NEWS 3/1/04 | RECAP/ HOME & AWAY

Greetings friends! What a great year it has been so far... Just home from our Southern California run. Thanks to the SB Phreaks once again for throwing down at SoHo in SB, and the Mad Hatter's Party Theme was the icing on the cake! (and speaking of cake, Happy Birthday Brandi!) After SB, we made our way further south for our second show ever in Los Angeles, which turned out to be very encouraging for us to come back again soon. Thanks to those who made it out to the Knitting Factory's Alterknit Lounge! Maybe next time we'll play the bigger room, so you can dance and stretch out a little more. Photos and possibly videos to come soon...

Right after the Knitting show, we hit the road to catch the Folk Alliance in San Diego, warming up Forest Sun's Songbird Showcase Stage, which turned into a full night (and morning) of acoustic jams with Forest Sun, Elam Blackman, Libby Kirkpatrick and others!... It was quite a night to remember! After an attempt to sleep, we made our way to Winston's in Ocean Beach for a full funky night of ALO. We had a great turn-out, Winston's has quickly become a favorite spot for us. Lots of new faces and feet on the dancefloor... A long drive home up the coast all day Sunday, and now we rest! (Except for Zach! who we dropped off in LA, and is right back on the road again with Brushfire Records recording artsist Donavon Frankenreiter - check out their schedule online! and try to catch the band in a town near you, they'll be opening for O.A.R. all over the West).

We also want to wish a belated Thank You to everyone who made our Hawaii Tour the best ever! Our booking & management deserve high marks of appreciation - Thanks to Jenstar and Aly from Mountain High!! Also, big Thank You's to the mainland phreaks who traveled at great lengths to support the band, representing Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Utah, and more... Another big Thank You and Happy Birthday to our Kailua connection, John Stallings! And of course we owe Thank You's to all our new Hawaiian amigos on Maui and Oahu!! Mahalo all around from ALO!!

Another belated Appreciation goes out to all those from our January Tour through Utah and Colorado! An amazing way to start out 2004! Sundance rocked, and we were honored to be at the premier of Powers Philms newest full-length picture "Never Been Done" featuring the music of ALO, Shree Shyam Das, Les Claypool, and others. The film went on to win Best Documentary (!) at Park City's Extreme Sport Film Festival, XDance. Congrats MP and team! It was also a blast to meet and share the stages of the Fox Theater (Boulder, CO), Cervante's Theater (Denver, CO) and Mountain Sun Brewery (Boulder, CO) with new friends, RAQ! They truly rocked, it was a pleasure to meet and play with such progressive and friendly musicians!

Nest stop... Boom Boom Room on St. Patrick's Night! Then up and around the West Coast. Stay tuned to our Jambase Calendar, and we'll see ya soon!!

Check out 2004 Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich online: www.kucinich.net.

NEWS 1/7/04 | FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT

!! Click Here for short video clip of Naive Melody Jam from Absinthe, NYE (compliments of magicgravy)

!! Also, download the NYE Show (in Shorten Format, decompresses to lossless WAV files) at ALO at Archive.org soon, or ask a friend to burn you a copy! Copies of the Three-Disc Set are floating above and around Santa Barbara, grab one for yourself!

NEWS 1/3/04 | 2003 THANKS!

Thanks to everyone who made it out to our Holiday Shows! As well as all of those who made them extra special with decorations, art, recording, promotion, etc - you know who you are! We will keep you posted on how to get recordings of the shows (I think there is only Tahoe and SB). And if you didn't get a NYE Poster or Tshirt, these items will soon be up on our Goods Page. Happy 2004!! And we look forward to the year ahead with all of you! Stay tuned to ALO on Jambase for information on our January Tour to UT and CO, our February Tour to Hawaii!, and our future CA shows. Peace, Ernesto

NEWS 12/18/03 | THE HOLIDAYS ARE HERE!

We are very excited about wrapping up 2003 with a Fantastic Trilogy of Holiday Shows in California! We hope to see you there...

ALO at the Elbo Room (SF), Friday Dec. 26th. This will be our second annual, "Friday-after-Chirstmas" show in SF. We did it last year at the Elbo Room, and we're back again! We have lots of folks helping to make this show extra special, from flyering the streets to get the word out to ALO fans, to decorating the Elbo Room to bring in some extra magic and vibe. We hope to work in some special guests, but this night will be mostly dedicated to giving ALO a full night of music in SF. Tickets will be a low $7.

ALO at the Divided Sky (South Lake Tahoe), Saturday Dec. 27th. This will be a debut at a club we've been hearing about for a while now. We hope everyone in Tahoe will be able to make it down for some Countdown-the-Year fun. Only $5, ALO plays all night long!

ALO at Absinthe (Santa Barbara), Wed. Dec. 31st. The SB Music Phreaks are really pulling it together in what is looking like might be the best ALO-Community collaborative event to date. The night has been dubbed: The Shapeshifter's Ball, Come as your Past, Leave as your Future! All kinds of stunts and decorations are taking shape. We are rallying all the clocks we can find to place around the club! There will be a purple, aqua & silver color theme throughout, as well as a Shapeshifting Portal to pass through when you are ready! Expect some epic projections by magicgravy This will be ALO's first performannce in Santa Barbara on a New Year's Eve. ALO will play 3 sets from 10pm to 4am! Tickets are $20 in advance through Absinthe (805-965-5057) or www.inhousetickets.com, $25 the day of, and $10 after 1am that night. Tickets include a limited edition Michael Everett Show Poster (!), champagne at Midnight, and a breakfast buffet at 4am! We are even trying to print some ALO NYE03 Tshirts, we'll see if we can make it happen. The show is also a benefit for "Safe Routes to School" (a project of COAST). Partial proceeds from the Ticket price will go to this project, as well as a Silent Auction that will be happening at the show. We hear folks are driving into town from all over, so we would like to offer our Guestbook Page as a forum to discuss travel and carpool plans, as well as lodging. We have friends who will be looking for lodging, so if anyone has any extra space, please let us know by email or drop a note in the Guestbook! What a way to close out 2003! We are super-excited for this show, and look forward to bringing in the New Year with our Santa Barbara family and travelers alike! (View Flyer)

* If you'd like to be involved in helping to promote any of the above shows, please Email Us and let us know! Happy Holidays and New Year!!

NEWS 11/6/03 | FALL UPDATE

NYE Update! ALO will be back at SB's Absinthe New Year's Eve!! Themes to be announced. Stay tuned...

 At the moment, we are gearing up for our November Tour, lots of fun shows on the horizon, check out our Jambase Calendar to see if we'll be within reaching distance of you! We are super-excited to get back on the road. Colorado, Utah, Montana, and Oregon... Hope to see you there!

Most of our time this Fall has been spent in the studio, as we continue to work away at the new record, coming to a town near you, Spring 2004. It is sounding great, some of the best work we have done yet. It is turning out to be a classic collection of ALO songs, with tasty jams sprinkled in here and there, and a guest appearance by Jack Johnson. Stay tuned to the website for the latest. To catch a glance, you can preview some studio photos on our Photos Page.

As for Fall show highlights... Halloween was pretty high up there. Dressed in four red Annie dresses, with curly red hair and freckles (photos coming soon!), ALO shared an unforgetable Halloween night with Santa Barbara's Messengers and the SB Freaks. All of the games and contests were not only entertaining and fun, but also raised a good chunk of money for SB's COAST, a program that works to promote sustainable transportation in SB. (There are still some souvenir Michael Everett posters available. Email us if you would like the buy one, $10 plus shipping & handling.)

Other Fall highlights included our debut at Mill Valley's Sweetwater in September, the night after our 8-day recording session at Laughing Tiger! We played the new album in its working order from start to finish, with a few bonus tracks! It was great to play live again after so much studio work, and we couldn't have set up at a better bar than the Sweetwater. Our late night show at the SF's Boom Boom Room in October was also an unforgetable night. ALO added the inimitable Cannonball Horns to the late night set, laying down some funky horn-featured jams! We hope to have them on stage with us again soon!

Also, check out some of our new tour videos we recently posted on the Music & Videos Page.

NEWS 8/20/03 | SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS FROM JULY AND AUGUST

High Sierra always feels like the first weekend of Summer. ALO enjoyed the Festival very much this year, Sunday was our day. Thanks to all the folks who danced with us early Sunday morning. 11am is early for Festival!! We especially enjoyed the morning hula hoopers who came up on stage, as well as the dancing rabbit (view photos). Sang a little a capella set on Big Meadow Radio, jammed acoustic on the Grizzly Radio Stage (we heard John Scofield said our acoustic set sounded pretty funky!), and then closed out with a short late night set in the Tulsa E. Scott Building. High Sierra is always an amazing congregation of musicians, artists, and friendly people. We recommend it every year to those who can make it!

After High Sierra, we cut over to Chico and then up to Dunsmuir to share a night with our east coast friends Psychedalic Breakfast, they always tear it up! A Phish After-Party hosted by High Sierra reunited ALO with Tea Leaf Green for a late night of underwater grooves at SF's Studio Z. Then up to Oregon country - Ashland, Eugene, Veneta's Oregon Country Fair, Bend. We enjoyed a fun night back at Seattle's Rainbow Bar with jammin' locals Flow Motion (nice light show that night!). And then before heading home, ALO joined the Everyone Orchestra at Portland's Crystal Ballroom for two nights of musical collaboration with Steve Kimock, Jarod Kaplan, Matt Butler, Jessica Lurie, Hamsa Lila, and many more! (view photos) It was a fantastic evening, the biggest highlight for us had to be backing Kimock two nights in a row. Truly a kind and gracious musician! (view Relix Magazine's write-up!) Can you find Dan, Steve & Zach in the photo?

Some other show highlights this Summer include our August weekend with the Messengers from SB. We met up in Ben Lomand (Santa Cruz) to share the bill at Henfling's, which is turning into a favorite spot for ALO. And the following day up in Marin at a special Frisbee Golf Tournament After-Party decorated in glow-sticks and SB music phreaks, that ended with a spontaneous drums and percussion jam when the power went out close to Midnight. The piece we've been calling "Brogan & Bongos" had Dave and Dan trading dance floor rythyms for nearly 30 minutes straight. Unfortunately the DAT recorder was feeding off the same power source so no recording as far as we know. Thanks Ted for a great party!

Last weeekend also proved to be a great time. Zach joined ALO friend Jack Johnson all three shows at Berkeley's Greek Theater (view photos). "Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down" reached many new ears via Zach and his accordion and Jack and his guitar. The two sounded great together and all three shows were incredible. Jack's performances are always stiking. The band pulls off an infectious calm and cool vibe together, and Jack's songs are sweet and profound. Ben Harper shined too, with some of the most diverse sets I've seen - reggae, rock, tribal and chant, acoustic folk (his Mom even came out to play). Saturday night ALO hosted an After-Party at Berkeley's Shattuck Down Low that brought out Jack's drummer/percussionist Adam Topol and a surprise appearance by DJ Logic on turntables (he caught wind of the party down at the Greek Theater and decided to come check it out). (view photos) It was a magical night of jams. With the weeks of rehearsing ALO has been up to (focusing mainly on songs for the next recording), the band sounded better than ever with lots of new material to mix in. The weekend went until Monday, closing out with a day of studio work with Jack and Adam.

Look out for ALO this September with some CA shows booked around studio time (including a debut at the Sweetwater in Mill Valley!). Other shows to look forward to will be our return to Santa Barbara's SoHo Friday October 10th! Another tour out to OR, WA, UT, and CO in November! And the first Friday after Christmas in SF (we hope to make this a tradition!). New Year's is still to be announced.

NEWS 6/25/03 | SPRINGING AHEAD

It has been a great month for ALO... The band really seems to be exploring on stage more than ever! And audiences are turning out for the ride. June brought us some of our favorite shows yet in San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz... Thanks to those who were there with us! Tapes are being made.

We look forward to the summer ahead, as we rattle our brains and shake out our limbs, packing our bags for another trip up the West Coast... acoustic backpacks and running shoes for busking adventures at the High Sierra Music Festival and the Oregon Country Fair; swedish fish and yerba matte for a late night at Studio Z with highschoolmate Trevor and his Tea Leaf Green; electric boxes and mounds of glitter for the Crystal Ballroom, where we'll join forces with Steve Kimock and the Everyone Orchestra; rainsuits and swimcoats for water above and below in OR and WA... And then out of the future into a late summer of exciting Bay Area shows with Santa Barbara's Messengers and a very special after-party for the Jack Johnson & Ben Harper shows at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. Stay tuned for all the details...

Off-stage, the band is multi-tasking like never before... mapping out our recording dreams, chasing the trail of future ALO archives (look for some live ALO shows at archive.org very soon!), making new ALO shirts for the summer, updating our press materials and website, and breathing deep, late night breathes as we set the stage for the days ahead. We hope to see you around, especially on the dance floor!

NEWS 3/18/03

MUCHO MAHALO! to all of our new friends in Hawaii who helped make our first tour to the islands so incredible! It was more than any of us imagined!! Congratulations to Rachelle and Ari, thanks for bringing us to Kuai and introducing us to your wonderful friends - ALO wishes you endless years of happiness together! (We'll never forget the "Time is of the Essence" jam... Rachelle's parents ballroom dancing with a backdrop of firedancers under the moonlight and swirldancing freaks racing from end to end!! It was quite a site from the stage!)

Thanks to our great sound-people on the islands... ET, Keith, Carl, Dee, Charlie! Thanks to all the establishments! From Kuai to Maui to Oahu, there was consistent alo'ha love, thanks for making us feel at home! And a very special thanks to Jenna, our hard-working manager who made the whole trip possible. And to our surprise MVP tour assistant, Amy (we will enjoy the new Hawaii-flavored merch displays as long as they may last!).

We are also gearing up to start archiving set lists, quite a task, but we are constructing a system to do it! Let us know if you have any to add to the archive! And there is a great new up-and-coming website called www.bandbot.com of which we hope to explore the features - it offers a great band profile area, plus room for archives (mp3s, photos, setlists, calendar, contact, etc). They are responsible for the great-looking alomusic calendar page just posted!

More news... you can now order our CDs through CDBaby's Phone Order System! To buy CDs by credit or debit card, call 1-800-BUY-MY-CD.

And as for new music and CDs, ALO is putting together their first full-length acoustic CD between the cracks of their tour schedule... it is nearly half done and sounding great! And new merchandise is in the works, we are nearly out of our first-design run of Tshirts and Stickers, and we are looking for new designs. Feel free to send any thoughts or sketches our way! You can email us from our contact page.

We look forward to seeing everyone along our next string of dates, up and down the California coast this April! (With a live debut in San Diego, tell your friends!) And then before too long, we are off to Jazz Fest New Orleans, making our way along the southwestern route in our new future band van... ALO plans to share the stage with some great bands! including a very special Everyone Orchestra Show! Stay tuned...

NEWS 2/3/03

Here's a nice little Article from the Absinthe Show in Santa Barbara (1/22/03), plus some Photos.

And some more fun Photos from Dan and Steve's wild ride at "Fantasyland"! Read about the event (2/1/03) at the Oeste Experience Website.

NEWS 1/27/03

We made it back in one piece! Our Sundance or Bust tour was a wonderland of musical adventure and exploration! Thanks to all the folks in Utah and back up the California coast for sharing the music with us! We are compiling the live recordings and taking notes! We look forward to the exciting months ahead...

And to anyone interested in joining us out in Hawaii, please feel free to use our Guestbook to network and discuss travel ideas. We hope you can join us!!

NEWS 12/12/02

Come check out ALO this week! ALO will be the pit band for Footloose the Musical, directed by Zach. It is showing this weekend, Fri and Sat, matinees and evenings, at the Marin Civic Center. Email or call us for details! Lots of ALO this week... This Sat. at Peri's in Fairfax, This Sun. at Cafe Cocomo in SF, and This Tues. at Absinthe in Santa Barbara. Also, join us for our New Year's celebration on Fri. Dec. 27th at the Elbo Room in SF, with many musical friends contributing to a guaranteed night of goodness! Check our Jambase Calendar for all the details! And stay tuned for more info on our 2003 calendar - Sundance in Jan., Hawaii in March! The recording calendar is also filling up, sketching out the next electric album. Acoustic recordings are underway... LAG enjoyed three solid days at The Plant in Sausalito this week, experimenting acoustically. Thanks Jim and Eric! The mixes are sounding good! Some old and some new... Reality Police, BBQ, The Spectrum, If Sesame Was King, and more! Also, just added a few New Pictures from the Summer/Fall tours, check them out.

NEWS 10/15/02

Here comes Fall Tour, Pt. II... ALO vs. LAG vs. ALO... and what an exciting leg it is looking like it will be! First, off to Santa Barbara, where the LAG Acoustic Buffet returns to the stage opening for themselves electrified, the ALO you know. Prepare to really! dance with the return of Shree Shyam Das on drums and founding ALO drummer Jon Nathan on vibes! Then up to Chico, as the LAG brothers stay in their acoustic suites, keeping warm for their big Fillmore debut acoustic, supporting Jack Johnson in Denver, CO - Oct. 23. But before that, ALO will join Matt Butler and the Everyone Orchestra at Portland's Fez Ballroom for a super-anticipated night of improvisation and very very special guests, for real. From OR, ALO is set to reunite with Seattle's Dave Brogan to finish off the Fall Tour dates... Denver, Salt Lake, Halloween in Victor, ID, back to Seattle... and then home for the SF Funk Fest, Fri. Nov. 8th with Topaz at the Great American Music Hall. Hang on tight as I am sure the following weeks will fly by!

NEWS 09/20/02

First things first, the ALO family would love to thank Mr. Adam Goodhue for joining the band for a great long and windy summer tour around the Western United States. Adam threw down night after night, making it possible for us share all that we love with as many new friendly folks as we could possibly reach. Thank You Adam!! Adam will be back in Oakland this fall pursuing former and future musical endeavors. Check back soon for more Adam updates and be sure to visit the Lagmusic Archives for more documentation from this summer's adventure.

So the show goes on, and none other to take over but Mr. Shree Shyam Das (aka, Everett Elton Bradman), the man, the myth, the master! We are super! excited to have Shyam back on the drums for our upcoming shows. There is lots to do musically to catch up with our old friend, but rest assured, the next leg of The Tour will be as funky and fresh as ever! Be sure to catch it as it may happen quicker than you can say "Good God!"

In other equally exciting news, ALO has recently released their new long-awaited CD "Time Expander" feautring the LAG-core with Shyam, many familiar special guests, and stellar production from Ex'Pression's very own, Scott Theakston! It is a must-get for any and all ALO fans! Check our ALO Goods Page for details and the mail order form. Also at the Goods Page you will find that we have some new Stickers and TShirts available to YOU! Wear ALO all over town and be the Bee's Knees everywhere you go!

We would also like to welcome Carson Bench of Tea Leaf Green, New Monsoon, Mood Food, Old Western Saloon, etc - FAME, who will be smoothly transitioning into our main booking contact!

All Santa Barbara folks! Thanks for making our trips back to our favorite home-away-from-home such an event!! Our summer & fall shows this year have left us in great spirits and excitment about the community we share with you, and the positive vibrations we hope to continue to build! Here is a great a review of the buzz we have created these past couple months: Read the Review. And a very special thanks to the Messengers for their love, support, and great music!