I went out to the Hi Tone last night for the Back To School Costume Party organized by Robbie House.  It was a great night with a broad range of entertainment, so everyone got the chance to try something a little different.  Band of Ooo, Greedy Kidney, Sin City Scoundrels, Chinese Connection Dub Embassy, and Medicin Men.  There was also some great local craft art for sale from QUIP in the back, next to where Richard set up his delicious soul food.  That’s exactly the way I want to spend my night – 1 cover, 5 completely different shows, food and shopping.  It’s like crawl down Main Street, without the annoying crawling.  =D

An exciting plus, last night the Hi Tone launched their brand new Loyalty Club program.  Basically it’s an app the venue uses to keep track of what shows you came to.  After checking in at 6 shows, you get access to the seventh show for free.  No matter what the price.  That means you can pay for the cheap shows and then get into the big events for free.

The app itself looks pretty cool.  The proprietor has the flexibility to offer different types of promos, bonuses, etc.  All you need is a smart phone.  I came home to look at it on my not-broken computer screen before I downloaded it.  Non-sequitur – if an LCD screen cracks enough times, do the liquid crystals come out?

Anyway, I think this is a great step in the right direction for encouraging people to leave home and try something new.  I hear the cover charge at Hi Tone can go as low as $3 sometimes.  Hell, the lounge area is free, so you can grab a beer and listen to the music before you pay.  If it sounds okay, go on over and see what the show is like.  If not, well you got to chill out and have a beer.  Pretty win-win to me.  Just try it…  you might actually have fun.