Moonalice Launches Moonalice Radio

    Ben Fong-Torres created the station featuring the band members and their favorite songs, 

420 news and music, old and new, representing the spirit of the 60s.

Moonalice, the Bay Area rock band that makes its concerts available, live, on audio and video streams, has added another platform to reach its fans: Its own radio station.

The band, formed by Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee and the brainchild of the great producer, T Bone Burnett in 2007 because they wanted to create a band with a San Francisco 60s sound.  Moonalice band members (Pete Sears, Barry Sless, Roger McNamee, & John Molo) are the focal point of the online station, Moonalice Radio.

The station, says McNamee, reflects the bands eclectic tastes  rock, blues, Americana, country, folk, R&B and songs dealing with pot culture  and offers band members hosting their own shows.

To build and program the station, McNamee tapped Ben Fong-Torres, a veteran broadcaster who was a DJ on KSAN, the pioneer free-form FM rock station in San Francisco in the 70s, but who is best known as an editor and writer at Rolling Stone.

While doing a biography of Moonalice, Fong-Torres asked McNamee why, since the band was on numerous social media platforms, it didn't have a radio presence.

Said Fong-Torres: He said, Ill do a station if you'll build it.

And so he did. Moonalice brings back the spirit of the Sixties, said Fong-Torres. Their music is loose, free-flowing, and pays tribute to favorite musicians and the roots of American music. The station does the same.

Each member of Moonalice  McNamee, Sears, drummer John Molo and guitarist Barry Sless  appears throughout the week. On weekends, Moonalice Radio features road manager Big Steve Parish, former roadie for the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia; social media director Gail Barnes, in the guise of Moongirl, the subject of many Moonalice concert posters, and a DJ show hosted by Fong-Torres (Its pretty close to what I used to do on KSAN). There are also programs featuring acoustic musi and Moonalice in concert.

I didnt want this station to be just a streaming music service, said Fong-Torres. So we have news, historical tidbits, profiles of the artists who create posters for Moonalice concerts, information about pot culture from the podcast, The Hash, and recordings of Moonalice in concert.

Gail Barnes (aka voice of Moongirl and Moonalices social media guru) shares this when asked if Moonalice Radio had a mission. I replied, We share the love through music we love," to which he responded, "You can't go wrong with that motto." With a tight integration into Moonalice's already extensive social media presence of around half a million fans, Moonalice Radio is a great complement to our social ecosystem. 

Moonalice Radio, says McNamee, is the place where Moonalices music, and the music of the people who influenced us, is played, 24 by 7 by 365.

Moonalice Radio can be heard, free and commercial-free, via Moonalice.com/moonaliceradio.

About MOONALICE: 

• Psychedelic, roots-rock band of seasoned musicians mixing a variety of genres with extended musical improvisations.
• Band Members: Roger McNamee, Pete Sears, Barry Sless, John Molo and with special guest Jason Crosby
• Every show has an original art poster, created by a well-known artist, and with its own unique Moonalice "legend. The poster is given free to all attendees. www.moonaliceposter.com
• All Moonalice concerts are broadcast live in HD and available in an online archive shortly after their set. www.moonalice.com
• Moonalice on Social media: over 407,000 on Facebook & over 67,000 on Twitter

MOONALICE Band members:

Pete Sears: bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals (Doobie Decibel System, Sam Gopal Dream, Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry, original Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, Peter Rowan, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh & Friends, Steve Kimock, David Nelson, John Lee Hooker and more).

Barry Sless: lead guitar, pedal steel guitar, bass (Phil Lesh & Friends, David Nelson Band, Kingfish, Cowboy Jazz)

Roger McNamee: rhythm and lead guitar, bass, vocals (Doobie Decibel System (DDS) Duo with Jason Crosby and Doobie Decibel System (DDS) Band with Jason Crosby, Pete Sears, Dan Lebo Lebowitz and Jay Lane. Plus Guff, The Engineers, Random Axes, Flying Other Brothers)

John Molo: drums, vocals (Bruce Hornsby & The Range, John Fogerty, Phil Lesh & Friends, The Other Ones). 

Often featuring Jason Crosby: guitar, fiddle, keyboards, vocals (Doobie Decibel System (DDS) Duo with Roger McNamee and Doobie Decibel System (DDS) Band with Roger McNamee, Pete Sears, Dan Lebo Lebowitz and Jay Lane. Plus: Susan Tedeschi, Robert Randolph, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Carlos Santana, Pete Seeger, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen & Dave Matthews and more). 

Big Steve Parish: Manager, Road Scholar, Medicine Man, Story Teller. (Grateful Dead family member and co-founder of Jerry Garcia Band). 

Moonalices hit single "It's 4:20 Somewhere" has been downloaded over 4.6 million times. You can download it at http://www.moonalice.com/song/its-420-somewhere

MOONALICE photos by legendary photographer, Bob Minkin.Band members from left to right:  John Molo, Pete Sears, Barry Sless & Roger McNamee