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Red Star’s jukebox spins new indie rock and classic rock and pop.

A few years ago I was sitting at the bar at Phil Brady’s one evening after a band had finished, and the jukebox filled with local blues favorites kicked in. It made me think of great jukeboxes from my young adult life in Baton Rouge: the one packed with punk rock and Frank Sinatra at The Library (now North Gate Tavern); the swamp pop and oldies on the massive one that once dominated one wall of the dining room at the Pastime Lounge. There was a time when part of the ambiance of a bar or restaurant was judged by the contents of its jukebox and how the music intersected with the clientele.

Now Phil Brady’s uses an Internet jukebox, their classic machine long gone. Many clubs, if they don’t simply pipe the music in from satellite services, are opting for the same. These give customers the whole of vast media catalogs to choose from. But while they solve the maintenance issue of keeping the music in a jukebox fresh, they decouple the music and the place.

For me, perhaps the city’s best jukebox, in terms of matching a room to the tunes, is at Fleur de Lis. The Government Street pizza joint’s juke is loaded with 45s and doesn’t look like it has been updated since the early 1980s. While waiting for my Round the World to arrive, I overheard a man at the next table explaining to his teenage daughter how the jukebox worked while he fished quarters out of his pocket. “But what if I don’t like the song once I’ve put my money in?” she asked.

The jukebox at Fleur de Lis is frozen in time with cuts from the 1970s and early 1980s.

“That’s part of the fun. It’s a little bit of a gamble,” her dad said. She selected Linda Ronstadt’s version of “Blue Bayou,” which seemed to make everyone in the room happy.

The same can be said for the jukebox at Red Star Bar. It is carefully loaded with a mix of indie rock classics from bands like the Clash and Joy Division and more contemporary fare that reflects the young, music-obsessed crowd that frequents the bar. Teddy’s Juke Joint has a great jukebox as well, loaded with regional blues and R&B, though it doesn’t get a whole lot of use—because Teddy, a knowledgeable record spinner, is always around.

Dearman’s, the venerable hamburger and malt shop in the Bocage Shopping Center, still has its jukebox holding court over the ’50s-themed décor. Unfortunately, it works only “sporadically,” employees say. It is mostly there for nostalgic decoration.

Deejay Rob Payer’s personal jukebox is one of the few left in Baton Rouge.

My good friend Rob Payer is production director at KBRH/WBRH and host of the Rhythm Revue, the classic soul program that provides the weekend soundtrack for much of Baton Rouge. That night at Phil Brady’s, I turned to Rob and asked him where the city’s best jukebox is. “That’s easy, “ he told me. “At my house.”

In a prominent place in Rob’s living room sits a gorgeous vintage jukebox packed with his own collection of 45s. He didn’t want to take out the old jukebox labels, so he created his “Captain’s Log,” a notebook detailing what song is in each slot. After a listening awhile, we put the log aside and took a similar gamble to that of the teenage girl at Fleur de Lis, punching in random numbers and riding through great songs of yesteryear. Occasionally he has to pop the thing open and repair a skip. I imagine this act with light pouring out of the jukebox like it was Indiana Jones’ lost Ark of the Covenant.

Teddy stocks his machine with blues and R&B classics.

And as the blinking lights illuminated the room, the bulbs pulsing in time with the music, Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” came rumbling on. Sometimes, that one right song at that one right moment sounds perfect on a jukebox, and that feeling radiates out to everyone listening.

Writing instruction WordShops are offered during the day on Friday, October 16th. The author's party is at 7 pm Friday night. The festival proper starts at 10 am on Saturday, October 17th, and wraps up at 6 pm with a sunset performance of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.