Prague's centrally located Újezd street, already a nexus for numerous cafés, bars and restaurants, experienced a musical upgrade last week. The announcement of free drinks that appeared earlier in the day in Mladá fronta Dnes assured that opening night at PopoCafePetl Music Café (Újezd 19) would be an SRO experience. What was most impressive, though, was the live music presented on a well-lit stage with an impressive sound system tailored for the space.

Living up to the club's musical promise to present what stage manager Jan Kratochvíl calls "bands that mix styles and genres," a local quartet known as XXL christened the stage with a tight, swinging set of acoustic ethnic-flavored jazz-rock. Later in the evening, a less-polished funky sound was generated by the local band Milo.

Even though the space is relatively small, with a capacity for just 180 people, this new music café has the bases covered for dancing, mingling and lounging. On one end of the cellar is a café with a well-stocked bar dispensing foamy espressos along with Czech and Belgian draft beers. Down the hall, Vinny´ sklep, a well-stocked wine cellar, serves a local and global selection of wines. While the wine cellar is far enough from the music to enable conversation, near the stage there's a small dance space for people to enjoy a high-decibel thrill.

The name PopoCafePetl already has a local reputation. It first opened in 1998 at a premier location on Vodickova street that became a popular late-night lounging and party destination. In 2000, PopoCafePetl opened another café on Italská street in Prague 2 that continues to dispense Epicurean beverages to the spin of in-house DJs until 2 a.m. nightly.

Nearly five years after losing their lease on Vodickova, the PopoCafePetl crew teamed up with local music promoter Kratochvíl to reopen as a live music venue on Újezd. With Kratochvíl managing the stage action, the new club plans on taking a few risks.

Kratochvíl says he hopes to forge connections between PopoCafePetl and similar small music venues in neighboring countries. That will create opportunities, he says, for "the exchange of cult and emerging bands from Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and maybe even [Austria] and Germany. We also want to install a projector in the back room of the club to screen simultaneous concerts that are happening at the music venues we network with."

Looking at the café's September calendar, international acts like Budapest's Erzsi Kiss and the Scottish/French alt-country band Two Dollar Bash certainly fit Kratochvíl's intent to book genre-bending bands. Erzsi Kiss, named after the Hungarian actress who is also the group's lead singer, mixes new wave-inflected blues-rock with African and European folk influences. Active on the touring circuit since 1996, the group has built a regional cult following. On Sept. 9, the band will premiere material from its upcoming CD. Berlin-based Two Dollar Bash, another good example of an eclectic regional band, will appear Sept. 13.

Also in the September lineup are Czech bands like the Gitans, which blends Balkan and Romany styles; Gothic rockers Pankix; alternative veterans Jablkon and a variety of groups yet to be announced.