Roustabout! organizer Jeff Van Fossan would like to cordially invite the dateless people of State College to his rock 'n' roll shindig tonight at Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave. As he said, the logic is airtight.

"The benefit of being single at a Valentine's Day Roustabout! is that you'll be able to make out with more than one person," Van Fossan said.

Tonight's special all-ages Valentine's Roustabout! will feature four acts, handpicked to heal the lonely heart: District of Columbia's classic-punk revivalists Washington Social Club, Van Fossan's own The Bullet Parade, local pop-rockers The Minor White, and the similarly local, danceable North.

So how did Van Fossan get all the members of four young bands to agree to give up their V-Day date-nights to play a gig?

"Promises of fame and fortune," Van Fossan said. He then added, "No, I e-mailed them, and they agreed."

Roustabout! alums Washington Social Club will make their first area appearance since November. The D.C. band members are hard at work on the follow-up to their 2004 release Catching Looks.

Both North and The Minor White are relative newcomers to the Roustabout! scene, but Van Fossan said he's more than happy to give both promising bands a place to play.

"They're both part of this new crop of original bands popping up all over State College," Van Fossan said. "As much as I like bringing in bands from all over, bands that wouldn't necessarily have a place to play in town otherwise, I try to be extra supportive of local acts."

The Bullet Parade is still settling into a few recent changes in their lineup, having recently added drummer Mark Kleback and multi-instrumentalist Eric Myers. As Myers said, both fresh members are teaching old dog Van Fossan a few new tricks.

"We're both funny, and we both listen to a younger kind of music, which I think brings a little bit of a different influence to the band," Myers said. "Whereas Jeff might be strongly influenced by R.E.M., we're maybe more into something like Cursive."

Drummer Kleback said the transition has been extremely organic.

"I think we're more rounded out with me and Eric in the band," Kleback said. "We're expanding the sound, using more instruments. People have said this is the best they've heard the Bullet Parade in its many incarnations."

But does Van Fossan's insistence that the band play a show on Valentine's Day, the hottest date night of the year, bother the two young bucks?

"Not at all," Kleback said. "I'm kind of using this as an opportunity not to sit at home alone on Valentine's. Aside from Eric, we're all single, so I think we're all happy to be playing a show on Valentine's Day."