Fresno Famous

Disclosure (for those who don't know): I helped to organize Re: FUSE, so this won't be as much of an actual review as just some thoughts I have about the whole deal, and a place for y'all (those who may have attended, or not) to voice your thoughts.

There are also posts up at the Beehive and The Fresnan, if you're interested in some other reactions.

As a performer: Many people don't know, aside from from fronting a loud-n'-fast punk band, I also do an acoustic thing, just me and my guitar. It's always been kind of nerve-racking because it's not my main focus, so I'm not all that practiced, and my guitar doesn't have a line input, which makes it tough to get all mic-ed up, and even though I've played a dozen or more times, it's always been kind of sketchy, performance wise.

Not here. The sound guys were awesome and somehow able to get me (and my guitar) all leveled out, and sitting there, back behind the two sets of low monitors it sounded great. Half an hour was a bit of a stretch for me as far as playing original songs, but I practiced some and did it, and overall had a great time. I could complain about the crowd size, but I played early and this project doesn't have any kind of name draw, so I didn't expect a huge turnout.

Other bands: One draw back to putting on an event like this is you don't get to enjoy the event really. There were several bands I would have liked to see. As it was I caught ...

Yesterday's Chonies: Someone at the festival described this band as "a bunch of band dudes that got together and said f' the world." Not quite sure what that means, but it sounds about right. There's no guitar or bass, just horns, and a washboard and a kick drum and the singer who uses an megaphone every now and again. It has sort of a marching-band thing, but that's just the instrumentation and the term doesn't do them justice. Totally energetic, unusual and fun stuff. It would have been nice to see them in front of a larger crowd. They opened the festival and there was some confusion as to when that actually was, so some people missed out (and I heard about it).

Patrick Contreras: Patrick loves to give his audiences new stuff all the time. Here he stepped away from the Jimi Hendrix stuff, in favor of something more classical, accompanied by just a piano. It was wonderful. He started off the set with Bohemian Rhapsody.

Blake Jones: I've seen Blake a lot of times and it's always great. This time they played "Hey Hey Light Rail," which is one of my faves.

Populus: Dude's been bugging me for forever, cause he's come to see me play a lot, but every time he has a show something always "comes up" and I can't make it. So, I made it a point to catch him down at Joe's Steakhouse. This wasn't a typical sort of venue. It was the back room of the place and there were wooden tables and people eating. So it was awesome to see the guy work the room. And he seriously had the audience into it. Even the ones with food in front of them. There was some issues with the amount of f' bombs he was dropping, which the manager tried to put a stop too. Bottom line, dude is good and a total entertainer and I need to make a point to catch him more often.

On a side note, we got some tentative plans for a really cool show for Feb. 3.

Sleepover Disaster: I had a feeling this would be the high light of the festival. Something about having these guys closing down the spiral garage, under the city skyline, at night, just seemed so right. I was correct. By the end of the set, there was a large-ish crowd and you really got a feel for what the spiral garage (as a venue) was supposed to be.

There was some issue with the wind. Like, how it was coming in at 50 miles and hour or so and trying to blow stuff over.

Basura: This was the night cap, so to speak. They closed the night off at Tokyo Garden and had the whole place going off in a way I haven't really seen since the glory days of Pinkeye (for anyone who remembers that). The crowd was jumping and dancing and having a sweaty-good time. Busura was described to me as a metal band, and while there was some metal-madness happening, they were much more than that.

Final thoughts: Was Re: FUSE a success? Yes. In that it accomplished some goals. Everyone walked away feeling like they accomplished something tangible, or saw something amazing, or discovered a new piece of their home town, or just had a really, really, really cool time in downtown after dark. And everyone had a part in that, from the bands (they all showed up on time and eager to play) to the venues (who believed enough to open their doors and welcome us all in), the volunteers (who showed up with little idea as to what we wanted them to do), to everyone who paid $15 without really knowing what or who they were going to see.

Could there have been more people? Always. Were there logistical and technical problems that could have been hammered out better? Of course. But that's for year three.