What originally brought KC Turner out to Novato from Columbia, Mo., was a job working for a prominent shoe company. What made him want to stay in Novato after leaving the company was the open mic night he started in November 2006 at Finnegan's Marin.

"The open mic night evolved from the Tuesday night trivia that Finnegan's has," said Turner.

When KC — which is his name, not initials — moved to Novato, he became friends with co-worker Rick Tosh, who happens to run the trivia night and wanted more for Novato.

Tosh introduced him to Finnegan's owner Henry Hautau and Turner suggested that the venue have an open mic night. Hautau was intrigued by the idea and gave him two weeks to set it up.

It's been over four years now and Turner and Hautau are happy with the results. 

"When it first started it was kind of slow, and I was so genuine and innocent" said Turner, "that promoting the Open Mic Night was only word of mouth."

There are lots of regulars who come every week, Turner said, and "every couple of years it changes when the high school kids who perform eventually leave for college, and I see them once a year instead of every week."

Monday's Open Mic Night attracts repeat performers and first timers and usually averages 10-15 people signing up for the two-song time slot. You get 30 minutes if you are the featured artist and according to Turner, who supplies the sound system himself, "really stand out or have paid your dues by performing a lot at the open mic."

On a good night the crowd can be up to 50 people crammed in the back room of Finnegan's, but on average it typically draws 20-30 people.

Since moving out of Novato last year and saying goodbye to his favorite neighbor, guitarist Robin Trower and  vocalist Davey Pattison, Turner now lives in San Francisco and hosts an Open Mic Night at the Red Devil Lounge on Tuesday nights. In addition, KC has his own management company, KC Turner Presents, which includes on his roster Bay Area artists Megan Slankard, the Welcome Matt and the Courtney Janes. He keeps busy by presenting live music throughout the Bay Area at venues and his own house concert series. The concept there is have a concert at someone's home that can hold upwards to 80 people.

"The house concert series started out when I went to a concert in 2006 in Sausalito and was blown away by the concept — having a listening room, the money going directly to the artist and having this environment that basically revolves around the music," he said.

"When I booked the Mother Hips (a band that typically plays venues as large as the Fillmore) for a show, every single person there was silent and let the band do their thing, which you don't get at the larger shows."

KC's house concerts have included Matt Nathanson, Bob Schneider and Jerry Hannan. A limited amount of tickets are still available to the next house concert on Feb. 5 featuring Garrison Starr and Natalia Zukerman. The next concert KC is promoting is on Jan. 22 at the Cafe Du Nord featuring the Family Crest, the Moanin' Dove and The Welcome Matt. It's already sold out, so he must be doing his job pretty darn well.

For more information, visit www.kcturnerpresents.com.