While a large chunk of San Francisco’s concert-going population was crowding Golden Gate Park for that big ol’ Outside Lands festival, Saturday night, August 23, 2008, at Kimo’s was a mutual reputation-building affair for the well-informed handful of folks in attendance.

The under-new-management venue, Kimo’s, has a colorful history, rife with stories of shady characters, assaults, and other blemishes typical of the nearby Tenderloin neighborhood. Put it this way – it’s the neighborhood where transvestite hookers have shouting matches in the street, and crack cocaine can be bought out in the open just as easily as organic fruit at a farmer’s market (maybe even more easily). So something fishy is bound to spill over into adjacent neighborhoods every now and then.

For the night’s headliner, the L.A.-based group of family and friends known as the Parson Red Heads, it was an historic night – their first headlining gig in San Francisco. Granted, it was at Kimo’s, but all was well. The venue’s new management claims to be more artist-friendly. And in truth, there were no oddballs to be seen in the place (none that we could visibly identify, anyway). So out-of-towners like the Parsons were spared the wrath of San Francisco’s finest. And at the end of the show, a live personal announcement was made from the stage, thanking the band and informing the audience of upcoming shows. Ah, just like the olden days, when clubs cared. None of that “show’s over, now get out!” attitude from some unseen goon in a corner booth. Now, if Kimo’s can just get their web site working and add upcoming shows to their MySpace calendar, we can really say they’re getting somewhere.

They can also get their doorman to his post earlier. Had I arrived with a dishonest group of friends, they all could have weaseled in for free. But they’re not like that, so they just kept their bills in hand and made sure they were spotted by the doorman when he returned.

By this point, the Red Heads were sound checking. Even this was worth hearing, as drummer Brette Marie Way tested her vocal mikes with a charming, off-the-cuff rendition of TLC’s “Waterfalls.” After run-throughs of the band’s already classic yet still not released set opener “Time is Running Out” and a cover of Herman’s Hermits’ British invasion mega hit “Something Tells Me I’m Into Something Good,” the opening acts took care of their sound checks with little time in between. The night was running smoothly, and would continue that way to the end. Nobody even thought about bullshitting the audience with interminable waits between sets and sound checks. Anyone who missed their train home couldn’t blame Kimo’s or the bands. (more…)