Ali Handal: News

Re-printed from Ali's Newsletter:

The day before yesterday, after stepping off of a ten-hour flight from Los Angeles to London, I was detained by a UK immigration official for 30 minutes and informed that I would "have the night off" on Monday night. Needless to say, this was NOT the warm welcome I was hoping for in the UK!

Apparently, as a visitor without a work visa for the UK, it's illegal for me to perform ANY kind of show - even if it's unpaid and free to the audience, as mine was going to be.

Here's the story...
Originally, I had told the immigration officer that I was not going to be performing while I was in the UK -- just to be "safe" (ha!) and avoid a hassle. I figured, as long as I'm not being paid by anyone, I'm not really working, so why bring it up and potentially delay my entry into the country? HA!

I guess my large, lovely Levy's guitar case (and the fact that I admitted to being a professional musician) raised the immigration officer's suspicions. So he asked me to wait for him to "talk to someone" in back. 20 minutes later, after having Googled me and printed out the details of my London show from my website, he came back out and gave me, in his words, "one more opportunity to tell him the truth" (ouch!) So I admitted that yes, I was planning on doing one performance while in London, but that because I wasn't getting paid for it, I had assumed that it wasn't really working and that I wouldn't need a work visa.

Thankfully, the immigration officer took pity on me (a little). Rather than immediately sending me back on a 12-hour flight to LA with an "Entrance Denied" black mark forever on my passport, he made me promise that I wouldn't play the show, and then he called the club I was supposed to perform at and informed them that I was not to be permitted to play on Monday night. Then he let me pass on through to customs.

Needless to say, I was a bit embarrassed about the whole affair, and majorly disappointed not to play this show (especially after having dragged a suitcase full of gear and merchandise across the Atlantic).

So why not just take my chances and do the show anyway?

Well, because I said I wouldn't. And just in case that weren't enough, the immigration officer warned me that it's possible (though I'm guessing unlikely) that a plainclothesd enforcement official could show up to the Bedford on Monday night to make sure I keep my promise. If someone were to catch me performing, I'd be immediately deported and not allowed back in the UK for ten years, and the club could be fined up to £10,000. So that's obviously not going to happen!

All this to say that I won't be performing on Monday night. But I WILL still be there to enjoy dinner and the show with my family, friends & London fans. So if you or your friends were planning on coming to the show, I'll still be there - I just won't be singing on stage.

Even though this experience was quite a disappointment, I'm choosing to see it as the universe's way of telling me that it's time to move on from doing unpaid international one-off shows to playing lucrative full-blown international tours (including a promoter who obtains all the proper visas - haha!).

Cheers to that!

Ali advanced to the Final Round of competition in the SoCal Acoustic Music Live showcase series, held March 5 at the Derby in Los Angeles. Ali performed with bassist Orlando Sims & percussionist Christopher Allis, who together move forward in the competition.

Ali & her band will next perform for the Finals, which will be held Saturday March 22 at the Gypsy Den in Santa Ana, from noon - 6pm.

In addition to honoring the top live acoustic acts in Southern California, the SoCal Acoustic Music Live competition raises money for charity. This year, all proceeds from the competition go to Hearts Giving Hope, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of abused and underprivileged children by providing them with positive outlets of self-expression and growth through music and visual arts.

Ali & the band have been asked to perform at the Fender Frontline Stage at NAMM 2008. Ali is honored to join the ranks of so many talented - and a few legendary - musicians performing on the Fender Frontline Stage this year: Dick Dale, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Marcus Miller, Roscoe Beck, Chad Smith, and so many more.

Ali and the band: Orlando Sims on bass, Christopher Allis on drums, and David Leach on percussion -- will be playing two shows for Fender at NAMM - the music industry's biggest gear show that takes place in Anaheim each year.

Handal performs at the Fender Frontline Stage (next to the Fender booth) at NAMM:
Friday Jan 18 @ 1pm
Sunday Jan 20 @ 3pm

The recording has begun! Ali is working with producer/engineer Seth Horan on her third full-length album. They're cutting basic tracks at Phantom Vox Studios in Hollywood. The band consists of: Orlando Sims on bass, Christopher Allis on drums, and David Leach on percussion. Handal plays all of the guitars and sings lead vocals. A variety of guest musicians will also appear on the album - to be announced soon.

Ali's music is now featured on the Kweevak Music Magazine Podcast for October 2007. In addition to Ali's music, this month's show features cool interviews with Stephen Pearcy of RATT and indie musician Johnny Young!

You can check out the show at:
http://kweevak.podshowcreator.com

http://www.kweevak.com/files-features/radio-show.php

Last month, Ali was fortunate enough to enjoy a personally guided tour of the Fender factory in Corona CA from the world-famous "fretless monster" bassist Tony Franklin.

Ali first met Tony after her performance for Fender at the Tempe Music Festival. Tony Franklin is known throughout the rock world as an innovator on fretless bass guitar, and has shared the stage with some of Ali's musical heroes (including Jimmy Page & Paul Rodgers) so this visit was quite a thrill for Ali.

Tony gave Ali a hands-on tour around the Fender factory, including showing her their stash of Eddie Van Halen "Frankenstein" replica guitars -- works of art that are each individually hand-crafted to look (and play) EXACTLY like Eddie's legendary axe, down to every scratch, ding, and cigarette burn. Fender is producing a limited run of 300 Frankenstein guitars, each selling for approximately $25,000 apiece.

The guys at the Fender Custom Shop were kind enough to check out & fix up Ali's old Tele-monster guitar that she inherited from her uncle Roger Handal when she was 15. Even the Custom Shop guys couldn't definitively tell if the neck on her guitar was an original '61...the mystery remains unsolved, but fortunately the guitar is now playable, thanks to the new pickup the Custom Shop installed.

Apparently, Ali's new pickup had been played (and rejected) by Andy Summers of the Police for his Andy Summers Tribute Telecaster guitar, which he's currently using on tour. one man's trash, another (wo)man's treasure...

To see photos from Ali's tour, visit the Photos page and click "Ali Visits the Fender Factory."

Ali & the band had a BLAST playing the Fender stage at the Tempe Music Festival last month. The show was slammin', as you can see in this video of the last song of their performance, "While You're Here."

The sparkly guitar Ali played is called a Guild BluesBird -- she fell in love with it -- truly a guitar for a Glitter Girl!

Ali and her band (Nafeesa Monroe, Orlando Sims, David Leach & Christopher Allis) have been asked to perform on the Fender Stage at the Tempe Music Festival on Friday, March 30.

Now in its 5th year, the Circle K Tempe Music Festival has grown to be the largest music festival in Arizona, boasting three stages of entertainment featuring national, regional and local acts including O.A.R., The Fray, Cowboy Mouth and Ivan Neville & Dumpstaphunk.

Last year nearly 20,000 people attended the festival. For fans who can't be in Arizona to cheer Ali on in person, her performance will be recorded and available for viewing on Fender Frontline Live -- http://frontlinelive.fender.com/ -- as well as YouTube. Stay tuned for details...

Ali has been selected for an honorable mention in the 2007 DIY Music Festival.

The DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books teaches filmmakers, musicians, authors and entrepreneurs how to create, promote, protect and distribute independent film, music and books.

The 2007 DIY Convention was sponsored by ASCAP, JakPrints, Indie Bible, Discmakers, Bug Music, Indie 9-1-1, Final Draft Screenplay Software, The Hollywood Creative Directory, The Creative Handbook, SESAC, CD Baby, Nat'l Assn. of Record Industry Professionals, American Federation of Musicians, Music Connection, IndieGate.com, Film Baby, Shopper Shuttle and Westside Websites

We're pleased to announce that Ali's song “Distance” has advanced to the next round of judging in the 2006 International Songwriting Competition. Over 14,000 songs were entered into this competition from around the world. We'll keep you posted on any further developments.

Wes Wehmiller was Ali's friend and bass player who passed away a year and a half ago. His incredible talent was featured on Ali's CD "Breathing Underwater" (Wes not only played bass, but also took all of the cover photography).

The Wes Wehmiller Memorial Endowed Scholarship at Berklee College Of Music was established by Wes's parents and friends to honor the memory of Wes and to encourage the artistic development of young musicians.

We had a fantastic turnout in Los Angeles for the first annual WesFest, and the event was a great success, raising over $12,000. But not everyone was able to attend, and many asked to be kept informed of ongoing events, and how to continue to support the scholarship. In that spirit, we are proud to present the Official WesFest DVD!

WesFest: A Concert to Benefit the Wes Wehmiller Scholarship at Berklee College Of Music, is a full length (about 90 minutes) DVD, and serves as the official document of the first annual WesFest. It contains live performances from all eight WesFest performers: The Mike Keneally Band, Dan Rockett, Ali Handal, SMUG, Kira Small, Touched, Bryan Beller, and I, Claudius.

It also includes heartfelt speeches from Peter Gordon (Director of the Berklee Center in Los Angeles), Roger Brown (President, Berklee College Of Music), and Wes’ parents, John and Paula Wehmiller.

The WesFest DVD can be purchased for $25, which includes all shipping and handling charges. All net proceeds from the WesFest DVD will go to benefit the Wes Wehmiller Scholarship at Berklee College Of Music. We're inviting you to continue to support the scholarship fund through the purchase of this DVD.

Complete ordering instructions can be found here:
www.weswehmiller.net/wesfest.html
At this page you'll see a box in the right hand corner. Click "add to cart" for credit card/PayPal purchases, or click "check/money order" for a mailing address.

We're pleased to announce that Ali's song "I Miss You" has been nominated for a songwriting award from Just Plain Folks, a worldwide songwriting organization that does wonderful work: www.jpfolks.com.

"I Miss You" was chosen out of over 300,000 total entries as one of the top 20 in the Female Singer/Songwriter category, alongside songs by award-winning songwriters Rachael Sage and Janis Ian. Each song was blind-screened through six judging rounds before being nominated. The sole nomination criterion for this contest is: "Does the song move you?"

Ali is so honored that this particular recording of the song, featuring percussionist David Leach and late bassist Wes Wehmiller, has moved so many people.

Ali's featured in the July 2006 issue of "Diablo Magazine" -- a Bay Area glossy -- as one of the "Best of the East Bay." It's a gorgeous full-page spread of Ali (the photo from the Epiphone Guitars 2005 calendar), and news on her upcoming SF show.

Though Ali currently resides in Los Angeles, she went to junior high & high school in the East Bay, and still has family in the area.

Here's Ali's Personal Account of the Neil Young Recording Session, taken from her April 14, 2006 email newsletter:

"What a wild experience I had last week -- at 9:30pm last Wednesday night, I got a call to be a part of a vocal session for Neil Young's new album & DVD! Myself, along with 99 other singers (including the top session singers in Los Angeles), showed up at the Capitol Records recording studios on Thursday morning for a 12-hour session of backing Neil up on ten songs...it was really fun, and some of the work was challenging (try to get 100 singers to exactly match Neil Young's timing, pitch, & inflection on every line in a song!).

The album is a VERY political, anti-war CD, and at one point, when the whole lot of us were repeatedly belting out "don't need" at the tops of our lungs, I felt like I was in a session for Pink Floyd's "The Wall" ("we don't need no thought control...") -- it was very cool!!

It was exciting to be working on such a high-profile session with so many of my friends, and having the opportunity to meet and hang out with icons of the session-singing world (we're talking about people who have sung on albums with Stevie Wonder and sung in Disney films!). Not to mention working with Neil Young himself -- he was there the whole time, supervising and occasionally helping us fine tune our vocal parts.

And, yes, I did meet Mr. Young -- in fact, I've posted a photo of us taken after the session on the Photos page of my website. He was a very nice guy, and very gracious after a long day of recording."

Ali's "On the Rise," according to the December 2005 issue of "Guitar World Acoustic" magazine. The article, complete with photo and Ali's gear info, describes Ali's CD "Breathing Underwater" as "drenched with [Ali's] lush acoustic guitar work and hushed vocals."

Guitar World Acoustic is published by Future Network USA and distributed worldwide.

Isn't it time to add some new naughty undies into your life?

Click below to order your very own pair of "You're my dirty little secret" red thong undies -- for you or a friend!
If you'd like to see a mock-up of what they look like, just go to the Photos page and take a peek.

This underwear is top quality American Apparel -- an environmentally & socially responsible company. All of their products are made in the USA (downtown LA, actually), and 100% sweatshop FREE!

Each pair is $15 (includes shipping & packaging). If you'd like to order over 4 pairs, email info@alihandal.com and you'll receive a volume discount.

Size

SMLXL

Click Here to Order

Ali can be seen slinging her Taylor 710-CE in a brand new Levy's guitar strap ad in the November 2005 issue of GuitarOne Magazine.

Ali is pictured with an army-style strap, next to bassist Warren McRae and guitarist Andy Childs.

For more information on Levy's Leathers -- makers of the best guitar straps and gig bags around -- please visit: www.levysleathers.com

In response to the fans who've requested a copy of Ali's "The La La Song (Molly)", Ali has made a special new CD available.

Ali's "Molly & More" CD features 6 uplifting acoustic songs: The La La Song (Molly), Visualize It, Free, Really Really Really, Distance & Breathing Underwater.

FREE BONUS: Everyone who orders the "Molly & More" CD will also receive a FREE "Friends of Ali" compilation CD, containing 18 songs by Ali's favorite independent artists. Artists featured include Fatih Rivera, aeon spoke (who had a song in "What the Bleep Do We Know?"), Austin Willacy, Cindy Alexander, Jamie Green & many more!
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Both CDs together cost $10, plus $3 for shipping & packaging.

Please click here to securely order via CREDIT CARD from PayPal.
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OR, PAY BY CHECK: You may order via snail mail by sending a CHECK for $13.00 payable to: Dessert First Records, 8721 Santa Monica Blvd. #112, Los Angeles, CA 90069. Please allow 3-4 days for your request to be processed.
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PLEASE NOTE: Ali is donating 10% of the proceeds from the sale of her "Molly & More" CDs to the HSUS (Humane Society US) Disaster Relief fund. The Humane Society has been working around the clock in New Orleans and Mississippi to rescue trapped animals, as well as reuniting worried, displaced pet owners with their beloved companions. Thousands of pets have been rescued so far, but there are many more animals stranded and starving who need our help. To learn more, please visit: www.hsus.org

Click on the "Music" page to check out lyrics from Ali's new, uplifting songs. Ali has been road-testing these tunes for the past year, and will be releasing a full-length, positive music CD in 2006.

Ali & her good buddy Cindy Alexander are featured in the 2005 print ad campaign for Levy's Leathers Guitar Straps. Ads will be running internationally in Guitar Player, GuitarOne, and Guitar World magazines. Visit the Photos page of this website to get a sneak peek at the ad.