Choice moments of performance art rituals,
music to color your soul and feed your dancing feet
word spiraling poetry of the ever evolving story
and planetary awakenings for peace
as we spiral on....

Overview:

          SPIRAL was formed in Austin, Texas in 1996 with Aliah Selah (Clar Rheinstein) on vocals, sax, keys & Paz Rheinstein on vocals, guitar, bass, & flute - as it's core writers. The couple trademarked SPIRAL after playing professionally as TOUCH (in Boston) & SOULER SYSTEM (San Diego & Austin) that played in festivals, clubs, and parties around San Diego and then Austin. In each place they lived they did lots of benefits & Earth Day Celebrations and in Austin they well known for their outrageous TV show Trippin' In Austin. The weekly show continued featuring many local & national artists, musicians, poets and activists and using their video art pads with their music between and as visuals behind acts when they played or gave interviews. The show documented their evolution from SOULER SYSTEM to SPRIAL and was sponsored by Pace Concerts. Then they went back in San Diego as SPIRAL and then up to the Bay Area where they live now and continue to spiral on.

Background:

          Paz & Aliah were first called TOUCH when they lived in Boston - playing gigs while Aliah was on scholarship at Berklee School of Music. TOUCH played at the Cambridge Earth Day Festival that they were asked to promote on several Radio Stations. They played in several cafes with a full band yet were most known for their Smother's Brother's meets Sonny & Cher show on the streets of Harvard Square with an upright acoustic bass and Aliah on Sax & both scatting away singing their original Folk Funk tunes. One day, just after she had had a Polarity bodywork session... where she confessed her sadness about missing playing in psychedelic blues rock band - while coming home - Aliah ran into Robert Plant in Harvard Square. He loved the name TOUCH and blessed their music - Aliah - a self-proclaimed Rockaholix - calls this a Rockstar Intervention.

         After 2 cold winters they moved back to San Diego playing at EarthFair in Balboa Park as TOUCH and then again as SOULER SYSTEM -
as well as at the San Diego Fair (Del Mar Fair) and The Whole Being Weekend (where they played more recently as SPIRAL.) They also had a regular night at the Betterworld Galleria where they had a solar electric car parked in front on the nights they played there & have played Earth Day nearly every year and other benefits & regular nights at the Exotic Bamboo & MIracle Cafe in the San Diego area.

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Then they moved to Austin, Texas for the music scene and ending up making TV - offering exposure to all their artist friends & good causes.

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Playin' Austin's 1st Internet Cafe: The Incubator
Can you see the Wizard of Austin up in the tree behind Aliah... ("The Wizard of Awe-stuned" that is... can you dig it? I knew that you could!)

Aliah recalls what got her & Paz started doing TV...

"We saw that everyone was so talented in Austin yet pretty much starved for & living on only bread crumbs of exposure. We had just made a music video of our band SOULER SYSTEM before we left San Diego and loved doing it. When we found out about the amazing ACTV station... we learned all the equipment and started baking loaves of "Exposure" Bread on our shows and handing it out to all the amazing visionary musicians, Poets, & Artists of all kinds - and combined it with all those in Austin who are Earth & Peace activists and positive. We had watched & recorded every one of the old Kung Fu series... before it came out on CD. We studied the many amazing directors who made their mark in this awe inspiring series. Watching the old Kung Fu series brought together making TV & studying the Tao for us both. We now see it was training for parenthood... how the monk raised such a gentle strength of a man - fit well in the Trippin' In Austin format where there was always a Monk flashback moment somewhere in the mix that people told us they would look for. A lot of people were fans of "Grasshopper" as much as we are. Our new show CREATIVE EVOLUTION will also have those flashbacks that we so much love. Doing TV gave us a way to honor people and things we appreciated and give talented people exposure - but more than that... to encourage them to learn technology and have creative control of their music & all aspect of their lives - this was always how we saw success and what continues to give us great joy now."

The Steamboat, where Stevie Ray Vaughan had played himself - became part of their scene. Paz & Aliah played there with their band SOULER SYSTEM and had a regular night at the White Rabbit down 6th Street. Mother Earth Productions asked Paz & Aliah to do blessings at the yearly concert as they grew into becoming SPIRAL. After 10 years of making TV they had a collection of shows: Wake Up & Smell The Incense!, Multi-Media Cafe, Trippin In Austin, and P.E.A.C.E. (that became a Non-Profit that received several video grants to do instructional wellness videos) and they made many SXSW specials each year: SOTV, Girl Groove, that showcased many great bands around town for the big SXSW weekend. Mainly, they focused on the Steamboat, Black Cat, and White Rabbit scene and then The Mercury, also Cafe Mundi, 503 Cafe, & Ruta Maya Cafe, Flipnotics Cafe - EARTHDAY & other Festivals... making a small ripple in the Austin music scenery that they feel honored to have been a part.

ACTV Public Access Station where Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids) & Richard Linkletter (Dazed & Confused) got started with their film careers. Paz & Aliah were on the air only a month when Aliah interview Sandra Burnhard and then Dave Mathews did an interview where he played a song not on any of his records with Patrice Pike - another local singer songwriter. Trippin' In Austin was sponsored by Pace Concerts (and for the crew Amy's Ice Cream & Conan's Pizza.) They followed events and offered a capella blessings at concerts as well as doing sets with full bands and later Aiiah's solo music that Paz plays with her as well. They find the vibe for the gig and serve the event with the backdrop it needs to serve what is happening at the event... singer songwriter acoustic tunes.. to ambient backgrounds - to slamin' dance groove with visuals. SPIRAL will always surprise you while giving the good vibes they are known for. And pulling in some fine musicians who also know Dreamtime Flow with music as a ceremonial celebration of life. They are sending their love to everyone there and Boston. In time, they will be able to offer Austin & Boston musician friends - places to come play on the west coast with them... slowly as the SPIRAL energy starts building up again in their new hometown of Santa Cruz.


          The Austin line-up of SPIRAL included some wonderful musicians in the Austin scene:

Terry Dossey on blazin' southern rock Guitar as well as one of the band's co-songwriters.
The songs he produced started as SPIRAL songs - until SPIRAL went Jam Band.

          Now these recordings have ended up as Aliah's Living in The Shade CD and will be part of The Rockaholix Movie. They will be introducing Rockaholix ideas: Emotional Intelligence Rocks... it's time to let it Rock the world... it's time to be ROCKIN' FOR PEACE AROUND THE WORLD!
Rockaholix is a feature film idea that will first be seen as a sit-com segment for the TV WEB Show that's in pre- production: CREATIVE EVOLUTION set to air in 2010.

Justin Gray, an amazing Bassist (who co-wrote 2 songs on Aliah solo CD Shades Of Images - "Dig Deep" & "What Is So?") rounded out the overall southern rock sound of the Austin SPIRAL, adding a "fusion with an edge" like sound,

Mark Bergen on B-3 organ who is the star writer and featured soloist of the song "Everglad".

Michael Owens on Drums who's long blond dreads would fly, as he added a variety of tribal beats & strait up funk to the live shows of this groovy funk rock fusion band who also offer to take their audiences on a journey. .. that can get ambient & introspective & then come back with a locked in groove once again. Others came through at different points as well...like at the very exciting Mercury gig - when we subbed with Daniel Jones on drums.

          Paz also recorded 2 CD's with bass virtuoso Steve Bernal from 2 recording sessions that they have produced with more overdubs over time: Zoom Pop with drummer Brad Evilisizer. Aliah is putting her vocals, keys, and sax on it now. And with past SOULER SYSTEM drummer A. Morgan Brown - who is also an amazingly talented artist. He painted the covers to several Steve Vai albums/CD's - Passion & Warfare & The Ultra Zone (the CD of his with the fairy's on it) and he also painted one for Paz & Aliah that will be part of the art for the upcoming CD: Spiral On Homeworld.

Spiral On Homeworld began pre-producation 9/9/09 and it set to be released 10/10/10 in Santa Cruz, CA - where they live now.,. Once again, they are part of a wonderful Public Advocacy Access station in Santa Cruz - where they with their son who is now 12 - are in pre-production with their newest variety TV & Web Show: CREATIVE EVOLUTION that's set to air in 2010.

         Aliah felt it was a sign that "Little Shelf" was being appreciated - to focus on the SPIRAL recordings - it was time to release them. Aliah's song "Little Shelf" - a spokenword & sung channeled song birthed from a jam after a long day of recording. It is a magical song that has only "one takes" on it. Producer Mitch Watkin's said he wish they all could be that easy - he added Emu Guitar in one take. Then Aliah did one take of spoken & sung vocals and it was done. "Little Shelf" is the most like the Spiral Material - sculpted jams that glide into each next turn like Dark Side Of The Moon. The rest of her solo material is more song oriented Contemporary Jazz Funk Rock - or mystical ballads of Adult Contemporary. It was nominated for 2 2007 LA Music Awards (Experimental & Female Vocals). Then, in 2008 "Little Shelf" was nominated for a Hollywood Music Award. She is working on the video that is set to be part of a film project: www.cocreating.us An artistic documentary about visioning on our human rights and allowing solutions for a sustainable peace to happening through creative evolution. It will be a segment on the CREATIVE EVOLUTION Visionary Variety TV/Web show showcasing - artists, musicians, visionaries - activists who are using comedy to say what is allowing us to grow as a planet - how we are being asked to participate - how can each of us make a difference?.

Paz & Aliah plan to start playing more around the SF Bay Area when Spiral On Homeworld is released 10/10/10 and they have a steady group of players who do ceremonial awe inspired ambient soundscape that lead to funky dance grooves that lead back to ambient sound soundscapes... that can match the visual background of their Video Art that will be seen on CREATIVE EVOLUTION to be seen soon on Channel 27 out of Santa Cruz.