THE FRESNAN

Bloggiest Moment OTW: Famous Gets A Famous Comment

Yeah, we said this segment was taking a break but this one's too damn cool not to post. Fresno Famous blogger, Famous Whitewater (aka Joshua Tehee), did a guest post over at Dumb Drum, reviewing the movie, "The Runaways". You know, the sorta bio-pic about the all girl band, The Runaways. The band that had Lita Ford, Joan Jett and Cherie Currie.

Famous' review was quite good and expansive. It was so good that Cherie Currie herself felt the need to comment about it. Pretty sweet. So, either Cherie is a regular reader of Dumb Drum or she's really good at searching for reviews of The Runaways on the Internet.

Either way, it's the Bloggiest Moment Of The Week.

Bloggiest Moment Of The Week: Probably Needs A Break

This Bloggiest Moment Of The Week segment might need to go on a hiatus.

Maybe nobody cares and it's taking the fun out, or maybe we just suck, or maybe local blogs are in a rut... probably the middle one. At any rate, haven't been feelin' fired up with this feature or segment or whatever. So, yeah, maybe there will be something else posted at 1:01 am on Saturday nights for a while. Or maybe just nothin'. Maybe we just need to get our shit straight.

Anyways, a couple things of interest this week on the blogs: there was Mike Oz's post about the Old Spice Guy being too hot for Fresno. And there was Ed Stewart's full review of the Admiral Radley show at Star Palace. 

See how uninspired that post was? BMOTW needs to go get drunk somewhere for an undetermined period of time.

Bloggiest Moment Of The Week: You Pick It!

The Fresnan is kinda on a bloggy vacation. Meaning a vacation from blogs, not some magic get-a-way with free WiFi, laptops and endless fodder for posts. Point is, we're not real sure if something cool happened on the Fresno blogs or not. But we did notice that Picture Fresno is up and running. Okay, it's not a blog, but it's a local website, so there. Check it out, see if you've got the picture takin' skillz the Picture Fresno Overlords would find worthy. 

And hey, if you have a pick for Bloggiest Moment Of The Week, help us out and leave it in the comments - we'd like to know what the hell went on.

Bloggiest Moment Of The Week: Because Blogging Stops For No Holiday

It's a holiday, sure, but BMOTW is not taking time off (this time), because some stuff happened on the blogs this week. Maybe there wasn't one defining moment, but cool stuff none the less.

>>>The Beehive stalked found out what Kat Von D was doing in Clovis, they also: started/rekindled an old KMJ vs. Bee duster, asked Fresno who's the coolest new band in town, remembered Sambo's, announced the end of a Indie Tuesdays (kinda sure we coined that one), got a local reality show star to smack talk D-Mo on a local podcast and survailed another Did They Just Say Fresno.

>>>The Daulton Mountain Gang got plenty of blogtastic, Famous and Bee love.

>>>Famous alerted you to your new favorite band.

>>>Adam Wall did a reboot of his Gustav blog with Bench Dog.

>>>Dumb Drum tells of Fresno sorta almost kinda being in Iron Man 2.

>>>Edward Stewart did a video filled review of Thursday's post Arthop show at Tokyo.

Happy 4th, Fresno! And thanks for reading and supporting local blogs (nerds).

Bloggiest Moment OTW: Support Live Music, Fresnans

This is the Bloggiest Moment: Conlan sends a message to Fresno's music community. We think it's such an awesome moment, we're going to totally jack it and post it right here:

Hi Friends,

Have you heard of Local Natives? You probably have if you keep up with music websites and magazines, or trust NPR for music recommendations. They’re an amazing indie rock band from LA. Earlier this year, their debut album, Gorilla Manor, earned wide critical praise and continues to win new fans across the country and in Europe. If you don’t already have it, I suggest you pick it up.

Why am I talking about them? Because I’m also wondering how many of you realize that early last year Local Natives played an amazing show to a nearly empty Tokyo Garden right here in Fresno. I was there. They were fantastic.

So it’s frustrating when I hear people say they would go see more live music in Fresno “if there were any good bands playing.” The fact is, there are good bands playing. And thanks to the hard work of guys like Johnny and the team, more and more good bands are coming. But they aren’t coming for Love The Captive. They’re coming for you. And it’s up to you whether or not they keep on coming.

Recently Johnny asked you to plan ahead to attend some of the great shows we’ve got lined up this summer. I’m going to make it even easier. All I want you to do is listen. When we announce an upcoming show, don’t immediately dismiss it just because you’ve never heard of the artist. You hadn’t heard of Local Natives either.

Spend ten minutes. Listen to a song on MySpace (it’s still good for that, at least). Watch a YouTube video. Keep in mind, the drawbacks of self-recorded music and the internet mean the sound quality may not be great. But look past that. Hear the music. If it’s something you might like, why not spend a few bucks to see it in person? It’s cheaper than a movie, with the potential to pay off big time.

Or maybe you have a friend you think might like it. Let them know. Drop a link into a Facebook comment, “Hey, thought you might like this,” no big deal.

How many of your favorite new bands passed through Fresno when they were too small for you to notice? Do you ever wonder? How cool would it be to say, “I saw them play to a crowd of 80 people in a little place in Fresno”?

Fresno is on the cusp of some exciting things, but it’s no cliché to say we absolutely need your support. Take a chance. That’s all we ask. You do that for us, and I promise we’ll work on bringing the bands you already know and love.

- Conlan

What Conlan said.

This is the bonus Bloggiest Moment: Donald Munro irks SUV Guy's ire.

Bloggiest Moment OTW: Austin Still Cooler Than Fresno... for now

Maps are cool. This one is too. Except it's not:

It's not cool because it shows Fresnans leaving Fresno - that's what all the bad red lines are. We say to those leaving: Fuck em. (whoops, did we write that out loud?). Go have fun in your new city, just don't be mad if we block you on Facebook now.

This map came via the Beehive's Joan Obra as this week she stepped outside her normal food blogging role and brought us this map from Forbes and came with the question "Are you leaving Fresno?" And yeah we get it, times are tough here, maybe more so than other cities and you want to see if some other city will treat you better. Go for it.

But remember this, while we may not be at a Austin or Portland level right now, we will be. Not next year, but in the coming ones. One day we will have lines pointing TO Fresno, not away. Maybe even a few from *gasp* Portland. This much we know.

Bloggiest Moment OTW: Loving The Captive

Strong start of a busy month for local promoters (or facilitators of music), Love The Captive. Their new venue, The Captive, had a couple shows this week (with a silent venue tour and review by Famous Whitewater). Johnny Q from Captive was on The View Looks Good From Here, Fresno podcast. LTC also has a full month of quality shows they've been promoting heavy this week.

Topping it off Johnny Q does a nice post on LTC's blog encouraging Fresnans to save a dollar a day. That way, by the end of the month you'll have plenty of money to go see some live music in Fresno - even if it ain't a Love The Captive show.

That's the kinda stuff we like to hear and also the kind of stuff that gets you the Bloggiest Moment Of The Week.

Bloggiest Moment Of The Week: George Hostetter's Walking Downtown Mega Post

Truthfully, we don't normally pay attention to the Fresno Bee's news blog. We read the Bee (yes, the inky version) and we read the main Beehive, why should we read the news blog? For want of a better description: it's not a blog in the organic sense. It doesn't exist on its own - it feeds off what is in the Bee too much. That's why it's rarely considered for a BMOTW.

Well, George Hostetter has been overcoming that lately, especially this week with his "Glory and Challenges of Downtown" post.  A gigantor post of George walking around Downtown Fresno, pointing out cool and not cool things, all the while using his vast city government and planning knowledge to enlighten.

Pushing it over the bloggy top, the post is spawning its own print version in the Bee. That definitely deserves a Bloggiest Moment Of The Week.

Bloggiest Moment Of The Week: Coke Penis Lands Blogger A Spot In The Fresno Bee

Not sure if it's the goal of every blogger to parlay successful blogging into something else, like getting a newspaper column or whatever. But we imagine that somebody that works for the Fresno Bee would think it's super sweet.

That's what happened to Fresno Bee reporter George Hostetter ("G-Hos") this week. His blog posts (sometimes about local billboards he sees penis in) have been so well received, the Bee Overloards decided to make him a columnist (we're guessing for the same pay). Nice work, G-Hos, that's the Bloggiest Moment Of The Week.

BONUS MOMENT!
The DumbDrum.com turned three-years-old this week. In blog years that's 58. We would like to give Roque and Bryan one of those slow claps that builds strength until every local blogger is clapping.

Also this week, the boys entered themselves in KSEE 24's Why I Love Fresno contest. Check out their Cross Streets inspired entry:

Bloggiest Moment Of The Week: Oz Breaks The Fulton Street Project News

Mike Oz comes in with another moment this week. This one involving the new Fulton Street Project. Pretty sweet sounding, finally somebody's going to start using the Warnors Theatre, Frank's Place and Star Palace again. And even the new office havin' kids at LTC are getting involved.

What it all means is more touring acts (and local ones too) will be playing on the block of Fulton and Tuolumne - which is really really awesome. The Blogfather even takes things further and proposes a "Rock Hop" for the whole damn area. Hey, if a monthly Art Hop can be such a success for Fresno, Why not a music version?

BONUS MOMENT
One word: awwww

Bloggiest Moment OTW: Fresnans Love To Talk Clubbin'

Not that it should come as any surprise but Fresnans take their dance clubs seriously. Least that's what we realized after reading all the comments from Mike Oz's Beehive post about the plans for the new Fresno Live and Chukchansi Park. Mike Oz laid out the plans (4 different clubs running at the same time at the Chuck) and Fresnans let loose with what they thought.

Got some North Fresno vs Downtown Fresno talk in the comments there, bit of racism, Fresno hating, some optimism, someone slandering the promoter... All that makes for a Bloggiest Moment Of The Week (even if it was late).

Ha! Think all these Fresno Live plans sound cool? Yeah well ... Anybody remember when the downtown Bisla's had sand on the floor one night a week? Now that was some crazy edgy club stuff right there. Good luck beating THAT, Fresno Live.

BMOTW: Fresno Tweeting Is NOT Blogging Except When It Is

Oh my how BLOG WARS of Fresno Haters vs. Fresno Defenders have changed. Used to be, somebody would write some post on Live Journal hating on Fresno. Then it would find its way to Fresno Famous and it would spark several pages of "Fresno is killer, Fresno sucks ass" debate, and that would be that.

Now, tweets spark long twitterthreads...twieteds...threets? tweds? well, whatever. Basically what happened this week, some dude or dudes on Twitter said "Fresno has problems and is lame." Other dudes said "no you're the problem (bingo), not Fresno."

The reason this Fresno Tweeting is a BLOGiest moment? Because it sparked two major posts this week. One from This Is Conlan and one from James Collier (oh and there was a related column too). Probably the most comprehensive and well thought out rebuttals to any sort of Fresno BLOG WAR! we've seen.

And certainly deserving of a Frestalk filled Bloggiest Moment Of The Week.

BONUS MOMENT!
Local furniture artist, podcaster and blogger, Adam Wall, has a long running blog called Gustav's Groupie. A major feature on his blog is his breaking down of certain letters to the editors of the Bee. He has decided to give that feature up. At least for now. All the debating and whatnot has gotten a bit stressful. Hopefully Gustav's Groupie will change his mind because we like to see other people get into blog wars and stress out. It's fun.

Bloggiest Moment OTW: Beehive Flexes Their Twitter Muscle

Gotta give it up to the power of the Beehive. When you can pull off sizable events such as Saturday night's Fresno Tweetup Goes Wild, you've got some blog power. Seems good tweetass times were had by all.

Add to that, the involvement of other local blogs and even going so far as to have an afterparty for the zoo event, and you've got Fresno's Bloggiest Moment Of The Week.

Bloggiest Moment OTW: Stones Can Screw Up Checks All They Want, Just Don't Mess With The Quesadillas

Now that the Roe shooting blog comments have died down the blogosphere can get back to normal blogging content, like calling out a Tower District business.

Livingstones. There probably isn't a more popular default spot for locals. Meaning, Livingstones IS Fresno's townie bar. Think about it. It's really in a shitty spot, tucked back there behind a dollar store and next to a bank, off the main Tower District strip. It's basically located on a alley. How would anybody but locals think to go back there?

Still, the place rakes, year in and out, good service and bad. Good food and bad.

That's why when the Beehive's Heather McLane asked "What's going on at Livingstone's?" (pertaining to the drop off in quesadilla tastiness and credit card errors), lots of folks chimed in. The two main points made: 1. Cash is king. 2. Get the quesadillas fixed.

All that makes for a true Fresno townie Bloggiest Moment Of The Week.

Bloggiest Moment Of The Week: Northeast Is The Happiest Place In Fresno

It was a quiet kinda week on the blogs, outside of some tea-bagging. That's why this week's Bloggiest Moment pick is hyper-local.

Blogger/artist, Teresa Flores, took a walk in Northeast Fresno and found out something: Everyone is all nice and junk. She experienced a lot of Northeasters saying "Hi!" and waving to her during her walk. Much more than any other part of town she wanders.

Hummm. So has Teresa found something positive in the NE? Are Northeasterners the friendliest Fresnans in town?