BY MIKE SHANLEY

Pittsburgh was the lucky recipient of two visits from Carl - aka AC - Newman in less than a month. First, a tour in support of his solo album Get Guilty brought him to the Andy Warhol Museum at the end of March. When Carnegie Mellon University held their annual Spring Carnival three weeks later, Newman's revered ensemble the New Pornographers headlined the Friday night festivities in a free outdoor concert. Considering how often national acts pass over the city, Newman should've been given a gold key to the city. Then again, he'd need to play sports to qualify, knowing this city.

"Did you guys know this was my spoken word tour," Newman quipped, as he and his non-New Pornographers band took their places onstage at the Warhol Museum on March 28. It might have been Newman's version of the opening joke to warm up the sell-out crowd in the museum's intimate 110-seat theater. Or maybe he didn't realize how national bands hold court here as often as poets or lecturers. But a few songs later, it simply seemed like he was in awe of his surroundings: "This is the first time I've ever played a museum, so this is cool," he said.

Newman played a good number of the instruments on Get Guilty except drums, horns and strings, with guests like the Mates of State adding the harmonies. To flesh out the songs in person, he recruited five musicians from hometown Vancouver and new home New York.  The group looked like a diverse bunch, but any difference in visuals had nothing to do with the sound they created.

Some of the songs require the musicians to play some relatively simple parts, but Newman orchestrates them in a manner that blends to make it sound like a big final product. Shaun Brodie factored heavily into this equation, jumping between keyboards, trumpet, melodica and penny whistle throughout the set, sometimes handling a couple of these instruments during one song. Shane Nelken also did the same thing, playing guitar and keyboards. Tara Szczygielski deftly played violin and sang backup often simultaneously, which is no small feat. And when she wasn't doing either, the statuesque fiddler was head bobbing to the music, keeping her energy high.

 "Secretarial," from Small Wonder, Newman's 2004 solo album, sounded like it could fit into the NP's songbook, but it veered down a different path during lead break when Szczygielski took a strong solo. The sing-along/counterpoint chorus of "All of My Days and All of My Days Off" exhibited the leader's classic pop mold, while "The Heartbreak Rides" headed in a dreamier direction with its Fender Rhodes pulse. Few people can pull of a whistled section, but the crew handled it in "Drink to Me Babe, Then."  Throughout the set, Newman - who has been sporting a beard for a while, which changes his baby face into more of a grad-student visage - delivered a strong performance as a vocalist and guitarist, switching between electric and acoustic.

The Broken West, the Los Angeles band on Merge, opened the evening with a set that went heavy on classic '70s pop. The band resided in mid-tempo territory for most of their songs, but chunky guitar riffs, harmonies and the occasional falsetto added variety and distinction. Rob McCorkindale's drumming played a key ingredient adding the appropriate drive to most tunes, especially the catchy "Auctioneer."

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On April 17 as the New Pornographers took the stage constructed in front of Carnegie Mellon's College of Fine Arts Building - following a tight set by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists -  Newman made no mention of his recent visit. But the audience packed onto the lawn didn't mind. Nor did it matter that vocalist Neko Case as well as mystery member/second songwriter Dan Bejar were absent from the lineup (though if the latter had shown up, it would have been a surprise). 

The New Pornographers could easily be sabotaged by a p.a. mix that buried their harmonies or guitar licks, especially at an outdoor show where sound could simply bounce off the surrounding concrete buildings before floating into the stratosphere. When the band slammed into "The Laws Have Changed," the second song in a 60-minute set, it became clear that the soundperson had everything under control.  Keyboardist Kathryn Calder handled Case's vocal in the song, blending together with Newman and drummer Kurt Dahle's harmonies with beautiful precision. The bell-like counterpart between the three during "Testament to Youth in Verse" was nothing less than astounding.

Since the band's songs are constructed in the studio, the live versions seemed to give the band a chance to stretch out with the material. As a result, little subtleties that blend in on the records stood out in person, showing how Newman connects the parts of songs in sometimes unorthodox ways. From disparate dynamics equaling a bigger whole ("Stacked Crooked") to Todd Fancey's well-placed lead work ("Challengers"), the Pornographers even gave diehard fans new reasons to love them.

Dahle proved to be the band's secret weapon, straddling punchy beats while singing or smoking (Ringo could never do both), twirling and catching sticks between beats and nipping an unidentifiable beverage when the beat stopped for a few bars in "Sing Me Spanish Techno." His most impressive feat came during "Challengers," where he alternated acoustic guitar and drums during verse and chorus, all the while managing to sing harmony.

When the band encored with ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down" it was hard to tell if their voices had effects on them to get that Jeff Lynne richness, or if the band simply possesses the skill at making three voices sound like six. With the way it sounded, there's no need to answer the question, anyway.