Best of 2000: Best Jukebox Selection

The Live Wire
2103 El Cajon Boulevard,
North Park
(619) 291-7450

He's played in a band called Carnivorous Lunar Activity and tended bar in a red jumpsuit, so it's no surprise that Sam Chammas knows rock and roll. His Live Wire bar on El Cajon Boulevard is a mauve-colored box from outside; inside, it's hardwood floors, a pool table, candle wall sconces, motorcycle racing on TV, and a jukebox lineup that kills. Under the glass, flip-cards display covers from CDs by Al Green, the Sex Pistols, Bow Wow Wow, X, Moby, Fear, and Iggy. Local bands are represented: fluf, Tanner, Rocket from the Crypt, the Dragons, and Deadbolt. Some basic old school black and white: the Godfather of Soul and the Chairman of the Board. The jukebox at the Turf Club in Golden Hill (co-owned by Chammas) has cool martini music, and Live Wire patrons are anxious to see what spins in the jukebox at Chammas's new club on Fern Street in North Park, in the building that formerly housed the Whistle Stop bar and Club I.D.