Beatle art

All right, Beatles fans, you have the next four days to get your groovy selves over to the Galleria and check out "Revolution."

Forget unknown, starving artists. This art and photo exhibit features work by John, Paul and Ringo. Those who really know their Beatles history might also recognize the name of Ron Campbell. Hmmmm ... not a fanatic? He was the animator of "Yellow Submarine." A collection of his original pen and ink drawings will be displayed.

Since the Galleria is a mall, all artwork is for sale, and you can skip over to the food court when you're hungry. "Revolution" will run today through Sunday at the Galleria, 1500 Washington Blvd., Mt. Lebanon.

-- Kate McCaffrey

Spacing out

Carnegie Science Center's annual "Space Out!" astronomy weekend blasts off Friday for three days of stargazing programming.

Throughout the weekend, visitors will be able to observe sunspots (from noon to 3 p.m.), see and touch rocks from the moon and Mars, build and launch model rockets and more. The Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh will be on hand with a selection of telescopes for visitors to check out.

On Saturday, the Buhl Digital Dome will have presentations focusing on the MESSENGER flybys of Mercury, the soon-to-be-constructed Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which will be able to produce digital images of faint astronomical objects and three-dimensional maps of the universe, Red Sprites, which are flashes in the atmosphere sometimes mistaken for UFOs, and weather patterns on other planets in our solar system.

Weather permitting on Friday and Saturday from 8:30 to 10 p.m., there will be SkyWatch sessions in the Buhl Observatory for $1.

All other "Space Out!" activities are included with general admission. Information: 412-237-3400.

-- Adrian McCoy

Cultures of jazz

Manchester Craftsmen's Guild's "Many Cultures, One Voice" explores the muticultural roots of jazz -- in particular, its Afro-Asian influences.

Monty Alexander and Dr. Anthony Brown join forces for a double bill at MCG Jazz's "World Jazz Series." Pianist Alexander fuses influences from his native Jamaica with American jazz styes. He performs in a trio with Hassan Shakur on bass and Herlin Riley on drums.

Brown is an ethnomusicologist, composer and percussionist and leader of the Asian American Orchestra. The ensemble blends Asian instruments -- bamboo flute, Chinese violin and mouth organ -- with conventional jazz instruments.

Performances are Thursday 7:30 p.m., Friday 8 p.m., Saturday 7 and 9:30 p.m. and Sunday 2:30 p.m.

Manchester Craftsmen's Guild also hosts a symposium on Friday. "Improvisation, Creativity, Collaboration: Fueling Innovation in the 21st Century" brings together a group of business and arts leaders: guitarist/producer and MCG Jazz executive producer Marty Ashby; author Daniel H. Pink; Hiroshi Tasaka, president of Thinktank SophiaBank; and Alan Webber, founding editor of Fast Company Magazine, along with Anthony Brown.

The symposium is at 4:30 p.m. at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild Music Hall. Admission is free, but reservations are necessary.

Concert tickets are $42.50. Information: 412-322-0800 or online at www.mcgjazz.org. People attending the symposium will get a $5 discount for Friday's performance.

-- McCoy

Good chamber music by any other name

List the abbreviated names of a bunch of Pittsburgh music groups together and it can look like alphabet soup: PSO, PCMS, PNME, PYSO, etc. The Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra is the latest to jump in the bowl, although it is an improvement over the original name, Nuance.

This week the compact and excellent version of the Pittsburgh Symphony premieres local composer Leonardo Balada's "Caprichos No. 4," under the direction of Andres Cardenes. It's a work for double bass, performed by the PSO's Jeffrey Turner. The group also will perform Albinoni's Concerto for Trumpet, Brahms' Sextet No. 1 and works by John Corigliano.

PSCO -- yes, it still looks strange -- performs the program at 8 tonight at Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland, and at 8 p.m. Saturday at Upper St. Clair High School Theatre. Tickets are $15-$30; call 412-392-4900.

-- Andrew Druckenbrod

Hotel Cafe Tour checks in

Ingrid Michaelson is the biggest name on the Hotel Cafe Tour, a crew of singer-songwriters that hits Mr. Small's tonight. Michaelson, a Staten Island, N.Y., artist who was discovered through her MySpace page, went to No. 63 on the Billboard Top 200 with her debut "Girls and Boys," on the strength of the single "The Way I Am" and some exposure on "Grey's Anatomy." She also is opening for the Dave Matthews Band on a handful of dates on its upcoming summer tour.

Also taking the stage will be Dan Wilson, a Grammy winner for writing six songs for the most recent Dixie Chicks record, plus tour founder Cary Brothers, Joshua Radin, Meiko and Priscilla Ahn.

It begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $17. Call 1-866-468-3401.

Alia Musica Pittsburgh

Since forming in the fall of 2006, Alia Musica Pittsburgh has steadily poured new art music into the Pittsburgh scene. Eleven local composers and a host of freelance musicians have been acting on the "belief that the music created in our time and place is a genuine cultural manifestation of our community."

Two concerts continue that mission this spring at Synod Hall, Oakland. The first is at 8 tonight and includes the music of Ben Harris, Chris Ruth, Ivan Jimenez, Kerrith Livengood and Ayo Ogunranti. The second takes place at 8 p.m. Tuesday, with works by Matthew Gillespie, Federico Garcia, Mark Fromm and James Ogburn. Tickets are $10 for each concert, $15 for both and available at the door, by e-mailing tickets@alia-musica.org or by calling 412-361-0194.

-- Druckenbrod

Opening the Grey Box

Despite the national problems with real estate, Pittsburgh has good news with the grand opening of a new performing space, The Grey Box Theatre, Friday from 7 p.m. until midnight. It is located in the Blackbird Lofts & Artist Studios in the heart of Lawrenceville (3595 Butler St.). Owner and director Gina Desko, best known for Pittsburgh Dance Connection, will offer it as a rental house to individual artists, arts organizations, community-based groups and others as a multipurpose space.

The 3,000-square-foot facility offers an intimate and unobstructed performance space (really a black-box theater) with a sprung floor, state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems, a back-of-the-house kitchenette, a reception area and a flexible 150-seat house.

Performing at the grand opening on Friday will be Attack Theatre, Eric DeFade, Eric Susoeff and Kelley Krepin-DeFade, The Pittsburgh Dance Ensemble and The Jungle. The ever-resourceful Desko will also supply hors d'oeuvres by Common Plea Catering, tasty treats by Carol Shaw and drinks by Dreadnought.

For more information to this free event, call 412-586-7744 or e-mail GreyBoxTheatre@aol.com.

Ramsey's ethereal 'Dream'

Tyler Ramsey, North Carolina-based guitarist for acclaimed indie-rockers Band of Horses, is an accomplished fingerstyle picker in the vein of John Fahey or Leo Kottke.

Not only that, he also plays piano and percussion, sings like a cross between Neil Young, Ryan Adams and Jim James, and writes gorgeous, ethereal songs that can be heard on his solo record, "A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Sea."

Ramsey arrives at Club Cafe at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $10. Call 1-866-468-4301.

Skating stars

The Penguins hand the Mellon Arena ice over to Evan Lysacek and other luminaries for the Smucker's Stars on Ice tour Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Lysacek, a two-time world bronze medalist, is fresh off winning his second consecutive U.S. men's figure skating championship. He will be joined by Olympic and world silver medalists and five-time U.S. ice dance champions Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, who do a range of routines from Elvis to hip hop to Chopin. Also on the program is U.S. and world champion Kimmie Meissner.

Tickets start at $25. A portion of the proceeds from each tour ticket sold will be donated by Smucker's Stars on Ice to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Go to www.starsonice.com or call 412-323-1919.

Lords of the prance

On Saturday, the Penguins and the Star on Ice folks hand the Mellon Arena ice over to the World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions, who will not be wearing skates.

The 38th anniversary edition tour of this equine ballet includes traditional movements and exercises presented at the world renowned Spanish Riding School of Vienna. Included in the performance is a segment called the "Airs Above the Ground," which are leaps and maneuvers once used by riders in saddle to protect and defend themselves on the battlefield, which are now preserved as an equestrian work of art.

Shows are at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Go to ticketmaster.com or call 412-323-1919.

Fundamentally Bach

The Renaissance & Baroque Society of Pittsburgh splurges with a presentation of the 16-musician strong period orchestra Il Fondamento. The Belgian chamber orchestra will perform Johann Sebastian Bach's complete Orchestral Suites at 8 p.m. Saturday, at Synod Hall in Oakland. These four works are among Bach's most exuberant music, and they showcase his uncanny ability to turn dance -- here French court dances -- into stylized and self-contained instrumental music. Tickets are $10-$30; call 412-361-2048.

-- Druckenbrod

Alt-country night

There are just too many choices on Saturday night for fans of folk-rock/alt-country.

• For starters, one of the founders of the whole movement, Roger McGuinn, is at the Carnegie Lecture Hall. See page W-13 for more on him.

• Gary Louris, a clear McGuinn disciple and the golden voiced singer and guitarist of the Minneapolis band The Jayhawks, is at Mr. Small's. Louris just released his a gentle solo debut, "Vagabonds," produced by Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes. "This record's a little different for me," Louris says in his press notes. "I've made records in a lot of different ways, and I've learned that what I love the most is the synergy of a group of people playing together and the nuances and mistakes that happen live." The show is at 9 p.m. with Veviter. Tickets are $20. Call 1-866-468-3401.

• Club Cafe has alt-country darling Tift Merritt, who broke out of Chapel Hill, N.C., with a sound that drew easy comparisons to Lucinda Williams. After being nominated for a Grammy with "Tambourine," she just released her third record, "Another Country," which Spin called "Sweet Southern depression from a French flat. Deceptively sharp tales of hearts in distress, implying fierce emotions just under the surface." She plays shows at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Tickets are $15 to $17. Call 1-866-468-3401.

• Filling out the club scene on Saturday night is New Orleans guitarist Sonny Landreth at the Rex.

Howlin groove

Fans of Queens of the Stone Age know Howlin Rain from the last tour, which hit the Carnegie Library in Homestead. Fans of Comets on Fire know Howlin Rain because it's the more organic and groove-oriented side project of frontman Ethan Miller.

Inspired by the psychedelic history of its home base, the Bay Area, Howlin Rain, which also features Drunk Horse's Joel Robinow, has been called a cross between the 13th Floor Elevators and classic CSNY.

The band reveals its songcraft and cosmic riffs on "Magnificent Fiend," recently released on San Francisco's Birdman Records and Rick Rubin's American Recordings.

They play the 31st St. Pub in the Strip Saturday at 9 p.m. Call 412-391-8334.

-- Scott Mervis

Chilean jam

If your inner vagabond materialized (assuming you have one and it could ever physically manifest itself), what would its profession be (assuming inner vagabonds aren't lazy)? Bodacious surfing instructor? Children's novelist? An irksome hermit?

No need to answer in a hasty hurry. You can mull it over Sunday night while listening to Cristian Amigo and Emily Pinkerton, composers/ethnomusicologists with a South American twist. As if being ethnomusicologists weren't cool enough, they're throwing a CD release party. Venue? Your Inner Vagabond, of course.

The musicians perform electro-acoustic interpretations of traditional Chilean and Latin American music. Amigo (he must be friendly) is an award-winning compoer and guitarist. Pinkerton, a Mid-West native, manages to combine old-time banjo with South American guitar and still has the wherewithal to sing on top of it.

Gnarly details: 7 p.m. Sun. Your Inner Vagabond, 4130 Butler St., Lawrenceville. 412-683-1623. $10 cover.

-- K.M.

• The Western Pennsylvania Kennel Association holds its annual Dog Show at the David Lawrence Convention Center Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (apparently, dogs get up early). It's grown over the years from 200 to 2,000 entries. Admission is $9 adults; $4 kids under 12. Go to www.wpka-inc.org.

• The 9th Annual Pittsburgh Arts & Crafts Spring Fever Festival takes place Friday through Sunday at the Monroeville ExpoMart with more than 180 booths of artists, craftspeople and food vendors from 13 states. Admission is $5.50 adults; $1 kids 6-12. Call 724-863-4577.

• New York folk-country artist Langhorne Slim was scheduled for the David Letterman show last night. Tonight, he's at the Lava Lounge, South Side, at 9 p.m. with Endless Mike & the Beagle Club and Kevin Finn. Admission is $6. Call 412-431-5282.