SEQUIM — In the air tonight: a universal theme of sight and sound.
“Once in a blue moon, you get to see Rare Earth,” is how concert promoter Quinn Hampton puts it — and he’s not just hyping.
Tonight is in fact a blue moon — the second full moon in one month — and the rock ‘n’ roll band Rare Earth is here to celebrate.
To warm up the town for this weekend’s inaugural Sequim Balloon Festival, Hampton’s Global Entertainment firm is bringing together a triple bill.
Rare Earth, the Motown act known for hits like “Get Ready” and “I Just Want to Celebrate,” plus the classic rock band the Fabulous Johnsons from Seattle — and just announced, harmonica man Lee Oskar of the rock-funk band War — will converge on the stage at Grant Field tonight.
Gates will open at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. show.
Grant Field, at 729 West Sequim Bay Road (across from Black Black Diner and Holiday Inn Express), is the venue for the hot-air balloon festival.
Abundant details about it are in today’s printed Peninsula Daily News and at www.SequimBalloonFestival.com.
As for tonight, “it’s going to be a spectacular rock ‘n’ roll kind of thing,” said Hampton.
And again, he’s not exaggerating. He plans to have Oskar arrive at the concert in a hot-air balloon.
Then, in addition to his own set, Oskar will join the Fabulous Johnsons for their last song; for the night’s finale, he will join Rare Earth on stage.
War’s hit “Low Rider” will be part of the experience too, Hampton promised.
Rock ‘n’ roll history
“It really is going to be a special show,” said the Sequim-based promoter. It will also be living rock ‘n’ roll history, with Rare Earth founding member Gil Bridges leading the way.
He was a 20-something saxophone and flute player back in the late 1960s, playing nightclubs in his home city of Detroit. His group, the Sunliters, released an album — a dud, he said — in 1968, before everything changed.
Motown, that renowned record label, approached Bridges and his band with a contract. The company wanted to add a white group to its roster of black bands, and it was about to start a new division.
Asked to come up with a more interesting name for their band, the Sunliters blurted out “Rare Earth,” Bridges recalled — and then Motown named its latest division after them.
Rare Earth released its debut album, “Get Ready,” in 1969, and shot to international fame.
Bridges and band traveled to Venezuela, where he said they were one of two American bands — Santana being the other — that were the rage across that nation.
Funny thing was, the Venezuelan newspaper headlines the morning after Rare Earth’s arrival called the players imposters.
The members, you see, had changed their look. On their album cover, they’d had short hair cuts and clean-shaven cheeks.
By the time they got off the plane in South America, though, they had grown Afros and beards, Bridges remembers.
Transformation
“On our record, we looked like college preppies,” he said. “Then we looked like a bunch of werewolves.”
This was, by now, 1970 — and Rare Earth was going through other changes, right along with the country.
The band had started out playing to predominantly black audiences, Bridges said. But then, as its fame spread, the crowds diversified.
“We were part of the integration thing,” added Bridges.
Rare Earth has released 17 albums since 1969, though its membership morphed through the 1970s and ’80s.
Bridges has been the stalwart, forming a new configuration that has stayed together for the past 20 years.
“We’re a very tight band,” the saxman said. “We’re family.”
Tonight’s set list is highly likely to include “Hey Big Brother,” “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” the full version of “Get Ready,” “Born to Wander,” “Tobacco Road” and come the end of the night, “I Just Want to Celebrate.”
And for Bridges, “Celebrate” still resonates after all these years.
“We get the audience singing it with us,” he said. “We love the interaction . . . We love it when they get a little wild with us.
“I feel blessed,” Bridges added. “I would never, ever have believed I would still be doing this.”
Hampton is right there with him.
‘Great fit’
“I thought that Rare Earth would be a great fit for the demographic of the area,” the promoter said.
“Their music is timeless. It is amazing how the first few words to one their songs, ‘I just want to celebrate another day of living,’ have been so inspirational to so many people.
“If you think about it, another day of living is truly cause for celebration.”
Tickets to tonight’s Sequim Balloon Festival kickoff concert are $25 for general admission; $10 for children age 7 to 14 and free for kids 6 and younger.
Seating is “festival” — bring blankets or lawn chairs.
A limited number of reserved, front-section seats are available for $40.
Tickets will be available at the Grant Field gates today at 6 p.m.
