Contact: Mark Ungar More Moose Music Services Phone 415 876 6673 mark@moremoose.com

748 21^st Ave San Francisco, CA 94121 www.moremoose.com

More Moose Music Services

Press Release

Local band gets gig in San Francisco!

Call from Sunset district club causes Avalon Rising member to re-assess entire belief structure, stop kicking puppy dogs

San Francisco, CA May 4, 2004: Progressive Celtic/Medieval rock quintet Avalon Rising has just inked a deal to play May 18^th at The Old Rogue, the Sunset-Parkside district’s newest destination for live music, located on Taraval at 33^rd Ave (415-566-9122). No one could be more surprised than bassist Mark Ungar, who shares booking duties with the other band members. “I remember when the call came in, things started swirling around and I had to sit down. I thought there was some mistake; I’ve never received a call back from a club booker, and had just assumed none of them knew a phone could be used to dial out. “ A native San Franciscan, Ungar had become cynical over the years due to the complete lack of interest in his band from local clubs. “I was sure God hated me. But this booking is like a miracle – I have hope again!” The grizzled musician has turned over a new leaf, according to bandleader Kristoph Klover. “It used to be I couldn’t take him anywhere – he’d spit on babies and kick cute little puppy dogs. He took out his disappointment at not being able to get a gig in The City on everyone. This whole thing has renewed his faith in life.” So much so that, reportedly, Ungar placed a recently extracted molar under his pillow and woke the next morning to find a dollar in its place.

The booking is significant in the current climate of high-pressure tactics by ASCAP in which many clubs are simply choosing to eliminate live music altogether. Other obstacles have been the band’s lack of ability to fit into any the popular music genres that San Francisco clubs favor, as well as the 90 minute set-up time necessitated by the 13 instruments the members play.

Avalon Rising‘s specialty is high energy, progressive rock renditions of traditional Celtic and Medieval music, as well as original songs with a mystical, psychedelic flavor. Their second album, Storming Heaven, has just been released on their own label, Flowinglass Music. Besides the usual complement of electric guitar, bass and drums, instrumentation also includes harp, flute, recorders, mandocello and electric violin, as well as operatically trained vocals. The band was recently invited to Hollywood to perform at an Oscar-night party hosted by New Line Cinema’s Lord of the Rings Fan Club – a perfect fit, considering the nature of their repertoire. Says vocalist-harpist Margaret Davis: “I like to call it fantasy music, in the way that fantasy literature is fantasy literature; it evokes this certain magical feel of another time and place that may or may not have ever existed, and I think our music evokes that as well.”

Clocking in at 74 minutes, the new album includes just about everything you’re likely to hear in their current live show, with no less than 6 full-out Celtic rock tune-sets, wherein a never-ending assortment of jigs, reels, and other traditional dance tunes are stuck together end to end and raced through like a Hummer on a Grand Prix course, knocking bricks off buildings and smashing statuary along the way. The vocal tracks, providing a respite from such fits of frenzy, range from the lilting Irish song Do You Love An Apple to the mystically psychedelic original Jack Daw, with side trips to all points in between.

Old Rogue booker and bartender Alison Hendel likes playing it in the club: “because it’s so ridiculously long, I don’t have to change the CD so often – it gives me more time to take care of my customers.” A newcomer to the job of entertainment booking, Alison is excited about making the club the destination of choice for live music in San Francisco’s historic Sunset district. “This neighborhood is fast becoming the new cool place to live and party – some of my friends even placed a bid on a house around the corner”. The Sunset, with its rows of whimsical Doelger tract homes, was one of the nation’s original suburbs and was developed late in the life of the city because of its often foggy and overcast conditions. Now, as many of the houses’ original owners pass away, they’re hitting the market at rates substantially less than many other parts of town, making the area attractive to young families who need only plunk down $3 – 5 million for a cramped residence with a sandy back yard in need of new stucco, plumbing and electrical.

Because of Alison’s novitiate status as a booker, she wasn’t aware of the strict rule against using the telephone to call out. “I realize now that if other club bookers got wind of this, I could be in serious trouble. All I knew was that Mark is a great musician, and any band he’s involved with would have to be pretty good. I hope this all works out for the best”.

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