTESY OF CALPOTNEWS

Reception Friday, Nov 22nd 4pm – 8pm A group show of local artists featuring painters, woodworkers, blown glass & jewelry.

Gallery Hours Tues–Sat 11am–4pm or by appointment

493 East Ave, Suite 1 (530)345-3063

With purchase of any Marinated Tri-Tip entree. Expires 11/27/13. Must present coupon.

NOW OPEN! COME VISIT OUR NEWEST LOCATION 995 Nord Ave • Chico 592.3605 • bulldogtaqueria.com (across from Safeway on Nord)

“I’ve never been a big fan of legalization ... but right now, I think that’s the most logical way to end this drug war.” —Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS VAN HOOK

22 CN&R November 21, 2013

November 21, 2013

CN&R 23

Arts & Culture North State Symphony Young Artist Award-winner Chris Navarrete shines on Johann Baptist Georg Neruda’s Concerto in E-flat for Trumpet and Strings.

Young musicians take charge

PHOTO BY MELANIE MACTAVISH

THIS WEEK

Symphony features two new artists, two major works

ESymphony’s four seasonal concerts spotlights the winners of its annual Young Artist Award compevery year one of the North State

tition. This is a much-coveted opportunity for a couple of young musicians to perform with a full orchestra in front of by large audiences. It’s impossible not Robert Speer to root for them. Saturday evening (Nov. 16) at Chico’s Laxson Auditorium, cellist Kira Weiss, winner of last year’s high-school contest, and trumpeter Chris Navarrete, winner of the college competition, got their REVIEW: moments to shine. Weiss, now a freshman at the North State Symphony, New University of Puget Sound, has American Portraits , played with the symphony for two Saturday, years and studied for eight years Nov. 16, at with its principal cellist, Carol Laxson Auditorium. Jacobson. She chose to perform the first movement from ÉdouardVictoire-Antoine Lalo’s Cello Concerto in D minor (1876), a demanding and, at times, devilishly difficult piece with many rapid arpeggios and quick sixteenth notes. She handled them with aplomb and attacked her instrument with gusto, refusing to allow it to be overwhelmed by the orchestra. It was a fine performance by the 18-yearold. Navarrete followed, playing the Concerto in E-flat for Trumpet and Strings, by the 18th-century Bohemian composer Johann Baptist Georg Neruda. This was another challenging work, in part because it featured several difficult extended solos during which Navarrete’s playing had to stand on its own. Like Weiss, he rose to the occasion, and the audience rewarded him with enthusiastic applause. Navarrete, who is from Redding, is a graduate student at Chico State, having received a bachelor’s degree in music performance and education, and jazz studies in May. He’s student teaching in the Teaching Credential Program but also plans to pursue master’s and doctorate degrees in music. The theme for the concert was New

American Portraits. It didn’t apply to Weiss’ and Navarrete’s performances, but it was certainly appro24 CN&R November 21, 2013

priate for the two major works on tap—Mexican composer Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 2 and Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3. The program opened with the Márquez piece, which has become one of the two most popular danzones in the danzón repertory (the other is Copland’s own Danzón Cubano), ever since the conductor Gustavo Dudamel included it on the program of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra during its 2007 tour of Europe and the United States. Márquez, who was born in Mexico in 1950 but spent his younger years in Southern California (he now lives in Mexico City), has said of the piece, “This music is a tribute to all that gives birth to the danzón [a dance of Cuban origin which has enjoyed great popularity in Mexico. I] approach the dance rhythms in the closest possible way … to express my respect and emotivity toward genuine popular music.” It’s a sprightly piece, full of rollicking dance rhythms and colorful melodies. Echoes of the habanera and contra-dance can be heard, and even, as some have suggested, hints of the Argentinian tango, which is derived from the habanera rhythm. It was obvious that the musicians were enjoying playing it, and the audience ate it up. The evening concluded with Copland’s huge symphony, his last, which premiered in 1946 and has since become the best known American symphony of the 20th century. Composed as World War II was ending, it combines elements of the classical European symphony with his distinctively “Americana” style found in such ballets as Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo. It does this primarily by incorporating Copland’s earlier “Fanfare for the Common Man,” composed in 1942, into the fourthmovement finale, while also including fragments of the “Fanfare” in the other three movements. Copland once said that the work was “intended to reflect the euphoric spirit of the time,” and it certainly does that. To their credit, conductor Kyle Wiley Pickett, who was suffering from laryngitis and couldn’t talk but otherwise was in fine form, and the North State Symphony did it full justice, moving through the complex piece with confidence and skill. Once again, they demonstrated that they have become one of the finest regional orchestras in the country. Ω

THURS

Special Events BALLET FOLKLORICO: The 45-member troupe that makes up Ballet Folklorico Quetzalli de Veracruz will bring the colorful dresses, choreography and authentic music of old Mexico to the Laxson stage. Th, 11/21, 7:30pm. $16-$32. Laxson Auditorium, Chico State, (530) 8986333, www.chicoperformances.com.

Music DELHI 2 DUBLIN: The Canadian five-piece creates a dance-heavy fusion of Celtic and the Punjabi pop-music style, bhangra. Th, 11/21, 7:30pm. SOLD OUT. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., 1075 E. 20th St., (530) 893-3520, www.sierra nevada.com.

TRIBAL SEEDS & PACIFIC DUB: San Diego-based

RADIOLAND’S HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA: Listen to the hits, forgotten classics and yuletide favorites, and follow the adventures of Scarlet Ranger and Zap Flanagan. (No show on Thanksgiving.) Th-Sa, 7:30pm; Su, 2pm through 12/8. $16. Theatre on the Ridge Playhouse, 3735 Neal Rd., in Paradise, (530) 877-5760, www.totr.org.

SPRING AWAKENING: The 2007 Tony Award-winning musical was adapted from Frank Wedekind’s 1891 German play and chronicles the struggles of teens coming of age in a repressive society. Th, 7:30pm. $6-$15. Wismer Theatre, Chico State, (530) 898-6333, www.schoolofthearts-csuchico.com.

Art Receptions THE PORTAL SERIES: OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: A reception for the brightly painted works on

doors by artist Caitlin Schwerin. Th, 11/21, 4:30-6:30pm. Butte College Art Gallery (inside Arts building), 3536 Butte Campus Dr., in Oroville, (530) 895-2208.

roots/rock/reggae crew Tribal Seeds with

Huntington Beach’s Pacific Dub. Th, 11/21, 8:30pm. $15. El Rey Theatre, 230 W. Second St., (530) 892-1838.

Theater PAGEANT DADS EXPERIENCE 3-D: A dark, comedic music/theater performance by the Pageant Dads, featuring an original live-music soundtrack, choreographed dance numbers, and projected-video “3-D experience” following the misadventures of Hawk Mahalo and his gang of award-winning fathers. 11/21-11/23, 8pm; Su, 11/24, 2pm. $12-$15. Blue Room Theatre, 139 W. First St., (530) 895-3749, www.pageantdads3d.brownpapertickets.com.

THE PRODUCERS: The Butte College Drama Department presents Mel Brooks’ musical adaptation of his own 1968 film of the same name. Directed by Barry Piccinino. Th-Sa, 7:30pm; Su, 2pm. $10-$18. Butte College Black Box Theatre, 3536 Butte Campus Dr.

BALLET FOLKLORICO QUETZALLI DE VERACRUZ Thursday, Nov. 21 Laxson Auditorium

SEE THURSDAY, SPECIAL EVENTS

Poetry/Literature JUDI LOREN GRACE SIGNING: The author talks

about her new book, Dreamscape in A Minor. Th, 11/21, 7pm. Lyon Books, 135 Main St., (530) 891-3338, www.lyonbooks.com.

POETRY READING: An ongoing series of local poetry readings. This week: Alec Binyon, Troy Jollimore, Sarah Pape, Ali Sarsour and Karl Travis. Th, 11/21, 6:30pm. The Bookstore, 118 Main St.

FINE ARTS Art 100TH MONKEY BOOKS & CAFÉ: A Few of my

VIVA ROLLER DERBY Saturday, Nov. 23 Silver Dollar Fairgrounds

SEE SATURDAY, SPECIAL EVENTS

Theater PAGEANT DADS EXPERIENCE 3-D: See Thursday. Blue Room Theatre, 139 W. First St., (530) 8953749, www.pageantdads3d.brownpaper tickets.com.

THE PRODUCERS: See Thursday. Butte College Black Box Theatre, 3536 Butte Campus Dr.

RADIOLAND’S HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA: See Thursday. Theatre on the Ridge Playhouse, 3735 Neal Rd., in Paradise, (530) 877-5760, www.totr.org.

SUN

FRI

SAT

Special Events

ORIGIN BELLY DANCE: The local troupe and their

THE ’80S RIDE: Cinch up that side-ponytail and

guests perform for Origin’s “Fall Hafla.” F, 11/22, 8pm. $5. Café Coda, 265 Humboldt Ave., (530) 566-9476, www.cafecoda.com.

Music NORMA JEAN: The Georgia metalcore superstars tear it up downtown with huge bill of noisemakers, including Vanna, KENmode, Exotic Animal Petting Zoo, and locals Every Hand Betrayed, Sorin and A Holy Ghost Revival. F, 11/22, 6pm. $15. LaSalles, 229 Broadway, (530) 893-1891.

hit the road for a 14-mile ’80s-themed ride with Chico Bike Party. Sa, 11/23, 7pm. Free. Chico City Plaza, Downtown Chico, www.chico bikeparty.weebly.com.

FESTIVAL OF TREES: A gift fair featuring handmade goods, decorating ideas, tree and wreath displays and a visit from Santa Claus. Sa, 11/23, 10am-5pm. Paradise Veterans Hall, 6550 Skyway, in Paradise, (530) 877-8220.

VIVA ROLLER DERBY: The ladies will be playing Flood Water Roller Derby from Rocklin. Halftime show by Hollywood’s Kittenhead. Sa, 11/23, 7-9pm. $10. Silver Dollar Fairgrounds, 2357 Fair St., (530) 895-4666.

Special Events CHRISTMAS PREVIEW: Downtown Chico merchants kick off the holiday season with decorations, treats, and entertainment from the Bidwell Generals, Children’s Choir of Chico, Sounds of the Valley and The Yule Logs. Plus, a visit from Santa Claus. Su, 11/24, 4-8pm. Free. Downtown Chico.

Theater PAGEANT DADS EXPERIENCE 3-D: See Thursday. Blue Room Theatre, 139 W. First St., (530) 8953749,www.pageantdads3d.brownpaper tickets.com.

THE PRODUCERS: See Thursday. Butte College Black Box Theatre, 3536 Butte Campus Dr.

RADIOLAND’S HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA: See Thursday. Theatre on the Ridge Playhouse, 3735 Neal Rd., in Paradise, (530) 877-5760, www.totr.org.

Blue Room Theatre, 139 W. First St., (530) 8953749, www.pageantdads3d.brownpaper tickets.com.

THE PRODUCERS: See Thursday. Butte College Black Box Theatre, 3536 Butte Campus Dr.

RADIOLAND’S HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA: See Thursday. Theatre on the Ridge Playhouse, 3735 Neal Rd., in Paradise, (530) 877-5760, www.totr.org.

Music KIDS AND CREEKS FALL BENEFIT: Bay-

Post your event for free online at www.newsreview.com/calendar. Once posted, your CN&R calendar listing will also be considered for print. Print listings are also free, but subject to space limitations. Deadline for print listings is one week prior to the issue in which you wish the listing to appear.

State painting and sculpture professors James Kuiper and Sheri Simons, exploring maps and mark-making. Through 11/23. 820 Broadway, (530) 343-1973, www.1078gallery.org.

ARTISANS GALLERIA: Artisan Displays, showcasing sculptures, paintings, ceramics, jewelry, stone art and more by Larry Lefner and other local artists. 25 Lost Dutchman Dr.

AVENUE 9 GALLERY: Words and Birds, Chico birds by watercolorist Candy Matthews, writer Naty Osa and illustrator Javier Dura. Through 11/30. 180 E. Ninth Ave., (530) 8791821, www.avenue9gallery.com.

BUTTE COLLEGE ART GALLERY: The Portal

Series: Opportunity Knocks, brightly painted works on doors by Caitlin Schwerin. 3536 Butte Campus Dr. in Oroville, (530) 8952208.

CHICO ART CENTER: Small World, Small Works, fifth annual group exhibition featuring more than 45 artists showing 12-by-12-inch works. Through 11/22. Also: Let’s Talk Art: guest lecturer Ramekon O’Arwisters presents “The Eye of the Gatekeeper: How Curators Think About Art.” F, 11/22, 5:307pm. $5 -$15. 450 Orange St., (530) 895-8726, www.chicoartcenter.com.

CHICO PAPER CO.: Mariam Pakbaz, drawings and paintings by recent Chico State grad. Through 12/31. 345 Broadway, (530) 8910900, www.chicopapercompany.com.

JAMES SNIDLE FINE ARTS: A Walk With the

Animals, watercolors of animals and their environment by the late Lois Cohen. Through 12/31. 254 E Fourth St., (530) 343-2930.

MANAS ART SPACE & GALLERY: Impermanence: Big Plans for Little Frankie, architectural plans and miniature hundred dollar bills were the inspiration (and used in some of the pieces) for this open-entry exhibition. Through 11/30. 1441-C Park Ave., (530) 5885183.

for more Music, see NIGHTLIFE on page 34

colorful works “from the soul.” Through

11/30. 627 Broadway St. 120.

THE JANET TURNER PRINT MUSEUM: Girl

Speak: Shojo Manga & Women’s Prints, prints by women or depicting women, including pieces from traveling Shojo Manga exhibit. Curated by Masami Toku. Through 12/14. Chico State, (530) 898-4476, www.theturner.org.

TIN ROOF BAKERY & CAFÉ: A Hazy Shade of Winter, fall photography by Karen Kolb.

Through 11/30. 627 Broadway St. 170, (530) 345-1362.

UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY: Pushing Bounderies: Expanding Horizons, paintings by Erika Navarrete, exploring issues surrounding our most intimate relationships, inner dialogues and self-evaluation. Through 12/13. Trinity Hall Chico State, (530) 898-5864.

UPPER CRUST BAKERY & EATERY: Bucking

Complacency: A Show About Women, a mixed-media show by Lori Stevens and Leslie Mahon-Russo focusing on the sexual and political abuse of women in contemporary culture. Through 11/30. 130 Main St., (530) 895-3866.

Call for Artists CALL FOR ARTISTS: Established and emerging artists of all media welcome to apply for a guest-artist exhibit this summer. Call for more info. Through 12/2. Avenue 9 Gallery, 180 E. Ninth Ave., (530) 879-1821, www.avenue9gallery.com.

Museums CHICO CREEK NATURE CENTER: Banding by Day and Night, a close look at birds in hand with incredible detail. Ongoing. 1968 E. Eighth St., (530) 891-4671, www.bidwellpark.org.

CHICO MUSEUM: Chico in Black and White, an exhibit featuring historical photos from the John Nopel collection. Ongoing. 141 Salem St., (530) 891-4336.

GATEWAY SCIENCE MUSEUM: Keys to the

Kingdom: Fungi, interactive displays on the varieties and importance of mushrooms and fungi. Through 1/5, 2014. $6. 625 Esplanade, www.csuchico.edu/gateway.

turing painters, woodworkers, blown glass and jewelry. Through 11/30. 493 East Ave., (530) 345-3063.

Area Americana/bluegrass crew The Brothers Comatose headline this fundraiser for the local nonprofit that provides outdoor field trips for local elementary schools. Locals The Mondegreens open. Sa, 11/23, 6:30pm. $18. Chico Women’s Club, 592 E. Third St., (530) 894-1978.

MUSICA LATINA: Acoustic Latino-dancemusic supergroup Los Caballitos de la Canción is joined by the Thick and Thin quartet doing a special set of Mexican and South-American songs. Sa, 11/23, 7:30pm. $10. 1078 Gallery, 820 Broadway, (530) 343-1973, www.1078gallery.org.

FREE LISTINGS!

1078 GALLERY: Placing, new images by Chico

SALLY DIMAS ART GALLERY: Color, Magic, fea-

Theater PAGEANT DADS EXPERIENCE 3-D: See Thursday.

Favorite Things, bold, colorful mixed-media works by local artist, Sally Hedley. 11/2112/31. 642 W. Fifth St.

SATORI COLOR & HAIR DESIGN: Art By Carob,

POETRY READING Thursday, Nov. 21 The Bookstore

SEE THURSDAY, POETRY/LITERATURE

Santa sneak-peek While there are valid arguments that rampant consumerism and corporate marketing ploys have led to a ridiculously lengthy Christmas season, there’s one early event (and local tradition) that we can totally get behind: The Christmas Preview, which this year (the event’s 36th) falls on Sunday, Nov. 24. Downtown merchants deck their halls, refreshEDITOR’S PICK ments are served, and there will be a horse-drawn carriage and wheeled-train rides. Plus, Santa Claus will set up shop at Third and Broadway. Best of all, it’s a chance to catch seasonal supergroup The Yule Logs. Other musical acts include the Bidwell Generals, Children’s Choir of Chico and Sounds of the Valley.

November 21, 2013

CN&R 25

BULLETIN BOARD

Community AFRICAN DANCE CLASS: A workout set to the

CHICO 357 EAST PARK AVE. 530-342-3589 OROVILLE 2013 LINCOLN BLVD. 530-534-6556 “IF YOU WELD IT, PAINT IT, FIX IT OR AIR IT UP, WE’VE GOT WHAT YOU NEED”

THINK FREE.

sounds and rhythms of West Africa. Call for info. M, 6pm. $10. Chico Grange Hall, 2775 Old Nord Ave., (530) 321-5607.

AFRO-CARIBBEAN DANCE: Dances of Cuba, Haiti,

Brazil and West Africa with live drumming. Tu, 5:30pm. Chico Women’s Club, 592 E. Third St., (530) 345-6324.

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Regularly scheduled

meeting. Every other Tu, 9am. Board of Supervisors Chambers, 25 County Center Dr., in Oroville, (530) 538-7631, www.buttecounty.net.

CHICO FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY BOOK SALE: Chico Friends of the Library weekly book sale. Sa, 9:15-11:30am. Butte County Library, Chico Branch, 1108 Sherman Ave., (530) 891-2762, www.buttecounty.net/bclibrary.

CODE BLUE WORKSHOP: Featured film: The

Biggest Book Club in the North State: Reading Water. Th, 11/21, 6-7pm. Free. Blue Oak Charter School, 450 W. East Ave., (530) 8916424.

DANCE SANCTUARY WAVE: Bring a water bottle, drop your mind, find your feet and free your spirit. Call for more info. Tu, 6:30-8:30pm. $10. Call for details, (530) 891-6524.

DANCING FREEDOM: A weekly open dance with

the elements. F, 6-8pm. $6-$12 sliding scale. Subud Hall, 574 E. 12th St., (530) 532-1989.

DEATH CAFÉ: A place to come and chat about death over a cup of tea, in a respectful and confidential space. Th, 7pm. 100th Monkey Books & Café, 642 W. Fifth St.

EVENING DANCE JAM: A weekly meditative dance

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FANCY FEET DANCE: Beginning to experienced dancers welcome to work on the foxtrot, waltz, swing and more to a live band. Tu, 7:30pm. $5-$7. Chico Area Recreation District (CARD), 545 Vallombrosa Ave., (530) 895-4015, www.chicorec.com.

FARMERS’ MARKET: CHAPMAN: A year-round

Offer good thru March 31, 2014

Roadie White or Tan

session. F, 7:15pm. Opens 11/22. $10. Yoga Center of Chico, 250 Vallombrosa Ave., Ste. 150, (530) 342-0100.

229.99

Diversion 180 AC/DC TIG Welder

1,958.00

Tundra 105 White or Tan

449.99

Spectrum 625 X-TREME Plasma Cutter

1,754.00

Tundra 125 White only

499.99

PRICES GOOD AT OUR CHICO & OROVILLE LOCATIONS THROUGH 12/31/13 26 CN&R November 21, 2013

Certified Farmers’ Market serving as a community forum for healthful-lifestyle promotion and education. F, 2-5:30pm. Chapman Mulberry Community Center, 1010 Cleveland Ave., (530) 624-8844, www.cchaos.org.

FARMERS’ MARKET: SATURDAY: Chico’s weekly community gathering, with fresh produce, crafts, baked goods and more. Sa, 7:30am1pm. Municipal Parking Lot No. 1, Second & Wall streets.

CODE BLUE WORKSHOP Thursday, Nov. 21 Blue Oak Charter School SEE COMMUNITY

HAPPY HEALING: Experience a variety of healing modalities. F, 7pm. 100th Monkey Books & Café, 642 W. Fifth St.

INFINITE RHYTHMS ECSTATIC DANCE: A shoefree, food-free, drug-free, smoke-free dance

for you and yours with DJ Clay. Th, 7:309:30pm through 5/8. $8-$10. Manas Artspace & Gallery, 1441-C Park Ave., (530) 588-5183.

SAMARITAN FREE CLINIC: This clinic offers free basic medical care and mental-health counseling. Call for more information. Su, 2-4pm. Free. Paradise Lutheran Church, 780 Luther Dr., in Paradise, (530) 872-7085.

SOUL SHAKE DANCE CHURCH: Drop your mind, find your feet and free your spirit at this DJ dance wave to a range of musical styles. No previous dance experience necessary. Su, 10am-noon. $8-$15 sliding scale. Dorothy Johnson Center, 775 E. 16th St., (530) 891-6524, www.chicorec.com.

SOUNDS OF THE VALLEY CHORUS: Women singers welcome to sing in four-part harmony barbershop style. Call for more info. W, 7pm. Marigold Elementary School, 2446 Marigold Ave., (530) 343-5183.

SQUARE-DANCE CLUB: Square-dancing classes for beginners and advanced-level dancers. Call for more info. Th, 7-10pm. Veterans Memorial Hall, 6550 Skyway, in Paradise, (530) 872-1962.

TRADITIONAL WEST-AFRICAN DANCE: All levels of

drummers and dancers welcome. W, 5:307pm. $10. Chico Women’s Club, 592 E. Third St.,

(808) 757-0076.

Volunteer BIDWELL PARK VOLUNTEERS: Help the park by volunteering for trash pick-up, invasive plant removal, trail maintenance, site restoration, water-quality testing and more. Check Friends of Bidwell Park website for dates and locations. Ongoing. Bidwell Park, www.friends ofbidwellpark.org.

PATRICK RANCH VOLUNTEERS: There are multiple volunteer opportunities available at the museum. Call or email for more info. Ongoing. Patrick Ranch Museum, 10381 Midway, (530) 514-3903.

SOLAR-INSTALL VOLUNTEERS: Volunteers are needed to help install solar systems for lowincome homeowners. Job-training is provided. GRID Alternatives (North Valley), 3860 Morrow Ln., Ste. A, (530) 217-6153.

FREE HEALTH CLINIC: Free services for minor medical ailments. Call for more info. Su, 14pm. Free. Shalom Free Clinic, 1190 E. First

Ave., (530) 518-8300, www.shalom freeclinic.org.

MORE ONLINE Additional listings for local meetings, support groups, classes, yoga, meditation and more can be found online at www.newsreview.com/chico/local/calendar.

Shop Local

Gift Guide

Triple-Milled French Soap

Enjoy a True Chico Tradition Shubert’s Homemade Ice Cream & Candy has been a Chico tradition for over 75 years! Homemade boxed chocolates, peanut brittle, English toffee and Divinity are just a few treats our families have come to look forward to during the holidays. Pre-order ice-cream pies now! The perfect holiday dessert! Don’t forget your Shubert’s Mints this season – no holiday celebration would be complete without them!

shuBert’s ice creaM & candy

178 E. Seventh St Chico (530) 342–7163 www.shuberts.com

Start your holiday gift baskets with triple milled French soaps imported from Provence. These soaps were made using the same formulas, ingredients & methods that have been used and passed down for decades with rich shea butter, sweet almond oil and olive oil bases. Choose from many different fragrances, like Apple Pear, Mimosa Olive, Verbena, Linden, and more. Eighth & Main Antiques has 30,000 sq. ft. of gifts. Over 65 vendors carry nostalgic treasures, collectables, memorabilia, and retro looks from bygone years. Stop in today!

eighth & Main antiques

745 Main St. • Chico • (530) 893–5534

Ezip Tri-Ride Throttle or pedal power. Up to 30 miles per charge. Low, step–through frame. Stability, comfort, and a large basket for running errands and carrying groceries. $1,399. Electric bikes are changing the way people move. The new hybrid electric bikes are stylish, affordable, functional, eco-friendly, and most of all, fun. No licensing fee or DMV registration fees. Come in today for a test ride.

red Mountain green cycLe 455 20th St. (20th & Mulberry) Chico (530) 899–7270 redmountaingreencycle.com

Give the gift of fun! Donkey Otey, a miniature donkey, or Cisco, a miniature horse, will attend your birthday party, wedding or other celebration. Cart rides for you and your friends add to the fun. Use us in your holiday photos! This non-profit organization is supported by donations for its educational programs and projects. Children become motivated when a minidonkey is part of their lesson. Gift Certificates available.

LittLe neighs, LittLe Brays

(530)828-0171 • (530)345–7825 www.littleneighslittlebrays.com friesjnt@aol.com

Boutique shopping in Chico Mall has never been like this! Come to Katie’s Corner II for fine ladies clothing, fashion accessories and gifts. Also, browse our decorative accents for the home and our one-of-a-kind vintage and antique pieces for entertaining and hosting afternoon tea. Katie’s clothing selections are unique and appeal to fashion conscious women with discriminating tastes. Interwoven among the clothing are beautiful displays of unusual home accents, and vintage and antique pieces collected from around the world!

katie’s corner ii

Inside Chico Mall, next to Sears Chico • (530) 892–2228

CN&R’s Gift Guide — A speCiAl AdveRtisiNG seCtioN November 21, 2013

CN&R 27

Shop Local

Gift Guide

Help Your Loved Ones Perform Their Best

California Sunshine in a Bottle Share the rich, golden elegance of the AWARD WINNING Butte View olive oils. Pure, light and delicate – experience the wonderful aromas and distinctive accents that make each hand-crafted oil truly unique and excellent. 250ml/500ml. Available in Chico at Maisie Jane’s, Made in Chico, S&S Produce; in Oroville at Collins & Denny Market & Wagon Wheel Market; and in Paradise at Noble Orchard.

The business name alone is a testament to Built for Bodywork’s philosophy about massage. Simply put, the human body was designed to be massaged regularly, not just when there is pain or for pampering. Whether sports massage, deep tissue massage, or relaxing Swedish massage, the therapists at Built for Bodywork are specifically trained to perform this essential work. Consider giving your loved ones a gift card this holiday season to help sports m them perform their best! ass

BUILT FO BODYW R ORK

built for bodywork

age / d eep tissu e

1166 Esplanade #2 • Chico • (530) 924–0298 facebook.com/chicobodywork

butte View oliVe Company

2950 Louis Ave. • Oroville, CA (530) 534–8320 • www.butteview.com

Flavorful Holiday Gifts

Available at Kusel’s Big Store! Our Kitchen Papers are perfect for your dining table this holiday season! These festive placemats come in a variety of designs sure to WOW your guests this Thanksgiving. Come in to check out our selection of placemats and other paper products! You’ll be glad you did!

kusel’s biG store

1955 Montgomery St Historic Downtown Oroville Monday - Friday 10-6, Saturday 10-5, Sunday 11-4 Facebook.com/kuselsbigstore Instagram: @KuselsBigStore Kuselsbigstore.com

Want to share 5th Street Steakhouse with a friend or family member? Gift cards make it simple. Great for the holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and company parties. 5th Street Steakhouse food tastes great on any occasion!

5th street steakhouse 345 W. Fifth St. (530) 891–6328 www.5thstreetsteakhouse.com

Tasty Gift Ideas Voted Chico’s Best Asian Cuisine, Best Take-Out and Oroville’s Best Restaurant, Tong Fong Low offers a delicious dining experience. Stuff your loved ones’ holiday stockings with gift certificates for this popular, locally owned and operated restaurant. Purchase $100 and receive an extra $10 FREE. Offer valid during the holidays only. Tong Fong Low wishes everyone good health and happy dining! Catering available.

tonG fonG low

2075 East 20th St, Suite 100 • Chico (530) 898-1388 2051 Robinson Ave • Oroville (530) 533-1488

CN&R’s Gift Guide — A speCiAl AdveRtisiNG seCtioN 28 CN&R November 21, 2013

St5ethaksthroeuest E Gift Card

Ninja Skills Not Required to Locate the Perfect Gift

Bacio Gift Cards! Give the gift of a lunch or dinner from Chico’s Best Take- Out! Perfect for hot soup on a cold day, “Date Night” at home or a special birthday lunch. Their reloadable gift cards are a welcome gift for all of your smart foodie friends, new parents, busy families and anyone you know who loves real food. EAT RIGHT NOW!

BACIO CATeRINg & CARRy-OUT

1903 Park Ave • Chico (530) 345–7787 www.baciocatering.com

Your Gift. Their Choice. Give the gift of choice. Don’t stress over finding the perfect gift for a friend or family member. Let them choose with a gift certificate from Magnolia Gift & Garden. We offer great pottery and garden accessories and décor. We also have heirloom vegetable starts and seeds along with seasonal color and a fantastic selection of plants and specialty perennials. This is the perfect gift for the gardener in your life.

This Christmas kick up your holiday celebration with Ninjabread Men cookie cutters. Cut, bake, decorate…and watch these stealthy warriors disappear. Home Ec also carries many other fun and unusual holiday gifts and decorations. Visit them in downtown Chico to explore their selection of smartly designed homewares, modern home decor, and other random awesomeness. Gift certificates and complimentary gift wrapping available.

HOme eC

231 Main St Chico, CA (530) 343-5686 www.shophomeec.com

Chico’s Own Locally Grown Wines. The Perfect Holiday Gift. Bertagna Son Kissed Vineyards grows only the highest-quality, organic grapes. Meticulous farming in the field and high attention to detail in the winery produce a higher quality product. Find our wines at Chico Natural Foods, S&S Produce, Chico Costco, Raley’s Safeway, BevMo, Maisie Jane’s, J&J Cellars, The Olive Pitt, Wagon Wheel Market, Tops Market and SaveMart, to list a few. Please see our website for a complete listing. Our tasting room is open seasonally the first weekend of the month from April – October.

BeRTAgNA SON kISSed vINeyARdS 3363 Hegan Lane • Chico • (530) 343–8014 www.BertagnaWine.com

mAgNOlIA gIfT ANd gARdeN

1367 East Ave. • Chico (530) 894–5410 MagnoliaGardening.com

A Feast for the Eyes Set a beautiful Thanksgiving table with fresh flowers from Christian & Johnson! Warm, vibrant fall colors will provide a feast for the eyes and add the perfect finishing touch to your gathering of friends and family. Since 1907, C&J has been making the holidays beautiful! Check us out on Facebook.

CHRISTIAN & JOHNSON

250 Vallombrosa • Chico (530) 891–1881 www.christianandjohnson.com

CN&R’s Gift Guide — A speCiAl AdveRtisiNG seCtioN November 21, 2013

CN&R 29

Shop Local

Gift Guide

‘Ohana Lace-Up Nubuck Shoes for Men

Personalized Porcelain Christmas Ornaments Bring your special photo to print on a personalized Christmas ornament, available in 2 different shapes. All work done in-house. This gift is only $14.95 each, and includes a velvet presentation bag. Order now for Christmas. Andy’s Embroidery offers a huge selection of personalized gifts, from coffee mugs to woven sofa throws. They are family–owned, celebrating 25 years in business. Stop by to see their variety of personalized gift items.

andy’S eMBroidery

820 Wall St. • Chico (530) 893–3316 • www.andysembroidery.com

Give the perfect gift from 2013 Best Of Chico’s Day Spa Sweetwater Gift Cards - Beautifully Boxed and Wrapped. Or Sweetwater’s Customer Favorite: The Holiday Spa Package for only $129! Includes Signature spa facial - Relaxation massage - Spa pedicure. Purchase now through December 31.

Sweetwater day Spa

1031 Village Lane Chico (530) 894–7722 www.sweetwaterchico.com

Dressed up or dressed down, the refined and durable ‘Ohana Lace-Up Nubuck offers casual sophistication that can be worn yearround. The waxed nubuck leather uppers offer durable style for everyday wear. Lace-Up or convenient slip-on? These shoes prevent you from having to choose, with versatile heelstays that flip up or down to suit your preference. The Olukai Lace-Up is for kicking back and being comfortable.

Mountain SportS

176 E. Third St. • Downtown Chico (530) 345–5011 • Open Daily www.ChicoMountainSports.com www.facebook.com/chicomountainsports

Discover Unique Style with Genuine Asian Garments Select from a wide variety of traditional Japanese clothing items for men and women. They can be worn at ceremonies, parties, at home or given as a truly unique gift.

HouSe of rice oriental iMportS & GiftS 338 Broadway Chico (530) 893–1794

Hot Holiday Accessories Anika Burke Eclectic Boutique enjoys providing Chico with the essence of California’s casual lifestyle. This ever popular shop is chock-full of modern and classic men’s clothing and accessories. Dress with ease and rock every piece you wear! This weeks special offer: Men’s Upper Park Tees, $19.95 each or 2 for $30.

anika Burke eclectic Boutique

211 Main Street Chico (530) 918–8850 www.AnikaBurke.com

30 CN&R November 21, 2013

CN&R’s Gift Guide — A speCiAl AdveRtisiNG seCtioN

CHOW

Time to Order

Josh Graham surveys a buffet of studentmade desserts in pastry school. Insets: the chef’s fraise moderne entrement at pastry school in France (above), and a stack of passion fruit caramel-buttercream macarons at Tin Roof in Chico. PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOSH GRAHAM (TIN ROOF PHOTO BY JASON CASSIDY)

Thanksgiving Sides! VIEW THE MENU ONLINE B A C I O C AT E R I N G . C O M MON–FRI 11AM TO 7PM • SAT 11AM TO 4PM 1903 PARK AVE 345–7787 • BACIOCATERING.COM

Taste of Yssingeaux Home from pastry school in France, local chef makes gourmet desserts for Chico

P have noticed that there’s something different—a certain je ne sais quoi—in its pastry offerings of late. atrons of Tin Roof Bakery & Café may

The taste of fresh mint pops in every divine bite of a bright-green, chocolate-filled macaron; a savory pastry bursts with by brie cheese and slices of fresh fig; Christine G.K. LaPado-Breglia there is a subtle new-and-delicious christinel@ sweetness and moistness to the newsreview.com madeleines. Thank pastry chef Josh Graham for these delightful added twists on Tin Roof Bakery’s already popular Tin Roof and yummy fare. Bakery & Café In September, the 33-year-old 627 Broadway returned to Tin Roof—where he 892-2893 worked for a number of years during the bakery’s early days, before it added a café. Graham—who also previously worked as a baker at the Upper Crust Bakery & Eatery—came back to Chico after completing a five-month pastry program at Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie (ENSP) in the town of Yssingeaux, in south-central France, in 2012. School was followed by a two-month internship in a pastry shop in the “nougat capital of the world,” Montélimar (just south of Yssingeaux), and a nine-month stint working as a pastry chef in a European bakery in Boulder, Colo. During a recent interview, Graham (who is married to Meredith Graham, News & Review staff writer for Client Publications) opened a portfolio containing photographs of some of the pastry masterpieces he made during his time at ENSP. He flipped through photos of such mouthwateringlooking creations as a chocolate-laden Forêt Noire moderne entremet; a pretty, two-tiered religieuse (an “alcohol-soaked” pastry “with buttercream, and a jelly inside,” as Graham described it); a striking whitefondant-draped wedding cake adorned with deep-blue icing flowers; and a “deconstructed Oreo cookie.” But when he got to the fraise moderne entremet, he stopped and lingered: This is his favorite of all the desserts pictured.

Fraise is the French word for “strawberry”; an entremet is basically “a mousse cake,” as Graham put it in his characteristically understated way. But to actually call this chocolate-and-macaron-embellished confection a “strawberry mousse cake” would “sound too ‘diner,’” he noted. “Before I went to [pastry school in] France, I had no idea that it was an actual thing,” continued Graham of the multi-layered dessert. Now, it would not be inaccurate to say that Graham is enamored of it. He described the two-day process of making an entremet, a process that includes making a mousse (passion fruit, mango and vanilla are some of the go-to flavors he mentioned), layering it with cake and a fruit jelly in a mold to create the body, and covering the whole thing with an icing made from sugar, glucose and gelatin after the entremet has been allowed to freeze. “The most terrifying process in the world is getting it off the wire rack and onto the serving board” after the warmed icing has been poured over it, Graham said, adding that he saw one student in his ENSP class “flip hers over onto the wire rack” when she tried to move hers. “It’s just so pretty,” he said passionately of the entremet. “You don’t want to do anything to mess it up. “I am in the process of making one right now” for Tin Roof, he said, adding, “I’m not sure how the public will receive it.” Given the success so far of Graham’s contributions to the Tin Roof pastry lineup, it is hard to imagine that any customer would respond to the entremet with anything but the words “Très magnifique!” Before traveling to France, Graham had never been outside of the United States; now, he is eager to share what he learned there with customers every day via his pastry offerings. “It just makes me want to introduce stuff to people that they don’t necessarily know they want,” he said. “I mean, I had no idea what an entremet was, and it’s probably the most awesome thing you’ll ever eat in your life!” Ω November 21, 2013

CN&R 31

always steamy

SCENE Wendla (Alexandra Geringer) and Melchior (Hugo Fowler) discover each other on the Wismer Theatre stage. PHOTO BY SEAN CHEN

Kyle can be found exclusively at the naKed lounge breaKing hearts and pouring perfect macchiatos

118 w 2nd st | facebooK.com/nlchico

Spring comes early A master class in sex ed from Chico State theater department

A first act, there is a scene of frank sexual congress, which includes a real live breast—roughly

t the conclusion of Spring Awakening’s

groped—and male buttocks, thrusting heartily. Within the intimacy created by a small, liveby theater performance, the moment still Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff has the ability to surprise, if not quite to shock. And in a coming-of-age story about shame, sexual awakening and puritanical repression, it’s also a brilliant move, forcing, as it does, the REVIEW: audience to confront its own reacChico State School tions, whatever those may be. of the Arts My own reaction was to ask presents Spring Awakening tonight, myself, “Why? Why does this hapNov. 21, 7:30 p.m., pen every time I ask my mom to be in Wismer my date?” The one, only, and Theatre. absolutely last time I ever brought Tickets: $6-$15. my mom to a party when I was in Wismer Theatre college, it turned out to be a muskyPAC 135, aired, sexually themed co-op thing Chico State with hardcore pornography projected 899-6333 onto the walls, and bedrooms quickly www.schoolofthe turning into tangles of limbs, breasts arts-csuchico.com and genitals. Immediately upon entering, I lost my kindergartenteacher mom, and after a frenzied, fever-dream search, I finally found her: unspeakable images being projected on her sweater, and her eyes as big and frozen as double-D silicone implants. Forgive that digression; the point of it was just to admit that I, too, was facing my own shame and the lingering traces of puritanical repression. Directed by Joel P. Rogers, with assistant director Sue Hargrave Pate, from the script by Steven Sater, Spring Awakening is the multi-Tony-award-winning rock musical, based on the controversial and oftbanned 1891 German play of the same name, by Frank Wedekind. The neat trick of Spring Awakening—which is set in late-19th-century Germany and witnesses several teenagers (played by actors in their 20s) as they face their burgeoning sexuality in an age of repression and enforced ignorance—is to give these repressed 32 CN&R November 21, 2013

German teens the language they need to describe their inner turmoil: some angsty pop-rock-and-rollicking, foot-stomping dance moves! (Among cognitive linguists, there’s a longstanding debate between those who think language merely expresses thought, and those who hold that one’s particular language in some way constrains and determines their thought. Among the many things Spring Awakening made me consider was what it must have been like to be a teenager before the “language” of rock ’n’ roll.) The show was very well done. At two hours, 20 minutes, it never sagged for a moment. The acting was convincing all around, and the dance numbers were performed with energy and verve that brought to life the groping, confused passion of the inner teenage life, especially for the song “The Bitch of Living.” The set design and production was also excellent, allowing the actors to transition seamlessly between the characters’ outer and inner lives. Alexandra Geringer was particularly good as Wendla, both in terms of the conviction of her performance and the beauty of her voice. If there’s anything in this production to be critical of, perhaps it’s that a bit of the humor of the script seemed to fall through the cracks. As the lights went down on that bared butt, at the close of the first act, and went up instead on the baredteeth, wide-eyed smiles in the mostly college-age, mostly female audience, I found myself thinking about how radically the sexual context of young people has changed since the time of Wedekind’s play. The pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction. I hesitate to align myself with Christian Conservatives here, but—though no one would want to return to 19th century Germanic repression—in this era of easily accessible pornography and casual hook-ups, where much of the mystery and magic of sex has been dissipated, what, too, have we lost? And as my mom so astutely pointed out after the performance: Isn’t there something repressive and puritanical still strangely woven into our hyper“liberated” modern sexuality? Good point, Mom, but can we talk about someΩ thing else?

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CN&R 33

NIGHTLIFE

THURSDAY 11|21—WEDNESDAY 11/27 FRIDAY MORNING JAZZ: A weekly morning

KIDS AND CREEKS FALL BENEFIT Saturday, Nov. 23 Chico Women’s Club SEE SATURDAY

AARON RICH & FRIENDS: Country music round-robin. Third and First Th of every month, 9pm. Free. Crazy Horse

Saloon, 303 Main St., (530) 894-5408.

ACOUSTIC SHOWCASE: Acoustic performances by Rachelle DeBelle, Doug MF Jones and Brandon Callies, Jeremy Crossely and Naiya Sullivan. Th, 11/21, 8pm. Lost on Main, 319 Main St., (530) 891-1853.

AVE GRAVE, COYOTE CHURCH & MORE: New solo projects by two members of Chico’s The Shimmies, plus Seattle solo artist Iji and Bay-Area singer/songwriter St. Marie of the Sea. Th, 11/21, 7:30pm. $5. Café Coda, 265 Humboldt Ave., (530) 566-9476, www.cafecoda.com.

BLUES UNPLUGGED: Featuring musical

stylings of Mark Holder. Th, 11/21, 710pm. Café Flo, 365 E. Sixth St., (530) 514-8888, www.liveatflo.weebly.com.

CHICO JAZZ COLLECTIVE: Thursday jazz.

Th, 8-11pm. Free. The DownLo, 319 Main St., (530) 892-2473.

DELHI 2 DUBLIN: Th, 11/21, 7:30pm. SOLD OUT. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., 1075 E. 20th St., (530) 893-3520, www.sierra nevada.com.

JOHN SEID TRIO: John Seid, Steve Cook and Larry Peterson play and eclectic mix of The Beatles, blues and standards. Th, 11/21, 6-9pm. Grana, 198 E. Second St., (530) 809-2304.

OPEN MIC: Singers, poets and musicians welcome. Th, 7-10pm. Has Beans Internet Cafe & Galleria, 501 Main St., (530) 894-3033, www.hasbeans.com.

Sorin and A Holy Ghost Revival. F, 11/22, 6pm. $15. LaSalles, 229 Broadway St., (530) 893-1891.

HAPPY HOUR: Irish music with Molly’s

OPEN MIKEFULL: Open-mic night to share

21THURSDAY

huge bill of noisemakers, including Vanna, KENmode, Exotic Animal Petting Zoo, and locals Every Hand Betrayed,

jazz appointment with experimental local troupe Bogg. This week: A tribute to the ladies of Jazz featuring Aubrey Debauchery. F, 11am. Opens 11/22. Free. Café Coda, 265 Humboldt Ave., (530) 566-9476, www.cafecoda.com.

Favorite. F, 11/22, 5-7pm. Café Flo, 365 E. Sixth St., (530) 514-8888, www.liveat flo.weebly.com.

your music, poetry, comedy, or other talents in a 10-minute slot. First and Third Th of every month, 7pm. $1. Paradise Grange Hall, 5704 Chapel Dr., in Paradise, (530) 873-1370.

IRISH-MUSIC HAPPY HOUR: A Chico tradi-

TRIBAL SEEDS & PACIFIC DUB: San Diego-

LACE & LEAD: Portland Ore.-based coun-

based roots/rock/reggae crew Tribal Seeds with Huntington Beach’s Pacific Dub. Th, 11/21, 8:30pm. $15. El Rey Theatre, 230 West Second St., (530) 892-1838.

22FRIDAY BASSMINT: A weekly electronic dance party with a rotating cast of local and regional DJs. F, 9:30pm. Peeking Chinese Restaurant, 243 W. Second St., (530) 895-3888.

FRENCH REFORM AND THE PERSIAN SKIRTS: It’s a perfect local mash-up: neo-new-wave indie-rockers French Reform with rock-a-hillbillies the Persian Skirts. F, 11/22, 9pm. $3. Maltese Bar & Taproom, 1600 Park Ave., (530) 343-4915.

IRISH? INDIAN? CANADIAN!

tion: Friday night happy hour with a traditional Irish music session by the Pub Scouts. F, 4pm. $1. Duffy’s Tavern, 337 Main St., (530) 343-7718.

When it comes to groups who combine different and sometimes seemingly disparate combinations of musical influences, Delhi 2 Dublin is one of the most ambitious examples. The Canadian group’s sound is based on the fusion of Celtic and bhangra, a genre of Indian music originating from that country’s Punjab region. To borrow a line from the members of D2D, who are playing at the Sierra Nevada Big Room tonight (Nov. 21), “Where else are you going to see a kickass fiddle player rocking out with a kilt-wearing Korean flanked by two bouncing bhangra percussionists and a vocalist who looks like he would be at home in a Bollywood music video?”

try band. F, 11/22, 8pm. $3. Tackle Box Bar & Grill, 375 E. Park Ave., (530) 3457499.

LOCAL SHOWCASE: A night of local music

with Flying Blind, and others. F, 11/22, 7-10pm. Café Flo, 365 E. Sixth St., (530) 514-8888, www.liveatflo.weebly.com.

THE LOLOS AND FRIENDS: The local “gypsy-soul”-rockers are joined by Garrett Gray, Heather Michelle and the Make You Mines. F, 11/22, 9pm. The DownLo, 319 Main St., (530) 892-2473.

MONKEY MUSIC SHOWCASE: Spotlighting local acoustic singer/songwriters and musicians. F, 7:30pm. Opens 11/22. 100th Monkey Books & Café, 642 W. Fifth St.

NORMA JEAN: The Georgia metalcore superstars tear it up downtown with

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530.852.0337 • urbanwaxca.com 1380 longfellow • chico 95926 mon-sat 11am to 7pm

NIGHTLIFE

THIS WEEK: FIND MORE ENTERTAINMENT AND SPECIAL EVENTS ON PAGE 24

FRENCH REFORM AND THE PERSIAN SKIRTS Friday, Nov. 22 Maltese Bar & Taproom SEE FRIDAY

Mondegreens open. Sa, 11/23, 6:30pm. $18. Chico Women’s Club, 592 E. Third St., (530) 894-1978.

MICHAEL BECK BAND: Northern California country music. Sa, 11/23, 8pm. Tackle Box Bar & Grill, 375 E. Park Ave., (530) 345-7499.

MUSIC SHOWCASE: An open mic hosted by local country musicians Rich and Kendall. Sa, 5-9pm. Free. Scotty’s Landing, 12609 River Rd., (530) 7102020.

23SATURDAY

ORIGIN BELLY DANCE: The local troupe and their guests perform for Origin’s Fall Hafla. F, 11/22, 8pm. $5. Café Coda, 265 Humboldt Ave., (530) 566-9476, www.cafecoda.com.

ROCKIN THE MIC: A monthly open mic open to performers young and old.

Fourth F of every month, 6-8pm. Free.

MUSICA LATINA: Acoustic Latino-dancemusic supergroup Los Caballitos de la Canción is joined by the Thick and Thin crew doing a special set of Mexican and South American songs. Sa, 11/23, 7:30pm. $10. 1078 Gallery, 820 Broadway, (530) 343-1973, www.1078 gallery.org.

BLUEGRASS JAM: With Lucy Smith. Sa,

11/23, 1-4pm. Café Flo, 365 E. Sixth St.,

(530) 514-8888, www.liveatflo.weebly.com.

KIDS AND CREEKS FALL BENEFIT: Bay-

Chico School of Rock, 932 E. Eighth Ave., (530) 894-2526, www.chicoschoolofrock.com.

Area Americana/bluegrass crew The Brothers Comatose headline this fundraiser for the local nonprofit that provides outdoor field trips for local elementary schools. Locals The

GIVE THANKS FOR

7-10pm. Café Flo, 365 E. Sixth St., (530) 514-8888, www.liveatflo.weebly.com.

THE LONELY KINGS: A CD-release party for the Sac/Grass Valley rockers. Sac’s Horseneck and Chico’s Rock

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RECKONING: Deadgrass at Flo. Sa, 11/23,

Mountain Tribe open. Sa, 11/23, 9pm. Lost On Main, 319 Main St., (530) 8911853.

TRASH AXIS & MAN VS. MAN: Two from San Diego: Trash Axis (experimental death-folk) and Man Vs. Man (grind/ experimental), plus Chico punks Badger and Guerrilla Gorilla. Sa, 11/23, 8pm. $5. Monstros Pizza & Subs, 628 W. Sacramento Ave., (530) 345-7672.

24SUNDAY OLD TIME FIDDLERS’ JAM SESSION: Bring your acoustic instrument for an oldtime fiddle jam. Fourth Su of every month, 2-5pm through 12/8. Free. Feather River Senior Center, 1335 Myers St., in Oroville, (530) 282-3205, www.orovilleoldtimefiddlers.com.

25MONDAY JAZZ HAPPY HOUR: With Loki and guests. M, 5:30-7pm. Opens 11/25. Free. Café Flo, 365 E. Sixth St., (530) 514-8888, www.liveatflo.weebly.com.

26TUESDAY SHIGEMI & FRIENDS: Live jazz with keyboardist Shigemi Minetaka and rotating accompaniment. Tu, 6:308:30pm. Free. Farm Star Pizza, 2359

Esplanade, (530) 343-2056, www.farm starpizza.com.

27WEDNESDAY

OPEN MIC: An all-ages open mic for musicians, poets, comedians, storytellers and dancers. W, 7pm. Free. 100th Monkey Books & Café, 642 W. Fifth St.

WAY OUT WEST: A weekly country music

LAURIE DANA: Soul, light rock, blues, country, Tin Pan Alley, jazz and more.

W, 7-9pm. Free. VIP Ultra Lounge, 191 E.

Immediate Appointments Available

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(530) 514-8888, www.liveatflo.wee bly.com.

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OH DADDY(S)!

Chico’s resident performance artists/musicians the Pageant Dads are upping the weirdness factor more than ever with their latest endeavor, in which they’ll play the live soundtrack to a threedimensional film depicting “the misadventures of Hawk Mahalo and his gang of award-winning fathers.” The Pageant Dads Experience 3-D— which runs for four days (tonight through Sunday, Nov. 24) at the Blue Room Theatre—also features live, choreographed dance numbers. See “This Week,” page 24, for more info.

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November 21, 2013

CN&R 35

IN THE MIX The Devil

ROBERT REDFORD IN

ALL IS LOST FRI/SAT 7:45PM SUNDAY 2PM; MON-WED 6PM

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We Want to Help! Chico Cash Exchange

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CA Lic # 04020994 / Permit # 11233001 Licensed by Dept. of Corps under the CA Deferred Deposit Transaction Law

Call 343-0663 or visit www.PageantChico.com

Ben Wallers, the enigmatic frontman of Country Teasers, has been keeping somewhat of a low profile of late. Which is unusual. For the past two decades, Wallers has made a name in certain circles for his belligerent and ironic lyrics, soundtracked by songs that are jittery and left of left-ofcenter—both with the Teasers and as The Rebel. Supposedly, The Devil has been kicking around for some 10 years now, and they’ve finally gotten around to releasing their first record. The trio, which includes Wallers’ wife Sophie Politowicz and James Sedwards, sounds like a natural extension of Country Teasers. Guitars are up front—whether they’re going for maximum dissonance (“Michael and Jean”), metal up yer arse (“The Throne”), or rockabilly riffing (“Silent Roar”). Wallers’ lyrics are difficult to make out at times, sometimes just lurking beneath the noise for effect. But they’re loud and clear in what is the album’s biggest surprise—a desert blues take on an obscure Kool Keith track, “Girls Want You.” It’s loaded with sexual imagery, and it’ll make you wonder where Kool Keith leaves off and The Devil takes over. Which is part of what has always made Wallers such a li’l devil.

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BALLET FOLKLORICO QUETZALLI DE VERACRUZ The Music & Dance of Mexico (11/21)

AN IRISH CHRISTMAS Celebrate the Holidays! (12/5)

visit www.cinemark.com for movies and showtimes

CINDERELLA

Chico Community Ballet (12/13-15)

GOLDEN DRAGON ACROBATS Fabulous Chinese Acrobats (1/15)

PINK MARTINI Global Cabaret (1/26)

STUNT DOG EXPERIENCE

Crazy Doggy Antics (1/28)

All shows at Laxson Auditorium California State University, Chico (530) 898-6333

WWW.CHICOPERFORMANCES.COM 36 CN&R November 21, 2013

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Bad Monkey has all of the usual Carl Hiaason elements: a down-on-his-luck or out-of-work cop or detective who repeatedly gets the shit kicked out of him (Andrew Yancy); his much smarter and more competent girlfriend (coroner Rosa Campesino); a strange animal (a mangy monkey who lives on sweets); an appendage (a severed arm); a bizarrely deployed device (a vacuum-cleaner attachment applied to the testicles); a variety of odd villains (a fake voodoo priestess, among others); and a local person bravely fighting to preserve his land from development (Neville, a Bahamian fisherman). These elements can be found in all 13 of Carl Hiaason’s adult—and all four of his young-adult—novels, but don’t dare call this formulaic—it’s more like subtle variations on a theme. A formula is predictable, and there are more twists and turns in Hiaasen’s work than your small intestine (maybe that’s why I always split a gut when reading him). Bad Monkey is a guaranteed page-turner. (Advice to authors: short chapters!) I would rate Hiaasen and Christopher Moore as our two national comic treasures.

BOOK

—Jim Dwyer

TransAtlantic Colum McCann Random House “I’m of the opinion that the real is imagined and the imagined is quite real,” Colum McCann has said in an interview. It’s a notion this novel, the follow-up to his 2009 National Book Award-winning Let the Great World Spin, fully embraces. As the title suggests, it’s about crossings, in particular between Ireland and either the United States or Canada (McCann himself is Irish but lives in New York City). There are three fictionalized renderings of actual events: Alcock and Brown’s historic first nonstop trans-Atlantic flight, from Newfoundland to Ireland, in 1919; abolitionist Frederick Douglass’ 1845 visit to Ireland, where he found that the potato blight was causing hardships worse than those American slaves were suffering; and Sen. George Mitchell’s successful 1998 mediation of the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland. Woven into these fascinating accounts are the stories of four generations of remarkable women in one family who also cross the Atlantic and whose lives are made to intersect with those of the historical figures. It’s a complex fabrication that could have spun out of control but doesn’t, and the result is a series of richly textured and often moving intertwined portraits, some historical, some fictional, but all utterly real. —Robert Speer

BOOK

Man, interrupted

Reviewers: Craig Blamer, Bob Grimm and Juan-Carlos Selznick.

Powerful biopic on cruelly abducted freeman Solomon Northup

Opening this week The Christmas Candle

Faith-based film tells the story of a the village of Gladbury, England, where an angel visits every 25 years to bless a miracle candle. When a new pastor arrives, the candle goes missing, and crisis ensues. Cinemark 14. Rated PG-13.

Forgotten in the field.

Delivery Man

Canadian writer/director Ken Scott remakes his own movie, Starbuck (2012), with Vince Vaughn now starring as an American version of his original character, a sperm-bank donor who finds out 20 years later that his seed has sprouted 533 children, and who now must decide whether or not to come forward as the biological dad of the 142 of them who have filed a lawsuit to figure out his identity. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG-13.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

B from the 19th century, the new film from British director Steve McQueen recounts the agonizing ordeal ased on an autobiographical narrative

of a prosperous and well-educated African-American, a freed man named Solomon Northup, who was shanghaied back into slavery by Juan-Carlos for more than a decade in the pre-Civil War U.S. Selznick As such, 12 Years a Slave is a sometimes grueling history lesson that pays graphic attention to the physical cruelties as well as the legal and moral injustices of the slavery system. A certain weakness for punishing realism might have been fatal, were it not for the brilliancies 12 Years a of characterization that bring the whole Slave thing back to life just as a grim desponStarring Chiwetel dency threatens to take over. Ejiofor, Michael Ultimately, the prime example of that Fassbender and Benedict brilliance comes via Solomon Northup Cumberbatch. himself (played with fine, nuanced Directed by power and restraint by Chiwetel Ejiofor). Steve McQueen. The movie, which portrays Solomon as Feather River refusing to be defined by his own vicCinemas and timhood, finds its most powerful and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated R. incisive dramatics in the tragic ironies of the man’s struggle not just to survive but to preserve a sense of dignity and self in the midst of soul-crushing cruelties. McQueen brings a pungently modern sense of social psychology to bear on the culture of slave-owning by way of an Poor extraordinary range of complex secondary characters—a sympathetic-butconflicted slave owner (Benedict Cumberbatch); a lubricious slave merchant Fair (Paul Giamatti); a slave “mistress” (Alfre Woodard) who parlays acts of submission into a modicum of status and power; a heroic and ultimately martyred Good slave girl (Lupita Nyong’o); and a frantic and inept petty tyrant (Paul Dano). The movie’s slave-owning arch-fiend Very Good (Michael Fassbender), a debauched plantation owner and sexual predator who fancies himself as a master of diabolical revels, is the lone misstep into over-theExcellent top caricature. Ω

Man, unmoored All Is Lost

Pageant Theatre. Rated PG-13.

by Juan-Carlos Selznick Robert Redford’s superb performance,

most of it wordless, is the dramatic heart and soul of J. C. Chandor’s astonishing little lostat-sea epic. But while Redford’s solitary mariner is the film’s lone character, All Is Lost is no one-man show. Instead, it’s a tour de force of filmmaking, an inspired collaboration of Redford and writer-director Chandor working in concert with a gifted crew—Frank G. DeMarco, director of photography; Peter Zuccarini, director of underwater photography; editor Pete Beaudreau; Alex Ebert, music; John P. Goldsmith, production designer; and Bob Munroe, visualeffects supervisor. The story is simple enough: A man is struggling to survive in a sinking sailboat somewhere far from land in the Indian Ocean. The action is fast and furious throughout, but Chandor and company never lose sight of the story’s intertwined dramas—the physical battle against the elements and the more intimate one of a not-quite-lost soul facing the escalating evidence of his own insignificance. The Redford character’s last testament, heard as a voiceover monologue at the outset and seen as a message-in-a-bottle set adrift near the end, does multifaceted duty as backstory, confession, apology, and revised, hardearned credo. (By my lights, Redford’s ancient mariner is an angry, alienated misanthrope whose colossal and solitary misadventure brings him back to an unexpected connection with all things, all life.) By the finish, the ocean, the weather, and all marine life have become characters in this tale as well. And there are villains (of a sort), too—a derelict freight container that crashes into the sailboat, and assorted ships too big to notice a lone man in a life raft. Ω

In the second installment of the planned four-part Hunger Games film series (based on Suzanne Collins’ popular young-adult scifi book series), Hunger Games victors Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are forced back into the arena in what will be a fight between the games’ previous victors. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG-13.

begin to see that the simplistic good guys/bad guys outlook that usually prevails in such stories gets deflected here in some very interesting and even moving ways. The screenplay and direction combine with Hanks’ quietly multifaceted performance to portray Phillips as a genuine hero, but also as one deeply marked by the devastating cost of victory. Cinemark 14. Rated PG-13 —J.C.S.

Ender’s Game

In the film version of Orson Scott Card’s 1985 sci-fi novel, the protagonist is Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a genius boy and master of futuristic video games and strategies. He’s targeted by a general (crusty and craggy Harrison Ford) as the savior of the human race, somebody whose skills can save Earth from a second attack by an alien insect species called the Formics. The movie has some impressive special effects and some great ideas at its core. What it doesn’t have is an engaging performance by its central actor. Butterfield just doesn’t cut it as Ender, opting for a mostly quiet intensity that results in boring stretches. Also, the finale feels tacked on, super condensed, and rushed. The character of Ender is required to switch emotional modes in a way that is too quick, and it feels false. I’m not denying that Ender’s Game was a masterfully intuitive notion as a novel. I’m just not impressed with the muddled effort director Gavin Hood hath wrought. Cinemark 14 and Feather River Cinemas. Rated PG-13 —B.G.

Free Birds

Now playing

12 Years a Slave

See review this issue. Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated R —J.C.S.

About Time

A romantic comedy with a time-travel twist, About Time also has a bit of a serious streak. The central romance of the tale brings a young, klutzy, redheaded British lawyer Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) together with perky American graduate student Mary (Rachel McAdams), but the relationship between Tim and his father (Bill Nighy) is no less crucial. Frisky humor is in play with both relationships, but the glimpses of serious drama come mostly via Tim’s dad. And, as we learn early on, a limited but real ability to travel in time is an attribute shared by all of the males in Tim’s family. Much of About Time plays like an agreeably rambunctious exercise in wish fulfillment, and writer-director Richard Curtis seems to recognize the need for something to offset the nonstop sweetness and light of the Tim-Mary plot. And so, almost as an afterthought, we get intimations of mortality and sorrow in the last reels. Cinemark 14. Rated R —J.C.S.

All Is Lost

See review this issue. Pageant Theatre. Rated PG-13 —J.C.S.

Bad Grandpa

The original jackass is back, as Johnny Knoxville dons his old-man getup and pranks America during a road trip across the country with his “grandson.” Cinemark 14 and Feather River Cinemas. Rated R.

Captain Phillips

Director Paul Greengrass and screenwriter Billy Ray keep the central focus on Capt. Phillips (Tom Hanks), but never lose sight of what’s going on with the Maersk Alabama’s 20-man crew or with the scrawny quartet of Somali youths who first try to take over the ship and then later try to take flight with Phillips as hostage. A key drama within the larger one comes from the keenly nuanced battle of wits, male pride and allround know-how that develops between Phillips and the gaunt, rail-thin pirate called Muse (a haunting Barkhad Abdi). The film rises to its most impressive levels when we

An animated feature about two turkeys (voiced by Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson) who travel back in time to try to alter history in a way that keeps their kind from ending up on the Thanksgiving table every year. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG.

Gravity

The new film by Alfonso Cuarón is a dazzling piece of artful entertainment. It’s a sci-fi adventure, with a pair of stranded astronauts played by George Clooney and Sandra Bullock trying to survive a spacestation calamity, and it packs a great deal of unexpected interest into what might sound like a relatively simple story. Scarcity of oxygen, suspension of the law of gravity, extreme physical isolation—they all heighten the stakes in the characters’ efforts to improvise self-rescue via the increasingly disabled remnants of their elaborate spacetravel technology. Cuarón and company make wonderfully expressive use of the 3D format on behalf of all of its main concerns. Both visually and dramatically, Gravity is about human beings struggling to get their bearings, in several senses of that word. Spatial and psychological disorientation recurs, but the screenplay by Alfonso and his brother Jonás Cuarón also nudges us toward perspectives on the dimensions of human identity, of purpose and self, and locale. Cinemark 14. Rated PG-13 —J.C.S.

Last Vegas

When the last remainging single guy in a group of friends gets engaged, the four senior citizens head to Vegas for a bachelor party. Starting Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas and Kevin Kline. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG-13.

Muscle Shoals

A documentary on the history of the Alabama studio where songs like Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” and Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” were recorded, and where that funky, soulful “Muscle Shoals sound” was born. Pageant Theatre. Rated PG.

Thor: The Dark World

Chris Hemsworth is back as the god/superhero with the all-powerful hammer, reuniting with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and reluctantly teaming up with his scheming adoptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) on a journey that will “force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.” Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG-13.

November 21, 2013

CN&R 37

ARTS DEVO by Jason Cassidy • jasonc@newsreview.com

ART FOR A DIGITAL FUTURE There’s nothing like a righteous fundraising

Calling all performance artists, sword swallowers, musicians, mimes, thespians, magicians, competitive eaters, ballerinas, Olympic curlers, contortionists, one-man bands, mind readers, chainsaw jugglers, spelling-bee champs, interpretive dancers, slam poets, organ grinders, and everyone else with a talent for keeping Chico weird … the Chico News & Review wants to put you on the stage for the

Keep Chico Weird Talent Show!

Friday, Jan. 31, El Rey Theatre Performers of every style are eligible to participate (visual artists, too, for the Weird Gallery in the lobby). Must be 18-over.

Email a description of your act (and if you’ve got ‘em, include photos, video and/or audio samples, and any pertinent Internet links), or a photo of your art, plus contact information, and the names and ages of everyone in your act to:

keepchicoweird@gmail.com or mail to:

Chico News & Review (attn. Keep Chico Weird) 353 E. second St. | Chico, CA 95928 Deadline for submissions is Thursday, January 9. Selected entrants will be notified the following week.

38 CN&R November 21, 2013

campaign to get the creative juices flowing. And three local art folks—Siana Sonoquie, Kyle Forrest Burns and Matt Loomis—have come up with something very creative and fun to help the Pageant Theatre raise money to convert to digital projection. The Go Digital or Go Dark Art Show Fundraiser for the Pageant will feature original custom movie posters created and donated by local artists and then auctioned off during a reception at the Winchester Goose on Dec. 19, with all proceeds going to the Pageant. A couple of artists have already submitted pieces— Tim and Roger, by Aye Jay including former local (now living in Brooklyn) Beau Berkeley’s Return of the Living Dead ; and local boy Aye Jay’s rad homage to the “Frog Baseball” segment of a long-ago Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation at the Pageant (with owners Tim Guista and Roger Montalbano sitting in for Beavis and Butthead). Other confirmed artists include the three organizers, plus Jeremy Golden, Dylan Tellesen, Kip Delaney, ... Living Dead, by Beau Berkeley Josh Olivera and Adam Scarborough. Despite his name, Arts DEVO is no visual artist, but if I was, and if I was going to try and capture my personal Pageant history, the two things that stick with me the most are the many Woody Allen films I’ve seen there, and the time I felt like a creepy weirdo for going to watch Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer by myself. But if you are a visual artist and you would like to get in on the fun, submissions are still being accepted (through Dec. 15). Send an email to KyleFBurns@gmail.com for all Henry and Woody, by Arts DEVO the deets.

A NEW PLACE TO MEET Longtime Chico promoter Steve Schuman is set to

have a new venue at which to host his North Valley Productions concerts, and best of all, the place is his! Steve, his wife Stacie Schuman, and general manager Angela Cook (also a Chico arts commissioner) are opening The Rendezvous, a multipurpose events hall in north Chico (3269 Esplanade) that can hold 325 people for concerts (175-200 for dinners and sit-down affairs). It will be available to rent for weddings, parties and any events for which one might need a big space, with a big dance floor, state-of-the-art sound and lighting, and a caterer’s kitchen. The place will start jumping in December, with a concert kick-off on Dec. 6, featuring East Bay funky, soulful, New Orleans-flavored party band The California Honeydrops. And, on Dec. 12, there will be an official grand-opening ribbon-cutting, featuring live music, appetizers, drinks, and tours and demonstrations of the facility’s amenities. Visit www.chicorendezvous.com for more info.

RIP FLO By now, most folks who knew of longtime downtown character Flo have heard that she died last week (Nov. 13). Newton-Bracewell Funeral Home (680 Camellia Way) will be hosting a public service for Floetta “Flo” Hamilton tonight (Nov. 21), at 6 p.m.

Find Us Online At:

www.chico.newsreview.com

BUTTE COUNTY LIVING

Love’s ReaL esTaTe Government Website

Open House Guide | Home Sales Listings | Featured Home of the Week

McFairlane was injured on the job, couldn’t work, and lost his income. He received disability payments, but it wasn’t enough to keep up his home-loan payments. “Then came the paperwork,” said McFairlane. “I spent hours and hours on it. And I was denied!”

“T

hat government website is ridiculous! I kept filling out the online application, and the website kicked me back to the beginning,” said John McFairlane. “I called to talk to a ‘qualified representative,’ sat on hold forever, and then got the run-around!”

Free Real Estate Listings

www.chico.newsreview.com

That was a year ago, and the website McFairlane was referring to is the one for Keep Your Home California.

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• Canyon Oaks, w/ stunning view! 3 bd/3 ba, 3,381 sq ft, private. $699,000 • Minutes from Chico, 3 bd/2.5 ba, 2,782 sq ft w/ lot’s of custom features! $419,000 • Spanish Garden, Canyon view w/ access to Butte Creek, 2,642 sq ft upgrades! $565,000

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The Keep Your Home California program began when the state received billions of dollars in federal bailout money to help struggling homeowners and prevent foreclosures. To qualify for assistance, people must have suffered a hardship such as job loss, cut in pay, divorce or heavy medical bills. The assistance comes in the form of money and can be used for principal reduction on home loans, catching up on late payments, or relocation expenses. The program was a disappointment initially. The website performed poorly, as McFairlane can attest, and far fewer people were approved for help than originally estimated.

Teresa Larson (530) 899-5925 • www.ChicoListings.com chiconativ@aol.com • License #01177950

But there has been a change over the last year with Keep Your Home California. Rules for qualification have been relaxed, and the website is streamlined. As a result, more people are being approved for assistance at a faster pace. “On the advice of a buddy of mine, I took another shot at it a month ago,” said McFairlane. “The difference was like night and day. My online application went smoothly, and when I called, I spoke with a real human—a nice one!” McFairlane’s loan amount was reduced, and his payment was cut in half. “I just can’t believe it,” he said. “I get to keep my house. It’s a miracle, a dream come true.” McFairlane thanks his friend for urging him to try again, and he passes on the sentiment. “Don’t give up. There is help for people who need it,” he said. “You just gotta keep an eye on those government websites.”

DouG Love is Sales Manager at Century 21 Jeffries Lydon email escrowgo@aol.com or call 530.680.0817

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