Plan Ahead: Rock At The Dock III

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August 24, 2011 at 8:19am

By Ron Swarner Comments

Dan Whyms and Rock Island Line will rock in the name of Breast Cancer Research.

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TIME TO JUMP IN THE WAYBACK MACHINE >>>

I have a request for Dan Whyms and Rock Island Line's Johnny Cash tribute show this Saturday at the Rock At The Dock III party: no versions of "I Still Miss Someone." It is, without doubt, a gorgeous song, but after being covered by everyone from Hasil Adkins to Linda Ronstadt, it simply can't take any more interpretation. I reached my own personal "I Still Miss Someone" tipping point 10 years ago when Robert Earl Keen recorded a particularly banal version. That said, I'd suffer through a half-dozen new variations of the song if that were the price of admission for Saturday's event, which will be bigger and better than the two previous years.

Every promoter claims his or her event will be bigger and better. It's true for Rock At The Dock III in front of Johnny's Dock Restaurant. After last year's capacity show, the City of Tacoma allowed DOCK III promoters Mike Mitchell and Ken Collins to stretch their classic car show and street dance three blocks longer. No doubt lovers of classic cars, retro clothes, pin curls and Johnny Cash will fill those extra blocks - and Johnny's will see a sudden spike in Pabst Blue Ribbon beer sales.

Mitchell says the vintage, custom, rat rods and ilk will be more like works of art than an operable machine. And it's an open invite to all classic car owners. A $20 fee allows owners to display their cars, as well as earn them a wristband for the Cash tribute show. Johnny's will serve coffee and pastries to the drivers as the roll in at 7:30 p.m. The restaurant will serve an 8 a.m. breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as run the outdoor beer garden.

"Three years ago Ken Collins contacted me about helping with this event, explaining the Johnny's was hurting due to the D Street Bridge construction closure," says Mitchell. "Everything I do is a fundraiser, so it was a no-brainer."

Rock At The Dock III is, in fact, a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Research Center - an organization Mitchell and Ted Brown target for their annual Old Town Blues Festival. Besides the $20 car entry fee, the $10 Cash tribute street dance ticket will also be earmarked for the Research Center.

You will be able to rock out for free in the afternoon. At 2 p.m., Tacoma's champion of ‘50s and ‘60s rock, The Rockodiles, will crank out Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Wilson Pickett and Jimmy Hanna & The Dynamics while you weave through the cars.

At 7:30 p.m.,Whyms and his band, which includes Johnny Cash's former right-hand piano man Earl Poole Ball, will rip through the Man in Black's classics. I just hope not "I Still Miss Someone."

[Johnny's Dock Restaurant, Saturday, Aug. 27, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., $10 Cash tribute dance at 7:30 p.m., 1900 E. D St., Tacoma, rockatthedock.net]

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