Punk Rock Pillow Fight
Who knew? The Austrian Pillow Fight League and Punk Rock Pillow Fight got together to co-produce the first ever Pillow Fight World Cup. “A world championship tournament of biblical proportions happening in Brooklyn”, as the press release read. The event was on a Tuesday, the press came and the reporters reported, and articles were written. By Friday the hype was gone and I was back to regular life. Then this happened. I didn’t find out about it until the next Monday, when a co-worker mentioned he saw it on Saturday Night Live. Even my mom knew about it before I did. When I finally saw it I broke into my best Dave Chappelle voice and said “I’m syndicated bitch!”
I had gotten a new mattress sometime in 2005 but had kept the old mattress lying around the loft I was living in at the time. We couldn’t stop jumping around on it, that was the trigger for Punk Rock Pillow Fight. Quickly rules where established and we where off to the roof to put them to the test. This video is that test. Justin (on the left in blue) and Rodrigo (on the right in red) where the first two to fight under these rules. Laughter ensued.
Here are the rules: 1. One knee down you’re still around, Two knees down you’re out. 2. Off the mattress. You’re out. 3. If a match goes the time limit, the Ref with help of the audience will decide the winner. 4. No offensive shoving. (Offensive shoving looks like a Sumo Wrestler pushing someone off the mattress, while defensive shoving happens naturally as pillows get tangled and must be separated) 5. You can not “load up” your pillow. (no rocks, no spikes, no salt, etc. in your pillow) Regulation pillows will be provided, but you can bring your own. 6. No punching, kicking, headbutting, etc. (this is a PILLOW FIGHT, not a real fight.) Violations of 4-6 will get you disqualified.
After two successful shows at The Silent Barn in Bushwick, Punk Rock Pillow Fight was held at The Glasslands in Williamsburg. This was the first time the mattresses where placed in front of the bands, right where they should have been all along. People where going bonkers when the bands played. They where jumping around, doing back flips and even making out on one corner of the bed. We witnessed the dominance of Luna Loveless, the baddest Mistress of The Mattress in PRPF history. This was also the most high tech PRPF I put on. With the help of Trey Kirchoff, I had a live feed video projection of the bouts on the big screen. It was pretty sweet. Trey also filmed and edited this video, which is equally sweet. The final memory of the night was a ten person inter-gender battle royal the ended in fifteen seconds with just three or four strikes. The winner won a hand made trophy by Justin Horne that had a Macho Man Randy Savage action figure holding a pillow on top. Pure genius.
This was one of my favorite parts of Punk Rock Pillow Fight. Hyping the belt. The handmade aesthetic of the belt was fundamental to the spirit of Punk Rock Pillow Fight. Take the resources available to you and make the most out of them. No pair of belts cost more than $10 to make. That was my steadfast rule. Make something out of nothing and then make it magic. What else is special to me is that Ryan Brown enlisted his father to help create these two, further provoking cheerful exuberance in me. “You can’t buy it! You have to earn it!”
There was an article written about Punk Rock Pillow Fight’s first visit to Santos Party House in Manhattan for the Fox News website. PRPF had already been voted “Best of…” in New York Magazine so people had heard of it by this time. When I was asked to come in for an interview I thought it’d be for the internet again. So I rolled in unkempt with a two day old shirt and a deadline because I had to get to work by 3pm. The person who met me at the front door rushes me to the green room and announces that I’ll be going live and nation wide in twenty minutes then dumps me down in the make up chair. I begin to panic, who did I know that A) Has a TV, B) Has cable and C) has means to record the show? Frantically I search through my contacts as the lady powders my forehead. The one person who fit this description was my Mom in California. Imagine getting a phone call from your son who lives on the other coast saying “Mom you got to hurry. I’m going to be live in fifteen minutes.” Thankfully she pulled it together and got the footage. This is just one of the multiple reason why my mother rules.
This was a grudge match that dated back to The Glasslands show. If you go back and watch the video you’ll see their last match ended in a twisting tumbling controversy. So Hella Shitzgerald called out the Duck Down Decapitator and got whupped on pretty solidly. Duck Down Decapitator went on the become the first and only Inter-Gender PRPF Champion that night after an epic battle between himself and Luna Loveless. Thus unifying the belts for one night.
This was the second go round at Santos Party House. I love seeing Jon The Mikeal leap over the pillows. He had some serious skills.
Art Work by Leaf Chang
http://www.demonsnyc.com
Art Work by Leaf Chang
http://www.demonsnyc.com
