All aboard! The Yosemite Jazz Train kicks off its 2023 season
Plus, Offspring is coming back to The Big Fresno Fair.
Jazz as a history of being bigtime in Fresno.
Contemporary jazz specifically, for the sake of this post.
People used to complain about how much jazz got played on KFSR, it being a college radio station and all. But, jazz paid the bills (or that’s what youngsters like myself assumed at the time).
The inaugural concert at the amphitheater at Woodward Park was a jazz fest. It wasn’t the last.
Saxophonist Dave Koz seemed to have an open slot at the Tower Theater, he played there so often.
It feels like the legacy of all that ended up n the Yosemite Jazz Train, which kicks off its 2023 season today.
The jazz train is part of the historic Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad, which sits 10 minutes south of the national park and runs a steam powered train through the mountains from April to November. You get the 25-minute narrated train ride, but also an intimate performance at the Sugar Pine’s Lewis Creek Amphitheater.
Plus, food and an artist meet and greet.
This year’s season features seven performances, starting with Vincent Ingala and Arthur Thompson, who play at 3 p.m. today.
Other artists include:
July 9: Mindi Abair, with Dylan Chambers
July 23: Peter White
Aug 20: Rick Braun
Oct. 8: Hiroshima
Oct. 15: Jesse Cook
Adult tickets are $125-$150.
The Offspring added to The Big Fresno Fair for 2023
When The Big Fresno Fair announced the first round of performers for its 2023 lineup, I had some thoughts on how they might fill out the rest of the concert series.
There would be a comedian, certainly.
And there would be, as I put it: “a rock or metal act. Something with a bit more, but not too much edge.”
On Tuesday the fair announced two more acts for the year and proved I was right … and …. almost right?
First, the comedian.
There is no arguing that Carlos Mencia his run as one of the most popular and successful comedians in the early 2000s. He was on TV and in movies and had own series on Comedy Central.
He also got a massive amount of hate, especially from other comedians, who accused him of plagiarizing jokes. See: the Joe Rogan feud.
Mencia currently back on tour, playing to smaller, more intimate audiences and has two specials that should be out later this year. He will kick off the fair’s opening weekend Oct. 6.
On the music front, while we didn’t get a metal or hard rock band (a missed opportunity in my mind), the fair did go for a bit of edginess with The Offspring.
The ‘90s punk rockers return to the fair Oct. 13 (that’s a Friday BTW).
The band played the fair back in 2016.
In March, the band announced a pop-punk summer tour with Sum 41 and Simple Plan. It plays three California Amphitheaters in August. More recently, Dexter Holland and Noodles launched the “Time to Relax” podcast. Its first guest was Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise.
Presales for both performance are available on Tuesday.
So far, The Big Fresno Fair has announced eight of 12 performance slots: En Vogue and Expose (Oct. 5); Carlos Mencia (Oct. 6); Elle King (Oct. 7); Hairball (Oct. 9); Daney Gokey (Oct. 10); Midland (Oct. 11); the Beach Boys (Oct. 12) and The Offspring (Oct. 13).
The list of local acts performing on the fair’s various other stages has yet to be updated.
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 and 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