Dale's Old Fresno Records Part 1 30MAY12

May 30 2012
3

Part 1 30MAY12 Here are a few of my favorite old records by Fresno bands in my collection.

Let's start with the The Wild Blue Yonder:

Judy Bixler-Vocals, Electric Piano, Bill Bixler-Vocals,
Saxophone and keyboard, Jim Bixler-Vocals, Guitar and
Saxophone, Phil Wimer-Guitar, vocals and piano, Tad
Wadhams-Bass and vocals, Jeff Bowman-Vibes and
Percussion, Alan Carlson-Drums.

The WBY are IMO the Spiritual Godparents of the
Fresno RocknRoll scene. They were so kind to me and many
other Fresno musicians over the years, giving us a place to
play and the support to hone our craft in their groovy nightclub
of the same name.
Going all the way back to the 60s, some of these great players
are still gigging to this day. They just played at the Fulton 55 a
few weeks ago and were just as good as I remembered them
from back in the day.
"Instant Gratification" is my fave off this album and it's a song
that Judy sang lead vocals on. She hits those blue notes
in such a masterful way. I remember seeing her singing
Standards at the grand piano in the club in the 80s.

http://www.thewildblueyonderband.com/

Here's "Instant Gratification" from their LP Blue Print from 1978:

Another Fresno icon, Jim Hampton also goes back to the 60s and is still playing gigs and will be playing with Snail at the Fulton 55 on June 2nd. http://www.fulton55.com/

This song is the B-Side of his 1981 7inch and it's called "Ripe for Picking" as in, This valley's ripe for picking, guitar picking that is, as Jim is a great guitarist with loads of great licks in many different styles. He taught guitar lessons for years and I took a few from him in the 80s. He taught me how to play Booker T's Green Onions and I played a punk version of it for several years in Capitol Punishment. http://www.facebook.com/jim.hampton.79?ref=ts

I love this art work! I count Eleven guitars hanging in the branches of the tree. Are they all Jim's? And what kind of tree is it? It could be an Oak like the mighty Visalia oaks or a sycamore that we have such plenty of or our name sake tree, the mighty, but small Ash. No, it's a Fig Tree, the symbol of Fresno and what we have grown and still grow here for so many years.

There's great lyrics in this song like: "San Joaquin I always thought to make it here was fine, but all I ever hoped for was a sign". It captures the feel of what it's like to live in the San Joaquin Valley.

"Ripe for Picking!"

Avenue was a happening band in 1978 and had a choice, first song, side one on the KYNO Valley Grown compilation. They were the best band on the record and I happened to see them play at one of their rehearsals down in Fowler because Robert Lang, who joined the band as second guitarist invited me. It was a fun party and they had the coolest Marshall stacks and hard rock licks. There's a great Myspace page over here with lots of history on Avenue: http://www.myspace.com/avenuetributetojimturner.

Here's Livin' Lovin' Doll:

By 1982 punk had hit the Valley real hard, right between the eyes and we had a veritable bumper crop of garage-punk bands that could hold their own with the best of them. The Frigidettes were an all-girl band with socially-aware lyrics with political overtones. Most of the punk bands had an angry focus some of the other bands lacked. "Turmoil" is as anti-war as you can get and Linda Abrahamian was quite literate, a quality that most rocknroll lead singers lack. http://www.facebook.com/labrahamian1. The Frigidettes were selected for the super-cool Maximum Rocknroll compilation, Not so Quiet on the Western Front, still in print on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles: http://www.alternativetentacles.com/product.php?product=198&sd=bjq9KOiLB...