Bad Ferrous

Last week's two-game winning streak seems to have gone to the head of IronPigs mascott Ferrous, seen here stumbling out of a Renaissance Square establishment with a companion recently.

Our spies tell us Ferrous has been keeping bad company -- and we believe it.

The final straw may have been the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" that occurred before a recent game while one of the uppity ungulate's new "girlfriends" sang the national anthem.

A note of caution: If you are offended, or are planning to be offended, by partial puppet nudity DO NOT LOOK AT THE POST BELOW. Do not drink alcohol or operate a motor vehicle while looking at the post below. If you stare at the post below for more than four hours, CALL YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY.

Wardrobe malfunction?

You be the judge.

Sean Costello

NOTE: I'm having some sort of language issue. If anyone can advise me on it I'd love to know what the heck it is. (Could it be related to the banner in the previous post??)

NOTE 2: Looks like I'm back to English only.

NOTE 3: I deleted the offending banner coding, credibility be damned.

I wish I had more time to post properly on this. Sean was only 28. You may remember he played at the Cementon blues festival a few years ago and put on a great show. You get used to losing some of the older blues artists; you almost expect it. But when a young, promising talent dies, it's jarring.
This was posted on pollstar:

Blues artist Sean Costello died in Atlanta on April 15, one day shy of his 29th birthday. The cause of death was not reported.
Costello had been on the road in recent weeks and had numerous concert dates scheduled in the U.S. and abroad, running well into November.
His record label, Delta Groove, issued the following statement today:
"Sean was not only a member of the Delta Groove musical family, he was also a friend, and words cannot express the sorrow we feel at having to say goodbye so soon. As blues music fans, we unfortunately grow somewhat accustomed to the sadness of the inevitable passing of musical elders after long and fruitful careers.
"Losing someone as young, vibrant, and talented as Sean, who had accomplished so much in just a few short years and still had so much potential, is a terribly difficult blow, not only to those who knew him personally, but for the music community as a whole.
"He had been unanimously praised as one of the main torch-bearers of the blues flame for the coming generations, and now that potential will go sadly unfulfilled."

Break up the Pigs!

The Iron Pigs winning streak has reached one and counting! The 1-11 Pigs are just 7 games out of first place with last night's crushing 3-1 demolition of the Richmond Braves, who were lucky to limp out of Coca-Cola Park with their lives! The rest of the International League is cringing in fear. Toledo Mud Hens, you're next. There's nowhere to hide!

Has anybody here seen ...

First Look Out Lehigh Valley quietly closed shop and went poof. Then Mr. Brown packed up his $900 manbag and left the neighborhood. Now Chris Casey has turned into a dolphin and paddled off into the sunset -- before finishing his Ed-ipus Rex. My favorites list has become obsolete. Soon there will be only Bernie and stories about mayors eating live babies and human sacrifiices over at the poliblog. ... Hmm. Live babies. That's just wrong, Mr. Mayor!

One lousy freakin' freethrow

That's all I have to say.

A good cause

This is from a press release about a breast cancer awareness benefit coming up this Friday, for anyone who is interested.

Web site: www.catwalkcoutureforacure.com


Catwalk Couture for A Cure -- A Fashion-Forward Event to Benefit Breast Cancer Research

Susan Lopez, a senior at Cedar Crest College introduces the new summer fashion lines from clothing stores throughout the Lehigh Valley. Francesca’s Collections, Popmart and Talbots have donated styles for the event. Together, Breast Cancer survivors and models from Image International Modeling will walk the catwalk in the latest fashions.

The event will showcase new lines of summer fashions and offer decadent food from Maison Blanc of Allentown. The evening will continue with musical entertainment by The Pros from Huntington Valley. Local companies in attendance include: B Young Salon, Dream Events, Blink Optical, Francesca’s Collections, Phoebe Floral Shop, Popmart, Mac Cosmetics, Talbots, The Shoe Box and many more.

Tickets are $50. All ticket purchases and donations are tax deductible.

Proceeds generated from this event will be donated to the Morgan Cancer Center of the Lehigh Valley Hospital.

April 11th, 2008 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm
Barrister's Club
1114 W Walnut Street
Allentown, PA 18102
610.433.6088

Direct all questions to Susan Lopez
Phone: (484) 767-5539 or (610)966-6742
Email: smlopez@cedarcrest.edu

The Moose Stein

Ah, the Neuweiler moose stein. I got a great deal on it on an eBay auction over the weekend. It's no monkey stein, but it is one I didn't already have.

Update: The stein arrived today, tired from its journey but otherwise unharmed. It seems happy to be reunited with some of its brothers and sisters. But I can tell it really misses the monkey stein.

Update 2: The stein would have been paid for if Memphis could have hit ONE DAMN FREETHROW last night.

Wit brie and capers

The other day I mentioned a WIP radio promotion on chesesteaks -- something I had vaguely remembered hearing while taking a nap as I drove up the Turnpike between here & Q-town.

I'm not a big WIP fan usually. If I want to be screamed at I could just stay home. (Just kidding, honey, that never happens.) But I do like to hear as much as possible about the Phillies this time of year and the "talk" keeps me awake in the car, sometimes as far as Vera Cruz. After that the rumble strips take over.

This morning, I looked at the Web site. It's "Glen Macnow's Ultimate Cheesesteak Challenge." He and some interns went to 45 places, had a cheesesteak with onions and provolone and rated them.

His Top Ten: 1) John’s Roast Pork, 14 East Snyder Avenue; 2) Steve’s Prince of Steaks, 7200 Bustleton Avenue; 3) Chink’s, 6030 Torresdale Avenue, Philadelphia; 4) Talk of the Town, 3020 S Broad Street; 5) Grey Lodge Pub, 6235 Frankford Avenue; 6) Slack’s Hoagie Shack, 2499 Aramingo Avenue; 7) Sonny’s Famous Steaks, 228 Market Street; 8) Tony Luke’s, 39 East Oregon Avenue; 9) White House Sub Shop, Mississippi and Arctic Avenue, Atlantic City; 10) Dalessandro’s, 600 Wendover Ave. (Roxborough).

I've only been to four of the Top 10 (1, 3, 4 and 8) and they are all great. Regrettably at John's Roast Pork, I didn't have a steak. Some I've never heard of and some I just don't get -- Slacks (a chain and a WIP sponsor), and going all the way to Atlantic City for a sandwich. But it's not my list.

Here's all 45: http://www.610wip.com/pages/351421.php

Some notables: Jim's, 12; Rick's, 30; Geno's, 35; Pat's, 42. My, um, gut tells me Jim's and Rick's should be higher and Pat's and Geno's are about right.

The photo shows John Kerry daintily nibbling his steak with SWISS CHEESE at Pat's. Beyond the forbidden topping, the steak also appears to be covered with lettuce and tomatoes. A hoagie steak sighting! More a rookie mistake than a true faux pas. Anyone else would have been sent to the back of the line. Kerry at least had a steak. Neither Clinton nor Obama has had one yet on the campaign trail, according to the Daily News. Obama actually turned one down. ... OK that's about as political as this non-political blog gets.

Is there a best?

I've been driving back and forth to Philadelphia a lot lately and listening to WIP to stay awake, with mixed results. Thank God for rumble strips.


One host said he had eaten 45 steak sandwiches in 45 days in a promotion to crown the city's best cheesesteak. I haven't eaten 45 steaks in the past 20 years, but before that, when I lived in South Philly, I probably had one or two a week.


Which has me wondering ... the best steak sandwich in the Lehigh Valley? Hmm. That’s like asking where to get the best swordfish in, say, Durango, Colo.

My first experience with a Lehigh Valley steak sandwich was years ago at the old Brass Rail after I moved here to lovely Renaissance². Here’s where you tell me that if I don’t like it here I should go back to Philly and be with my own kind. (Or is that just on Topix?) But I do like it here – I'm just not crazy about the cheesesteaks.

The Brass Rail steak -- and a lot of people around here say it’s the best – seemed tiny and came with pickles on it. PICKLES! It also came slathered with a substance called “sauce.”

In Philadelphia, steaks don’t have sauce. (Unless of course you are talking about the noble pizza steak, which is covered with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese.) And they sure as heck don’t have pickles on them.

A real steak starts with a fresh Amoroso’s or similar hoagie roll. Fresh beef sliced thin, fried on a grill with onions and topped with cheese, preferably provolone. American is OK too. Cheese Whiz? If you absolutely must, but only at Ninth & Passyunk. Peppers, mushrooms? You’d be pushing it.

John Kerry famously ordered his with SWISS CHEESE at Pat’s. Oh brother. That was a worse credibility hit than the swift boats.

While the ‘wit’ tourist steaks at Pat’s and Geno’s are perfectly fine, they are far from the best in town. Tony Luke’s, Chink’s, Jim’s, Johnny’s Hots, and others will all get votes, but, really, you'd be hard pressed to find a bad one in Philly. I’m partial to Jim’s, mostly because It was at the end of my block.

But the best in the Valley? Like a swordfish in the Four Corners, a good steak is a rare creature in these parts.