Today, San Francisco-based collective Moonalice releases “Yes We Can Can.” Originally written by Allen Toussaint and later recorded by The Pointer Sisters, “Yes We Can Can” has become a new motto for Moonalice with it’s motivating lyrics “We know we can make it work, I know we can make it if we try” and “Oh yes we can, great, gosh almighty yes we can.” The song’s message is loud and clear, yes we can!
“This song has such a positive message about bringing people together, taking care of all the children of the world and respecting women’s rights. I think that is something we can all agree on,” proclaims Lester Chambers.
“Yes We Can Can” follows Moonalice’s recent single “Love Me Today.” Both songs are featured on the group’s second Nettwerk EP, Full Moonalice Vol. 2, out on October 7. Mixed and co-produced by 4x-Grammy Award-winning engineer Dave Way (Fiona Apple, Pink, Norah Jones), Full Moonalice Vol. 2 sees the group add a touch of country-tinged folk rock to its psychedelic soul sound.
Coinciding with the new EP, Moonalice is presenting a special Double Feature at The Chapel in San Francisco, produced in partnership with the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. On Tuesday, October 4, the group will perform a full Moonalice show immediately followed by a special screening of Questlove’s Academy Award-winning Summer of Soul. The film documents the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park, the same summer as Woodstock. Lester Chambers and The Chambers Brothers rocked the festival stage, and two of their songs are included in the documentary. A stunning performance of their song “Uptown,” with the lyrics “Going uptown to Harlem,” opens the film and serves as the backbone of narration about Harlem’s rich cultural history and the political climate in America at the time. The Chambers Brothers’ 1969 track “Have a Little Faith” closes the film.
Lester is also telling his life story on his own terms this fall, through the release of a memoir Time Has Come: Revelations of a Mississippi Hippie. The book follows Lester’s whirlwind life, from his birth on a Mississippi cotton plantation, to fleeing to California to escape the family’s sharecropping plot, which was governed by a Grand Dragon of the local KKK. Despite signing with a major label in CA, and charting with their mega-hit, “Time Has Come Today,” the Chambers Brothers soon found themselves sharecropping again – for the label. Through Lester’s lens, this story details the mercurial rise of The Chambers Brothers and features glimpses of larger-than-culture figures like Jimmy Reed, Miles Davis, his ex-wife Betty Davis, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Augustus Owsley Stanley III, Bob Dylan, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, and more. Time Has Come: Revelations of a Mississippi Hippie will be available in paperback and e-book formats when it is released on September 15, 2022. An audiobook will follow. Order on Amazon or www.lesterchambers.com
Moonalice 2022 Tour Dates
September 8 - KRSH Backyard Concert, Santa Rosa, CA
September 10 – June Lake Jam Festival – June Lake, CA
September 16 – Red Dog Saloon – Virginia City, NV
September 17 – Ain’t Necessarily Dead Fest – Auburn, CA
September 18 – KPFZ Radio Benefit Concert @ Cache Creek Vineyards – Clearlake Oaks, CA
October 2 - Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, San Francisco, CA
October 4 – Double Feature! Moonalice + Summer of Soul (Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Out Of The Park Event) at The Chapel - San Francisco, CA
