Critics' Pick: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong at Smalls

By Hannah Lynn

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Pigeons Playing Ping Pong

[FUNK] + SAT., DEC. 9

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong gets its name from an experiment by psychologist B.F. Skinner, who famously taught pigeons to play, well, ping pong. But it’s much more fun to imagine the Baltimore funk/jam band as a bunch of birds bopping around on stage, and its energetic, fun sound as the ball. Plus, these guys know how to carry out a motif; the album covers have featured a pigeon crushed by a disco ball, a pigeon advertising jam, and a naked woman with a pigeon perched on her shoulder. The group plays Mr. Smalls, along with jazzy Colorado groove-band Magic Beans.

8:30 p.m.
400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale.
$15-17. All ages.
412-821-4447 or www.mrsmalls.com