Tower Porchfest is Fresno's largest showcase of local music. Here's a breakdown
Plus, Hearts of Fire choir tackles 'Abbey Road.'
In three years, Tower Porchfest went from being a relatively low-key return from Fresno’s pandemic-induced hiatus from live music to its largest showcase of local talent.
It’s an event that should be too unwieldy to be as good as it is.
Nearly 200 bands/musicians and DJs will play over a single day (Saturday, April 29) in a series of independently curated “stages” through the neighborhood (roughly three square miles running from Fruit to Blackstone avenues and from Belmont to Shields).
There are essentially two ways to enjoy Tower Porchfest.
One: You can go in blind without any real itinerary or sense of destination. Just choose a centralized location (Olive Avenue for example) and head out. Performances run from noon to 8 p.m., officially, but people will be gathering earlier and things will probably run late. Keep the eyes and ears open, look for the crowds and you’ll certainly find something cool.
Note: Don’t drive through the neighborhoods. This is a walking/biking/roller skating/skateboarding and otherwise non-autoed event.
Two: Do the prep work. Event organizers partnered with Bitwise this year and have created a fairly extensive interactive website. You can find each of the 66 participating porches in list form or actually mapped out.
Lineups and set times are listed for each porch, which is helpful for those looking to see specific bands or hop from place to place. You’ll need to spend some time with the map to really get a sense of everyone who’s performing, but here are some porches to look out for (chosen by me).
The Ram Jam — Curated by Laura Splotch with a large and eclectic list of performers including Cody Allred, Bill Reiland Trio, Mike Alexaner, Skank Stomp, Zev Minkoff, the Sunnnydales, Teddy B. VCR and Cherry Auction.
Spanspek Porch — From the guys who ran Orosi’s Spanspek Music and Arts Festival. Lineup includes Bigfoot and the Moon, Tom Dream’s Journal (ex Eighteen Hundreds), Awahnichi and the Talking Ghosts, the Downwinders (shamless plug alert) and Macondo.
South Tower Central — In the heart of historic SowTow (the stretch of Tower District south of Olive running into the Cultural Arts District/Downtown). Fantasy Fields closes out the day and will be joined by Brother Like and the Comrades, Jorge Apsay, Shy Doctor and Abigail Nolte.
PorchFred — Longtime scene supporter (and onetime club owner) Fred Martinez (of Club Fred fame) curates one of this year’s larger lineups, with eight bands playing through event’s full run time (first band at noon, last band at 7 p.m.). Performers are Celtic Alchemy, Blake Jones and the Trike Shop, Cleavers, Roger Perry Band, Ted Nunes and Richfield, Blue Crown, the Sinners and Cha Elvis and Rock On/Fernando V and the Fultonians.
Numbskull/Fresno Music Industry Meetup porch — For those looking to get a sense of the new management team at the Tower Theater, the crew is presenting one of the event’s sponsored porches. It’s an impressive lineup of bands and DJs that includes shoegaze legends Sleepover Disaster and the indie-rock duo Great Northern (playing here with Haunt drummer Andrew Alejandro Saldate IV). Also on the bill are Go in Grace, Judah, Puppet, Tower Rats and DJs Abraxas Diety and Jackie Bootstraps.
You can get more information online at TowerPorchfest.org. Pay particular attention to the about page. You can also hear my interview with the event’s organizers on the Homegrown show, 8 p.m. tonight on Newrock 104.1.
Hearts on Fire choir to perform ‘Abbey Road’ in its entirety
Hearts on Fire bills itself as Fresno’s “only rock and roll choir,” which indeed seems rare space being tread.
The group, 40-plus members led by director Debi Rudd, has been performing since 2013, with a set list of songs from Prince, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Earth Wind and Fire and the B52s (one assumes it does “Love Shack,” right? Although a 4-part harmonized version of “Rock Lobster” or “Private Idaho” would be killer).
The choir’s song choices have also included full-album recreations, for example its take on the Beatles’ famous “Abbey Road,” which it reprises in a performance Saturday, April 29 at the Tower Theater.
The band will be accompanied by an all-star live band led by Nate Butler (a guy who knows his Beatles music). Ruud and her daughter Karter will opened the show as the duo Two of Us, playing a variety of other Lennon and McCartney tunes.
The show is a benefit for the a benefit for the Tower District Preservation Association.
Tickets are $30 and on sale now.
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