Local blues fans make the trek to Old Town year round, if for no other reason than to catch the Sunday night blues jam at the Spar Tavern, 2121 N. 30th St. (The Spar’s got Blues to Burn this weekend, in case you were wondering.)

But never is that Tacoma ’hood a hotter spot for catching the blues than when the Old Town Music Festival takes over the Spar, Old Town Park, Slavonian Hall and the Mountaineers Club, as it will for its 17th annual run on Saturday.

The festival kicks off at 9:30 a.m. with a “bluesberry” pancake breakfast at Slavonian Hall, with Double Cookin’ adding musical ambiance. The festival continues through 1 a.m. with a lineup that includes local favorites such as Little Bill & the Bluenotes, the High Rollers, Blues Redemption and the Michal Miller Band.

And headlining the Blues Café stage at Slavonian Hall this year is Tacoma guitar hero Jerry Miller.

Miller – a veteran of golden age Northwest rock bands the Elegants and the Frantics – achieved stardom in the late ’60s as the lead axe man for Bay Area rock act Moby Grape, and co-writer of that bands hits, “Hey, Grandma,” “8:05” and “Murder in My Heart.”

In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Miller No. 68 on its list of greatest guitarists, ahead of the likes of Eddie Van Halen, David Gilmour and Angus Young. “His playing was never self-indulgent, and his soloing was propulsive, always aware of where the song was headed,” reads Rolling Stone’s description of Miller.

But despite such accolades, fans have been able to catch the guitar legend’s Jerry Miller Band playing intimate shows this year at Doyle’s Public House and the Swiss Tavern in Tacoma, and at Uncle Sam’s American Bar & Grill in Spanaway in recent years.

Those venues have hosted benefits for Miller this year after his home was among those flooded on Jan. 8 after the Army Corps of Engineers released water at the Mud Mountain Dam on the White River.

Mike Mitchell, one of the Old Town Music Festival’s organizers, emphasizes that this event is a benefit for Tacoma’s Breast Cancer Resource Center (bcrcwa.org).

“When you’re diagnosed with cancer, you just kind of go blank and go, ‘What do I do? I’m gonna die,’ ” said Mitchell, a cancer survivor and board member of the BCRC.

“The Breast Cancer Resource Center is a place to educate women on what to do and just a real helpful organization.”

Find a full schedule and other information about the Old Town Music Festival online at www.tacomaoldtownbluesfest.net.

On Tacoma Rock City (blogs.thenewstribune.com/rockcity): You may have read my interview with singer-songwriter Tori Amos elsewhere in GO. But I’ve also posted some audio from the interview with the queen of piano pop online. She’ll kick off her world tour tonight at Seattle’s WaMu Theater. (See story elsewhere in GO.)

And among next week’s biggest (and scariest) events is the Mayhem Tour, which will bring shock rockers Slayer and Marilyn Manson to Auburn’s White River Amphitheatre. I caught up with Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo earlier this week for a piece that will run in Sunday’s paper. But until then, you can find out some of what he had to say about the band’s forthcoming album “World Painted Blood” on the blog.

Bonus tracks:

 • The Tacoma Public Library will kicks off its summer Rock the Books series with a showcase headlined by one of Tacoma’s most promising indie-pop outfits, Makeup Monsters. The duo, Shayne Weeks and Isaac Solverson, had started to create a local buzz before it took fourth place in Experience Music Project’s SoundOff competition last year. The show is free, and Makeup Monsters will share the bill with James Hilborne & the Painkillers; www.rockthebooks.org.

 • But that’s not the only place to catch free, all-ages rock. On Sunday, the Art on the Ave musical lineup will span from local roots rock to indie hip-hop with Vicci Martinez, the Randy Oxford Band, Ben Union, Revengers and more; full lineup at www.artontheave.org.

 • Another band I’ve been meaning to check out for a while, based on what I’ve heard on its MySpace page, is Tacoma indie-rock band Midnight Salvage Company, which will headline an unplugged set at Shakabrah Java tonight. Check ‘em out online at www.myspace.com/midnightsalvageco.

Ernest Jasmin: 253-274-7389

ernest.jasmin@thenewstribune.com

blogs.thenewstribune.com/rockcity