Inauguration festivities are sweet music to Porter

Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005 | 9:52 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Three decades after a group of Iowa teenagers recorded an album in their keyboard player's father's warehouse, they will reunite tonight at the Hard Rock Cafe in the District specifically to entertain Nevadans visiting for the inaugural.

The connection is not clear at first, but when Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., resumes his place at the keyboard, those in town to celebrate President Bush's second term in office will see another side of one of Nevada's newly re-elected lawmakers.

"We got the band back together," he said.

Porter and his band, Lazy River, who first reunited about five years ago, will make a special appearance at a party hosted by November Inc., a Republican political consulting firm that helped manage Porter's last campaign. Lazy River will be the warm-up act for Las Vegas entertainer Jimmy Hopper.

"With my campaign team organizing that, it was a natural thing," Porter said.

The band is a "blend" of a couple of bands Porter has played with throughout his life he said. One band, Shadrack, started playing together in 1969, recorded an album "Shadrack Chameleon" in Porter's father's warehouse, where Porter said they used in egg cartons as sound proofing material. A record company found the album and re-released it in 1999.

It can be purchased on amazon.com for $14.98, where it is list as the 260,490 most popular album, based on Wednesday's rankings.

The name Lazy River comes from one of the band's earliest fliers, which showed Porter the eighth grader and some of his bandmates group standing in the Des Moines River in Iowa

Porter has played keyboards since he was in first grade, he said, adding, "that doesn't mean I'm good. It helps to play with a group."

Porter said music, all types of music, has always been a passion of his. On Tuesday, he played keyboard at a fundraiser for the Music Maker Relief Foundation, an organization that helps struggling musicians.

Tonight's performance, which is set to include songs by one of President Bush's favorites Van Morrison, as well as Santana, Credence Clearwater Revival and Santana, will serve as a sample of an upcoming performance in Las Vegas, Porter said. Lazy River will make a fundraising appearance for Porter on Feb. 22.

Does that mean the band members are all Republicans?

"I've never been asked that question, but I don't think so," Porter said.

Most of the band members have gone on to be full-time musicians, although one is a molecular biologist while the another represents Nevada's Third District in Congress.