I supported Fresno's all-ages DIY scene and all I got was this t-shirt

Plus, that time Mike Watt's dad saw him play a DIY show in downtown and a concert for Dia De Los Muertos + the Day the Music Died.

Good venues make music scenes.

It’s an obvious thing that probably doesn’t need to be said, though I probably have said some version of such on multiple occasions, talking about the Wild Blue or the Rainbow Ballroom, the Big Fresno Barn,the Wilson Theater, Tokyo Garden, Zapp’s Park, Kuppajoe, Starline (and now Strummer’s), Howie and Sons and Cellar Door (for the south Valley readers), the short-lived The Bel-Tower, Chinatown Youth Center, Fulton 55, Destructive Warehouse …

And the Great Room, which over the last two years has established itself as a hub and training ground for a certain set of younger indie-rock bands. The venue is an all-ages, inclusive and safe listening space hosted at the University Presbyterian Church and run by a group of volunteers.

And it could use some help.

From @Great_Room_Shows on IG: “This kind of thing takes a lot of work and money to keep up and maintain. We’re super fortunate to have the church provide a space for us to throw shows, but it’s up to the team of volunteers and community to make it the best it can be.”

This week, the venue announced a special t-shirt sale, with the proceed going toward repairing speakers and buying new microphones and cables or new lights to replace damaged ones. You can see the shirt-design and get your order in now.

As a bonus, photographer Rian Diener (@rianslens) is offering $50 off future shoots for bands/artists for every shirt you purchase. This is a limited thing, but if you miss out, organizers will still accept donations through Cashapp ($greatroomshows) or the website Buy Me a Coffee.

Mike Watt and the only show his father saw him play

Legendary bassist Mike Watt was in town last weekend with his current project, the Corsano Baiza Watt Trio. They did a thing at Fresno State and also played a free gig at the bar side of Strummer’s, which you can read all about in Watt’s online tour diary.

“Fresno is about 240 miles north of my Pedro town ... I know the route well cuz my pop moved there after he retired from the navy in the late ‘70s and I would visit him as much as I could, trying to catch up w/all the time we missed each other cuz of his tours w/the navy when I was little (he was a machinist mate and worked in nuclear engine rooms).”

It was also in Fresno, 34 years ago, that Watt’s dad saw him play for the first and only time in his career.

“It was w/fIREHOSE at a rented-out Spaghetti Factory multipurpose room in this town. My pop really tripped on watching how the whole thing worked, me and my guys in a brand new econoline I'd just built and the do-it-yourself way gig boss Paul got hundreds of gig-goers to make this show happen.”

The Paul referenced here is Ragin’ Records owner Paul Cruikshank, who did promotions work during the ’80 and ’90s at The Old Town Saloon (which was next to the old Old Spaghetti Factory and was maybe the precursor to Cadillac Club?) and at Patterson Hall, among other spots.

He was also responsible for last weekend’s show at Strummer’s, where he and Watt got to do a bit of catching up and ended up talking about that show.

Cruikshank posted about the interaction over on Facebook.

“Mike Watt sits me down and says ‘we haven’t seen one another in years but I’ve been waiting to tell you something. You were a big part of the most important gig of my entire life.’ And this is no exaggeration, as he starts to tear up,” Crukshank wrote.

“As Mike put it, his dad finally saw that Mike was The Chief of his own people. And it was an impressive sized troop that followed every lead, or bass solo and went absolutely ape shit for him.

Mike’s Dad was finally proud of him on that Fresno night. A bunch of you were there at literally the most important gig of his life. He then told everybody he could how important Fresno is to him, that we all came out in droves on just the right night.”

Shameless self promotion: Dia de Los Muertos/the Day the Music Died celebration

Before my brother discovered metal (and introduced it to me, as all good big brothers do) I was fed a steady diet of pre-Beatles rock and roll. That’s thanks to A.) my father’s age and musical inclinations B.) oldies radio and C.) movies, specifically “The Buddy Holly Story,” “La Bamba” and “Back to the Future.”

Buddy Holly was the pinnacle for me and my earliest memories of wanting to be a performer came from singing along to a cassette version of “20 Golden Greats.”

Which make me all kinds of giddy for the Dia de Los Muertos/Day the Music Died tribute celebration, Nov. 1 at Fulton 55.

Show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 and available online or at Tower District Records.

I’ll be doing my best Buddy impression.

This is a re-cast of a 2017 concert in which I performed with a version of Motel Drive as my backing band. Macondo singer Israel Flores put together a band to play as Ritchie Valens.

This time around, Flores will once again pay tribute to Valens, playing with Macondo. I’ll be performing as a mustachioed Buddy, backed by the New Old Man live band (Victor Sotelo on guitar, Emelia Guadarrama on bass an harmonies and Wade Krause on drums).

Cariñyo and Basura will open and closed the night, respectively.

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. Tonight I’ll be talking with the sibling rock band JNX. 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