Little birdies are starting to drop interesting tidbits into our boxes over the past few days, and this has to be one of the most intriguing ones.

Apparently, rumor that an Irish pub could possibly be coming to the old A&N/Obama space on the DT Mall have been prevalent for some time, however this round seems to have a few more gossipy tidbits attached to it.

Current rumor is that the space will be subdivided into multiple slots for businesses, and at least one of those is going in the ‘upscale Irish/late night music’ direction.  And if you think late night music and Belmont, you get Bel Rio, and at least one of the owners is apparently the driving force behind this.

If so, this would be the fourth restaurant among the pair, as C&O, Bel Rio, & most recently Cantina all have Jim & Dave behind the wheel in some fashion.

Nothing solid in terms of a time line, and we are pouring over the Board of Architectural Review, which the last entry related to the space was dated September 16th, 2003.

Anyone else heard something solid about this?

Cantina. I’d heard lots about this new Mexican joint on the corner, but had yet to pay a visit for myself. When I heard that Illville Crew, a rising local hip-hop outfit was descending upon the place on Saturday, I decided to check things out. So, I threw on  my Led Zeppelin hoodie, a pair of torn jeans and my trusty cowboy boots and set off Corner-bound. I wasn’t quite sure where the place was, so I parked in the Corner parking lot,  behind the university bookstore. As soon as I stepped out of my car, however, I knew where I was going. One could hear the grooves echoing all through the block. The place was located next to Coupe Deville’s, on  Elliewood Ave.

I quickly found there to be a very generous crowd gathered in the small patio area, and Illville were already at it. Frontmen Quentin (Q*black) Walker & Marquis Monroe were throwing down their solid rhymes in the flawless way that only they can, with Bobby McLaren aka DJ Ducktape laying down the back tracks. The boys kept ‘em coming, announcing that it was Q*black’s birthday and bringing up the full-band; Jay Chowdhry on guitar and keys, Gabe Engel on bass & Chris Doermanm on drums. The beer was cheap and available right there on the patio. The crowd continued to grow. Looking around, I saw a sea of sun dresses and polo shirts and was instantly reminded that I was on the corner; not a hipster in sight (don’t hipsters like hip-hop too?).  I briefly second-guessed my attire. Inside, Cantina sported awkward color schemes with various pin-up girl paintings on the wall and a very “homey, mysterious vibe” as frontman Q*black later explained to me:

“…I had never went went, but when I did, it’s close, personal, like someone’s house. The coolest part is that people hear us before they can even see the place. It is always a good time; probably our favorite place to play in town because its not too big!”

Overall it was an amazing show and I was quite impressed with what Cantina had going on (and you HAVE to check out “el baño”). I highly recommend checking out both Cantina & Illville Crew (I heard rumor that they would be back on the 26th?). I also got a brief chance to ask Quentin what was in store for the group.

“We’ve got a lot of stuff that is diverse and  a little bit everywhere; now its time to work on putting a casing on what we have and focusing on making the best music we can that will keep the party going.”