Best Juke Box
The Tap Room
READERS' AND STAFF PICK: Clink! The quarter slips down into the Wurlitzer in The Tap Room. The guitar of Jimi Hendrix electrifies the air as a patron slithers up to the bar, illuminated by red neon. Jack Veatch, bartender extraordinaire, there as long as we can remember, pours a stiff drink. The patron inconspicuously checks out other folks in the long mirror behind the bar. His songs are over and the next person adds quarters to the jukebox, which proclaims it has "music for every good taste," including "rock 'n' roll, big band, new wave, cowboy, weird," We'd agree its selections are eclectic. You can hear Patsy Cline, Al Perry, Aretha Franklin, Elvis, Public Enemy, James Brown and Johnny Cash. Bring a roll of quarters and a thirst for a good time.
311 E. Congress St.READERS' POLL RUNNER-UP: Hours of vintage surf, lounge and blast-from-the-past AM radio tunes sound like our idea of a good time, so it's off to The Shelter, 4155 E. Grant Road. Hey, we might even be cool enough to lean up against the Kennedy tapestry and pump quarters into The Shelter's mighty box. The neglected but not forgotten instrumental also has its rightful place amongst this juke's cheezy playlist, and the sound of 1962 never sounded so good.
