Summit Daily News (article link)

Wise Monkey Orchestra Band Preview
By Dan Thomas

BRECKENRIDGE - It's not the way the Wise Monkey Orchestra wanted to return to Summit County, but the band feels Tuesday?s show is what Steven "Moe" Beltran would have wanted.

The Wise Monkey Orchestra, a frequent visitor to Summit County over the years, has rerouted its 10th anniversary tour through Breckenridge. The six-member band added a Tuesday show at the Breckenridge Brewery as a tribute to longtime friend and fan Beltran, who died last month in a car accident.

"He asked that if he were to die, to have a party and have the Wise or Parliament play," said keyboard player Sean Hart, the lone Wise Monkey founder still playing with the San Diego sextet.

"It?s too bad it has to be under these circumstances, but like I said, we?re trying to do it as a party thing."

Orchestra publicist Randy Alexander counted the Brewery among the favorite hangouts for Beltran, a Boulder and Breck local who died in a car accident in late February. Hart anticipates seeing quite a few familiar faces in the audience.

"I would think so," he said. "There?ll be people rallying up from Boulder and Denver. I guess it?ll be really packed."

Alexander credited a pair of Beltran?s friends, Rich Banach and Jim Walker of Breckenridge, with setting up Tuesday?s show. The band was planning on making its way through the mountains, with stops at Jackson Hole, Wyo. and Durango, but added the Breckenridge show at the last minute.

"It wasn?t too much of a stretch for us to get down and do it," Hart said.

The band will play an additional benefit in Phoenix for Beltran?s family on March 16.

The band?s 10-date tour will take the Wise Monkey Orchestra from Southern California as far east as Colorado before turning back toward Arizona and California. Along with its 10th anniversary, the band is celebrating its fifth CD, "They Live" and its debut on new label Lauan Records. The live disc captures the three-time San Diego Music Award winners and their funk-filled, horn-propelled live act.

"This is going to be one of the truest tours we?ve done in a long time because we really wouldn?t want to be anywhere else," the group?s vocalist, known only as Alley, said before the start of the trip. "We haven?t felt this good collectively in a long time. We?re ready to go."

Even though the death of a good friend leavened the band?s good feeling, the musicians are happy to be on the road, playing music.

"It?s been a lot of change," Hart said. "It?s been really exciting. It?s been getting better and better for the past few years."