Mirrors & Musicians

Walking Lodge Bar’s center aisle is like walking a Hall of Mirrors. Every customer’s intent, like every mirror’s intent, is the same. Every customer consumes alcohol. Every mirror reflects images. The attraction and intrigue of both is the various manners through which their intent is accomplished.

As previewed, Friday’s premise was basketball. From megaphones and streamers to NBA trivia (which you could have won, if you were following us on twitter) to the marquee event of the evening, the NBA Jam tournament, hoops was omnipresent… Given this (and the act that the prize was Cavs tickets), I made myself a contestant in the tournament… We’ll return to that mistake in a moment…

The tournament itself was well played… Like the annual right of spring, March Madness, there were several games that would have hurt small children if they watched…. However, there were also several classics, one of which involved a twelve point fourth quarter comeback and an eventual double overtime loss… Full results of every game were available and remain available on our twitter…

Ultimately, the final was an engaging contest…. Neither team ever enjoyed more than a six-point lead and the deciding margin was one… Do I sound to into a video game? Allow me the following opinion… Watching a well played video game is like watching a well-played sporting event (see the fourth of quarter last Sunday)… Drama, emotion, intensity, they are ever present in both… And just as Kurt Warner to Larry Fitzgerald had me out my seat five days ago, the final shot with less than three seconds ago, had me out of my seat tonight…

I know what you’re wondering… I obviously, the way I am talking, was not in the final, so where did I finish? I was eliminated in the first round… Actually, I was crushed in the first round… I had a three point fourth quarter lead, but the other guy, an eventual semi-finalist as it would turn out, was better… (And I look at it this way, alcohol or sitting around waiting for the next game… You decide…)

Amidst the NBA Jam tournament, which consumed almost seven hours and had to be relocated because it took longer than anyone imagined, the menagerie of patrons was immaculate… From the several Steelers jerseys I saw (including one Iron City heifer, who had a Steelers themed purse) to the multiple clusters enjoying Molson towers to the bunnies and the boys hoping to score a bunny… The evening’s ensemble underscored what I typed two weeks ago… Lodge Bar is this city’s most unique venue…

That uniqueness was epitomized perfectly in the evening’s entertainment, Ryan and Joe, a pair of guitarists, who billed themselves as “Mission 19.” Their set list was nothing unexpected… It was laced with familiar opening rifts, which included “Ants Marching” and “Hey Jealousy…” The set presentation was completely unexpected… Whether inserting “Crazy Bitch” into one song or pairing Dave Matthews and Jay-Z… The duo induced enough double takes to require glasses….

Still, their set was outstanding… They were not perfect and some of their choices made me wince… However, their personalities and stage manners, buying shots for the crowd, discussing Guitar Hero, and their willingness to take a risk, made them an act worthy of applause and a second appraisal…

Mission 19 also produced the evening’s greatest energy…. Throughout the evening and the tournament, there were rushes…. Yet, as Ryan and Joe played the final song of their first set, one could observe a packed and pulsating dance floor… Again, Lodge Bar was consistently busy the entire night… The level of energy was consistent… Yet, as Mission 19 finished their first set, the energy finally was contagious…

The energy finally screamed (as it did two weeks ago)… Crack a bottle… Let your body waddle… It’s on till the break of dawn and we’re starting this party from dusk… (Yes, those are song lyrics and a free drink at the Snowed Inn\Snowed Bunny event to the first person to e-mail me with the artist who sings them)…