LOVE-O-RAMA: NEWS + more

We've played ARTICA before but it has never been as awesome. I set up my trusty Fender Passport RIGHT on the center plaza below The Arch and rocked it. I played a set as "Celia" and enjoyed singing and visiting with my presumably international audience. Then FIRE DOG played a POSITIVE CHARGE set of brand-new tunes and a couple of hits like "You Don't Know My Momma" and "2004 (May These Changes Make Us Light)"

See the shots page for some visual aids. Thanks to our fave photog, Great Cate Columbatto, for the action shots.

Artica is an outdoor multi-media art festival, parade and workshop series developed to provide the people of the St. Louis metropolitan area with the opportunity to come together as a community through creative self-expression.

The event takes place along the Mississippi riverfront in order to revitalize an area that has been polluted, neglected and abandoned for far too long. Although our audience is primarily all of the citizens of the St. Louis metropolitan area, the whole world is invited to attend and expected to participate as co-creators during the festival.

Artica’s development is as fluid as the river it celebrates, and its scope depends greatly upon the involvement of the community.

Artica happened on the St. Louis riverfront between the Arch and the water, north of the Poplar Street Bridge, and south of, and upon the riverfront main stage.

Artica took place on October 11 & 12 (Saturday and Sunday), 2008.

Find out more about Artica so you can come next year: http://articafest.ning.com


Here are some people getting their Artica on!

LOVE-O-RAMA thanks our friends at
CrankyYellow for inviting us to play :

A festival of social significance.
A craft happening in psychedelic color.

LOVE-O-RAMA takes the stage from 1-3pm on Saturday, September 27!

StrangeFolk is the Heartland's largest outdoor indie arts and crafts show. At our 2008 event, we will feature 120 modern makers from across the country.

2 great events in one weekend!

Saturday, June 21

Blue Moon June will be a social event benefit at two side-by-side historic homes. The addresses are 4410 and 4416 Westminster Place. The event will take place on June 21 from 6:00 - 10:00 PM. Festivities will include performances by The Fly Girls, Michelle Gravity & Marissa, as well as fire spinning and belly dancing by Amazonia. Music provided by LOVE-O-RAMA!

There will also be live and silent auctions, a cocktail buffet, and drinks provided. Finally, the Person of the Year Service Award will be presented to James E. Sullivan.

For more information, contact Judith Ewbank at 314-772-8801 ext 242.

Sunday June 22
Our 4th installment in the LOVE-O-RAMA Music, Movie, and Movement series:



Garden Light UCC

Thanks to Vadim Gershman for making the awesome fliers. Love the lightning bolts. Click on the flier to see Vadim's website.

WE LOVE YOU. We'd love to see you.

LOVE-O-RAMA is excited to host Australian POP Legends, The Cannanes!

The Cannanes have been described as 'the world's most indie band' but despite never having a manager, agent or signing a recording deal they have toured the world, produced numerous recordings, and been recognised internationally as one of Australia's best known bands. The new year sees them preparing for many new releases + national and overseas touring in 2008/09 to commemorate twenty years of live performances + no doubt the new releases.

They are only playing a handful of dates in their trip to North America We are lucky to have them in the intimate setting of St. Louis's CBGBs (3163 South Grand).

For more info. on the band click the poster.
DON'T MISS THIS SHOW

On May 4, 2008, LOVE-O-RAMA Movie, Music, and Movement series in partnership with Garden Light UCC at Tower Grove Abbey presented brand-new documentary from Rebecca S. Rivas, "Knock Knock America"


Our musical guests for the evening included Mark Pagano, (music facilitator for the International Playground and lead singer/guitar player for FIRE DOG) with Sunita and Muna of Liberia. Here, the three are joined by two other members of IPG to perform their hit song "You Don't Know My Mama".


We had an outstanding crowd for this world premier. Thank you for all who attended, and special thanks for your generous donations! We received almost $300 for the movie, and over $100 for LOVE-O-RAMA. Thanks for spreading the love!

Love-O-Rama's Music, Movies, and Movement Series, in partnership with Garden Light UCC, kicks off Sunday March 9 with

Herspective Fest!

We're sharing the weekend with Venus Envy and Herstory Weekend with an evening of music, movies, and movement at the Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee St. @ Shenandoah.
We'll feature some music by Celia, some bellydancing by Amazonia, and show you some independent movies:

Gap-Toothed Women by Les Blank
Breaking, Entering, and Painting by STL artist Cindy Tower
Women on Wheels, an animation short by STL artist Sarah Paulsen

Sunday March 9 at 7:30 pm
ALL ARE WELCOME. Donations graciously accepted.

Love-O-Rama's Music, Movie, and Movement Series is presented to you in partnership with Garden Light UCC on the Second Sunday of the month through September at the Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee @ Shenandoah in St. Louis MO. Please join us. To submit your music, movie, or movement for exhibition, email loveorama@loveoramarecords.com

Here's FIRE DOG at our LOVE-O-RAMA Chapel of Love on Valentine's Day. Special Thanks to Off Broadway and Chippewa Chapel for having us, Catherine Kustelski for hosting us, Anastasia Swan for taking all the cool pictures, Pabst Blue Ribbon for sponsoring us, Jerome for making "Toss Your Hearts" with us, all the musicians and performers who participated with us, and YOU for hanging out with us!

Thanks also to all the generous sponsors who provided us with prizes for Toss Your Hearts:
SCOSAG, Cheap Trx, Community Acupuncture, Marbles Yoga Studio, and, of course, Pabst Blue Ribbon. I hope you love your prizes, you winners!!

Toss your heart.

Who's got a picture of Mark in the top hat yelling "Toss Your Hearts, Bitches!"? Email it to info@loveoramarecords.com and you'll get a prize.


Celia's Big Rock Band. Herb's the mystery man on the left.


FIRE DOG's Brandon Manitoba, Celia, and Mark with a word from our sponsor: "What'll You Have?"

WHAT'S NEXT, Love-O-Rama??? We have an event on March 21 at St. Louis' Renegade Brewery, The Schlafly Taproom. Meet us there at 9 pm to spread some love and BRING ON THE SPRING. That's right, folks, first day of spring. A lovely day to spread the equinox LOVE. More information about that is coming soon.

We're also working on an independent movie series in cooperation with Garden Light United Church of Christ, hopefully to start in March, and we'll keep you posted about that, too.

February 14, 2008, 8 pm, FREE!
teams up with


for a V-Day Spectacular!

Starring many Chippewa Chapel Favorites, and featuring performances by Love-O-Ramans

Click for Links.

Inner Mission Productions and
LoveORama Records present:

May These Changes Make Us Light:
Winter Show Collaborative
Contemporary Art Museum
Saturday, Dec. 15
Two shows — 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., $10 tickets, Doors open at 6:15

Featuring: Gravity Plays Favorites, Acro-yoga Fireflies, FIRE DOG, Celia’s Yuletide Express, Amazonia Belly Dancing Troupe, VJ Evil Che, Kill Fashion and more …

A gigantic ARCH transmitter of a good thought broadcasts to the galaxy’s edge, where six peaceful Yogis hear the Wizard’s plea.

The planet is trembling from the loss of The Great Storygatherer. The people have forgotten how to lay their own stories to rest. And so the discontent builds, blocking people’s hearts. St. Louis artists expose their alter-egos and super POWERS so that these changes make us LIGHT.

“May These Changes Make Us Light – Winter Show Collaborative” is a multimedia performance that uses dance, music and sculpture to amuse the adventure within us. As the backdrop, VJ Evil Che, Mike Pagano, will project live-video narrations on a 10-foot-tall, inflatable plastic dome — and lead the audience through a tale that blends the real and fantastical.

MYTHICAL CHARACTERS PLAYED BY:

The Fireflies — St. Louis’ only acrobatic yoga troupe. The crowd-pleasing pairs stretch the limits of aerial poses. They are featured in the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch’s article "Feels Like Flying" on 09.24.07.

Gravity Plays Favorites — a sassy, captivating acrobatic duo that performs powerful aerial routines using only a standing pole. Performing at summer concert series to TV programs, the dancers travel nationally about twice a week.

Amazonia Belly Dancing – an electrifying group that performs the ancient dance of the body’s life force — the belly, while also incorporating innovative tools from modern dance and fire spinning.

MUSIC:

FIRE DOG — This local power trio serves up a playful attack of soul and surf, fresh and electric. The FIRE DOG anthem, “2004,” is the show’s theme. The group toured the Western United States last fall, playing over 30 shows in two months.

Celia’s Yuletide Express — This cheerful group of about 20 vocalists and sleighbell-ists, accompanied by a live rockin swing band, spreads “glad tidings of great joy” to all people, appearing at charity events and holiday parties in the bleak mid-winter.

A St. Louis quartet specializing in African and Middle Eastern drumming will provide the percussion and ambient sound.

ADDED SURPRISES:

Multiple accomplished local artists, such as Lyndsey Scott and Emily Heymeyer have added pieces to the costumes, music, dance or story.

We are a mesh of figures impossibly and perfectly formed –– exalting and exuding light as one. The wild formations stretch the hearts and minds of all those who experience it. Please contact Rebecca Rivas at 314-537-9861 or rebeccasrivas@gmail.com for more information.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-----MAY THESE CHANGES MAKE US LIGHT----------
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS )( DAY OF THE DEAD.
Cherokee Street
November 2, 2007
early evening

**********************************

One regret, dear world, that
I am determined
not to have when I am lying on my deathbed is that
I did not kiss you enough.
--Hafiz

**********************************

What do you make of IT?

Come with your heartbeat to the street.
Peer past the veil of separations to celebrate What Is.

…………………………………..Details still emerging, something like:

Come in black and white,
come with drums.
Come to have fun.

Dance your skeleton dance til the day is done.

Walk the street and visit the altars in each store.
Interact with the collective altar at the Community Arts and Media Project.

Can we?
Gather across from Globe at sundown, bring your candle and your light
Bring your song and your silence,
and your bubbling-up spirit of peace and play and potential.

ALTER <_________________> ALTAR

To bring a piece (music/ poetry/ song/
fire-spinning/video/installation/?) or volunteer to face paint or
creatively interact with people on the street, call Lyndsey at 217 898
3777
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(Note: Some scenes of the evening will be filmed for the May These
Changes Make Us Light)

LOVE-O-RAMA's first wedding was July 28, 2007 in beautiful North Muskegon Michigan.



See the wedding photos. CUTE!

It's so easy and it works.

We made it home safely after 2 months. That's 32 gigs in 14 states for the first ever LOVE-O-RAMA tour.


Here's 2 months in 3 minutes!

See the press page for what they're saying about us. Thank you for helping us SPREAD THE LOVE!

LOVE*O*RAMA personnel:

Me, as host and emcee, and performing my acoustic vaudeville supa-funk music.

celia.


Mark Pagano, and his Rock and Roll ballads of Truth and Intrigue, with me on bass and backing vocals, occasionally incorporating percussion in select venues.

FIRE DOG


VJ Evil Che, tickling the visual ivories to produce some of the most mind-bending video displays of the 21st century.

SEE BOTH


Rebecca Rivas, resident documentarian and support staff.

Author of "At Highest Risk: Maternal Health Care in the High Peruvian Andes"

and Featuring, in select venues: Melinda Winifred Jane Tentrees, Big Jill Abou from St. Lou, Herb James, Brandon Manitoba and Great Cate, Dan Bob Huck, Christine "Groucho" Marx, and Tom Collins!


THANK YOU. Thank you. Humblest thanks. We couldn't have done it without you.


Portland, after the show. Spitzseeds, New Belgium Brewery, and Powersquid sponsor gifts.

Oct. 21
Kristin's House
Gallup NM

This wasn't really a "show", but it really was a LOVE-O-RAMA. Kristin and her daughter Hala greeted us with beer and food, and Hala played with each and every one of us until we were all played out. Mark sat and played a whole bunch of his classic tunes from another time, and after dinner, Rebecca showed the movie to Kristin and her guests. It was a relaxing evening at home in Gallup - thanks, Kristin! And thanks for breakfast the next morning! We left ready to take on Route 66 all the way home!

Oct. 21
The Blue Dragon
Albuquerque NM

My brother Shack suggested we talk to Norm to land this gig, because it was the "hippiest-dippiest" coffeeshop around. No better description for a perfect LOVE-O-RAMA venue. When we arrived, there was a ceremony/performance going on in the performance area, complete with tai chi and didgeridoo. We had some calzones and then Norm helped us load in. Norm was so sweet to us, and a very talented singer in the Tuvan style! He warmed up the stage, singing along with Evil Che's Mingus DVD, and then sat in for my set and FIRE DOG's! Norm was very encouraging and helpful all evening, and we look forward to visiting this community and neighborhood oriented, locally owned and operated, "closer to the hand" coffeeshop again. Thanks, Norm!

After our show, we drove up the road to our friend Peter's place, the Pinon Ecovillage, adjacent to the Pojoaque Pueblo in Santa Fe county. We spent 3 days and 3 nights with Peter and Jacque and their two lovely boys, Charlie and Oliver. The weather was perfect and we had some time to explore the area.


Me, Mike, and Mark in the beautiful Jemez Springs.


Mark in the ancient cliff dwellings of Bandelier National Monument.


The canyon at Bandelier.


Me in the Kiva.


The Land of Enchantment.


Gettin' their kicks. . .

Oct. 18
Lestat's
San Diego, CA



LA was a great big adventure. It, in fact, did me in. I woke up the morning after the Fais Dodo show with strep throat. Special thanks to our LOVE-O-RAMA physician for your expert advice and treatment! I was at least better enough to sing at Lestat's for our last gig on the west coast.

Josh Damigo, our local act, was so enthusiastic and so were his fans! Great to meet you, Josh! Also, take a minute to meet our soundman, the great Louie Brazier!

We drove all night to get to Tucson because we really wanted to get some rest before the show the next day. Our friend Archer greeted us just after dawn and fixed us a fabulous breakfast before putting us all to bed!

Oct. 19
Rainbow Planet
Tucson AZ

Well, the key to a LOVE-O-RAMA is, of course, spreading the love. And the Planet Coffeehouse, though tiny, was full of love that night. Rebecca's uncle came to watch the movie with a friend of his, and Archer was just about the music-lovin-est audience yet.

We got to spend all morning and into the afternoon the next day enjoying the sunshine in Tucson. Archer fixed us another wonderful meal and we headed out for Phoenix a little later.

Oct. 20
Naucalli - House of the Four Directions
Phoenix AZ

We arrived to the smell of menudo cooking on a pot outside this indigenous peoples' center in Phoenix. The place was ours for the night. We set up the screen and p.a. outdoors because the weather was so nice, and we were positively DELIGHTED to see so many folks out! This community center has quite a community! The folks really loved the movie and they stayed late while Mark and I played music under a clear, star-studded sky. Some of Rebecca's family came out and gave her some extra special support and refreshment! We stayed at Antonio and Theresa's (thanks!) and Antonio made us some delicious omelets in the morning. Rebecca's family came by and we spent some time playing with the kids and visiting before we headed out for Gallup, NM.

Oct. 12
Echo Park Film Center
Los Angeles CA

We drove all day to get to LA from Santa Cruz. Once we got to town, we scoped out the venue and then headed over to our friend Ryan's place to chill for a bit and have some Thai food. Jill and Herb took a more scenic route through Big Sur, so they met us a little later. We got to the Echo Park Film Center and Paulo was cheerfully making the place ready for our show. We had a small but enthusiastic crowd for this film screening, including a bunch of young people who happened by on their way home from church! Thanks, Echo Park Film Center, and Ryan Wylie, for providing us with a soft place to land in LA!


Celia's Big Rock Band, Cali-style.

We drove back up the road that night to Santa Barbara, where a kind supporter of the arts had offered to keep ALL of us for 2 nights at his fabulous mansion at Hope Ranch. Thanks, Doug and Nina Katsev and family, for this generous donation to our cause! We spent Friday looking around Santa Barbara before hitting the PRIVATE BEACH, and then back to the Katsevs for a quiet night of pizza and horror movies - a much-needed break from the hustle and bustle since we emerged from the Redwoods!


Herb in Santa Barbara.


Herb enjoying the private beach.

Saturday morning, we drove back in to LA to look around this GIGANTIC city. Herb and I took a ride over to Inglewood to see some of his family, while Jill and Mike cruised around Venice Beach, and Mark and Rebecca hooked up with Ryan and Mitch. We all met up around sunset at beautiful Venice Beach. This is my FAVORITE place to visit in LA.

After some fun-having, Herb, Mike, Jill, and I drove on down to the LBC, where my friend Megan hosted us for a night on the town! What fun! LBC knows how to PARTY!

Oct. 15
Club Fais Dodo
Empowerment Works! Bohemian Sunday
Los Angeles CA


WOW! Thanks, Melanie and Cafe Fais Dodo, for having us out! What a great night!


Here's the club!


Here's the gang!

We couldn't have asked for a nicer venue and a more mutually supportive situation. We loved Empowerment Works!, and they loved us! Please see the press page to read a letter from Melanie St. James about our collaboration at Cafe Fais Dodo. We also got to share the bill with an old friend and bandmate of mine from the Kansas days, Melineh Kurdian!


There's Melineh!

It was cold at Crater Lake. We'd considered camping there originally but we arrived at dusk and, though the view was beautiful, the campgrounds were closed for the
breakfast and some map-reading, we headed on down US 199 into the spectacular Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, where we stayed for the next 3 days and nights.


That's a big tree.


Our little river beach home.


Almost got us all.


There I am!


Kind of mist-ical, huh?


This is our little cooking fire and my little headlamp that I used everyday of tour.


There's a little tiny person way over there. Hi, Rebecca!


Here's Mike and Mark.


Mike in the tree-cave.


Different tree cave.


Mark and Rebecca.


Banana slug


Sequoia Sempervirens

Oct. 5
Kimo's
San Francisco, CA

We came out of the redwoods truly refreshed and ready for the second half of tour. We stopped off in Mendocino for one night and also had lunch at Japhy's in Arcata with Mark's friend Danjo. Maybe we were a little disoriented, because we were very surprised to hear from our friend Joey in SF that we were listed in the paper for a gig that night at Kimo's! We called and explained that somehow we'd overlooked this booking altogether and hadn't even sent posters, but they said to come on by and do the show. So we did, and luckily some of our friends in town came out with some of their friends and we had a splendid night! Thanks, Harlowe, for the friendliness and the DANCING, and thanks, Mikal, for your music! We made some friends at Kimo's, and THAT'S a LOVE-O-RAMA!


This is how SF parties.

What luck we hit upon in SF. The next day found us enjoying the (hardly) Strictly Bluegrass festival in beautiful Golden Gate Park with our new friends Scott Clark, Jillian, and Mikal Shapiro!


My friend Joey, aka Pleasuremaker, and me in the park, enjoying the festivities.


Oct. 8
The Riptide
San Francisco, CA

What a special show! Our friend Lyndsey Scott really saved the day by loaning us wheels to get everything together for the show. Our new friend Scott Clark brought the drum set for the show, and Herb and Jill had just arrived from St. Louis, ready to ROCK! David at the Riptide was so accommodating right from the start, and even bought a red LOVE-O-RAMA shirt and sported it all night. (Lookin FINE, David!) Mikal Shapiro and Scott Clark played an knock-out set between Celia's Big Rock Band and FIRE DOG, and our jukebox hero Cree Rider topped off the show with a set that he designed expressly for the LOVE-O-RAMA! What a great night! Lots of dancing and lots of L-O-V-E! Thanks for buying those shirts, David, and thanks to the guy that shared his lasagne with me when it was all over. And huge heartfelt thanks to Mikal and Scott Clark for being the best new friends a Love-O-Rama could ever hope for!

We headed down the coast to Palo Alto where our friend Jo lives and she took us to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, where we checked out some sea stars, sea anemone, all manner of mollusks, and many other unusual marine lifeforms.


Tide pools.



a little Sea Anemone.



Unusual lifeforms. (Jill, Jo, and John)

Jo then took us back to her cute little house in cute little Palo Alto where she and her roommate, Gina, hosted a delightful dinner party just for us. Need I even say it? It was a LOVE-O-RAMA!

Oct. 11
E3 Playhouse
Santa Cruz, CA

We got to Santa Cruz a day early so we could screen some more shirts. This was an extra special stop on tour because Santa Cruz is home to one of LOVE-O-RAMA's cherished sponsors, Powersquid, and my personal friend, inventor Chris Hawker and his team. Chris helped me to put together many ideas that we put into practice on this tour, and bringing LOVE-O-RAMA to his town was, to me, the manifestation of a dream realized.

We had so much fun at the E3 Playhouse. Wes' mission of "Education, Entertainment, and Eatery" made for a perfect fit with our show, and we enjoyed our salmon dinners just as much as we enjoyed Wes' pro gear and solid sound system! Cree Rider came down from SF to play the closing set, and it was a real winner, complete with me sitting in on the drums and Mark singing back-ups with Cree and Joe! What a night! My heart swelled with pride the next morning when Chris said, "Good for you for creating something that you LOVE." Well, I love YOU, Chris and Sommer and Tanner, and thanks for the inspiration!


Trinidad State Beach

Sept. 28
Luckey's Club Cigar Store
Eugene, OR




Boy, was I excited to get to Eugene. I spent some time there when I was younger and I LOVED it, plus I have an old friend there that I hadn't seen in years. We pulled right up to Luckey's, the oldest bar in Eugene, and the folks there were super nice. Things run a little late in this sleepy little college town, so we had plenty of time to set up our merch and Mike's screen before The Dead Americans showed up. I was so happy to meet Zak after all the emails we had exchanged, and he was just as nice as he seems on the world wide web. He also brought his dad, Mike, who plays the "Louisiana Saxophone". He sat in on a couple numbers with Celia's Big Rock Band, much to the delight of all of us. Plus, the Dead Americans brought out a SWEET crowd for us to play to, and they were DIGGING it! The Dead Americans played a SMOKIN set, and FIRE DOG rocked out last, completing a trilogy of heartfelt and lusty soul ROCK! Thanks a million for loaning us gear, John and Josh! I particularly loved playing bass through Josh's SWEET amp. The Dead Americans RULE and I can't wait to collaborate again.


The Dead Americans


Celia's Big Rock Band at Luckey's

We stayed up late over at my friend Jessi's house and kept her up. Good thing she and Sven are so cool.

Mark and Rebecca and Dan Bob left early the next morning and Mike and I stayed on in Eugene. Melinda and Brandon and Great Cate drove on up to the Oregon Dunes and they had a blast. I don't remember much about Friday because I was resting almost all day. I woke Mike up a few times and then I'd find him sleeping somewhere else. I think we were pretty tired.

Jessi and Sven threw a party for us Friday night and I loved it. They also put EVERYBODY in the whole crew up and acted like they wouldn't mind if we stayed forever. Then they drove Mike and I to Portland the next day after showing us around Eugene AND taking us out for Yumm Bowls. What sweet people. You'll never get rid of me, Jessi.

Sept. 28
The Know
Portland OR

For real, folks, it was unbelievable how many JAYHAWKS were at this show! Long-lost friends and people I thought I'd never see again! Hi EVERYBODY! What a great little bar - just like Kansas! Thanks so much for coming out and supporting us! The local band, my friend and fellow Kansan Noah Earle's brother's band, Keep Your Fork, There's Pie. Oh, how I wish I could give you a link for them. What a special, hilarious treat for all of us! And Mary Jo used to be in a band, The Roundups, that I shared a bill with sometimes back in Lawrence! You know what that is. . .it's a LOVE-O-RAMA!


This is the guy from Keep Your Fork, There's Pie juggling during FIRE DOG's set. FU-UN! Look how Brandon Manitoba's eyes are shining behind the drumset!


Oct. 1
Cozmic Pizza
Eugene OR

Back to Eugene. I remembered thinking, a dozen years ago, that Eugene was this really BIG city. We got off the highway and pulled into Eugene with no real idea how to find this place. So we sidled up to a guy by the road and he says, "oh, it's right down there a block" and points right at it, then says, "hey, are you the ones who emailed me on Willamette Valley Music Scene?" And I realized, a dozen years later, that Eugene is a very small town.

This was a nice gig. I really liked the pizza. Some midwives came to the movie, and we were all delighted to have our friend from St. Louis, Willy Zep, sit in with his hand drums that night! Mark and I both enjoyed playing on the BIG STAGE, and I think Mike liked the BIG SCREEN afterall, too.

Of course, we went back over to Sven and Jessi's and got to spend some more time with them before heading out to Crater Lake the next day.


Wizard Island at Crater Lake.