It’s been a rough few weeks for local restaurants, bars and nightclubs. You’ve read about some of these closures here at the Beehive, but here’s the final tally:
They all closed for their own reasons, and you can read more about them in this weekend’s story that takes a look at the problem. The one thing they all have in common is that they’re still struggling with the lackluster economy.
1. SEE THIS SHOW
I’m hyped for tonight’s show at Fulton 55, which features two of the best bands on our local scene — Strange Vine and Poor Man’s Poison — and SoCal funky folksters He’s My Brother She’s My Sister, who have won over crowds here before. They’re playing the Austin City Limits festival in September too. Anyhow, it’s gonna be a great show and if you don’t go that blue creature on the flier will eat you. [Tickets]
1. SCORE A COMEDY KO
Saroyan Theatre has back-to-back comedy shows with two big headliners — Jerry Seinfeld tonight and Gabriel Iglesias on Saturday. I had some fun in today’s Bee doing the boxing-themed comparison of the two below. Text here. [Tickets]
1. TRY SOMETHING FOREIGN
Soul/hip-hop group The Foreign Exchange comes to Fulton 55 for a night of chilled-out grown-folk music — date night material right here, y’all. They’re selling out shows around the state, so hopefully Fresno gives them a warm welcome. Read more about the group in this feature story I wrote. [Tickets]
Other than racking your brain for Scribbles captions …
1. FIND SOME TREASURE
Pretty big DJ coup for Fresno tonight at Twist. The globe-trotting Treasure Fingers, of the ultra-hip Fools Gold camp, races into town tonight. It’s a Scion-sponsored event, and you can get in free with VIP treatment if you test drive a car between 5-9 p.m. [Info]
Tonight downtown restaurant Heroes Sports Lounge and local comic/promoter Danny Minch start something that Fresno hasn’t seen in a long time — a six-night-per-week comedy room.
Fresno has no shortage of local comedy nights, most of them restaurants and bars that add a comedy night to their weekly entertainment schedule. Places such as Thai Palms and Crossroads have proven there’s a market for it, no doubt. But what Fresno doesn’t have — and it hasn’t had since Screwballz closed in 1997 — is a true comedy club.
To some degree that’s what Heroes and Minch are trying to create with their new venture. Heroes will still be a restaurant and bar, but it’s taking a big step into turning its upstairs into a consistent comedy destination.
Ya know, in addition to that roller derby bout we’ve mentioned 46 times this week …
1. DON’T BE USELESS: We owe a top-of-the-post shout-out to this Sunday night show at Fulton 55 with Useless Keys, Quiet Americans and The Mallard. L.A.-based headliner Useless Keys and its “heavy space rock” is cool, but the main reason a lot of people will care about this is the return of Greer McGrettrick, a former Fresnan who used to play in Rademacher and is now behind SF’s The Mallard. Fresno Famous has more with McGrettrick. [Tickets]
Tonight marks the start of this year’s Central Valley Comedy Competition, which will crown a winner and award him or her $5,000 worth of cash and prizes on July 2.
Before all that, though, comics must trudge their way through the preliminary rounds, which start tonight at Crossroads.
There are four prelim competitions this week, leading up to a two-day semi-final this weekend.
I could tell you that Marc Price is coming to Fresno, but that wouldn’t register nearly as much as telling you that Skippy from “Family Ties” is coming to Fresno, which is a total ’80s-pop-culture-gasm. Yup, the guy who could never woo Mallory Keaton is now a stand-up comic, and his travels bring him to Fresno for a long weekend of shows
He’s at The Press Box on Thursday and Thai Palms on Friday and Saturday nights, part of Andre Covington’s monthly comedy series at each spot. Covington also hosts. More details on the fliers below.
Having trouble picturing goofy boy-next-door Skippy as a comedian? Here’s a YouTube clip.
It’s April 20, aka 4/20, aka the pot smoker’s holiday — so you know there are some celebrations around town tonight. It’s not that we condone illegal substances, but you can’t deny 4/20 as an event sparker.
Leading off: Starline debuts a new Wednesday night party called Feel the Funk, which is 4/20ing it up for its first night. DJ Marc West is spinning and reggae band Irie Sun — because you can’t have a 4/20 party without a reggae singer, right? — performs as well.
1. BE AN APRIL FOOL
It’s April Fool’s Day (no jokes here, at least not from me), so you might as well laugh. Here are a couple comedy options for tonight — one at Teazer’s downtown with our friend Travis Sheridan headlining and another with headliner Speedy at Thai Palms on the north side, which extends its April Foolin’ until Saturday.
From here on out, I’m going to try to balance the worst in local flier design with the people who doing it right. So I’ll highlight what I think are the best and worst fliers of the week.
1. PUMP UP YOUR KICKS … AND GET TO VISALIA
The Beehive is involved in Saturday night’s Foster the People show for one very important reason: I think Foster the People has a crapload of potential. So of course I think you should see them at The Cellar Door. If you’ve never been to The Cellar Door this is a good chance to see the coolest music venue in the Valley (I named it venue of the year for 2010 in my column today, btw). Here’s an interview with Foster the People’s frontman Mark Foster about the band’s busy year ahead. See ya Saturday night! Until then, enjoy more “Pumped Up Kicks.”
1. GO DEF
All the hard rockers are gonna be out to see Deftones on Saturday night at Woodward Park Amphitheatre. Circa Survive opens, and they’re big too. So not only is it a top-notch show for Fresno, but it’s the biggest-name concert in the amphitheater since it was renovated two years ago. To get ready, check out my interview with Sergio Vega, who joined the band to replace Chi Cheng on bass after his brutal car accident.
1. LAUGH IT UP
In today’s Bee, I put together a big ol’ guide to the stand-up comedy scene in Fresno. It lists all the various comedy nights in town (weekly, monthly, etc.) So if you read it and wanna get out there to yuck it up immediately, you have three options this weekend.
1. MIX CREATIVITY AND CARNE ASADA
I like Creative Fresno and I like Guadalajara. So it’s no surprise that Creative Fresno having its monthly blender at my favorite Mexican restaurant gets a nod from me. Guadalajara has really good food, and very large drinks at its new Clovis location. Creative Fresno, meanwhile, does some really cool stuff for the community — like finance downtown murals and fuel the FuSE Festival. Its monthly blenders are a chance to meet and network with local artists and creatives. And they’re free. The event runs 5-8 p.m.
1. SEE A GREAT SHOW
I’m super psyched about this show tonight at Audie’s — it features Strange Vine (who I think is the best band in Fresno right now), The Stones Foxes (a great classic rock-ish band outta S.F. with Fresno-area roots) and Still Time (a SLO band that fans of Dave Matthews and Ben Harper oughta love). You can read a little more about it in today’s music roundup in The Bee.
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.
The Gospel guys have a little bit of a classic rock feel to it and fun songs, which oughta translate to a nice live energy.
If you want to check ‘em out beforehand (or if you’re too cheap to buy music), then you’re in luck, because the band just put up a FREE five-song EP on its Web site.
David Cook is at Table Mountain Casino tonight, and that heads up a nice list of happenings tonight in and around our great city. Cook’s show is long sold out, so if you’re a David Diehard, hope you already got some tickets. If you haven’t yet, you can read my Q & A with the “American Idol” winner.
1. PARTY AFTER AC/DC:Audie’s has electro-ish rockers Bullied by Strings tonight, and its being pegged as the place to be after the AC/DC show. There’s another post AC/DC bash downtown too.
