According to his bio, Matt is an Athens, GA based one man band that plays bass guitar (with his left foot!), a full drum set, a guitar, a keyboard, and sings all at the same time. Check him out this Thursday at the Smiling Moose as he shares a bill with Chotto Ghetto from L.A. In between gigs, Matt was cool enough to participate in this Monday edition of a week-long First/Last…

I know this is a photo blog and all but there are several local gigs this week that I wanted to highlight and give a little exposure to. With that said, I am once again celebrating with a First/Last Week! First up is relatively new band (new to me that is) on the Pittsburgh scene called The Buffalo. They have a show tomorrow and if you like down and dirty garage…

On assignment for WYEP. I really don’t know much about Citizen Cope except that from first impressions, dude seems chill…

The Committee For Getting Attention deserves some notice. She has no shows lined up. She has no record deal. This very morning she offered up her demos for anyone to hear…

Rachel is a friend of mine and is in the running to win a cool poster contest. I am asking my readers to help her out. She is a fellow Pittsburgh blogger and is a fantastic photographer to boot. As of this writing, she is a close second place to..

With this show I have whittled down my ‘bucket list’ of bands to see before I kick to five (go ahead and try to guess them). I am actually seeing another one of those bands next month! Anyway, I have been a huge fan of these guys since I first heard their album ‘The Fallen Leaf Pages‘ streaming on Merge Records website…

Criminally, I have only seen Weird Paul perform once. He does have the distinction to be the very first musician I ever photographed with my SLR camera,..

Juston Stens & The Get Real Gang Daytrotter Session

I was on assignment for WYEP and probably wouldn’t have been there without that excuse. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate this band, I just don’t particularly like them. I have tried several times to discover what …

I am an unabashedly, unapologetic Roger Waters fanboy geek to the extreme. Growing up I destroyed two cassette copies of The Final Cut, The Wall, and The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking each by listening to them constantly (thanks Columbia Records, for your crappy product BTW)…

Lohio is wrapping up their very first ever cross-Midwest-extravaganza-tour tonight (Sunday 10/3) with yet another CD release show at Brillobox. Their tourmates and brethren in all things music…

So my buddies in Mariage Blanc are having a CD release bash next week (BTW-I have heard the album and it’s so good!). Playing their first ever gig as support is a brand spankin’ new band called,..

Owen opened for The National and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t think I would be into his music but I was. I am starting to really love this venue. Lately the acoustics have been superb and as a photog, I am fortunate enough to get a front row perspective of the beautiful surroundings…

So I was shooting this show for WYEP and as custom, I had to secure a photo pass beforehand. As is more common than not, no one at the venue knew of such pass. These situations take patience and tact and I finally got the go ahead a few minutes before she came on that I had one song to shoot, no flash. As I think I’ve said before, flash is for amateurs and I was able to get a couple decent shots with no problem. Her three piece band sounded really good and she was surprisingly jovial. As an aside, I attempted to shoot the JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys show last night and never got a reply for my photo pass request. My buddy who went noticed that my name was indeed on the list and if I would have known, I would have been there. Oh well. More photos here, here and here…

Photo courtesy Big Hassle/Roman Cho Van Dyke Parks w/Clare & The Reasons The Andy Warhol Museum
Tuesday September 28, 2010 Northshore…

This was my first time shooting WYEP’s annual outdoor party and I have to say that I had a blast. You really couldn’t have asked for a nicer night weather-wise and all three bands brought it. Can’t wait till next year already. You can scroll through a bunch more of my (along with John’s and Jennifer’s) photos here…

Ash Dinosaur is a local band that’s playing Howler’s tonight with Onodrim and Deprator. Go out and see live music people. You will thank me for it! Joe plays bass in the band and was cool enough to participate in this latest edition of First/Last Friday….

This was such a great set. It was recorded for a podcast which you can grab here soon. The band was so tight. Plus, without the added distraction of a crowded, smoky bar full of noisy people, I could really get into the music. Nik is the man! More photos here and here…

So it’s Friday and well, this train cannot be stopped. Looks like these little Q&A’s are gonna continue on. The Miggs are rock band from Florida and are coming to town this weekend as support for Ed Kowalcyzk of Live fame. Courtesy of Rock Ridge Music, I have a pair of passes to give away to a lucky reader of this blog. To enter, just email me at hughshows@comcast.net with the subject line ‘The Miggs’. Please supply your name for the folks at will call that will be good for two passes to the show on Sunday. The winner will be randomly chosen and contacted by tomorrow. As always, good luck. As a preview of sorts, bandleader Don Miggs was kind enough to participate in this, the return of First/Last Friday…

I really do love this band. It’s no accident that the first thing you see visiting this blog is a photo of them. Even though I’ve seen them play in daylight before, it’s still so strange to see them rock out in front of sober people, me (and them) included. They are working on new material and I guarantee it’s gonna be sweet…