Arts DEVOté

Your words, not mine
Depending on when you picked up this paper today (and assuming you picked it up on Thursday), you have only a few hours before the deadline for the CN&R’s first-ever Poetry 99 contest. So e-mail your words (or video) now: <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> </script>.

Symposiums rock!
The annual Alfred Loeffler New Music Symposium is happening at Chico State this week and will feature four days of everything from “chamber music to multimedia works.” Performances include the free student-works show Sun., Nov. 4, 2 p.m. (Rowland-Taylor Hall). Composer/percussionist John Lane’s “Sequences No. 2” for DVD projection and marimba, based on the Human Genome Project, will be Mon., Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m. (Harlen Adams Theatre). See Special Events, p. 42, for info on additional performances.

It’s the giving that counts
The press releases for this season’s holiday craft/gift bazaars are already trickling in at Calendar H.Q. (which is a most magical fluorescent wonderland dream factory), and it has A.D. in the mood to be given things. First, please keep an eye on CN&R’s calendar, and be sure to attend all of Ye Olde Faires and spend tons of money on local artisan wares for everyone on your gift list. Everyone but A.D., that is, because he’s been very good and he has found just the thing for which to reward his love and charity … Syphilis! Well, technically Treponema palidum!

You can actually pick up the cute, little pink worm in Berkeley at The Bone Room (no doubt!), where they sell little stuffed animal versions of all your favorite microbes (only $10 each), from the common cough (Bordetella pertussis) to Black Death (Yersinia pestis). The Bone Room (www.boneroom.com) is actually better known as that place you go for all your animal and human parts shopping, so if you have a voodoo priestess or shaman on your list, check it.

But remember: “Because of high demand, we cannot place [human] skulls on hold. If you prefer to purchase a skull by mail, please include a second-choice specimen in the event that your first choice has already been sold.” Caveat emptor!

Bi-weekly Devotions

• Art in Public Places Committee: 3:30 p.m. Tues., Nov. 6, in the City Council building.

• Heritage, Culture, Recreation & the Arts: Shasta Cascade Wonderland Association is holding a workshop on cultural heritage tourism in the area, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tues., Nov. 13, at Bidwell Presbyterian Church (social hour to follow at Stansbury Home). Info/reservations: (530) 228-2860.

• Artists wanted: A.S. Women’s Center at Chico State is seeking local artists for its annual Erotic Art Show Dec. 7. Deadline is Dec. 1. Contact Kelly Dolcini at (530) 898-5724 or womenscenter@csuchico.edu for information.

• Artists cabin: Whiskeytown Recreation and Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding is accepting applications for its four-week Artist-in-Residence Program at a cabin on Whiskeytown Lake. Deadline is Jan. 15, 2008. E-mail Whiskeytown.Art@gmail.com for information.