PENINSULA SPOTLIGHT: Beatles tribute band day-trips to Sequim Lavender Festival
Peninsula Spotlight, the North Olympic Peninsula's weekly entertainment magazine, is included in the Friday/Saturday edition of the Peninsula Daily News. -- Cover design by Heather Loyd
Other Lavender Festival sounds
A mix of outdoor jazz, cabaret standards and bluegrass will fill downtown Sequim tonight as the town warms up to the Lavender Festival -- and all of the live music is free.
Pearl Django, the Seattle gypsy jazz band, will swing into Bank of America Park on the corner of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street at 7 p.m. today, while a few steps away, local singer-pianist Kate Lily will dish up honey-toned cabaret music and her own love songs at Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St., from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
And Jubilee, a Sequim-based bluegrass-country-gospel outfit, will bring their strings to the Islander Pizza & Pasta Shack, 380 E. Washington St., across from Pioneer Park.
Vintage repertoire
The band's repertoire ranges from 1950s Elvis Presley hits to vintage gems such as "I'll Fly Away," and you can catch them from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.
The Friday evening concerts are free thanks to their sponsors: the Brokers Group, Dockside Grill, 7 Cedars Casino, Allstate and Islander Pizza & Pasta.
Many of the downtown shops are staying open till 8 p.m. today, while several are hosting live music both today and Saturday.
Lily will reappear at Let's Shop, 123 N. Sequim Ave., for a performance from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Another local jazz chanteuse, Sarah Shea, will give two concerts, first at Dungeness Bay Wine & Cheese, 123 E. Washington St., at 6 p.m. today and then at the Oasis Bar & Grill, 301 E. Washington St., at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Also at the Oasis, the Jimmy Hoffman Band will play at 9 p.m. Friday, and George Snyder's Oly Jazz Band will step up to the Oasis stage at 9 p.m. Saturday.
At Damiana's Best Cellars, 141 W. Washington St., Kevin Lee Magner and Bound to Happen will play at 7 p.m. today and Saturday.
And during the Sequim Open Aire Market on West Cedar Street between Second and Sequim avenues, singer Charlie Ferris will croon standards from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Finally on Sunday, the Sequim City Band will strike up one more free concert at 3 p.m. in the James Center bandshell at Carrie Blake Park, 202 N. Blake Ave.
A mix of outdoor jazz, cabaret standards and bluegrass will fill downtown Sequim tonight as the town warms up to the Lavender Festival -- and all of the live music is free.
Pearl Django, the Seattle gypsy jazz band, will swing into Bank of America Park on the corner of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street at 7 p.m. today, while a few steps away, local singer-pianist Kate Lily will dish up honey-toned cabaret music and her own love songs at Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St., from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
And Jubilee, a Sequim-based bluegrass-country-gospel outfit, will bring their strings to the Islander Pizza & Pasta Shack, 380 E. Washington St., across from Pioneer Park.
Vintage repertoire
The band's repertoire ranges from 1950s Elvis Presley hits to vintage gems such as "I'll Fly Away," and you can catch them from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.
The Friday evening concerts are free thanks to their sponsors: the Brokers Group, Dockside Grill, 7 Cedars Casino, Allstate and Islander Pizza & Pasta.
Many of the downtown shops are staying open till 8 p.m. today, while several are hosting live music both today and Saturday.
Lily will reappear at Let's Shop, 123 N. Sequim Ave., for a performance from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Another local jazz chanteuse, Sarah Shea, will give two concerts, first at Dungeness Bay Wine & Cheese, 123 E. Washington St., at 6 p.m. today and then at the Oasis Bar & Grill, 301 E. Washington St., at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Also at the Oasis, the Jimmy Hoffman Band will play at 9 p.m. Friday, and George Snyder's Oly Jazz Band will step up to the Oasis stage at 9 p.m. Saturday.
At Damiana's Best Cellars, 141 W. Washington St., Kevin Lee Magner and Bound to Happen will play at 7 p.m. today and Saturday.
And during the Sequim Open Aire Market on West Cedar Street between Second and Sequim avenues, singer Charlie Ferris will croon standards from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Finally on Sunday, the Sequim City Band will strike up one more free concert at 3 p.m. in the James Center bandshell at Carrie Blake Park, 202 N. Blake Ave.
By Diane Urbani de la Paz
Peninsula Spotlight
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Lavender is the herb of tranquillity and, Creme Tangerine tells us, Beatles songs are the fountain of youth.
Sequim will provide a thirst-quenching burst of both this weekend, as the 14th annual Lavender Festival presents a free Saturday night concert starring the Fab Five of Creme Tangerine, a Beatles tribute band based in Seattle.
The show will start at 7 p.m. Saturday at the James Center bandshell, just north of Carrie Blake Park at 202 N. Blake Ave.
That's emphasis on the word "tribute" because, as you will see, this band does not dress like the Beatles or look like those moptops of yore.
No, Creme Tangerine is all about the songs and how they make us feel.
Take Jeff Lockhart, Creme Tangerine's drummer and backup singer. He's Ringo Starr's counterpart, so he took notice when the ex-Beatle marked his 70th birthday July 7.
That fact isn't terribly important, Lockhart believes, because the Beatles' music -- to quote Bob Dylan, a spry 69 -- stays forever young.
"The songs," he said, "evoke that magic and those feelings" -- of a mad crush, a wild experiment and other sweet sensations of youth.
"We're not trying to be the Beatles; what we're trying to do is help people remember why they enjoy the Beatles so much. We don't take ourselves too seriously," added bass player-vocalist Dustin Shirley.
Still, let's play along.
Shirley is the Creme Tangerine counterpart to Beatles bass player and singer, and now knighted, Sir Paul McCartney.
So have he and his bandmates ever experienced Beatlemania-like screaming and crying among the young females in the crowd?
"The only girls crying are my children . . . because it's so loud for their little ears," Shirley quipped. He has three daughters, ages 5, 7 and 9 -- and now and then he'll walk down the hall past the playroom where he can hear them singing "Eight Days a Week" or some other giddy moptop ditty.
Life as a Beatles cover band could get complicated, though. In its eight years together, the group recorded some 220 songs, Lockhart said, and Creme Tangerine has performed 90 percent of the catalog.
But for outdoor concerts like this Saturday's, "We want everybody to know every single song," he said. "We throw in a couple [of lesser-known songs] for the die-hards," but the vast majority are unforgettables: "Get Back," "Come Together," "Hard Day's Night," "Hey Jude."
"Not to sound cheesy, but the Beatles are the soundtrack for people's lives . . . there's not too much other music that everybody has in common," Lockhart said.
Creme Tangerine's name comes, however, from a relatively little-known George Harrison cut from the Beatles' White Album: "Savoy Truffle."
"We thought it was a really cool, '60s-sounding name," Lockhart said.
According to Songfacts.com, "Savoy Truffle" was inspired by Harrison friend Eric Clapton's love of chocolate truffles, and creme tangerine was one of the candies in a boxed assortment.
Unlike the Beatles, Creme Tangerine is a quintet that has stayed together for nearly nine years. Lead vocalist Dan Grant is kind of the bonus guy; he just sings his heart out without playing an instrument. Tim Mushen sings and plays guitar; Chuck Dorsett sings and plays keyboards.
Two Januaries ago, Creme Tangerine leapt onto the roof of Seattle's Copacabana Cafe near Pike Place Market to re-enact the Beatles' six-song concert on a London rooftop in 1969.
A throng showed up at the market -- "everybody was celebrating the Beatles together," Lockhart remembered -- so it's become an annual event. The next rooftop Creme Tangerine show is set for Jan. 31, 2011, at Seattle Center.
This Saturday night's performance will run about two hours, and Lockhart promises nothing less than nonstop joy.
"This music is a lot of fun; it's all high-energy," he said.
Does that mean only fast songs, and no "Blackbird," no "In My Life"?
Lockhart says not to fret. The band does play those ballads because the way the Beatles created them, they're filled with emotion and energy.
And this music, either belted out fast or purred while a guitar gently weeps, is a treat Creme Tangerine aims to offer every age group.
"Hearing the Beatles on your CD player is always fun," Shirley said, "but hearing them outside at a festival live, in that situation with a big crowd, is just a great time."
Last modified: July 16. 2010 12:52AM
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