THE FRESNAN

The Fresnan Presents: Dorktown #110 - 'Legit Town' With Mike Oz

It took many many years and a 64 ounce soda but the Fresno Bee's Mike Osegueda finally visits Dorktown... errr Legit Town. Lots of Fresno-y things were dorked about, stuff like this:

• Would Mike Oz ever leave Fresno.
• Mike Oz texts "goodnight" to Swear Bear every night.
• Kids Day: watch for traffic, foos.
• Mikey sucks ass at asking questions.
• Blogging: It's over.
• Weirdest celebrity inverviews for Oz.
• Mark McGuire: Dick.
• Fresno Beehive is Mike's baby.
• Bentley's Goatee rules all.
• MUSIC BREAK: Sparklejet.
• Meth tourism.
• Good local music.
• Ozmosis.
• The top Fresno region "celebs" are?...
• Gotta Love Fresno.
• OR GAME!
• HIGH HORSE: Fulton 55.
• Timmy T and Mia Torres.
• FONZY EYYS.

Listen by clicking this below:
MikeOzLegitTown110.mp3

Also, make sure to listen to Ozmosis, go to the Beehive Party and check out ValleyWho.

Dorktown on Facebook and on iTunes. Email the show: [email protected].

Fresno Bee: Less Fresno Than Ever Before!

Over the past 10 years, it's always been a bit scary when you hear "Changes are coming to The Bee." Sadly it's never "We added more reporters, more sections and more columnists!" Quite the fucking opposite, actually.

Such was the case Monday as the Fresno Bee announced the inky version is now condensed even more. Inching ever closer to being just one section... you know, like the Madera Tribune or some shit.

The only "possitive" news (outside of the Sunday Spotlight being pulled out of the ads and put in the normal part of the paper - actually this is good) is there will be more sources of national feeds. Sorry but the only reason to read The Bee is for local stuff, we're not getting excited about national sources.

If you're going to keep us reading, we need more Mike Oz and Bill Mac. More G-Hos and Matt James (oh wait, you dumped that guy). More Asking Paula, Then & Now-ing and Word On The Street.

You know, like, more FRESNO and stuff.

Fresno Bee Fail: A Story About The City Turning On Some Fountains At Fulton Mall Becomes 'Homeless Dude Bathing In A Fountain'

If you get the ink version of the Fresno Bee (like us), then you saw it on Saturday morning. Right below the fold. A homeless dude taking a bath in a Fulton Mall fountain. No, it wasn't a story about how Fresno's homeless are the most hygiene conscious in the country. It was a story about the City Of Fresno turning on some of the Fulton Mall fountains.

Nice. Finally the city is doing something positive with the Fulton Mall. Things are looking up a little bit. Maybe I'll go check those fountains out...THEN BOOM: homeless dude in fountain.

Those backwardsass Fresnans that are scared of downtown just got their fodder for the next time they call Ray Appleton or Chris Daniels Daniel (or for comments on the Bee's website).

One picture. Two steps back for downtown.

[Photo stolen from here]

Fresnan Late Night: You Do NOT Tell Kopi How To Say 'Great Day'! He Fucking Tells YOU!

Yes we're a little late on this but did you read the Ricky B story in the Bee this week about all of the local filmmaking happening? The story begins with some local director telling Kopi how to say 'great' and 'day':

Over at the KMPH studios last week, movie director Matt Sconce had taken over a control room. He was coaching Channel 26.1 anchor and part-time actor Kopi Sotiropulos on how to say "What a great day" with just the right emphasis for a scene in the film "The Park."

"What a GREAT day. WHAT a great DAY. What a GREEEAT Day," Sotiropulos said, repeating the dialogue until the local film director was certain he got the perfect end line to his low-budget movie.

This is proof that Kopi must be the nicest man ever. Some local putz coaches KOPI on how to put the right emphasis on 'great' and 'day'? How Kopi doesn't go into a Christian Bale "Fuck sake man you're amatuer!" tirade is beyond us.

*Remind yourself how awesome the tirade was by clicking TMZ's sweet audio file.

 

Well That Sucks: Matt James Laid Off By The Fresno Bee

Sadly the Fresno Bee is doing another round of layoffs. This one is cutting into some bone as sports columnist, Matt James, is being let go (and not replaced). Matt has done some really good work, specializing in stories you wouldn't have know about otherwise and having different takes on local sports news and personalities.

So basically the Bee Overlords are removing more original and local content, and then hoping to sell more papers. Remind us why we should keep our daily subscription again?...

Listen to Matt talk about his layoff and his plans for the future by listening to his segment on Tony D's Sportsline (KYNO 940 AM) by clicking here. Or use the player:

Matt James on Sportsline with Tony D'addato

UPDATE: In Matt's column today he talks about his departure and writes the exact kind of column we're going to miss.

Something Kinda Awesome You Might Have Missed: Paddleboarders In Fresno

Last week, Fresno Bee reporter, Marek Warszawski, wrote a great story on some dudes utilizing something highly underutilized around here: The San Joaquin River. Not only are they utilizing it but they're doing something cool: paddleboarding.

It's basically a combination of surfing and kayaking. You can do some semi gnarly things with a paddleboard but there isn't much opportunity on the Fresno section of the SJ river. But when you have surfers (like Dan Hogg, Hans Wiedenhoefer and Evan Lloyd, pictured above) having fun with it in Fresno waters, that's cool enough for us.

Apparently it's not that difficult, so if you want to get in on this, you can find the boards at Herb Bauer - they can be a bit pricey so maybe see if they'll rent ya one to get started. Find out some info on getting started with the sport here. And the unofficial spot to park and find your way down to the water is the lot that's at the end of Palm, north of Nees.

Since it's kinda hot at the moment, today might be a good day to start this new Fresno sport.

*Photo taken by Gary Kazanjian of the Fresno Bee. More can be found here.

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:

Wanderings: Crack, Homeruns, Potential, Streets, Hippies

Most Fresnans do way more interesting things than we do. Let's see what.

>>>We have the #1 high school baseball team in the country. No shit, the whole country. And by we, we mean Clovis West. Clovis West still counts as a Fresno school, right? K, just checking.

>>>Chinatown is THE primo place in Fresno to score some of the crack cocaine all the kids are talking about. At least that's what Burn Fresno claims. Don't worry about how he knows, he just knows, okay!? There is even a helpful map:

>>>Archop's new 'Potential' feature. A great segment on Archop.org, exploring buildings that are interesting but have potential to be much more... more than a CVS anyway.

>>>Jordan Ribera is the home run master of college baseball this season. Awesome for Fresno State... it'd be REALLY awesome if Jordan stays around after his junior year, unlike some other Fresno State athletes we know.

>>>There is proof that hippies are, in fact, dirty as Joan Obra tells us about some youths [Local Motion] composting local restaurant's food waste. Very cool. Gross. But cool.

>>>Cross Streets keeps crossin' and Fresno's Internets keeps laughing:

Exactly How Many 'Kids Day' Papers Does It Take Until We No Longer Feel Guilty?

Well, the number of papers isn't two because we still feel guilty after buying just two for $2. Yep, we should have bought more, or spent more or whatever. Luckily for those of us that didn't give enough today, there are other ways of donating to Valley Children's.

And no, we didn't go to any celebrity corners, just a good corner with mildly hot high school girls nice folks that didn't try and kill themselves getting their two bucks.

Bloggiest Moment Of The Week: Fresno Magazine Disappoints The Blogosphere... Again

Year in and year out, Fresno Magazine puts out their Best Of Fresno issue and we all look at it and say "What the fuck!?" That's basically what happened after Mike Oz posted this year's list, firestarting a giant comment thread. Hey, there was even a TVLGFH,F episode about it.

What's weird is how much attention we give Fresno Mag's best of list. We all know its content is advertiser driven. We all know it's North Fresno heavy. But yet, every year, we seem surprised that their list is caddywompus. Maybe it's because we want Fresno magazine to be good. We know it can be good (and it does have a moment or two), but it always falls short.

At least we've arrived at the time of year we can place our votes for the Fresno Bee's Choice Awards. It's going on now, click here if you want to cast some votes for your favorite Fresno things - voting ends December 6th. 

Fres-Video: Vintage Scoopy Sign Off

Do you remember when KMJ ran Channel 24 and were partnered with the Fresno Bee? We don't either (not that we would admit it if we did). But that doesn't make this old clip of Scoopy signing off the station any less precious: 

For you kids out there, stations actually used to signoff for the day and go to fuzz overnight (we will admit to remembering that).

Music Box Fresno: Another Music Venue, Gives

Earlier this year, we had the closing of The Exit (oh and we guess Cabo Wabo kinda counts too), now another one locks up for good: The Crossroads. Fresno Bee reporter Tim Sheehan brought everyone the news of the bar's closing from owner Robert Pierce and his reasons for close:

"It just got to the point that the level of work, the amount of money that we needed to continue to invest, the amount of support that we saw continuing for live music ... just didn't make financial sense for us... So we closed to concentrate on our other business."

Pierce goes on to say:

[The recession made people] "afraid to spend the kind of money they had over the last couple of years... For shows that we were getting 200-300 people for, we were getting 70-80. It made it tough to continue to bring in national and regional acts. We just didn't have the support for it."

All is not lost though. The Babylon seems to be stepping in to take some of Crossroad's business as they are welcoming the Central Valley Blues Society - a staple at Crossroads.

The Evening Post: Fresno Tree Hugging Edition

You may have seen the article by the Bee's George Hostetter [We like to call him "The Hoss"] in this morning's paper and then the subsequent blog post by Kathy Mahan: Fresno's "leaders" hate mature trees, by a unanimous 7-0 vote, no less. The city voted to pull out all the shade giving tree's at Eaton Plaza in favor of one day, maybe, planting some baby trees in the same spot.

There is gonna be some protesting, City of Fresno... sorry. You tried to slip one by Tree Fresno, but it ain't gonna work. The Internets are watching. Bust out your tree hugging equipment, Fresno Hippies.

Fresno Talk Radio Needs Somebody That Doesn't Remember When Manchester Center Was Awesome

Is it really that hard for mainstream Fresno radio to have a talk show with a host under 40? Or one that could actually talk about local stuff daily? Maybe. Let's see:

Ray Ray Factor
Mr. Fresno Radio King (he is, just ask him), Ray Appleton. How in the hell has this guy dominated, and we mean DOMINATED, so many years, talking about stuff from only one side of the fence and, at times, being a total asshole to his own callers/listeners? Why does he barely talk about Fresno? (Excluding the Water Wars and when he steals content from the Fresno Bee.) Is it just that only old white people listen to talk radio or is there something we're not getting?

Bubba Christ
Our former Mayor, Alan Bubba Carlos Brown Autry, has a show on 1300 KYNO from 10 to Noon. It's ahhh... it's something. We gotta say it's more entertaining than Appleton's. Problem is, half the show Bubba talks about President Obama being a lair and a Socialist, one quarter he talks about Jesus and the rest is about randomness. Somebody give Bubba a focus or send him to a Christian station where he'll be happier and won't have to worry about being boring.

Front Row Tea Bagger
KMJ's Chris Daniel has the most airtime in Fresno to work with (even more than the King). But even HE can't focus on Fresno very much (aside from talking about teabagging). And, BTW, that one doesn't count as being local, it's a national thing. Anyway, Chris came out of the box with a lot of potential, talking about Fresno, having a little bit of a younger perspective (we're using "younger" extremely loosely). But he's bit on the whole Tea Party thing and hasn't let go... *yawn*. You've got four hours to talk there, Chris, how about some more Fresno?

New "Kid" On The Dial
Well, he isn't new to local radio, he just kinda sounds like it sometimes. We're talking about Fresno Bee columnist Bill McEwen. He has a fairly new show on 1300 KYNO from Noon to 1. This one has promise because he has been consistently talking about Fresno related stuff. Let's hope he doesn't get away from that. And big respect for having our favorite Fresno radio personality and former Bill-Mac co-host, Tony D'Addato, on Fridays to talk sports.

So there is one possible bright spot in Fresno's mainstream talk radio. Too bad there is nobody out there that doesn't need hair plugs.