As some of you may already know, O'Flaherty's Irish Channel Pub on Toulouse Street in New Orleans has not reopened since Hurricane Katrina. This was the city's most prominent (if not its only) venue for strictly-traditional Celtic music, regularly featuring local and touring acts, often two-at-a-time in separate rooms on either side of a central courtyard.

Just last week, I spotted a familiar row of Celtic-nations flags above a doorway on St. Louis St. between Bourbon and Royal, and heard the sounds of recorded squeezebox and pennywhistle coming out the door. The sign above the door read "Sean Kelly's Pub," and photos in the window identified The Maloneys and Beth Patterson as featured entertainers. I briefly stuck my head in the door and asked how long they'd been open, and was told "just two weeks." In other words, they got up and running just in time for Mardi Gras. The (spacious) interior looked pretty nice, with lots of natural-finish woodwork ~ too shiny and new to feel truly authentic, but a nice try that could eventually mellow into a comfortable environment.

I have no idea whether or not there is a real person named "Sean Kelly," and don't know whether the place will turn out to be an obnoxious "theme" pub or a favorite hangout. It was daytime when I found it, and I didn't even check the price list, let alone stop for a pint. The place may be too close to the tourist-trasp environs of Bourbon Street to ever be as homey as O'Flaherty's was; time will tell. For now, the only thing we do know is that the place is offering employment to at least two excellent trad-style acts.

If anyone knows about Danny O'Flaherty's situation, let us know. I know only that he's alive and well and occasionally appearing in New Orleans (at venues other than his own former business), but don't know where he has relocated, whether he'll ever reopen on Touloues Street, etc.