- When you think of cities known for their arts and culture, many places come to mind: Paris, New York, London, Fresno.

Fresno?

Yeah, Fresno.

You may not know this, but Fresno actually has one of the most amazing and growing arts scenes in the state.

Today, I'm exploring the Fresno scene, starting off with the very avant garde Rogue Festival.

What's it all about?

Is it weird?

Is it scary?

What is it?

I'm not saying I have a sock puppet routine.

I have a sock puppet routine.

Then what started off with just a few people getting together and visiting art studios downtown has now become one of the biggest monthly to-dos in the valley.

She knows me.

She knows this belly.

Then we can watch a live performance from platinum recording artists, Silversun Pickups.

Nice.

(upbeat music) And did you know there are some world famous works of art in downtown Fresno?

You've probably driven or walked by them and not even known.

Spicy.

All this and more coming up on "Hitting the Road."

(bright music) Central California definitely has its own vibe, from the laid back latitudes of the central coast to the scenic wonders of the Sierra and all the amazing people, cultures, food found in the great cities and towns of the San Joaquin Valley.

I'm on a mission to explore the festivals, the hit jams, the history, endless stories that make up this great place I love to call home.

I'm Roy Sizemore, and we're hitting the road.

"Hitting the Road with Roy Sizemore" has made possible by Measure P, expanding access to arts and culture, and of course, by viewers like you.

Your support fuels the adventures and incredible connections that make the Central Valley special.

Every journey we take, every story we share is thanks to you.

Become a member today to help keep the good times rolling.

Visit our website to learn more.

Thank you.

(playful music) Every march for about a week, Fresno is inundated with amazing performers of all kinds down in the Tower District for Rogue Festival.

Tonight, we get a sneak peek of the week, and I get to talk to some of the local people that help put this festival on.

Now, I'm trying to describe to people.

And someone, they'll ask me like, "Is it acting?"

Oh yes, "Is it performance art?"

I say yes, "Is it magic?"

Maybe.

Is it spoken word, is it music?

It's basically everything, right?

- Yes, it is.

Standup comedy, even bands or one person playing a guitar or monologues, dance, magic, yes.

- But it's all fringe.

It's all way, it's like stuff you're not gonna see normally, right?

- Yes, and this festival is non-juried.

People just send in their tapes and we just draw it out of a hat.

Other festivals, juried people pick.

- [Roy] Oh really?

I didn't know that.

- [Interviewee] So this one, anybody could get in.

- If I did a sock puppet and you pulled my tape out, I could come do my sock puppet routine?

- If you paid the fees, yes.

- (laughs) I'm not saying I have a sock puppet routine.

I have a sock puppet routine.

No, I'm just saying.

- You're good.

(playful music) I'm here with Ryan Adam Wells, full name, a rogue artist.

And your show is called Powers.

What's it all about?

- Powers is a musical storytelling show about comic books and depression.

- That's my life.

Alright.

- Mine too, mine too.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

It's heavily relatable.

- Do you have cameras in my house?

Are you watching me through my ring camera?

- I legally can't respond to that.

- Right, so is it a comedy though?

- All of my shows, I try to incorporate comedy in, but I think that I view life kind of comedically, so I don't really try to write jokes.

And it just comes out kind of funny anyway.

It is a pretty depressing show, 'cause it's about depression.

But I try really hard to balance that with light and jokes and talking about comic books and how ridiculous comic books can be will obviously add levity to it.

- No, like I said, you're speaking my language fully.

So how long have you been doing this particular show?

- This is brand new.

It's a debut.

I'm debuting it here, yeah.

- Oh, okay.

- It's brand spanky new.

No audience has ever laid eyes on it.

But I have brought two award-winning shows here to the Rogue Fest in the past.

So I trust that there'll be goodwill.

(laughs) - Okay, good.

- Enough that people will come out and check it out.

- Right, right, great.

And so you're a regular, so- - Yeah, yeah.

- Fantastic.

And you do these all over America, everywhere, where do you go?

- I go all across Canada.

I've been to Scotland a couple times.

Been to Australia about five or six times.

Yeah, I've been doing fringe.

I've been traveling the fringe festivals now since 2010.

- Really?

- It's been like my main job.

- You're a road warrior.

- Yes, sir, yep.

- The Rogue Festival in all its wonderful weirdness hits the Tower District the first two weekends of March.

If you're down to get some creative juices flowing or just wanna see some wackiness after a night in the tower, you know where to check it out.

(bright music) It's hard to believe that ArtHop has been around for quite a while.

What started over 26 years ago as an art crawl between artist studios in downtown Fresno has now evolved into one of the most active and anticipated monthly public art experiences in the Valley.

And it's no longer just art studios and galleries displaying and selling art.

But there are scores of artists lining Fulton Street as well.

All right, I'm here with Arian Reed, and this is amazing, man.

I just realized these are all hands.

Now, these are all your original, your art out here?

- Yes, all of this is my original art.

- What's like the theme of your art would you say?

- My theme is gender diversity.

All the people I paint here are transgender, non-binary, two-spirit, mahu, wahmana, intersex.

- I'm lost a little on the last one, but that's okay.

I'll look it up.

Now, are these all real people?

Like are these all real models, all people you know, or are these people you've created like out of your head?

- So most of these people are real people.

And there's also some fictional people, and then there's also a lot of historical figures in my work as well.

- Wow, and how long have you been doing this?

- I've been doing this for about a couple years.

- Couple years, yeah.

- And you've always been an artist then I take it?

I mean, you can't just start painting and then be whipping this out in like two years.

- (laughs) Yeah, no, I've been doodling my whole life, taking art classes, and I've been doing this seriously for about a year.

- Alright, well, thank you so much for hanging.

I love it.

Keep up the good work, man.

There are over 70 official ArtHop venues in the Fresno and Clovis area.

As a matter of fact, Valley PBS just happens to be one of them.

Alright, here with Kelly Nelson, and I was trying to describe to someone your art.

I said it's a painting, I'm like, yeah, but what do you call this exactly?

- So basically, this is a mixed media.

So I'm a photographer by trade.

So a lot of my stuff is either I shoot it myself, or it's photography that I've got off the internet with permission of course.

And so I basically take images, mix 'em up, print 'em out large scale using old school method called wheat pacing, which allows three yard to do up on the walls and stuff.

And I put those on my panels that I build, and I just paint over that and just kinda tear magazines apart and found materials and just kind of throw it all up in.

No plan really, just kind of do it as a come.

So I was always a creative person, and I always just kind of just did my thing.

I always drew, and I got in so much trouble in school, like drawing Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica all over my desk, you know?

But yeah, so I've just kind of been just doing it, and I'm attracted to the abstract of things and that's just kinda how I flow so no new plan.

Just kinda go with it.

- And you've worked before, you've done other kind of artistic stuff.

You've worked with, back in the past, you worked with Monster City, right?

- Yeah, yeah, I was with Monster City for a couple years off and on, and they're still all really good friends of mine.

I still pop in all the time but- - Because they make like movie props and special, I mean, just everything.

Giant treehouse.

- All kinds of stuff.

So much stuff I can't even talk about.

Stuff that you've seen all over TV and the movies and at amusement parks and everything.

- So that's amazing.

- Yeah.

- ArtHop is the first and third Thursday of the month from 5:00 to 8:00 PM, with the first being the one that attracts the big crowds.

It really has become the thing to do on warm summer nights, attracting thousands of people.

ArtHop features free entry to exhibitions, gallery shows, special performances, unique On top of that, there are a ton of amazing food trucks.

Alright, I'm with Steve from CenCal Pizza Trolley.

You're like Mr. Rogers but with pizza, dude.

I'm loving this.

- Yeah, we got a 1987 pizza trolley converted to a full pizza kitchen now.

Pretty unique, a little different.

Something you don't see every day.

- How did you come up with the idea for, like, "I wanna sell pizza, but out of a motorized trolley?"

- Well, we've always been a little different.

This is kind of a branch off of Fatty Albert's Pizza in downtown Hanford.

We've always done catering, but we wanted to do something a little bit different and we kinda came up with the city trolley.

This is from the City of San Diego.

We bought it from them as they retired, and then we converted it to a pizza kitchen.

- Did you drive it back from San Diego?

- Yeah, we drove it here.

We drive it everywhere, all over the valley.

- Well, I was gonna say you're from Hanford, so that's a little bit of a drive to hit up to Fresno, but you're all over?

- Yeah, we do the Central Valley typically anywhere 40-50 miles.

We can do it, we can get there, no problem.

In the summer, it's a little more difficult 'cause it weighs about 18,000 pounds and it runs a little warm.

- I would think with the fire and everything, yeah.

- 700 degrees in there, and it's 105 out here, so it's a little tough on the trolley.

- Yeah, I think ice cream might've been better, dude.

Just saying.

- Yeah, that's the next truck.

- Okay.

(laughs) (bright music) All right, I'm here with the award-winning El Premio Mayor.

- You got it.

- I got it.

- El Premio Mayor, yeah.

- What's that mean?

- So it actually means the grand prize or like first place.

- And that's makes sense since you guys won the- - Yes, we actually (indistinct) a couple times six times.

(laughs) - Six?

- Six years.

- Oh, six years.

- But 12 awards.

- What?

- Well, around like 10 or 12 awards.

- So you just walk away with it almost like every year or what?

- Not every year.

(laughs) We're actually retired now.

- What's that?

- We actually retired.

- Oh, you wanna go out?

Like they took the belt and you retired?

- But who knows, we might go back.

(laughs) - Alright, now who is this here?

- So this is actually my beautiful mom.

She is a head honcho.

She is the love, the face, everything of El Premio Mayor.

She's the one that started it all.

- [Roy] So you're the one that cooks everything?

- Everything.

- Everything.

All your recipes?

- [Mom] Everything in our every day.

(giggles) - Is she good as you?

- Just kidding.

(laughs) - I will self admit that I try, but no, my recipes are not nearly as good as my mother's.

- Well, okay.

I mean, you're on TV, people are gonna see this.

- I mean, no, they're good.

But if you had my mom's home cooking, all her recipes are from Zacatecas, Mexico, from generations and everything.

So I'm still learning in that learning process.

But I hope to one day be as great as her.

- Okay, awesome.

- Yeah.

- And now what is, I got these waiting for me over here.

This is the award-winning taco, correct?

- Yes, these are the Maroa QuesaTacos.

So when you dip it in the consommé, you could either dip it, you could even just drink the consommé, add some lemon to it, add some onion and cilantro, and you could just like drink it just like that, or even dip the tacos in there, honestly.

So good either way.

- All right.

Well, you got me convinced.

I'm gonna wrap this up.

I'm gonna go eat these tacos right now before they get cold.

And thank you so much.

- Thank you so much for having us.

- You too, awesome.

Nice meeting you.

- See you over there, okay?

- I will see you on Shields & Maroa.

That's where I know her from.

She knows me.

She knows this belly.

I'm in taco heaven.

(light music) Alright, that's about it for ArtHop.

Remember, y'all, first and third Thursday of every month with the first being the one most people come out for.

Now, ArtHop may not be as big of a block party as we showed you today anymore.

It's still a huge presence for artists all around downtown in the Tower District looking to show off their work, show off their craft, and just make art.

(upbeat music) Now when it comes to music, you're probably familiar with some of the bigger venues in Fresno: Save Mart Center, Selland Arena, Warnors, The Saroyan, but Fresno also has a lot of great clubs in other venues that throw some really great concerts on.

Sitting down with Josh Tehee, entertainment/writer for the Fresno Bee and local music radio host to discuss some of the maybe hidden treasures of the Fresno music scene.

So what are some of the great places and things that we could do here in the Valley?

- Well, I think Fulton 55 is spot on.

It's been there for, I think they're going on 10, 11 years now.

- [Roy] Wow, okay.

- Strummers is another one that a lot of people- - Right in the district.

- The old school people will remember as being the star line.

- He's talking about me.

- Yeah.

But has since been taken over and just does some really awesome shows, yeah.

- I think we get some really big names.

- They do a good job of having, bringing in bands that are larger than the venue should, than should be at the venue.

Those kind of shows.

- That is exactly right.

- You see the band and go, I can't believe that they're playing at a 300-capacity or 500-capacity above.

- And one of those big bands stopping by Fresno are Silversun Pickups out on tour now with their new album Physical Thrills, produced by the legendary Butch Vig, who has worked with the Smashing Pumpkin, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Green Day, and he produced a little album called Nevermind by this band, Nirvana.

Maybe you've heard of them.

(audience cheering) (upbeat music) So, so cool.

It's just so great to hear these guys.

Okay, now for a quick Roy lore drop.

Some of you might know me from PBS, but this isn't my only gig.

I've actually been doing radio here in Fresno for about 25 years.

And matter of fact, if you listen in the mornings to New Rock 104.1, you might hear a familiar voice.

The point is that this position has opened some really cool doors for me, like being able to sit down to one of the coolest things I've done in my career, an interview with the Silversun Pickups.

How long have you guys been a band?

It's been a minute now.

- Yeah.

(Roy laughs) - He's just gonna say that.

Silversun Pickups formed back in 2000 in Los Angeles.

The band released their debut AP in July in 2005.

As a matter of fact, two of the songs on that EP were recorded by Fresnovians, Fresnens, a guy from Fresno.

♪ This little twitch in my eye Before touring the planet and appearing on the Tonight Show, the Late Show, Last Call with Carson Daly and more, Silversun Pickups were no strangers to the Valley.

So this is not your first time playing in Fresno, right?

Like how many times you, pretty on the reg almost, right?

- A lot of times, but I feel like the only one that really matters is that we played in a barn in Clovis once.

- You played in a barn?

- Barn, yeah.

(cow mooing) - And you guys have also played the pizza place, right?

I heard back in the day.

- [Band Members] Yeah.

Visalia.

- Howie and Son's Pizza.

Silversun Pickups, how many people are just kicking yourself that you missed that show or the barn show?

- That pizza place, I remember being excited 'cause we were in the Fresno Bee.

One's like, "Oh yeah."

- You're like clipping it out.

Says, "Told you, mom."

(upbeat music) Do you think you've changed a lot since the beginning?

I think sonically, like you were saying something, but I could even hear kind of different than guitars.

- It's hard for your us to hear it, but you have to have, right?

Like odds are pretty, I mean if it remains challenging to this day for us to do this, clearly, we must be moving somewhere.

(laughs) - It's still going up and up.

- I feel like you don't feel like plateau created.

- We're more learning and getting better as the years go on.

- Right.

- I mean, the older songs are a lot easier to play.

(Roy laughing) - Fun fact, if you ever wanna strap on your ax and jam out with these guys, you can.

Well, kind of.

They're featured on both Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour, as well as Tony Hawk's Proving Ground.

So dust off that PS2 and get the rocking.

(upbeat music) (crowd cheering) I just think it's so cool that you guys still come around and play and hit the valley.

There's a lot of really great venues here.

- We fit good in valleys.

Valleys are a hug.

They're little snug.

- Yeah.

- Right.

We're good like that, we're good people.

(laughs) We're good people and we feed you well.

Special shout out Silversun Pickups, so good.

Art, it's not just paintings, it's not just sculptures.

Music's part of the art scene, and Fresno really gets a lot of amazing bands coming through.

Check your local listings, go out, catch a show, see some live music, live a little.

(light music) When Caveman Gronk decided to spruce up the walls of his Chateau de Flintstones with some crude paintings, the mural was born.

Murals have been a popular art form throughout the ages.

The Roman Empire, Renaissance, Italy, Ancient Egypt, and even more recently, Fresco style, with famed artists like Diego Rivera.

And it's still one of the most prolific art forms today.

Modern murals can be used to celebrate and reflect the culture and day-to-day life of a community, establish awareness for a cause, help beautify urban areas, and can also just be pure artistic expression.

I think my favorite thing about the modern mural is that it's out there for everyone to see.

It's not hidden behind walls or locked up in some building.

There's no admission fee needed, and you come dressed as you are.

It's literally art for all people, and it can take a drab old gray building wall and transform it into something beautiful and inspiring.

We're here with Aaron Martinez, the program coordinator for the Fresno Arts Council.

We're talking downtown, we're talking the art scene, and we're in what's called the Mural District.

How did that all come about?

- So it's kind of just a Fresno folklore that came about.

People just started naming it The Mural District, or other people know it at the Cultural Arts District.

- Right.

- And that's mainly gonna be between Tuolumne and Clovis Rodeo Streets.

- So it's not like Tower District, it's not the official designated mural district.

- Yeah, correct, so there's no official naming from the city.

- But murals have been coming up for how long?

- Yeah, it's been quite a few decades now.

I think it just developed over, there's a few businesses that put up a couple murals, and then it kind of just got adopted as new developments became prominent.

So as they put in new developments, they're like, "Oh, we wanna add to that scene."

- It might be one of those things too, like when your neighborhood does all the Christmas and you don't wanna be the one house that doesn't put out the Christmas decorations, is that kind of the vibe?

- Yeah, pretty much.

I think nobody wanted to get left down.

They saw it was like a beautiful piece, why not have it on their building as well?

- That's awesome, and we're gonna talk about and look at one that I didn't even know.

I've walked by here I don't know how many times.

And it's a world-famous artist, a world-famous piece of art and the only one where people could actually go up and interact with it, right?

- Yeah.

- Alright.

(upbeat music) All right, Eric, tell me about this piece.

- Yeah, so this is a piece by Pierre Renoir.

This is actually one of six pieces, and it's the only one you can touch.

The other pieces are in Monaco, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Paris, London.

And those are all kind of secured away while this one is out in public, you can come up and touch.

- Hello, all you lot.

Roy Art Facts here, with a quick look at art fact history.

For those uninitiated in the art world, unlike myself, no.

(laughs) Okay, I can't do this.

Pierre August Renoir, born in 1841, was a big time influential French artist known for really developing what would become the impressionist style, like apparent visible brush strokes, wide open landscapes, heavy focus on light, all that jazz.

Renoir himself took specific focus towards traditional feminine beauty and sensuality, making numerous paintings using his signature soft, vibrant, and saturated colors.

And of course, he also made sculptures.

Hey, that looks familiar.

Yeah, so this is a Renoir.

And I read that and I go, "What?"

And I'm like, I've walked past this so many times and I didn't realize, yeah, all the rest of 'em, like colleges and museums and you have to, like you can look but you can't touch.

You ever thought I'd see a world famous piece of art in front of the chicken shack, but then here we are, man.

That's pretty amazing.

- Like you mentioned, you walk past it and you kind of don't think of it.

I'm sure there's plenty of people that come by or just stop here, kinda rest on it as well, or kinda lean on it and then they actually don't know the significance of the piece as well.

- It's amazing.

I never knew that.

So sometimes, maybe you just need a sign.

And this sign, how long has the sign been here?

- I really don't, I can't tell you.

But it is named after Renoir, the artist that created the "Washerwoman."

- Right, there's even the "Washerwoman" up at the top of the sign, and I'm like, "We have a famous Renoir sculpture in Fresno."

If only there was the sign, some way to know that that was there.

And then I never noticed either.

You look up, you got all the famous art pieces up the top as well.

It's everywhere downtown.

Art is like everywhere downtown.

- Yeah, I think we're so used to just seeing everything around that we kind of just glance passing, not really take the time to look around and look at the details and you see art everywhere from the architect of the buildings to sculptures to murals, a little bit of everything everywhere you look.

- It's pretty amazing when you realize just how many local artists, galleries, and museums that are actually right here in Fresno.

But it's not just those kind of places.

Art is reflected all over the city, from architecture to murals to the way we paint and decorate our homes.

Art is all around us, and it's what separates us from the animals.

Although I did see that painting elephant that does the pictures.

You've seen that on YouTube.

She's pretty good.

Sometimes, we just need to slow down and take a look around, be aware of our surroundings.

There is beauty and expression all around us if we just bother to slow down and take a look.

(upbeat music) I've lived here for years and I've always heard the sentiment, especially from younger people, "Hey, there's nothing to do in Fresno.

There's nothing to do in the Valley."

But today, you've learned there's really a big boom right now in the arts.

I mean, we've got the Rogue Festival, ArtHop, big bands like the Silversun Pickups coming through for events.

Either on the cheap, or in some cases, we get shows absolutely free.

And that's not even mentioning all the little venues and events, the community theater, the movie festivals, the film competitions all around the valley that we didn't even have time to check out today.

There really is this big explosion in the art scene right now, and it's just getting bigger and bigger.

So don't think we don't have anything big going on in the valley, because obviously we do, and it's pretty awesome.

(bright music) Hey, mom, can we go to Stonehenge?

We got Stonehenge at home.

(Roy laughing) (upbeat music) (siren wailing) That was exciting.

(upbeat music) Hitting the Road with Roy Sizemore is made possible by Measure P, expanding access to arts and culture, and of course by viewers like you.

Your support fuels the adventures and incredible connections that make this Central Valley special.

Every journey we take, every story we share is thanks to you.

Become a member today to help keep the good times rolling.

Visit our website to learn more.

Thank you.