It's Tiny Desk season. Good luck to the Fresno folks competing (there's still time)
Plus, a Tool review, a Fresno actor lands in J-Lo's new music movie and RIP to musician/promoter Eric Estrada.
NPR has done a really good bit of marketing with its Tiny Desk Concerts series.
It is a novel idea. Take a band or musician and throw them up in a crammed performance spot that forces them to be stripped down and intimate; outside of any comfort zones.
It can be any band or musician from across genres and there’s actually bonus point from fans if it’s something you wouldn’t expect to hear on NPR (GWAR, let’s say) or someone breaking outside their own artist boxes (T-Pain singing sans auto tune).
And it’s become a thing, something artists want to be a part of because they know it has a cache and the potential to produce viral content (see, T-Pain).
Which brings us to the annual Tiny Desk Contest, where NPR solicits unsigned artists for a spot on the show (and other career-building prizes). The winner of this year’s contest (chosen by a panel of NPR judges) gets their own Tiny Desk concert, plus a feature on All Things Considered, a headlining gig on the Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour and connection with a music industry mentor.
Entries run through Wednesday for the procrastinators.
Every year at least a few Fresnans take part and already I’ve seen entries from:
Michael Faeth, who drummed for the Seattle/Portland band Jessamine in the ’90s, toured with Louisville’s The For Carnation in the US and England (they played All Tomorrow’s Parties) and plays locally with Buzzbomb, Atoms Are Aliens, and Llama Boy, while releasing music as a solo artist. His entry is called “One and One is One.”
Songwriter Luke Freeman, aka Brother Luke, who sort of seems ready-made for the Tiny Desk. His entry is called “Hornets Nests and Concrete Blocks,” and is
“about always thinking you’re right and our inability to compromise.”
From Flowers to Flies, which teased (but has yet to post) its entry this week. You can probably narrow down which song they might be doing by the fact that Megan Rice is playing sax. It looks like they chose to perform in front of a tiny student school desk, which makes sense given that several of the member are teachers.
Concert review: Tool + Elder, 2/12/2024, Save Mart Center Fresno
Tool returned to Fresno for the … I don’t know … ninth time since the band first starting coming here in the mid-1990s.
I was there and did a review for The Fresno Bee (there are some great photos).
Tool is not a jam band, obviously, because they aren’t jamming their way into 10 minute songs, really. But they have serious jam band vibes. And they’re not a prog band, though Monday night’s concert had serious prog energy, especially in the amount of lasers pulsing through the stadium.
And much like Phish or the Dead, or even Rush, let’s say, Tool fans are gonna see a Tool concert and they are going to think it’s the best.
Fresno actor stars in J-Lo’s music-heavy new movie
Jennifer Lopez released a new album on Friday, which was a big deal because it was her first in a decade and because it was an autobiographical plunge into her oft-talked about love life.
It also came with a movie tie-in, which for the purposed of this newsletter is worth mentioning because of Brandon Delsid. The LGBTQ+, Latinx actor, who plays Lopez’ best-friend/confidant, traces his career directly back to Fresno’s community theater scene.
RIP musician, scene supporter Eric Estrada
Eric Estrada was a music-scene guy.
He was a musician yes, he played drums in Judah and other bands, but he also did promotions under the moniker Fake Frowns Booking, toured with Scoundrel as their driver and served as a kind of all-around support system for any number of bands and musicians. His enthusiasm bred enthusiasm.
That’s how he’s being remembered.
Estrada had been diagnosed with cancer (Adrenal Cortical Carcinoma) and had been open about undergoing chemotherapy. He died Feb. 14.
A GoFundMe has been created to help support his family and pay for funeral expenses. A memorial is being planned for April 20 at Shallow End.
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. 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