Fresno Famous

If you follow local music, you've probably noticed an uptick in musical happenings. It's like, every week is an avalanche of bands moving through town.

Even in that light, this week looks super promising with multiple happenings. Every. Single. Night.

Starting tonight: Visalia's Sound N Vision Foundation does what it does so well, which is bring in cool up-and-coming indie-rock. This time it is Morning Teleportation with Nico's Gun and Hands of Boswell.

On the home front, the kids (I use that term with affection) down at C.A.F.E Infoshop do what they do so well, which is offer a venue for acts that would probably pass by Fresno oetherwise. In this case it's David Liebe Hart (from Adult Swim's Time and Eric Awesome show). You may remember he came last year. Also on the bill are bands worth knowing: Gorilla Stomp, I Do Not Exist, Restaurnaut, Fatty Cakes and Danny Lango.

My personal choice for the night (the one I will be at) is The Shrine at Audie's Olympic. Opening band aside, I'm a fan of this style of music and am super excited to see what goes down. 

Which brings us tomorrow. Fresno is strong on the blues front, so this should be a  good night all around. Tab Benoit is at Fulton 55, with 5150 opening, while Audie's Olympic has James Harman's Bamboo Porch Revue. That one has Nathan James and the Rhythm Scratchers and the always popular MoFo Party Band.

Thursday: We'll start with a non-music choice. The short-film extravaganza Swede Fest 9 is happening and this time it';s on the Big Screen. Like, in a real theater. The Sierra Vista Cinema 16 in Clovis to be exact. If you like your films low-budget with a touch of camp, get to this.

Also at Sierra Vista is the Rock the Mall concert series. This week it's Journey Tribute band Midnight Run.

In the Tower District, Love the Captive has its second awesome show of the week, with hip-hop and electronica from Dibiase, Knwxledge, Sahab and Sea Shock. 

In the Mural/Cultural Arts district there's dance/pop rock band Supernaw at Fulton 55. Can't say I know much about this one. Or this one either: Summer Jam at Rainbow Ballroom with the Cataracs and Dev. Here's something cool: 16 and up to dance and 21 and up to drink.

On Friday Eva Scow brings her latest project the Experience, to Audie's Olympic. The band recently funded (successfully) a Kickstarter campaign to record/release a new ep. Congrats to them.

Eclectic describes the lineup for Creative Fresno's One Night at: Fulton 55. You've got some jazz (Lisa' Big Night Out), some darked-humored lounge (Suicide Lounge), rock en espanol (Lezayr), bright, 60s-style pop (Blake Jones and the Trike Shop) and rockabilly (Motel Drive). As a bonus, proceeds from the show benefit Creative Fresno's mural project.

Saturday is festival day. First, there is the Hmong Music Festival. Looking at the lineup, it seems like some of these bands (the local ones) have been flying under the radar (at least locally). There's also some out-of-towners. Plus, fashion and dance and the like.

The Doll Hair Fest 2.5 will have 2 stages of punk, ska, folk and indie rock. It'll probably be less organized that the Hmong Music Festival, but it's only $1 to get in and it's a serious soldid lineup, so ...

There's also NickFest, presented by Religious Appeal.

This one is stacked deep with talent, including: They Call Me Greyhound (some kinda reunion or something), Fierce Creatures, Elmo Marconi, Style Like Revelators, Achievement House, Light Thieves, Reptilian Shape Shifters, Manmade Islands and Fast Car.

Holy S! That's a ton of great bands.

And the week closes out (or starts anew) on Sunday. Here is some more shameless self-promotion going on here. I co-host a radio show on KFSR. We play local music. Music like: Restaurnaut, Nate Butler and Valley of Ashes, which you can see at 4:30 p.m. at Fulton 55. AND, it's a benefit for KFSR, which airs our show.