New from 28 North

28 North, a bluesy Pittsburgh band that doesn't hide its classic-rock influences (from the Allman Brothers to Zeppelin to Santana), will release its second CD, "Mystery," with a show at Altar Bar in the Strip on Saturday at 9 p.m.

Before that, 28 North will be on the WDVE Morning Show today at 8:50 a.m. After the release show, the band will head to Austin, Texas, for several gigs at the South By Southwest Music Conference next weekend. The spring schedule also includes a New York show and a House of Blues gig in Chicago with Blues Traveler.

For more on the band, go to www.myspace.com/28norththeband.

Centipede west

Pittsburgh indie-rock stalwarts Centipede Eest will release a new 7-inch on New Ruins with a show at Gooski's in Polish Hill Saturday with Oakland, Calif., noise-rock band Stress Ape. It begins at 10 p.m. In April, Centipede will crawl off for a fill-on nationwide tour.

Freshman Wiz

Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa, despite having already released two albums, will be featured in the next issue of national hip-hop magazine XXL as one of "The Freshmen 10" with such acts as Nipsey Hussle and Freddie Gibbs.

A-F in Fla.

Pittsburgh punk band Anti-Flag is in St. Augustine, Fla., this weekend to play the three-day Harvest of Hope Festival along with the likes of Broken Social Scene, Billy Bragg, Dr. Dog and Dead Prez. It benefits a nonprofit organization that provides financial, educational and service-oriented aid to migrant farm workers all over the country.

Root

A recent story about Tuareg band Tinariwen in the Chicagoist started with the line "Non-Western rhythms have throughout music history shown up as influences in the work of American and European artists. The Beatles, Paul Simon, the Rolling Stones and Rusted Root all nodded to worldly locales from India to South Africa, at some point in their careers." That's pretty good company for Rusted Root, huh?

Win studio time

University of Pittsburgh station WPTS (92.1 FM) is holding a Recording Contest with Machine Age Studios and Modey Lemon for bands that have not recorded at a professional studio.

Bands are asked to submit a recording of two songs, from which they will choose three finalists to open for the Modey Lemon on April 2. The winner gets two days of recording at Machine Age Studios. Submissions are due by 5 p.m. March 19 to: 92.1 WPTS-FM, ATTN: Promotions Director, 411 William Pitt Union, Pittsburgh, PA 15260

For details, go to www.wptsradio.org.

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.