Suzzy Roche doesn't remember exactly when she last performed in Pittsburgh. What she does remember, however, is being stuck in an elevator in a Downtown hotel.

She and her two sisters, Maggie and Terre, the other two members of the trio The Roches, boarded an elevator thinking they were headed up but instead went down.

"We got into the elevator and there was no down, but we went down," says Suzzy from her home in Manhattan. "We were hysterical. We were stuck in there for a while and then the elevator returned to the lobby as if nothing happened."

With a huge chuckle, Suzzy says she hopes the trio doesn't meet with the same fate when they return Saturday night to perform as part of Calliope's concert series.

The opening act features Alice Stuart, an old-school rocker who rose to stardom in the late 1960s playing a Stratocaster and fronting an all-male band. She later toured and performed with Van Morrison and Frank Zappa and recorded with John Hammond and Jerry Garcia.

But the headliner is The Roches, a triumvirate of sisters who like Stuart may not be a household name but have paid their dues since the late 1960s.

"We are not a household name but we do have our fans and they are loyal," says Suzzy. "Our music is very personal for them. It's almost like the music belongs to them."

A large part of the evening will be a retrospective. The other part will focus on "Moonswept," an excellent new recording that features songs ranging from "Piggy Mask" and "Gung Ho" to "Jesus Shaves," a hilarious song written by Paranoid Larry.

"The song talks about Jesus joining corporate America before getting laid off. He then sees a commercial about being a welder, goes on an interview, gets the job and two years later, he's still an apprentice.

"It has a lot of layers to it," Suzzy says. "On one level it's funny, but it's also profound. I think the song opens up the idea of who Jesus is. The idea being Jesus as any and every man."

With the release of "Moonswept," the group's first new release in more than a decade, Suzzy says the Roches have reacquainted themselves with old friends and made a few more along the way.

"We are touring, but not like the old days because we are old," she says with a laugh. "We go out on the weekends. Our audience really doesn't like to go out on the weekdays."

The Roches formed in the late 1960s singing Christmas songs in the streets of Manhattan.

"It was really organic the way it started," Suzzy says. "As kids, we sang together and it continued on. Most people kind of go their separate ways as they get older, but we've been doing the same things since we were kids."

Over time, Suzzy says they evolved from street corner singers to a nightclub act performing in various venues in Greenwich Village.

Their first big break occurred in the early 1970s when Paul Simon invited them to guest on his album "There Goes Rhymin' Simon." They eventually signed with Warner Bros. Records, producing such well-received albums as "Nurds," "Keep On Doing" and "Another World."

"It all happened really quickly and, honestly, it wasn't anything we thought out," she says. "We really were different from anything else out there at the time. I think people like to see a family performing together. We worked really hard on the arrangements."

After recording "Will You Be My Friend?," an album of children songs, and "Can We Go Home Now," Suzzy and her sisters placed the group on hold.

Now, they are back together and having a lot of fun.

"We haven't been together as a group in a long time and our fans are really enjoying it," she said. "The last two years have been a great reunion for us and for our fans."

THE MODEY BRAIN HANDLE

Two of Pittsburgh's more traveled and thunderous bands, The Modey Lemon and Brain Handle, congregate Friday night at Gooski's for what should be one of the more memorable local pairings of the season.

The three-piece Modey Lemon, sporting plenty of psychedelic garage chaos, have been working on a new record due out in early 2008 and haven't played locally since January.

Says monstrous drummer Paul Quattrone: "We didn't want to play a show until we finished recording, and then we were kicked out of our practice space, leaving us without a place to practice. And of course my playing with Midnite Snake/Babybird/Italian Ice, Phil [Boyd] with the Hidden Twin and [Jason] Kirker making lamps was eating up most of the free time we have left outside of our (somewhat recent) day jobs. We didn't intend to take such a long break, but we're all psyched to play again."

They step out with Brain Handle, a blistering hardcore band back from a summer tour that included a stop at the Chaos in Tejas Festival. Quattrone says Brain Handle is "hands down my favorite band in Pittsburgh."

It should begin sometime after 10 p.m.

First Published: October 18, 2007, 8:00 a.m.