Caterpillar Lounge gets new digs, new DJs

Photo by Kevin O'Meara for City Pages

​Thom Pham's Caterpillar Lounge used to be tucked away on the west corner of the old Azia Restaurant on Eat Street until it closed last fall, but as of this week is reincarnated inside Pham's Azian Kitchen on Fifth Street downtown. Backed by some of the city's most respected DJs as residents, the limited-capacity Caterpillar is set to be a hot spot throughout the rest of winter as its cozy confines (similar in size to the 7th St. Entry) ensures the gig will feel well attended even if a few dozen people show up.

The latter isn't likely to be a problem though, with residents like Jet Set's Bryan Gerrard (Wednesdays), Cryphy's Plain Ole Bill (pictured, Thursdays), Club Jager's Dory McKenzie (Fridays) and former Caterpillar-Nicollet Ave. resident Fourfeet (Saturdays).

Testing the waters tonight for its "soft" opening will be longtime partyrocker Dirty McKenzie, and on January 29, things get serious with Minneapolis-based funkytime piper Chuck Love  (Om Records, Love Network) as the special headliner on live instruments as well as the usual DJ setup.

"We'll be partying jamboree-style with flute, trumpet, guitar, and vocals," Love says. "'I'm fired up about it. It's my mom's 80th birthday that night so we're going to be out for that, too!"

Caterpillar resident Fourfeet, who has guested on several Love tracks (including their most visible house cut below), will make an appearance at the opening, as will Gerrard.

At a time when many restaurants and clubs are closing their doors and when house music feels like a shadow of its former self in Minneapolis, this is all quite good news.

MORE INFO: http://caterpillarmpls.com/  Twitter: http://twitter.com/caterpillarmpls

 


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