A Bandgeeek year-end wrap up, or some thoughts on 2024.
Now, let's get excited for 2025.
We are in the last days of 2024 and what better use of this week’s newsletter than to take stock of the past year.
The ‘new’ releases
Without having any real data to back this up (other than just paying attention for a long while) 2024 was more productive a year for local music than any I can remember.
The guys at Spanspek Music and Arts Festival have promised a crowdsourced playlist of every local release they can find from 2024. It’s still in the works, but runs 100-plus deep, at least (Editor’s note: It has now been released). There were dozens covered in this newsletter and that was no where near a comprehensive following of things.
Tonight’s Homegrown Show will features some of 2024’s notable releases for those who are interested.
Some of this is in the means of production and distribution being accessible to pretty much anyone. So, some of the excuses for why musicians can’t get music out has been stripped away.
Also, there’s a good support system (of promoters/venues/fans/engineers/photographers/labels) that seems to have embraced the scene (or at very least the bands in the scene). So, some of the incentives have been added back in.
On that note: Jackie Bootstraps (Tower Rats/Long Forgotten) has just put together a Fresno Musicians Directory, as a “centralized resource connecting our city’s musicians and other creatives in the music industry, promoters, venues and fans.”
In memoriam, or who we lost in 2024
A concert promoter in his youth, Gary Smith helped revolutionized the concert music industry with Pollstar, the Fresno-based publication he founded with Gary Bongiovanni in 1981.
That’s not hype. For years, (and to this day actually) the publication was the go-to for all the gory details on concert tour and venues. Because of Pollstar we know Taylor Swift made $2.2 on her Eras tour.
Smith died in January. He was 77.
Depending on when and where you ran into Nathaniel Berg, you may have known him as a musician (he played bass and sang in the ’90s punk band Sharon Tate), a promoter (he booked bands at Jerry’s Pizza in Bakersfield) or a film-maker historian (whose documentaries included a chronicle of Fugazi’s iconic show at Fresno’s Knights of Columbus Hall in 1991).
He died in January at age 52.
Eric Estrada was a quintessential “band” guy; a musician, but also promoter/manager (via his Fake Frown booking) and tour-van driver, when need arose. He died in February from cancer (or complications thereof).
Singer Merlinda Espinosa-Torres died in June. She was 38 and had already established herself as a force within Fresno’s arts community (as a musician, who did TV commercial work, apparently, but also an actor).
Out at the venues
This spring marked one full year since the city took over the Tower Theatre and we now have a pretty good idea of the vision the new management company has for the venue.
They’ve certainly increased bookings; by one count, it’s 110% year-to-year.
They’ve stuck with some of the usual suspects (the comedians and the classic rock cover bands) while going back to being a movie house on what would otherwise be off nights, showing classic and cult films.
They’ve also managed to land tour stops from an eclectic list of mid-tier artists (Los Lobos, Slick Rick, Alejandro Escovedo, Steel Pulse, Molly Tuttle) as well as a few odd one offs (John Waters, the composer’s cut version of the film “Zombie”).
And they’ve shown at least some interest in booking local talent, as evident in the lineup for their 85th anniversary celebration earlier this month.
The calendar looks similar for 2025. Pay attention to “Cowboy Bebop Live,” Feb. 13 and Reverend Horton Heat/Black Joe Lewis/Pinata Protest, Feb. 19.
Other venues worth noting in 2024:
The Rainbow Ballroom, which had its 100th anniversary this year and also a major makeover. Fresno’s longest-running venue has set itself up to be the go-to spot of mid-level touring acts.
The Adventist Health Amphitheater, which opened in October with a run of concerts that included a country show (Clay Walker, Canaan Smith) and some hard/classic rock (Buckcherry, Living Colour and Lou Gramm and Asia). The city has contracted with Spade Entertainment to book at least 12 events a year, so we should expect some sort of concert series in 2025. What it has going for it? Reasonable ticket prices.
The Great Room. Technically, the all-ages spot has been operating out of a shared room University Presbyterian Church for the last two years. But it was this year that the space really cemented itself as consistent venue, especially for up-and-coming bands.
The Starving Artist Bistro, which shut down in October, after being open for almost a dozen years. This was one of those restaurant spaces that doubled as an art space music venue, hosting open mics, blues jams, feature performances and the occasional full-on band nights. It was one of the few such spaces to exist in north Fresno.
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. It’s a year-end wrap up of sorts. Follow my other writing at The Fresno Bee. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com