In most towns, St. Patrick's Day means parades, corned beef 'n' cabbage, bagpipes, smiling Irish eyes, green beer, shenanigans, and the wearin' o' the green.

In Pittsburgh it's all that plus buses jammed to sardine-mode with revelers tooting party horns, green IC Light flowing freely in Market Square, what appears to be the entire student population of a half-dozen universities clogging Carson Street and a parade 23,000 strong with an expected audience of 150,000 to 250,000, because every yinzer is Irish on St. Paddy's Day.

Traditional events, spirit and waggery continue, but with a few not-so-wee changes this year.

New parade route: Forms at the bus station at Liberty Avenue and 11th to Grant St. to the Boulevard of the Allies to Stanwix and ending at Commonwealth Place. The parade begins at 10 a.m. Saturday.

New rules: No candy will be handed out during the parade and no alcohol allowed for bystanders along the parade route. Open container laws will be enforced this year.

New fences -- the construction kind: Market Square merchants will be open as usual for business. The Square itself, however, is still under construction so the annual gated-off outdoor debauchery will not be sanctioned this year.

Your idea of a good St. Patrick's Day may include skipping the crowds, transportation headaches, public bathroom search and dubious liquids on the sidewalk, but that doesn't mean you need to bar yourself indoors and watch "The Quiet Man."

Some non-parade options for the weekend and P-Day:

• "St. Patrick's Day Rock" on the Gateway Clipper with Rusted Root Friday and The Clarks Saturday. Boarding begins at 7 p.m., dinner is included and tickets cost $25; 412-355-7980.

• "ShamRock," featuring the Weathered Road and Rising Regina, Hard Rock Cafe 7 p.m., Wednesday. $5.

• "Thinking Person's St. Patrick's Day," as opposed to the drinking person's, Gypsy Cafe, 7 p.m. Wednesday. Includes Carnegie Library staff reading passages of their favorite Irish literature and a menu full of Irish fare.

Smell the flowers

Outside, black piles of snow. Inside, flowers blooming.

On Friday, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens' opens "Arias in Bloom," the Spring Flower Show, filling the glasshouse will be such colorful favorites such as daffodils, lilies and tulips.

In partnership with Pittsburgh Opera, Phipps has adapted each room with floral interpretations of the world's most famous operas. The Palm Court, for example, is dedicated to Carmen, with coral bells, scarlet red tulips and Persian buttercups.

"Guide by Cell" will allow guests to dial a phone number and listen to a selected aria from that room's featured opera.

For more information, call 412-622-6914 or visit phipps.conservatory.org.

Squonk's 'Mayhem'

Squonk Opera has been in residence at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty since last year working on "Mayhem and Majesty."

Now, we get to see what it was up to, as the Pittsburgh performance art troupe premieres the show tonight through Sunday. This time out, Squonk Opera is exploring the poetry of music making and the power of sound with live feed camera jibs, projection puppets and kinetic machines.

Squonk will ask: "What does quiet look like, why is noise white, or pink, or brown? Why is music used to rouse armies, praise gods, find mates, bury the dead, AND entertain?"

"This show proceeds from the mayhem of a band of badly synchronized monkey drummers to the majesty of our self-awareness and our shared instinct for beauty," Steve O'Hearn says in the press notes. "Whatever insults and accolades are hurled at us across the globe, the simplest fact is that we are a band -- strumming, pounding and lilting, giving a 'concert' and indulging our instincts for shameless spectacle and abstraction."

He will be joined by co-artistic director Jackie Dempsey on piano and accordion, vocalist Autumn Ayers, Kevin Kornicki on percussion and drums and slinkies and David Wallace on guitars. The show is lit by Bob Steineck with stage direction by Rick Kemp, choreography by Beth Corning and projections by Buzz Miller.

Times are 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through March 21. Pre-show mixers and post-show talk-backs on Saturday and Sundays. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $10 for residents of the 15206 ZIP code and $5 for students and artists. For tickets or additional information, visit www.Kelly-Strayhorn.org or call 412-363-3000.

Two great tastes

Lohio and the Emily Rodgers Band, two of the brightest lights in Pittsburgh's indie-rock/alt-country scene, will join forces tonight at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts for a concert to benefit the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

"The library has been part of my life since before I could read on my own and I feel passionate about maintaining its health," said Ms. Rodgers.

For the uninitiated, Lohio is a richly harmonic band that was inspired by Wilco and Neil Young and has shared stages with the likes of The Avett Brothers and Ra Ra Riot. The Emily Rodgers Band, which made its national debut on Misra last year with "Bright Day," draws from R.E.M. and Mazzy Star.

The concert begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12 ($10 Calliope & PCA members).

Hiatt and friends

On his last visit to town, John Hiatt swapped songs on acoustic with Lyle Lovett. Friday night at Carnegie Library Music Hall, fans get the full treatment as he plugs in and jams with his band.

The veteran singer-songwriter is on tour with a new album, "The Open Road," a bluesy new album that strays far from home.

"I guess the root thing is publicly showing more," he told the Providence Journal. "It comes down to that three-chord story song that is prevalent in blues and folk or country music. I've always drawn from what's around me, or with me, or with people I know. It's just kind of life stuff. ... We certainly don't have to tune into a reality show to learn how weird life can be."

The show is at 8 p.m. Tickets are $47-$55. Call 412-368-5225.

Guitar jam

Guitarists Ken Bonfield, Steve Davison and Tim Farrell are highly regarded acoustic guitarists and a good cause is bringing them together this Friday. They'll make a stop to perform "An Acoustic Evening" at Carnegie Science Center.

Proceeds from the evening benefit the Science Center's environmental educational programs and the Allegheny Sierra Club's Water Committee.

Tickets are $60. The reception, with food from Sausalido, starts at 7 p.m., and the concert begins at 8 p.m. Information: 412-237-3400.

Golden Dragons

For entertainment with more twists and turns than a Kennywood roller coaster and as many gasps of amazement, the Trust Presents series brings The Golden Dragon Acrobats to the Byham Theater.

The troupe from Cangzhou, Hebei, province in China follows a centuries-old traditions of thrills and chills with such feats as the Thousand Hands Dance, Lion Dance, Tower of Chairs and Bicycle Family.

"The impossible can be achieved, and once achieved surpassed, then surpassed again," The Associated Press said of the acrobats, who have performed in all 50 states and more than 65 countries on five continents.

They roll into the Byham for shows at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $20-$37 at www.pgharts.org or 412-456-6666.

Benefit for Chile

In response to the recent devastating earthquake, the Chilean Community of Pittsburgh will present a benefit concert 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Bellefield Hall Auditorium, Oakland, with performances by folk dance ensemble Copihue-Chile (directed by Pablo Espinoza), and musicians Marcia Moreno (of Chile) and Emily Pinkerton, who both were inspired by legendary Chilean artist Violeta Parra. They will render traditional songs, favorites of the Nueva Cancion movement and original compositions inspired in Latin American forms.

The concert, in collaboration with the Brother's Brother Foundation, will raise funds for individuals left without adequate food, water and shelter in central and southern Chile. Donation is $10.

Remembering Summers

A night of oldies music in the shadow of the former West View Danceland is a pretty fitting tribute to someone who lived and breathed classic '50s and '60s oldies music.

The late R.D. Summers, who hosted WWSW-FM's "Sunday Night Oldies Diner," died in February 2009 at 60. A fixture on the local oldies music scene, he DJ-ed at events, emceed the Roots of Rock and Roll oldies concert series and was highly respected in the local oldies community.

Former radio producer Shaun Pierce organized the event. "There is no greater tribute than to bring his fans together to remember him and to celebrate with the music he loved so much," Mr. Pierce said.

It's happening Saturday at West View Banquet Hall, 398 Perry Highway. Doors for the all-ages show open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20. A portion of the proceeds will go to the West View Fire Department.

Harmonious homecoming

Carnegie Mellon University is the setting for a return of two Western Pennsylvania natives who found musical success in Miami, but have been wooed back by the vibrant Pittsburgh arts scene and a return to their home area. In a sense, composer Robert Schultz, who grew up in Uniontown, never left. One of his works, "Visions of Dunbar," is a programmatic work for solo piano about a Dunbar, Pa., trout stream in which he "spent a lot of time as a kid." His wife, pianist Tina Faigen, was raised in Mt. Lebanon and often crossed into the city to play with cousins Daniel and Todd Phillips, now of the Orion String Quartet.

This Sunday at 3 p.m., Ms. Faigen and several luminaries of the Pittsburgh classical scene, including violinist Roger Zahab, violist Paul Silver, soprano Anna Singer, pianists Mark Carver, Becky Billock and Yeeha Chiu, clarinetist Thomas Thompson and more, will perform a free concert of Schultz's music at Kresge Recital Hall in the CMU Fine Arts Building. And, yes, Ms. Faigen will perform "Visions of Dunbar."

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.