In my eyes, a very solid line-up: from Bloomington, Indiana Prizzy Prizzy Please and on IHEARTCOMIX records, Totally Michael. Reppin’ the ‘burgh hard, as always was Lord Grunge from Grand Buffet and yr favorite party protagonists, the Hood Gang. A sick show on a Wednesday for Pittsburgh or by any city’s standards.
Howler’s has become one of the better local venues with a new stage, a revamped sound system, a bands-keep-the-door policy, and a ceiling covered with autographed t-shirts.
The hook for this show, what Sneaky was telling everyone, in the sweaty summer bars in the East End all June, was that he would bungee-jump off of the Bloomfield Bridge during the climax-freakout of “Go All Night.” No precautions were taken for this stunt except of course the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup a few weeks early, instilling the assured confidence in the power of a real Pittsburgher. The whole steel city was invincible still, like the few frenzied moments when Mario grabs the bouncing star. Sneaky envisioned a spectacular dive off of the center of the bridge all captured on mini-DV by roving camera-man, Los. Bungee or no-bungee Sneaky intended to bridge-dive into sure YOUTUBE glory.
The Hood Gang went on to rock the faces off of a roomful of friends and well-wishers. An ever amorphous musical entity, the Hood Gang brought yet another twist on their line-up to the bar; an 18 yr old, in fact. A music phenom, Jeremy Malvin on keys/guitar/aux percussion, who had just graduated from the same arts high school,CAPA, that several other members of the band had graduated from nearly a decade ago. Small fucking world… Pittsburgh.
With the crowd in a tribalistic fury, the finale of “Go All Night” began… “1,2, ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR!” And Sneaky took off in a flash, surprising the film crew. He was through the bar and out the front door with a Stanly Cup in one hand and a jingle bell wand in the other. Howler’s is about a block and a half away from the bridge. By the time Sneaky Mike made it through the first intersection he saw that no cameras had followed him and lost some steam. He settled for jumping onto the railing of the patio of the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, which was having a fairly populated Drum and Bass night. His arms raised in a V, he screamed like he had in the streets of the South Side when the Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl. The small crowd of bar-ravers were pleased, and cheered along with Sneaky, one even saluted him with a “Roller Boogie” shout-out.
After the show, the lads from Indiana went back to Sneaky’s to party with some of the Hood Gang. The party lasted well into morning, and in the revelry, a new post-reality show was created entitled “Untold Moments of Dudes Hanging Out”. Production on the pilot will begin in early 2010, and the concept is being heavily pitched to both Showtime and HBO.
In the morning, Sneaky, was horrified to discover that he’d been ripped-off. His famous gold American Apperal tights, destined to someday adorn the walls of a very lucky Hard Rock Café, were gone. Sneaky flipped out and strip-searched all the guys from Indiana as well as every inch of their van. The priceless heirloom never turned up. There were vague signs of a break-in but perhaps that was a diversion, a cover-up, in a larger conspiracy. Many wild rumors and theories flew around and still are for that matter. One has the saucy, middle aged female bar owner of Howler’s, fleefing away from the scene huffing the pants. They were never autographed (actually that’s not exactly true, Sneaky had autographed his own crotch at the merch table at a show earlier that summer) and don’t appear to be hanging from the ceiling of Howler’s. Maybe the pants were retained for her personal collection or it may all have something to do with some sisterhood of the traveling pants-type shit.
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