Bandcamp is the definitive place on the Internet for small and local acts to release their albums to. Bands are even able to make a little bit from this, at least enough to generate some operating cash, if nothing else.
Normally Bandcamp takes a fee from the band when someone buys a song or album. Lately, with everything being shutdown and bands not able to generate any revenue besides the selling of merch, Bandcamp has been choosing certain days to wave their fees so bands can get as much cash as possible.
So, I guess, watch Bandcamp to know when those days are or just buy as much as you want when you want.
Speaking of, as a way to support Fresno area bands, I have compiled SOME of the local acts with albums on Bandcamp. It’s a mix of my own suggestions and Fresno Twitter suggestions.
Since (like maybe most of the world now) there are so many people out walking (sometimes just to get the hell away from the house), I feel the need for a walking in Fresno… post.
I’d really like this to be a definitive Walking Guide To Fresno, but that is too daunting. Consider this post… *strokes beard and thinks about it* … consider it a walking prompt.
Fresno doesn’t have many places that will kick your ass. Pretty damn flat. There is one good place within the city limits though. You can go out to Woodward Park and use all the hills there if you would like a good ass-kicking of a walk.
Of interest to me are the hidden ones. There is a website in Los Angeles that features some hidden stairs to walk.
I don’t imagine Fresno has many hidden stairs. I rode my bike down a “hidden” path once. Okay, not hidden, but one that not that many people know about.
The only thing close to a hidden one on my usual route is a path behind some oleander bushes that people use instead of going out on the street;
So okay, maybe this post isn’t an official walking guide for Fresno but that doesn’t mean you can’t make one up on your own. You can start by mapping your walks and giving them names.
I use Cyclemeter for my walks or bike rides, save the route and name it something nerdy. There is also a cool trail-based app that even shows topography in Fresno called Topo Maps. Apparently the hill on Palm Ave (near Clinton) is 305 feet in elevation, btw.
If your neighborhood walks have turned boring, here is a nerdy suggestion: Do a themed walk. What the hell is a themed walk? Choose something specific to look for or think about. Like:
Cats. How many cats you see.
A color. Look for things in blue or something.
Trucks with lightbars (I’m joking…sorta).
Fruit trees. “Today is lemon tree day, brats!”
How many different kinds of birds are in your neighborhood – don’t mess with the crows, they’ll murder you.
Basketball Hoops.
I can count one putting green on my walks.
I have been passing by this house for years, always looking at the putting green in the front yard. I have seen the dude out there using it only twice. Still, it seems like a real nice place to lockdown at.
Speaking of, we’re going to be in near lockdown mode all Summer, despite what Clovis Unified thinks. Gotta start making longterm adjustments, like taking regular nerd walks.
So get the hell out there and do some walking stuff!
Stole this from the Vintage Fresno Facebook page because this is rad and rad things get lost on Facebook. Presenting a super cool transformation of a OG Fresno house.
First, the before picture.
Built in 1917, this was originally the house of historic Fresnan, John Euless (more on him in a sec). Eventually, lawn parking enthusiasts took it over.
Then. Something magical happened. Here is the after:
I’m not big on watching home restoration/flipping shows because it points out the flaws of my weak home remodeling skills and laziness, but if this house would have been featured in an episode, I would have been glued.
The house is located in the Sunnyside area at 373 S. Peach. It is available to purchase at around $574,000. You can check it out here, if you’re looking out for something overpriced awesome. It’s a pretty big property and house, which I imagine is why it’s priced so high.
Yes, the house was once owned by the dude that Fresno City’s baseball park is named after. John Euless was important to the early days of organized baseball in Fresno. You can find a little bit more info at Historic Fresno.
The transformation is pretty damn stunning. There a lot of hidden gems around Huntington Blvd and Sunnyside in general, glad to see somebody is out there shinning up some.
One of the few fun bi-products of this nightmare that we are experiencing is a trend that elementary school staffs have started. The trend of School Parades.
The staff of an elementary school organizes a “parade” of staff cars to tour through the neighborhood that the school serves. Working best when giving a heads up to the parents, or maybe just sorta surprising the neighborhood since everyone should be home anyway.
As the staff drives through the neighborhood, they honk and have banners on the cars “Hi kids! It’s Miss Wilson!” “I miss you!”.
The kids come out to their front porch (maybe with their own banners), get to wave to the school staff and maybe their teacher as they drive by their house or apartment.
It’s a fun little break to the form of hell we currently live in.
I can tell you, as a dad of a grade-school kid who I thought would love not having to go to school… even she misses it. These kids are starving for any kind of bright light or fun change to their day. So these parades are kinda rad.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) I have a job that is “essential services” and it can not be done from home. So I’m out there in the mess almost everyday (you probably should stay away from me).
While out in the soup (The Soup is what I like to call going out in the world now – “outside the gates” if you are a Walking Dead fan) on Friday I witnessed Fresno Unified’s Olmos Elementary’s parade through the neighborhood. I choked up.
I have no tie to Olmos, no real reason to get emotional or anything, but I did.
Maybe it’s because I have not stopped to process anything going on right now and this was the first time. Maybe it was from being a dad. Maybe it was the joy the kids were experiencing and knowing how much they miss their school life. Maybe it’s because I’m a total cry-er at joyful events (please don’t look at me during weddings or while watching the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team beat the Russians).
Whatever reason it was, I had to compose myself. Here is one that FUSD’s Susan B Anthony did:
This trend is not without a little controversy though.
Not every school is into it. Feeling being, it might look bad being out there when we are telling everyone to stay home. And, well, what about large apartment complexes? That could easily spill into a gathering of kids that would not be gathering otherwise.
I get this take. I am a big believer of the staying at home model. I am not here to second guess. The school principles know better how to handle these things and adjust it to their school’s neighborhood.
I am just here to tell you, seeing one in person, it was fun. I would encourage schools that have not done it yet, to try it. Make it as big a deal (while being safe) as you can.
Speaking of fun things during this dark time, Fresno Unified Superintendent, Bob Nelson, has been awesome through this and has even gotten a little bit of national attention for his reading and ukulele videos:
So this is life now, eh? Battling Fresnans at Save Mart (or for you crazy people, Costco) for bread.
Actually, I have been surprised by how nice everyone has been out there in Fresno. I guess when you go through a shared experience like this, people get nicer.
As a homebody, an introverted and awkward person, that has to push and motivate themselves to even meet up with friends that I want to be around, you would think this new world of being socially distant, not meeting up with people and staying away from groups, would be kinda awesome.
Honestly, for me, it sort of is.
WAIT WAIT, don’t hate me. If everyone else’s life was the same; healthy, their business was untouched, jobs secure, THEN this would be the life I dream of.
Stay at home with my family? Play video games? Wander around my backyard, look up at the clouds, write, binge Star Wars content, develop a playlist on Spotify, trick-out my patio? Do all the things I always want to do but never make the time for? Yes, I’m here for that content.
All while feeling like I’m “doing good” (even if I don’t actually do any of those things and put them off like I always do).
Feeling good about myself instead of my normal feeling of dread and guilt that I’m not meeting friends for a thing, or going Downtown for ArtHop or an event, or going to get my tires rotated or some crap thing that I beat myself up for not doing ALL THE FUCKING TIME.
*deep breath*
Getting takeout now feels… good? As long as places stay up and running.
I hope everyone can weather this. The number of businesses that are affected are too many to count. It’s not just the food-related industry. But what the hell am I talking about here, you don’t need me to tell you this.
Most of the places I use for beer have delivery or pickup now. I used Pine & Palm’s “drive-thru” service this week and picked up some crowlers. I’ll be trying out Tioga’s delivery service this weekend. Hopefully, Zack’s Brewing will be able to do the same soon. Most of my craft beer places are at least setting up pickup options. I plan on taking full advantage.
This is all we can do, right? Takeout and tip higher than normal. Save up money to hella support when we are on the other side of this. No matter if it’s a food-related business or not.
I am fortunate to have a job that is not affected by this (income-wise), at least not yet. Unfortunate that I still have to go out and do it. Props to all my new brothers and sisters in the Essential Services Industry.
Staying at home sounds better than ever, but even I will be glad to be amongst groups of Fresnans again, someday… on occasion.
For now, all we can do is support the places we use (in the safest way we can) and hope they will be there when this is over. Keep your head up gaze at the clouds and stay safe, Fresno.
Illustration of the intersections of Buffalo (Fresno’s would be too boring, I imagine)
What would Fresno’s defining feature be? What would look cool enough and speaks to you enough to be illustrated? What jumps out at you when you look at a map of Fresno or think about Fresno in a map inspired way?
I recently came upon a website called barelymaps.com. On it are map inspired graphics (like the one above using Buffalo intersections) of a city feature, illustrated in a creative way.
There isn’t a Fresno one, as you might expect. I would love to see one though. I have some simple ideas as to what Fresno’s could be:
The Railroad Tracks (active and abandoned). That might look cool pulled off a map and featured. The Union Pacific and Santa Fe tracks (and maybe one day High-Speed Rail tracks) are very Fresno. Also, there is a track that spurs off into Southwest Fresno that I think still may be active, but I have never seen one pass through to confirm as I am only occasionally in that part of town.
Ponding Basins. I know every town has ponding basins but Fresno’s seem to be more defining. Might look cool pulled out as well.
Canals. Some of our more featured canals have been converted over into a pipe system and covered over but many remain. Enough to make a graphic with or you could include the ones covered over as if they still remain. Canals are a big reason Fresno became a city so that is defining for sure.
Swimming Pools. That would be a lot of swimming pools to feature, for sure. I have always been curious as to Fresno’s pool ratio. I would bet we have the highest pools-per-capita rate of any city outside of Phoenix, Tuscon and Las Vegas.
Freeways. We “only” have four. A well-designed poster of them could look rad.
The San Joaquin River. Our largely overlooked NW border would look sweet with everything within range of its Fresno side, featured.
Save Marts. Really, what is consistent throughout Fresno and is local? Actually, there is no Save Mart downtown or in the Edison High area or… in Southwest… well, unless you consider Sunnyside Southwest. You know what, screw those cowards.
The Grid. Nothing says Fresno more than a map grid. In fact, we could be the poster child of grids.
This one we actually can see an example of because I found a website that will let you search for a city and it will pull up a map of it the city you search for but it only features the streets, everything else is stripped away.
If you use the website and your smartphone, it will let you zoom into specific areas of the map (I couldn’t get it to do it on my laptop but I could on my phone).
I’d love it if a Fresno graphic artist made something up inspired by Fresno and the Barely Maps. Please share it if you do.
While we’re here, a friend sent me this drawing of Fig Garden Village at a time when Rock Bottom Brewing was still there ALONG with the movie theater. I had recently been really wishing the movie theater was still there, so this made me pause:
