Slim's Turns 20

I was wondering about this recently: Slim's does celebrate its 20th Anniversary this year. Click HERE for Joel Selvin's tribute in the San Francisco Chronicle. However, since Selvin's coverage of music in the Bay Area has annoyed me since I was a teenager, I felt compelled to issue my own tribute to Slim's.

According to the Umlaut Archives, I attended my first show there a month after it opened on October 25, 1988 to see Maria McKee (Does anybody remember Lone Justice?? Anyone?). Over the past 20 years I've seen approximately 60 shows at the venue. While Selvin's highlights are entertaining, here are some of my Slim's highlights off the top of my head:

• February 19, 1990 - Richard Thompson.. I went because I'd heard his Small Town Romance album played over and over in the bookstore where I worked.
  
• March 18, 1990 - Warren Zevon.. I'm really glad I saw him live.
  
• February 21, 1992 - Dick Dale.. As Selvin said in his article, Dale's first performance ever outside of SoCal. He shredded, dude.
  
• November 24, 1992 - PJ Harvey.. On her first tour when she still played guitar fronting the power trio of herself, Steve Vaughn, and Robert Ellis.

• February 22, 1993 - Uncle Tupelo / Stimmies... A fun night for many reasons.
  
• August 2, 1994 - Melvins / Sleep / Acid King.. An epic bill!
  
• June 9-10, 1996 - Metallica.. The Millionaire Rock Stars' first local club shows in 11 years.. As Selvin noted in his article, Chris Isaak was in attendance and we followed him when exiting one of the shows; I wasn't impressed, but the chicks dig him.
  



• August 3, 2003 - The Libertines.. Sans Pete Doherty due to his visa problems, but still a fun show on their debut U.S. Tour.
  
• November 21, 2003 - The Darkness.. Few saw them, but they were a GREAT live band.. Seriously... and this show inspired me to travel to Cleveland to see them. Seriously.
  
• October 18, 2006 - Boris / Acid King.. My birthday celebrated with volume.. Aww.
  
• July 27, 2007 - Grinderman.. Nice Cave & Co. in a club!
  
• October 29, 2007 - Gojira.. They were 3rd on the bill and were simply the most amazing live Metal band I've seen in ages.. Seriously.. AND they're from FRANCE!
  

Those are the shows that pop into my head after one cup of coffee... although I also must add all four Redd Kross shows that I saw at Slim's from 1992-2007. Anyway, those are my Slim's memories pulled out of my ass on a Sunday morning. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Anyway, while Slim's is not the perfect venue by any stretch of the imagination, it is nice to have some semblance of music tradition in San Francisco here in the 21st Century... but it is weird that Slim's has become the de facto Metal venue in S.F., right? Discuss amongst yourselves.