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Mondo: Lounge Act

THINK BACK, all the way to 1993. Clinton had taken office. Bubba was big. Garth and Reba ruled. Chicken-fried steak and grits were found in all kinds of previously un-Southern joints. Into this world appeared the Dixie Grill, a concept bar and restaurant across from Ford's Theatre that played up the southern roadhouse shtick and actually made it work. The chili was good, the beer was cheap, and the unfinished wood floorboards were covered with peanut shells.

Times have changed, and the Dixie Grill is gone.

Welcome Mondo (518 10th St. NW, 202/628-4100). Taking over the two-story, hundred-year-old building that was once the Dixie Grill is Washington's first serious attempt at "Lounge Culture," the nightclub trend that swept Los Angeles, London and New York a couple of years back. It was going to be called Mondo Exotica, but owner Steve Zarpas said the city's Alcohol Beverage Control office got upset with the name, assuming it meant there would be nude dancers. Now it's simply Mondo, which takes some pressure off the owners not to have to be exotic all the time.

The facade is done up in Mondrian colors. Bold yellow, black, red. Walking in, you're barraged by a wall of stenciled Castros, JFKs and Marilyns. It's jet set with an "Americn Tabloid" conspiracy twist (note: The shadow of the FBI building falls on Mondo). It's shaken not stirred. It's bikinis. It's Ray Conniff and Julie London. It's amoeba-shaped coffee tables and Naugahyde couches.

To the left, Rob the bartender wears a fez and offers up drinks. Amanda serves them wearing a shiny sleeveless cocktail dress (revealing acres of tattoos). They've got the Polynesian concoctions in funky glasses with little umbrellas. The "Love Potion #9" that will knock you on your butt. They've got your martinis and your old fashioneds too. The wall is a faux-Miro mural. The old tin ceiling is painted chrome, reflecting all the craziness below.

Upstairs is for swingers. Literally. "It's swinging for the '90s," says Zarpas, half of the brother team behind Dixie Grill, and an original partner in Crow Bar and the late 15 Mins. club. He's smiling and pointing into a room full of. . . swings. Suspended from the ceiling on thin chains are canvas chairs, in which grown-ups are acting like little kids, laughing, spinning and flying back and forth. The swings knock into each other, and one of the guys is getting aggressive with his feet like some playground brat, but lordy it looks fun. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? (Possible answer: alcohol. It could get messy.)

In the upstairs bar, under red and blue lights, the leopard-spot curtains fight with the bar's zebra stripes, the mounted marlins fight with the faux-Klee mural (artwork courtesy Daniel Venne), but the surf music is peacemaker and all is well. "We want this place to be the ginchiest," explains the 35-year-old Zarpas in the lingo of his favored era. "It's a reaction to grunge, to techno. It's a chance for younger folks to put on a sportcoat, put on a dress."

Though already up and running for two weeks, Friday is the official opening. There's a private party until 10:30 p.m., then it's open to all and sundry. Mondo will offer bar food, but nothing as extensive as Dixie Grill's menu, and promises live bands (that may or may not evoke the late '50s and early '60s) in the near future.

BITS AND BOBS

The Zimmermans are one of Washington's most artful and eccentric bands, thanks in no small part to singer Lisa E.'s dramatic voice and wailing accordion. But Washington was only a way station in the career of the Kansas native, and New York beckons. Though an audition for the hot musical "Rent" didn't bear fruit, Engelken (her full last name) isn't intimidated and is moving later this month. "I'm gonna sing! I'm gonna act! I'm gonna spread my wings!" she shouts over the phone. As for the Zimmermans, "We're going to try to keep it together somehow," she says, "but given the circumstances, it could be tough." Just in case it all falls apart, you might want to catch them Friday night at the Black Cat, with the mighty fine new jazz combo, the Tin Pan Alleycats opening.

Ten years ago, one of Washington's most artful and eccentric bands (though essentially a bar band at heart) was the Neighbors. Cranking out minor gems in an Americanized pub-rock style, the Neighbors didn't live on trendy street and were always worth the few bucks charged to hear them at places like the Gentry, d.c. space and Friendship Station. While they did score record contracts with tiny French label Closer and Upside out of New York, it didn't make them international stars, and the band broke up. The Neighbors' sound was driven as much by John Moremen's happy-fingered guitar work as anything, and when Moremen moved to San Francisco six years ago, Washington music was poorer for it.

The announcement that a Spanish company, Bam Balam Records, is planning to release a CD compilation of the band's complete recordings is good news and dovetails nicely with Moremen's first visit to the area in years. He will rejoin some of his former Neighbor-mates, Scott McKnight and Steve Woehrle (and the rest of McKnight's band, Naughty Pine), for a show at IOTA on Thursday. (The remaining Neighbor, Peter Gilstrap, remains in Arizona writing for the alternative weekly Phoenix New Times, and producing the coolest Web page on the net: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/gilstrap/.) Though the Spanish CDs are going to be found only in import bins, McKnight says that if all goes well, copies will be available at the show.

And speaking of new records by significant Washington bands from days gone by, Caroline Records has just released "Black Dots" by the legendary and vastly influential Bad Brains. This previously unreleased collection of 16 songs by the all-black punk band was recorded in 1979 at Arlington's Inner Ear Studios and marks the beginnings of harDCore, that peculiarly Washington extension of punk rock that has shaped much of what's now known as "alternative rock." While the Bad Brains have reunited several times since breaking up nearly 10 years ago, they're currently defunct. Their recordings remain important, and "Black Dots" catches them at square one.

We're looking for a few blue drinks. We know the Frozen Blue Thing at the 9:30 club, but what other cobalt concoctions are out there? Send your findings to Nightwatch, Weekend, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington DC 20071, or e-mail us at nightwatch@washpost.com