Lords Of Bakersfield On DORKTOWN Radio... - By N.L. Belardes

I once again appear on Fresno, California's most explicit talk show: Dorktown. Stop by and hear me talk about how I helped unveil Star Trek prequel spoilers. Then check out Lords of Bako talk and some really bad hockey commentary.

This is directly from the DORKTOWN page: *explicit language.

Welcome to our humble frescast. Please beware of nasty language throughout.
Click to listen or download: Dorktown Episode 60

-KICKASS BAD AUDIO THROUGHOUT!
-"Cats" at the Saroyan isn't all that.
-Clovis kicks out their drunks?
-What's wrong with the podcast? Listeners chime in. You can call and leave a message about our suckness: 559-224-2483.
-An old Mikey rival calls in.
-June 10th, Dave "The Snake" Sabo's cousin will be at Dorktown's Three Year Anniversary Party at Starline. The likely lineup: It'll Grow Back, Beandip, Tokyo Death March and Chrysalis.
-We placate the Bakersfield listeners with a NL Belardes interview. Check out his new documentary.
-Fonzy Ehhhsss.
-Thank you Bells. Thanks to interviewees Mike Oz, Heather Mclane, Caruthers Reggie and MissyT.
-This show was long.

The Fresnan talks coffeehouse blues, is it the same in Bakersfield? - By N.L. Belardes

Coffeehouse blues. Every city with locally established coffeehouses gets affected by the Starbucks takeover. The Fresnan even brought it up in a blog topic about a documentary filmmaker's clip on the Starbucks' corporate brainwashing of the American coffeehouse vibe.

There's even this great YouTube video from the documentary segment, "Starbucked":



I wrote in the comments to the Fresnan:

It's the same in Bakersfield, though there is a local drive-thru coffee house chain doing well, and a downtown coffeehouse that has survived the Starbucks takeover.

Local coffee and local coffeehouse atmosphere is better than Starbucks. Starbucks just wants us to think their vibe is what every city should be about...

And since Starbucks coffee is better left dumped as if in Boston Tea Party fashion, I leave you with this blog with the famous Bakersfield Stabucks Starfucked dumping, and this cheesy video taken from the bowels of some Starbucks somewhere:

Nick 2.0 shows off Momologue - By N.L. Belardes

Momologue is a great blog out of Fresno about parenting, autistic kids and life. I'll be referring to it a lot. Watch me talk about it on Nick 2.0:

Yes, Indiana Jones was in Fresno - By N.L. Belardes

I wrote an article all about Indiana Jones in Fresno that was posted on CNN.com for a little while. Check out, "Indiana Jones Fever Rocks Two Central California Towns."

If you love Indiana Jones the article is a must read...

Dalloways blogging about the Distant Fairs - By N.L. Belardes

Whether you're a musician or a fan of music, the Dalloways blog about the making of their forthcoming album, The Distant Fairs is an interesting read. Gary Enns of the band is always a smooth writer. He should be. He teaches creative writing at Cerro Coso College and works with the Met Lit Journal...

Read as they add horns, synth, etc. to tracks. Check out Cortnie on the back-up, and read about Aaron Wall of 40 Watt Hype helping out in the mix...





Wednesday, April 25, Aaron and I worked on the "Trona" mix. This is the toughest mix of the album, it seems, but it's most likely going to be a demo track, so we wanted to attack it first. We've got a ton of tracks to deal with, so basically this session, we picked and chose which tracks to keep, which to dump, and which to quiet. We also worked some delay and Moog effects into a few of the tracks. What I like in particular are Cortnie's backing vocals and the flugalhorn and trombone tracks -- great strengths of this song. Cortnie showed up toward the tail end of the session and offered some feedback, some yea's and nay's.

Monday, Marcy 26, and Wednesday, March 28, we managed to get into the studio and finish up all the horn parts for the new album. Trombone player Adan Infante of 40 Watt and many other bands and trumpet and flugalhorn player Thomas Lake came in and tracked my parts for "Trona," "Me and Thomas Hardy," and "Josaie."

"Josaie" is standing out as the dark horse of the lot. The trumpet part is reminiscent of a sixties spaghetti western soundtrack. The song's about three minutes long - perfect for a single - and pretty catchy if we don't say so.

The other two tracks' horn parts are lending a '60s British gameshow feel to the tunes - wonderful and rich sounding. I can almost see the BBC/Thames television broadcasting logo in my mind when I close my eyes.

Ricky also tracked some great arpeggiated and strummed electric guitar tracks for "JoSaie" - a tinge of Johnny Marr in a fabulous way.



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Who is ripping off whom? The Fresno Bee or The Fresno Undercurrent? - By N.L. Belardes

Just stumbled onto an interesting conversation titled, "Mike Oz vs. eavesdroppers." Just when you thought Fresno Famous and Modesto Famous were all the debacle, in comes a miffed Fresno Bee reporter who admits the Bee is ripping off the Fresno Undercurrent. Apparently the Bee is starting their own little niche market free paper modeled after the Undercurrent. Of course, the same reporter is leaking info onto myspace saying the Undercurrent got it all wrong. But why leak info onto the Internet?

Is the Fresno Bee going to try to destroy the Undercurrent? Or is this just healthy competition?

Maybe not, but it sure seems like in today's age journalists should understand that every word on the Internet practically becomes public information. Anyway, read the drama for yourself and you decide who is ripping off whom.