It’s a beautiful spring day in Las Vegas.  A few hundred people are gathered around the pool at the Wild West Hotel watching the UCSB-bred Animal Liberation Orchestra play an afternoon set.  As if out of nowhere, fourteen crazy-looking guys appear in matching striped bathing outfits like a stray circus act.  The confounded crowd gawks in disbelief as one-by-one they cascade into the water and begin a synchronized swimming routine perfectly in rhythm with the song being played.  This remarkable episode, now marked in lore as “sync or swim” (the brainchild of uber Phreak Jay Archibald), was a visual manifestation of the evolution of the group known as the SB Music Phreaks.

Three years earlier in the Fall of 2001, James Studarus, a 30 year old director of a non-profit organization, found himself increasingly frustrated with meager turnouts at several local concerts.  He reflects, “I thought, ‘Hey, these are bands people should be checking out.’  So I took about thirty of my closest friends and put them on a Yahoo group called SB Music Phreaks.”  The embryonic group instantly filled a void in the community using the power of cyberspace to harness the potential of Santa Barbara’s music-loving population.

After a couple years the list was running on auto-pilot with 200 members receiving an average of seven emails a day discussing upcoming shows, previous performances, and occasionally advertising housing needs.  Enter Kabir Chalfin.  Having traveled around the world and seen more live music then most people could ever dream of, Chalfin, 44, has carved out his niche in Santa Barbara as a hearing aid specialist.  The gregarious hula-hoop fanatic became a virtual pied piper, recruiting new Phreaks in droves.  Studarus elaborates, “When Kabir found out about the group he just kind of revolutionized it and took us from 200 to like 500 people.  Now we’re up to 650.”  Chalfin’s motivation was simple.  “I figured if we brought more people into the group we’d get more music in town.” 

His logic proved correct as there was a clear upswing in the number of cutting-edge bands coming through Santa Barbara.  SoHO became the Phreaks’ home away from home as the cozy jazz loft reeled in the bulk of the action.  Excessive amounts of dancing and smiling created new bonds of friendship while strengthening the foundation of the symbiotic tribe.  The Phreaks began to tap into the potential of their grassroots network, using the email list to organize gatherings, arrange carpools and even provide help for disaster victims. Certainly a major non-musical highlight has been participation in the Sandcastle Festival at East Beach.  This summer the flamboyant group took top prize with their rendering of a bus full of Phreaks. 

Once the show hit the road things got even more interesting.  In addition to the “sync or swim” spectacle, the main attraction in Vegas was three nights of Phish concerts (thus the “Ph” in “Phreaks”) at the Thomas and Mack Arena.  On the third night, Mike Summers, a 36 year old environmentalist preparing for the Bar exam, came up with the idea for the group to attempt “The Human Disco Ball Experiment.”  The premise was straightforward:  Forty people dressed in silver, sequined flair would converge in one section of the arena and dance like dervishes.  With the dazzling light show reflecting off their bodies, the human disco ball provided eye candy for the crowd of 20, 000. 

Easily the most galvanizing event of the Phreak calendar is July’s High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, CA.  Establishing a large communal base called “Campa Barbara,” the Phreaks aren’t content to be there just as spectators.  This year they invested countless hours on decorations for Animal Liberation Orchestra’s late night performance dubbed “The Freaky Tiki Funkhouse.”  With all their love and positive intention co-creating the most talked about set of the festival, ALO expressed its appreciation with an acoustic set at Campa Barbara for the second year in a row.  The band also has immortalized the group in its song “Walls of Jericho” with the line, “Stop children, what’s that sound, the Santa Barbara Phreaks just rolled into town.”

This Saturday, SoHO is proud to host the Third Annual SB Music Phreak All-Star Jam with proceeds from the door going to the Conception Coast Project.  Studarus is the Director of this organization which conducts computer mapping to protect natural areas.  The eclectic array of musicians, including flute virtuoso Rebecca Kleinmann, will be an embodiment of the spontaneity that binds all of these fun-loving Phreaks together.  For more information on the group visit www.sbphreaks.com.