Jukeboxing Lions Lair

Where they haven't been replaced by charmless, trend-crunching tune-bots, jukeboxes say a lot about a place—nay, enhance the place. In Jukeboxing, The A.V. Club pushes buttons and makes music at Denver bars and venues. This edition looks at the Lions Lair.

The jukebox: The Lair's nondescript, Rowe A.M.I. jukebox has been tucked into the back corner of the bar, underneath the watchful eyes of a crushed-velvet lion, for the past ten years. In two words, soul and punk dominate the the box (although some exceptions abound). Taped to the inside of the display glass is a letter from Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette congratulating the bar on its "Best Denver Jukebox Of 2004" award. Which, frankly, is a little out of place next to the Star Wars pinball machine and beer-stained "86 Rules Of Boozing" chart.

Nerd jams: In an age when Hot Chip and Mogwai tunes can be easily summoned on a digital jukebox, the Lair keeps things relatively nerd-free. Still, picking a deeper cut from The Very Best Of The Meters or the equally funky "My Wig Fell Off" from the self-titled Root Boy Slim & The Sex Change Band is pretty nerdy.

Drinkin' songs: For day drinkers, Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue, Patsy Cline's 12 Greatest Hits, or Doc & Merle Watson's Then & Now should soothe or magnify the pain, depending on what you're after. For those to whom "drinking" is an action word, there's "The Kids Are All Drunk" by old-school punk rockers Sloppy Seconds, "Ice Cold Beer" by Denver's Lyin' Bitch And The Restraining Orders (the only local disc in the jukebox), and the pure, Miller-Lite-gulping exuberance of "I'm A Rocker" from The River, one of four Bruce Springsteen albums represented.

Mixes: Punk, punk, and punk. Mixes like Puke Or Punx, Punk Up Yers, and Evil Rock Kills Squares Dead are chock full of noisy brawlers by The Minutemen, Bad Brains, and D.O.A., while other home-made mixes, supplied by bartenders and patrons over the years, boast Tom Waits and The Kinks. Bonus: A rare 43-song mix selected by Iggy Pop.

For bar time: The Lions Lair has so much live music going on nightly that it could be hard to sneak a jukebox session in, but in between sets it might be nice to temper the din of the live rock with the jukebox's secret weapon: soul music. While AC/DC, Willie Nelson, and The Stooges all make their obligatory appearances, the bulk of the box is straight out of Motown with Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Gladys Knight, War, Dusty Springfield, Curtis Mayfield, and, the queen of bow-tie hats herself, Aretha Franklin. Don't let the rhythm get you, though, per the 56th Rule Of Boozing: "Never brood in a dance bar, never dance in a dive bar." The Lair is definitely the latter.