February 2011 TOUR Leg

All Ages is now booking for February 2011. We will be in the following cities; Trenton-NJ, Cleveland-OH, Indianapolis-IN, St. Louis-MO, Breckenridge-CO, Denver-CO, Salt Lake City-UT, Prescott-AZ, Phoenix-AZ, Tempe-AZ, San Diego-CA, Fresno-CA, and a SpEcIaL CD Release WEST Show in SAN FRANCISCO!

For booking inquiries please e-mail; d.soares@shameless-self.com

Arizona and beyond...

All Ages is 'resting up' in Arizona for a few days... we have 3 shows in the Phoenix area; not driving is definitely resting! The shows so far have been great! Eureka, CA and Fallon, NV had great turnouts and we'd like to thank the bands who helped us out! And the ladies @ the Lion... Love you!

11/23 Tonight we will be performing two open mics: 2 Acoustic songs by Derrik @ Buena Coffee and 2 Full band songs @ Devils Advocate

11/24 Wednesday: We're at Copper State Tavern in Glendale
11/25 Thursday: THANKSGIVING (And we're really grateful for our good friend David in Phoenix for having us this year. We love crashing at your place!
11/26 Friday: Big Fish in Tempe
11/27 Saturday: We're in Prescott @ Sundances Place

11/28 Sunday 1000 mile Drive to Boise, ID

DONATE FOR GAS?
Please send donations via Paypal.com to srsderrik@yahoo.com ANYTHING is helpful in inching us along our little path. Money will go toward gas for our tour ONLY. Thank You very much. We Love you too!

On to the Future : : : : . . . .

2011
January 2011: All Ages performs in NYC Time Square for the Real Radio Show (details)

February 2011: SAN FRANCISCO CD Release for "A New Kind of Citizen" TBA

August 2011: Ani-Jam FRESNO, CA

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Infomercial for "A New Kind of Citizen"

I'm not sure why we took two weeks off to film and edit an infomercial, but we're pretty happy with the results... We'd like to thank the studio audience that was both disgusted and amazed at all the amazing things our new album is good for.

www.youtube.com/iloveallages

Yoga and the Last Performance of the House Band

Wow, today is actually day 3 of me writing in this blog. Happy Anniversary! Today I'm working in the studio recording a nice young lady who has made a Yoga Video. She's recording the voice overs "... and when you bend this way remember to breath from your happy zone." Stuff like that! A few hours of voice over work, then a couple of hours with this group called Simian Scribes (look em up). And finally tonight... All Ages' final performance for ShortLived 3.0 with the amazingly talented PianoFight Productions. If you made it out to a show, Thank You, this has been an incredible experience for us and quite a challenge. Actors are legit crazy! But we love the folks at PianoFight.

Noodles 2010 Recording

In the Studio this week with Noodles (Tokyo). They are working on a brand new album, that quite frankly is sounding like their best album yet. 11 tracks of pure honest music.

This is just a teaser because we can't officially put up any music... but if you look faintly through the glass and you can see a blurred Yoko. We are promoting heavily with Noodles for upcoming April 9th Show "From Japan with Love Vol. 4" at The Red Devil Lounge in SF.

Live Theater and the House Band

We (All Ages) have just finished up rehearsals and the opening night of PianoFights' Shortlived. Shortlived is the largest audience-judged playwriting competition in the country. All Ages is the house band- think late night shows. We cover the transitions between the plays while the audience is judging. All Ages also features two new songs from our upcoming album "A New Kind of Citizen".

The 8 plays are very well thought out, entertaining and funny. Only 4 plays go on to round 2. The rules of the competition are given to the attending audience during the introduction. The plays are filled with talented and experienced actors... including a bear... no, really a bear!

Shortlived is also running concurrently in Los Angeles. For more information on PianoFight and Shortlived visit www.pianofight.com

Shameless Self Productions is currently filming a documentary on the San Francisco Shortlived phenomenon. Tickets are selling fast! www.brownpapertickets.com enter promo code 'xocko' or 'allages'

Thank you for your continued support and don't forget to visit www.shameless-self.com

What Makes People Happy?

I came back from Boston wondering why my grandfather decided to live. Instead of fearing death, or acting indifferent towards it, my grandfather is beginning to see it as rest. He says he's tired. He's on oxygen which gives him a limited radius of travel and he's taking dozens of meds... he feels like a prisoner and is, and a burden but isn't. Instead of jumping into this depression however he goes on living. I think it's awesome... in a sort of way that awe-some really intends.

It is happiness that keeps him alive, and not for fear of death but of choice. If you listen to my songs, I have my opinions, but I'm just as confused as everyone else... I have my periods of lost hope, but it's the happiness of doing what I do that keeps me alive... I'd like to think that anyway.

So I wonder as an exercise in sanity... What Makes People Happy? What Makes You Happy?

this will make you happy:

The Great Escape

I'm back in Boston visiting my Grandfather who has spent the past 10 weeks in the hospital. My grandfather has spent the past 50 years of his life in and out of hospitals for various medical problems and subsequent miraculous recoveries! He is one of the first men to have had a kidney transplant (Now the oldest living Kidney Transplant Patient) and despite a 20% chance of living for 3 years, he has gone another 50. A triple bypass, a pace-maker, numerous surgeries for dozens of oddities, years of experimental medications, and the respect of the top physicians at Mass General Hospital, Tony has surpassed all of our imaginations in just how much "will" has to do with life and living. He has always credited his will for life to his family, especially his wife, my grandmother Gilda. She has been by his side for the past 55 years and going.

But before his health became his primary obstacle, there was Portugal. Born in Sao Miguel in 1930, Tony and his family were forced to escape in 1949 while Portugal was under the dictatorship of Salazar. My grandfather tells me stories of a time when a dictator under the direct influence of Adolf Hitler but that fearfully allied with Britain and the United States ruled Portugal. Salazar sought to keep his empire by disrupting civil liberties and suppressing political rivals. My great-grandfather and grandfather and the Soares family presented a strong presence and were among the leaders of a rebellion against the right-wing authoritarian government. My grandfathers best friend (a political activist who belonged to another family joining the rebellion) -- one day was flying a private plane between islands, not more than a 10-15 minute trip... he never arrived. He was assassinated. Killed by Salazars' secret police. After weeks of search, nothing was found... no plane, no body... just the disappearance of this young man. With continued efforts to disrupt Salazars' "New State" resulting in numerous attempts on their lives The Soares family were forced to escape. It took many years and too many side stories to explain how they came to settle here in Boston... My grandfather always tells us how he felt when he first saw the Statue of Liberty, and I can't express the sincerity of emotion when his eyes well-up with pride... he takes a breath and says "She was so beautiful."

Never to return to Sao Miguel, Tony taught himself to speak, read and write English (with help from my Grandmother, also a native of Sao Miguel). He Attended night classes while working long hours, 7 days a week in a greenhouse, until he graduated as a draftsman and later through promotion, a mechanical engineer. During his life Tony worked for various corporations, Deck and Honeywell among the top. He was the original patent holder under many of Honeywells' patents that many of us continue to enjoy today (Although the patents are held by Honeywell today).

Most of us can gloat amazing grandparents... and if you got one to gloat about, do it! I could write a book about my Grandfathers adventures... this "blog" barely scratches the surface of the man. Maybe someday I will... until then I will enjoy the time we have left together, and continue to be amazed as the cracks of the story of his life are gradually filled in with substance.

More information on Salazar and Estado Novo (New State) visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/António_de_Oliveira_Salazar

This is only the beginning!

Tom, the bass player for All Ages, has been bugging me to write and maintain a blog... I keep telling him nobody wants to read what my thoughts on things are... but on the off chance you do, this will be the place where I'll unload.

The truth is I'm a very private person and appreciate the privacy I have... however I understand that We (All Ages and SSP) are very public organizations. We appreciate all of our friends and fans, and I hope if you have any question about who we are as people, you can easily find this page or Toms blog (If you read Japanese).

I named my blog "A New Kind of Citizen" because we are promoting our new album of the same name- but also because I believe that is what we need to become in order to survive with a sense of humanity and civilization. Otherwise... we'll just keep going on the way we do; Political leaders acting like children- not fighting the problems

but fighting each other and creating larger effects from damaged causes. So good luck to anyone who hears me, it's up to you to change the world. One act of kindness goes a long way. Become a New Kind of Citizen!!