Videos from the Tom Cushman Benefit

OK, this photo of Tom and Skillet Gilmore really does kind of sum up Sunday's Tom Cushman Benefit at White Collar Crime. A bunch of bands came out and rocked, and everyone you know came out and saw them rock, all to help out local punk icon Tom Cushman.

(Local rock glitterati The Infamous Sugar, Russ DeSena and Jennifer Halifax)

The love for Tom was palpable. Tom himself was looking healthy and seemed amazed and touched.

(Eddie Taylor and yours truly)

The suggested donation at the door was $10, but if you gave $15, you got a handmade T-shirt with the TCB logo. I picked a silver-logo-ed black T-shirt that had originally been some sort of tequila promo. And even though I have another, much better photo of me and Eddie showing off our shirts, I decided to sacrifice my dignity and post this one because the logo is more clearly visible.



(These little guys were a hit with the folks at the bar. Their owner told me they are service dogs!)


(The Trousers)
I was at the benefit for most of the early shows, and got there while The Trousers, who had the 4:30 p.m. slot, were playing. I've said before that White Collar Crime is THE worst place in town to shoot bands, but a skylight overhead made the daylight hours somewhat OK. For some reason I always seem to record the same song by The Trousers.


The Trousers at the Tom Cushman benefit from Mann's World on Vimeo.




(Greg Rice and Caitlyn Cary)

Richard Bacchus & the Luckiest Girls were after The Trousers, but I feel like I've got more than enough videos of them for the time being, so I just stood back and enjoyed the show. This was the first time I had seen them as a three-piece, and I seriously couldn't tell the difference.

Caitlin Cary was next, and she started with a song by Snuzz. Pay attention to what she says at the end of the video. I think she summed up the thoughts of many that day.

Caitlin Cary at the Tom Cushman benefit from Mann's World on Vimeo.



(Kenny Roby and Scott McCall)
The last show I saw was Kenny Roby, who played with his regular guitarist, Scott McCall. I really love seeing Kenny with a full band, and wish he would do it more often, but it was nice to see him with Scott. But "seeing" is a relative term here because by this time the sun had gone down, and the stage was almost pitch black.


Kenny Roby at the Tom Cushman benefit from Mann's World on Vimeo.





(Jibarra)
About mid-way through Kenny and Scott's set I found out that every single toilet in White Collar Crime had overflowed, which made our decision to take off that much easier. If anyone wants to provide a report on the latter half of the evening please do.

We ended up going next door to Jibarra, which features half-price bottles of wine on Sundays, and is actually somewhat reasonable if you stick to the appetizer menu. We enjoyed the lovely malbec pictured above.

See more photos on my Flickr page.