Fresno Famous

Tommy Nugent didn't think he'd be back in Fresno for this year's Rogue Festival (which kicks off March 1 in the Tower District, FYI). He's not a "new-show-every-year" kind of performer. But he found himself down at Occupy Wall Street (you know, so he could hold up funny signs) and an odd thing happened ... We won't tell you what exactly, but suffice it to say, he ended up with a new show.

"Occupy This! Tales of an Accidental Activist" plays at the Broken Leg Stage, March 2, 3 and 4. Nugent sold out most of his shows his first two times in town and this year he's only doing one weekend of the festival and playing in a venue half the size. So, if you want to see him (and you should), get there early.

Here's more on the show from the Nuge himself:

"I went to Occupy Wall Street and then the kick off of my 'home' Occupy in Detroit, to get pics and vids of my carrying funny signs like 'Rev. Nuge - 99% love, 1% asshole' (which I showed to my son, who said 'more like 15%') and then I accidentally bought into the possibility of the movement.

In some ways 'Occupy This!' is the mirror image of last year's 'American Badass' show.  Last year I went as big as possible -- the biggest Rogue venue, loud music, guest stars. This year I'm in the 50-seat Broken Leg Stage venue because I love the feel of the place. Its intimacy fits the vibe of this story, which is less 'me-centric' and more about the characters I met at Occupy Detroit and what I learned from them and from the movement as a whole ... Damn, that still sounds pretty me-centric...

Working a Rogue Cafe slot instead of Mainstage also means charging only $5 a ticket, so it's accessible to more people, in keeping with the Occupy spirit.  
It's funny, the two things you're never supposed to talk about are religion and politics, and my first Rogue show ('Burning Man and the Rev. Nuge') was about my journey from preacher to atheist and this one's about the Occupy Movement.  Oops.But this show is for everybody regardless of your politics. Maybe the biggest lesson I learned while occupying with everyone from absolutely destitute homeless folks to university professors and real estate millionaires is that we are all way more alike than different. We don't all have the same struggles, but we all struggle. We have different hopes and dreams, but we all hope and dream.

And my efforts in this movement are about making sure 1% of us don't have undo power to interfere with the hopes and dreams of the rest of us."