Charlie And The Tunas Ready To Rock At Harry's

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Charlie and the Tunas, Harry's Bar & Grill, 12669 NE 85th, Kirkland. Tonight and tomorrow, 9 p.m. Information: 889-2473. ------------------------------------------------------------------

Before Queen Anne got Larry's Market, it had Harry's - Harry's Bar & Grill. Harry's was a major watering hole in the truest sense, before it closed to make way for the upscale Larry's Market and other shops in the block.

Harry's, however, has since found another hill to occupy: Rose Hill, Kirkland's big peak. Harry's took over the space where R. Gyles, Jim's and a few other restaurants have roosted over the years. Waldo's patrons have long made a habit of dashing next door to the current establishment - during band breaks, of course - in order to get a proper drink or two.

Over the years, one of the bands that has rocked Waldo's is Charlie and the Tunas. This weekend it'll be different. Charlie Kester and his bandmates will already be at Harry's. This should cut down on a lot of impaired walking in the parking lot.

"This is our second time at Harry's," Kester said earlier this week. "The first time was St. Patrick's Day. This time it's Cinco De Mayo. I guess we're doing all the holidays. What's next? Memorial Day? That would be a good one to do."

Kester continued: "Actually, the thing at Harry's works out pretty good. They pull out a bunch of booths and put in a bandstand and a dance floor and there's lots of room for everyone."

Bassist Kester and his bandmates - Bob Wikstrom on keyboards, Marc Lagen on guitar, Roy Scimeca on drums and saxman Dennis Ashbrook have been playing around Puget Sound for decades. The Tunas came together in 1981, with its roots in the Barney Armstrong lounge band.

The Tunas pretty much kept up the pop/Top 40 tradition for a good many years, but Kester said that's changed.

"I think we're more (Eric) Clapton-esque now, not that I think we copy Clapton or can play as well as he does, but our music has become more R&B and soul influenced. We do very little of the pop thing anymore.

"We've got Bob doing a lot of trumpet and trombone sounds on the synthesizer to go with Dennis' sax lines, so we can do a lot more soul type stuff. It might be five dumb white boys' impression of soul, but it works for us," he said.

Kester and his band have been going back into the studio to record a new CD. In the process of reworking out the synthesized horn parts, Kester, oddly enough, came to understand how the arrangements of Glenn Miller work.

"Well, we were doing these kind of languid lines, like Miller's. OK, we were copping them, but I figured out how he got that sound, layering different instruments octaves above each other. I mean, I studied theory and I never got it. It took just playing with it to understand it."

Kester said he fell in love with the sound. "I took up the clarinet again! Honest. I haven't played since I was a kid. My grandfather taught clarinet, so I had to take clarinet lessons. My mother taught piano, so I had to take piano lessons, too. I hated it. They thought I was going to be this child prodigy. Then I got my first pocket radio in the sixth grade and discovered Elvis and that was the end of that."

Kester promises he hasn't introduced his newly rediscovered instrument - which he does not play well, he says - into the band. The band sticks to rock, R&B, soul and a few originals.

"We try the new things out on the audience. If a song clears the dance floor, we toss it. If people stay, then we play it. It's a pretty simple formula, but it's worked for us for a long time."