‘The Joker’ plus ace band aim for full house

Friday, July 18, 1997 | 11:56 a.m.

It's no joke!

The Steve Miller Band's "Jokers Ball Tour" with special guest Eric Johnson will stop at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

While preparing for this concert, Miller noted that the band "is looking forward to hitting the road for an exciting spring and summer of music and jamming."

Born in Milwaukee, Wis. on Oct. 5, 1943, Miller, at the age of 12, formed his first blues band, the Marksmen Combo. Later, while attending the University of Wisconsin, he led one of the town's first blues-rock bands, the Ardells.

Miller later left college and moved to Denmark, where he studied literature at the University of Copenhagen, but this did not last long. His renewed interest in blues drove him to Chicago, where he formed the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band with Barry Goldberg.

In 1966 he moved to San Francisco where, only weeks later, he formed the Steve Miller Band with guitarist James "Curly" Cooke, bassist Lonnie Turner, and drummer Tim Davis. Their first large-scale performance was at the 1997 Monterey Pop Festival, where Capital Records approached Miller.

During their first six years the band members produced six albums, and although their music was heavily played on the radio, they still didn't have a hit single.

It wasn't until 1972, after Miller injured his neck in an auto accident, that the band finally hit with "The Joker," a No. 1 record that went gold, while the album went platinum in 1973.

The band later produced the hit songs "Fly Like an Eagle," "Swingtown," "Jungle Love," "Jet Airliner," and "Heart like a Wheel." Their last album, "Wild River," was released in 1993.

Show tickets are $15 and are on sale at the Aladdin box office and at all Ticketmaster outlets. For more information, call 736-0419 or to charge by phone call Ticketmaster at 474-4000.