Excuse me for being so bold, but I can’t thank you enough for inspiring me to shed the dead and live new again. I needed you and your HOOK to be able to see that outside of my kids, outside of me there are beautiful and inspiring things that can make me feel GOOD in REALITY!

Months before the Chicago show, I decided to take ALO MUSIC as a class, every album front to back, reviewing my favorite lines (which isn’t hard since trauma in Colorado ingrained the words to feelings in my brain). Listening to ALO grow and change has been a great writing adventure for me. I found myself having a wee bit of fear the day of the show, How will recorded music translate now that I’m old, don’t drink, haven’t danced in years, and nearly never leave my house???

You rocked my soul! I watched you all manipulate the instruments to create what I can only describe as a rhythmic cloud of infectious energy made intoxicating by cerebral lyrics floating on your heavenly voice. I’m not trying to blow smoke up your ass like some crazy fan, please know, the premise is important for the POINT part…

I can’t do small talk. I have no small to me. I don’t do technology, find it creepy, no notifications, and all texts returned in 24hrs to two weeks, if you’re lucky. Nothing about me is instant or inviting unless someone is right in front of me. Music and writing are my maps through this unfathomable reality.

So, after seeing ALO in Indiana, I began a trek through your independent works, like never before (because of my natural fears), and it’s here I’ve been stuck since.

The poetry of your lyrics and the way the format functions to bring balance and cohesion of story to your songs is…BRILLIANT! I find myself amazed sometimes. You have so many lines that cradle my heart like you read my mind (only you write beautifully, where my writing is like a crying baby).

Life’s been hard. That’s why we write, right? I’m incredibly thankful for your ability to make good and bad dance in your music with a sweet melody so that even the most weighted down soul can learn to float free, for a moment feel whole.

Vicariously, in your reels, I got to see the oceanside where bubbles soar high and children jump and clap to be outside running wild. You bring such a smile to my face, I thought you should know that you are someone’s HAPPY PLACE, a place when I need something bright to turn my frown upside-down, flip-flop dark to light, where hope ignites fun in the sun, laughing instead of crying about an unfair life.

This how you make my world a better, and in return all I could think to do is through this net throw a big bear hug and send this letter out.

Thank you for being you!