SPECIAL TO THE PVT Southern Accent, from Las Vegas, wil limber up its instruments and dispense a wide variety of music from 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Sept. 29, at Charlie's Place (Our Bar). The band challenges one and all to try to stump it with rare, little-known tunes. But be prepared to buy the members a round. Advertisement

When the entertainment from the Wild West Extravaganza is starting to wind down, the party will begin at Charlie's Place (Our Bar).

Southern Accent from Las Vegas is scheduled to play from 8 p.m. to midnight Sept. 29 only.

The band is well established and has been playing Las Vegas bars and casinos for many years. The members originally came from all over the country.

The founder and steel guitarist, Gary Watson is from Texas. "We're not like bands that change members all the time," he said. "We've been together for 20 years and don't even have a song list because we don't need one."

Vocals are performed by drummer Rick Bell, of Durango, Colo. and 38-year veteran bass guitarist Dave Siefert, of Marion, Ohio.

Of Bell, Watson said, "Rick is pretty amazing. He has the lyrics to over 2,500 songs in his head. We use that to our advantage when we play "stump the band" with our audience."

Stump the band goes like this.

Patrons request a song, and if the band knows it the audience member gets stuck with a one-round bar tab for the entire band. If, however, the band fails to play a correct version of the request, the band buys one round for the person trying to "stump the band."

In any event, it's a no-brainer to calculate which of the parties really wins.

Kent "Jingles" Schultz, from Iowa, taught music at Iowa State University and is the lead guitarist, and Kent "KC" Thompson, from Bakersfield, Calif., is on rhythm guitar.

Southern Accent isn't strictly a country band. They play a little of everything; especially if it has a good dance beat.

"I named the band Southern Accent because of my accent," drawled Watson.

"When I came to Las Vegas 30 years ago, I tried takin' speech therapy. That didn't work out too well. I mean, all those people in that class had lisps or stuttered or somethin', so after class, I went to the teacher and told her I didn't need to be there 'cause all I wanted to do was git rid of my accent and there wasn't nothin' wrong with the way I talked.

"I didn't take the tuition back either," Watson. "I told her to give it to someone who really needed help."

Watson sounds very much like "Larry the Cable Guy," and that isn't going to change.

Having been together for such a long time, Southern Accent is sure to work the crowd and make the evening a lot of fun and very entertaining.

Charlie's Place (Our Bar) is located at 3770 W. Bell Vista Road. For more information call 751-5500.