POP MUSIC / THOMAS K. ARNOLD : Cowboy Named Koo Puts Brand on North County

Jimmy Koo came to this country 23 years ago from his native Korea and went country soon after.

The 51-year-old owner of Leo’s Little Bit O’ Country in San Marcos--a spacious 650-capacity wagon wheel-shaped nightclub where live country music is heard Tuesdays through Sundays--had immigrated to Los Angeles in 1966 to open a textile import-export business. Four years later, Koo decided he could no longer handle the smog and traffic, so he moved his family and his business south to Oceanside.

When the owner of the Leo’s Western Wear store next to Koo’s Oceanside business decided to retire, Koo rounded up $150,000 in borrowed capital and bought it. Thus began the transformation of Jimmy Koo into a Korean cowboy. Soon, he was wearing Stetson hats, Tony Lama boots, and Panhandle and Slim shirts with silver collar tips. He bought a ranch in Vista and added some horses. And he took a liking to the country music that his clientele demanded he play in his store.

“I had the music on all day long,” Koo said. “And once you really listen to country music, you can’t help but like it--the melodies are real pretty, and the words mean something.”

Six years ago, Koo sold his Western-wear business--which by then had grown into two stores with a combined area of 14,000 square feet--and bought a struggling rock ‘n’ roll nightclub called Charlie’s in San Marcos.

He changed formats to country music, changed the club’s name to Leo’s Little Bit O’ Country, and soon found himself running the hottest little honky-tonk this side of Seoul.

Last September, Leo’s underwent a major, $128,000 remodeling job that upped its capacity from 300 to 650. And Koo decided to start showcasing one or two big-name country acts each month, in addition to such popular local groups as the North Forty Band and Crossover.

Upcoming concerts at Leo’s include appearances by Hank Thompson, April 17; the Forrester Sisters, May 28; Eddie Raven, June 25; Steve Wariner, July 18; John Conlee, August 3; the Bellamy Brothers, August 27; Bobby Bare, September 10; the Charlie Daniels Band, September 24; Michael Martin Murphy, October 8; and Freddie Fender, November 6.

“I want to be number one,” Koo said. “I don’t want Leo’s to be just another country bar, I want Leo’s to be the country bar in all of San Diego County.”

After Avalon Attractions was given a long-term exclusive booking rights contract for San Diego State University’s Open Air Theater, the Los Angeles concert-promoting company, in conjunction with the school’s Associated Students, immediately began making a number of physical improvements to the 4,835-seat amphitheater.

During the last two months, the entire facility was repainted. The aging wood stage was torn down and replaced with a new one made of concrete. Railings were installed along the stairs.

And the erection of a weight-bearing roof over the stage, according to Avalon’s David Swift, “means we can now hang sound equipment and lights instead of stacking speakers and amplifiers on either side of the stage and ground-supporting the lights.”

“As a result, it’s a better deal, both visually and sound-wise,” Swift said. “The sight lines are better because everything is out of peoples’ ways. And because the speakers are higher up, the whole house--particularly the people sitting near the top--will get a much clearer sound.”

The Open Air Theater’s 13th annual concert series began March 25 with a performance by British techno-pop superstars Duran Duran.

By October, nearly 40 other top-drawing pop acts are expected to have played there; although no dates have been confirmed, possible bookings--drawn from the myriads acts touring the West Coast this summer--include pop singer Al Jarreau, new wave singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, sultry rock queen Stevie Nicks, country rockers Jackson Browne and Jimmy Buffett, eclectic rock combo Little Feat, and British dance band New Order.

LINER NOTES: Neil Diamond’s upcoming three-night stand at the San Diego Sports Arena, April 17-19, is being co-presented by Ogden Allied. Ogden Allied is the parent company of Ogden Environmental Services, which last week conducted a controversial test burn of hazardous waste in the GA Technologies Research Park in La Jolla . . . Mojo Nixon’s recent wedding to Adaire Newman at a South San Diego go-cart track is written up in the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Accompanying the Random Notes item is a full-color photo of the local talkin’ bluesman and his new bride as they drove off in a pair of go-carts for the traditional “wedding lap.”

Tickets go on sale Saturday for the May 20 double-header at the Starlight Bowl featuring Robert Cray Band and Stevie Ray Boughn . . . The latest addition to this year’s eighth annual Concerts by the Bay series at Humphrey’s on Shelter Island: two shows by the venerable Everly Brothers, August 17.