Surprised? You shouldn’t be. When it comes to live-event information, whether it’s the new dates for Blue Rodeo or the most recent changes for LL Cool J, our conveniently located and culturally isolated location often plays the deciding role in the grand game of life known as the concert industry.

For it was on a day like this in 1932 when our founder, Festus Pollstar, arrived fresh out of prison and set about looking for the right soil, air quality and cheap labor needed to plant the seeds that would eventually grow into the largest concert info clearinghouse on the planet, one that would thrill millions of men and women with routings for artists like John Mayer and bands like The Moody Blues and Lake Trout.

Maybe there weren’t as many autos rusting away in the wrecking yards of 1932, and there probably weren’t nearly as many abandoned tires adding their rubber-enriched vitamins to the soil, but even then Old Festus knew that Fresno was different than Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego combined, and that the soil, along with greasing the palms of the right politicians, would pave the way to a world of free concert information. Yes, a world where one could look up dates for Teena Marie or The Rolling Stones as easily as finding a cockfight on a Saturday night. Or for that matter, a doctor that would stitch up a knife wound on a Sunday morning, no questions asked.

So the next time you’re cruising between San Francisco and Los Angeles, take that short 150 mile detour and visit the community that gave rise to the concert information empire that is Pollstar.com – Fresno, California. It’s not Disneyland, and it’s completely different than Hollywood.

Oh, and be sure to pick something up from our Pollstar.com gift shop, like a Who T-shirt or a Kid Rock jersey. You know, just to let your neighbors know where you spent your summer vacation. They’ll be so jealous!