Warning: Shameless self promotion to follow -- If you're still looking for a spot to ring in 2009, yours truly will be playing some music over at Palomino's tonight. Beehive commenter Mr. Incognito put together the party tonight and recruited me to spin some tunes, along with Justa and F-Plus -- who are undoubtedly better at that kinda stuff than me.

On this, the last day of the year, we'll look back at the year that was at The Beehive, thanks to some nifty stats from our Web staff. You can see our most commented posts, most viewed posts and top commenters. Enjoy!

BY THE NUMBERS
# of posts: 2,041 | #of comments: 12,234

Bernice Gallego, 72, is the least likely protagonist ever for a rare-baseball card story. She's never even been to a baseball game. But recently she discovered, in a box of junk, what experts call the first baseball card -- an 1869 advertisement that features the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

Read the story of Gallego and the 139-year-old baseball card at fresnobee.com. It's full of fun details -- like when she kept the card in sandwich bag, push-pinned to the laundry room wall.

[photo: Craig Kohlruss / The Fresno Bee]

Welcome to the final Worst Flier of the Week for 2008. Today we're looking at New Year's Eve fliers -- as if they were any doubt. Once again, I'm leaving it up to a vote. Our contenders are from three categories:

1. Animation Overload.
2. Hella cheesy.
3. Hella 1995.

And now onto the contenders:

You gotta do something for New Year's Eve, right? And by something, I mean not sitting at home and watching Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark.

Below is a Post No Bills-style look at NYE events in and around Fresno. So check out the fliers, if you need some ideas.

Since it is New Year's Eve, every promoter in town thinks they're party is the biggest in town. If you're looking for a filter, check out my list of the Top 10 New Year's Eve options -- it also has some stuff not in the fliers.

Part two in my year-end music survey asks for your favorite songs of 2008. Like I said in the best albums post, I find myself listening to more random songs than albums this year. I guess that's the iPod effect.

As you'll see from my list, my favorites were all over the place this year -- lots of electro-ish pop, new artists, a good chunk of hip-hop and some indie rock.

I couldn't do a top 10 or even a top 20. So I figured a top 28 of 2008 was a good way to go. Even then, my initial playlist was 80 songs. I whittled it down to these 28:

We haven't talked much on The Beehive about Mayor-elect Ashley Swearengin's new "downtown czar," as Opinion Talk and Fresno Famous pretty much covered it. But today Swearengin named her downtown team and one of our frequent commenters deserves a shout-out.

It was former city councilman Craig Scharton who was named "downtown czar," or his more fancy official title -- director of downtown and community revitalization.

Part of Scharton's team is Beehive commenter Travis Sheridan, who will be the local business initiatives manager. He'll also, I'm sure, act in the best interests of Scoopy's plans for downtown domination. In all seriousness, though, it's cool to have someone in the city ranks who makes Swedes and reads blogs.

You can read about the rest of the new downtown team, which was announced this morning, at fresnobee.com.

Congrats, Travis. Now how 'bout that Ikea?

I'm still sketchy on the details, but Fresno's DJ Shaq passed away over the weekend. He was a regular on the club circuit around here, so chances are you saw him behind the turntables at some point. He was also a member of the Union Crew of DJs, which also includes DJ Erb, Puba Funk, DJ Wonka and DJ XL.

I didn't know the guy, but A LOT of people did, judging from the number of MySpace bulletins I've seen about his death.

This one, from DJ/producer Hecktik, stood out:

When you think back about the first time you ever did what your doing now, you always remember those days when you met the first DJ, Record Shop Owner, Coach, Teacher, Boss whatever it is. Well Central Cali lost a true OG in the DJ game yesterday. RIP to DJ Shaq.

I remember 10 years ago grabbing my first records through him and Puba and dude was one cool cat. Didn't have an ounce of hate in him. Always giving me advice and putting me on game. Which is very rare these days. If you're a true DJ in the area you know what I mean. We lost a good dude for sure. You'll always be remembered.

Hey, Fresno made it into the New York Times again! This time in a story about skateboarders draining the swimming pools of foreclosed homes and using them to skate.

From the NYT:

On a recent morning, a 27-year-old skateboarder who goes by the name Josh Peacock peered into a swimming pool in Fresno, Calif., emptied by his own hands -- and the foreclosure crisis -- and flashed a smile as wide as a half-pipe.

"We have more pools than we know what to do with," said Mr. Peacock, who lives in Fresno, the Central Valley city where thousands of homes, many with pools behind them, are in foreclosure. "I can't even keep track of them all anymore." ...

In these boom times for skaters, Mr. Peacock travels with a gas-powered pump, five-gallon buckets, shovels and a push broom, risking trespassing charges in the pursuit of emptying forlorn pools and turning them into de facto skate parks.

Skating pools, of course, is nothing new for Fresno. The pool at the Vagabond Hotel (pictured) was a legendary draw for skaters. People would come from other states and sneak into the fenced-off, rundown hotel to skate its drained pool, until the site was leveled in 2004 to make way for the Vagabond Lofts.

[photo: Kurt Hegre / The Fresno Bee]

After my holiday trip home to the Bay Area last week, I came up with this list of things that made me realize I wasn't in Fresno anymore.

5. Apartment parking lots are filled with BMWs, Benzs and Lexi (is that the plural of Lexus?) Guess that's how it is when normal houses cost like $750,000 $650,000.

4. Four bucks to cross a bridge? Daaaaaaamn!

3. There's good music on the radio. Get this, I clicked on KMEL on Christmas Eve and heard these three songs in a row: Run DMC's "Christmas in Hollis," Nas' "Halftime" and AZ's "Sugar Hill."

2. Carpool lanes -- having only gone home a few times this year, I had almost forgotten these existed.

1. Tom Shane is on the radio. If you've ever listened to the radio in the Bay Area for any amount of time, chances are you've heard Tom Shane shilling for his jewelry store, The Shane Company (with locations in Cupertino, San Mateo, Novato and Walnut Creek!) on just about every radio station that will take his money. Oh, Tom -- as annoying as you were, I do miss ya sometimes.

If your holiday journey led you somewhere else and you got some "You're not in Fresno" signs of your own, drop them in the comments. First person who says "There's stuff to do" gets smacked!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Well, I'm outta here until next week. And while I hope you have a Merry Christmas, I'll leave you with this post, which might muddle the merriment.

Question: Who thinks selling candy branded as poop is a good idea? Futhermore, who sees the word "poop" on a product in the candy aisle and thinks "Mmm Mmm Good?" There's gotta be somebody, or else I wouldn't be seeing these at such stores as Rite Aid, Wal-Mart and JoAnn.

Evidence, of underground hip-hop heroes Dilated Peoples, teams up with Fresno's Fashawn for what oughta be one of the best local hip-hop shows of the year. Not sure that it can top Blu & Exile, but it's a possibility. Word is tickets are just about gone, so get there early.

There's also a $500 emcee battle starting the night off -- and I'll be one of the judges for that. If you're looking to do some pre-show stalking, Evidence will be at FTK at 5 p.m. signing autographs and selling his new CD, "The Layover."

One of my favorite holiday traditions has become looking out for my Julio Iglesias Christmas card. Every year I get one from Iglesias, now 65 if you're wondering, and his ridiculously gorgeous stable of children not named Enrique.

I explained the back-story in detail last year, but here's the boiled down version: I interviewed him once, ever since I've been on his Christmas card list.

We continue our year-in-review series with Beehive Rewind III: Favorite Discovery of 2008.

Once again, we opened the topic up to Beehivers and Bee bloggers from other sites to talk about new things they discovered (or re-discovered, as the case may be) in '08 -- be it a new restaurant, TV show or local event. Read our picks, then add yours in the comments.

Mike Oz: Roller derby! Though, I know I shouldn't have waited until this year, I saw my first Smog City Roller Grrls bout in '08. Talk about a good time! SCRG and roller derby became the No. 1 thing on my "You should do this" list. While I'm sad to see Smog City go, I'm excited to see more roller derby in Fresno next year.

Heather McLane: My favorite discovery is AMC's "Mad Men." 1960s advertising world where the men wear suits, the secretaries are call girls, and the scotch pours all day long. What's not to love? Also, vodka tonics. My drink of choice for an afternoon spent marathon-watching the episodes I record on my third favorite discovery, the DVR.

I was having lunch at your restaurant on Saturday and thought it was very poor form to have your server meeting out in the open, a mere 10 feet from my table.

Woman in charge: I could hear perfectly fine what you were telling your servers to up sell. It then made sense why our server mentioned the same special to us three times.

I know it was a busy day, with everybody doing a bunch of Christmas shopping, but you couldn't find a more private place?

I heard about how the servers should sell, sell, sell those gift cards. I even heard about the prizes they'd win. And I saw them clap, happy as a little kid getting an iPod on Christmas morning.

Way to make the customer feel like a means to an end, Elephant Bar.

It's Monday morning and judging from the conversations around me, it seems like everybody was doing something this weekend. So did you ....

- Finish your Christmas shopping? Were you in that mess of traffic I saw near the mall yesterday?

- Go see Ice Cube? I know some of you did, 'cause we gave you tickets. How was the show?

- Sip the egg nog at your work's or friend's Christmas Party? Did you get drunk and act a fool?

- See the Christmas sights. I hit Christmas Tree Lane on Friday and Cindy Lane (pictured, right) on Saturday. Cindy Lane > Christmas Tree Lane .. by a lot.

- Cross your fingers for your fantasy football playoff game? I did -- won one league, but it's looking real bad in another.

- Stay home and hide from everybody?

Something else? Tell us about your weekend, Fresno!

It's the return of Post No Bills -- a weekly look at what's going on in Fresno brought to you exclusively by FresnoBeehive.com.

Post No Bills is the largest collection of fliers for clubs, concerts and various other events around Fresno and the Valley. So sit back, give your browser a minute to load and take a look at various happenings.

This week: Our New Year's Eve sections keeps growing. Check it out!

As always, we welcome contributions bands, artists, venues, promoters and regular joes. Send flier links to mosegueda@fresnobee.com.

Cabo Wabo Fresno is set to become Memphis Blues' Barrel Room, an extension of the in-the-works southern-themed restaurant Memphis Blues next door to the Wabo space.

The logo was finalized yesterday and a preview menu is already in place. The restaurant and club gets their inspiration from Memphis and New Orleans. Here's some other stuff I learned last night in a trip over there:

• Saturday night will be the last for Cabo Wabo. After that, the transition to The Barrel Room begins. The venue is open Thursday-Saturday, starting at 6 p.m., during this time. Work will be done mornings, afternoon and off-days. Owner Milt Barbis expects the transformation to be completed by Jan. 22. Cabo Wabo signage will be taken down next week.

Fresnish - (adjective) - 1. Events happening in Fresno that are truly bizarre, hilariously unfortunate and/or downright silly.

In my column today I take a look back at the year in Fresno folly -- picking out my top four Fresnish moments of '08. I'm putting those four to a vote here. If you need to read why I picked these four, read the column. If you've got another most Fresnish moment, you can add it in the poll below.

PREVIOUSLY ON THE BEEHIVE
- The greatest 50 words you will read today ...
- OK, Fresno, let's not get too carried away ...
- Who's afraid of a little mixed martial arts?
- Fresno Wabo: The end has come

We've come to the final week in the Fresno Bloggers Bowl fantasy football league (click those blue words if you need a refesher).

The championship game pits No. 2 seed The Carlos Browns (managed by yours truly) against the No. 4 seed Helmets? No Way! (managed by Adam of Gustav's Groupie).

Adam made good use of waiver wire pick-ups (namely Pierre Thomas) on his way to six straight wins and a berth in the finals. I, meanwhile, lucked out that my semifinals opponent benched Matt Cassel in favor of Seneca Wallace. Otherwise, I'd be playing for third place right now. As it stands, I need LaDainian Tomlinson to play like a No. 1 pick to win -- because I'm currently a 15-point underdog.

Here's a breakdown of this weekend's championship clash, as well as the final standings for our inaugural Fresno Bloggers Bowl.

Normally I wouldn't post something Maroon 5 and/or Swizz Beats, but this video cracks me up. It's the Maroon 5-meets-Swizz Beats remix of "If I Never See Your Face Again" -- ya know from that remix album M5 put out recently.

The video is directed and conceived by Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! He did something similar with an MGMT song recently that I was thisclosetoposting.

Once I saw this, with Lejon Stewart and rapping dude with one overall strap down, I was slayed. Enjoy:

Did you know Dec. 18 is Mike Oz day in the City of Fresno? Technically, it was Dec. 18, 2006 but I never found out until this past January. So today, I'm celebrating.

Necessary backstory: In Dec. 2006, I was selected for the first-ever "You Got It" award from the Fresno Chamber of Commerce's Image Fresno coalition, basically because I "get" Fresno and I'm an advocate for the city. It was good times -- I actually got to eat at the Downtown Club. I felt mighty special.

Last December, the award went to John Alkire, the CEO of the Big Fresno Fair. During his luncheon, he was given a proclamation from the city that included his own day. At the ceremony, I was told they were going to give me a day too -- retroactively. Awe-some!

I had forgotten all about this by the time I received -- a month and a half later, dropped off in a plastic Wal-Mart bag -- a proclamation from the city naming Dec. 18, 2006 "Michael Osegueda Day."

I had to wait 11 long months for my day to come back around and I almost forgot about it again. I probably would have if not for this year's winner being my colleague/homie Joan Obra, The Bee's food writer. She'll get her "You Got It" dues this evening. Maybe we'll end up sharing Dec. 18, who knows.

For now: I'm getting tacos in honor of myself. The Official Mike Oz Day Ceremony will happen at La Elegante in downtown Fresno around lunchtime. For those of you looking to celebrate on your own, here's what I recommend: Support a local business today. Get your lunch at a Mom-and-Pop Fresno spot. Or your dinner. Skip Starbucks and go to your nearest local coffee house. Or buy something at a locally-owned shop. Show Fresno that you get it too.

Here's the first of my three-part series looking back at the music of 2008. This one is devoted to the top albums of the year. I've posted my Top 10 after the jump and encourage you to do the same.

Honestly, I wasn't thrilled with a lot of albums this year -- I found myself listening to more songs and creating more playlists. Admittedly, there were also a few albums I didn't pay enough attention to, like Nas' and Raphael Saadiq's "The Way I See It."

But my list is what it is ...

THE BEEHIVE'S YEAR IN MUSIC 2008
Coming next: Top 10 Songs | Coming after that: Loose Ends

UPDATE: We have a winner. Congrats to Brodiemash, who is most certainly throwing up a W for Winner.

ORIGINAL: Here's your second chance to see O'Shea Jackson at Crest Theatre on Friday night.

We'll give the tickets to the fifth commenter. No repeats. Please note: Comments won't be published until we have a winner, so choose when you comment wisely. Winner will be notified by e-mail, so include a real one. Official rules are below.

For those of you reading this, not just randomly commenting, here's a story for ya: Ice Cube stood me up yesterday. We were supposed to have a 9:15 a.m. phone interview. By 5:15 p.m., he never called. I guess that's the gangsta in him. Originally, the interview was Thursday. Then it got pushed to Monday. Then Tuesday. That's cold, Cube, cold!

Burger King has launched a body spray called Flame. First the creepy King, then that annoying Shroom & Swiss campaign and now ... this?!?

From the Flame Web site -- aka firemeetsdesire.com -- comes this explanation:

The Whopper sandwich is America's favorite burger. Flame by BK captures the essence of that love and gives it to you. Behold the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat.

I realize if one person reads this and goes, "Mmmm. I want a Whopper for lunch," then this whole thing works for Burger King. But straight up: I'm AFRAID of going to Burger King ever again.

UPDATE: Something odd happened -- Travis and Albert commented at the same time. On the back-end of the site, Albert was third. On this side, Travis was third. I worked it out so that I could save face and give them both tickets. So congrats to both. Let's hope it's more smooth tomorrow when I giveaway another pair.

Those still looking for free stuff, check back this afternoon as Donald Munro will be giving away tickets for "The Nutcracker" Saturday at Saroyan Theatre.

ORIGINAL: All right, Beehive, here's the moment you might have possibility been waiting for. We're giving away a pair of tickets to see Ice Cube on Friday night at Crest Theatre.

Did you see Bee photographer Craig Kohlruss' awesome photos from the Metallica concert on Saturday? Well today, fresnobee.com unveiled some pretty sweet ready-for-your-computer Metallica wallpapers, like the one below. There are four to choose from over here.

Also, if you commented on our You Review Metallica thread, check The Bee today -- we published some of the comments, so your take might have made it to print.

Crazy ol' Axl Rose unleashed a 4,780-word diatribe via an online message board, finally giving up his side of the Guns 'N' Roses drama/saga under the name "Dexter."

Who does he think he is, Wet Towel?

I tried to read some of what Axl had to say and then I realized:
1. I didn't have the time.
2. I didn't really understand what he was talking about.
3. I didn't care about anything Axl Rose has to say.

But it's good to know that while it takes him 15 years to put out one album that everybody forgot about in two weeks -- he can churn out near-5,000 Internet posts in his off-time.

Way to go, Axl.

Here's the whole thing, if you care:

Downtown at The Beehive Headquarters we're still seeing hints of blue in the sky, but apparently Mother Nature is acting a fool with the hail elsewhere in this town. Check out this picture snapped by Twitter user davejunkie:

Fresno Tweets were totally chatting up the hail, all while the National Weather Service was issuing a weather warning. Anybody praying for snow? I'll admit, Fres-Snow would be pretty cool.

Oh, and if you're a Tweeter, holler at us.

Tonight marks the first designer-friendly Pecha Kucha night in Fresno -- at 8:20 p.m. at Starline.

What's Pecha Kucha Night, you ask? Organizer Kiel Famellos-Schmidt explains, via Fresno Famous:

Our friends at FTK Construction dropped this and I got a chuckle out of it.

PREVIOUSLY ON THE BEEHIVE
- Introducing The Beehive's Nickel Nickel Nine T-shirt ...
- If it were up to me, Pat Hill would ...

Who saw Metallica last night at Save Mart Center? Did it totally rock or was it a letdown? Give us your review.

Chime in on whatever topics you wish: set-list, theatrics, stage presence, crowd response, overall entertainment factor. It's all fair game. But most of all, did you dig the show? Was it worth the money?

Above photo by The Bee's Craig Kohlruss -- check out more on Bee There, our photo blog.

PREVIOUSLY ON THE BEEHIVE
- Interview: Heavy mental with Metallica

It's the return of Post No Bills -- a weekly look at what's going on in Fresno brought to you exclusively by FresnoBeehive.com.

Post No Bills is the largest collection of fliers for clubs, concerts and various other events around Fresno and the Valley. So sit back, give your browser a minute to load and take a look at various happenings.

This week: Be sure to check out our section of New Year's Eve events!

As always, we welcome contributions bands, artists, venues, promoters and regular joes. Send flier links to mosegueda@fresnobee.com.

Jeffree Star might just be conservative Fresno's worst nightmare: A gay, cross-dressing, pink-haired MySpace celebrity and electro-pop singer who calls himself the "Queen of the Internet."

His Heiness is like a mix between Marilyn Manson meets Paris Hilton. Why am I bringing all this up? Because Star is performing Saturday night at The Exit, the same week he released an EP titled "Cupcakes Taste Like Violence."

Just a hunch here, but I'm guessing the Cornerstone Church crowd won't be at the show.

More choice Jeffree Star pics after the jump ...

Besides, ya know, going to see Metallica. We wouldn't want to be one of the few cities that doesn't sell out, right?

1. PARTY LIKE A MOFO: If you liked that little taste of MoFo Party Band at The Beehive party, then go see their whole high-energy blues set over at Club Fred tonight. Good times assured.

UPDATE: Here's our full story from today's Bee. To summarize: Sammy cut ties. Barbis says he'll continue the club with a new concept, to be announced next week.

ORIGINAL: Sammy Hagar pulled the plug on Fresno Wabo today. Here's the details:

Sammy Hagar announced Wednesday that he was severing ties with developer Milt Barbis and pulling his Cabo Wabo brand out of Fresno.

"The license has been terminated and the location will no longer be a Cabo Wabo come 2009," Hagar said in a statement. "I have always stood for providing an exceptional experience for my fans and associating myself with like-minded business partners. If the owners of the current license in Fresno intend to keep the location open and change the concept to something entirely different, it will not be under the Cabo Wabo brand."

Read the rest at FresnoBee.com.

What do you think? Can the once-Cabo Wabo succeed with a new name and without Sammy? Can Granite Park?

PREVIOUSLY ON THE BEEHIVE
- What the heck is going on at Cabo Wabo?!?
- When you can't get Sammy Hagar, there's always Ray Appleton

The cover story of today's issue of 7 in The Bee is about Metallica, and how the band has gone from being the faces of the fighting Napster to a band that fully embraces the Internet.

For those of you who prefer to listen to things, you can check out my interview with Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett in its entirety right here. In addition to the Internets, we talk about the band's new album, what's next for Metallica and its current tour, which stops at Save Mart Center on Sunday.

If you're going to the show, come back to The Beehive on Sunday and give us your review.

DOWNLOAD: Metallica Interview - MP3 (14 min. - NSFW)

When we first heard about Tony Stamolis and his "Frezno" photo book, my initial reaction was "Hey, man -- What gives?" Which is why when I tracked him down for an interview my first question was "Do you hate Fresno?"

He doesn't, in fact. I think that comes across well our Q & A, which appears in today's paper. It's a good read, especially if you're one of those people who digs talk about our city.

One part stood out most to me was his answer to what he missed about Fresno:

I miss the heat. When you get in your car midday and it is so hot, that you get goosebumps.

I miss that fine dust that is everywhere. A constant reminder that it is an ag town. You are coated with it at the end of the day. It's all over your skin, your clothes and in your throat.

I miss the food! Sitting outside Adrian's, or even something as seemingly mundane as an In-N-Out drive-through. It is actually a requirement to eat at Don Pepe's twice a day when I am in town.

I miss the sound of the trains, day and night. I miss bougainvillea and oleanders.

I miss driving around in the perfectly beautiful weather at night with all the windows down.

Once again, a nice big helping of drama is on the menu at Cabo Wabo Fresno.

This story from today's paper documents what's happening. It's all leading to "changes" next year, changes that aren't yet being talked about by owner Milt Barbis' camp or namesake Sammy Hagar's camp.

Here's what we do know:
- Fresno Wabo has scaled back its hours, stopped serving lunch and is promising more changes next week that would give them more "freedom."

- Sammy's peeps aren't talking, but his son, Aaron Hagar, says something legal is happening that he can't talk about.

- Sammy already warned of canceling his licensing contract with Barbis back in November.

- Granite Park is in a lot of financial trouble -- with unpaid bills, a $5.5 million loan that could face foreclosure and halted construction.

- But Cabo Wabo does have some concerts coming up -- Suppressors and a few other local bands tonight, plus Tommy Castro and Elvin Bishop in January.

What do you think, Beehive, where's all this going?

Just yesterday I told you all about the blogger get-together prior to Thursday night's showing of "The Goonies" at Flashback Flicks.

Today, the plot thickens.

DJ Bradley -- local promoter, house DJ, head of SonicFoundation.net and Beehive commenter -- has made the following announcement:

The GOONIES is playing at Edwards Theater (Riverpark), this Thursday Dec 12!! Let's have a Sonicfoundation.net movie night!

Meet at World Sports Cafe for drinks at 8:30pm, then check out the Goonies on the big screen at 10pm. Tickets are $5.

(there is a bunch of fresno bloggers meeting up to see the movie too, but they are hanging out at Me n Eds -- no worries their geekiness will not rub off from that far away (right mike oz?! ;o)

I picture this ending all West Side Story-ish, with both sides dance-walking toward each other from opposing River Park corridors and meeting at the foundation in front of Edwards for a fight to the death nerd-off.

As you know, we like to make fun of club fliers here on The Beehive. Well, one local graphic designer did a better job than I could ever do lampooning the cheesy-flier crowd that fill up Post No Bills each week.

Behold, the greatest Fresno flier ever. Shouts to Kojack Bojangles and our friends at FTK Construction (Warning: NSFW).

To keep the bloggeraderie rollin', our friends at The Dumb ... and Late Update are having another Fresblogger event this week -- the third of their get-togethers before the Thursday night Flashback Flicks at Edwards.

This time it's for The Goonies. And they put together this video to remind you that it's BYOBR -- Bring Your Own Baby Ruth.

They'll be meeting at 8:30 p.m. at Me 'n Ed's Coney Island ("at the bar, of course," says Brodiemash). If you're too cool to hang out with bloggers: The movie starts at 10 p.m. and tickets cost $5.

I couldn't let The Beehive's B-Day Party slip away to the blogger memory bank without one last post.

As you can imagine, this is a kinda super-long post. So I broke it into three parts:

1. Shout outs
2. Beehive commenters revealed
3. Post-party links

Here goes ...

Andy Samberg sure loves making songs about manparts, doesn't he?

From Saturday's SNL comes this little number (which I'm not sure I can name here). It's almost the sequel to that other skit about manparts (that I'm not sure I can name here either). Especially when you consider the Justin Timberlake cameo.

Warning: Kinda NSFW

I've already seen people say this one is better than ol' D in a B, which I'm not buying for a second. It was funnier the second time around, though. Enjoy.

I meant to bring back Worst Flier of the Week last Friday, but everything going down for the party got in the way. So I'm bringing you all a special Monday-morning edition of Worst Flier of the Week.

Ready?

SATURDAY UPDATE: Thanks to all who made The Beehive's B-Day Party a huge success. The place was packed last night. The music was awesome. The people were great. And, of course, Scoopy was a hit.

We'll have lots of pics, videos and thoughts to offer once our hangover is gone we get back to work. For now, leave your thoughts, links and whatever else you got in the comments.

Because unlike some promoters in town, I will acknowledge that there are other things happening besides my event ...

1. FRESHLY BLENDED: Creative Fresno checks out The Standard -- the former Dirty Olive -- for its December blender. Just a hint: Start your Friday night party with them, then come see us ...

Gimme a tardy pass on this Kanye West/Stephen Colbert spat. I've been planning a party, ya know. But this hilarious video pretty much sums it up. And includes some celebratory dancing.

My column today was a shout-out to The Beehive and its awesomeness, leading up to tonight's big birthday bash.

One point I made in the column that is worth repeating over and over is this: The Beehive is what it is because of our wonderful community of commenters.

You guys add humor, insight, personality -- and you're what gives this not just a blog, but a community.

Yesterday I was sent a list of our top commenters. Looking at it, I knew we had to find a way to honor you guys for helping to make The Beehive successful.

So each of the top 10 will get one of our super-fresh Beehive x FTK T-shirts at the party tonight.

I'd tell you guys to make sure to be there. But I know you will. And thanks for that. Now here's the list:

It's the return of Post No Bills -- a weekly look at what's going on in Fresno brought to you exclusively by FresnoBeehive.com.

Post No Bills is the largest collection of fliers for clubs, concerts and various other events around Fresno and the Valley. So sit back, give your browser a minute to load and take a look at various happenings.

This week: Check out our new section of New Year's Eve events.

As always, we welcome contributions bands, artists, venues, promoters and regular joes. Send flier links to mosegueda@fresnobee.com.

The day is almost here and all our plotting and planning for The Beehive B-Day Party has just about come to end.

You know that Patrick Contreras and Blake Jones & The Trike Shop will be performing. You know what we got T-shirts. You know we have tickets to giveaway. Sierra Vista Mall also hooked us up with some sweet prizes.

We'll have cake. And we'll have lots of cool peeps.

Here's the list of people scheduled to appear/perform/hang out:
- John & Bill Clifton of MoFo Party Band
- Brian Kenney Fresno
- Chuck Dimes
- Rob the Voice of Super Lucky Catz
- Trey Tosh
- DJ Bradley
- Poet G.F.T.D. 1
- Solitaire/Renee N. getting all Rogue on us.
- Brodiemash showing us some swedes.

You've probably seen FTK's popular Nickel Nickel Nine shirts around town. For the occasion of our birthday, we've collaborated with FTK for a limited-edition shirt that pays homage to not only our area code, but The Beehive as well.

Looks fresh, right?

We'll be giving them out at the party tomorrow. So count this as another reason to be there. Check out the back of the shirt, which is all Beehive'd and Fresno'd out.

You can stop mourning Mother's Cookies, as Kellogg has done the noble thing and bought the company and its recipes. Sorry, people who were hoping to make a bundle selling Mother's Cookies on eBay.

We've got three pairs of tickets to see Kottonmouth Kings that we're giving away today. It's simple: The first three commenters get the tickets. The show is Saturday at Crest Theatre. All the rules are after the jump. Be sure to include a valid e-mail address, so I can notify the winners.

This is the start of Ticket Giveaway Day here at The Beehive. Later, Donald Munro will be giving away tickets to "Posada Navdena" at Warnors Theatre and Musical Theaterworks Fresno's "Peter Pan."

Shouts to Tim Gardea for the ticket hookup. He's got a bunch more shows coming through town, so check his site.

So the Grammy nominations are out. Now it's time to analyze.

Here's my list of what I like and don't like from this year's field, plus a few predictions. Check out the nominee list after the jump and give us your own likes/dislikes/predictions in the comments.

THINGS I LIKE:
- All the love for Adele. She's in three of the four big categories and I'm pretty surprised. I thought Duffy would get more of that attention.

- M.I.A. in record of the year. Sure, it's not a "new" song, but for the Grammy purposes I'm good with it. I'd love to see her up there accepting this award.

- Robert Plant/Alison Krauss vs. Coldplay in album of the year. That's how I see it shaping up, at least.

UPDATE: So it looks like Pat Hill is sticking around.

ORIGINAL POST: Try as we might, we can't escape the is-he-or-isn't-he-leaving Pat Hill drama. So we'll offer you this little poll.

Finish this statement: If it were up to me, Pat Hill would ...

A. Get the Washington job.
B. Stay at Fresno State FOR-EVER.
C. Get fired by Fresno State and go somewhere, anywhere, else. But leave the fu manchu here.
D. Move to Portland like every other Fresnan.
E. Write your own.

I've got tickets in my hand for a few cool upcoming concerts, courtesy of promoter Tim Gardea. The shows are:

Saturday: Kottonmouth Kings at Crest Theatre.
Dec. 19: Ice Cube at Crest Theatre.
Feb. 18: The Reverend Horton Heat at Tower Theatre.

Expect some Kottonmouth Kings tickets to be given away tomorrow on the site, and Ice Cube tickets next week.

We'll also be hooking you up with tickets to all three shows Friday night at The Beehive B-Day Party. Another good reason to be there, right?

We might have tickets for more upcoming Tim Gardea shows, including Jeffree Star (Dec. 13) and Stick to Your Guns (Dec. 16) at The Exit.

So keep an eye on The Beehive!

UPDATE: You don't have watch the show now. I added the nomination list after the jump. I'll be back with commentary in the morning.

ORIGINAL POST: I have three letters directed toward tonight's Grammy nominations concert: WTF!

Seriously, Grammy people? It's bad enough that you make me spend primetime viewing hours watching your silly awards once a year. Now you're trying to get a second night? When I could be watching "Secret Millionaire?" You're pushing it, Grammys.

This is just another attempt at relevance from the Grammys, who can never seem to get it right, as hard as they try.

Here are some not-so-bold predictions:
- We'll hear Coldplay's name a lot -- specifically in album of the year and record of the year. But I think Radiohead will get snubbed.
- I think it'll be Leona Lewis, not Duffy, who is this year's Amy Winehouse. Translation: Lots of noms. Though they both might be in best new artist.
- B.B. King, album of the year -- I'd bet on a nomination. Ditto for the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss project.
- As popular as Lil Wayne was this year, I don't see him pulling a Kanye and getting into the big categories.

Add your own predictions. Or just hate on the Grammys. Either is welcome.

Remember all those political videos with all the celebrities talking, which now in hindsight, seem even more lame? This makes up for all of them.

Funny or Die brings us Prop 8: The Musical, with appearances by Jack Black, John C. Reilly, NPH, Sarah Chalke, Margaret Cho, Darrell and Karen from The Office and more.

Fashawn's "Our Way" video started to get some spin this week on MTV-U and is in the station's weekly Freshman showdown. The winner gets more MTV shine. In Fashawn's case, a good showing could get him onto MTV Jams.

So even if you don't like Fashawn, hip-hop or MTV ... do the Fresno thing and vote for the kid.

Here's the video, if you missed it last time. Warning: Language NSFW

If you wanna see Fash in the flesh, he'll be performing at Blues for Blue on Sunday, which is a canned-food drive at Fresno State, put on by USU Productions. Poet Chicago, comic Feather Da Wyz and singer Sahab are also on the bill.

I'm sure people will say it's wrong to laugh at a horrified kid on a roller coaster, but I can't help myself. Every time I see this kid's face go from excitement to fear at the 13-second mark, it cracks me up. Which is to say, yes, I've watched this like three times already. Sorry, kid. But thanks to the mom who put this on YouTube.

Knowing we had knocked out 50% of our DVR stock last weekend, my wife sent me a story about TiVo Guilt. It talks about how the wonderful ability to record and save TV shows with the push of a button has begun to overwhelm us.

An excerpt:

"You want to watch TV, and what do you have? You turn on your DVR and you have a homework assignment," says Brad Berens, chief content officer for iMedia Communications, who analyzes how media advances change people's behavior.

"Economists call this 'opportunity costs,' " explains Berens. "You're sitting there and you have to weigh, well, 'I have to watch this thing, because I promised myself when I told TiVo ... I want the whole season of that! Go get it! And go get things like it!' And so you've committed to this decision and it's a burden -- suddenly your relaxation has turned into more work."

Oh, I know the feeling. Many times I've cued up the DVR and seen the capacity hovering toward 90%. It's made me delete entire seasons of shows: "Heroes," "Mad Men" and "The Reaper," for example. (I eventually went back and watched "Mad Men." Go me!)

Once a month or so, when we don't have a lazy Sunday to catch up, the guilt starts to grow, the DVR gets full and numerous episodes of "Prison Break," "Fringe," "My Name is Earl" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" begin to taunt me. I get all crazy, trying to figure out how I'm going to make time to them.

I don't know the answer. But I do know I'll take a packed DVR over a mess of VCR tapes any day.

Below is the new spankin' new flier for The Beehive's B-Day Party on Friday night at Club Fred. Please take it, put it on your MySpace or your Facebook page, e-mail it around, Tweet it to all your followers, print it out and put it in your break room at work ...

In other words: Tell everyone you know!

To get warmed up for The Beehive B-Day Party on Friday night ...

1. GET ALL INDIE OVER AT TOKYO GARDEN: The Sleepover Disaster, Rademacher and L.A.'s Death to Anders ... get your post-ArtHop indie rock and big ol' Sopporo on at Tokyo Garden.

Which is like, all of us, right? Enjoy a bit of viralness called "Computer Friends" by Sniper Twins, it's like an Andy Samberg skit meets "Office Space."

I'm about four weeks behind on my "Prison Break" watching, so I missed a Fresno reference last night. Luckily, Beehive reader Marty sent over the details. She writes:

Well actually they didn't SAY it, but they flashed it on the screen in tonight's episode - at a bus station, where Michael (the hero) [pictured, right] had sent his buddies, telling them to leave town (L.A.) - apparently to Fresno - to be safe. Not a terrible representation. Not an exciting one, either - but safe is better than some ways we've been portrayed.

Like I said, I'm a little behind on this show and her character could be dead for all I know, but if my girl Gretchen (aka Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) is laying low in The 'No, let a dude know.

Oh, and if you've ever got a "Did They Just Say Fresno?" to submit, email me.

PREVIOUSLY ON 'DID THEY JUST SAY FRESNO?'
- Did they just say Fresno? 'Psych' Christmas episode
- Did they just shoot Fresno? The 1960s edition
- Did They Just Say Fresno? Stephen Colbert edition