While I love a good show at a regular music venue, there’s something extra special about catching a band at a gallery or other underground spaces. It’s just a little more exciting, seeing a group crammed into a room where anything goes, art covers the walls, and the host is having people play for the love of the music, rather than to fill a bill.

In San Francisco, it can be a challenge knowing when music-friendly arts spaces pop up (before the cops shut them down). In the past couple months, you may have seen Facebook invites to a place called The Common, a downtown spot located on Mission at 7th, that serves as a hub for clothing, coffee, music, and art. Its hosted some interesting events since opening last October. There was a movie night, a photography show of William S. Burroughs’ belongings, and a secret Halloween gig featuring indie shoegazers Weekend and jangly pop band Real Estate . This Friday, Jan. 7, The Common hosts another gig, this one merging art from 13 different artists (including Jay Howell , one of my favorites) with a performance of spaced-out Krautrock from two great local acts, Jonas Reinhardt and Maus Haus . The theme for the show is ice cream social, which means The Common will have an ice cream bar for all ages, set up along with another bar featuring adult beverages.

I chatted with Michael Maher recently, who’s part of the Durable Goods Concern collective behind The Common. I met Michael a couple months back through his other gig — he’s part of the made-to-order men’s line, Taylor Stitch. His crew’s vision of presenting something well-crafted for the public to enjoy has expanded greatly in the past couple months. He said this space was created with three things in mind: to serve food and drinks to people so they can hang out a while and enjoy the designer and artist-made items on display; to offer un-office like space upstairs for folks who need to rent a desk in a creative environment; and to present events that create community.

Michael and his partners are very purposeful in who they’ve selected to become part of The Common. The 30 or so designers on display offer American-made (and often locally-made) items of high quality. That goes for the coffee they serve too — you can get Four Barrel served up in their cafe. And the music, well, so far they’ve selected some of the best local bands to perform there, and Michael hopes to keep regular shows tied to events on the weekends.

Stay up on various art, literary, fashion, film, and music events at The Common by liking them on Facebook or signing up for their mailing list . From the sound of things, The Common aspires to continue mixing mediums in interesting — and inclusive — ways. “We’re not trying to be uber-hipster or uber anything,” Michael explained. “We just want people to get together and have fun.”