Rock ‘n’ roll alive and thriving in the ‘Burgh

Extra! Extra! The spirit of rock ‘n’ roll still alive – and in Pittsburgh!

The following… Extra! Extra! The spirit of rock ‘n’ roll still alive – and in Pittsburgh!

The following is a true story about how a borrowed car, a mustache and two drunk kids restored my faith in the almighty rock ‘n’ roll. Amen.

It all began last Thursday. All through my frantic day, the light at the end of the tunnel was the thought that at 9:15 that evening, I would have the chance to sit down for a post-show interview with one of my favorite bands, Portugal. The Man, who appeared in The Pitt News that same day.

The reason this interview had been arranged was that I am not 21 years of age, albeit so painfully close that I’ve got a biological clock counting down the seconds (13 days, five hours, 21 minutes and so on).

The band’s show at the Rex Theatre for that night was booked as an over 21 gig – a dangerous move on the part of the theatre, especially noting that the majority of the band’s fan base is, well, in high school.

And because I was, at the time, just about three weeks from legally being able to see the band play, I had worked out about 15 minutes to sit down with them after their set to talk rock ‘n’ roll.

As soon as I was done working, I immediately booked it up to my house, picked up my girlfriend, changed my clothes, downed a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (always a good choice), swiped my roommate’s car keys from his desk drawer, and to the South Side we went.

Soon I was successfully completing the near-impossible – parallel parking – and briskly walking down the sidewalk while dialing up the tour manager, having arrived a fashionable 20 minutes late.

“This is Justin Jacobs