POW staff members Dennis Gonzales and Sheena Salazar will be heading to the Pacific Northwest next month to attend Portland’s Nuggets Night 2017. The annual event, now in it’s 10th year, features musical performances from a bevy of bands, all paying tribute to the legendary Nuggets compilation albums. Proceeds from the event are given to a different music-related charity organization each year. The festival, which began as a one-night event in 2007, has grown larger each year and 2017 is no exception- after selling out both nights of the event in 2016, Nuggets Night has been moved to a larger venue. Nuggets Night 2017 will be held at Portland’s Star Theater June 23rd-24th.
Last month, Nuggets Night announced the talent scheduled to appear at Star Theater this June. The line up includes luminary Portland bands such as The Pynnacles, The Lovesores, and Silver Ships, but 20 Portland bands and 6 DJs in total will be performing over the 3 night festival.
“The response has been very positive,” says event founder Luke Strahota. “People have said this is the best line-up ever.”
The festival will run from June 22 to June 23, and is anticipated to sell out. Tickets were released April 1 at a single night rate of $25 or a weekend rate of $40 which lets the ticket holder enjoy all 24 bands. For $75, VIP Gold Nugget ticket-holders will gain access to exclusive balcony seating and other special perks such as movie admission. Only 30 VIP tickets are set aside for the whole weekend.
While putting together the line-up, which includes headlining acts The Woggles, The Pandoras, The Loons, Strahota and his team of volunteers continuously thought about the level of musicianship each prospective band would deliver, as well as equity, gender equality, and the meaning behind the event’s fundraising mission.
“Nuggets Night began as a fundraiser, and to this day it is 100% volunteer run with all the local bands donating 100% of their performances to a nonprofit beneficiary.” Strahota hopes that the event delivers the audience through a sense of discovery and wonder.
“I hope you get to experience something, maybe for the first time, that has historical impact, and that you feel you are part of a legacy.”
This year’s beneficiary is The Jeremy Wilson Foundation, a 501c3 foundation that supports musicians facing medical related financial burdens by providing the opportunity to fundraise and draw community support.
This year, garage rock icon, Jimy Sohns of The Shadows of Knight, will come to Portland from his home-base in Illinois for the first time since he toured on the Little Stevens Band bill in 2006. The Shadows of Knight, dubbed “the American Rolling Stones”, shot to the top of the music charts in 1966 with the rock anthem “GLORIA” and subsequent hits, “Someone Like Me”, “Bad Little Woman”, “I’m Gonna Make You Mine”, and the much lauded version of the Bo Diddley tune, “Oh Yeah”. The Shadows of Knight then released their final chart hit, “Shake !” culminating in another million seller. From 1965 to 2017, lead singer Jimy Sohns has never stopped performing as The Shadows of Knight. 51 years later, Sohns continues the legacy of The Shadows of Knight to this very day anywhere and everywhere in the world, because as long as he has a microphone in his hand you will always hear him shout all night…G-L-O-R-I-A.
Sohns said he’s excited to be part of Nuggets Night 2017, “because it brings all the people who are into garage rock to one place to celebrate it, along with authentic garage rock bands as well as the new garage rock generation. It brings the generations together.”
POW will be in PDX June 22nd-24th to talk to Nuggets Nights’ founder and organizers, interview the bands, check out the other Nuggets-related happenings going on in town, and share all the hippest live sets straight from The Star Theater.
For full info about Nuggets Night or to purchase tickets for the event, visit www.nuggetsnight.com
And check out past Nuggets Night performances as captured by POW Magazine:
Written by Sheena Salazar
