Benefit for Ian of the Double Down at the Double Down, Friday Sept 15, 2017

Ian, the Double Down's booker/bartender, underwent serious surgery and while he is recovering well, obviously, there are many bills incurred thanks to America's wonderful health care system. 7 of Vegas' top acts got together to play this benefit for him on his home turf.

Starting things off was the Wolfhounds, a hard-core-ish punk act that I was not familiar with before. Tight playing and lots of vocals and energy. Dug the cover of "Please DOn't Let Me Be Misunderstood'! An intense way to begin the night!

Vegas' premier surf act, Thee Swank Bastards - this time with drummer Turbo and bassist Jeff Murphy - came on next with their instrumental prowess while Jesse took strolls throughout the room, onto tables and chairs and, when he felt lazy, he sat down in the audience for a while. Their traditional Black Sabbath medley of "Electric Funeral" and "Fairies Wear Boots" was augmented by the inclusion of the song "Black Sabbath", that they somehow managed to play with a surf beat! And, of course, extra visual appeal was added by the lovely dancing, Ivana Blazie. Always a good time with the Bastards!

I finally had a chance to check out the all-femme Negative Nancys, featuring female drummer about town, Courtney Carol. Kate and Kelley traded off lead guitar and lead vocals and Shannon handles the bass as they sing punk rock songs like "Cunt" and "Sorry, Not Sorry". Bonus points for the Eater jacket!

I've ranted'n'raved numerous times about one of my fave acoustic acts in town, the All Togethers. This evening cellist Brenna was MIA, but they still sounded great with Brandon and Michael holding down the dual guitars'n'backing vocals, Ken taking lead vocals and mandolin and Cindy keeping it all together on the upright'n'vocals. Always a fun drinkin' band that people will dance to, even without the drums, and their take on "Baba O'Reilly" never fails to win over fans.

The Quitters were a bit too much of a screaming hard-core band for my tastes - sorry guys, nothing personal!

As happens all too often, the Psyatics were on super late - almost 3:00 am by the time they started! But, they are always worth sticking around for, as long as you're not a tired, old man like me! But, they sounded great as they walloped through a couple new songs (dug the riff-rocker with a couple time changes), stuff from the various CD's and the slower "Evangeline", that got Kalani and Nicole up to dance with Ivana, who was again lending her talents to the band.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't stick around for Gold Top Bob, but hope that I can catch him soon, as he gets lots of raves from the locals.

There were lots of prizes raffled off, money donated, drinks consumed and an amazing variety of music donated to this cause. We hope for a complete and swift recovery to Ian!