October 9th, 2009.

I really can’t ever say enough about Pittsburgh – especially in the fall. Pennsylvania is one of the most beautiful states in the country and Pittsburgh epitomizes it. Rearing out of Western PA like a fossilized lion, the arms of mountains and roaring rivers embrace this exquisite town. Steel and rust and iron and stone, humans have tunneled through and climbed on top of it all, and the result is a town that has a wildness to it – a city that conforms to the rugged landscape around it and like Aslan, it is NOT a tame lion.

Playing at Your Inner Vagabond with a bunch of great acoustic artists in Pittsburgh, PA. The night kicked off with Ashley and Brittany Thomas. They play… an Alvarez and a djembe – and have two strangely identical and powerful voices. Personable and charming on stage, you want to hate the blonde and beautiful but they won me over handily.

October is NOT the time to tour. You’re in the midst of back-to-school chaos, baseball is burgling your fan base and there are a MILLION festivals that will suck dry every venue that’s not a part of them. We didn’t get into the festivals, so we’re next door to a lot of them, and I’m hoping our fanbase sees the advantage of coming to see us rather than all that other stuff.

Ashley and Brittany performing with the host of the night, Mark Dignam. A night of great performances, Mark was like a cross between Colin Hay and the Mountain Goats of all things. Unfortunately for us, the previous owner of Your Inner Vagabond had sold the venue the previous week, and the new owners hadn’t REALLY opened yet. Knowing that the previous owner had usually run sound we showed up early and were prepared, ready and able to set up our own PA and run the show. Our expectations were met, and I ended up running all the tech, which though it was a pain in the ass, at least meant it sounded WAY better than that space usually does. I’m good – what can I say?

But October IS the time to travel, and tourists that we are, we can’t stay home during this most stunning of seasons. Pittsburgh is vanishing into the low-lying crowd and the bowl in the middle, overgrown with clinging and climbing vegetation, is bright with fall colours, forsaking the green of home.

Wungsten – geek pop meets pop rocks meets music-major proficiency. Well – meaning their harmonies were beautiful, their arrangements amazing, they sang about giraffes and Saturn and played, among other things, some rocks at Your Inner Vagabond for AcoustiCafe in Pittsburgh, PA

Libby, the violinist from The Weathered Road and Keren Lee, our occasional bass player in Fields Afar, dancing the night away to the musical tones of Mark Dignam. I don’t often wish I could dance, but I can’t believe I lost out on THIS because I couldn’t wrap my brain around shuffle shuffle step! Sigh.

Last night we played at Your Inner Vagabond, a venue appropriate to the beauty of the city – and we were disappointed as every other event in the area conspired to occur at the exact same time as us. A tiny audience, but a welcoming one – and one that wanted CDs – so it all worked out. The other artists were excellent and surprisingly varied. Our friend Kristy of AcoustiCafe did a really great job putting together an event with a lot of different takes on the acoustic genre, and even though I was stuck running sound, I still had plenty of time to appreciate the show.

Well – I’m done waxing poetic because no we’re stuck in traffic in one of the many concrete trenches that crisscross Pittsburgh, and there’s no scenery that you can’t find back in DC: sharp vertical concrete walls, glowering grey sky… and the back of an SUV. Balanced in first gear on an incline. Hopefully, once we get to the top of the hill we’re at least have a view.