the hum / By Bob Doran

Clear, Clean and Strong

Cher-Ae Heights Casino offers a blast from the blues rock past on Saturday with the legendary Foghat . If you know our Brit blues history, you’ll remember that the original Foghat formed in 1970 with guitarist “Lonesome” Dave Peverett, bassist Tony Stevens and drummer Roger Earl, all from Savoy Brown, plus slide guitarist Rod Price. Both Savoy Brown and Foghat specialized in a hard jammy take on Chicago-style blues.

Roger Earl , the only Foghat member from the early days still standing, says he got into the blues when he was a teenager. “The blues, especially the Chicago blues, when it got electrified by Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, just seemed so vibrant to me as a kid,” he said in a call from the New York houseboat he currently calls home. “I couldn’t understand half the words, I didn’t quite get the innuendos — I was too young — but the music was real, just very passionate. And when I came over here [in the ’60s] and saw some of the guys who played it, I just found an affinity for it. It wasn’t my fault I was born white and on the wrong side of the big pond. loved the blues. And I still do to this day. ‘It moves me,’ as Muddy might say.”

Foghat’s first big hit was Muddy’s “I Just Want to Make Love To You,” a number that shows up on the band’s brand new double-disc, Foghat Live II , along with those less-bluesy classic rock staples, “Fool For the City” and the ubiquitous “Slow Ride.” Expect those and more when Foghat rocks Trinidad this weekend.

Where did blues-rock go after the ’70s? Eventually it evolved into heavy metal, which begat all manner of heaviness including the darkness of San Francisco stoner rockers like Floating Goat and Bottom , who play Saturday at the Alibi. Their S.F. neighbors Giant Squid add cello to create a prog-metal mix. G. Squid shares a Sunday bill at the Alibi with Whitehorse , a psyche/doom metal band from the land down under (as in Australia).

I don’t know all the details, but it looks like Saturday’s show at Out of the Sun, the embattled all ages venue in Fortuna, will be the last ever. So says Dez of Humboldt Metal, who’s bringing in Red Bluff grindcore band Slaughterbox from Red Bluff and associated side project Voluntary Manslaughter to share the final bill with a new local death metal band, Sadistic Hallucinations , who may well have a hard time finding another place to roar. As Dez notes, the show starts and ends early (it goes from 7-10 p.m.). “Don’t forget to thank Tina and John for a killer few years of live music! They will be greatly missed!”

Tahoe-based rock/Americana/jamband Blue Turtle Seduction is coming to town for a show Tuesday, July 3, at Mazzotti’s with special guests Steve Watts and Kevin Kotaka . BTS is also playing the next day for Arcata’s 4th of July Jubilee on the Plaza, closing an all-day show that includes Joanne Rand (just after 11 a.m.) Moo Got-2 (at 12:45) The Steve Watts Band (2:15) and Ishi Dube and Massagana (3:45).

More reggae? Ishi and Massagana also play that night at Mazzotti’s, opening for the classic Jamaican vocal group, The Itals . And let’s not forget the show Friday, June 29, at the Arcata Community Center with The Wailers … you know, the band that backed Bob. Aston “Family Man” Barrett is still laying down those wicked basslines, and that’s the essence, the heartbeat of roots reggae. Not sure who else remains from the old days, but you can be certain it will be irie.

Well, I forgot to tune in live, but I caught the national debut of our local kids, Steel Toed Slippers on The CBS Early Show ’s “Living Room… Live!” Battle of the Bands by finding the CBS webpage and watching on the Net. The Living Room hosts, Adam and the Egos, are totally lame stereotypes of 20-something rockers (are they supposed to be a band?) with the kinda gay guy, the slacker/Spicoli type dude (with a puka choker) and the hipster with cornrows (“Word”) each supposedly choosing a band. STS was first up, laying down “infectious grooves” with the girls harmonizing sweetly. The competition: an emo-ish guitar trio from Minnesota, who may have been chosen because someone’s sister accidentally ended up in the vid by emerging from a door in the background, and a loud “alternative rock” band from Jersey who shouted and jumped around in a garage. Needless to say STS got my vote. The band finds out Thursday morning who won this week’s Idol -esque online poll. You can offer your own congrats and/or consolations when STS plays at Mosgo’s Saturday, June 30. I think they’ll win, but even if they don’t, they had a million plus people watch them play, and that’s something.

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