In many college towns, Davis included, Thursdays have developed a new moniker for those students without Friday classes: Thirsty Thursday. Tonight will give new definition to the term as Starting Six comes to Davis to perform their club banger “Thirsty,” among other songs.

KetMoRee and KRüMA entertainment present Starting Six for a show of firsts. The Six, in their first live show, will be christening KetMoRee as the first group to perform there. Tickets will be sold at the door for five dollars to UC Davis students and eight dollars for regular admission.

Though the Six have Bay Area roots, Davis makes sense as a launching point for the Six. Greyson “(Grey)Goose” Tarantino is a student athlete at UC Davis and KRüMA entertainment, which manages the Six, consists of UC Davis students Guma Fassil and David Kram.

“Greyson is a big part of it, and the support is amazing,” said fellow Starting Six member Steven “Big Steve” Yaris. “Without support from Davis we wouldn’t be doing this. Without support, none of this would be possible.”

Big Steve is cousins with Nick “NicNac” Balding, who makes the beats and does the production for the Six. From his basement studio in El Cerrito, NicNac produced beats for his former group Go Dav and former Go Dav member, solo artist Young Bob (aka Bobby Brackins).

“I’ve been doing this damn near my whole life,” NicNac said. “We are just having fun trying to see how far six average dudes can get in the rap industry.”

The groups other members are Ryan “(Ry)Bread” Bremond, Jared “Riggz” Richmond, and Robert “Fess” Stewart. All six members have been friends since attending St. Mary’s High School in Berkeley together, and each bring something different to the group.

Riggz describes Big Steve as spicy.

“My key ingredients are humor, sex appeal and flyness,” Big Steve said. “If I was a Spanish word I’d be ‘caliente.'”

NicNac is the seasoned veteran who makes the beats, while Riggz describes himself as “the playfully serious guy.” Fess provides the comic relief, Bread is the athletic one and Goose brings “the short guy swag.”

Starting Six is also ethnically diverse – NicNac is Caucasian, while cousin Big Steve is white, Filipino and Hawaiian. Fess is half white, half Peruvian. Riggz is black, RyBread is half black and half Filipino and Goose is half black, half Italian.

The group is currently scattered all over the state with members enrolled at UC Davis, UCLA, UC Riverside and San Diego State. The Six are coming into Davis for just one night and they are looking to go hard.

“The crowd should expect the unexpected,” Goose said. “People kind of think of us as the ‘Thirsty’ boys, but we want to show them we are more than that. We want to show them the Six.” Currently, the video for “Thirsty” has received over 35,000 views on YouTube alone, and their two singles “Jackie Chan” and “Thirsty” have been available on iTunes for months.

While the group hopes they can parlay early signs of interest into further successes in the industry, they are more concerned with enjoying the ride.

“Honestly, I’m more excited that people actually listen to the music that I make,” Goose said. “Being famous doesn’t really mean that much to me. It’s just that having people listen to my stuff is more exciting to me than anything else I’ve ever done.”

Bread echoed those sentiments.

“The coolest thing is when I go to these guys schools and people we don’t know will be driving their cars slapping our songs,” Bread said. “We’re not doing this to become the best hip hop artists, or to become super famous or blow up the toughest.”

That being said, the Six are excited to be doing their first performance at KetMoRee. “KetMoRee has supported us from day one,” Big Steve said. “[Bar Manager] Sandeep [Dahal] is a huge part of it. If you are showing support and showing love, you are going to get our all.”

Be the first to get the ‘Sixperience’ tonight at 10 p.m. at KetMoRee.

JOHN S. HELLER can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

On a nearly annual basis, UC students face unexplained tuition increases and most are unsure of how the funds are used. The most recent decision to increase fees by 32 percent sparked significant controversy and complaints among students and faculty alike.

In response to the disorder and disarray surrounding the current UC budget and administration revisions, students at UC Davis voiced their opinions in the forms of protests, rallies and strikes. As part of this system-wide student movement, a group of art students – Nils Johnson, Marianne Stella, Han Zhang and Mary Guillan – have created a sustainable sculpture that intends to engage the public with the current state of affairs and eliminate any ignorance of the issues at hand.

“[The UC system] is setting fees and raising them at a disproportional rate,” Johnson said. “It creates a sense of elitism within public universities when the purpose is about making education available to everyone … [rather] than [about] social and economic class. [There] is increasing corporate hegemony in the United States and this is one of the many ramifications.”

“This is my first quarter here and [upon experiencing] a raise in tuition already, I feel like there needs to be more awareness and knowledge about this issue,” Stella said.

In Art Studio 150E: Site Specific Public Sculpture, the artists were assigned projects that were to be informative and interactive with the public. The four students based their work on the interventionalist art movement, a form of art that seeks to educate the public through shared discourse and interaction with the art.

“We felt this was the best way … for the audience to interact with the art in a place where it’s extremely visible,” Johnson said.

The piece is inspired by London’s Hyde Park and the contentious “free speech zones.” It consists of an audience and a stage, cleverly placed on the East Quad lawn where rallies and protests have been held earlier this year.

Johnson said the artists chose to place their sculptures on the quad to continue and encourage the tradition of free speech. The location “has served as a hotbed for civil discourse and the gathering of politically-minded activists for decades,” Johnson said in their statement of intent.

Any member of the public is encouraged to stand upon the podium and speak to the “audience” about the matters in question in a civil and intellectual manner.

The audience portion includes 19 life-size figures, representing student protesters, spaced accordingly around the stage. Moreover, the materials used are both conceptually and physically important – they are aimed at encouraging environmental sustainability and politically active voice.

The figures are made of a combination of burlap, wire and recycled materials. The exterior of the figures are formed with wire mesh wrapped in hand-stitched burlap while the interior consists of reusable materials such as plastic bags. The uniformity of the materials and figures conceptually addresses the unity and solidarity felt among all UC students especially in these trying times.

According to the statement of intent, the audience serves to deliver information about the issues thereby educating the public, while also seeking to “humanize the people affected by this crisis [and] maintain public participation.”

Johnson said the piece is intended to “empower students’ agency and give them a voice, literally and figuratively.”

The construction of the sculptures has sparked curiosity and interest amidst passing students and since production began earlier this week, the artists have received many positive reactions and support.

An official reception will be held on Sunday, Dec. 6 from 11 a.m. to noon in the lobby of the art building followed by a walking tour of student sculptures from noon to 2 p.m.

SIMONE WAHNG can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

This isn’t southern, bluesy jazz with melancholy saxophones and classic slow, swaying drumbeats. This is spontaneous, improvised, recreated and not really even jazz at all. So what can you expect when the band doesn’t even know what they’re about to play as they take the stage?

On Thursday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m., the John Natsoulas Gallery is presenting two local bands – Chikading! and Garage Jazz Architects – as a part of its Thursday Night Jazz series. The show is free and open to all ages.

Both bands utilize an improvisational style, experimenting as they go in different ways as they perform. The show is listed under the heading “Live Conceptual Jazz Improvisations,” but these two trios are really feeling around within their own genres, giving new meaning to the restrictive title of “jazz.”

“It’s very organic in how it unfolds as it goes along,” said Dex Lopaz, who plays synthesizer and drums for Chikading! “And the textures that are available on the synthesizer are pretty limitless so there ends up being a lot of sounds of surprise in what we do.”

Lopaz said that the members of Chikading! all have past musical experience playing in punk rock, new wave and speed metal bands, giving their sound a kind of aggressive instability and “relentless forward motion.”

“We sound like Medeski, Martin and Wood on acid. Because of the instrumentation – keyboards, bass and drums,” said Tony Passarell, co-synthesizer player and drummer for Chikading! in an e-mail interview. “[Influences are] part acid jazz and part kitchen sink influences of the players.”

Lopaz said all three members, including electric bassist Robert Kuhlmann, are not playing their original instruments in order to heighten the sense of “unpredictability” throughout their shows. In addition, he and Passarell switch off who is playing drums and synthesizer midway through the show.

Garage Jazz Architects is a project that was created by bassist Lob and guitarist Chad E. Williams along with a few others in 2007. The band employs a new genre and uses a different approach in their music that follows the general feeling and idea of “Garage Jazz.”

“Garage Jazz is something that we feel is new emerging genre,” Lob said in an e-mail interview. “We feel like we are basically a garage band, jamming and having fun, but instead of focusing on words or a singer, we are instrumentalists and focus on the riff. The riff is the core, so we are approaching playing as a garage-type band from a jazz perspective, learning the riff every direction we can find it and working that into our groove.”

Mark Halverson, Garage Jazz Architects’ newly acquired drummer, said that the band uses elements of pop culture spontaneously throughout the music.

“We never know which direction we’re going to be headed in with the music,” Halverson said. “We could start playing a TV theme song, we could start with a basic rock riff and then improvise over any of that and sort of swing it into the medium of jazz – or what’s typically referred to as jazz.”

The somewhat small and intimate setting of this venue works well for what both bands are trying to do. The two trios seem to agree that having this type of set-up allows for more avid listeners, which as Lob said can in turn gives the musicians “more to work with.”

“[The size of the venue] doesn’t really matter, it’s really a very personal thing,” Lopaz said. “It becomes an exercise in communication between the musicians and the people who pay attention, and start to listen and get on that ride with us. Then their energy goes into it and it becomes not so much a performance but all of us discovering something together.”

The spontaneity, instrumentation and creative juices made possible by the act of performing give this “conceptual jazz” show an edge that is unique.

“It doesn’t quite sound like anything,” Halverson said. “All of a sudden it just appears out of the cracks of different music genres. The surprise of the music is half the joy of listening to it.”

ELENA BUCKLEY can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Get ready folks, the holiday season is near. You can hear the jolly bells ringing and smell the inviting scent of peppermint sprigs and cinnamon in the air.

This week, continue this joyful spirit with Davis Art Center’s annual holiday sale featuring handcrafted art and food by local artists and residents in the Davis-Sacramento area.

Like most holidays, the true meaning of being in holiday spirit can often get lost in the overly commercialized shopping malls and corporate mass production. Instead, Davis Art Center is localizing their event with familiar faces and prominent figures of the Davis and Sacramento art community, of which all artwork is handcrafted and organically made by the artists themselves. This year features 70 artisan booths, including 14 new vendors.

“There are a lot of local artists, small business owners and people from the Bay Area,” said Melanie Glover, administrative and publicity assistant of Davis Art Center and a UC Davis alumna. “This is the epitome of Davis – small-town, local and small-business orientated.”

Among notable figures in the Davis art community, Tony Natsoulas will be present at one of the booths. He will sell his wall art and fish ceramic sculptures of his distinguished funk art style.

“Natsoulas makes funk art which is satirical and out-there with bright colors, which is really prominent to the art history of Davis” Glover said. “You know you’ll be buying someone something you won’t find anywhere else. It’s a piece of Davis.”

Another prominent artist of the Davis art community is Heidi Bekebrede, who has been a Davis resident for the past 30 years and teaches ceramic classes at Davis Art Center. Bekebrede said Cuteware, her brand of ceramics, creates cheerful, bright ceramic sculptures that embody the whimsical and humorous work of the 1930s merry melodies era. Bekebrede is a regular vendor and participator of Davis Art Center annual holiday sale.

“This is best sale because of the atmosphere,” Bekebrede said. “It’s very cozy because of the volunteer effort to put the event on. The same people that have put it on for years and years [have] got it right.”

Other artisan booths include a variety of sentimental treasures that vary from hand-knitted sweaters, socks and cardigans by Nancy England to hand-weaved scarves made by Verena Borton (both of whom teach at Davis Art Center). Paintings, pottery and jewelry such as necklaces, earrings and bracelets will also be sold.

According to Mayumi Keilman, Operations Manager of the Davis Art Center, all vendors and artwork had to go through a selective screening process.

“We want art, high-quality stuff,” Keilman said. “We try to have a balance and that’s why we have a screening to balance everything.”

Still, a lot of the artwork and items sold will be affordable to students. Adding to the festivities and fun of the holiday spirit, Bekebrede will offer discounts of up to 15 percent if someone can sing a verse of her original song, “The Davis Song,” to her.

As a private and non-profit organization, the holiday sale is Davis Art Center’s primary fundraiser of the year. It is intended to fuel their music and art programs. So come and begin your holiday season and enjoy home-made soups, espresso and plenty of great artwork made by your local community.

UYEN CAO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

As a Los Angeles native, my trips back and forth from Davis to home are a bit of a jaunt. The brief Thanksgiving break required far more driving than vacationing last weekend – and a whole new round of traveling is coming up next week.

But to say I’m from Los Angeles is a bit of a stretch. My hometown, Simi Valley, is a suburban northwest neighbor of LA County – close enough to see the smog but far enough to still be boring. To put it simply, I’m from LA when people ask, and I’m not when people care.

Almost everyone who left Simi Valley for college (which was probably a third of my graduating high school class) still loves to whine and gripe about the town when they return. I hardly do anything in Simi Valley when I go back home, save buy more jeans, get gas for my parents and play “Settlers of Catan” (the board game) with whoever else wants to play. It’s a fun set of activities, but it’s quaint and pretty quiet.

This is where Los Angeles, the deeper, busier neighbor, fills the void. I drive to Los Angeles almost every day I’m back at home, which technically makes me as much of an Angelino as anyone else from the city (almost). Living next to a major city gives me the opportunity to miss out on everything nostalgic about my hometown, and I’m thoroughly happy about it.

My family made a point to bring me to LA almost every other night as a kid – we’d often drive through hours of traffic just to get Chinese food in Monterey Park or Korean barbecue in Koreatown, and drive through more hours of traffic to get home. And we still do it, too – I reeked of stinky tofu and shabu shabu last weekend because I literally had it every day, except the day my dad bought a Chinese turkey for Thanksgiving.

Los Angeles also lets me feel like I’m somewhat cultured and relevant. Last Friday, I had the opportunity to see a dress rehearsal of The Barber of Seville at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Since it was a dress rehearsal, the 3,197-seat hall sat a sparse 500 or so, most of whom got comfortable in a usually stuffy setting. Two of those 500 were Gustavo Dudamel – the new rockstar-director of the LA Philharmonic – and Plácido Domingo, the world famous tenor. Dudamel and Domingo are reminders of LA’s approachable culture, which is arguably as humble as it is high brow.

That’s the thing – the two were more than approachable the entire night. After all, these people aren’t solely worshipped by an esoteric crowd of classical snobs – Dudamel, a 28 year-old Venezuelan who is probably just as famous as Hugo Chavez, couldn’t have been more unimposing. I’m no expert, but it’s safe to say you don’t find such attitudes all that often.

I don’t care about the whole Northern-Southern California debate, which is really only cool if you’re twelve. Sure, you can find most of Los Angeles’ better side in the Northern California, but the Bay Area is simply nowhere near as massive and widespread as LA in general.

But at the same time, living in Davis is close enough to San Francisco that there’s still easy relief available any weekend for better sights and better food. Though it’s smaller, San Francisco food still rivals the LA legacy, and I wouldn’t be at all comfortable with Davis if it wasn’t for the nearby city.

So, for the holidays, food and “culture” is my target. If it wasn’t for LA’s restaurants, places like the Sunset Arclight and Monterey Park, I’d easily stay in Davis for winter break. I’m not at all serious about the cultured and elitist feeling in LA, but honestly, living next to a city is a relief. Even with all the traveling.

JUSTIN T. HO is dreading the god-awful Christmas parties my family attends every Christmas break. Every year, parochial conservatism and neighbor vs. neighbor gossip culminate in a night of white elephant gift exchanges and really dry pork roast. E-mail your sympathies to arts@theaggie.org.

Grammy-winning classical pianist Emanuel Ax will be performing in Jackson Hall of the Mondavi Center on Saturday, December 5th at 8 p.m. Tickets are $65.00 for general admission and $32.50 for students.

A skillful musician from a very young age, Ax was born in the Ukraine and started playing the piano when he was six years old. As his family constantly relocated, Ax carried his studies with him to each new temporary dwelling, ultimately settling down in New York City, where he studied at the Julliard School of Music. After winning various awards and competitions, such as the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition as well as the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists, he became a teacher at Julliard.

“Winning such a prestigious piano competition helped catapult him into a successful international career as a piano soloist,” said Henry Spiller, assistant professor of ethnomusicology at the UC Davis School of Music. “It is the kind of career only a handful of individuals are able to sustain.”

Ax has appeared as a guest artist in a documentary about the Toronto Film Festival, called Five Days in September; the Rebirth of an Orchestra. In addition to being a recipient of Yale University’s Sanford Medal, he also holds an honorary doctorate of music from Yale, awarded in May 2007.

This will be Ax’s second performance at the Mondavi Center. Faculty at the Mondavi Center booked his appearance about a year ago.

“His agent actually came to us,” said Don Roth, executive director of the Mondavi Center. “He was going to be on tour nearby and he wanted to see if we were interested.”

Roth said the agent knew Ax loved playing in the Mondavi Center because of its spectacular acoustics and large audience for classical music.

“We try to take very good care of the artists when they are here,” Roth said. “Making them feel comfortable and welcome is essential to us.”

Faculty of the UC Davis Music department had positive things to say about Ax. All of them acknowledged his achievements as a talented pianist.

“When I saw him perform, he brought a sense of authority to the stage which put the audience at ease and empowered them to engage closely with his playing and the music,” Spiller said. “It was a moving experience.”

UC Davis Symphony Orchestra conductor Christian Baldini agreed that Ax had a certain influence, saying that as an interpreter performing a wide range of composers and styles, Ax is not afraid of simplicity.

“In times when being a virtuoso who plays the most difficult works that require a machine-like technique seems to be quite the norm, Emanuel Ax is unafraid of performing works that are not technically impossible,” Baldini said in an e-mail interview.

“He impresses the listener with his refined touch, and his imaginative and poetic view of art. In this sense, his music making makes him excel among his colleagues.”

Baldini said that he expects Ax to put on a beautiful concert with romantic music by Chopin and Schumann. He added that it will be a program inspired by fantasy and dance, in the forms of mazurkas and polonaises.

Spiller had similar sentiments on Ax’s abilities to put on a superb musical performance.

“This 19th-century romantic piano pieces that Ax is performing at Mondavi are virtuosic, bombastic and emotionally wrought,” Spiller said. “They are usually a big hit with audiences who are unfamiliar with classical music because of this.”

After performing at the Mondavi Center, Ax will tour Asia with the New York Philharmonic on their first tour with incoming music director Alan Gilbert. Additionally, he will tour in Europe with both the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and James Conlon as well as the Pittsburgh Symphony with Manfred Honeck. During the spring, he will return to Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston.

Conductor emeritus and professor of l9th-century history and orchestral conducting Kern Holoman encourages students to attend the performance, noting that student tickets for quality music concerts are just one of the great privileges of a university education.

“We are all, after all, involved in the process of becoming enlightened citizens of a world defined in many ways by its artistic achievement,” Holoman said in an e-mail interview.

Roth stressed that Ax’s concert will be a great occasion for contemplation and slowing down.

“No bells and whistles, no flashing lights, no roadies moving equipment around – just one man and a piano, playing music that can help you get away from your daily worries and concerns,” Roth said.

Tickets can be purchased online at the Mondavi Center Website, mondaviarts.org. For more information on Emanuel Ax, visit emanuelax.com.

ELENI STEPHANIDES can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.