Cheap beer, bright neon at FUBAR

and Mike Tuhy The Chestnut Cabaret is dead. Long live FUBAR. At least, that seemed to be the sentiment of the crowd that club owner Jim Millspaugh invited to the grand reopening of his nightclub on 38th and Chestnut streets. Why the name change? "Because it's not the Chestnut Cabaret anymore," Millspaugh said, adding that the new club has cheaper prices and more "college-friendly" music. "We're trying to gear it more towards the college crowd," FUBAR manager Ryan Barnett said. Last semester, the Cabaret's prices were consistent with Delaware Avenue clubs such as Egypt and Maui. Barnett said FUBAR hopes to compete with the "college bars like Cavanaugh's and Smokey Joe's." For example, pitchers of beer will cost $3.50 and Tuesday nights will feature 25 cent draft beers. Also, students looking to start their Friday frolicking early can take advantage of FUBAR's $1 Happy Hour -- where all drinks cost a dollar -- from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aside from drink specials, FUBAR offers patrons a psychedelic decor complete with neon strobe lights and a swirling spotlight which shines the club's logo onto the dance floor. The stage, which also featured the performance of the Long Beach Island, N.J., band Hyperactive, was dominated in the early hours by a big-screen TV alternating between the MTV Video Music Awards and a computer-animated movie about bees. Live bands will only perform on Thursday nights -- other nights will feature music supplied by disc jockeys ranging from WDRE's DJ Chaz to Asylum's DJ Rich Russo. The crowd itself was predominantly composed of "industry folk [friends and business associates of Millsbaugh's, plus area journalists]," according to one of the bartenders, though there was a smattering of University and Drexel University students. The student reaction was, for the most part, very positive. "Good stuff," was College junior Alex Saltzman's opinion of the revamped club. He plans on returning regularly because "the weekly line-up seems pretty good." Last night's one main drawback was the near-total lack of interest in the dance floor, which was only visited by a woman coaxed to dance by a City Paper photographer desperate for a good picture. "This kind of music you really can't dance to," Wharton senior Kelly Johnson said. "That's really my only problem -- that and the fact that I'm a little offended by the dress of some of the women." But what does FUBAR stand for? "It means whatever you think it does," Millspaugh said. "I just picked it out of a hat."

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