A recent blog about the Girl Talk tour of Florida with Grand Buffet noted that "it has become apparent that Girl Talk could play a Glen Campbell record in its entirety and still be adored by the crowd."

Wait until you see the love he gets in his own hometown.

Everyone's favorite laptop artist returns Friday night to Mr. Small's for his second big homecoming since he shot to fame with his acclaimed "Night Ripper" CD.

Girl Talk

Girl Talk, aka Gregg Gilles, continues to rock the party worldwide, which means taking time away from the long-awaited follow-up CD.

"I'm working on it every day," he says. "I should be completely finished by early June, and then, I'm going to make it available online immediately. The CD and vinyl will drop shortly after."

Gilles says it will be similar to "Night Ripper" -- "complicated party music" with hundreds of pop songs pasted together.

But, he says, "I think it's more accessible than my previous work, just because on average, the rate of different songs coming and going is slightly slowed down. I tried to emulate my normal pace of live shows. There are some brief segments that are the most detailed work I've ever done, but those are used sparingly. I worked with manipulating multiple segments of a single source material more than in the past. Rather than jumping from song A to song B to song C, I wanted particular parts of the album to build up a bit more."

Girl Talk continues to be a hit on the festival circuit. This summer he's bound for Lollapalooza in Chicago and All Points West in New York, along with European festivals.

What can people expect at Small's?

"Lately, I've been trying to mix it up with some stuff from the new album and some older stuff, even elements of material pre-'Night Ripper.' I try to push people to their limits, so it's usually up to the audience how insane we're going to get."

The Small's show Friday at 8 with Weird Paul, 8 Cylinder and Ohmu is sold out. The blog about the Florida tour can be read at www.grooveshark.com.

When you're part of the hard-rock/metal scene, it's only natural that bands with names like Burning Earth and Ashes to Ashes would be playing the benefit for things you lost in the fire.

On April 5, rock promoter and band manager Sweet Lou Hetzer and his family barely escaped the fire that raged through their Coraopolis home. The family, alerted to the blaze just after 6 a.m. by the barking of their rottweiler Chunk, was able to escape safely, but not without injuries and devastation.

The good news was that Hetzer and his 18-year-old son, Louise E., were able to re-enter the burning home to rescue 17-year-old son Michael, who has been treated for second- and third-degree burns and after-effects of smoke inhalation.

Burning Earth and Ashes to Ashes are teaming up with Zilch and Chip DiMonick on Friday at RPMs in Bridgeville for a benefit concert for the Hetzer family.

Hetzer, of GlamSlam Productions, describes himself as a diehard rock fan who knew nothing about the business but jumped into promotion to revive the market here for older metal acts such as Jackyl, Quiet Riot, Jani Lane and LA Guns. He also has been managing the Uniontown band Burning Earth.

Hetzer says he's been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for his family. He wrote on his MySpace blog, "It literally brings a tear to my eye knowing that there is that much love still here on this planet that sometimes is very negative. It gives me a lot of hope that I may have lost over the years."

The benefit was planned before they knew that the Penguins would be opening their series against the Flyers Friday night.

"I am uncomfortable to begin with having a benefit, but Dave Bishop and the bands are handling everything and I really don't want all their hard work to go down due to scheduling," Hetzer says. "They're gonna have the Pens on TV, drink specials and more."

It begins at 8 p.m. Admission is $5. Call 412-221-7808.

-- Scott Mervis