EXCITEMENT OF THE JUKE BOX VARIETY

For the last 6 years, I've played on a local coed New York City softball team called Serenity Now! (Yes, taken from the Seinfeld episode).

And for the last 6 years, the big event has always been going out to a bar in close proximity following the game, win or lose, but win usually means more drinks consumed and better time had by all. And for 6 years, music has mostly been at the forefront of post game conversations. I always find that going to a bar with a formidable juke box where we one can program the music and not be at the mercy of the bartender's taste is certainly the better way to go.

The best thing about NYC bars and pubs is that the juke box selections vary over an incredibly wide range of music depending on the neighborhood you're in. Sure you have your standard bar w/juke box featuring nothing but greatest hits albums and the best selling albums of pop groups (IE Bob Marley, Fleetwood Mac's Rumors, Any Nirvana album) and so on. The beer on tap is usually Rolling Rock, Bud, and Bud Light, and sometimes really bad Guiness, but even these bars have their loyal patrons. The more power to them.

But playing softball in every corner and far reach of Manhattan Island, and sometimes Roosevelt Island over a 6 year span has seen a variety of bars and a variety of juke boxes featuring music you thought you'd never see except for in your own music collection.

Most recently, our post game visit to the Dive Bar on Manhattan's Upper West Side (we won our game by the way) saw pitchers of Paulaner HefeWeizen and Lagunitas IPA on the table, along with The Crystal Method playing on the juke box. What is Lagunitas and who is The Crystal Method? While some of you may know them, the brew is Californian and the music is anything but like what you'd hear at a pub. Check either of them out. I have to say, they paired quite nicely. Especially after a hard fought softball victory.

Over the years my teammates and I have played music trivia, covered every wacky top 10 list having to do with music (IE The top 10 songs with the word "Rain" in the title), and tracked careers of musicians from their original bands to their solo careers and back again. And while we've done this in every corner of the Island, from the Lower East Side to Harlem, it had been some time since there was a formidable juke box to slip money into instead of a punk bartender with his/her IPod hooked up to the sound system.

It was beautiful. CSN's Southern Cross, Etta James's At Last, The Cure's Lovecats, and Elvis Costello's Watching the Detectives were some that I chose. There were a bunch of selections I had never heard of and when you spend money to hear them, it's probably best to stay clear and not risk it. If not for the barkeep giving us 6 free songs after the juke box crapped out eating my $2, all would have been lost and we would have been stuck listening to the Yankees/Devil Rays game.

But alas God was watching us on this night.