Arts & Culture

Although Davis has its share of mid-sized and smaller concerts, larger acts usually travel across the Causeway to play in Sacramento at venues like the Arco Arena. This month, however, is an exception as a six-act show featuring Gym Class Heroes, Shwayze, LMFAO, Tyga, The Knux and HardNox will rock the UC Davis Pavilion on Feb. 26.

Sophomore design major Greer Shively used to think that a cappella groups were all about nerdy males in the Ivy League system. That was, however, before she heard about The Spokes, an a cappella group on campus.

Now, in the middle of her second year as a singer with The Spokes, Shively has learned a thing or two about the art of a cappella, a style of vocal music without instrumental accompaniment.

This week in Davis -

StereoEarth, Neurotunnel, Crazy Ballhead

Women's Research and Resource Center Benefit Dance Party

Birdstrike Theater

Rating:

If the recently split garage rockers of Be Your Our Pet were ever to be collectively slipped a roofie and forced to reunite and record together, the music they would produce would not be far from that of The Bird and The Bee.

As much as I'd like any readers out there to believe in the warm benevolence of my smiling picture or the cheeky, scintillatingly witty words of my ever cleverer columns, I've always been kind of a bad liar, so I will go right out and admit it: I am a shy person. I mean, sure, I'm relatively friendly and stuff, but I've had more people comment on my shyness than I think necessary.

Pamela Maus Contest in Creative Writing

Today, 7 p.m.

126 Voorhies

The annual Pamela Maus Contest in Creative Writing will announce the winners of both the poetry and fiction competitions tonight at 7 p.m. in 126 Voorhies. The contest will be doling out $1500 in total prize money to the finalists.

Upon walking into the room you first notice two large, very different landscape images on the walls to the right and left. Though one is of a vineyard and the other of a dusky Hawaiian horizon, the lines and shadowing are soft and exhibit a unique textured feeling.

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For myself and undoubtedly many others, the release of Sholi's first full-length album represents something more than just new music. The band, which originally formed in Davis, has been something of an icon in the local music scene for years now.

The Movement II

Friday, 7 p.m., free

Technocultural Studies Building (formerly the Art Annex

On-campus hip-hop means more than an intro to hip-hop dance class or a lunchtime picnic with The Federation on the Quad.

Taken

Now playing at the Regal Davis Stadium 5 on G Stree

Taken has all the key aspects of a typical action movie. It starts with the basics: trustworthy main character, dire situation and linear storyline.

Then come the fun but still familiar parts. The movie is peppered with realistic, claustrophobic fight sequences reminiscent of the Bourne series. The protagonist has implausible but forgettable means of gathering information.

As students, we are expected to make school the focal point of our lives - planning our schedules according to classes and units taken or devoting a good portion of our lives to earning a university education. This is precisely the kind of thing that interests photographer Catherine Wagner.

MUSIC

Katy Perry, Alphabeat

Today, 7:30 p.m., $20

Empire Events Center in Sacramento

Never mind Katy Perry - also known as the woman responsible for arguably the most annoying song of 2008 - I'm turning my focus to Alphabeat. The Danish dance-poppers have been associated with the Wonky Pop movement, a musical crusade for the "quirky, credible and catchy" that is rooted in the offbeat side of pop music of the '80s.

Rating: 3

John Frusciante will always be known for his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers rather than his side career as a songwriter. His personal work, while generally impressive, is essentially just an offshoot of his work with the band, and The Empyrean offers nothing to the contrary.

Amongst my list of innocently bad habits (i.e. constantly cracking my knuckles, biting on straws), my worst vice has to be a combination of two others: the Internet and going on random tangents.

So when you're leading an Internet-less lifestyle at home like I've been doing for the past month, it's easy to devote an awful amount of time normally spent on web browsing (read: Facebook and online shopping) thinking instead about useless things, such as which of my friends would make the best "Chain Reaction" teammates or what country I would visit if I were Anthony Bourdain.

Liberal arts professors tend to appear quite busy as they sprint across campus from staff meeting to staff meeting, their bags overflowing with academic journals and used notepaper. Always curious about on-campus happenings, MUSE set out to discover what exactly these busybody professors were really up to. The answer for three hard-working professors was simple enough - writing.