Valley Tavern with KJ Kendo

Valley Tavern with KJ Kendo is every Thursday of the month.  Guess what?  This bar is pretty rad!  It’s got girl power written ALL over it!  As it should, it’s in the heart of Noe Valley on 24^th between Noe and Castro Streets.  My god it was tough gettin’ my fat ass up here!  I thought Bernal and Potrero were bad… try CASTRO and NOE from 18^th UPWARD.

If you live in the City, you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.  Pick up a topography map if you don’t.  I’m amazed that I had the strength to dance and sing after that.  I was just so HAPPY I made it finally after HOW long Ken’s worked here?  I kept promising that I’d come sometime SOMEday.  Well, HERE I am, and goddess bless it’s a SLOW night!  I am not eager to go tackle these hills in reverse yet, so I’ll sit a spell with this raucous birthday party who are keeping this bar alive right now.  I even got TWO songs in which is usually unheard of at this hour of the night.  I clocked in at a little before 1 am.

They have very amicable bartenders and patrons here.  Local art on the walls of chicks spray painting murals on expanses of long empty walls that can only exist in Los Angeles showcasing tagged up vans with awesome rural art on them and of course the staple low rider.  Photos with dyed, pierced, and tattooed ladies donning honey brown sun kissed skin much like my own.  You know what’s up!  Girl’s rule this school!  I fit RIGHT in with the decor except I took my piercings out for an interview earlier this week, and I haven’t put them back in yet.

I would like to come here again on another night where I’m NOT touring and have more strength to make this hill a LOT easier and earlier in the evening.  I can see why KJ Kendo likes this venue so much.  It reminds me of his other site, the Blackthorn Tavern in the Inner Sunset that he has Tuesday nights which I used to live near back in 1998 early in my career here in SF after my Freshmen year of college.

I love bars that have a lot of wood paneling and a LONG bar!  That means there’s plenty of room for EVERYONE in the neighborhood and you can always squeeze in SOMEWHERE to order libations.  The booths are very nice for groups of a medium to large size.  I myself had the first booth all to myself camped out there 'til closing time with my laptop up blogging to my heart's content.  They even have a smoking booth for patrons.  How neat!  I thought these were all obsolete because even Benders took theirs out, and if you're old enough to remember the AIRPORT used to have them too!

This tavern is tucked away in a very nice neighborhood, so you DEFINITELY don’t need to worry too much about break ins, and as a cyclist, I know DAMN well no bike thief is gonna ride his ass up here to take MY whip.  He’d have to come with a big white panel van to take my baby away, and Christine is parked right outside this window behind KJ Kendo, so I’m TOTALLY keepin’ an eye on her though unnecessary.

Thanks to Dana, a karaoke friend and new rookie KJ, like myself, I found this bar in the Valley as it is aptly named.  I don’t think I’ll make it to Jack’s tonight, but I will make it to Lookout and El Rio with Burlesque at another time because trust me I’ve been to Jack’s Club when I lived a block up from there.  I know what it’s about, but I REALLY wanted to see KJ Paul there since I haven't seen him in SO long.  He's got some of the best older artistic bohemian following I've ever seen.  I’m just hoping the food is better there now than before.  I LOVE spice, and most foods are made for a more sensitive palate which makes for less heat in my food than I’d like because if I’m eating Jumbalaya I want my mouth to BURN!  Mmmm Andouille and prawns... my mouth waters just THINKING about it!

I’m STOKED because I broke my 4 karaoke venue record tonight with 5 karaoke bars.  Next time I’ll plan better because established bars like Deco can take a lot longer than usual to get your turn up, but it all depends on the night really.  I stopped in to Pandora before Deco too, but the rotation there was faster.  At Deco, unlike other bars, the patrons sitting at the bar in the other room are all signed up to sing too not JUST the patrons on the stage side.

You can never predict a really busy night or a really SLOW night where you can get 10 songs in at one sitting.  Here is where the karaoke bicycle tour sadly ends.  I can’t wait to bomb down this hill back to Bernal Heights from the Mission and tackle one more hill for the last time!  I'm going to make Cortland my bitch!  Watch me.  I'm gonna be sore tomorrow!  Ta for now, all!  Happy Karaoke-ing!