The Bad Juju Lounge steps to the bat one more time

The Bad Juju Lounge, late of Capitol Hill -- it was originally located in the spaces now occupied by Purr Cocktail Lounge and Moe Bar -- has re-opened in Belltown. That's right: this is location number three. Once more into the batcave, dear friends!

To my mind, this is adequate cause for true zombie panic. There's something about the Bad Juju that refuses to die, and I don't think that its terrible thirst for new blood will ever be slaked. That is, I hope it never is. I desperately want this third time to stick.

I loved the Bad Juju in its original location. With its voodoo appointments, ear-blistering soundtrack and glass "flames" erupting from the top of the bar, it was as perfect a rock bar as I could imagine.

In my original review for NWsource, I likened a night of drinking at the Bad Juju to drinking inside Keith Richards. Even on those nights when the drinks were poured too heavy and the Motorhead was cranked a bit too loud, I appreciated the Juju simply for being the Juju. Nothing else in town came close to it.

The bar's second location, next to Neumos, felt like an afterthought, and I disliked going there. More often than not, the sound of the band playing next door would overpower the house music. The voodoo fixtures seemed lost in a space that they weren't designed for. There were seldom enough places to sit. When the Juju closed and Moe moved in, I figured that owner Marcus Charles had tired of the bar, and laid it to ground.

That was until last week, when the Bad Juju rose again in a modestly sized space between the Lava Lounge and Shorty's. I visited the bar the night before its grand re-opening on June 13, and the minute I walked in the door I was pleased to discover that it was the genuine article.

It's got the glass flames. It's got the industrial steel bar top. It's got the voodoo art, the photo booth and the deafening metal soundtrack. With the exception of some nice-looking, custom-built wood booths and front-and-back patios, it's the same unrepentant headbanger it used to be.

As I said, I hope it works this time. The Belltown crowd is different than it was several years ago -- less Speakeasy, more Amber -- and while Belltown seems to be able to support three rough-and-tumble bars (Whiskey Bar and the aforementioned Shorty's and Lava Lounge), I don't know if it can support a fourth. The bar's constant blare of classic rock and metal may draw a few curious condo-dwelling Belltownies, but it may be too loud to keep them there or bring them back to the bar more than once.

But these things don't bother me. The Bad Juju is my kinda place, from its "Rock Band"-like soundtrack to its paint-peeling cocktails. I look forward to spending many a night passed out in its photo booth, in the warm and familiar embrace of purest evil.

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