On the phone with ... Laura Ramirez of the Valley Echoes newsletter
Plus, mark you calendars for Deafheaven, Junior H, English Beat.
There’s that adage about all things old being new again.
It’s weird to actually live through it.
Like, I am old enough to remember the days of Fresno’s blogosphere; was a part of it even, through the website Fresno Famous and then with The Fresno Beehive.
If those aren’t familiar to you, you can always hit the Way Back Machine.
That was a weird in between time. The walls were coming down around traditional, legacy media, but social media hadn’t hit strangle-hold levels yet. If you were nerdy enough, and plugged in, there was the space (and tools) for you to create a niche following. See: Mike Seay’s OG blogsite The Fresnan, but also Mike Oz’ (long defunct) online bulletin board Post No Bills, etc.
I was reminded of that when I started this newsletter in 2020.
And also when Laura Ramirez started Valley Echoes last year.
Someone sent me a link with the message: “You’ve got competition.”
It was apt. Here was someone who was 1.) as into local music as I was, or at least paying it as much attention. 2.) putting in the work to share what she knew, first via an Instagram account and then, very quickly (like, within a week) through a Substack newsletter.
Ramirez already understood content creation.
She ran an Instagram account called Married with Vinyl, which shared images of the records she listened to with her husband while getting ready for work each morning.
The account is a kind of visual playlist in 600-plus posts and a good scroll for those interested. To quote the bio: “A guy in a record store once said, ‘It’s cool the way you two shop together.’ Here is our collection.”
Looking back at it now, there is some foreshadowing of where the account would end up:
The heart emoji in the bio before the location, Fresno, CA.
This post from Nov. 21, 2023, which features “the legendary unreleased album by blackballed acid-funkateer” Fugi.
It’s the only post I found with an extended caption. It reads: “Ellington ‘Fugi’ Jordon co-wrote ‘I’d Rather Go Blind,” in 1967 and it was released by Etta James later that year. He lived and died in Fresno, CA, in 2020.
If you haven’t heard this album check it out.”
Valley Echoes actually started out of the Married with Vinyl account with this post.
At the urging of friends and coworkers, and Ramirez’ innate need to share, she created a Substack profile and quickly got to work.
“It felt good to put something I love out into the universe,” Ramirez wrote, in Valley Echoes’ introductory newsletter last September.
I feel that.
Since then, Ramirez has become a beacon for Fresno’s music scene, with weekly concert listings and monthly Spotify playlists, plus an occasional review and first-person narrative (from a weekend hang out with gigging musicians, for example).
Most recently, she’s taken to doing a series of “On the Phone” interviews with local musicians, promoters and the like.
Here’s her take on the conversation we had last week.
It’s a bit of a crossover, though I assume we share many readers.
From that convo, I learned that Ramirez is still figuring out Valley Echoes might become.
There will be some news on that front coming soon.
As someone self-tasked with chronicling Fresno’s music scene, I appreciate having another resource in the mix and find the whole exciting and encouraging.
Fresno concert announcements: Junior H, Deafheaven, English Beat
So, Shakira has sort of sucked the air out of all the concert-announcement news over the last few weeks.
Still, there were a few things worth noting.
English Beat returns to Strummer’s Aug. 28. This is first-wave English ska (two-tone for those who need/want the history lesson or just want to spend an evening on the dance floor skankin’). The band appears to be stopping in for a one-off in between dates on the Lost ‘80s Live tour.
The Bay Area blackgaze band Deafheaven has set an Oct. 4 date at Tioga Sequoia. Bummer for anyone (me) who’ll be in Sacramento that night for the Aftershock Festival.
If you are in town, or able to travel, this is not.to.be.missed.
Deafeaven has a full catalog of genre-pushing metal (??) with crossover appeal for those who like noisy, atmospheric guitar rock.
I do. The band’s album “Sunbather” may be in my top 10 of all time (and is already a decade-plus old? Holy crap).
Junior H will return to the Save Mart Center, Oct. 12 with his $ad Boyz Live and Broken tour. The Mexican cantante is part of the corridos tumbados movement, which features artists like Peso Pluma and Fuerza Regida.
He sold out the arena when he stopped through last year.
Frank Meyer has an impressive resume that you just need to look through to get. Musically, he’s best known for fronting the punk band Streetwalkin Cheetahs, though he’s also played with the Stooges’ James Williamson, Eddie Spaghetti from the Supersuckers and brother Wayne Kramer, among others.
He’s bringing his solo band to Strummer’s, Dec. 10.
Tour openers include the Strains and Nick Oliveri, who has his own extensive resume that includes stints with Queens of the Stone Age, the Dwarves and Kyuss, among others.
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’m in studio with a playlist of Fresno/greater Central San Joaquin Valley music. You’ll love it. 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