Fishtank owner to open new music club in old Lynagh's club

By Scott Sloan - ssloan@herald-leader.com

The owner of The Fishtank bar on Euclid Avenue plans to open another nightclub later this summer in the old, vacant Lynagh's music club space across the street.

John Tresaloni, 34, said the larger space and the history of the venue, which closed in 2002, appealed to him.

He said some bigger bands wanted to play The Fishtank, but he had to turn them down because the bar holds only 100 people, and the crowds would be too small to pay the bands' fees.

And the vacant space seemed like a natural fit because "I kind of cut my teeth in Lynagh's bar in the old music emporium," he said. "I always liked that room and would like to continue the tradition it used to have."

He plans to call it Cosmic Charlie's, after a Grateful Dead song, and he hopes to lure two to three national music acts monthly to complement the local and regional bands that will play other nights.

And although The Fishtank has a reputation of being a jam-band bar, he said, he hopes to bring in all genres to Cosmic Charlie's.

"You might see a country band in there, and maybe we'll start Sunday-night bluegrass," he said.

He said it also should appeal to an older crowd than The Fishtank's, which consists mainly of 21- to 24-year-olds.

"If older people come in here to The Fishtank to see music, they feel out of place," he said. "At Charlie's, we could have people 21 to as old as you want to be."

An opening date is uncertain, he said, but he hopes to be open by mid-August.