Pennywise singer splits after 20 years

Update: Pennywise announced on Sept. 2 that Zoli Teglas, frontman for OC hardcore/punk band Ignite, will fill in on vocals during the band's set at the 2009 Smokeout Festival in San Bernadino. The search for a new singer is on.

Jim Lindberg -- singer and songwriter for Pennywise -- has announced that he's departing the Hermosa Beach, Calif., punk band after two decades in the fray.

"After 20 years, nine albums and thousands of shows around the world, my time in Pennywise has come to an end," Lindberg said in a statement. "Being the singer for this band has been an amazing experience, and along the way we made some of the best fans anyone could ask for. There are few things that made me more proud than seeing people at our shows singing our songs, and it's your support and encouragement that's kept me going this long.  I would sincerely like to thank everyone who helped us along the way and wish everyone in the Pennywise family the best of luck and continued success.  Yours truly, Jim."

Lindberg is working on a documentary based on his book "Punk Rock Dad" and will begin recording an as-yet-untitled release. Lindberg is also a founder and consultant for the Video On Demand action sports and music network, Havoc TV.

The last Pennywise stop in Pittsburgh was during the 2008 Warped Tour, on which the band was one of the few hardened veterans.

StubHub puts Burgh on Rockin' City list

StubHub, making a good buck off of people in these parts, has declared that Pittsburgh Rocks.

In fact, "the world's largest ticket marketplace" puts us at No. 19 on its fourth annual list of the 20 Most Rockin' Cities.

The rankings were based on total market sales via StubHub for concert events occurring between May 15 and Sept. 15 -- we have had a few. Pittsburgh is a newcomer to the chart along with Milwaukee, Toronto and Baltimore. With the exception of Toronto, each of those hosted Phish.

Here is the list with the three most popular shows for each city.

The full list of America's 20 Most Rockin' Cities is as follows:

Aerosmith tour canceled as Tyler goes down for the count

It's a good thing we got Aerosmith at the beginning of the tour, because it's been something of a train wreck ever since.

After numerous health issues with Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton, the band finally canceled the remainder of its tour today in the wake of a fall by frontman Steven Tyler from a stage in South Dakota on Aug. 5 that resulted in a broken shoulder and stitches in his head. The mishap occurred while he was dancing during the band's "Love in an Elevator." It can be seen here. He was subsequently airlifted to a hospital and then returned to Boston.

"I landed upside down, and after twenty stitches on the back of my head, and a broken left shoulder, I just want to say that I'm plain grateful that I didn't break my neck! In truth, after thousands of live shows, falling off the edge four times ain't too bad," he told E! Online.

"Words can't express the sadness I feel for having to cancel this tour," Joe Perry said in a statement. "I would like to thank our loyal fans for sticking by us through thick and thin and all the good energy they are sending our way. We hope we can get the Aerosmith machine up and running again as soon as possible. I sure am going to miss playing with ZZ Top just as I'm sure the fans are going to miss seeing them playing with us as well. Hope to see you sooner than later."

Aerosmith managed to be road warriors for so many years with the same personnel.

Now, with everything the band has been through, you have to wonder if they have they really have the wherewithal to try this again.

Stones win.

Creed makes no friends with the lawn people

You gotta look your best for the TV cameras, right?

That's why people with lawn tickets for the opening night of the Creed reunion tour Aug. 6 were moved into seats at the Post-Gazette Pavilion to make it look it full.

Seems there weren't enough tickets sold for the event to keep up appearances for a VH1 taping.

The problem for lawn-ticketholders is that they were told at the gate that the lawn would be closed for the show and to leave their blankets outside the gate.

They were seated in the pavilion. Then, a half-hour later they were booted out of those seats and told to go back to the lawn. Apparently, enough people with pavilion tickets turned out for the show. A lot of tickets were handed out for free and Animal Friends was offering two free tickets for a $5 donation.

Carie Thomas, of Urbana, Ohio, who went to the concert with her husband and kids, says she was moved from the lawn to the pavilion and then rudely sent back to the lawn.

"We bought lawn seats so we expected to sit on the lawn," she says. That wasn't a problem. When they were kicked out of the seats, though, two members of her family were at the concession stand, so they had trouble finding each other.

"It was the worst experience I ever had at a concert," she says.

Girl Talk show: Pittsburgh's concert of the decade?

When people look back at the Pittsburgh music scene in the '00s, one of the lasting memories will be the show Friday at the Amphitheater at Station Square.

We can't say it encompassed the full range of Pittsburgh music (no punk, no metal), but it came pretty close with, the heavy math-rock of Don Caballero, the exotic indie-rock of Centipede E'est, the '80s girl-pop of Donora, the hilarious rap-rock of Grand Buffet, the mainstream hip-hop of Wiz Khalifa and, topping it off, the city's biggest export, Girl Talk, turning the crowd of 4,500 into a bouncing party mob with his blizzard of samples.

Judging by the reaction, most clearly came for the two guys without the instruments. Khalifa had them from the minute he hit the stage imploring the college-age fans to get their hands up, and then Girl Talk turned the place into a mini Times Square on New Year's Eve with streams of toilet paper, balloon drop and ecstatic dance mix.

I'm still trying to come to grips with the Modey Lemon not getting that same response. Obviously, noise-rock isn't exactly the popular taste, but the Modey set was mind-blowingly heavy and hypnotic - like Blue Cheer, The Who and Sonic Youth in a blender - watching Paul Quattrone play drums is my favorite local music experience.

Centipede's set will be talked about for a long time, partly because of the antics of Jim Lingo, who knocked apples into the crowd with a baseball bat and then proceeded to toss various items. He was greeted Pittsburgh's Finest after the set. If you see "FREE LINGO" T-shirts, you'll know why.