A lot of the biggest local-rock stories of 2008 happened elsewhere -- the adventures of Girl Talk and Anti-Flag, a country venture in Nashville and an auction in cyberspace.

Here are the stories of the year:

Pittsburgh's top party ambassador continued to be the wildman with the laptop -- and even took it up a notch in 2008.

After breaking under the radar and then way above it with "Night Ripper," Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis) took his game to the next level with "Feed the Animals," packing even more samples (more than 300) into another mashup suitable for wilding out in the clubs. Gillis took the Radiohead route of issuing it as a pay-as-you-please download in March, long before the physical product hit stores last month.

It's already placing on best-of-2008 lists, like ones in Rolling Stone and Paste. And, in Entertainment Weekly, no less than Stephen King (the dude who wrote "The Shining"!) equated it to a "Ulysses" you can dance to. Girl Talk also was the only Pittsburgher represented in "Pitchfork 500," a book from the taste-making Web site charting the best songs of the past 10 years.

Meanwhile, Girl Talk spent another year conquering clubs and festivals, culminating in a pair of sold-out shows in New York captured on the front of The New York Times homepage. His homecoming party at Gravity in November came complete with a black and gold balloon drop. It was one of the highlights of his year. "It's always funny having family and family friends in the house," he says.

As for the national shows, "Lollapalooza was a really standout moment," he says. "There's such a level of excitement in the air, and that show just meant a lot to me. ... At the very end of the show, a guy who works for my booking agency had bought a raft, and during the show they blew it up and gave it to me and I just rode this raft into the crowd. I couldn't imagine it going any better."

In 2008, no Pittsburgh act traveled farther and wider than Anti-Flag, which became the first hometown band to plant its flag in Russia.

The political punks played what singer Justin Sane called a free-for-all for a rowdy, vodka-swilling crowd of 1,000 in Moscow in March. "Other than guitars being continuously knocked out of tune, a number of drunk kids attempting to hang on us and sing along, and the occasional cute Russian girl kissing us while singing, the set was without incident."

The band then rocked on to St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Germany before returning stateside to celebrate the release of "Bright Lights of America," produced for RCA by Tony Visconti, legendary for those classic David Bowie and T-Rex albums. It drew mixed reviews for its more polished sound, complete with orchestral instruments borrowed from the University of Kentucky.

The mainstream media didn't make much of the demonstrations outside the Republican Convention Minneapolis in August, but Anti-Flag was in the thick of it and got to play its set on the steps of the state capitol before the police dispersed the crowd in advance of Rage Against the Machine's set. On the band's U.S. tour it raised money to pay for a well to be built in Africa. Locally, the band did a CD release show at Gravity in April and a benefit for the Food Bank at Mr. Small's in March.

In other Anti-Flag developments, Sane relocated to London (for love) and the band rejoiced in the Obama victory, while declaring he "isn't going to get a free pass." To start the process of ensuring that promises are kept, Anti-Flag will be in Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day.

By any measure, the Povertyneck Hillbillies had it pretty good here: official band of the Steelers, video with Ben Roethlisberger, WQED special, gigs with thousands of fans.

The only thing missing was a plum spot on the Billboard country charts, and so the year began with an Internet announcement of a mutiny. Four members were departing the band, most notably frontman Chris "Abby" Abbondanza, who was headed for Nashville even as the news was spreading.

The band's founder and fiddler has soldiered on with the seven-member Chris Higbee Project, complete with original Hillbillies singer Les Philburn.

Last month, Abbondanza released his debut album, "Promised Land," a country-rock record cut in Music City with producer Shawn Pennington, who also works with Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich.

If "The Promised Land" is going to break Abbondanza nationally, it looks like it might take the slow train.

How do you sell 3 million records, CDs and 8-tracks in one lump package?

Um, eBay?

That's what Paul Mawhinney tried to do with the 40-year-old collection that fills his basement Record Rama store in Ross. The auction received attention all over the world, with some gauging it as a litmus test of vinyl's stature, others touched by the story of an old guy wanting to retire and still others questioning whether or not Mawhinney was grossly inflating his collection at $3 million.

On Feb. 23, it drew a winning bid of $3,002,150 from "jopsoup" in Ireland. Unfortunately, the man with that screen name knew nothing about making the bid, and none of the other online bids turned out to be legit. Mawhinney then received various bidders at the store and put it back on eBay in March, but no dice.

He closed the store in August, and the Record Rama Archive is just collecting dust.

It's hard to think of a better use for the enormous McCormick & Schmick's parking lot on the South Side than a stage for the Black Keys, Gnarls Barkley and the Raconteurs.

It was our own little Bonnaroo, courtesy of American Eagle, which enlisted Red Hot Chili Pepper Anthony Kiedis as musical curator. His first choice, Bob Dylan, played a rather uninspired set, to say the least, but the support acts were sweet, tickets were cheap, and it was all well-organized. In-and-out privileges, we love it!

In addition to the main-stage sets on Aug. 8-9, there was a lively college band competition on the street, won by a band called the Black Fortys, but could have used a bit more Pittsburgh participation. The only band we had in it was Nothing Unexpected, which was a bit too straight-up pop punk.

Despite the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Pittsburgh entered 2008 with four active mid-sized promoters -- Opus One, Elko Concerts, Drusky Productions and Joker Productions -- and came out with ... four active mid-sized promoters.

Live Nation all but disappeared here in the fall (doing only the Eagles), but the hard economic times did little to slow down the busy concert calendar as all five forged ahead. Drusky kept the Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead hopping (despite Queens of the Stone Age singer Josh Homme dissing the place), Opus took over Club Cafe and the Brillobox, in addition to Mr. Small's and Joker added the Thunderbird.

Joining the club mix was Gravity in Cheswick, which did a handful of bigger shows, including Against Me!, Anti-Flag and Girl Talk.

"Each promoter had his own little niche and just kept going with it. Sometimes we overlapped, but you will have that," says Brian Drusky. "I know I am being very selective going into the new year trying to book only what makes sense."

Says Mike Elko, "No one knows the future for sure in this industry. Record sales are at an all-time low, and it's hard to gauge what is really hot on MySpace, etc. The world is not the same as it was 10 years ago; this holds true in the music business as well."

All week it looked like Squonk Opera was setting up some kind of space station in Schenley Plaza.

In a way it was.

"Astro-Rama," performed for free as part of the Pittsburgh 250 Celebration in October, was a multimedia rock opera with video screens and giant props that found the group trying to send a distress signal up to the stars.

It was a funny, timely and reasonably compelling spoof of '50s sci-fi, the visuals were outstanding, and Squonk's progressive-rock was transcendent.

With the Cathedral of Learning lit up like children's blocks across the street, it was one of those magical nights -- actually three nights -- that people won't forget.

8.

We didn't hear or see much of The Morning Light in Pittsburgh. That's because the young band was busy bouncing all over the country promoting a debut EP and then a self-titled full-length on Fearless, the label that gave us At the Drive-In and Plain White T's.

The band is led by 18-year-old Harrison Wargo (formerly of the Christian band Transition) and Bobby Garver, who depart from the typical pop-punk sound to smother the Morning Light with lush Beach Boys/Beatles harmonies.

When the record was released in September, these road warriors were out with the Rocket Summer and Phantom Planet. They circle back here on Dec. 27 at Diesel.

With Pittsburgh celebrating its 250th, it deserved a few new songs to go with "Here We Go, Steelers."

The folk and roots-rock community stepped up, with the Calliope Songwriting Project waxing poetic about our rivers, our steel heritage, our heroes, our sports figures and our favorite places on "When We Shine: 15 Songs About Pittsburgh," work by Tom Breiding, Rick Malis, along with a handful of Calliope School graduates.

Blue-collar rocker Mike Stout turned up the volume a little higher on "The Point of Pittsburgh," a disc of rock anthems and ballads accompanying a Charles McCollester book of the same name.

10.

By a strange turn of events, The Modey Lemon never played an official release show here for its latest on Birdman, "Season of Sweets," clearly one of the best Pittsburgh records of the year.

The release coincided with a cross-country tour and a busy schedule for drummer Paul Quattrone, who was hired on this year to supply the beats for dance-punk band !!! (chk-chk-chk).

In September, the psych-punk/indie/noise band did its first European tour in three years and also issued a video for the single "It Made You Dumb."

Time Out NY wrote of the record, "True to the CD's title, [Phil] Boyd, [Jason] Kirker and drummer Paul Quattrone balance the heavy-metal tonnage with catchy psych-pop tunes."

• Indie-guitar kings Centipede Eest returned with a crushing new album, "Confluence," and a two-tiered release event, starting with one of those crazy outdoor shows near the Bloomfield Bridge in Polish Hill and a late-night affair at Gooski's.

• Power-pop proponents The Takeover UK signed to Rykodisc and released an EP "It's All Happening" that teases a full-length coming in early 2009. The band opened for the New York Dolls at the Three Rivers Arts Festival and is just back from a tour with The Von Bondies.

• Math-rock pioneers Don Caballero returned after two years with a brand new twist: Vocals! "Punkgasm" featured a ghostly vocal on "Dusty Celestial Groove" and a title track that was downright Sex Pistol-ish.

• Allies, thrashy and epic, debuted with one of the best Pittsburgh albums of the year and played a killer release show at Modern Formations.

• Grand Buffet were the first ones out of gate in January with "King Vision," another venture in indie rap-rock absurdity. The end of the year found them on tour with Girl Talk.

• Punchline built on its pop-punk sound with "Just Say Yes," its first album in two years.

• The Dirty Faces celebrated 10 years in rock in April with members from all phases of the band's history hitting the state at Gooski's.

• Hi-Watt Hex -- fronted by Brave New World's Spahr Schmitt and Robbie Tabachka -- delivered a blast of thrash-metal with "Electric Rites" and Halloween release show at the 31st Street Pub.

• Lohio, one of the city's finest Americana bands, expanded its sound to include more power-pop and '60s-based songs on its first full-length "History, the Destroyer."

• The Brillobox became the place where anything can happen. First Jeff Mangum, reclusive Neutral Milk Hotel frontman, turned up with the Elephant 6 Surprise Tour in October. A month later, Richard Lloyd of Television had to cut his set short when a feud with the opening band turned into a protest.

• After 12 years, the Ceremony goth-industrial night, which started at the Upstage, came to a dark end at Pegasus.

SCENE VETS

• Brownie Mary had that cutesy "Coconuts" song, but they never had lyrics like "a pig in a wig is cooking spaghetti." It's all part of singer Kelsey Friday's new venture as a children's performer, along with Rick Witkowski on guitar. She got her video in rotation on Noggin.

• Bill Deasy (former Gathering Field) teamed with Rich Jacques (former Brownie Mary) for the U2-like new band Thomas Jefferson's Aeroplane. Deasy also released a new acoustic solo album.

• 2008 passed without a new Joe Grushecky album, but we saw his life flash before us on film in "A Good Life: The Joe Grushecky Story," a documentary created by two Ohio filmmakers.

• Sheena B was plucked from the wedding and club scene to record a fine R&B/soul debut with none other than Norman Connors, who worked with her idol, Phyllis Hyman, and wrote the classic "Betcha by Golly Wow."

• Trance duo Life in Balance celebrated its new CD in August at the Your Inner Vagabond, encouraging fans to bring a blanket and pillow ... and take a nap.

• In late August, promoter Howard Levy assembled the cream of the prog-rock crop, including the Flower Kings and Spock's Beard, for the two-day Three Rivers Progressive Rock Festival at the Pepsi-Cola Roadhouse in Burgettstown.

• Bands from Rusted Root to Bowhunter rallied to support Barack Obama, although a planned Vampire Weekend show at CMU fell through.

• Wiz Khalifa, still working on his major label debut, made his MTV premiere with "Say Yeah" and put out two mixtapes that continued to grow his fan base. The album will be out by the middle of 2009. Also,

• Boaz, from Point Blank Productions, put out two mixtapes, got on rotation in WAMO and was covered in XXL, The Source and allhiphop.com.

• Pittsburgh Slim, who broke out in 2007 with the club single "Girls Kiss Girls," was dropped by Def Jam after weak sales for his debut EP.

• Some of Slim's former mates from Strict Flow put out a strong rap-rock debut as Formula 412.

• Porky Chedwick celebrated his 90th birthday at the Roots of Rock and Roll Concert and various dance halls and then headed for warmer climes to reside in Florida.

• Country legend Slim Bryant one-upped Porky by celebrating his centennial.

• New York's Norton Records dusted off nearly 50 garage-rock nuggets for "Mad Mike Monsters, Vol. 1-3," songs spun by Mike Metrovich during his 1963-67 heyday.

• Pure Gold hit the 30-year mark with a new Christmas album.

• Pittsburgh's favorite AM music station was feted with "Adult Standards Presents: A Tribute to WJAS" at Barb's Country Kitchen in Lawrenceville. The twist was these were members of bands like The Dirty Faces and Fangs of the Panda.

• Paste magazine visited "The 17 Coolest Record Stores in America" and on the list, of course ... Jerry's Records in Squirrel Hill.

• The No. 1 album of the year in both Rolling Stone and Spin was "Dear Science" by TV on the Radio, a Brooklyn band led by former Pittsburghers Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone.

• Psych band Black Moth Super Rainbow's "Dandelion Gum" ranked No. 112 on the Village Voice's Pazz and Jop Poll.

• The Decade, Syria Mosque, Graffiti and Electric Banana were among the venues listeners picked for the WYEP Pittsburgh Performance Project, naming the top 12 most culturally significant Pittsburgh venues.

• Maddie Georgi, a teen country singer from Hampton, advanced to the finals of CMT's Music City Madness online talent search.

• Richland band Kill the Drama won Pittsburgh Rocks, the Post-Gazette's first online battle of the bands. Second and third places went to Donora (see story Page W-12) and The Will Kills.

• Aydin, The Burndowns, Daryl Fleming & The Public Domain, Anne Feeney, Jimmy Adler Band, Joy Ike, Jason Kendall, The Lost Sea, Mariage Blanc, Sarah Marince, The Meridians, Marvin Dioxide, Olympus Mons, Emily Pinkerton, The Slant, Bill Toms, Triggers, Una de Luna, Chet Vincent.