Fresno Famous

The Rogue, a 9 day non-juried festival, is a safe space where performers and artists can bring out their new, experimental or unpolished material and put these works in front of an audience. The exciting part about attending an event like this is getting to see something, well, that hasn't been seen before. To that end, when deciding what would make our "top picks" list, we tried to take into account how "original" each act sounded. We wanted to recommend stuff that you couldn't find in town on just any old night of the week. Something a little crazy. Then we weighed each act's potential crazy factor against the odds that the idea would actually be entertaining to watch ... and ta-da! Here's out list:

1. "That Thing With The Cell Phone"

Local performance artist Mallory Moad (ha! you didn't even know we had a local performance artist) made waves last season with her cell phone act. The concept for this year's revamped version remains the same: Moad takes orders from "visual artists" via her cellphone and does what they tell her to. It's a simple act that has endlessly entertaining possibilities. On an interesting side-note, the Fresno Bee's columnist and art critic, Donald Munro, will be giving Moad orders during one of the performances. We secretly hope he doesn't keep his mind out of the gutter...

Veni Vidi Vici
1116 N. Fulton

3:45 PM, Saturday, March 5
2:30 PM, Sunday, March 6
8:45 PM, Friday, March 11

2. "The Rap Canterbury Tales"

Pilgrims rapping Chaucer? That's something that will excite Classics majors everywhere! While the concept of dressing the classics in hip hop clothing isn't exactly new (Bomb-itty of Errors anyone?), it's still a pretty new one for Fresno. That's part of the charm of living in a cultural time warp: old ideas still sound new. On the bright side, the performance has received rave reviews and it'll give you something new to reference next time you engage ex-CSUF Professor Victor Davis Hanson in a heated debate about the oral tradition.

Starline
833 Fern

8:30 PM, Friday, March 4 *Starline, 833 Fern
4:00 PM, Saturday, March 5 *Dianna's, 726 Fulton
1:00 PM, Sunday, March 6 *Dianna's, 726 Fulton
7:00 PM, Friday, March 11 *Dianna's, 726 Fulton
8:30 PM, Saturday, March 12 *Starline, 833 Fern

3. "Baba Goes Ballistic"

Off Kilter Kinetic Theatre, the masterminds behind "Baba", are the same folks who took the Producer's Prize at last year's Rogue Festival for their multimedia presentation on Highway 99. While this years theatrical production centered on the theme of gravity has far less cultural gravitas for most of us Valley folk, it will probably be really rad for fans of The Learning Channel.

Dianna's
826 N. Fulton

10:00 PM, Friday, March 4
4:00 PM, Saturday, March 5
8:30 PM, Saturday, March 5
2:30 PM, Sunday, March 6

4. "The Rusty Comic Variety Show"

If you're like Famous then you probably find people with foreign accents charming. If that's the case, then be sure to catch the Christopher Yates! The red headed New Zealander, will bring his Vaudeville inspired variety show to Dianna's. Christopher promises singing, dancing and magic tricks -- but go for the accent!

Dianna's
726 N. Fulton

7:00 PM, Friday, March 4
2:30 PM, Saturday, March 5
4:00 PM, Sunday, March 6

5. "Jaguar Bennet"

Nothing promises to be more entertaining than embarrassing stories about sex. If you enjoy a good case of the idiot shivers (you know, that horrible feeling you get when someone tells a story so embarrassing or shocking that you feel embarrassed for them) then Jaguar Bennett's frank anecdotes about boner pills and masturbation is right up your alley. Come drunk, stay drunk.

Veni Vidi Vici
1116 N. Fulton

10:00 PM, Saturday, March 5
10:00 PM, Friday, March 11

6. "I Thought I Knew You"

A collection of dances based on relationships, first meetings and other human interactions. Choreographed by Fresnan-in-exile Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, the piece promises to be edgy, postmodern and bold.

Dianna's
826 N. Fulton

7:00 PM, Friday, March 4
2:30 PM, Saturday, March 5
10:00 PM, Saturday, March 5
4:00 PM, Sunday, March 6

7. "637 Salon"

Hillary Robertson's series of pastel portraits, full of dynamic colors and alien features will be on display at 637 Salon throughout the festival.

SALON 637
637 E. Olive