Fresno finds: Live recordings from Zapp's Park, Peeve's Public House,
Plus, a Foo Fighter's concert review and Krampus Caroling at Van Ness Village
Something fun to do with your free time is take a deep dive with the Bandcamp search function.
Turns out, you can find some off-the-wall, obscure releases related to your hometown.
For instance: Revolution Summer, “Live at Zapp’s Park.”
Uploaded by Fresno ex-pat Ben McEntee last November, the album was recorded in 2002 on single mic mini disk recorder placed on bar inside Zapp’s Park, that once iconic dive of a place that stood on the grounds of Fresno’s long lost amusement park.
The seven tracks capture McEntee, plus drummer Eli Reyes and bassist Luke Deniston doing a setlist of “half-baked rock songs” written, practiced and performed in just one day.
The three piece later would become the Soma Holidays, with McEntee and Reyes playing as the Fay Wrays in the late 2000s/early 2010s. The songs are loud (and also somehow quiet at times) and raucously full of early emo influences (that’s late ’80s emotional hardcore, not whatever it is that “emo” would later become).
The album is “part raucous live show, part time capsule, part eavesdropping into bar conversations,” and for anyone who knows McEntee’s other projects it is also a foretelling of what’s to come.
You’ll like it if: You ever spent a night at Zapp’s Park watching full bands cramped in and performing, quite literally, up against the bar.
Another time-capsule release is Crisis Arm’s “Live at Peeve’s.”
The album was recorded at Peeve’s Public House (the old Fulton/Milano’s/Fresno Brewing Company spot) in February 2015, when it was still in its prime as a hip venue. A year later it would be closed. The three-song instrumental album is close to 12 and a half minutes of reverb and feedback laden shoegaze goodness.
You’ll like it if: You’re nostalgic for the days when Peeve’s put on shows with loud, obscure (and also really f’in great) rock bands.
Foo Fighter + Kills Birds, Save Mart Center, Dec. 9, 2021
The Foo Fighters returned to Fresno last Thursday for a two-and-a-half hour end-of-tour concert I reviewed for the Fresno Bee.
Slide over there for the full read (and don’t bitch about the pay wall guys, I gotta eat).
Some quick thoughts: As talked about in this Facebook thread, I had good seats, apparently, because to my ears the show came off loud, yes, but well balanced and clear.
That was not the case for everyone at the venue.
Is this an unfixable problem with the Save Mart Center that’s somehow not an issue at the Selland Arena as some will argue? That’s for y’all to discuss.
My take away: Foo Fighters will replace the Rolling Stones as the world’s great rock band. Dave Grohl and company carry that same sort of prestige (IMO); a band full of great (in some cases, iconic musicians) with a massive catalog of great music and knowledge of how to carry out these kind of arena-or-bigger level tours.
I will also second The Fresnan and say, don’t sleep on the show’s opener, Kills Birds.
Events list Dec. 12-18
File this under seasonal?!
Van Ness Village (which includes SpokeEasy, Sour Milk, Root Hackerspace and The LAByrinth Art Collective) is hosting “Krampus Caroling and Consortium for the Gift Giving Procrastinator,” which is a long way of saying they’re setting up more than a dozen vendors and food trucks for the day AND hosting a massive bill of local musicians that includes: BKR, It’ll Grow Back, Mantis Watch, The Sunnydales, Dontcaryformeimallreadydead, Wormavin, Eighteen Hundreds, Miles the Boxer, Roger Perry and Brad the Dudeboy Rogers and Blake Jones with Scott Hatfield.
The event happens Saturday, Dec. 18. Obviously, this is one of those all-day kind of things, so map your plans accordingly.
Other events for the week:
Donovan Merelo, JT Paradox, Marcel and The Wild, J.D., 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, Strummer’s. $10-$12, all ages.
Santa Sleighin’ with the After Dinner Mints, 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, Fulton 55. $15.
Christian Nodal, 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, Save Mart Center. $23-$69.50.
Impending Doom, Bury Your Dead, 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, Full Circle Brewery District. $22-$27.
This Wild Life, Taylor Acorn, Arrows in Action, 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 13, Strummer’s. $19, all ages.
Movements, Ridgeway, Blade, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15, Strummer’s. This show is sold out.
Fresno Cypher, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15, Full Circle Brewery District. Free. All ages.
John Corabi acoustic, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16, Fulton 55. $15-$20.
1335, the Sunnydales, 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16, Strummer’s. Free.
Clint Black featuring Lisa Hartman Black, 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16, Saroyan Theatre. $35-$123+
Chelsea Grin, 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16, Full Circle Brewery District. $22-$25.
Too Short, 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17, Azteca. $50-$500.
Cumbia Bass, 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17, Fulton 55. $10.
Drake vs. Kanye DJ Night, 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17, Strummer’s. $5.
Ugly Sweater party with The Box, 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17, Full Circle Brewery District. Free, all ages.
LMC x Teezzy x Pleasure Pack, 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, Fulton 55. $10.
Rock en Espanol Night, Holiday Edition, 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, Strummer’s. Free.
The Dinner Crowd, 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, Full Circle Brewery District. Free, all ages.
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. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com