Zebra brings debut album celebration show to Paramount

Long Island Music Hall of Famers Zebra will play the entirety of the band's 1983 debut album at The Paramount in Huntington on Nov. 19. General-public tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster.com.

The show marks the first time the enduring hard-rock trio has performed its self-titled inaugural album live onstage from start to finish. Released by Atlantic Records, "Zebra" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in May 1990, meaning at least a half-million copies sold. It was partly recorded at the now-gone Kingdom Sound Studios in Syosset, best known as a home of such Long Island legends as Blue Öyster Cult, The Good Rats and Joan Jett.

The album's nine songs run 39 minutes, and the band additionally will play fan-favorite Zebra songs as well as a smattering of Led Zeppelin classics, according to a news release. 

Formed in New Orleans in the mid-1970s, the trio of singer-guitarist Randy Jackson, now of South Setauket, bassist and keyboardist Felix Hanemann, now of Wantagh, and Louisiana-based drummer Guy Gelson "is a band of legendary status in two 'hometown' areas (Louisiana and Long Island), but are woefully underappreciated in much of the remaining rock world," wrote Colin J. Hulin in the liner notes of the 1998 collection "The Best of Zebra In Black and White."

The band had relocated from its origin city almost from the start, Jackson explained in a March interview. A friend "had a connection to a club owner, Lee Feldman, in Long Island," Jackson, 67, said, "and we eventually got a gig on Long Island on Jan. 31, 1976, opening up for Rat Race Choir. After several months establishing ourselves, we were able to move to Long Island, and make enough money to stay if we wanted. We made many trips back to Louisiana to perform over the next few years, but our base of operations was certainly Long Island by that point.”

Zebra became a staple of the Long Island club scene, performing at such legendary venues as Speaks in Island Park, Hammerheads in Levittown and West Islip, and The Mad Hatter in Stony Brook. The band was inducted into Long Island’s rock hall in 2012, and celebrated its 45th anniversary in November with a concert at NYCB Theatre at Westbury.

Opening for Zebra at The Paramount is the disbanded Long Island power-pop group Fuzzbubble, which on Facebook Monday said it would "reunite for a very special evening to remember and honor our very own Brett Rothfeld," the band's bassist, who died last year.