Please join us for Gilda's Club Western PA's Great Comic Search!

Three Stand-Up Comedy Nights with local comedians will be held at Club Cafe on March 14, April 18 and May 16 . Audience members and guest celebrity judges will choose the best acts of the night who will then perform at The Improv this summer where the crowd will vote on Pittsburgh's Best Comedian!!

Doors Open at 7 pm and the shows start at 8pm. Cost is $5 at the Door .The door proceeds of the night will benefit the local non-profit Gilda's Club Western PA's whose mission is to create welcoming communities of support for everyone living with cancer - men, women, teens and children - along with their families and friends.

Lineup for this event includes Adam Seese, Josh Keener, Carl Shimel, Alex Stypula, Dan Jenniches, Jason Baer, Ricky Smoove, Tim Ross, Mark McCall, John Kurtik, Derrick Knopsyder, Alan Olifson, Zach Funk, Keane Cobb, Erick Williams, Ray Zawondni, John Winters and hosted by Randy Baumann from the WDVE morning show.

The son of a Methodist preacher and a concert pianist, Jim Avett has been singing and playing guitar for most of his life. He's done a lot of other things in the meantime - built a business as a welder in North Carolina, served in the Navy, raised three children with his wife - and now he returns to performing. In 2008, Avett released his first album on Ramseur Records, "Jim Avett and Family," a beautiful collection of gospel songs recorded with daughter Bonnie and sons Scott and Seth of The Avett Brothers. He returned last year with "Tribes," seven original songs that speak of love and loss. When Avett performs, you feel like you're sitting in a friend's living room, telling stories and sharing a beer. His performance style is warm and relaxed, genuine and endearing.

For most of his life, San Francisco has been Chuck Prophet's muse...or more accurately, his drug of choice. "It can suck you under. That first hit. It really does a whammy to you. And if you're like me you can find yourself chasing the San Francisco dragon for the rest of your life. That's what the record is about."

Named for the ill-fated rock club of the same name, Temple Beautiful was "made in San Francisco, by San Franciscans about San Francisco." Roy Loney, vocalist and wildman in legendary Bay Area band The Flamin' Groovies contributes guest vocals to the title track.

One of the driving forces behind cult heroes Green on Red and the influential L.A. Paisley Underground scene in the 1980s, Prophet's creative mold was actually cast in San Francisco. Recalls Prophet, "Temple Beautiful is the name of a long closed rock and roll club which was between Bill Graham's iconic Fillmore Ballroom and the tragic storefront church founded by the Reverend Jim Jones. It's where I saw my first gigs".

Inspired by current San Francisco artists, Prophet felt compelled to pay tribute to the history and weirdness that brought him to the city nearly 30 years ago. "There's a kind of rock and roll psych renaissance going on in this town at the moment with bands like Thee Oh Sees, Girls, The Fresh and Onlys, Kelley Stoltz and Sonny and the Sunset's. I'm very encouraged by all this stuff going on here."

Part love letter and part unsentimental tour, Temple Beautiful attempts to capture San Francisco in all it's forms: romantic port-of-call, bohemian utopia, but even more so, an often unforgiving pioneer outpost filled with the freaks and characters not welcome in America's heartland. And musically, there is no doubt that San Francisco is one of the country's most enduring scenes, home to decade after decade of classic artists and albums. Temple Beautiful is at once a look back at the inspirations that spawned them and the next installment in its discography.

In addition to releasing two amazing albums in Soap & Water and iLet Freedom Ring! over the past several years, Chuck's music has been heard in hit television series True Blood (HBO), Californication (Showtime) and Sons of Anarchy (FX). Prophet also cowrote all the songs on Alejandro Escovedo's critically-acclaimed album Real Animal.

A folk troubadour whose talents have been lauded on the national and international scene for almost a decade, Jess Klein writes songs that tell the story of the soul - from wrenching heartbreak to finding the strength to pick up and move on.

Jess Klein emerged from the Boston music scene in 1998 with her independent release, Wishes Well Disguised, but it was her later releases - 2000's Draw Them Near, 2005's Strawberry Lover and 2006's City Garden that would capture the attention of critics and fans worldwide.

The Rochester, New York native picked up the acoustic guitar and started writing songs while living as a student abroad in Kingston, Jamaica in her late teens. Her first songs reflected a bittersweet culture shock as well as the warmth and musical vibrancy of her new surroundings.

Klein returned to the states, moved to Boston, and began performing locally. After independently releasing her first two albums, winning the Telluride Troubadour Songwriting Contest, and garnering several Boston Music Award nominations, Klein was spotted and signed to Rykodisc in 2000. Her first release for Ryko, Draw Them Near, [3.5 stars, USA Today], launched Klein on a worldwide tour where, among other highlights, her relaxed confidence and rootsy soulfulness wowed 70,000 attendees at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan.

Klein returned to the U.S. and joined the songwriter collective Voices on the Verge, along with Erin McKeown, Rose Polenzani, and Beth Amsel. The foursome was featured on Good Morning America performing Klein's song "Little White Dove" and brought sold out crowds in small theaters across the U.S. to their feet nightly with their blend of harmonies and eclectic styles.

Looking for a new phase in her creative life, Jess moved to New York and recorded her second solo effort for Ryko. Strawberry Lover [2005], debuted as the No. 1 most added album at triple A radio a week before its release, was given four stars by MOJO, a plug from the nearly 80 million readership Parade, and the emotive and sensual title track was named one of the "Top Ten Sexiest Songs of the Moment" by the NY Daily News.

Klein moved to her current home, Austin, TX in 2008, inspiring her 2009 release, Bound To Love. Shining as Klein's most confident work to date, Bound to Love evoked the dusty roots of Texas songwriters and made her a household name in the Austin music world. Bound to Love again took Klein across the globe, including a tour of Ireland supporting folk legend Arlo Guthrie. In between tours Klein found time to collaborate with some of Austin's most talented artists: Jon Dee Graham, Randy Weeks, Jimmy LaFave, Slaid Cleeves, Matt the Electrician, Shelley King, Betty Soo and Oklahoma- based John Fullbright.

Jess Klein continues to be best known for her compelling and passionate live show. The Boston Globe describes her as "Quite simply one of the most gifted performers this area has produced".

Jess' newest album, A Room of Your Own, reflects a maturity and seize-the-day attitude influenced by her father's inspiring battle with the disease ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) which took his life in early 2011. With the loss of her father to ALS, Klein learned much about her own strength and resiliency, and about the supportiveness and depth of character of her fans and community. In the midst of all this growth, she decided to leave the record label she had been with and venture out on her own.

Jess proclaims, "It's a new day for me, and that's what the songs on A Room of Your Own are about: stepping into my strength, owning myself, dreaming big, and being proud of who I am, even on the rough days. I hope these songs inspire you to do the same. This journey has not been without challenges, but it's no exaggeration to say that my fans get me through those challenges. Singing for you is medicine for me."

A Room of Your Own, Jess's first independent album in 14 years, will be released in April 2012.