Words by Nathan Quevedo

For some people, meeting, greeting and entertaining near-complete strangers comes naturally.

Booking entertainment events, especially those that aren’t very successful, can stifle the desire to continue this uncertain and sometimes bizarre process, but some folks can stick it out.

I’d like to introduce you to three people in the Central Valley who have helped to foster scenes in their communities that pay dividends in the long run.
These three bookers’ communities have much different sizes and scenes, their experiences are somewhat similar, and their ideology and commitment to the betterment of arts and entertainment is unparalleled.

Though they each have much different scenarios in their towns, their attitude and perspective toward cultivating a community of show-goers is nearly identical.

The three towns where these bookers live and promote are similar in that they’re agricultural Valley towns, but vary greatly in size with Merced at about 80,000, Visalia at about 125,000 and Modesto at more than 200,000.

RC Essig, co-owner and booker at The Partisan in Merced; Aaron Gomes, teacher and booker at various venues in Visalia; and Greg Edwards, warehouse worker and booker at various venues in Modesto, are all leaving a lasting mark.

I recently hosted these three at my house and had a roundtable (though it was actually around an empty spa) about how they got where they are, how they’re able to pull it off and why bands are interested in stopping through the Valley.

Gomes, the booker from Visalia nails that question: “It’s because it’s between San Francisco and L.A.” That and he “just books any night they throw at us.”
And he says “it’s not just Visalia folks, it’s S.F. and L.A. people” that attend his shows.

One of the major things all three bookers have in common is their taste and following their instinct.

“A lot of times I’ll just book the bands I like,” says Gomes. Essig, The Partisan booker and co-owner, chimed in “I think being picky is the way to go.”
Edwards, who books in Modesto and started Off The Air (the Modesto-area production company), is hyper-local in his booking.

“I love Modesto because we have a great local music scene. We draw people in from Riverbank, Oakdale, Ripon, Turlock,” Edwards says.

As soon as Edwards finishes that statement, Gomes looks over at him and says with excitement, “You’re fostering a whole scene!” Gomes says after that: “We’ve built a really cool thing with all ages shows, but still don’t have a lot of cool (local) bands.”

Edwards’ biggest draw is the all-ages aspect, which Gomes has through venues like Howies & Sons, which is the pizza parlor in Visalia he started booking at.

Gomes recalls the story of how he got started booking in Visalia.

“This shitty steakhouse, the Cask n’ Cleaver, would book these indie shows back before I was booking shows.” At the time Gomes was in a band called The Playroom.

Suddenly, the steakhouse’s corporate office told them they weren’t allowed to host any type of live music shows there.

“I had six bands booked and we had nowhere to go. So I started walking downtown and got to this pizza place,” he remembered.

Gomes stretched the truth and took a chance as he entered Howie & Son’s Pizza Parlor in Visalia. He walked in and said, “hey man, I’m kind of a big-time promoter. I can get bands from anywhere in the U.S., but I need some money for the shows.”

Surprisingly, it worked.

This helped the music scene in Visalia flourish as Gomes had a budget, was able to charge little-to-nothing for admission, and had great turnouts.
It doesn’t hurt that “Visalia’s been an indie rock town for a long time,” he said.

• Login or register to post comments