Glad you asked. Well, there's a few biggies that everyone should know about: Fall Out Boy's concert tonight at Selland Arena. Trace Adkins' couple of sold-out shows in Hanford. And, of course, there's Big Hat Days.

There's plenty more happening. First, might I suggest checkin' out today's Music Roundup. I worked hard to bring you all kinds of musical goodness in there.

Without re-writing the whole thing, here's my top five weekend choices:

1. On Saturday night, Fagan's Irish Pub has an evening well worth the combined $20 ticket total. Marina V. and Hamell on Trial are performing separate shows.

Fitting, because they're very different artists. But they're both good. Whether you like a sweet-sounding female piano player or a yelling guy with an acoustic guitar and a biting sense of humor, you'll be happy. I think they're both great.

Marina V. (that's her, to the right) plays at 8 p.m. Then Hamell on Trial takes over at 10:30 p.m. Tickets for the first show are $12, and $8 for the second. [ more ]

Keep reading for the rest of my choices and your chance to debate them ...

By now you may have heard the rumor on radio or TV that Tim McGraw and Faith Hill would be adding a Fresno date onto the "Soul 2 Soul" tour. Well, rumor became fact this morning.

The Save Mart Center announced that married country stars McGraw and Hill would be performing at the arena on Aug. 14, with tickets going on sale April 8.

If you can't wait that long, check www.soul2soul2.com for details about pre-sale tickets for fan club members. Beware: membership costs $44.99.

This second go-round of the popular tour will kick-off April 21 in Columbus, Ohio, and circle the country before winding down in California and Arizona at the end of the August.

Tickets cost $46.75, $66.75 and $86.75. They go on-sale at noon on April 8.

Tickets are available at the Save Mart Center box office or at Ticketmaster locations, including many Save Mart supermarkets, and Tower Records, online at www. ticketmaster.com or by calling (559) 485-8497.

Keep reading for a dose of local rock talk...

Some bands just defy categorization. Serus Victoria is one of them. Are they indie rock? Piano rock? Hard rock? Pop/rock? Well, yes ... and no. They're all of those things, but in the process become none of those things.

The approach seems to work for them. It allows them to share stages with all different types of bands, from Sleepover Disaster to Chris Plays Guitar to Dirty Sanchez.

Now, Serus Victoria is hard at work on its first full-length album, so the gigs are a bit more rare. But they're playing Friday night at J. Street Bar and Grill in Tulare. We tracked down vocalist/guitarist Ben Porter to talk about that, what Serus Victoria is up to and what goes into it's all-inclusive rock sound.

Serus Victoria is Ben Porter (lead Vocals/guitar), Steve Loveless
(piano/rhodes/guitar), Art Wilkins (bass), and JT Hughes (drums).

Question: So you guys have been pretty quiet lately? What's the deal? What are you cooking up?
Answer: We put a halt on playing a lot of shows so that we could focus on our first full-length album. Last time in the studio, we only recorded a six song EP. We all thought that we were ready for something bigger, so for the last couple of months we've been in the studio and writing a lot of new songs.

Keep reading for more with Serus Victoria, plus info on their show this Friday...

An update on what's going on over at Fagan's Irish Pub: As I reported last week, Steve Ono has left as the booker. Ono talked about his beef on Fresno Famous last week and now owner Carrie Fagan-Davis has told me her side of the story.

Fagan-Davis says she didn't mean to offend the Trey Tosh Band or its fans when she put the lights up at the end of one of their shows. She thought they were finished. Now, she says, she wishes she hadn't done it. Her concern is the gossip that seems to be besmirching the pub's name. She says it was not just Ono's booking that helped make her pub a local favorite, but that she and her staff brought in some of the shows, too.

Now, she's brought on a new entertainment manager, local musician Terril Cross. So far, they've already booked a few good shows:

- May 13: The return of Crosby Loggins, Kenny Loggins' son, who performed during the Rogue Festival and was a big hit.
- May 19: A third trip to town for Gypsy Soul, who have been become a Fagan's favorite.
- June 25: Renowned Irish band Gaelic Storm, making their first Fagan's stop.

This weekend is shaping up good for Fagan's, too. Los Angeles singer/songwriter Marina V. is back on Saturday night for an early show, she sold the place out in January, followed by the always-entertaining Hamell on Trial with a late show, starting at 10:30 p.m. [ read my story on Marina V. from today's paper ]

Keep reading for more wonderful things ...

I had every intention to check out Taste of Chaos last night at Selland Arena. But then the allergies were getting to me, the prospect of "Prison Break" and "24" back to back was quite alluring and really, I had seen almost all those bands (save for the Deftones) on last year's Warped Tour -- so I stayed home.

Anybody out there peep the Chaos? How was it? How many people showed up? Which band was the best? Was it better than last year?

I want your review. Leave it in the comments.

Speaking of which, anybody check out RBD last weekend at the Save Mart Center. How was that? Did the Mexican soap opera stars turned musicians have a good stage show? Were the Fresno fans as rabid as the people who have caused riots and caused S.W.A.T. teams to be called in at other appearances?

While you ponder that, here's some happenings for this week:

TONIGHT
Club Fred's open mike night is going on, with new host Glen Parrish, of Let's Go Bowling fame. Also, The Belmont hosts Dear Whoever, Ten Falls Forth and Dreams of Reality. The hipsters will be at Starline, where Portland's Climber returns to town to play with The Sleepover Disaster and Rademacher.

Keep reading for more of what's happening this week

Well, plenty. Where are you gonna be? Here's some of what's going on music-wise:

TODAY
A big Friday night is headed by RBD at the Save Mart Center. Expects thousands of screaming teens for the Mexican pop group. [ more ]

Elsewhere, violinist Patrick Contreras (pictured, right) is playing at Fagan's, Chris Plays Guitar and Isaac Pena rock the house at Club Fred, Sparklejet is joined by Analog Sway and All Good Things at Starline while Acoustic Highway performs at Full Circle Brewing Co. Members of indie band Most Inspirational are re-uniting at The Barnyard in Clovis, with Briertone, Winter Wardrobe and others.

Fresh from the South By Southwest Festival, The Valley Arena performs at The Belmont while No Things and Knife Skills play at Howie and Son's in Visalia. [ more ]

[ mucho details in Music Roundup ]

Keep reading for more weekend happenings ...

I tried to enjoy the Black Eyed Peas concert, believe me, I did. I really hoped they'd wow me with their performance and make up for their lackluster songs. But that didn't happen.

Thursday night's sell-out show at the Save Mart Center was stomach-able at first. Their intro video was hilarious, they came out with good energy and were engaging for the first 20 or so minutes, then things just took a nosedive.

Their backing band, who was pretty funky at times, drowned out the Peas vocals at numerous points during the show. The concert reallllllllllly dragged in some places. And by the time the night was over, the group had performed no more than 12 songs in their nearly two-hour set.

There were some highlights: A call-and-response drum demonstration by the band using tables and about 30 seconds of "Joints and Jam" from their first album. That made me smile. But having seen the Peas last summer opening for the Dave Matthews Band, I know they're capable of a much more fluid, organized, succinct and entertaining show. This wasn't it. Even the break-dancing -- which they're kinda known for -- was a very small part of the show.

More from the show after the break ...

Sparklejet is practically an institution in Fresno. When it comes time to write the history of Fresno's music scene, they'll definitely be included.The only question is, to what extent.
Will they be that great local band that played around town for so many years? Or will they be that Fresno band that made some noise around the country?

This is the year that Sparklejet has a chance to move up there with the Let's Go Bowlings and MoFo Party Bands of the Fresno scene. With their new album "Beyond the Beyond" just about ready for release, a press for national publicity in the works and lots of shows on the agenda, things are looking up for Sparklejet.

The trio consists of Victor Sotelo (guitar and vocals), Geoff Anderson (bass and vocals) and Wade Krause (drums). We picked Krause's brain about what's next for the boys of Sparklejet.

So you guys just played in L.A. Tuesday night, getting ready for the album release. How was the show?
The L.A. show was a lot of fun. Some old friends came all the way down from Sacramento to play on the bill as well. It was great to see and hear them. Rolan Bolan and Chalkie were fun too. Lots of good music.

Keep reading for more with Sparklejet. Photo by Rachael Olmstead

So, just what was I doing at the Save Mart Center on Wednesday afternoon, as the Black Eyed Peas' tour buses unloaded and the staging for Thursday night's just-about-sold-out concert was being set-up?

Good question. Like any good journalist, I was doing my research. Well, I thought I was.

It's like this: Yesterday, I get a call from a publicist trying to persuade me to come check out today's rehearsal. Apparently, the guy hadn't read my column from last Friday.

My hate for the Peas aside, it's not often that a tour starts in Fresno, as this Honda Civic Tour is doing, so acts are generally not in town a day before their show. But the Peas were. So I thought, what the heck, I should check it out. We usually don't get that kind of access.

More after the break ...

Before we get into the music happenings for the week, here's a bit of local music chatter

The Future of Fagan's?
Steve Ono is out as the booker at Fagan's Irish Pub, effective this past weekend. It has been Ono's booking of local and out-of-town acts that has helped elevate Fagan's to the upper echelon of local music venues. He talks about what happened on Famous.

Let's hope that Fagan's can fill the void left by Ono. Music-wise, I think the place was pretty unorganized and definitely under-utilized before he came along. Now it's hopping every weekend. It would be a shame for them to fall off. That would be a big loss for downtown and for the local scene. What do you think should happen? Should Fagan's be booked in-house or should they bring in someone from the local scene as they did with Ono?

Now, here's the haps for this week:

TONIGHT
The Beat Down Slam, Fresno's monthly poetry slam, gets poppin' at Starline. It's open to competitors and those who just wanna watch. It starts at 8 p.m. Also, there's open mike nights at The Revue (at 7:30 p.m.) and Club Fred (at 9 p.m.) Go share your stuff.

Keep reading for more of what's happening in Fresno this week ...

As to be expected, there's a bunch of stuff to do today. It's a Friday. It's St. Patrick's Day. Even a second-grader can add those two together and know that the sum is a party. Let's look at what's going down:

Just call them the contest kings. For two years in a row, screamo/hardcore band Flight 409 has won contests putting them on stage at the Taste of Chaos tour stops in Fresno.

Heartbreak abound for PlayStation devotees this morning, as Sony confirmed that the launch of the long-awaited PlayStation 3 has been put off until November.

At this time tomorrow, Kat Jones will be on her way.

Surprise, Visalia! E-40 performed a rap concert and the world didn't end.

In fact, Alan Emerian, a sales manager at the Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center sent along this word about Saturday night's concert: "Everything went fine. No violence."

Curious about recent concert draws at the Save Mart Center?

Well, official word has trickled in from Pollstar about the recent Aerosmith and Bon Jovi concerts at the arena. Bon Jovi's March 1 show outdrew Aerosmith by more than 2,000 after all was counted. Bon Jovi drew 11,734 while Aerosmith's Feb. 20 concert brought in 9,457. The Bon Jovi show is going down as a sell-out, since all the seats behind the stage were closed off.

Fall Out Boy fans: I want you!

Got a question about Fall Out Boy you really want to know the answer to?
Something that you've been dying to ask Pete Wentz? Well, here's your chance. Sorta.

Thursday afternoon, I'll be interviewing Wentz, as the band gets ready to perform here in Fresno at the Selland Arena on March 31. They're playing with Hawthorne Heights, All-American Rejects and more. The show is almost sold out.

But I'd rather you guys write the questions. So post your question here, along with your name, age and city and I'll ask Pete, get his answer and most likely use it in a story.

If you'd rather, you can e-mail your question to me, too. Submit your questions by 10 a.m. Thursday, please.

The good thing about this weekend? There's a ton to do. The bad thing? I'm still worn out from last weekend.

The Rogue Festival is back for its concluding weekend, with loads of options. Check out some of our Rogue picks or look at these Rogue music options.

If you want laughs, there's a big comedy show at Tokyo Garden on Saturday night, with national headliner Esau. Also notably on the bill is Charles Gooch, the former Will Work for Food Players comedian, who is doing well in Hollywood these days. Check out his words about his homecoming.

E-40 is performing at Valdez Hall at the Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center on Saturday. It's a large hip-hop show billed as Hip-Hop for Hunger. The show was originally scheduled in Visalia, but Visalia pulled the plug on it. Luckily, Fresno picked up the show. Check out my column on the whole fiasco.

Other music options this weekend include gigs from local favs Los Hooligans, Blue Divas and Straight Up Sinners. The Belmont is packed with events all the way into next week. DMBQ and zZz are in Visalia on Saturday. Also, San Francisco band Nuke Infusion, which features two local boys, performs at Club Fred on Saturday.

Read Music Roundup for info on all this.

So what are YOU doing this weekend?

If you liked local rock bands Channel, Division 13 or Slit Wrist Theory, do yourself a favor and check out This Island Earth, an alternative/progressive rock band that's playing like crazy around Fresno right now.

The band formed last year, but its members are not newbies. You might remember the bass player Wade Black and drummer Ben Zurita from the once-popular Channel. Vocalist Kermit Phillips came from Division 13 and guitar player Allin Styles came from Slit Wrist Theory.

Since coming together in 2005, the band has quickly made a name for itself locally, aligning with Harms Way Apparel and playing most of the rock venues around town, including a back-to-back, Thursday-Friday run at Club Fred last week. Now, they've got three more shows scheduled for the next week.

Zurita and Phillips answered some questions about the band's origins, its take on Fresno's music scene and why you should be checking for them.

Keep reading for the interview with This Island Earth ...

Full disclosure: I wrote this entire blog entry yesterday, then I had a computer boo-boo and it went away. It was probably much better than it's going to be right now, too. So please excuse me being a day late on this. I still think there's a good point. So, ahem ...

One of the things I really love about Fresno is the contrast and variety of the things that happen here. You know, how you can get from the plush Dirty Olive to the gritty Belmont in no more than 15 minutes. It's like, whatever your scene, there's something to do. But you don't have to be contained to just one thing, either. I think that's rad. Take a look at my Tuesday night and you'll see what I mean.

Stop #1: Dirty Olive
After work, I stopped by Dirty Olive for the release party of the March/April issue of HiS Magazine (if you love eatin' ribs, check it out). As usual, the Olive was packed. I really think the owners keep 100 people locked up in the back, and let them loose whenever they see fit -- because that place is always packed. Remember the good old days, when you could actually sit down at the Olive? I think that happened once.

It's been almost a week now since Kerosene Sky, an independent rock band from Los Angeles used to playing in clubs, won the opportunity to open for Bon Jovi at the Save Mart Center. And they still haven't come down from their high.

They beat out more than 80 other bands for the right to open for Bon Jovi in the band's "Have a Nice Gig" contest. One opening band also will get a chance to open for Bon Jovi at Giants Stadium later this year.

This was a big step for the Kerosene Sky, whose guitarist Gabriel Hernandez is a Fresno native. Since last Wednesday's show, lots of people have been talking about them, wondering where they could hear more and where they could pick up a CD.

Here's the good news: Kerosene Sky's CD is available locally at Tower Records, or on the band's Web site. And they'll be playing in Fresno again on April 29 at Club Fred.

Hernandez, once an English major, as well as a guitarist, recounted his Bon Jovi experience for the Beehive.

Keep reading to see what Hernandez has to say

The concert rumor pool is swirling again. This time, word is that Madonna will be playing the Save Mart Center.

These rumors are not completely unfounded -- as local TV and radio stations have announcing that the Material Girl will have Fresno on her upcoming tour itinerary. But don't drive down to the Save Mart Center and think you're just gonna buy tickets (which people are doing), because nothing is set.

Sources at the Save Mart Center say no contracts have been signed yet. The center people don't announce anything until contracts are signed. Madonna's publicist, meanwhile, politely returned an e-mail today saying "can't tell you anything as of yet." And Pollstar, usually the best source for finding out who's playing where, has nothing listed for Madonna other than the Coachella date that was announced recently.

It looks like tongue-twisting rapper E-40 will be coming to the central San Joaquin Valley after all.

A day after the city of Visalia pulled the plug on his March 11 show at the Visalia Convention Center, the Fresno Convention Center stepped up and took over the date. Contracts were signed this afternoon.

The show was originally a benefit for Visalia Emergency Aid, planned by Reel Talk Entertainment, who dubbed the concert "Hip-Hop for Hunger."

Visalia police said that E-40 was a "gang rapper" and voided the contract of the show, which had already sold about 1,000 tickets, according to promoter Bonnie Thompson. Thompson said the move was "racist." [ read the story from Today's Bee ]

Tickets for the old date will not be honored at the Fresno Convention Center. Fans will have to get refunds and re-buy their tickets. Thompson says she hopes that "Hip-Hop for Hunger" show can still be profitable after all this confusion, and if so, still plans on giving the proceeds from the show to charity.

I was enjoying some ArtHop conversation last night at Broadway Studios, when a fella yelled "everybody outside!" We did as were told. Back in the alley, a guy was breathing fire. Only at ArtHop!

Anyway, I bring this up because the Rogue Festival is taking over the Tower this weekend, and, as I egregiously make a point to mention in last Sunday's paper, this year, the Rogue, in its fifth year, has a fire-breathing muse, a perfect metaphor for the in-your-face and grown-up attitude of this year's festival.

So, if you're looking for something to do this weekend, the Rogue festival is it. Check out the complete schedule here,or picks from the organizers of the festival. Whether you're into art, music, theater, poetry, dance, comedy or just weird performance pieces, the festival offers plenty. [ check out my music roundup for some Rogue music options ]

Check back at the Beehive over the weekend for Rogue updates and reviews from Bee staffers.

Keep reading for more local happenings this weekend...

And you thought you had a busy day.

Acoustic soul duo Super Lucky Catz have one crazy day planned for Friday.

First, they're performing on KMPH's Great Day morning show. So they're getting up probably before the sun rises. Then they have a nightcap performance at Fagan's Irish Pub, starting at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $5.

You're thinking, they could just take a nap during the day, right? Except, they have a radio interview at 3 p.m. on KFSR, FM 90.7. Maybe just for one day they should change their name to the Super Busy Catz.

At least one thing is certain: They're in-demand like pay-per-view. And a lot of it has to do with singer Robert Barron-Gushel, whose voice has been wowing people around town over the past couple months. Combine Gushel's pipes with Brandon Yoshida's guitar work and you get a duo of young musicians who are quickly making a name for themselves around town.

Keep reading for an interview with the Super Lucky Catz and links to their music.

Bon Jovi, as it namesake proved Wednesday night at the Save Mart Center, is a band for the people.

Sure, they're not the greatest musicians, they don't have a 110-mph stage show, nor do they write the most original songs. But Jon Bon Jovi has charisma and in the rock 'n' roll world that goes a long way.

Unlike Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, who pounced on the crowd at the Save Mart Center in November, Bon Jovi took a more subtle approach. Frontman Jon seduced the near sell-out crowd, with well-timed flirt after well-timed flirt.

The show started with the band on stage, but Jon Bon Jovi playing from a platform in the middle of the floor. Then, throughout the show, groups of 15-20 fans were continually fed onto a little nook on the side of the stage, where they could watch the show mere feet away from the band. Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora would whisk by the screaming fans -- mostly women, of course -- wetting their appetites just enough to bring on more shrieks.

Bon Jovi, who turns 44 today, even stopped and kissed a woman who was holding a sign that said "Kiss me for your birthday."

After a break, Jon Bon Jovi appeared yet again in the middle of the crowd, performing -- literally -- from someone's seat. He stood in section 110 and performed a song, then sang another while walking back to the stage, shaking hands along the way.

Those are the types of things that make you forget that Bon Jovi's not the greatest band in the world.

Keep reading for more on the concert, to submit your own Bon Jovi review and for some things to do tonight ...

Right about now, Jon Bon Jovi and the rest of his band are probably getting into Fresno, in preparation for tonight's concert at the Save Mart Center. [ read my story on Bon Jovi ]

Elsewhere, Gabriel Hernandez, and his band, Kerosene Sky, are probably excited out of their minds. Hernandez, a Fresno native, and Kerosene Sky, his Los Angeles-based band, won a contest through local radio station KALZ, FM 96.7, and will open tonight's show. [ read my story on Kerosene Sky ]

Meanwhile, at least one local musician is fuming.

Patrick Reetz, the guitar player and songwriter from local band Chris Plays Guitar, sent off an angry e-mail to the local Clear Channel brass (who administered the contest), in which he voices his displeasure with an L.A. band winning a contest that was supposed to give local bands a chance to share the stage with Bon Jovi.

Here's a snip:

At the risk of sounding like some embittered loser, I will say that this strikes me as a bad decision. And not because my band didn't win, but because the moguls at Clear Channel decided to essentially tell every
band in Fresno (or at least the 80 or so that entered) that they're not fit to represent their own local scene -- that an L.A. band was needed and/or preferred.

You can read his entire letter on the band's MySpace blog.

Originally, I was supposed to be one of the judges for the contest, but the folks over at Clear Channel never called me in to judge the 80-something entries. Then, out of nowhere, Kerosene Sky was named the winner last week. It struck me as odd that an L.A. band would win, especially when there's so many Fresno bands that have been making great strides lately.

So what do you think? Did Clear Channel drop the ball on this one? Should it be a Fresno band on stage with Bon Jovi? Or did Clear Channel make a good choice?