Richard Blanco, the first Latino and openly gay poet to act as an inaugural poet, will make a visit April 18 to Reedley College, public information officer Lucy Ruiz tells me. Blanco gave a stirring reading of his poem ‘One Today” at President Obama’s inauguration a few weeks ago. I don’t have any details yet about tickets, but I’m sure this will be a hot one. Quite a coup for Reedley College, by the way.
UPDATE: David Borofka, an English instructor at Reedley College, writes:
In addition to Richard Blanco’s visit in April, we also have Tobias Wolff (author of This Boy’s Life, Old School, and Our Story Begins, among others) coming on March 14. And, down the road, Jane Smiley(author the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, One Thousand Acres, and many, many others) will be with us on October 24.
That’s a great lineup. I’ve been a Jane Smiley fan for decades.
1. LAISSEZ LES BONS TEMPS ROULER
It’s Mardi Gras time! Sunday is the Tower District is Fresno’s annual parade. The rest of the afternoon should be filled with happenings in Fresno’s most happenin’ part of town. You can catch tunes at Audie’s Olympic (Dusty Buns will be out there too!) or party it up at Starline later in the night.
Here’s a random person on Craigslist looking for a women to assist in naked-poetry writing. Now, wait, I know what you’re thinking, but the ad assures it’s not very sexual. So just semi sexual? Like just the tip … of the pen?
Bless you, weird Fresnans.
[Spotted on the Facebook of Niilo Smeds -- he of rad local music and impressive facial hair.]
Lots happening around Fresno on Thursday night. So I won’t waste any time, and just got right to it. Here are six things you could do tonight:
XOTICA ANNIVERSARY:Xotica — the weekly Thursday night drag show at The Express — is celebrating its seventh anniversary tonight. It’s been billed as the “drag event of the year” with seven performers and a red carpet opening at 10 p.m. Get more info at xotica.net.
CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL: Another annual celebration tonight is Fresno City College’s City Jazz Festival, which is in its 21st year. During the day — probably right this second — there are student band performances at Fresno City. But tonight’s there’s a headlining performance from saxophonist legend Bob Sheppard. More info on the flier below.
When you’re not stalking Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown during their Fresno visit …
1. GET A TASTE OF ELY GUERRA
I’m super intrigued by Saturday’s performance by Ely Guerra at Audie’s Olympic. Guerra is a Mexican singer/songwriter whose music has enough appeal to crossover to the indie rock kids that Love the Captive usually brings out to its shows. Guerra’s a star, no doubt (check out this recent NY Daily News profile) but I have to wonder if Fresno’s gonna show up for this one. Hope so.
Lots to do around the ‘Burg tonight, starting with country megastar Brad Paisley, who makes an appearance at Save Mart Center.
That’s where all the country fans will be tonight. Miranda Lambert and Justin Moore are also on the bill. Tickets — ranging from $26.75 to $57.75 — were still available at last glance.
If you go, come back and give us your review tonight or tomorrow.
ELSEWHERE
There are lots of options this evening, including:
Donald already filled you in on the all the ArtHop stops tonight. But, as you know, that’s only the first half of what’s one of the best nights of the month in Fresno. There’s plenty of places to be after ArtHop, such as:
AUDIE’S OLYMPIC
It’s a Ms. Soulflower/DJ Bradley shindig, so expect a funky night of music. You know those top 40 nights? Yeah, opposite of that.
‘Tis the night, Fresno, to celebrate Kris Kristofferson. If you didn’t know, the man himself is at the Tower Theatre. Last we saw a few tickets were still available for $46 a pop.
Afterward, hop over to Audie’s Olympic, which is hosting the afterparty with Fresno’s own Roger Perry, plus L.A. Americana/country band Dave Gleason and the Golden Cadillacs. (They’re good.) It’s free to get in.
More stuff to do tonight! Yes, ArtHop is awesome. So are the Little Dragon and Lucky Dragons shows. We just want you to know there’s all kinds of interesting stuff happening around here.
Another one is what the folks at Fresno State are calling the “Deaf Poetry Jam.” Here are some details from them:
It will be a night of sounds and signs when University Courtyard’s Diversity Committee presents it’s first-ever Deaf & Hearing Poetry Jam. This student-run group has partnered with members of the local deaf community to present this unique event of spoken and signed works.
“It’s a way for people in the deaf and hearing community to interact, and for all of us to learn from each other,” said Devin Puente, chairman of the Diversity Committee, a group made up of residents who live in Fresno State’s residence halls.
1. SEE KWELI & FASHAWN Fashawn is back in town Saturday night for this CD release party with underground rap hero Talib Kweli. It will actually be Fashawn’s first Fresno show this year. Good news for him: “Boy Meets World,” was the top-selling hip-hop CD at Amoeba this week. It was as high as No. 6 on the iTunes hip-hop charts too.
The place to be tonight if you’re looking for live music is Audie’s Olympic, which has a date with Nico Vega. The L.A. buzz band recently opened for Kiss at the Mid-State Fair and has also played with Gavin Rossdale and The Donnas.
If that’s not your thing, then consider Rhythm and Rhyme (9:30 p.m., $10), the bi-weekly music/poetry night at Aqua Shi, which returns with headlining poet Shihan. Here’s a taste:
Before Rademacher became the hipster heroes of Fresno, bands such as Pinkeye and Montecore were the ones heading bills at Tokyo Garden.
It’ll be like a Fresno indie rock high school reunion tonight at Audie’s Olympic, as Greenladies headline. They’re a Portland-band that includes ex-Fresnans Mike Burnett and Scott Moore, both of whom played in Montecore.
To make things even more six-degrees-of-Fresno-indie-rock-ish: Niilo Smeds (who is on the bill with his current project Wheels of Fortune) used to play in Pinkeye and Rademacher, as well as in The Batteries with Burnett.
Further, I’m estimating that half the people at the show tonight probably played in Rademacher at some point.
Suggestions for this evening: Iron Maidens, the all-female tribute to the UK metal band, is at Audie’s. The Pixies frontman Frank Black does an acoustic solo show in Visalia. And Rhythm and Rhyme is back again at Aqua Shi with live music and poetry.
Of course, we think The Great Fresno Tweetup is the main attraction on this Thursday night, but we’ll still suggest some stuff you can do instead of (or after!) the Meeting of the Tweets. We start at Aqua Shi, where Rhythm and Rhyme returns. Apparently, it’s going to be a bi-weekly event now, which is nice ‘cuz we heard good things about the first one.
First off, there still seem to some last-minute tickets available for the Indigo Girls concerts tonight at Tower Theatre. Remember that Justin Vernon of Bon Iver is opening.
The other big event of the evening is at Aqua Shi, where there’s a poetry and music showcase — called Rhythm and Rhyme — put on by the minds behind Black Light Poetry. There’s some great local musicians and DJs involved. Should be good times.
UPDATE: We’ve got a couple of winners — shouts to Kiel and Benjamin.
ORIGINAL: Listen up, Fresnans, we’ve got some tickets to giveaway for tomorrow’s seven-year anniversary show of the Inner Ear Poetry Jam. It’s happening at Full Circle Brewing Co., so you can enjoy some yummy local beer, as well poetry, live music, art and more.
We’ll give a pair of tickets to the FIRST and THIRD commenters on this post. No multiple entries are allowed. We won’t publish comments until we have the winners. Official rules on the jump.
Also coming up on the giveaway docket: Tickets to Sudz in the City and Little Dragon. Watch for those over the next two days.
This evening, there are a couple cool events tugging at creative-minded Fresnans who are looking for something to do.
At Starline, there’s the Devoya Mayo-organized Poetry in Motion II. It’s no secret we’re fans of Devoya events, and this one is no different. There’s spoken word, live music and more with Arkansas poet Joshua and Armen Nalbandian‘s all-star band.
For 15 years, C.G. Hanzlicek, pictured, has directed the Fresno Poets’ Association, which provides regular readings at the Fresno Art Museum of some of the nation’s most esteemed poets. Now he’s stepping down, and the FPA will be no more. (Unless, that is, someone volunteers to take over all the organizational minutiae of the event.) There’s one more reading at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night, and it’s sure to send the association out in style. Fresno’s own Peter Everwine is the featured poet, and music will be provided by man-about-town Glen Delpit.
Answer: When I took over the reading series, I thought it would just be for a couple of years. Then one day I looked up, and I’d been doing it for fifteen years, and then I looked at my hand, and it was holding a Medicare card. Running the series is pretty much a year-round job, even though there are readings only six months of the year. The off season is spent figuring out who to invite for the following season, writing grants, preparing publicity, etc. There’s a lot of fetching and hauling involved, and I simply wanted a rest.
