‘That Vegas Show’ is a freewheeling way to support musicians

As a teenager, Shawn Eiferman used to sell Pepe Jeans London in front of Wembley Stadium.

Long story short, he became a Facebook sensation.

Pulling this together, Eiferman lived in London through part of his formative years because his mother got a grant to teach in the U.K.

The budding musician landed a job selling the casual brand of Pepe Jeans at the flea market at Wembley Stadium. Because he was a vendor on the property, Eiferman had access to choice seats to all the great concerts — when he was 14 he saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for five quid, or about $6.

Eiferman also attended Live Aid in 1985, with tickets in the middle and near the front of the crowd at the historic festival.

During that performance, Bob Geldof shouted at the throng, “Donate! You know you have the money!” And today on Facebook, Eiferman, a busy Las Vegas singer-songwriter, is repeating Geldof’s message.

“I kind of feel like that, I’m going after people to pitch in,” says Eiferman, who has developed “That Vegas Show” webcasts on his Facebook page. The series of live performances run twice daily, at noon and 8 p.m., and last week expanded to the @ShawnEiferman Instagram Live feed.

The show also expanded from Eiferman’s home studio to — yes — his master bathroom. The lighting is better and, oddly enough, so is the sound.

Eiferman, a Vegas native, was working several gigs a week before the coronavirus outbreak sidelined him. He was about to celebrate a year at the Barbershop at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on St. Patrick’s Day when that gig was halted. He’s also headlined would the Courtyard at House of Blues on Thursdays, and the Front Yard at Ellis Island on Fridays.

Now, Eiferman is livestreaming to help his fellow musicians. His show links to the gofundme.com/f/request-a-songsave-a-singer website, where donations go to a different Las Vegas musician for every performance. The format is always Eiferman with one of his 45 guitars (he’s quite the collector), taking song requests through the comments field.

Viewers have played what Eiferman calls “stump the chump,” asking for everything from Prince to Tool to Beethoven.

“It’d be interesting if I were just a country artists, or just blues guy,” Eiferman says. “But my own taste is pretty versatile. I can appease someone who asks, ‘Hey, can you play the Jonas Brothers?’ I can actually do that.”

Since launching the series two weeks ago, Eiferman has logged 28 hourlong shows and raised more than $8,000.

“When I started I called this ‘The Hour of Power,’ ” Eiferman said. “It was kind of a joke, but it stuck, and I’m going to keep going until someone tells me to stop.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.