The 2010 Bacon Bash with Mr. Baconpants - "Collateral Damage"
Saturday afternoon was the fourth annual Pittsburgh Bacon Bash, at the Harris Grill in Shadyside, the brainchild of Event organizer Jason Mosley (a.k.a: Mr. Baconpants), a man whose life ambition seems to be to do for bacon in Pittsburgh what Johnny Appleseed once did for apples in the American colonies..
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Sweetback Sisters will be at Thunderbird Cafe in Lawrenceville on Sunday, August 8th (by kenficara)
I can’t help but think of the B-52’s when I hear the Sweetback Sisters. No, I don’t mean that they make you want to hear “Rock Lobster.” Although the Sisters’ two primary singers, Zara Bode and Emily Miller, do like to dress alike onstage, they remind me a lot of the way Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson sing together in that their voices and singing styles complement each other well,
and they always sound like they’re having a good time singing together. The enthusiasm of the singers makes the infectiousness of The Sweetback Sisters’ sound a foregone conclusion. They’re going to be at the Thunderbird Café in Lawrenceville on Sunday, August 8th. The Thunderbird is renowned both for its acoustics and for the unusually eclectic variety of artists who perform there.
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John Mayer playing in Pittsburgh Augusts 1st, 2010 (pic by P Keigan)
John Mayer visits the ‘Burgh next Sunday, on August 1st, at the First Niagara Pavilion. (Yes, I still want to call it the Post-Gazette, too, but that’s show biz.) I’ve seen some good shows there in the past—the name change can’t have made that much of a difference.
Mayer is one of those artists whose place in the pop culture often eclipses the art itself. That’s a dangerous place for an artist—people will form opinions about the individual (based on what the press reports) without ever viewing the painting, reading the book, watching the movie, hearing the music. I remember when this happened to me, back in the early 90’s, when Nirvana was suddenly everywhere—before I ever had a chance to hear their music, I was already tired of them.
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See Hamell on Trial at Club Cafe in Pittsburgh on June 3rd, 2010 (flickr via armadilo60)
Now that I have your attention, I’d like to call your attention to Hamell on Trial’s impending show, Thursday, June 3rd, at Club Café in the South Side. I know what to expect. I expect the same good time I had the last time I saw him there. Granted, that was a few years ago now, but I have faith in him.
I say this partially because I also have faith in the venue. While I wouldn’t want to see a pyrotechnic metal band there (come to think of it, I doubt I’d want to see a pyrotechnic metal band anywhere), I know from personal experience that Club Café is a great place to see an acoustic act. Intimate setting, nice sound, good beer on tap, and, as of less than a year ago, excellent food.
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The Boogie Hustlers at The Rex: Friday, May 14th, 2010 at 9:00pm
Let’s just go ahead and call them “Pittsburgh’s own”—not just because they’re from Pittsburgh, which they are, but also because they seem to be on the verge of becoming bigger than their hometown. There’s a part of me that almost doesn’t want The Boogie Hustlers to get any bigger than they are now. Besides the fear that their music will lose its heartbeat if and when they find a major label and a producer to match, I would also miss being able to see them at The Rex Theater in Southside.
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