Austin, Texas, twosome Yellow Fever had little control over the dwindling crowd at Nick’s Night Club in Chico, California this week. The headliner had canceled, and the band was forced to bear the brunt of being a foreign act…in a foreign town…at a foreboding hour of the night.

With a simple setup of a drum kit, a keyboard atop it (manned by drummer/keyboardist Adam Jones) and a guitar and bass leaned lazily on a stand (to be plucked by vocalist/bassist/guitarist Jennifer Moore), the duo persevered and parlayed a slacker-rock Blitzkrieg that included rudimentary single-string plunks and contrasting busy drum work/key work from Jones. Their music is a hybrid of late ’80s indie punk and ’00s garage rock revivalism - awkward and frail, but potent enough melody-wise to hold my attention for the majority of their performance. Highlights include Moore’s simultaneous guitar/drum performance, with Jones on bass in one of their poppier tunes (don’t ask me the name, they never said…)

The band is currently on a US tour. I suggest you give them a look-see…

Our homie and drummer for local awesome radical band Brighten Jimmy Richards announced via Myspace blog today that he is leaving Brighten to go to Africa and then to school right here in good ol’ Chico, as well as to focus on his badass design business, Junior Kickstart:

Hey everyone,

This is a rather depressing blog for me. Something that is not easy to write or deal with right now, but it is something I feel I have to do. I have decided to leave Brighten. Over the last year or so I felt God pulling at me about this. Leading me in another direction. I’m not leaving on any bad terms whatsoever. Alex and Justin have been great about this and weren’t taken by surprise. I’d been talking with them for months and months about this and finally decided.
It’s very hard. Being in a band is awesome. I love being able to meet and share with cool people like all of you all over the world. But it is mostly hard because Justin and Alex are my brothers. I’m going to miss hating ridiculous amounts of time in the van with them and dumb arguments, spitting on alex while playing, making funny videos, talking about life and things going on at home, and so many other things that go on when you spend 24 hours a day 7 days a week 9 months out of a year with people.
This isn’t a pity party. I am just sharing what’s happening in full rather than just peacing out on all of you. You guys (fans and friends) are a huge part of Brighten. I absolutely LOVE that part of it all. Getting to meet all of you is such an amazing thing for all of us in bands. I love talking to each of you.

So what am I doing now?

I am leaving for africa on July 21st. Two weeks. I’m very excited! After that, I will be going to school here in chico. I work full time designing merch for bands (www.juniorkickstart.net). I’m not exactly sure of what I want to do with my life yet, but I’ll figure it out soon enough.

Brighten’s new EP, Early Love, will be available really soon. I’m so proud of Justin and Alex and love what they are doing and everything they are about to do. I know you guys will be too.

If any of you would ever like to talk to me, please keep in touch!
My screen name is : eagersails

It’s been an amazing time,
Jimmy

I’ve heard some fun rumors as to who Jimmy’s replacement might be, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how shit pans out. In the mean time, if you’re a label and you haven’t signed Brighten yet, what the fuck are you waiting for? Teen girls everywhere will thank you with money. Promise.

With every web site, TV station and newspaper weighing in with their 2 cents regarding which horse they’re backing in this year’s Presidential election, there are certainly more than enough learned opinions being circulated for even the most hungry of newshounds. Even the Average Joe is getting his voice heard this election season, via blogs, online forums, call-in shows and those ubiquitous polls, undertaken seemingly every 5 minutes. But there is yet a third demographic, one that is still sorely under-served by the media at large, the true “man on the street” who isn’t simply passing by but spends his days, and sometimes even nights on the street; that lower-crust of society who though seen by all, are heard by few. Seeking to give a voice to the voiceless, Synthesis correspondent Cayle Hunter sought out a spokesperson for those in our community who have yet to have their opinions added to the public discourse and found one, where else, in Chico’s Downtown Park Plaza. We asked this man, who we shall refer to as “Vincent”, who he was voting for in the upcoming election and why, and this is what we got. Learn about it.

Those of you with local ties, or even just those of you who dig weed and gangsta-ass lyricism, MUST have seen my award-winning blog about how Snoop Dogg rocked my building last night at the Senator Theatre. I didn’t end up going (read about why here…), but our newest photographer extraordinaire Aaron Seals did, and boy’s got talent. Peep this, crackers!

Mistah Fab and Warren G opened the show. No pics of G, but look how hyphy Fab got (I don’t even know if that’s what hyphy is. I grew up in Redding, CA. I just wanna fit in, brah):

DON’T FUCK WITH CHICO. OR RYAN PRADO. EVAR!!!!!

Now here’s the one you’ve been waiting for. During their filming last year, The Collective Sound took their campers up to the Synthesis office. We told them about getting press for their bands. They were thoroughly disinterested with my little speech. Classic.

From The Collective Sound:

Set in the small town of Chico California, Let It Be Heard… is an inspirational story of a small group of young musicians that embark on an adventure of a lifetime. The web documentary follows the journey of 50 young artists, come together from around the world, for 3 weeks of The Collective Sound Summer Music Academy, the worlds first touring summer music camp.

No stop the rock. No. School of Rock-style band camp The Collective Sound, documentary Episode 7. Fuck a lanyard.