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I’m adding some comments to share my best guess at Brick Bar’s expectations of the LUG in exchange for the free tix:
Their emails to me referred to my “followers” and told me to send a list of the “winners” to be added to a “media list.” Sounds like they expected me to do a giveaway on a blog. I’m not sure they understand that LUGs are small groups without a lot of reach. I only heard about it Friday so I posted it to a public makerspace forum and didn’t get any takers.
We could post something to the Steel City LUG public forum and Facebook page to help on that end. And if it’s not too late, offer a pair of tickets on some public forum beyond the private LUG membership. However, I wouldn’t go out of your way to lend the credibility of the LUG to the event because the bricks are awful and it’s really just a date night for non-AFOLs.
Beyond that, if y’all show up and put your back into it with a few of the build contests (likely Pittsburgh-themed and 90’s themed) you will raise the general calibre of the event and give them something to post as PR for their future events. If you post some pics to social media, even better. And if you buy drinks or food they’ll come out ahead even on folks who skipped the cover charge.
I don’t think the organizers know much at all about LUGs or traditional LEGO conventions, or media relations associated with LEGO in general. For one thing, they made a big fuss in pre-press communication about a ping ping table made of bricks, and any self-respecting LEGO artist would have made it self-supporting, but no, this is a bunch of fake LEGO covering a makeshift ping pong table.
They seem to know something about pop-up bars and events. Despite the lack of traditional press, they did fill the event with lots of folks in their 20s and 30s and created photo ops to help people fill their Instagram feeds. I had a lot of fun because everything was just a little different from traditional LEGO events and it was interesting to see things from a fresh angle.
Pics of ping pong table (in use as a building surface the whole time I was there) attached. One is a close-up of the edge of the table.
the ping pong table would be more fun with the studs up, then you might need four people on each side because you have no idea which direction the ball is going to bounce 🙂
Newsletter has been sent. Here’s what I have so far. First to claim the rest gets them.
going on their own:
Will – 2 – Friday 5p
Krista – 2 Saturday 12:30
Josh – 4 – Saturday 9:30-11 (if anyone wants these, let me know)Claiming free tickets:
Bacon – 2 – Friday 6:30
Matt – 2- time TBD
Krista – 2 – Saturday 2p
Josh – 5 – Saturday 8pI’m surprised no one else is interested in going to this. Free. Lego related. Other lug members going. No need to staff a display. Free tickets for your friends at this point. Beuler?
Just got an email from them for it with an address. I plugged the address into the Google Maps and it pulled up the Cheesecake Factory on the Southside?
Just got an email from them for it with an address. I plugged the address into the Google Maps and it pulled up the Cheesecake Factory on the Southside?
Interesting, I haven’t gotten anything with a Pittsburgh address.
good catch. you have to click the link to the buy tickets site, and now’s there’s an address.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-brick-bar-pittsburgh-tickets-83996562981
South Side Works
424 S 27th St
Pittsburgh, PA 15203
I bet you it’s the old claudaugh’s that closed earlier, or one of the other closed restaurants.
Are we sure this isn’t a scam…?
I attended the one in Chicago. You can see my posts about it. What kind of scam are you imagining? It certainly doesnt feature real LEGO bricks, and I question whether they have 1 million bricks on-site, but other than that it’s fine. It’s just an event that involves hauling a bunch of knockoff bricks and LEGO-themed furniture from city to city and then taking over a bar or other facility forna weekend. Kind of like a the way museums build travelling exhibits and send them around the country, but it only lasts a weekend. The Chicago event was in a location several miles away from downtown, in an area with cheaper real estate. Maybe that’s what they are doing in Pittsburgh too. There wasn’t much press about the event but there were a lot of people attending somI assume the organizers know a lot more about social media and pop-up events than they do about LEGO.
What kind of scam are you imagining?
Sorry, should’ve included a winky face. I know it’s a real thing, it just feels bush league…
My impression is, yeah, it’s a hastily-thrown-together attempt to capitalize on two trendy things (booze and LEGO, obvs) at minimal expenditure to the people running it. And yeah, it’s not likely that many existing venues with liquor licenses are going to be all “sure, you can come take over our space and do that!”, so… you get an event without a venue until 2 weeks prior, and it ends up in The Cheesecake Factory / a defunct bar… (still curious how they’d get the liquor license if hosting in the vacant Claddagh… hmm.)
It’ll be fun if we go in with our expectations tempered by this knowledge and make it fun for ourselves!
I bet you it’s the old claudaugh’s that closed earlier, or one of the other closed restaurants.
I think that’s the most likely possibility, since they closed last March. When I Googled it, the Brick Bar came up listed as an event under South Side Works, which I found interesting.
Good evening Josh,
Do you have any tickets left for the brick bar? My wife said she wanted to go….so why not. If I could get 4 it would be great.
Not sure what you may have left at this point.
Thanks, LenSo.
Do we know things? Like:
1) We just show up at “South Side Works”, and meander around the block until we spot a Brick Bar sign? (Yea sure, it looks like it’s at the former Claddagh, but have they made that clear?)
2) This press release makes it sound like they’ll enforce the 90-minute sessions, eh? (Also uses “LEGO” even tho we know they have knockoff bricks…)
3) Any other details we should know going in? How much do drinks cost? Etc? Just funny to me that the Brick Bar Facebook page has been utterly dead, and they’re not hyping it at all or releasing more details this week as the dates approach…
The 9:30 to 11:00 slot will work if you are not going to use them. Please be sure you are the first priority.
Thanks, Lenthey’re not hyping it at all or releasing more details
maybe they want it to be a mystery
maybe they sold enough tickets
maybe they are going to pull “a regatta” move
time will tell
maybe they are going to pull “a regatta” move
wuzzat?
Imma pull a BYO LEGO for this event.
Sounds like a recipe for losing some of YO LEGO…
maybe they are going to pull “a regatta” move
We just show up at “South Side Works”, and meander around the block until we spot a Brick Bar sign? (Yea sure, it looks like it’s at the former Claddagh, but have they made that clear?)
The only people who said Claddagh are on this thread. Still no indication of where it will be.
Imma pull a BYO LEGO for this event.
Sounds like a recipe for losing some of YO LEGO…
Or possibly being accused of stealing Lego-compatible bricks.
There was a news report (not a commercial) about this event on the Channel 11 (WPXI) news at noon today (2/20). Heavy emphasis on “LEGO themed pop-up bar” and “over a million bricks”, but it just said at the Southside Works Friday and Saturday, nothing more.
There’s some info and a link on the WPXI website under the Entertainment tab, but it’s the same stuff we’ve already seen.
The only people who said Claddagh are on this thread. Still no indication of where it will be.
I mean if you plug the address from the ticket e-mail (424 S 27th St Pittsburgh, PA 15203) into Google Maps, the pin does drop on the Cheesecake Factory… but yeah.
@rachelh swears this is legit, and I’m inclined to trust her until proven otherwise 😉 , but I still am #notimpressed by this event / its management.the pin does drop on the Cheesecake Factory
That’s my point, it’s not where Claddagh was, it’s where Cheesecake Factory is.
Either way I’m going to the Hidden Harbor event this weekend.
Either way I’m going to the Hidden Harbor event this weekend.
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