Happy (Belated) New Year!

Cheers!

* Happy National Day (for those who live on the island of Menorca)!

 

* Happy Feast Day of Saint Achilles the Confessor (for those who follow the Eastern Orthodox Church)!

 

* Happy Birthday to Benjamin Franklin “The Guy on the Hundred Dollar Bill,” James Earl Jones “The Voice of Darth Vader,” comedian Andy Kaufman, bassist Andy Rourke, boxer Muhammad Ali, actress Betty White, FLOTUS Michelle Obama, and singer Eartha Kitt!

 

* Let’s also commemorate the passing of music producer Don Kirshner, chess player Bobby Fisher, and former U.S. president Rutherford B. Hayes!

 
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If you can’t tell, I’m sort of reaching here, for any sort of a special occasion or commemoration to celebrate today. Since we’re now so long past the beginning of the year, I feel stupid saying “Happy New Year!” to you. But 2013 is still relatively new (and the majority of it is still yet to come), so I guess it really doesn’t hurt to still wish you a happy one.
 
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The Huge List of 2012 Year-End Lists!

Well, friends, here we find ourselves in the waning moments of 2012. It’s been an interesting, eventful year that’s had lots of high and low points — a ton of excellent new music has been released and quite a few brand-new bands have emerged that I’d fully expect to be making some serious waves in the near future.

One of the best things about 2012, for me personally, was that I found myself (and my wife) going to lots more shows than in recent years, and as a result I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of new people — as well as starting to take a way more active role in the local music scene.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I had a suggestion from one of those people I’ve gotten to know in the past year (I won’t say who — he said he preferred not to be given credit for the idea, although I will say that it’s somebody who contributed to this). The idea was to collect top-ten lists from various folks in the Pittsburgh metal community.

So I put out an open invitation for any musicians or other people who are involved in the scene in some way — I was looking for anything, whether it was the traditional “Top Ten Albums” or something totally off-the-wall like someone’s ten favorite sandwiches they ate during the year. Really, the only rules were that it had to be a list, and involve something from 2012.

 
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VOS Interview: Dethlehem!!

 
Good evening, readers! As I mentioned earlier today, local RPG-nerd-metal band Dethlehem are headlining The Pittsburgh Scene‘s second birthday extravaganza at Stage AE tomorrow evening.

Preparations have been underway for this show for quite some time — the Dethlehem guys have been sharpening their swords and patching their chain mail, as well as rehearsing their music. But during a recent practice, they were kind enough to allow me exclusive access to their underground lair to sit down and chat, and to find out what’s been happening with the band.

 
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What To Do In Pittsburgh This Weekend (29-30 September 2012)

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Steel City metropolitan region, I am pleased to once again present you with your list of weekendly happenings in the area!  Read on, become informed, and then go support your local music scene!

 
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Some Incredible Events Today In Pittsburgh And Kent, Ohio! (18 August 2012)

Hey readers! Did you see my post yesterday about the Lady Beast record release show? Just curious, because that was absolutely the most pathetic excuse for writing a post that I’ve ever done. Like a sentence and a half and a “here, check the Facebook event for more details”…

For that, I apologize. I know I’m always going on and on about being so busy and not having enough time to write as much as I want to, and it probably gets annoying to read, but it’s true — and I wish there was something I could do about it. Maybe I should leave the “What to do in Pittsburgh” stuff up to The Pittsburgh Scene, or MoshPittsburgh. I dunno. But, there are two HUGE events happening today, one right in town, and the other just about two hours away, and I couldn’t possibly neglect my duties to inform you about these!

As always, I’m sorry if I missed anything, please be sure to let me know in the comments (or send me a message on Facebook), and also as always, stay tuned because –honestly– there are more reviews and stuff forthcoming!

 
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Upcoming Shows: What To Do In Pittsburgh Tonight (7 July 2012)

Good morning, Readers, and a happy Saturday to you!

I had all sorts of plans for yesterday, including another album review and a post to tell you about all the great shows happening in Pittsburgh last night and tonight… but, well, some things came up and I never did get a chance to get anything published.

It’s not such a big deal about the review, because I’ll get a chance to finish it sometime over the next couple days, but last night’s shows have already happened, and if you depend on this blog for news about local shows, then I’m sorry but you missed some good ones!

For example, The Cheats had their CD release show for their new album Pussyfootin! (read the review here), while also opening for Michale Graves on his War of Information Tour. Also appearing were local acts Children of October and Fist Fight in the Parking Lot. You can read more about the War of Information Tour here, and see if perhaps there’s another date you’re able to check out. The Cheats are also playing on a few other nearby shows — including tonight in Cleveland, tomorrow night in Huntington WV, and again next month in Altoona.

Other cool shows I didn’t get the chance to write about for last night included the Icarus Witch release party for their new album Rise (see the review for that one here), who were playing with Thunderfist, Rat Tits, and Reduce to Ash… and another show with local heavy-rockers Whiskey Rebellion.

I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for all these bands to be playing again, and will do my best to keep you informed about it if they do! But like I always say, I’m far from perfect, and I do miss stuff from time to time. (Also I’m not so delusional as to think that anybody out there really relies on me as their sole source of news!) I would highly recommend that you check out two other excellent sources of information, in addition to this one, for local events: The Pittsburgh Scene and MoshPittsburgh.

Having said all that, there are two shows I would like to let you know about for tonight (Saturday, 07 July)…
 
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