Bandgeeeek (meaning yours truly) is on vacation (meaning, holed up in my hotel room writing this up because … dedication?).
Anyway … A couple of things you might have missed this week.
Valley Hall of Fame to honor The Wild Blue Yonder (aka the Wild Blue, aka, The Blue)
Over at The Fresno Bee, I’ve written piece on the history (and legacy) of “the Blue.”
It’s hard to put a superlative on something like this because there’s always someone so eager to point out how you’re wrong, but … The Wild Blue is one of the (if not THE) most influential live music venue the city has seen.
It helped to define the Tower District as a viable artistic hub (not just a place to stumble around hearing cover bands) and gave opportunity to dozens (perhaps hundreds) of aspiring and established musicians (rock stars, jazz players, folk singers).
The Bee story doesn’t go heavy into the bands that played the club (either the locals or touring acts) or the personalities of the Bixler brothers, who ran the place and made decisions on who got to play and who allowed for music that wasn’t exactly their cup o’ tea (like the Clams and Bimbo Walker, from what I hear).
Some of that can be found here.
The news peg is that the club is being given a special Legacy Award from the Valley Music Hall of Fame at its 2024 induction ceremony, Sept. 25. Tickets go sale July 30.
The date happens to be the 50th anniversary of the club’s opening, which the Wild Blue Yonder (the band) will honor with a special reunion show (following, but unrelated to the ceremony).
Black Flag at Belmont Ballroom 1981
While we’re on the topic of iconic music venues, there some pretty cool Super-8 video of Black Flag playing at the Belmont Ballroom (RIP) in 1981.
The video comes courtesy of James Acomb posted in the McLane High School, in 1980-1981, Facebook group. The post is from 2020, so it’s obvioulsy been shared for awhile now, but for those who haven’t seen it, it’s a cool two-minute look at the … third(?) incarnation of the band (with Dez Cadena on vocals and Robo on drums). The timeline (May 15, 1981) would put this as one of the last shows pre-Henry Rollins (who joined the band later that summer).
According to this flier, the show also featured Fresno’s own NBJ (listed here as Nazi Bitch und der Jude in what was their first show??), plus Dog Meat and 666.
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 have Dying Suns in the studio to talk about their new album and more. 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