Costumes reflect this year’s theme: “Heroines with Heart”

Located in the basement of Wright Hall, the Enchanted Cellar Costume Shop provides an assortment of elaborate costume rentals of all styles — and just in time for Halloween. Open all year long, the Enchanted Cellar has been providing the Davis community with a vast selection of costumes since 2004. This year’s theme, “Heroines with Heart,” celebrates female figures in folklore and literature, according to the Cellar’s website.

Coordinated by costume shop director Roxanne Femling of the UC Davis Theatre and Dance Department, the Enchanted Cellar is devoted to bringing everyone’s favorite characters to life.

“It’s great to help people out with their costumes,” said Enchanted Cellar costume consultant and fourth-year international relations major Natalie Guzman. “It’s really fun to see people try them on.”

Each year around Halloween, the Enchanted Cellar gathers widespread attention from the community. In its first year of business, the store managed to raise a total of $10,000, all of which went back into the costume department to support upcoming shows, new costumes and more.

“This time of year can get busy sometimes,” said first-year design major and Enchanted Cellar costume consultant Keilah Lim. “Sometimes we can have up to 10 people down here at a time.”

The Enchanted Cellar is open throughout the year by appointment, but the store also allows for walk-ins during the Halloween season. They offer a variety of “kits” for different costumes. According to Femling, the Enchanted Cellar is attempting to work with more personal requests this year, depending on the preferences of the customer. From “Game of Thrones” to “Star Wars,” the Enchanted Cellar has nearly any iconic character costume a customer could think of.

“We’ve accumulated a lot of costumes over the years, but we’ve also bought a couple of things, and then make them better after the fact,” said Femling. “For example, when the new ‘Star Wars’ film came out, we put together some kits for Rey and Finn, all from pieces we already had in our stock. We even got a Kylo Ren kit together!”

The Enchanted Cellar is located on campus in Wright 17. Students and faculty receive a discount on all rentals. For more information and the Cellar’s hours, visit its website.

Written by: Sydney Odman — arts@theaggie.org

The Morgue brings back teenage memories with upcoming house show

If there’s one thing that pulled me through my middle school angst, it was late ‘90s punk music blasting loudly in my bedroom — and I imagine most college students can relate. Local venue The Morgue is hosting a cover show for just that reason. They will be featuring songs by some of the most beloved punk bands: Against Me!, My Chemical Romance, Blink-182, Black Sabbath and Green Day.

Rest assured, The Morgue is simply a house, its name inspired by the its close proximity to the Davis Cemetery. Its residents have been throwing house shows since 2013, but this will be their first year hosting a cover show to celebrate Halloween.

Hosts Marisol Ramirez and Melissa Schiller first decided to cover Blink-182. Other performers followed suit, planning to perform songs by their own favorite punk bands.

“Halloween cover shows have been a Davis tradition over the years, but I’ve never hosted one,” Schiller said. “I’m really excited to host and play in it. […] Most of the bands that are playing are a group of friends who just assembled themselves to play these songs […] I think Halloween is a popular time for cover shows because they’re like costumes, but playing songs from different bands. It’ll be a fun night of nostalgia and pop-punk emo-ness.”

Ramirez and Schiller wanted to host a cover show featuring songs by these groups so that attendees could relive high school memories, but most importantly because they’re relatable.

“We wanted to cover Blink-182 because we thought we knew the songs well enough [to] play them and started working from there,” Ramirez said. “We chose those ‘90s emo bands because everyone knows the lyrics, and the guy from our last show said he was in a Black Sabbath cover band. ‘First Date’ by Blink-182 has been really difficult to play but fun once I get in the groove of it.”

Corey Gough, from the band Rex Means King, is coming to Davis from Vacaville to perform songs by My Chemical Romance. Similarly, Paul Collier of the band VVomen is covering songs by Against Me!.

“We’re from the Fairfield area and played at The Morgue a handful of times as well as G-Street Wunderbar, Sudwerk, Third Space,” Gough said. “I’ll be playing in a My Chemical Romance cover band. The bass player, Jason, wanted to play My Chemical Romance and kind of recruited me. I normally play drums, but he needed a guitar player so I said, ‘Sure, why not,’ […] I think it’s going to be hecka fun, and it’s just nostalgic. It’s going to be a blast.”

The appeal of these cover shows is largely their sense of familiarity. Reviving these “emo” bands may remind college students of some cringy adolescent memories, but it also opens a space where everyone can laugh about it together.

“We only have three instruments and the singer, so we’ll be trying to play as closely to the originals as possible,” Collier said. “Our music style is in the same vein, so it’s not really going to be deconstructed. Hopefully everyone will have a good time and we’ll be playing songs that they can sing along to.”

The Halloween cover show will take place on Saturday, Oct. 28 at The Morgue, located at 1919 Wahl Way in Davis. More information can be found on the Facebook event page.

Written by: Becky Lee — arts@theaggie.org

Farmers and chefs form symbiotic relationship, increasing impact of northern California farms and cuisine

46 years ago, a young woman with a passion for food opened a small establishment in Berkeley, California. Today we know her as Alice Waters, a world-renowned chef.

Waters’s flagship eatery, Chez Panisse, is synonymous with the farm-to-fork movement she helped create. While much of the credit for the start of this movement goes to Waters, little could have been accomplished without the produce provided by local farms.

Nowadays, Yolo County and its Capay Valley are home to some of the most prominent players in the farm-to-table business.

Riverdog Farm, located in nearby Guinda, has been supplying produce to numerous farm-to-fork establishments, including Bay Area restaurants Nopa, Penrose, Pizzaiolo, Zuni Cafe and Chez Panisse, since it was founded in 1990 by Trini Campbell and Tim Mueller. Their produce also finds its way to the prominent Sacramento restaurants Waterboy and The Kitchen.

When it comes to the Capay Valley, Campbell can’t help but gush about its environment.

“Our climate, where we are in Yolo County, it’s really hot in the summer, and it infuses things with sweetness,” Campbell said. “Then in the winter we have a lot of frost, so the broccoli and carrots and kale and chard, all that winter hearty stuff, actually tastes better once it has frost on it.”

Laurence Jossel, the head chef and founder of the San Francisco restaurants Nopa and Nopalito, shares Campbell’s sentiments.

“I’ve cooked in many other places, many other countries, many other states,” Jossel said. “In my opinion — and I’ve stated it many times — we are cooking in the best place to cook in the world.”

With the mutual respect that both these chefs and farmers have for their environment, the only thing left to do is streamline restaurant and consumer access to the fresh produce. While the majority of the public might assume that farms deliver directly to neighboring food and drink establishments, in reality, the process is much different. Although farms and restaurants have very close, long-tenured relationships, the majority of produce deliveries are achieved via the less intimate, yet more communal vessel of farmers markets.

Full Belly Farm, an even older Capay Valley establishment founded in 1985, is based in Guinda, just down the road from Riverdog Farm. Judith Redmond, a UC Davis alumna and one of the farm’s owners, knows the farmers market process very well.

“Many chefs come to the markets to pick up from multiple farms,” Redmond said. “They’re at the market. They’re seeing the produce. They’re thinking about how they’re going to cook it and what they’re going to do with it.”

For Jossel, a chef at Nopa for over 12 years, the farmers markets are key to his creative process.

“It’s a great place to talk to another chef about a recipe,” Jossel said. “We’re all shopping for the same stuff, but then we get to go back and [prepare] it in different ways.”

In addition to drawing inspiration from their fellow chefs, many cooks also look to farmers for well-received advice about their products.

“Just by making suggestions,” Campbell said. “‘Oh these Tokyo turnips! It’s the first week of the harvest. You got to try one of these: they’re so good raw, and you can grate it on a salad or you can just barely sauté it, and it’s just delicious — it tastes like a scallop.’”

At Nopa, Jossel has the luxury of a menu that changes daily based on what’s the best produce at the farmers markets that day. Jossel personally picks up all of the produce for him and his employees, allowing him to taste and touch the products prior to writing the menu.

“Today I picked up really good green beans from a farm called Tomatero,” Jossel said. “That influenced tonight’s menu; they will be on that menu, as are their tomatoes and some beautiful peppers that I found. Our style is ‘If it’s not in the market, we’re not cooking it.’”

This loyalty from big-time restaurants has cultivated a caring culture among farmers and chefs. Jossel is the first to admit that he feels a loyal obligation to the farmers he interacts with.

“When I started Nopa 12 years ago, there weren’t a ton of chefs at the market, and now there are so many. We are a big group of buyers at these markets,” Jossel said. “According to the market managers, we need to show up; we need to help these farmers out.”

Campbell feels similarly about the communal caring: she considers the farmers markets to be the highlight of her work.

“I like going to the farmers markets the most, every Saturday,” Campbell said. “The customers — I’ve come to know them — I’ve basically seen their children grow up on our food. I see them every week. I develop friendships, and it’s a way to take a break from the farm.”

This strengthened relationship between farmer and chef demonstrates the impact of the farm-to-fork movement. By creating a joint community, both sides have grown exponentially. While this is a business, it’s clear that farmer and chef alike both rely upon and care about one another.

Written By: Rowan O’Connell-Gates — arts@theaggie.org