Randy Couture’s harmonica jam rocks Mondays Dark show

So we have learned that Randy Couture not only knows how to play the harmonica, but will play it onstage — to a Beatles classic.

The UFC legend, action-film star and bonafide intimidating individual joined the fray at Mondays Dark on Monday night, closing a Beatles-themed show with Mark Shunock on “A Hard Day’s Night.” The event capped the first MD show to take place at an auto dealership, the Land Rover Las Vegas showroom on Roy Horn Way (Land Rover is an event sponsor).

Aside from the performances, which were nails, the night’s highlight was the announcement of MD’s sixth-anniversary show. The crew is loading into Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms at 8 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.) Dec. 6. The 21 charities for the 2020 MD lineup are to be announced that night. Tickets are $20 (reserved tables for four are $400; suites for $2,000) and are available at www.MondaysDark.com, with a post-party set for Green St. Kitchen.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Station and everyone at the Palms,” Shunock said Monday, referring to resort owner Station Casinos. “The Pearl is a special venue and we can wait to celebrate in there. We will certainly take it up a notch in December.”

The Mondays Dark anniversary shows have previously been held at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. That venue is dark in December as the hotel will be renovated as Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

The most recent Mondays Dark show was a benefit for Couture’s chosen charity, the Xtreme Couture G.I. Foundation, which raises money and awareness for those wounded in combat and their families. The performances were a roll out of Vegas all-stars: Clint Holmes on “Eleanor Rigby,” Anne Martinez on “Oh! Darling,” Skye Dee Miles of Rose. Rabbit. Lie. at The Cosmopolitan on “Help,” Gabriella Versace of “Sexxy” at Westgate Las Vegas on “Let It Be,” Fifth Avenue co-founder Jerry Jones on “Back in the U.S.S.R., Francesca Camus on “Twist and Shout,” Heath Burgett of Mo5aic on “Yesterday,” and the visiting Martin Kaye from the Vegas cast of “Million Dollar Quartet” on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Kenny Davidsen, as always, was music director from behind the keyboard.

Shunock rolls into his sixth-year anniversary with a “topping off” effort to the first 11 charities honored at Mondays Dark’s inception. The event’s goal is to raise $10,000 per show for the featured charity, but over the first year that mark was not reached (example is Jeff Leibow’s NF Network organization for neurofibromatosis, issued a check of about $3,600 from the May 2014 show).

Shunock said Monday that checks to achieve that goal are going out next week, and he might mention those first charities at the Pearl event.

Mondays Dark is also the focus of an NPR “Weekend Edition” segment to air nationally on Aug. 25. The media organization was seeking to find the “other” Las Vegas, where members of the city’s entertainment community convene off the Strip.

NPR found Couture jamming on harmonica in a car dealership. Can’t ask for more than that.

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.