Enjoyable (albeit sparsely attended) set from Brooklynite O’Connor. I was able to talk to her about a few friends of hers, namely Margaret White and Timothy Bracy, two of my favorite indie musicians…

Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour Saturday October 18, 2008 Brillobox Lawrenceville Jeff Mangum performing ‘Engine’! Way more to come. Check it. Neutral Milk Hotel – Engine – 10/18/2008 Brillobox, Pittsburgh PA from Engine on Vimeo. I got a ton of great pics throughout the night and will work on them in the coming weeks.

Matt Mays & El Torpedo Thursday October 9, 2008 Club Cafe Southside

The concert gods were very good to Pittsburgh on this night. Three killer shows were happening around town and I had to decide which ones to attend (I felt like Sophie with her choice). The bad news is I had to leave the incredible Okkervil River show a half hour early…

Tickets went on pre-sale for this show in May. That’s five months folks! I snagged a ticket that day. When I went to the box office the night of the show I noticed maybe eight other names on the will call sheet? I walk in and the placed was crazy packed! Smalls holds 600+?…

I was hoping for a whole band performance but instead were treated to the Ranchero Brothers. Not bad, not great. I like the new songs but prefer the old ones which we got one, Victoria, by request from a six year old in the audience. Thanks kid…

The last time I caught Local Honey was a short radio set on Super Bowl Sunday…in 2007! Jeez, it’s been too long. They had Megan Williams on fiddle and she added a sweet texture to the tunes. Too bad I had to bail before the first set was over. I gotta chill and not show up three hours before show time…

This was an unexpected night out for me. We had plans to hang with some friends and when that fell through because my kids got sick, I decided to hit up my local faves Local Honey (which BTW was a year and a half since I had seen them last). The city was having the…

Opening for The Sadies, these guys came out and ripped through a very enjoyable set. They are local, they are young, and they are good! Pittsburgh seems to be turning out a TON of great original bands!…

Southside I cannot recall in recent memory how much a band totally blew me away with their set. They came on and absolutely crushed the room with their precise skill and ferocious playing. They were absolutely amazing and I will have much more from them in the coming days….

University of Pittsburgh Donora was asked at the last minute to play this voter registration drive. I was excited that they would be playing an outdoor gig on a beautiful day…and I could make it home in time to watch the Steelers (too bad they lost a horrible game). Talking to the band about their full length debut coming out soon hopefully means they will be playing out a lot more in the coming months…

During this band’s set I couldn’t shake the image of Morrissey out of my mind. Frontman Philip Benson’s charismatic mannerisms were a dead on ringer for the gloomy crooner from England…

Queen of the Pittsburgh Blues. Ummm…yeah, what else can you say?…

This blues fest is in it’s 21st year? Wow? Shutting down main street for a relatively free night of booze and blues on a late summer evening is sure the way to go. Yeah, I missed Cracker, Donora, Local Honey, The Grievious Angels, and Lohio who were all playing the same night. I like hometown legend Joe, even though he is always my least favorite guest at a Springsteen show. Good ole’ blue-collar rock…

She opened for The Silver Jews and was pretty good. She looked like Janis Joplin but wailed like Bjork…

The only local act on the festival bill. I wouldn’t have minded seeing more local flavor represent (including the main stage!) these guys ended up playing in front of the biggest crowd of the competition. I am sure it was no accident that their set ended as the gates of the fest proper opened. They delivered a highly energetic set. I’ll have more from them tomorrow…