ROCKERS HELPING STUDENTS; CONCERT TO BENEFIT HIGH SCHOOL BAND.

Byline: Romy Jacobson Daily News Staff Writer

Rock music will take over the Palmdale High School football field Sunday evening for a concert to benefit the Palmdale High School Band and Band Boosters.

``Musicians Helping Musicians'' is the theme for Rocktober Fest, which will feature performances by Strange Angels, Dakota, the Pat Travers Band, and the Edgar Winter Group.

The idea came from show promoters John and Lorri Kieffer, whose business provides concert sound and lighting systems, as they were trying to think of ways to help the Palmdale High band. Both Kieffers graduated from Palmdale High, and their son and daughter go there now.

``We'd like to get the people in town to rally behind it because it's a good cause,'' said John Kieffer. ``It's important that we get people to stand behind this concert.''

The concert will run from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, with the Pat Travers Band and the Edgar Winter Group each doing a 90-minute set, at the Palmdale High School football field, on 20th Street East south of Palmdale Boulevard.

The Palmdale High School Band Boosters will receive money from parking donations and concessions, plus a percentage of ticket sales.

``We're hoping that it's going to become an annual event,'' said Palmdale High School Band director Rick Hixon. ``It would definitely be a great thing for the band and band boosters. We're hoping that a lot of people will show up. I hope the Antelope Valley appreciates it.''

Tickets at $12.50 for bleacher seats and $15 for preferred seating will be available at the door. Military personnel and students with identification can purchase bleacher tickets for $10.

The performers are both local groups and nationally known.

Winter had hits in the 1970s with the song ``Free Ride'' and the rock instrumental ``Frankenstein.'' Pat Travers has produced more than 20 albums, covering blues classics such as ``Statesboro Blues.'' His ``Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)'' was a hit single in the 1970s.

Strange Angels was winner of the National Academy of Songwriters' Acoustic Band of the Year award under the name Naked to the World.

Dakota, a Palmdale-based band that performed at the Antelope Valley Fair last summer, has just released a CD titled ``Once Around the Sun.''

Winter says the concert captured his interest because it will help the school band. He directly traces his high school experiences to the formation of his rhythm and blues horn-driven band, White Trash.

``I think it's very important for students to have that opportunity to play together,'' said Winter. ``My experience in the swing band in high school is one of the main things that helped me establish a direction.''

Winter is writing songs for movies, and will have a song titled ``Good Ole' Shoe,'' performed by Willie Nelson, in the movie, ``Wag the Dog,'' starring Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman.

Travers is in the studio working on new material, scheduled for release in 1998.

For more information, call the Rocktober Fest hotline at [phone].