Quality Playtime

It’s not hard to figure out where the cool bands are playing and when. Since many music fans wait all week for those days when they can sleep off the effects of too much fun, Friday and Saturday nights are prime-time.

Club owners love those nights even more than customers, because they make money. But their patience and creativity work overtime when it comes to finding something to do with the rest of the week.

While Ventura County is certainly not an endless party like New Orleans, there are a surprising number of things to do for the music lover and/or dancers on off nights. Thursdays and Sundays--especially Sunday afternoons--are almost as popular as Fridays and Saturdays. Mondays and Tuesdays are the deadest nights, but even they have some fun stuff going; and Wednesdays lie somewhere in between.

The majority of these venues have drink specials, reduced cover charges, and a lot of them have karaoke, but the less said about that, the better.

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Tonight

* Cisco’s Mexican Restaurant--925 S. Westlake Blvd., Westlake, 497-3959. Most of the time, Cisco’s is a successful restaurant. On Thursdays it still is, but in the huge bar area it hosts bands, and the place goes off. You’ll usually hear dance music from Papa-Nata or rockin’ reggae from Euphoria, and gets pretty packed by 9 p.m. Cisco’s took over when Stargate in T.O. went away.

* Hungry Hunter--487 N. Moorpark Road, Thousand Oaks, 497-3925. This is a family restaurant with a bar in the basement. The ubiquitous Teresa Russell, who seemingly hasn’t had a night off since 1983, does blues, country and classic rock, with her friends, most of whom are machines.

* Borders Books--125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 497-8159. It’s usually jazz night at the book store.

* Club F-X, 999 Enchanted Way, Simi Valley, 583-3880. At the bar next to the Radisson Hotel, Urban Dread has just started doing Thursdays. It’s rootsy reggae all the way from the Valley. If you get there at 4 p.m., there’s a steak dinner for a buck. But if you sit around and drink for five hours, you’ll miss the band and maybe Friday as well.

* The Tree House--2830 Tapo St., Simi Valley, 526-5455. This venue is huge, and the tall ceiling is decked out with real plants that are outnumbered by all the beautiful women. They schedule the same band (usually Top 40 or classic rock) for Wednesday and Thursday nights, and the place is fairly packed with people who don’t necessarily show up for the music. Besides the band, the place has pool, darts, video games and a zillion TVs.

* Mixer’s--2381 Tapo St., Simi Valley, 520-7787. Mixer’s rages but less so than Tree House, and it’s a place with potential. The cavernous joint has a huge dance floor--even the Uninvited played there last month. Thursdays are deejay dance nights.

* The Stage--2258 Pickwick St., Camarillo, 383-0286. Down the road apiece at the Stage in Camarillo, owner Dave Codner and his Take Notice band play Wednesday and Thursday nights. His band does hard rock and the place is huge, as is the stage.

* Champs--1900 Victoria Ave., Oxnard, 984-8015. It’s country night with Steve Hill.

* Java Joe’s--2950 Johnson Drive #125, Ventura, 642-4332. Acoustic music meets electric coffee.

* Alexander’s--1050 Schooner Drive, Ventura, 658-2000. It’s Club 77, yet another one of those live disco bands whose collective watch stopped in 1979.

* Ban-Dar--305 E. Main St., Ventura, 643-4420. Wahoo, it’s dance night at the oldest cowboy bar in the county.

* Bombay Bar & Grill--143 California St., Ventura, 643-4404. Since Papa-Nata isn’t doing Thursdays anymore, it’s disco night with one of the many Boogie Knights clone bands, this time, Jungle Bootie. Get in for half price if you dress funny and wear your polyester disco outfit.

* 66 California--66 California St., Ventura, 648-2266. The Jazz Cats chill things out.

* Nicholby’s--404 E. Main St., Ventura, 653-2320. The Bus, a local rock radio station, sponsors deejay dance night, and sometimes they have live bands. This one is getting better.

* Metro Nite Club--317 E. Main St., Ventura, 653-2582. This is Metro Retro night and the deejay plays disco, funk, house and all that stuff that packs the dance floor. There’s even go-go dancers, all sorts of drink specials, and women get in free from 8-10 p.m.

* Cafe Voltaire--34 N. Palm St., Ventura, 641-1743. For something entirely different, and far quieter than all of the above, check out Poetry Night.

* Joe Daddy’s--211 E. Santa Clara St., Ventura, 643-3264. It’s acoustic night at the place with real root-beer barrels by the front door.

* Maxie’s--101 W. Short St., Oak View, 649-9931. The place for country line dancing. Learn it here.

* Dance Studio--410 Bryant Circle, Ojai, 640-0448. Learn the Lindy Hop and look very cool on the dance floor.

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Sunday

* Club F-X--It’s Club Seduction, an 18-and-over dance party.

* The Stage--Today, it’s time to jam with the owner and whoever shows up for Dave Codner’s Rock Jam.

* Whale’s Tail--3950 Bluefin Circle, Oxnard, 985-2511. They have dance bands, one in the afternoon and another at night.

* Hi Cees--1583 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura, 650-7773. One of the great local blues bands, Blue Stew, also plays Saturday. When you can find the place through the fog, these afternoon gigs are seriously packed, even the patio, with locals and tourists.

* Alexander’s--It’s deejay dance night.

* Golden China--760 E. Seaward Ave., Ventura, 652-0688. The home of those great buffet lunches has the Maui Blues Band on Sunday evenings.

* Eric Ericsson’s--668 Harbor Blvd., Ventura, 643-4783. Ashford Gordon does mellow blues outdoors upstairs in the afternoon.

* Bombay Bar & Grill--Sunday afternoons are almost as popular here as weekend nights, but mostly for an older and more desperate crowd. There’s a dance band in the front bar, often Raw Silk. Then at night, there’s reggae with Rogelio & Flinting.

* 66 California--Usually it’s jazz, but sometimes it’s cool acoustic stuff from the likes of the Rincon Ramblers and Southern Cross.

* Metro--The deejay cranks up some Gothic, industrial and KROQ tracks. Free pizza early, free popcorn always and it gets fairly packed by around 11 p.m. with dancers who obviously have no gainful employment on Monday.

* Cafe Voltaire--Music all day long with the Tommy Quayle Band rocking out at 6 p.m.

* Maxie’s--A classic rock band in the afternoon begins around 4 p.m. with a--get this--free tri-tip dinner.

* Deer Lodge--2261 Maricopa Highway, Meiners Oaks, 646-4256. This is a serious Sunday afternoon party for locals and weekend bikers. Not only do they offer a great tri-tip dinner for $5, but there’s a band (usually blues) around 3 p.m. This place gets packed.

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Monday

* Borderline Bar & Grill--99 Rolling Oaks Drive, Thousand Oaks, 446-4435. Swing dancing.

* Santa Susana High School--3570 Cochran St., Simi Valley, 520-6800. Swing dancing lessons.

* Alexander’s--And more swing dance lessons.

* Whale’s Tail--Teresa Russell moves over here, and will perform on Tuesday too.

* Latte 101--5722 Telephone Road, #C11, Ventura, 658-2677. At a strip mall in East Ventura, Joe Wolfe does the singer-songwriter thing at this coffee shop.

* Cafe Voltaire--They do the blues, and it’s cheap, too--just a couple of bucks, and it starts early, around 7:30 p.m. All the local luminaries play such as Randy Rich & the Ravens, Bob Jones, Ball & Sultan and Teresa Russell, but sometimes Todd the Owner gets famous blues guys such as Bernie Pearl and Harmonica Fats.

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Tuesday

* Alexander’s--The Battle of the Bands starts at 8 p.m. and it’s all ages until 10 p.m. Usually four bands, known mostly to girlfriends and the neighbors, perform.

* Bombay--Mellow stuff with Gil Valencia

* 66 California--Mellow jazz from Scott Weiss & the Jazz Consultants.

* Nicholby’s--It’s Lindy Hop night with usually upward of 100 people doing that swing thing.

* Cafe Voltaire--An eclectic assortment of bands plays on this night. The 7:30 p.m. show will set you back $2.

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Wednesday

* Whale’s Tail--Raw Silk does that cool R&B; dance stuff as they have for ages at this gig.

* Ban-Dar--It’s Dollar Night, and it’s a hit. Country line dancing rules here as does Jimmy Dale & the Desperados who have probably had this gig since the Gold Rush, doing songs like “Gimme a Redneck Girl.” They even dispense free advice: “You better put your hat back on, son. You’re too ugly like that.”

* Bombay--It’s jazz and R&B; from Domino Affect.

* 66 California--Yup, more jazz.

* Nicholby’s--It’s swing dancing lessons tonight with a dance floor of eagerly sweating novices trying to figure out those cool steps.

* Metro--It’s Bondage, Fetish and Hot Wax Show night and there’s KROQ dance music from the deejay, real rock ‘n’ roll smoke, and gargoyle prints hanging from the walls. But then around 11 p.m., are you ready for transvestites lip-synching Olivia Neutron Bomb songs?