The dates have been decided, local music festival the Fresno Urban Sound Experience is happening September 6th, 7th and 8th this year!
Like last year, there will be two nights (and some day time stuff too) of music. There is also a new third night, a special preview night, during September ArtHop (that's Thursday night the 6th).
There will be a nice mix of new and returning venues this year. Frank's Place at Warnors will return as will Fulton 55 and Tokyo Garden. And there is a nod to year-one as the old Milano's (now the Fresno Brewing Company) returns, plus a couple new spots you'll find out more about later.
Gettin' pumped already. What bands do you want to see play this year?
Best of Fresno times for us, Friday and Saturday night. The 4th Fresno Urban Sound Expierence happend with Fresno's music community, supporters of Downtown and the arts, and just regular dudes, all coming together to have a good time, showing how fun Fresno actually is.
Highlights
>As with all of the FUSE Fests, the walking around, bouncing back and forth between all the venues was cool. Folks were starting to get the hang of it on Saturday as nice groups of Fresnans were roaming to and from the Ironbird Lofts and African-American Histroy Museum stage as each set ended and the other began.
>Festival goers that couldn't tell you what the diffrence is between Rademacher and Azazel but went and had fun anyway.
>The festival within the festival "Eli Fest" at Club One. Drummer Eli Reyes drummed for five bands straight through the night, and didn't die or nothin'. The room was mostly packed all night too.
>Downtowners that happen to be walking by and getting a free show at Iron Bird and AAHM and really enjoying the music.
>All the bands seemed to have a blast no matter how big or small their crowd was.
>Musicians from different genres checking out other band's sets, being impressed and saying "how good these guys are" even though the music wasn't there thing.
Lowlights
>Not enough festival goers getting over to see the Downtown Club venue. Great Fresno spot and good music that was missed for the most part. Certainly the last second venue change had something to do with that.
>On Saturday there were two stages outside Iron Bird Lofts. Most of the lofts have a balcony and those that live on the East and South sides could watch and listen to said stages to their hearts content. Nobody did ... except for one dude that came out to have a smoke then went back in. What the hell? You have a freaking music festival happening outside your balcony and you don't hang and check it out? Ya don't have a party during the festival and jump down, listen to some music, jump back up and keep partying? Sorry Iron Bird Loft people but you're fucking lame.
>Nobody shows up to the bands playing early. Not sure if that's a Fresno thing or what. You guys missed out on Sounds & Sciences, they kick core ass.
>There are a lot of local bands, good bands, with NO following. No regulars that come to see a show of their favorite Fresno band, regardless of where they're playing. Yes, there are a few that have that, but more don't than do. Kinda weird to us but whatever.
Buzz Bands
Bands or sets that we saw that we were impressed by or ones we heard folks talking a lot about were the Sunburns, Kevin Hill Blowout, Dia Del Astronauta, Distrito Torre, B-Rawcity, Westerns, Let's Go Bowling, College Kids, Lezayr, The Dirty Stomp, It'll Grow Back, Abigail Nolte, Boxcar Figero and pretty much everyone that played at Hero's - upper tier musicianship right there.
Something To Take With You
One thing to remember Fresnans for next year and when you go out to enjoy bands around town in general: Crowd the stage. Yeah, we get not doing it when it's something mellow or whatever. But mostly this is a sign of respect to the bands and a way to experience the music more intensely. Fresnans are notorious for sitting in the back of the room and nodding.
Guess Fresnans need to get educated. Maybe we'll learn that before FUSE 2012.
Every week Bandgeek is about promoting what's happening in Fresno's music scene over the weekend. This weekend we're letting FUSE Fest take over, because it's the bestest, because we're involved with helping it happen and because there's no time to post anything else.
Much respect to Audie's Olympic, The Bel-Tower, the CYC, Starline, Babylon, Kuppajoe's, Full Circle Brew, Club Retro and many others, who week after week, support the scene. But this weekend is all about Downtown Fresno for us.
UPDATE: For online ticket buyers, Will Call is at Fulton 55 for FRIDAY AND SATURDAY!
TONIGHT! It's the South end of Downtown with: (names in red are new editions or have changed venue)
Friday September 30th
JOE’S STEAKHOUSE (All Ages) 6:30 Werebear 7:30 Dale Stewart Band 8:30 Marlson Bruegen 9:30 Brian Kenny Fresno 10:30 The Dirty Stomp
DOWNTOWN CLUB (21+) 6:30 Sounds & Sciences 7:30 Achievement House 8:30 Lezayr 9:30 B. Rawcity 10:30 Koncrete Rose 11:00 Meatball Magic@FUSE (dance party!)
HERO’S SPORTS LOUNGE (21+) 7:00 Karen Marguth 8:00 Boxcar Figero 9:00 Lance Canales & The Flood 10:00 The Neptunes 11:00 Motel Drive 12:00 Bully the Kid
CLUB ONE (21+) 7:00 Brother Luke & The Comrades 7:30 College Kids 8:00 Westerns 9:00 Rademacher 10:00 Fay Wrays 11:00 Quiet Americans
Saturday enjoy the Mural/Cultural Arts District with:
Saturday, October 1
AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM - outside in back (All Ages) 5:00 The Milford Higgins 6:00 Kevin Hill Blowout 7:00 Your Hero Is A Villain 8:00 Azazel 9:00 Bruno dA uNo
IRON BIRD LOFTS - outside of old Iron Bird Cafe (All Ages) 5:30 Distrito Torre 6:30 Fast Car 7:30 It’ll Grow Back 8:30 Niilo Smeds 9:30 Werebear
FULTON 55 7:00 Irie Sun 8:00 tba 9:00 Let’s Go Bowling 10:00 Poplord 11:00 Buffalo Guns
FULTON 55 – COFFEEHOUSE STAGE - upstairs (21+) 6:30 Abigail Nolte 7:30 Heather & Joe 8:30 That Guy Kevin 9:30 Suicide Lounge 10:30 Restaurnaut
TOKYO GARDEN (21+) 10:00 Josh & Jaime 11:00 Blake Jones & The Trike Shop 12:00 Sunburns 1:00 The Backstabbers
There is a super awesome FREE IBikeFresno bike valet happening both nights. Ride your bike down to the festival and these nice dudes will take care of it for you all night. Check the bike icons on the map for each night's location.
Also also IMPORTANT: The place to buy and pickup tickets ($20) on Friday is at Club One! You can start picking up tickets at 5:30, doors open on the early venues at 6.
Buying your ticket on Saturday (if you didn't get the 2-day pass on Friday) means going to Fulton 55 when you get there and the first band is playing at 5:00!
All venues on Friday have fine dinner options (and BOOZE) so make sure to plan your dinner at FUSE on Friday. Saturday there will be a good taco truck around plus Tokyo Garden will serve dinner till about 9:30 or so and there will be booze at Tokyo and Fulton 55.
Parking is free Downtown at night and on weekends (since the Grizzlies season is over) so find a spot and you're done. Friday the Spiral Garage will be a good option. Saturday just find a random spot in the Culture Arts/Mural District and that's it. Easy.
There will be band merch and festival merch so bring some cash.
Get there early. Stay late. Bounce around. Sample sample sample. See what Fresno's music scene is all about. See ya out there!
Don't go to Club Karma Friday night. Don't. There will only be silly people there. Nobody that knows what's happening at FUSE Fest Friday and Saturday night anyway. Due to circumstances out of FUSE Fest's control, Club Karma double booked themselves on Friday and chose not to have FUSE held there - not so great for your Karma there guys.
So FUSE got awesome and moved that stage to the Downtown Club (just a lead-cord away down Kern) with a few kickass and understanding bands spreading themselves out to exsisting stages as well.
Check out the acts in red as they are the ones that have been moved and re-think your route.
Friday September 30th
JOE’S STEAKHOUSE (All Ages) 6:30 Werebear 7:30 Dale Stewart Band 8:30 Marlson Bruegen 9:30 Brian Kenny Fresno 10:30 The Dirty Stomp
DOWNTOWN CLUB (21+) 6:30 Sounds & Sciences 7:30 Achievement House 8:30 Lezayr 9:30 B. Rawcity 10:30 Koncrete Rose 11 Meatball Magic@FUSE (dance party!)
HERO’S SPORTS LOUNGE (21+) 7:00 Karen Marguth 8:00 Boxcar Figero 9:00 Lance Canales & The Flood 10:00 The Neptunes 11:00 Motel Drive 12:00 Bully the Kid
CLUB ONE (21+) 7:00 Brother Luke & The Comrades 7:30 College Kids 8:00 Westerns 9:00 Rademacher 10:00 Fay Wrays 11:00 Quiet Americans
Saturday, October 1
AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM - outside in back (All Ages) 5:00 The Milford Higgins 6:00 Kevin Hill Blowout 7:00 Your Hero Is A Villain 8:00 Azazel 9:00 Bruno dA uNo
IRON BIRD LOFTS - outside of old Iron Bird Cafe (All Ages) 5:30 Distrito Torre 6:30 Fast Car 7:30 It’ll Grow Back 8:30 Niilo Smeds 9:30 tba
FULTON 55 7:00 Irie Sun 8:00 Aire Espacial 9:00 Let’s Go Bowling 10:00 Poplord 11:00 Buffalo Guns
FULTON 55 – COFFEEHOUSE STAGE - upstairs (21+) 7:30 Heather & Joe 8:30 That Guy Kevin 9:30 Suicide Lounge 10:30 Restaurnaut
TOKYO GARDEN (21+) 10:00 Josh & Jaime 11:00 Blake Jones & The Trike Shop 12:00 Sunburns 1:00 The Backstabbers
You also may have noticed the Fulton 55 "Coffeehouse Stage" (there won't be coffee unless you drink beer like coffee) lineup is in. Head upstairs at Fulton 55 at those times to see some different kinda stuff... and stuff.
Also new is the IBikeFresno bike valet happening both nights. Ride your bike down to the festival and these nice dudes will take care of it for you all night. Check bike icons on the map for each night's location.
Also also IMPORTANT: The place to buy and pickup tickets on Friday is at Club One. So make sure to hit there first.
Buying your ticket on Saturday (if you didn't get the 2-day pass on Friday) means going to Fulton 55 when you get there.
Twitter hashtag for the event is #fusefresno.
So excited. Gonna be a epic weekend for Fresno's music scene.
Welcome to FUSE Fest week! The biggest local music festival in town begins Friday night and ends early Sunday morning. Time to start planning your festival route and this may be of some use to ya:
Friday, September 30
JOE’S STEAKHOUSE 6:30 Werebear 7:30 Dale Stewart Band 8:30 Marlson Bruegen 9:30 Brian Kenny Fresno 10:30 The Dirty Stomp
CLUB KARMA (STAGE 1) 6:30 Bully The Kid 7:30 Achievement House 8:30 Lezayr 9:30 It’ll Grow Back 10:30 – 2:00AM: Meatball Magic @ FUSE
CLUB KARMA (STAGE 2) 7:00 College Kids 8:00 Sounds & Sciences 9:00 B-Rawcity 10:00 Koncrete Rose
CLUB ONE 7:00 Brother Luke & The Comrades 8:00 Westerns 9:00 Rademacher 10:00 Fay Wrays 11:00 Quiet Americans
Saturday, October 1
AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM 5:00 The Milford Higgins 6:00 Kevin Hill Blowout 7:00 Your Hero Is A Villain 8:00 Azazel 9:00 Bruno dA uNo
IRON BIRD LOFTS 5:30 Distrito Torre 6:30 Fast Car 7:30 Nate Pearce Band 8:30 Niilo Smeds 9:30 Touchdown Jesus
FULTON 55 7:00 Irie Sun 8:00 Aire Especial 9:00 Let’s Go Bowling 10:00 Poplord 11:00 Buffalo Guns
FULTON 55 – COFFEEHOUSE STAGE 7:30 Heather & Joe 8:30 That Guy Kevin 9:30 Suicide Lounge 10:30 Restauraut
TOKYO GARDEN 10:00 Josh & Jaime 11:00 Blake Jones & The Trike Shop 12:00 Sunburns 1:00 The Backstabbers
The lineup can be a volatile thing so check the site for changes. Look at the map if you're not sure where these places are. Sign in on the event page and annoy invite your friends. Festival goers get a handout when they check in that shows everything above. Tickets $20 for a two-day pass. $15 for one-day ($15 2-day for Creative Fresno members when you buy them at Fulton 55).
It's official. The Fresno Urban Sound Experience is only weeks away. You can already buy tickets. Oh and it's fully funded now, thanks for asking *jaw drop*. All that's left is to tell you who the hell is playing this annual ultimate display of Fresno musicianship.
Last year Reid May's band, Trumpet Solo, played F.U.S.E. Fest and they had a good time. But you won't see a return to the lineup for Trumpet Solo because Reid moved out of state. So not metal.
Maybe it's a little bit of homesickness or he just plain likes giving back to Fresno's music community, because Reid created a EP specifically to raise money for this year's Fresno Urban Sound Experience. The Downtown Fresno music local music festival is happening Friday September 30th - Saturday October 1st.
If you download his $4 EP "Back To The Garage" off of Bandcamp, all the proceeds go to F.U.S.E. Now THAT is pretty damn metal. Listen and buy:
In other money-raising-for-FUSE-fest news, the Kickstarter Campaign is up and going. There are many days left but no reason to wait for the last minute to be a backer. You being a backer is how F.U.S.E. stays an authentic/indie/DIY style local music festival. We want to keep highlighting Downtown Fresno venues and local music talent, without having to get the corporate sponsor - Personally, we've been to enough shows with a Coors/Bud Light stage.
More F.U.S.E. news, the lineup announcement is coming soon. It'll be over 30 acts this year. No pre-party night because it's a full two day event. Should be fun to figure out which night has the best lineup and which night has the best venues. We say both.
What do you think? Hey, girls can go to F.U.S.E. Fest too, ya know.
Let the festival hype begin.
Kickstarter is up and waiting for your backing. Facebook and Twitter buzzing. Band list being formulated. Details being ironed out. Just remember to save the evenings of Friday September 30th and Saturday October 1st for live local music listening in Downtown Fresno.
Saturday night, Fresno's Couch Riding Scene took a major blow to its coolness factor. The Fresnans that forgoed their couches and Giant games to experience what Fresno's musicians have to offer, and to see what Downtown Fresno can look like FUSEd with music, need some applause today. We saw a lot of great people out there enjoying themselves at F.u.S.E. Fest 2010 and being part of the solution - the problem being getting Fresnans to come out to locally grown things. Let's hope the positive vibes carry over into F.u.S.E. 2011 and we see more people out there.
Some highlights for us:
A bustling Fulton Street.
Hearing people talk about how they'd never been to this part of town and how cool it is.
Every age group was there.
The band Whiskey & The Devil Chaplin finishing their stellar set at one end of Frank's Place. Then, Trumpet Solo took one perfectly timed beat and started their set at the other end of Frank's, enticing the whole crowd to move over to them. Never seen something like that before and it was cool.
Dusty Buns impressing all and running out of every morsel of food.
Fresnans discovering and being impressed by bands they had previously not known existed.
The Fishbowl stage:
*Thanks to Nick Gennock for unknowingly letting us steal his F.u.S.E. pics. Also check out some nice ones by Andrew Ranta:
WHERE? All down down Fulton Street in Downtown Fresno; Front of Warnors, Star Palace, K-Jewl Art Studio, Frank's Place, Iron Bird Cafe and Tokyo Garden. Check the map for exacts - the Bee also has a nice one.
WHOS AND WHATS: It's an all-ages event (except for Tokyo Garden 21+). Passes are $20 and that allows you into everything. Jump around. If you have someone 12 or under, they're gettin in free. Parking is all around and free. There will be food on Fulton Street from Dusty Buns, at Tokyo Garden and Iron Bird Cafe.
BRING CASH: There are no ATMs on Fulton Street and you're going to want money for drinking, eating and buying band merch!
BANDS: There will be a program you get that will tell you this:
FISHBOWL (under Warnors Theater marquee) 5:00 Espacio 6:00 Bad Andy & The Sunburns 7:00 Lance Canales & The Flood 8:00 12 Guage Serenade 9:00 Tony Manjarrez Latin Jazz Band
FRANK'S PLACE 5:00 Blaze 6:00 The Whiskey & The Devil Chaplin 7:00 Shiver Fox 8:00 Sparkle Jet 9:00 Fierce Creatures 10:00 Achievement House 11:00 Viper City Brass Band
FRANK'S PLACE - VESTIBULE STAGE 6:30 Trumpet Solo 7:30 Azazel 8:30 Your Hero Is A Villain 9:30 Grafik 10:30 Hate FX 11:30 The Quiet Americans
IRON BIRD CAFE 5:30 Almost Winter 6:30 Jeff Caughey 7:30 Blake Jones 8:30 Third Rail Power Trip 9:30 JJ Brown Band
TOKYO GARDEN 10:00 AC Myles 11:00 E. Rose 12:00 Distrito Torre 1:00 It'll Grow Back
K-JEWEL ART GALLERY 5:30 Local Honey 6:30 Clave (Omar Nare & friends 7:30 The Capital is Burning 8:30 Omotola 9:30 I Do Not Exist
STAR PALACE DJ VENUE 5:00-6:00pm Geoff Kramer 6:00-7:00pm DJ Marc 7:00-8:15pm DJ Roman + Adrian Mezenger 8:15-9:30pm Ezra Osborn + Shant P 9:30-10:45pm DJ Bradley + Guest 10:45-12:00am DJ Clint Storm + P-Rez No Input Nata — all damn night.
It's gonna be down and gritty and classic tonight at the Lamp Post, just like the sign. Pre-party for Saturday's F.u.S.E. Fest. At 7:30, things get underway. At 8pm, Strange Vine will play and it shall be good. At 8:45 it will be a "one off" showcase of F.u.S.E. 2010 musicians doing quick acoustic sets to promote their Saturday sets. At 10pm, Down Word will give us the finest Fresno has to offer in rock.
Sounds like a nice way to begin the weekend and get pumped for Saturday. Cost is $5 but if you buy a F.u.S.E. Festival pass, you get in for free (sorta). The Lamp Post is located at 607 E. Divisadaro St. There is a rumor that Dusty Buns will be parked there for some good eats too.
Not everybody knows where the Star Palace, Frank's Place, Iron Bird Cafe, KYNO or Warnors Theater is. Right? So then maybe you aren't exactly sure where Saturday's F.u.S.E. Fest 2010 is happening. Well, there's a map for that.
Check it, it was made special for the festival. Just think Fulton Street, and you're set because it's all happening on it. And, there will be a pedicab running down Fulton so you can check out what's happening at Iron Bird Cafe with ease. Everything else is right on top of each other, really. Remember: Parking is free downtown on the weekends unless you park around Selland or the Chuk when there's a game. Simple as that.
The map also reveals where the food is. Yes, there are places to eat downtown. Tokyo Garden. Iron Bird Cafe. Joe's Steakhouse. Chicken and Waffles on the Fulton Mall. And, as a special treat, Dusty Buns will be parked outside the All Things Fresno store on Fulton.
Downtown Fresno: Good music. Good food. Free parking.
Lance Canales was on the Alan Autry Show this week, promoting his F.u.S.E. Fest appearance (Fishbowl Stage at 7) with some F.u.S.E. fest organizers. Did a great job. Bubba like. You can hear the whole thing here and watch his performance here:
Also, F.u.S.E. 2010 artist, Distrito Torre, goes on the No Network and reveals the meaning of their name (oh duh, why didn't we know that) as they promote their time slot (midnight at Tokyo Garden):
The Fresnan is a blog drunk on Fresno's sweet sweet booze.
We like posting about local music and random Fresno culture junk. We like Downtown, tri-tip, South of Shaw battles, tamales and remembering when there was a fig orchard at Herndon & Palm. We like to occasionally go to River Park but tell people we never go there.
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