CLUB SCENE Free Street, Somewhere Else get makeover BY SAM PFEIFLE

Dogfish Café owner Ted Arcand has made good on his promise to get the Free Street Taverna’s doors open once again. As of Friday, October 7, the new joint, renamed 128 Free Street, was open for business, with food available as of Tuesday, October 11. The place has gotten a good spit-shine, but is still recognizably the old Taverna.

The music’s coming back, too. Arcand has enlisted sister Michele to do the booking for the time being. She says 128 Free Street will "stay an acoustic club for the most part," with the longstanding hip-hop Monday open mic getting kicked to the curb. "We might slip in Sly-Chi or Jason Spooner on a weekend," Arcand says, but right now they’re going to "stick to the bands that people like who work at the Dogfish." She’s got this reporter’s bluegrass band, the Grassholes, lined up for October 20 (I didn’t book the gig, and Arcand called me for the conversation that produced these quotes, without knowing I was in the band), and has booked the Van Voorst Van Beest Duo, a jazz band, for October 27.

She notes that the upstairs will be closed for renovations for the time being and that it will "eventually be a more upscale version of the Dogfish, a cool place to just come and relax."

In other bar-renovation news, Normand Paquin, owner of Ogunquit’s MainStreet, a gay bar featuring touring acts and DJs, has bought the Somewhere Else space, upgraded it, and will be unveiling new bar SpringStreet ("MainStreet’s little sister") sometime around October 19 or 20.

"I’ve already gutted the whole place," he says. "I’m going to make it a Martini-lounge/Sports bar." There’ll be new hardwood floors, a ceiling five feet higher than patrons will remember, lots of TVs, buffet on Sundays for football season, and the same-old karaoke on Tuesday and Thursday (so don’t fret about that).

As for the space’s history, the new place is still "definitely a gay bar, a nice place for people to go during happy hours . . . not strictly men or women . . . I want people who are going to Una and Norm’s — that’s where my group of friends are going, and I know they would love a place in Portland like that that’s gay."

Check out www.mainstreetogunquit.com for updates on opening day and pictures of the renovation progress.