The Ramones, the Police, Talking Heads, Iggy Pop and Emmylou Harris all performed in the student-run Coffee House at UC Davis — and tickets cost as little as $3 a pop. The UC Davis free-form radio station KDVS continues to train students to organize their own donation-funded punk shows in sticky, sweaty living rooms. A student government group brought major contemporary acts like Drake, Flume and Muse to larger venues on campus throughout the years. The volunteer group puts on concerts wherever they can happen — parks, bars, a rarely used theater — including the annual Davis Music Fest, a South by Southwest-style, multi-venue festival throughout downtown every June. He says local music history and the university’s enormous presence certainly influence the city’s culture, but it’s up to residents to make sure Davis keeps its reputation as a hub of creativity. The stunningly beautiful and modern performing arts center at UC Davis hosts some of the most exciting dance, speaker and multimedia events in the region. Aromatic curries, neon tiki drinks and live music converge at this popular Thai restaurant on a busy strip of downtown Davis. For the past decade, Kevin Wan has been booking primarily indie rock, pop and folk acts with an impressive knack for nabbing up-and-coming acts on the cusp of breaking out — think the Lumineers, Lord Huron, and the Head and the Heart. Armadillo touts a diverse selection of constantly changing CDs and vinyl, and that diversity is reflected in who performs in-store, too: ska bands, acoustic singer-songwriters, funk troupes and garage-soul acts regularly play free gigs in the afternoons or early evenings.