Pub wars!

Earlier this week, Kieran Folliard announced he's moving his original bar, Kieran's Irish Pub, into the old Bellanotte space in Block E. It's huge news for the withering entertainment complex and another boon for the co-owner of the Local, the Liffey and the ultra-hot Cooper in St. Louis Park. He'll have competition, though. There's already an Irish pub just a block away -- O'Donovan's, whose owner, Dermot Cowley, worked for Folliard at the Local before striking out on his own in 1999. "I think it's fantastic," Cowley said of the news. "When good places come into a neighborhood, it helps everybody. It keeps us all on our toes." The new Kieran's will open March 16, the day before St. Patrick's Day -- and less than a month before Opening Day at the Twins' new stadium nearby.

TOM HORGEN

Curt will dare

Friday night will be almost as busy for Curtiss A as his upcoming John Lennon show Dec. 8. The Dean of Scream will go from Paul Metsa's bash straight over to First Avenue, where he was invited to sing one of the "Let It Be" cuts for the all-star Replacements tribute. It makes terrific sense, since Mr. A and the 'Mats were Twin/Tone labelmates and -- as he was quick to remind us -- "I am responsible for all of the replacement Replacements [Slim Dunlap and the late Steve Foley] and the band Tommy [Stinson] had after the Replacements [Bash & Pop]. They were all guys who came out of my band." Curtiss did admit he might be underqualified in one respect: "I've never listened to a Replacements album in my life," he claimed. "They're younger than me, and, you know...." We don't want to spoil the surprise of which song he learned for the show, but he said, "I like it a lot because it has the word 'bad' and 'dad' in it."

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Papatola leaves the stage

Theater critic Dominic Papatola is leaving the St. Paul Pioneer Press Jan. 15 to become a program officer with the Otto Bremer Foundation, a major philanthropic force in St. Paul. Papatola served as president of the American Theater Critics Association, a Pulitzer Prize juror and an arts commentator for Minnesota Public Radio -- a role he will continue until he departs the newspaper, he told us by e-mail Tuesday. "The decade I've spent at the Pioneer Press has been one of the best of my life, and I will certainly miss it," he said, adding that he will continue to review "periodically" in the Pioneer Press as a freelancer. I.W. always considered Papatola a worthy adversary. He saw an awful lot of theater, worked hard and generally defended his opinions -- even when he was wrong.

GRAYDON ROYCE

Have baton, will travel

The Minnesota Orchestra's Osmo Vänskä won't be relaxing much over the holidays. Instead, he will be on the road again, guest-conducting the New World Symphony in Miami all of next week and then heading to Japan for a three-week series of concerts with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony in Tokyo. The Finnish-born conductor will lead the Japanese premiere of "Insect Symphony" by Finnish composer Kalevi Aho. But the big-ticket items will be Beethoven symphonies numbered Seven and Nine. The mighty Ninth has become a Christmastime favorite in Japan. Vänskä returns to Minneapolis for concerts Jan. 7-22, then travels to London to conduct all seven Sibelius symphonies with the London Philharmonic. His 2010 datebook also includes guest appearances in Philadelphia and Paris.

CLAUDE PECK

Lotsa Metsa

You already knew Paul Metsa had a lot of songs to sing. After bouncing around different corners of the Minnesota music business for three decades, the blues/folk/rock vet also has quite a few stories to tell. Music and memories will intermingle at his 30th anniversary retrospective concert "Skyway to Hell," taking place Friday at the Parkway Theater, 4814 Chicago Av. S., Mpls. (8 p.m., $12-$15). The Iron Range native named the show after the downtown stripper lounge where he first earned his stripes in town, and he's reuniting his rootsy old band Cats Under the Stars just for the occasion. Other guests will include his current partner in blues, harp-blower Sonny Earl, (with whom he has a new EP/DVD, "No Money Down") plus seasoned pals Willie Murphy, Sherwin Linton, Curtiss A and Mary Cutrufello. Call it a who's who of who's been around the block.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER