Love On The Run, Heart in Pittsburgh- Courtney Noelle

I was honored to be invited to the first lady of Taylor Gang, Courtney Noelle's, mixtape release party at Enigma Lounge in downtown Pittsburgh on January 31.

The club was decked out in pink diamonds, cupcakes and candy and fancy drinks. The girly theme matched her cause for the party. Not only was it to promote her mixtape, "Love on the Run" but it was to show some love to the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation and the Lung Cancer Research Foundation.

Ms. Noelle told me, "I'm contributing to both foundations because they are close to my heart. My grandma passed of lung cancer and she basically raised me and I know if we had more money into research that her life may have been prolonged so I want to help those who have loved ones with this same disease."

(Courtney Noelle on the red carpet at her mixtape release party. Photo courtesty of my assistant photographer Emily Angle)

Chatting with Courtney felt like sitting down and catching up with an old friend. She is one of the most independent yet down to earth women I have ever met.

Her modesty was proven when she said, "We seriously just heard my single on the radio on 96.1 on the way here. I had to stop our driver and scream 'STOP THE CAR! WE HAVE TO LISTEN TO THE WHOLE THING!' It's so surreal and exciting for me!"

Courtney is a woman who takes pride in what she does and believes in the words she says and the songs she writes. I noticed a small tattoo on her and I asked what it was. "My tattoo says living for love in Italian. If I lost my vocal chords today I wouldn't know what to do. I live for that passion. My love is singing."

With her rise to stardom quickly approaching I asked how she plans to stay true to Pittsburgh. "I'm from Point Breeze and never plan to let my heart leave the 412. Everyone wants to move but this is my home. I'm a Pittsburgh girl."

You can download her album, "Love on the Run" and I promise you won't be disappointed. Her vocals on the album are just as good as seeing her live. This girl has talent and she's bringing back real music to the city of Pittsburgh.

Welcome To Acoustic Avenue

Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue has been one of my favorite records to sing along to while it's blasting in my car with the windows down. I've been playing that pale yellow disc since I was in middle school wearing band T-shirts and finding new friends at Warped Tour.

I heard they were on tour playing this album all the way through acoustically and hitting cities they missed while they toured years ago. Pittsburgh was on that list.

I'm sure you noticed I took a hiatus from writing and that's only because I took a hiatus from seeing bands due time and financial conflicts in the last few months. Now that everything is back in order, I can get back to my true love, experiencing and documenting live music.

I knew Yellowcard was coming at the end of January but I honestly couldn't afford the StubHub prices because tickets sold out so fast. As I'm sitting at work that same day of their show and exhausted my options of hunting Craigslist, I had one more idea. I am in charge of a twitter account for my M-F job and thought I'd send the band a tweet asking what could a broke Pittsburgh girl do to hear one of her favorite albums live...

HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! Ryan Mendez, lead guitarist, put me on the guest list to get into the concert absolutely free. Talk about playing a show for the fans. They chose Pittsburgh because they skipped this city during their previous tours and they allowed some stranger from Twitter to come to their intimate acoustic show.

The show was held at Altar Bar in the Strip District of Pittsburgh. This small venue is one of my favorites. It's a church that was converted into a concert venue and it's not the only one in Pittsburgh! Mr. Smalls in Millvale also holds holy gatherings of the music kind.

I was thrilled. I got off work. Flew home. Changed so fast I think I only put mascara on one eye. And went to the concert by myself. Unfortunately, I missed the opening act "What's Eating Gilbert." I've heard their music, however, and think they're great.

I ran in as Yellowcard was playing my favorite song "Way Away." I bolted in and started singing along at the top of my lungs when I realized how lucky I was to be there. It was PACKED. You couldn't even walk to the side to get a drink at the bar. But I didn't care. I was witnessing one of my favorite bands from growing up playing one of my favorite albums acoustic.

(awful quality but that is after I managed to squeeze by more than half the crowd so that I could see)

Hearing music acoustic in a small venue is one of the most intimate experiences for me. It's absolutely beautiful. The songs played through in accordance with the album until right about when the band was about to break for intermission and Ryan Key, lead vocals, witnessed a fight break out in the crowd. He stopped the music and basically said "How can you fight during something this peaceful?" He had the two guys removed from the show and the crowd cheered. What type of person fights in a church during an acoustic set anyway?

After the encore, Yellowcard finished the show with new songs and plugged their electric guitars back in. And I can say I was finally plugged back and recharged as well.

I'm back and this music blog is going to continue to grow as I do. Let's take this journey together.

I Can't Stop: Flux Pavilion

As you all probably have realized by now, I enjoy rock concerts. However, there is another whole world out  there with spectacular light shows, crazy dancing and a family all about peace and love. These events are an eye opening experience to another level of live entertainment. These shows are the most fun I've ever had and it's not done by a band but rather a DJ, turntables and thousands of your closest friends: EDM. Electronic dance music or what others have dubbed (no pun intended) "dubstep."

Friday, November 8 at Stage AE I attended the Flux Pavilion show with guests SKisM and ROKSONIX.
This wasn't my first electronic show but I danced like it was my last.

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And here is where I apparently took a hiatus from my writing. Maybe the flashing lights and sounds got to me. It was probably the partying atmosphere that goes along with these types of shows and lifestyles however. Regardless, the music never stops and neither will my passion. I will continue to write and tell you all about my musical experiences through my blog. Stick with me. This is my therapy. This is my life and I Can't Stop.