Your monthly dump (of area concerts for January, 2024)
Plus, Fresno's vintage music swap.
First off: Happy New Year (eve).
For those following, this makes three years for Bandgeeek. Thanks you for all support.
Let’s kick off 2024 with a fully curated, and not-at-all-comprehensive list of musical happenings for January (it’s a holiday week, give me a break).
Foghorn String Band, 8 p.m. Jan. 6, Tower Theater Lounge. $20
Strange Ranch Shows has teamed up with Good Medicine Presents to bring in Portland’s Foghorn String Band.
For fans of old-time old-time bluegrass, classic country and rural Americana.
Fresno’s own Long Forgotten opens the show.
This is the first show inside the Tower Theater Lounge (old Daily Planet/Painted Table) since the new management took over.
If it goes off, we should see more concerts in that space.
Fulton 55 13th anniversary weekend. January 19 and 20
Fulton 55 must be counting a baker’s dozen for its anniversary this year. The nightclub opened in 2011, which by my count puts it at 12 years, but then there was the pandemic, which completely wrecked any sense of continuous time, and the place was in the works for several years before it had a live show, so if they want to count this as a 13-year anniversary, I won’t stop them.
On Friday night, we get the anniversary show proper, with a rare performance from 40 Watt Hype, who are always in for a good time (and draw). The following night, Patrick Contreras is hosting a concert for the release of his new album “Rhapsody In Red.”
Contreras was at the venue’s opening night and has made Fulton 55 a kind of second home over the years. So …
From Flowers to Flies album release show, 6 p.m. Jan. 19, Tioga Sequoia. Free
I fuck with From Flower to Flies (as the kids say and I probably shouldn’t ever again). The band’s prog-rock vibe has a direct through line to Fresno’s past and bands like E for Elephant. But others, too. Its single “Powerlines” has a Fay Wrays/Soma Holidays kind of intensity.
The band’s album “We Built This Machine,” drops on streaming services Jan. 19.
That night it hosts an album release party at Tioga-Sequoia Beer Garden. Unlikely and She Grins open.
Slick Rick, 8 p.m. Jan. 25, Tower Theater. $22-$35
Slick Rick is a pioneer of hip-hop’s early days; the third artist to sign to Dej Jam Records and a guy who’s songs has been sampled and interpolated by like, everyone after him.
He has a pair of Super 7 action figures, if that means anything (and I think it does).
The eye-patched rapper performs Jan. 25 at Tower Theater.
This is the first hip-hop show to be booked at the at the theater since its new management took over last June. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come in terms of the breadth of performers (stylistically) we’ll be seeing stop through.
The trilogy tour, 7 p.m. Jan. 30, Save Mart Center. $85-$595.
The trilogy tour feels like something so obvious it’s a wonder it hasn’t happened before. Take three of Latin music’s biggest hitmakers —Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull and Ricky Martin — put them on a lineup together and watch the money roll in.
The Save Mart Center is the first stop on the 2024 leg of the tour, which runs into March.
To do: Fresno Music Swap
There is a certain type of person that likes picking through the racks at a swap meet stand, searching the shelves at the used book shop or digging through the crates at a record store.
That’s the demographic for the Fresno Music Swap, happening Jan. 7 at Fulton 55. Organizers promise more than 20 local (and traveling) vendors bringing in “millions of records for sale.”
That might be some hyperbole.
There will also be cassettes and CDs, plus vintage music posters and t-shirts and the like. The free event starts at 10 a.m., but you might want to pay $10 and get in early.
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 and 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