OREGON ZOO NEWS

LEGENDARY SINGER-DRUMMER Levon Helm TO PLAY OREGON

ZOO
Renowned member of the Band to perform a mix of old and new Aug. 8

PORTLAND, Ore. –– Bona fide rock ’n’ roll legend Levon Helm, best known for his work with the Band, will be in town Aug. 8 as part of the Oregon Zoo’s summer concert series presented by NW Natural.

“Watching Helm perform, you would never guess he recently celebrated his 70th birthday,” said Krista Swan, zoo events coordinator. “He still has the same youthful energy he had with the Band, and he is putting on incredible shows of both old hits and new favorites.”

Helm’s distinctively soulful, country-tingedvoice –– heard on such classic Band recordings as “The Weight,” “Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” –– earned him a spot on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. Modern Drummer magazine rated Helm as “perhaps the greatest singer/drummer to ever play a backbeat.”

Helm began performing more than five decades ago, but it was in 1965 when he and the Band — then known as the Hawks — shot to rock stardom. Bob Dylan decided he wanted to “go electric” and chose the Band for the transformation. Eventually, they rented a big pink house in Woodstock, N.Y., and emerged with a sound that fused all of their musical influences on landmark late-’60s albums like “Music From Big Pink” and “The Band.” Helm and the rest of the Band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Helm’s two most recent albums — 2007’s acoustic folk “Dirt Farmer” and the Americana follow-up “Electric Dirt” in 2009 — each won Grammys. In 2007 Helm and the Band were honored with Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Opening the evening is up-and-coming Chicago singer-songwriter Joe Pug, whose sound is
reminiscent of vintage John Prine. Tickets for the concert can be purchased at the Oregon Zoo for $24 each. Tickets can also be purchased (with service charge) at all Ticketmaster ticket centers, online at Ticketmaster.com and by phone at 800-745-3000. For more information on the concert schedule, to read artists’ biographies or purchase tickets, please visit www.oregonzoo.org/Concerts/index.htm.

Among the other acts set to play the zoo this summer are new-wave party rockers the
B-52s (Aug. 13), heartthrob crooner Chris Isaak (Aug. 14), folk-rock duo the Swell Season (Aug. 20), hometown heroes Pink Martini (Aug. 26 and 27), Garrison Keillor’s long-running live variety show “A Prairie Home Companion” (Aug. 28) and 1980s pop icon Cyndi Lauper (Sept. 1).The Oregon Zoo has brought outdoor music to Portland for more than 30 years. In 1979, the zoo became the first zoo in the nation to host a summer concert series. Since then, the series has become one of the top outdoor events in the Northwest, and is the region’s longest continuously running outdoor series.

The zoo’s summer concert series is presented by NW Natural with support from KINK.fm, KATU, The Oregonian and Portland Monthly magazine. It features more than 15 performances from June to September.

The zoo is a service of Metro and is dedicated to its mission of inspiring the community to create a better future for wildlife. Committed to conservation, the zoo is currently working to save endangered California condors, Washington’s pygmy rabbits, Oregon silverspot and Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies, western pond turtles, Oregon spotted frogs and Kincaid’s lupine. Other projects include studies on black rhinos, Asian elephants, polar bears and bats.

The zoo opens at 8 a.m. daily and is located five minutes from downtown Portland, just off Highway 26. The zoo is also accessible by MAX light rail line. Visitors who travel to the zoo via MAX receive $1.50 off zoo admission. Call TriMet Customer Service, 503-238-RIDE (7433), or visit www.trimet.org for fare and route information.

General admission is $10.50 (ages 12-64), $9 for seniors (65 and up), $7.50 for children (ages 3-11) and free for those 2 and younger; 25 cents of the admission price helps fund regional conservation projects through the zoo’s Future for Wildlife program. A parking fee of $2 per car is also required. Additional information is available at www.oregonzoo.org or by calling 503-226-1561.

Rock ’n’ roll legend Levon Helm performs at the Oregon Zoo Aug. 8 as part of the zoo’s summer concert series presented by NW Natural. Photo courtesy of the artist.

OREGON ZOO SUMMER CONCERTS
Presented by NW Natural With support from KINK.fm, KATU, the Oregonian and Portland Monthly magazine

July 28 Great Big Sea   $12.50
Aug. 4 Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys    $11
Aug. 8 The Levon Helm Band with Joe Pug   $24
Aug. 11 Leroy Bell and His Only Friends    $10.50 with Tahoe Jackson & the Trojan 7
Aug. 13 The B-52s     $27
Aug. 14 Chris Isaak   $37.50
Aug. 18 The Quebe Sisters Band $10.50
Aug. 20 The Swell Season with Black Francis     $24
Aug. 26 Pink Martini     $32
Aug. 27 Pink Martini     $32
Aug. 28 A Prairie Home Companion     $39.50
Sept. 1 Cyndi Lauper   $27

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Oregon Zoo ¨ 4001 SW Canyon Rd. ¨ Portland, Oregon 97221 ¨ 503-226-1561