Tyler Troutman doesn't always do what's expected of him.

The 22-year-old from Ashland, Pa. has been playing guitar for about seven years, but looked like a bit of an ameteur when he broke a guitar string during the first song of a Hot Topic acoustic set Monday night.

Despite the setback that usually plagues less experienced musicians, Troutman had no problem sticking out the rest of the song for the five person audience present at the Nittany Mall's store.

"I'm having an unfortunately bad day," he said, jokingly. "I'm just gonna pretend that last little scene didn't happen."

Troutman, who plays as a solo act under the band name Condition Oakland, had to pull out his "punk rock" guitar for the rest of his set. The weathered acoustic was covered with stickers of different bands, everyone from The Ataris and Motion City Soundtrack to Hannah Montana.

The rest of Troutman's set included all originals that made such mundane activities as going to church or working his job at Kmart into things to write a song about.

Troutman said he considers his music to be "folk punk" because most of his lyrics tell stories about his life and the lives of his friends.

He added his ambition to go out and play small shows like those at Hot Topic comes from living in a small town that is overfilled with poverty, where very few people have the opportunity to leave.

"From where I come from, a good percentage of the population has worked in the same factory since they were 16, or they are on

welfare," he said. "I wanted to get out and prove that I could live out a dream."

Troutman's girlfriend Kelsey Leonhardt followed him out to the show, and the 18-year-old said she experienced the same problems living in nearby Girardville.

She added that it was hard for her to try to do well in school when everyone in her town either becomes a factory worker or a teacher.

"It's good to see him going and playing places because it makes me want to get out more," she said.

Troutman managed to finish out his set with a smile, thanking the audience for listening to him "rant" during the 45-minute set.

He will travel to Erie tomorrow for another show, and he encouraged people at Hot Topic to buy his CDs for a dollar so he could afford gas money.

This is the second time Troutman has traveled this summer, the first being a small tour earlier this month where he played shows in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Ohio.

"It was exciting to be homeless for a few days and actually get a realistic grip on what its like being a touring musician," he said.

Natalie Ferrigno, a Hot Topic employee from Bellefonte who comes to the in-store performances even on her days off, said she thought Troutman was a good guitar player and lyricist, but that the best part about his performance was that he tried to engage the audience between songs. She added he may have been a little discouraged after his string broke during the first song.

"I think he was having kind of a shy day," she said. "But if that's a shy day for him that was pretty good."

Neil Curtis, another Hot Topic employee, said he thinks it's "brilliant" that Hot Topic helps artists like Troutman get their name out there by holding in-store performances.

"Anybody who could break a string and keep going after that gets an 'A' for effort in my book," he said.