A Seattle bassist, Steve Allen appears on the first and only studio recording by the strange group Uncle Bonsai. The group originated in Seattle in 1981 and was active through that decade. Classified as folk, Uncle Bonsai song titles such as "Boys Want Sex in the Morning" or "Penis Envy" suggest a more appropriate label might be found simply through a slight variation of "folk," involving a somewhat harder vowel sound. Allen does not appear on the group's later recordings, all of which were done live, strong evidence that he did not gig with the group and was only hired for the 1984 studio dates. He does not appear to be related to the other Northwest Steve Allen, a keyboard player and producer involved with Latin jazz beginning in the '90s. ~ Eugene Chadbourne