Local bastard

And then came the sewage. Longtime Chico rocker Conrad Nystrom (pictured below), famous for years in town as “the Sundance guy” ( Sundance Records that is, later Aftershock ), just celebrated his 40th at a blast of a surprise rock party last Friday night. Despite the extra surprise of a temperamental sewer rising up and joining the fun, 26 bands from Chico’s past and present ( Death Star, Mid Fi, Cowboy, Squirrel vs. Bear, Barbara Manning, West By Swan, Aubrey Debauchery, Gruk , etc.) paid homage to the king of the mix tape. Old-school local bastards like John McKinle y and Mike Sullivan were seen sludging through the sludge alongside the new crew of cool kids ( Cair Paravel, Aubrey Debauchery …), and a couple of CN&R rockers, Mark Lore and Josh Indar , even graced the stage with Scott Derr ( Terminalwasteband ) with their new band Lot Lizard, picking-up the tempo with the garage-rockin’ “Yuschenko.” The proof is in the pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/ kuker/sets/236128 and http://amanda5592.fotopic.net.

No one loves an Outlaw like Local Bastard, but… how are we supposed to root for the local baseball team when the new pro league that the Chico Outlaws are a part of will also feature an all-Japanese traveling team!?! And, they’re called the Japan Samurai Bears ! (Is Quentin Tarantino the Commish?) After seeing the logo, it was settled … How can you not get behind the team with a bear slicing a baseball with two swords!?!

TO DO: The Leah Quinelle All-Stars Featuring Happy are coming! (4/25 at Fulcrum , with Gruk, Aubrey Debauchery and MC Oroville ). Clueless? The Bastard was, until he checked out Asia, Robin and Happy at the New Orleans band’s Web site ( www.sleeptrip.com/ lqasfh/index.html ). There’s a quiz to see which All-Star you match up with best (A zine about pee is [choose one]: annoying? neutral? endearing?) or you can become a member of the band and “Choose Your Adventure.” Good fun, in a cutesy, punky, tuneless, embarrassing way.

TO BURN: Arcade Fire, video for “Rebellion (Lies)” (www.mtv.com/music/ video/premiere/arcade_fire/); Slow Down Theo, “El New” (Initial Public Offering—wereferencecosbys@hotmail.com)

TWO MORE: Got the Himself fanclub e-mail wrong last week—the correct way to sign up is to send an email to: tetracycline_kills@yahoo.com . Also, the Incredible Hulk has a blog (http://incrediblehulk.blogspot.com) —From the archives: “DEAR BLOCKBUSTER MANAGER: JUST BECAUSE YOU WEAR A BLUE POLO SHIRT, THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN CHARGE HULK FOR BREAKING PLAYSTATION GAMES YOU CAN’T PROVE HULK BROKE. MAYBE IT WAS CAPTAIN AMERICA—HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF THAT? MANY AVENGERS USE THAT ACCOUNT!!!!!”

Why don’t you write anymore? LOCAL BASTARD NO SMASH YOU!!! Send important news or at least some gossip.