A Pretty Good Jukebox

Tonight, I celebrated Peej's by joining him, Beth, and J3K for a bite to eat and a couple of beers. We were lamenting the presence of a digital jukebox in the establishment. Really, a digital jukebox that offers every conceivable album isn't a plus. You might get the one or two songs that receive airplay (if the band was a commercial success) but no deep tracks.

In my opinion, a great jukebox is something to be coveted. The Stein Club had a great jukebox. I used to love playing the old familiar tracks with my boys Danny, Matt, and Joey. We had a ritual that had to be followed. First, walk to the box, take your position in front of it. Start at one end and browse the CDs from start to finish, taking note of your probable selections. Return to the beginning. Insert cash, note "selections remaining" and begin the journey to the back. Anyone could spot but one person was generally the "keymaster" who was responsible for entering the song numbers.

Inevitably, the songs we played would always include the following tracks:

• "So What'cha Want" - Beastie Boys
• "How Soon is Now" - The Smiths
• "Walking After Midnight" - Patsy Cline (for Carol)
• "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground" - Willie Nelson
• "Suspicious Minds" - Elvis
• "Peace Frog" - The Doors

Man, I miss The Stein Club. After it left us, The Righteous Room provided some solace with its jukebox. The FlatIron in East Atlanta Village is better. Recently, I have discovered that Twain's in Decatur has a box on par with the Steiner. It is fantastic. If you haven't, go check it out. In addition to albums, it includes a few homemade mix CDs complete with cover art. My favorite is the one with the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons titled "Best. CD. Ever." Anywho, it makes me happy.

The List
Tonight, after we all lamented the all-digital jukebox in the restaurant, we decided to build our own jukebox. Actually, it's for the bar that we'll open. According to PJ's rules, everyone who works there gets to put in 5 CDs. If they suck, the person is fired. Anwho, we made a list of 5 albums and one alternate. Then, each person got to remove a CD from someone else's list. Finally, everyone got to add their "Oh shit, I forgot to include this CD on my list" album. I think we made a pretty good jukebox.

Click the image to peep our premium tracks.