ROCK TALK : Another Great Band Decides to Pull a Disappearing Act : Tao Jonz, with four good singers, was together for five years and had more than 70 original songs. Say goodby.

I hate to read stories like this. It’s worse to have to write one. My favorite Santa Barbara band, Tao Jonz, is breaking up. Why does this always happen? Why do the bands we hate just keep on making bad music and good money? There ain’t no justice in rock ‘n’ roll. If there was, Tao Jonz would have one third the airplay of those million Stone Temple Pilots’ videos, half of Michael Bolton’s money and all the numbers in Axl Rose’s black book.

The Mudheads, Los Guys, Durango 95 are all gone, making it seem that even talent is incidental when it comes to making it musically. Some bands were more fun than Tao Jonz--like the Ska Daddyz and Lion I’s--but no one was better.

While most bands have no good singers, Tao Jonz had four, and bass player Doug Jaffe had one of those rock voices. Besides Jaffe, the band featured “The Working Man,” Jimmy Werking on guitar--make that Dr. Jimmy, Werking recently received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from UCSB. Stosh (just Stosh) hits the drums and Johnny Atmosphere creates plenty of same on keyboards.

Tao Jonz played what may have been their last gig last weekend at Calypso in Santa Barbara. They plan a last, last gig at the same venue on Oct. 8, but that’s iffier than the resolution of the baseball strike. By the time this piece comes out, two of the members, Jaffe and Stosh, will be relocated to the Bay Area, making any in-between gigs difficult without some sort of conference call set-up, which is bad for ambience.

Tao Jonz was together for five years--time enough for a tape, two great CDs, with a fourth in progress. The band gave away hundreds of their CDs to their fans--maybe not the best move business-wise. With already eight or nine songs in the can, the new one, apparently, will never be released. The band had over 70 original songs. They played what may’ve been their first-ever cover song a few weeks ago, a surreal rendition of the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence.”

“It’s hard to say what happened other than that we pretty much broke up,” said Jaffe at the last packed Calypso gig. “I’d say it was a combination of things. We were playing and getting discouraged by not making enough money at our gigs. It just got to be very frustrating, and maybe it was time for a change. You know, Jimmy and I have been playing together for eight years since we met in Colorado, and we were starting to get on each other’s nerves. Stosh and I are moving to San Francisco this week, and Jimmy may be leaving the state to get a job as an electrical engineer.”

Sounds serious. So how come the Calypso staff didn’t let the band play one more when the crowd was going nuts and it was only 1:20?

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This may not be quite like Ed McMahon showing up with a van full of money, but you never know. Circus Frequency is a 5-year-old Santa Barbara band, but unlike Tao Jonz, they’re still hard at it, chasing those MTV dreams and more specifically, a record deal. They have been on the verge of being signed seemingly forever, and at least have a chance when they perform at the upcoming Ticketmaster-Musician Magazine Battle of the Bands at Revival in Santa Barbara. Dishwalla, a S.B. band recently signed to A&M; Records, participated in this gig last year.

“We sent in a tape and an application four or five months ago, and forgot all about it,” said guitarist Dan Bucko. “We just found out about the contest three weeks ago. Basically, this is the same contest that Dishwalla won last year. We’ve been going through a lot of sound changes lately with more upbeat, rock stuff, and we’re still doing a lot of writing.”

As the only Santa Barbara band on the bill, the Circus band will have the home-field advantage for the Sept. 10 gig at Revival. Also playing will be a bunch of L.A. bands--Native Tongue, Guppy, The Devics, To The Sky and Theodora Blue. It’ll be over before you get tired of it, so if a band stinks, wait a minute--each group gets but 20 minutes.

Out of hundreds of tapes submitted, these six made the first cut in this area. As it stands, 180 bands will be performing at 36 showcase sights from sea to shining sea. Next, three regional showcases will further cut the field to the fabulous five with the winner receiving a weeklong studio session. Tickets for the Revival gig are an affordable $1.99.

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If you’ve been burning to ask Yoko Ono a few hundred Beatles questions, well, you waited too long. Ono will be performing at the Contemporary Arts Forum in Santa Barbara for two shows on Sept. 9. The tickets, which were priced from 10 to 50 bucks, are all gone. After Ono’s gig, she’ll engage in a question-and-answer session with the audience.

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There’s still plenty of tickets left, however, for the Moody Blues Sept. 25 gig at the Santa Barbara County Bowl. The Santa Barbara Symphony will join these long-running cosmic art rockers.