A Friday In Chico

Chico, authoritarian with its heat and dominating with its cold. The streets are near empty on a Friday December night. Quiet, quiet as a grave until the right door is found. Artists communed at a singular spot. A poorly lit venue which only Google or locals can find. As the seal of a simple door is broken, the music floods out breaking that Chico silence. Argus, a beautiful venue. A bar which has made its mark on the streets and the locals. It sits almost hidden, right off Broadway. Many faces walk past knowing not what they excuse. Yet, many enter. They are met with the encompassing sound of artists and the entrancement of beat. Elijah has produced a show. He set up the equipment with the knowledge one only finds when they have a true passion. The first artist I witnessed was VBRVMS (Abrams). The first of a tactfully constructed group of talented DJ’s. From all walks, they fade away into the manipulation of the decks, their CDJ’s. There is no divide between them other than their own inherent styles. VBRVMS wears the mask of an Oni. A demon from Japan. He has earned this mask. As he manipulates his instruments the crowd flows with him. He is a demon. Exerting control on the masses which have come to worship with his beats. The people flow; they bounce up and down, forgetting themselves and their transgressions. They have signed that forbidden contract, if only for the night. AGhostYouKnow follows. He continues the ritual. A relatively new artist, no one could tell. He follows in the steps of VBRVMS with his own cadence. Uniquely his just as the demon before him. What greater pairing than a demon and a ghost? Che follows him and all love continues. There is no break in the music, no respite for the insipid. Chico is silent, the streets are cold. In here there is heat, beat, love, and transcendence. The music stops almost as quickly as it began. Time spent well is time spent quickly. A four hour show can be a thirty minute one when a person loses themselves, and almost everyone did.