An evening with Foghat
Special Guest: Medicine Hat
Presented by Destination Harley-Davidson of Silverdale and 92.9 KISM FM
Doors: 6 p.m. Show: 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12
James Center for the Performing Arts, north of Carrie Blake Park
Tickets: $60 VIP, $40 quality reserved; $25 general admission.
Tickets available at www.foghat.brownpapertickets.com and www.sequimconcerts.com. A portion of proceeds benefit Habitat of Humanity of Clallam County, Northwest Raptor & Wildlife Center.
Outlets: (Sequim) 7 Cedars Casino, Windermere Realty, Olympic View Inn; (Port Angeles) Odyssey Bookshop and Strait Music; (Port Townsend) Pennysaver Mart
Harley-Davidson motorcycle giveaway; food, beer and wine garden by The Cedars at Dungeness
More info: sequimconcerts.com.
In a few weeks, Sequim’s James Center for the Performing Arts will become a flurry of lights, people and rock-and-roll.
Foghat, known for songs like “Slow Ride,” “Fool for the City” and “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” plays Saturday, Sept. 12, at the bandshell north of Carrie Blake Park, 563 N. Rhodefer Road.
Tickets are on sale now at multiple venues and online at www.foghat.brownpapertickets.com.
Behind the show and spotlight is Sequim resident Quinn Hampton, a promoter, performer and drywall finisher, who envisions big events coming to the area.
“Foghat is the first step in bringing more acts like them,” he said.
Hampton has big things planned for what he believes is the Olympic Peninsula’s first outside, full-fledged rock show. He’s partnered with Destination Harley-Davidson of Silverdale as a presenting sponsor to give away a 2015 Wild Glide motorcycle worth about $20,000. Those who sign up at the Harley booth can be one of 10 people to receive two chances to roll four dice on stage and if it comes up four Harley logos (1 in 1,296 chance) then they win the bike. If not, there are large gift certificates, signed Foghat memorabilia, a harmonica from Lee Oskar, harmonica player for the band War and more.
A special, three-course dinner with Foghat is scheduled for Sept. 11 at The Cedars at Dungeness for space for up to 80 people, too, with more details available at sequimconcerts.com.
Behind the shows
Hampton has been putting on shows since 1981 starting in his hometown of Sacramento, Calif.
Through his career though he continues to perform in his own right playing with and opening for blues, country, folk and rock acts and notably opening for Willie Nelson three times. He most recently played the “Star-Spangled Banner” on harmonica at a Port Angeles Sprint Boat race last summer.
He moved to the Olympic Peninsula in 1989 and first brought the Kingston Trio to 7 Cedars Casino in Blyn in 1997. He’s done a handful of shows since then bringing in Roy Clark, Buddy Knox and more.
With his personal contacts with the band Foreigner he produced a show at the Paramount Theater and a few other shows at the Moore Theater before taking a hiatus. “It was a lot easier to do when I didn’t have kids,” he said. “We also were running a successful drywall business, too.”
Hampton started Sequim Concerts, his promotion group, up again with Rare Earth playing during the Sequim Balloon Festival in 2012. He followed that with The Kingston Trio two years ago at the James Center, which was “an outstanding success,” he said.
“It proved this venue is capable of becoming a world-class venue.”
One of his goals is to make the Sequim-Dungeness Valley a destination for quality music and entertainment.
“Plus, it will be nice for locals to enjoy these shows without having to drive for two hours, catch a ferry and get a room,” he said.
Hampton envisions a Sequim concert series utilizing local venues throughout the year.
Ticket sales went live for another concert with The Kingston Trio on Aug. 22 at the James Center, but Hampton said due to circumstances beyond his control, the concert was cancelled but it will be rescheduled for a later date.
For Foghat, he said the band is “iconic” and one of his personal favorites he grew up listening to in high school.
Interest and ticket sales are coming in from all over the region, specifically Kitsap County, he said.
Classic Rock Radio station 92.9 KISM FM in Bellingham is promoting the show, too, and will be giving away multiple ticket packages as promotion in the coming weeks.
Hampton seeks input from concert-goers on Sequim Concerts’ Facebook page wanting to know whom he should book next.
Making more memories
While discussing his long and varied career, Hampton says he’s “the Forrest Gump” of music doing a little of this and that while meeting some of the greats of yesterday and today.
“I want people to know this (concert) is not about Quinn Hampton,” he said. “But where I came from. I’m not just doing this on a whim. I have a lifetime in the entertainment industry and I see a lot of potential with Sequim.”
Hampton received national media attention at age 8 after he says he became the “poster boy” for March of Dimes in Sacramento. He was born with club feet and had casts on his legs when he was seven days old. He had 13 operations on his legs until age 12.
At a telethon, he met actor Michael Landon and while talking on air the two began to cry. “This is why we do it,” Hampton said Landon told the cameras.
Hampton said Landon made him feel like a friend and “I called him Little Joe (from ‘Bonanza’).”
Twenty-three years later, Hampton reunited with Landon on the set of “Highway to Heaven,” and they rekindled their friendship. Hampton frequently would visit the set, even having a jam session with Landon’s co-star Victor French.
Hampton has several special memories on and off stage with entertainment icons.
He wrote the song “The Greatest” in 1994 for Muhammed Ali and was able to meet the boxer before a banquet honoring him in Sacramento. He was to perform it for him at the gala.
Now Hampton is focused 100 percent on promoting Sequim Concerts and hoping to create and bring back special memories through music. If the Foghat show is a success, Hampton said, “It will mean more things down the line for sure.”
For more information on the Sequim Foghat show, visit sequimconcerts.com.
