UPDATE NO. 3: CBS47′s Zara Arboleda declares authoritatively on Twitter: “Told you! The couple who “broke up” on Fresno Grizzlies’ Kiss Cam staged it. Now I have “official” confirmation. Ha!” She links to this pic, and writes on her Facebook page that both work for the team.
UPDATE NO. 2: Yes, this is silly stuff, but we’ve already opened this can of worms, so … now another Los Angeles Times writer has weighed in and thinks the video is fake (but interestingly never acknowledges his more trusting colleague). And NPR gets in on the action, too.
UPDATE: On his national Yahoo baseball blog Big League Stew, Beehive alum Mike Oz is likewise skeptical about the veracity of the Grizzlies video. But the sweet and trusting Los Angeles Times reports the story with the earnestness of a cute little mouse approaching a piece of cheese in a trap. Meanwhile, Beehive reader Ron Anderson finds a photo on a Grizzlies gallery of a staff member who looks very much like the spurned woman in the video.
Uploaded for your listening pleasure: Another episode of the all-things-Fresno podcast Flowing with Famous. Once again, I am joined by Fresno podcast icon Mike Seay, and once again we hit on all our favorite topics.
Like:
Fresno vs. Clovis
Some local music scene news
Fresno Grizzlies and the state of downtown
Plus, we’ve named another band of the episode. Spoiler alert: It’s Light Thieves.
And once again, the whole thing is slightly NSFW (sorry).
W/audio engineering by Reid May. You can stream or download the episode here or find it on iTunes, Sticker and the like.
After a brief hiatus, we’re back with another episode of Flowing with Famous, where I join local podcast tycoon Mike Seay to wax philosophical about our favorite California city. It’s Fresno FYI.
It’s sort of awesome how hip the Fresno Grizzlies organization can be. Obviously, we love the Taco Truck Throwdown, but this year’s Mini Maker Faire shows the team is forward thinking and dedicated to creating (or making in this case) cool events.
The faire, a partnership with Fresno Idea Works, will be Sunday April 21 down at the ball park and feature all kinds of awesome DIY projects — think tech and 3-D, homesteading and sustainability and repurposing, recycling and reuse. It’s like your Pinterest board come to life.
But they need makers, and are taking applications through April 17. Anyone interested can fill out this form or go to www.FresnoGrizzlies.com for more information.
The winners of the tickets to the advance screening of “Parental Guidance” have been selected.
They are: Doreen Nagle, bebe, Jennifer Caser, Luis Solis. Shaonmemdez, Zach, Jeff Pierce, Gaynell, Dwight Wilcox, Jeanne, Rose, Gwen, Shell, Pam, Nancy Castano, Barry Falke, Deborah Hamilton, denise, Frances, Ken Chavez, Jackie, Julita, Ryan, Mary Vaux, Erica Perez, Oscar, Janet Klise, Barb, Sandra Terrel, Christine, Joanne, Cisco Mendez, Susan T, Fresno Dan, Haley P, Emily Wedin, Lita, Angie Rosenthal, Joseph Rodriguez, Kris, Wes, Angela Whitney, Dan, Kristi, Kristen Petersen, Carrie, Sergio, Efren, Kim, Alexy, Raymond Gonzalez, Ron, Dixion Bainbridge, Frank, Edith, Dave, Chris, Jason Valasquez, Kristi, Terri, Julio, Monica, Kelly Nicholson, Paul Schlesinger, Wes, Leonor Villamueva, Kristen Wilson, Amanda Delgado, Ernie, Brian L. Baker, Charlie and Robert Lara.
Hey, did you hear that the San Francisco Giants won the World Series? Oh yeah, totally happened. I’m sure you didn’t hear ANYTHING about it on Facebook or Twitter. Here’s one fun Fresno fact that you and your sarcasm detector might not know, though: 17 of the 25 players on the Giants’ World Series roster played for the AAA affiliate Fresno Grizzlies at some point.
Some players we saw a lot of — catcher and clutch home-run-hitter Buster Posey, Game 2 winning pitcher Madison Bumgarner and Game 4 tripler Brandon Belt, for instance. Others, like MVP Pablo Sandoval and unlikely Game 1 winner Barry Zito, we only saw briefly.
It’s hard to argue with the Grizzlies current “Farmgrown” marketing campaign. Just look at the pics below. In some cases these Grizzlies look quite different than the guys you saw soaked in champagne last night.
With the San Francisco Giants in the World Series beginning tonight, the Fresno Grizzlies are trying to capture the Hum Baby spirit of their big brothers. So if you can’t score World Series tickets but want to hang with the Giants fans, there are World Series watch parties at Chukchansi Park for every game except Game 3 (because the Fall Wine Cornucopia is happening that day). The watch parties are free to attend and are sure to bring back memories of Buster Posey in a Grizz uniform.
Predictions? Sorry, Giants fans, I’m going Detroit in 6.
Judging from “SNL” and what I see on morning news shows, it seems like the viral video sensation “Gangnam Style” — a song from Korean rapper Psy with more than 220 million YouTube views — has now trickled down to the mainstream. So don’t be surprised when your mom asks you about it next week.
Here in Fresno, party rap outfit 2Tallin’ — which is basically our version of LMFAO — has put an English spin on “Gangnam Style. The video, released last Thursday, has more than 11,000 views already. If you dig the 2Tallin’ sound, be sure to catch ‘em at The Standard one week from today.
Here’s a local dancer named The Kidd (aka Murphy Yang) who posted his own “Gangnam Style” dance on YouTube:
In other big Beatty news, he’s on the front of YouTube today in conjunction with his AT&T no-texting-and-driving PSA. (which I saw the other day on FX, btw)
Are you still on a taco high? Last week’s Taco Truck Throwdown 2 was a huge success, so, first off, thanks to everyone who ate tacos, served tacos and spread the word.
A total of 14,450 tacos were sold — that’s way up from 7,977 last year.
We had 13 trucks, from a variety of locales (Fresno, Sanger, Selma, Centerville, Fowler) and offered popular tacos like carne asada and al pastor, and the more avant garde, like Dusty Bun’s duck taco or Tako’s Spam taco.
The attendance at the Grizzlies game was 11,463, making it the fourth highest-attended game of the season and the fifth highest Thursday night game EVER for the Grizzlies. It’s also the 43rd highest attended Grizzlies game at Chukchansi Park.
That 11,463 figure was the highest attendance of the night in Minor League Baseball and even outdrew a pro game — the White Sox vs. Orioles in Baltimore.
A few other fun facts: 600 Taco Truck Throwdown T-shirts were sold, 125 #TacoTruckThrowdown pics were posted to Instagram and there were way too many Tweets to count.
Here’s some info on the winners, individual tacos sold and where you can find these vendors besides at Taco Truck Throwdown. Click the graphic below to enlarge.
Taco Truck Throwdown 2 was huge last night. The Fresno Grizzlies report attendance at 11,463, with more than 7,000 presales. No word yet on how many tacos were sold. But based on what I saw, it’s going to be a huge number. Look at all those people in line!
Thirteen taco trucks competed in the throwdown and two awards were given: People’s Choice and Judges’ Choice. Anybody who bought a taco was eligible to vote for the People’s Choice crown. Six judges sampled all 13 trucks and rated them 1-10. Our panel included: Liz Gonzales from KMPH, Danny Salas from Q97, Jason Oliveira from ABC 30, Richard Franco from New Rock 104.1, Bobby Salazar and me. Here are the results.
People’s Choice:
1. El Premio Mayor
2. La Elegante
3. Dusty Buns
Judges’ Choice:
1. El Premio Mayor
2. Dusty Buns and La Elegante (tie)
3. El Super Antojito
4. Tako BBQ
5. El Mexicano
This year’s Taco Truck Throwdown 2 is Thursday (Aug. 30). So if you haven’t started your pre-TTT fast yet, I’m going to recommend you do that ASAP. This year’s event, organized by us and the Fresno Grizzlies, promises to be bigger and better than last year’s — which you might remember was a monster.
People will, no doubt, have questions though, so I put together this handy-dandy guide to all things Taco Truck Throwdown to help you prepare for the event.
Keep on reading. Then come out and fill your face will tacos at Chukchansi Park.
If you’re a weekend grillmaster who thinks your tri-tip is the best in town, then you better hurry over to TasteFresno to sign up for this year’s Tri-Tip Cook-Off.
The third-year competition is happening Sept. 2 outside Chukchansi Park, but registration for tri-tip cookers closes Wednesday. This year, TasteFresno has also added a second competition for professionals. It costs $85 for amateurs to compete and $250 for pros.
For those of you who are just straight-up carnivores and want to eat, buy tickets here. They’re $15 in advance and include admission to that night’s Fresno Grizzlies game. More info about the event below.
People have been asking a lot lately, so it seems like a good time to stuff this yummy news down your face: Yes, Taco Truck Throwdown is returning for a second year. It’s happening Thursday, August 30 at Chukchansi Park.
We’ll still in the early planning phases, so I can’t tell you too much about what to expect beyond tacos, tacos and more tacos. You’ll recall that last year’s event had seven local taco trucks, serving up nearly 8,000 tacos.
All I can say for certain is we want it to be bigger, better and tastier. So if you know of a great taco truck that you’d like to see included this year, please leave a comment below or e-mail me info.
1. GO POP WITH THE GRIZZLIES
The Fresno Grizzlies have a pop culture-heavy weekend planned. Tonight is “Super Hero” night, where the team will be wearing “Dark Knight Rises” theme jerseys — as seen on ESPN.com, FYI. If you dress like super heroes, you get in free. Saturday, the Grizz host Disney actress/singer Zendaya Coleman from “Shake It Up.” She’ll be singing the National Anthem and signing autographs. [More]
It’s the usual super-busy first Thursday of the month. There’s ArtHop and Jazz Hop, of course, plus $1 beer night at the Fresno Grizzlies, the start of the circus, the kick-off of the Kings Fair in Hanford and then all the stuff you’ll see below. Including a cool local show on the Fulton Mall, a top-notch Latin/rock show and more parties for the people who wanna stay lit longer than a firework.
Thanks to all who joined us, a big ol’ “you missed out” to the people who didn’t and, as always, a Beehive High-Five to everyone who worked hard to make this event a success. We’ll see ya at the next Beehive event, whatever it may be.
Uploaded for your listening pleasure: Another episode of the all-things-Fresno podcast 
WATCH THIS: Latest episode of ”Nothing to Do.” [
