I've had a little bit of experience with putting on rock/indie shows. Your best bet is to network your ass off because unless you are super rich you will need some help.
first thing is to get a size in mind and a venue picked out. If you are trying to go legit this might be one of the hardest parts as most my experience with trying to book venues. Trying to rent a hall or ballroom requires a large insurance policy IME... usually need the owners involvement, or someone with money to blow. Might have better luck with out doors, but any time you are dealing with city officials and a place where drugs might be used... well it doesn't always go over all that well. These types of people and places tend not to be very charitable or of appreciate of a nobody with big dreams. If you are trying to stay legit, the type of permit(if one at all) would depend on location and expected size. I think a venue that is already approved/zoned for having concerts wouldn't need additional permitting, only insurance issues to cover possible damage to the building and what not.
Second thing is to get the sound system lined up. For a crowd of 1-200 people you could probably get decent sound with a $5-10,000 PA system. It's much harder to put on sound for a live band, being that you will have to have a boat load of mics, mic cables, mic stands, a decent mixer, monitors, amp for the monitors, PLUS whatever you are going to use for you main sound(tower combo speakers, sub, and amps). Also, unless you already have experience running a sound board it isnt something you want to just jump into during a bands performance... it's not rocket science but a shitty sound man can be very unpleasant for listeners, also make it very hard for the band to hear themselves.
So, you have a solid venue lined up, an even more solid sound system lined up, both sized to accommodate the expected crowd, now it is time to pick a date and find artist to want to perform. Be aware that most serious musicians will ask for some sort of gaurantee if they are traveling. Touring bands might be willing to jump on the list if there is a guarantee of a decent sized crowd and a well known venue, but be expected to cough up gas money at the very least. Bands with any sort of reputation usually have a larger guarantee, so if you are using a no name venue, you will have to know people. Local acts tend to be very willing to play, but usually the more willing to play the more terrible they are. bands that can sell out a venue don't really care to set up and perform for a crowd of maybe 10-20. Best bet is to start promoting for bigger name venues and try to build relationships with bands, or promote for a band/artist.
venue, sound, bands/artist, date.... now time to promote. promotion is a huge one as well. If you get big enough names to come then it will eventually self-promote, but in order to get those bigger names you have to have a venue that they want to come play. bit of a catch 22, but if you start small perhaps you can get past it.
good luck and i hope you are successful. Not enough people who want to put on events in the world. my best advice would be to find people with the same goal in mind to team up with. the best way to expand your resources is to expand your network. things like these have a way snowballing once you get the momentum going, but it hard starting out. Me and a buddy of mine manage to get decent bands to come through our town and we had a pretty decent PA but we couldn't get a venue. We were much younger then, but the hall we were using started to say that we needed a million dollar insurance policy to continue. I think if you find the place and can create the atmosphere eventually it will begin to self-promote through reputation, then you will have artists lining up to play your venue. Look at SXSW- most artist have to PAY to play!
