Greetings Modesto Friends
We just moved into a new house.
These are exciting times living with boxes, a microwave and a coffee machine. We had been in our old house, that we really loved, for over 20 years. It was really sad to go. When we moved back to Modesto in 1996, we picked this house because it was near Lakewood School as we were moving back to Modesto to live a life to raise our kids, focus on community and to really focus on being a family. We became part of the neighborhood and we will always be a Lakewood family and our girls have had the best experience of Lakewood, LaLoma, Modesto High and then UC Berkeley. Madison (now working for Adobe) and Ryan have moved back to Modesto and they too have moved to the Lakewood neighborhood and so we continue to be Lakewood parents. Modesto is really a collection of fantastic neighborhoods. They are what you make it and our community really does band together and try to make the places we all live better. We have now moved into the LaLoma Neighborhood and we have been welcomed with open arms and we could not be happier. Everyone has been so nice, and we live on a street that actually has some traffic where people are walking by all the time and we have get-togethers in the park across the street and many neighbors where I can “borrow a glass of wine”. We love it and the process of moving has made me love Modesto even more. We so excited to live in the LaLoma Neighborhood, meet more friends and enjoy the perks of an easy walk or bike ride to downtown Modesto. Life is full of new adventures.
People call me “Mr. Modesto” and that is so very nice. It is an honor to celebrate the good things happening and to be really involved in community events and issues. I have found so many people that I meet that are also Mr., Mrs., Ms. or Mx. Modesto in their own way. I meet people like this every day and that is why we work so hard to bring ModestoView to the community each month. We need to know our good stories, meet the people you may not hear about all the time and champion the people that actually make and do things. There are a lot of people that like to have a lot meetings and talk about doing things, but I love the people that make things happen. The artists, the musicians, the promoters, the planners, the builders, the electricians, the city and county employees that see the possibilities, not the obstacles. We all are Modesto and I am so glad that you are reading this and telling your friends.
Did I ever mention that I LOVE October? 1st, Halloween is a national holiday at our house. For years we have been haunting up our cul-de-sac and I hope to continue this here at our new house. Can you say epic spiderweb tunnel? In this issue, we tried to compile a lot of cool haunted, creepy and harvest things for you to do. 2nd, October to me has always been ROCKTOBER. Live music is near and dear to my heart. From my own band to the over 200 different bands and musicians in our community, live music is one of the keys to good living. That is why Chris Ricci and I created the Modesto Area Music Awards way back in 2000. Now 17 years later, some of nominees weren’t born when we started the MAMAs and we will celebrate from the historic State Theatre on Oct 11. Live music is special, it makes a community vibrant, it attracts the creative people that make and do things. See how this all connects? That is why it is so important to eat local, live local, listen local and shop local. Thank you to the fantastic businesses that advertise here in ModestoView, you are helping us keep our mission to be 100% positive, 100% local and 100% interesting each and every day. Let’s make our local economy thrive, our music and culture vibrant and help people make Modesto all it can be.
Send me a note about what you like, don’t like and how we can make ModestoView better for you.
Thanks for being here.
Chris Murphy
Publisher and Founder – ModestoView
chrism@modestoview.com<mailto:chrism@modestoview.com>
Caption: Ryan, Madison, Abigail, Rebecca and Chris say good bye to their old home.
