NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, Aug. 2; “Saturday” and “Sunday” refer to Aug. 3 and 4.
PORT ANGELES — “Mick Jagger” admits it: He went kicking and screaming into this band.
He was a student of audio engineering at Bellevue Community College and a bass guitarist and singer from Seattle’s grunge scene.
So “I came into this as kind of a snob,” said Mike Zimmerman, now the prancing, preening lead singer in Midnight Rambler, the Rolling Stones tribute band coming to town Saturday night.
By now, though, he’s not afraid to say how his feelings have changed.
“I have so much fun . . . and the music is amazing,” Zimmerman said. Midnight Rambler’s musicians “are so good. There’s so much energy. They’re my favorite band.”
And then there are all those songs: “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” is his favorite; he remembers lying on his bed and listening to it in headphones.
“Knocking,” “Under My Thumb,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Shattered,” “Respectable,” “Gimme Shelter,” “Brown Sugar,” “Live with Me,” “Miss You” — those and lots more are on the set list for Saturday’s gig at Olympic Cellars, 255410 U.S. Highway 101. Tickets are $13 at www.OlympicCellars.com until 4 p.m. Saturday; then they’re $15. Gates will open at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. show, and a portion of proceeds will benefit the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts (www.jffa.org).
Zimmerman was in eighth grade when he went to see the Stones at Seattle’s Kingdome; that was 1981’s “Tattoo You” tour.
So here’s another admission: “I was a closet Mick Jagger impersonator, ever since I saw them.”
Zimmerman’s out and proud now, proclaiming that those who come see Midnight Rambler will “have more fun this time.” Last September, the band did a couple of shows on the North Olympic Peninsula with a different Mick. He was David Christensen, and he had the crowd dancing.
As it turned out, Christensen was temporary. Zimmerman was taking time away from Midnight Rambler, and now he’s back, going into his ninth year as Mick.
“I see myself as an actor now, more than as a musician,” Zimmerman said, adding that “Mick” and the boys do about 25 gigs a year. When he’s not a Stone, he’s a fiscal specialist — a purchaser of equipment and chemicals — for the University of Washington Chemistry Department.
Zimmerman’s not surprised that the Rolling Stones still have the power to bring people out. They’ve got that bad-boy appeal.
“It’s going to be a rock show” Saturday night, replete with Stu Gordon as Bill Wyman, Bruce Erickson as Charlie Watts, Mike Horan on keyboard and Albert Ceccacci as Ronnie Wood.
Ciggy Cater portrays Keith Richards, eyeliner, animal-print shirt and all. “I look like I’ve arrived on a bicycle, through a hedge backwards,” Cater has said.
“The egos are there,” too, added Ceccacci, a Montreal, Canada-born guitarist who is quite the Wood doppelganger.
“We’re not going to be too much tongue-in-cheek. I might adjust my wig,” Zimmerman quipped. But “we’re going to be in character. It’s going to be a Stones show.”
As with each of Olympic Cellars’ summer concerts, wine and food — this time from the Nourish restaurant in Sequim — will be available, and lawn chairs, blankets and warm clothes are advised.
For more details, phone the winery at 360-452-0160.
