Which One?

If a certain weird vibration will be felt in the Pittsburgh air tonight, don’t blame it on the new moon. It might be the result of two vastly different veteran performers coming back to the area.

Tonight Jergel’s hosts Tiffany, who first made a name (literally) for herself in the late ‘80s with hit covers of Tommy James & the Shondells’ “I Think We’re Alone Now” and the Beatles’ “I Saw Him Standing There.” Her self-titled debut album hit #1 on the Billboard charts, making her the youngest woman to reach that level. While her peer Debbie Gibson was playing arenas, Tiffany hit people where they lived, or at least where they shopped, in a tour that took her acts to shopping malls across America.

Unlike the female pop stars that followed her a decade later, Tiffany was never resorted to a lurid stage act, nor did she have any public meltdowns that the media followed by the day. Sure there was a pictorial in Playboy and appearances on reality TV shows, but she was in control of that. Further, she proved she was a good sport who could laugh at herself by appearing in Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, a campy 2011 Syfy movie which included a scene where she and Gibson got into a catfight.

On top of all that, Tiffany never stopped making music. If her early work might have seemed like made-for-MTV pop, more recent albums like 2022’s Shadows indicate that she has matured into a belter. The album comes close to country rock — a style that has been in her blood since her younger days — with some grit to back it up.

Cat Power, the nomme de stage of singer/guitarist Chan Marshall, made her Pittsburgh debut in the late ‘90s at the late Bloomfield Bridge Tavern. (Full disclosure: I played on the bill that night.) Touring in support of What Would the Community Think, her subdued songs almost got lost in the bar’s tiny p.a. system and audience conversations. But with a writer from Rolling Stone in tow, Marshall was already generating a buzz.

Her subsequent albums showed a sharp mind at work, from the moody Moon Pix to several albums that reimagined other people’s music, leading up to the bold Cat Power Sings Dylan (The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert).

Her current tour celebrates the twentieth anniversary of The Greatest, a solid album that was recorded in Memphis and brought up the passionate depth of Marshall’s rich voice. While her life has had a series of ups and downs over the years (much of it covered in books and articles) Marshall has been back on track in recent times.

And if these two opposite ends of the musical spectrum don’t appeal, there is also the chance to hear Pittsburgh drummer Thomas Wendt tonight, playing at a tribute to the late artist Thaddeus Mosley. That free show is hosted by the Kente Arts Alliance and takes place at City of Asylum’s Alphabet City venue.

All shows are this evening.

Tiffany. With Stereo Scandal, Mimic. 8 p.m. Jergels, 103 Slade Lane, Warrendale. jergels.com

Cat Power – The Greatest Tour. 8 p.m. Mr. Small’s Funhouse, Millvale. mrsmalls.com/events/cat-power/

Kente Summer Madness Presents Thomas Wendt Quintet Celebrates Thad Moseley. 7 p.m. Free (RSVP required). Alphabet City, 40 W. North Avenue, North Side. cityofasylum.org/program/thursday-night-jazz-kente-summer-madness-presents-thomas-wendt/