Upcoming Concerts

  • Jun 10
    Saturday Stream
    Howling Moon Studio, CA
  • Jun 24
    STREAM BROADCAST: The Center for the Arts (6/2 Show)
    Grass Valley, CA
  • Jul 21
    Summer Concerts on the Green
    Novato, CA
  • Jul 28
    Southeast Alaska Fair
    Haines, AK
  • Jul 29
    Southeast Alaska Fair
    Haines, AK
  • Aug 04
    Salmonfest
    Ninilchik, AK
  • Aug 05
    Salmonfest
    Ninilchik, AK
  • Aug 06
    Salmonfest
    Ninilchik, AK
  • Aug 18
    Oakland A's Jerry Garcia Night @ Oakland Coliseum
    Oakland, CA
Jun 10
Saturday Stream - Howling Moon Studio, CA
Jun 24
STREAM BROADCAST: The Center for the Arts (6/2 Show) - Grass Valley, CA
Jul 21
Summer Concerts on the Green - Novato, CA
Jul 28
Southeast Alaska Fair - Haines, AK
Jul 29
Southeast Alaska Fair - Haines, AK
Aug 4
Salmonfest - Ninilchik, AK
Aug 5
Salmonfest - Ninilchik, AK
Aug 6
Salmonfest - Ninilchik, AK
Aug 18
Oakland A's Jerry Garcia Night @ Oakland Coliseum - Oakland, CA

Moonalice News

  • Let's Rock The World One Tree At A Time!
  • Commemorating the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival!!!
  • Moonalice Minute: Lester & Dylan Chambers (Episode 1)
  • Acoustic Guitar reviews Full Moonalice, Volume 2!!
  • Moonalice plays a set on Jam In The Van
  • Glide Magazine interviews Pete Sears!
  • Acoustic Guitar Magazine: Barry, Roger and T’s play Nick and Woo Woo
  • PopMatters: Bottlerock Napa review … featuring Moonalice
  • Moonalice Will Not Play Indoors Until Further Notice
  • Bottlerock Napa 2022: Photos by Bob Minkin
Let's Rock The World One Tree At A Time!
Commemorating the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival!!!
Moonalice Minute: Lester & Dylan Chambers (Episode 1)
Acoustic Guitar reviews Full Moonalice, Volume 2!!
Moonalice plays a set on Jam In The Van
Glide Magazine interviews Pete Sears!
Acoustic Guitar Magazine: Barry, Roger and T’s play Nick and Woo Woo
PopMatters: Bottlerock Napa review … featuring Moonalice
Moonalice Will Not Play Indoors Until Further Notice
Bottlerock Napa 2022: Photos by Bob Minkin

What To Watch (Archive)

  • Jun 3, 2023 / Sweetwater Music Hall (Mill Valley)
    According to Moonalice legend, this is Pride Month around the world. Just so you know know, every month i...
  • May 13, 2023 / Saturday Stream (Howling Moon Studio)
  • Apr 23, 2023 / Skull & Roses Festival V (Ventura)
    According to Moonalice legend, we gather here in Ventura to enjoy the music of the Grateful Dead and the ...
  • May 24, 2023 / Black Tie & Tie Dye Happening @ GAMH (San Francisco)
    According to Moonalice legend, our tribe has a long relationship with HealthRIGHT 360. It started long a...
  • May 6, 2023 / Saturday Stream (Howling Moon Studio)
  • Jun 2, 2023 / The Center for the Arts (Grass Valley)
    According to Moonalice legend, June is a month to celebrate personal freedom. The truth is that we should...
  • Apr 15, 2023 / Saturday Stream (Howling Moon Studio)
  • Apr 20, 2023 / 420 Gathering of the Tribe @ The Chapel! (San Francisco)
    According to Moonalice legend, today is the highest holy day in the tribal calendar. This is a particular...
  • May 27, 2023 / Concert for KPFZ @ Cache Creek Winery (Clearlake Oaks)
  • May 26, 2023 / BottleRock Festival (Napa Valley)
    According to Moonalice legend, Bottlerock is an oasis … a refuge in challenging times. It is a reminde...
Jun 3, 2023 / Sweetwater Music Hall (Mill Valley)
According to Moonalice legend, this is Pride Month around the world. Just so you know know, every month i...
May 13, 2023 / Saturday Stream (Howling Moon Studio)
Apr 23, 2023 / Skull & Roses Festival V (Ventura)
According to Moonalice legend, we gather here in Ventura to enjoy the music of the Grateful Dead and the ...
May 24, 2023 / Black Tie & Tie Dye Happening @ GAMH (San Francisco)
According to Moonalice legend, our tribe has a long relationship with HealthRIGHT 360. It started long a...
May 6, 2023 / Saturday Stream (Howling Moon Studio)
Jun 2, 2023 / The Center for the Arts (Grass Valley)
According to Moonalice legend, June is a month to celebrate personal freedom. The truth is that we should...
Apr 15, 2023 / Saturday Stream (Howling Moon Studio)
Apr 20, 2023 / 420 Gathering of the Tribe @ The Chapel! (San Francisco)
According to Moonalice legend, today is the highest holy day in the tribal calendar. This is a particular...
May 27, 2023 / Concert for KPFZ @ Cache Creek Winery (Clearlake Oaks)
May 26, 2023 / BottleRock Festival (Napa Valley)
According to Moonalice legend, Bottlerock is an oasis … a refuge in challenging times. It is a reminde...

How Moonalice came to be . . .

How Moonalice came to be . . .

According to Moonalice legend, we have never shared the backstory on Moonalice. Here it is, from my perspective:

When Elevation Partners started in 2004, Bono and I began a project to help recording artists. Known as "Project Independence," the idea was to enable artists to do something they had never done before: use the balance sheet value of their copyrights and publishing. Artists have always collected royalties, but few have used the present value of their assets. (Historically, record labels and music publishers have gotten all the balance sheet value.) By sharing that balance sheet value in Project Independence, artists would be positioned to buy back the rest of their copyrights from labels that go under. It was a good idea, but a huge threat to the status quo in the music industry. After three years of hard work, we were ready to sign the first two mega-artists to Project Independence when a music lawyer persuaded one of the bands not to sign, which effectively killed the project.

What I discovered was that the leaders of the music industry do not want to change anything. The only way to have a positive impact would be by example. One of my partners on Project Independence, the amazing T Bone Burnett, offered to produce an album if we would create a "new band, with new music and new legend." That's how Moonalice was born.

The idea was simple: create a band the way I would a tech start-up, leveraging technology wherever possible. Thanks to T Bone, our first album was destined to be pretty amazing. Sadly, the music industry had no interest in it. That's when we decided we could no longer afford our manager, publicist and label. We put all of our energy into social networks. I started a group on Facebook and Tracy Sheridan got me started on Twitter. We tried a few things and built the beginnings of our social net. Soon thereafter, I discovered the amazing Gail Barnes who taught me most of what I know about Facebook and Twitter. The experiments were really fun: Twittercasts, Twitter Radio, Moonalice Forum. Then Glenn Evans bought a video camera and things got really interesting. Tim Stiegler introduced us to Livestream. Jon Luini helped me figure out a web strategy, then he brought in PROD to design a site and MobileRider to implement our satellite network and HTML 5. Together, Jon, PROD, and MobileRider created a site with integrated social networking and HTML audio and video players. And somehow along the way, 1.1 million people downloaded "It's 4:20 Somewhere."

That's the story so far . . .

3 comments | Login or Register to post comments

Tribe Comments

Bob Aronson's picture

Happy Birthday, Roger!

shaman's picture

hey, Chubby - just wanna say thanx for the great 420 party at Slims and for all you do. it's a great perspective you shared on your bio page. peace and keep it up

larzap1545's picture

A great story, and the rest,as they say, is history. I'm very glad to have rode along on your journey. I love the music. Thanks for sharing your story. Larry