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| - My friend is a piano teacher, so I took it as a good sign that Sing Sing would be quality stuff. It was her birthday, and I didn't really know anything about dueling piano bars. I was picturing glossy black grand pianos with glittering notes, pianists in black jackets and crystal glasses full of red wine. I am really, really glad I was wrong.
It was gritty, bawdy and quintessentially Pittsburgh. First off, the pianos are scuffed to hell, considering the number of tipsy people who sit on them nightly while being mildly humiliated. The musicians hammer away at them, and they're covered with N@ and Sing Sing stickers. It's obvious they've been well-loved. The music is anything but the elevator music I was picturing; it's rock, hip-hop, oldies, pop, and just about any genre imaginable thanks to the request system (send up a piece of paper with some money) and the amazing repertoire of the musicians. For instance, "Rubber Ducky" and "Gangsta's Paradise" were both featured when I was there, and both performed impeccably. They also honored a request for a Taylor Swift song only to receive $30 and a request for "anything else," which they promptly followed. The musicians also do funny versions of popular songs, and throw in things like "yinz" instead of "you."
I saw in awe of the performers for a decent portion of the night. It must take a particularly special type of person to put on a show like this, considering the energy, confidence, wit, empathy, boldness, silliness, cleverness, and sheer talent a job like this requires. They rotate performers in and out so there's not even an intermission. I've read comments about the baseness of the humor, but I had no doubt the guys up on stage were intelligent dudes. They had great personalities: one was about 140 pounds, cheeky, and quick-witted. He acted out every sport in the winter olympics, and was pretty into this 90-something-year-old lady in the audience called Joan. The other had crazy hair and bright blue Chucks, beatboxed as well as he sang, and made it point to play a handful of songs for my friend's birthday. "I think Ray Charles is the most soulful guy of all time," he said when she requested him.
There were tons of people celebrating birthdays, and one big bachelorette party the Saturday night I was there. The performers bring the birthday boy/girl, bachelor/bachelorette, etc. on stage (for a $20 tip, which is pretty easy to scrounge up among friends) and humiliate the hell out of them, i.e. this is not the place to be if you can't laugh at yourself. My friend had a short dress on when she sat on the piano, and they sang a three-minute song about her vagina.
Luckily, the show eclipsed the bad service and overpriced, weak drinks, because those did feature heavily throughout the night. The rest of the staff was friendly, however, and I stumbled on the door guy singing and dancing by himself, which made me smile.
Sing Sing is definitely not an every weekend type of thing (much like Hofbräuhaus), but is a splendid way to celebrate a special occasion. Definitely belongs on every required Pittsburgh experiences list.
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