JAZZ HOP HOPS TO A NEW DAY Fresno’s Jazz Hop — the monthly celebration of live jazz in dozens of venues — cuts itself from the ArtHop umbilical cord with a new second-Thursday-of-the-month calendar spot. Not much else has changed: still plenty of live music to see for free.
Says Jazz Hop coordinator Kate McKnight: “I’m seeking to highlight jazz music (and other genres) and the musicians by dedicating a night to hop just for music. ArtHop is so big now, and people couldn’t get around to see or experience all that they want to.” Tonight’s Jazz Hop is a bit smaller because of the holidays, she says. The schedule is below.
Today is ArtHop, Jazz Hop, the first day of November, the day after Halloween and Thursday — all of which give the people of the Valley a reason to throw a party.
Among the things on the docket tonight: the debut of our local Amy Winehouse tribute band at Audie’s, the return of EDM party Unity, a Movember kick-off party in Visalia and a Halloween Hangover party at Roe. See the fliers below for those and more.
Hello, first Thursday of the month. You all know that means Fresno is swarming with things to do tonight. There’s ArtHop, of course, Jazz Hop, the Fuse Fest kick-off at The Hashtag, Barcade at Fulton 55 and then all this:
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.
ARTHOP, JAZZHOP AND — INTRODUCING! — THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE: Thursday is the first Thursday of the month, meaning it’s ArtHop and JazzHop . There are fliers for those below, but might I suggest stopping by the Warnors Theatre complex? Thursday is also the start of a new weekly concert series — Thursday Night Live on the Fulton Mall. If you remember, Fulton Plaza Thursdays, it’s kinda like that, but hopefully better. MoFo Party Band plays the first one. There’s no cover. More deets.
TWO BIG DOWNTOWN FESTIVALS: The downtown calendar overlaps this weekend with the two big annual events: the Fresno Tattoo Expo (Saturday and Sunday at the Fresno Convention Center) and the Cinco De Mayo festival (Friday-Sunday on the Fulton Mall).
APCAL IS BACK: The popular summer concert series at ApCal Winery in Fresdera (the address is in Madera, but it’s just an exit past Herndon on 99) returns on Friday night. Local band Deja Blues, which set the attendance record last summer, kicks things off. It’s also hosting a beer and wine festival with comedians for Cinco De Mayo on Saturday.
THESE AREN’T THE DRINKS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR: Got your Darth Vader costume yet? The Star Wars Pub Crawl is Friday night — ya know, for May the Fourth Be With You. Read more in my recent column about the event.
ALSO IN NERD WORLD: As you know already, “The Avengers” opens this week. To get you ready, Sierra Vista Cinemas 16 is having an all-day Marvel movie-a-thon on Thursday. See all the Marvel movies leading up to the midnight premiere of “Avengers.” More info here.
IN TOWN THIS WEEK: A few concerts you need to know about — rockers Middle Class Rut play Fulton 55 on Wednesday night, Morris Day & The Time lead the Cinco De Mega concert at Rotary Amphitheatre at Woodward Park on Friday and San Francisco salsa band N’Rumba plays Saturday night at Starline for Cinco De Mayo.
As we move into May, we want you to make the most of the month ahead. So take a look at our monthly “Don’t Miss It” guide, which lists local events and pop culture happenings throughout the month. Click below for the entire PDF.
SPRING BREAK: It’s Spring Break week for some — including Fulton 55, which has two big parties you might be eyeing for the weekend. Sci-Fi Caper and a bunch of DJs will be there Friday night, while frat-rap troupe The Starting Six performs Saturday.
JAZZ HOP: It’s another month of Jazz Hop on Thursday night — 19 different venues have free live music. Mostly jazz, but not always.
BOBBY V: Soul singer Bobby V (or, as you might remember him, Bobby Valentino) arrives in Fresno to perform Thursday at Rome Nightclub. “Tell Me” and “Slow Down” were kinda dope in their day.
THE EMPIRE SHALL FALL: If you dig Killswitch Engage, then you might wanna see The Empire Shall Fall, which is in town for two nights — Friday and Saturday. Jesse Leach, who is the singer for Killswitch, also is in The Empire Shall Fall.
Fresno, we are about to experience the three-headed monster of Hops — tonight brings us ArtHop, Jazz Hop and, for one night, Rogue Hop. Hope you’re ready to be a kangaroo!
JazzHop keeps going, flowing live music into the mix. There’s a full schedule below, but a couple things to note: The CMAC studios (for the former Fresno Met) is now on the JazzHop agenda. Also: There’s a JazzHop/Rogue collaboration at Tower Theatre, where you can see a local music showcase for $5.
Rogue Hop is the first-night-of-the-festival party where you can get a sample of what this year’s Rogue Festival has to offer. It’s held tonight at Tower Lounge, the former Daily Planet, starting at 5 p.m. It’s free to attend and easy to hop over to all the other stuff outlined above. Also it’s a good chance to stock up on Rogue Bucks.
TOO SHORT
Rap icon Too Short returns to Rome Nightclub at Granite Park. Short Dawn is a vet, no doubt, and has somehow managed to stay relevant through hip-hop’s various stylistic shifts — and that’s no small task. [Tickets]
Seems like this Jazz Hop thing is catching on. Jazz Hop, for the uninitiated, is a jazz version of ArtHop, where numerous venues have live jazz bands and people are allowed to freely hop from venue to venue. It runs concurrent with ArtHop.
This month’s Jazz Hop has 19 venues, ranging from Landmark and Revue (which is the main Jazz Hop hub) to Fulton 55 and Iron Bird Lofts. This month, you can even catch some jazz at the Fresno Water Tower. Full map and schedule below.
