Deal Casino, The Hsu-nami, GayGuy / StraightGuy, and The House of Thieves Played Wonder Bar, 1/10/15 (PHOTOS)

The Wonder Bar hosted the "Brent's Stolen Gear Fundraiser" on Saturday night.

Brent's Stolen Gear Benefit

Dark City Entertainment hosted a show on Saturday night to help Battery Electric / Hsu-nami guitarist, Brent Övar Bergholm, raise funds to replace the gear he had stolen from his car a couple of months back. The healthy turnout was evidence both of how much people are willing to help out and of the strength of Saturday night's bill.

It was a pretty eclectic selection of acts including the prog / post-hardcore of New Jersey's House of Thieves, the heavy rock of GayGuy / StraightGuy, the Chinese violin-fronted instrumental prog of The Hsu-Nami, and the pop rock of Deal Casino.

The House of Thieves did some deeply personal songs and provided an emotional -- and loud -- beginning to the evening. People were just filing in during their early set.

It had been a while since I'd seen GayGuy / StraightGuy, and they seem to have gotten even better over the last several months. To close their set, Alex Rosen (The Battery Electric / Hot Blood) and Brent joined them for a cover of Nirvana's "Territorial Pissings." It made me even sorrier for missing GG/SG's New Year's Eve full Nirvana cover set.

I'd never seen The Hsu-nami before. They blew me away. The sound of the Chinese violin (erhu, actually) combined with Bergholm's shredding was a unique experience. Brent said he chose to perform with Hsu-nami on Saturday because most of what had been stolen had traveled the world with him on tour with that band. Mike Petzinger, whose photos you've probably seen many times on social media, stood in on bass. He did a fine job pretending not to notice the cameras.

Deal Casino closed things out. Their relentless performing -- including a summer long residency at The Saint -- has built them a wildly enthusiastic local fanbase. I think they may even be starting a minor fashion trend, judging by the trouser choices of a few people in the audience. They did their usual highly professional, highly energetic, impressive set; and the crowd that gathered near the stage sang almost every word.

Here are photo highlights from each performance. I took even more pictures than usual, I think; so don't forget to check out the full sets at Flickr.