NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” mean Friday, July 26. “Saturday and Sunday refer to July 27 and 28.
PORT ANGELES — This weekend, the Beatles. Next Saturday night, the Rolling Stones.
So goes the tribute-band lineup at Olympic Cellars’ summer concert series: Creme Tangerine, a decade-old group inspired by the Fab Four, arrives this Saturday, and Midnight Rambler, a band specializing in “Satisfaction,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Brown Sugar,” follows up on Aug. 3.
Creme Tangerine, a Seattle outfit, takes its name from a line in “Savoy Truffle,” a song on the Beatles’ White Album.
These men don’t try to look like the four lads from Liverpool, but they do attract cheering, dancing crowds. The first time Creme Tangerine came to Sequim in July 2010, its free show at the James Center for the Performing Arts drew a throng larger than any in memory.
Since then, the band has come back to play its latest mix of Beatles songs with a few rock classics — Led Zeppelin works its way in there — every summer.
This time, drummer Jeff Lockhart says, the men are freshly inspired by the July 19 Paul McCartney concert at Seattle’s Safeco Field.
The cute Beatle, now 71, “brought his A game,” said Lockhart. The show was “a gift to Seattle.”
Creme Tangerine will pay tribute with some Paul McCartney and Wings songs such as “Band on the Run,” “Maybe I’m Amazed.” Those will be on the set list with “Hello Goodbye,” “All Together Now,” “I Am the Walrus,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Come Together,” among others.
Creme Tangerine does about 50 gigs a year, with almost half in summertime, Lockhart said. The musicians have other jobs, such as teaching, which is what he does. Lockhart is director of the music industry and business program at Kirkland’s Northwest University.
“I have a Beatles day in my class, when I look at them as a business model,” he said, “and what they meant culturally and to the music industry.”
Saturday night, though, will be about putting on a show. Ever since Creme Tangerine formed in 2003, Lockhart has seen the effect Beatles classics have on people.
At the start, “we just got together for guys’ night out. We all had little kids. We just learned ‘The White Album’ for fun,” said Lockhart.
Then the young Creme Tangerine played a gig.
“It took off. In 2004, we had 50 dates,” the drummer recalled.
“We all stepped back and said, whoa.”
Advance tickets to the Creme Tangerine concert this Saturday or to the Aug. 3 Midnight Rambler show are $13 at www.OlympicCellars.com. At the winery, 255410 U.S. Highway 101, gates open at 6 p.m., and the bands start at 7 p.m., with admission at $15.
All Olympic Cellars summer concerts are fundraisers for a nonprofit group. Creme Tangerine’s is a benefit for the Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association, while Midnight Rambler will raise money for the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts.
For more details, visit Olympic Cellars’ website or Facebook page or phone 360-452-0160.