500 Songs for Kids Night Six

A musical Cinco de Mayo at Smith's Olde Bar

If May 5 at Smith’s Olde Bar was any indication, the proper way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo is by rocking out to American pop music classics and drinking PBR tall boys until you feel just sexy enough to dance. The 500 Songs for Kids charity event surpassed the halfway point last night and did so in great style. The music kicked off with Nobody’s Darling offering a version of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” that could have easily passed for a tune by The Decembrists. Breaking Twilight transformed “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield into a heartfelt, acoustic slow-jam. All the geeks and nerds (we're including ourselves) were pumped to hear Jungol shred through the prog-rock staple “Spirit of Radio” by Rush.

While the political cries of Rage Against the Machine’s “Bulls on Parade” were likely missed, the audience still fed off the energy put forth by The 54’s powerful cover. Gavin DeGraw eventually took the stage to much fanfare with his stripped-down rendition of Guns N’ Roses “I Used to Love Her.” As DeGraw pointed out, this morbid little song wasn’t intended for the kids, but the intent was still the same. 

Those who remained after DeGraw performed were treated to a myriad of great music. Sight Unseen was definitely “Hot For Teacher” when they took care of the Van Halen classic. Not to be outdone by all the hard rock, Eller transformed “Jane Says” by Jane's Addiction into something uniquely their own to great effect. The night of great performances found a very apt conclusion with We Are All Nothing and Something’s transcendent cover of “The End” by The Doors.

Don’t forget, there's still four nights left of 500 Songs for Kids. The fundraiser continues through May 9, each night at 6:30 p.m., at Smith's Olde Bar.—Mike Vetter/Special to Metromix