Open Tab #1 – These Are Fresno Things

img_3788 Open Tab #1 - These Are Fresno Things
Photo by Eric Bentley

Dude, I can’t stand that damn astroturf backstop area at Beiden Field!! It’s been around for years and everytime I see it I cringe. I am sure it’s practical to take care of, but it looks like total garbage. Why???!?!??

Anyway. So, some other thoughts and things I noticed being a Fresnan the past few days:

Is it just me or is this Pearl Jam tour poster really bad? I mean, it doesn’t even look like them and I think maybe someone used an old Commodore 64 to design it. Glad they are coming to town though.:

img_3780 Open Tab #1 - These Are Fresno Things

This is the time of year you can see the Sierras (with some snow still) while driving around town and it’s great.

I saw Kopi’s car in front of the Market the other day. I looked for him inside but didn’t see him. I am a dork.

Yeahhhhh a cool (kinda underground) local show coming – don’t bother DM-ing Garry:

img_3781 Open Tab #1 - These Are Fresno Things

*closes tab*

Thanks for reading! ✌️

Does Steve Kornacki Know Fresno? A Lame Investigation

f598359b-47b8-418d-8dc8-e3ee7ad376e7 Does Steve Kornacki Know Fresno? A Lame Investigation

I think Election Map God, Steve Kornacki, knows the Fresno area more than a regular person.

When he was running through California counties counting up recall numbers Tuesday night, whenever a San Joaquin Valley county would come up he would make a point to mention “San Joaquin Valley.”

And when Fresno County came up, he stopped to talk about the numbers – nothing extra there but just saying.

Here is the kicker though: when Madera came up he made sure to mention it was “20 minutes from Fresno” which is correct and would be an odd fact to know if you didn’t spend time here.

Even with Steve’s unique knowledge of American county geography, the Madera to Fresno thing is unique.

Let’s see where Steve is from:

072ff019-a56e-468e-9eb2-dc8be358d604 Does Steve Kornacki Know Fresno? A Lame Investigation

Nothing there.

Welp ??, that’s all the investigating I have the energy for. Good job as always, Steve.

Anyway, back to Fresno…I love that my eye kept going to Fresno on the map. Partially because of bias I am sure, but also because your eye wants to look at the center.

To recap:

  • Good on Fresno for being centered.
  • I don’t mind Steve knowing things about Fresno, however he knows them.

Update!!

Mystery solved by the man himself!!! ❤️

Best 10 minute post I have ever written.

I Need KFSR To Do A Damn Thing

kfsr-studio-1 I Need KFSR To Do A Damn Thing
(KFSR Studio – picture source here)

Somebody needs to get on KFSR and make some noise. A DJ during Evening Eclectic is what I am specifically requesting.

Evening Eclectic used to have actual DJs and shifts and they’d tell you about who was being played.

Now it’s all pretty boring. No DJ (that I have heard in a while) and it’s just some programmed music with no backbone or thru line.

The Jazz-all-day format is fine. I understand it pays the bills and it’s a nice palate cleanse for the head during the day.

I haven’t come for that today.

Organic energy. It’s hard for me to articulate but there is something special that you get from a person in the studio LIVE as you listen. It feels like you’re hanging out with someone.

Radio has lost so much of that. Even most of the DJs that are in the studio on the regular stations are five minutes ahead of everything and are barely given a chance to talk. So when they are speaking it’s slightly delayed and for just a moment.

Or it has already been recorded like a podcast.

One of the few things radio has over podcasts (live energy where you are not exactly sure what will happen), they have mostly dropped – KFSR’s Evening Eclectic included.

Spotify algorithms, podcasts, and music blogs have taken some of the use for the kind of shows KFSR used to have, I guess. Still sucks.

Every semester a new crop of DJs would come through, all with their radio name and own music theme. Some bad, some good, some you hear on Fresno radio today (I can remember hearing 95.7 The Fox’s “Carter” on her KFSR show back in the day).

KFSR does have shows on the weekend to listen to but nothing for new music or current students, it seems.

Program-Schedule-90-7-KFSR I Need KFSR To Do A Damn Thing

I don’t know what happened over there. Why are there are no DJs during Evening Eclectic? Just random-ass music plays. It’s worse than an algorithm. It has no information. No guts.

And hey, I am a podcaster. I am not suppose to be begging radio to be better. I am supposed to be taking advantage of its weaknesses. I like to think I do. But it still doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear a healthy college station kicking ass on Fresno’s airwaves.

Be better, KFSR. Save Evening Eclectic. Save college radio in Fresno. Stop being boring.

Granville Running A Local News Site Is Making Me Feel Weird Things

Granville-Homes Granville Running A Local News Site Is Making Me Feel Weird Things

Should a Fresnan be worried that local dominate developer, Granville Homes, runs a local news based website?

Well, I wasn’t. When I saw GV Wire pop up earlier this year I thought. “Well, this is silly. You guys are covering stories that the Fresno Bee (probably wisely) deemed too boring to post. Have fun with that.” Then I went about my nerdy Fresno Internet day.

Then, last week, came the news that Granville courted the Fresno Bee’s Bill McEwen over to their site. [insert surprised emoji here]

Wait. That’s a real dude who knows what he’s doing. A guy I trust. A guy that has written a lot of columns I like and agree with. And he’s leaving the Bee to work for a developer’s attempt at a news site?

This. Just. Got. Serious.

Granville running a news website brings up questions.

Yeah. Why DOES a developer need a news site? A developer with ownership that fights Fresno’s attempts to not sprawl, every step of the way. Ownership that can be at odds with local media.

The answer is, Granville wants to control the local narrative. Duuuhh.

Them damn liberals at the Fresno Bee won’t talk about the latest cool opening of another development! They like bike lanes and buses and think our air should be cleaner. Yeah, they don’t know what they’re doing. We’ll start a REAL news site. One that covers issues us old dudes care about!

Have fun with that guys. Even with Bill Mac working for ya, people are not going to give a shit.

I can not think of a worse type of company to run a local media website in Fresno, than a housing developer. They have made such a mess of this town over many years, I can not trust that they will be neutral about anything regarding city planning.

Before you say “Hey, but doesn’t the Bee take advertising dollars from Granville?” Sure they do. But being a paper run by journalists with a very serious separation of marketing and reporting:

I trust the Bee has Fresno’s best interest at heart. I do not feel the same about any developer getting into the media game.

*Pic yanked from here.

A Motto That Would Make Just As Much Sense As “In God We Trust” For Fresno City Chamber

img_2312 A Motto That Would Make Just As Much Sense As "In God We Trust" For Fresno City ChamberSo Fresno City Councilman, Gary Bredefeld, apparently has the time to request the City Of Fresno ignore the whole “separation of church and state” thing and vote that the Fresno motto be changed to “In God We Trust.”

Jesus. [smh]

Do we all really need to be thinking about worthless stuff like this? Are things that boring around council chambers? That’s not even an appropriate motto for Fresno.

I can think of some other ones that would make just as much damn sense as “In God We Trust” for Fresno. Let’s see a few.

CITY OF FRESNO:

  • In Grapes & Almonds We Trust.
  • Live and Let Die.
  • Yes. Tri-Tip Is An Actual Cut Of Meat.
  • Tornado Free Since 1976.
  • We Have Water Meters Now.
  • Just Win, Baby.
  • This Area Is Patrolled By Turner Security.
  • Tacos Next 17 Exits.
  • The Force Is Stong In Our Family.
  • Most Of Our White People Moved To Boise.
  • You’re Right Back In The Mess.
  • Make Mine A Double.
  • Snakes. Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?
  • Cher Slept Here.
  • Home Of The Uncle You Barely See.
  • Welcome To Flavor Town.
  • You’d Think This Is Paula Abdul’s Hometown But It’s Not.
  • Traffic Signals Are Just Suggestions.
  • Pat Hill’s Fu-Manchu Controls the Northern Part of the City.
  • Same As It Ever Was.
  • Roth or Hagar? We Say Hagar.
  • I Can See The Mountains Today.
  • We’re As Confused As You Are.
  • Hey Bud, Let’s Party.
  • No Spoilers! We Missed The Walking Dead Last Night.
  • Our Mom Thinks We’re Pretty Cool.
  • We Haven’t Even Eaten Lunch Yet.

Hey we’re having fun here and I don’t mean to bash good God fearing folk. But a statement about God (as cool a dude as he is) is just not needed here in the City Council Chambers.

Your Jesus time and energy would be much better spent feeding hungry people, supporting those less fortunate, backing your fellow church member during personal tough times and helping Fresno in other ways.

So thanks but no thanks.

Check out Gary Bredefeld talking about this subject on Even Onstot’s show over at KSEE 24. I haven’t watched it yet and I doubt God has either.

I Have Fresno Blogging Block. Send Help.

I have nothing to write for my regular Fresnan Tuesday post.

So, here I am writing to fill the white space in my WordPress editor. Have you noticed yet this is about nothing? Dammit.

Now I’m just going to take random letters and form into fake words in hopes that it will shake loose an idea in my head that I can write a post about: kriskc mastrony lwffeo offing icluse mqwue, tieongon.

Fuck. Nothing.

Maybe if I just start saying “Fresno” some cool Fresno related idea for a post will come to mind. “Fresno. Fresno. Fresno. Fresno. Fresno. Clovis. Fresno. Fres. No. Fresno. Pinedale. Fresno Fresno FresNOOOO!”

Nope. Still nothing.

I was almost going to do a post around this picture of the old Courthouse in front of the then “new” Courthouse (from Historical Perspectives) because I thought it was cool:

Fresno-Courthouse-1024x749 I Have Fresno Blogging Block. Send Help.
Fresno County Courthouse construction, Nov. 1965

But then it felt kind of boring. So I trashed it.

Welp, still have nothing. This sucks. Doesn’t suck as bad as Clovis, but it still sucks.

The FUSD hotshot guy is bailing or some mess and said “Fresno was a place nobody wanted to be…” He also used the word “damn” when answering a question from the Bee. I’D LIKE TO SEE THE CLOVIS UNIFIED SUPER GET RAW LIKE THAT, DAMMIT!

Oh dude, speaking of the Bee, voting has begun for Peoples Choice Awards. Damn straight I will write a post that rips-off is inspired by these awards. But that will be next Tuesday or the Tuesday after I’ll write that post. Too much work right now.

But really, how can my brain function properly for Fresno posts when a new Star Wars movie comes out Thursday night?! It seems there are tickets left at all the Fresno spots. Still trying to decide what theater will I be taking in my first viewing of Rogue One at. I’m leaning towards Broadway Faire.

This post idea block is getting a bit serious, I’m still wandering here.

Maybe leave a comment about an idea for a post you’ve always wanted to see on The Fresnan. No NO! That makes me look like a hack. Asking people for ideas? What have I become?

How ’bout you just comment on what local theater you’re seeing Rogue One at. Or, what Fresno theater is your favorite to see the big ‘tent pole’ films at?

Wait. There is an idea for a post!: What Fresno theater is your favorite to see event films at? … ahhhhh crap, too late now, have to save that idea for another time.

Welp. Time to go get drunk. I have Dust Bowl “Therapist” triple IPA waiting for me in the fridge and it’s not going to drink itself.

img_0028-768x1024 I Have Fresno Blogging Block. Send Help.