Dublin is such a hip city right now that Fun Lovin' Criminal Huey Morgan is to open a bar here in the next few weeks. Well, the front man of the popular New York band will have a small share in Dermot Doran, (of Eamon Doran's in Temple Bar) and Kieran Finnerty's (of Dublin Brewing Company) newest late bar and club, to be called the Voodoo Lounge. Nick Cohen, who runs New York's trendy Shine night club, is also involved in the new venue. Opening at the former goth-style bar Valhalla on Arran Quay, near Smithfield, The Voodoo Lounge will be a dark den of reggae, R'n'B, hip-hop, house and Caribbean when it opens in the coming weeks.
The beer business is keeping Finnerty very busy these days and on Monday night he was at the Project in Temple Bar for the launch of the new theatre bar, Bar Upstairs, which will be run by Dublin Brewing Company. Open every afternoon and from 7 p.m. most evenings, this bar, serving Dublin Brewing Company's beers and ales exclusively, will initially be a venue bar but will also be open to the public. Bar Upstairs strikes one as lacking in atmosphere, but Janice McAdams of the Project explains it's not quite ready to open yet, and requires a little more interior work.
Interior designer Asumpta Sweeney is on hand to offer advice, should it be requested. Actor Darragh Kelly, who's just finished filming RTE's new docu-drama Paths to Freedom, is here along with fellow cast-members of Three Days of Rain, which has just opened at the Project, and in which he stars.
This week also saw another addition to the Dublin bar scene when Q Bar - the former Harp bar at O'Connell Bridge - reopened its doors after a huge make-over. Inspired by London's trendy Met Bar, the new owners hope to attract the twenty-something hip crowd with a funky new design and music by the Velure boys.