Musing Marketplace

The following were ideas that never came to fruition as complete blogs. Consider this musing a garage sale of ideas.

I have received many comments on the volume of my speaking voice. What can I say, I am a loud  talker. Some attribute it to growing up in a large family, all of whom liked to talk. Others blame my size commenting that the echo from my chest cavity causes the stentorian tones. (Word geek trivia - this word comes from the Greek herald, Stentor, mentioned in Homer's Iliad, known for his loud voice.)

In actuality, I speak loudly so I can hear myself over the voices in my head. They never stop. "Do this.", "Do that.", "Make sure you have lots of quick lime and a shovel.", "You sure you left no fingerprints?", etc. In order for me to hear my own thoughts, I must speak loudly.

The other day an acquaintance sat next to me in a public house and
asked who I thought was the best guitar player. His question brought to mind the medieval query, "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" That question was never meant to be answered. Its purpose was to encourage discourse and sharpen rhetorical skills.

However, he truly expected an answer. Consider Doc Watson, John McLaughlin, Leo Kottke, Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Robert Fripp...I could go
on for pages. Music, like art, evokes personal feelings. It is not a contest in which one comes out on top. Music opens the soul. It offers a glimpse of the infinite beauty that we pursue, but can never achieve. To quote Robert Browning, "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?"

On the subject of music, several times I've been asked why the songs I do don't sound like the original artists' versions. My early mentors taught me to make each song my own. Billie Holiday said it best, "If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling. No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music."

Anarchy is misunderstood. Many consider it a state of chaos and disorder. They think of anarchists as bomb throwing radicals. Few study to see what anarchy really is. People use anecdotal knowledge as an explanation. Anecdotes are not facts. The works of Proudhon, Chomsky and Zerzan are good starters, but who am I kidding. Their works read like the philosophical texts they are, and many find them pedantic. I enjoy this reading, but understand that most don't. Res Ipsa Loquitur.

Politics has become a battleground of polarities. Historian Shelby Foote blames the American Civil War on the failure of our political system to do what it was meant to do - create compromises. It's happening again today.  We have devolved into a country of discord. Polemics replace reason; insults replace argument. Right/left, conservative/liberal - terms have replaced ideas. We are more concerned with labels than results. Politicians masquerade as leaders. Polling data supersede judgement. 

Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin. They have constructed a system to keep the power amongst themselves. It is rigged against any third party or independent candidate to make a change. Our government is dysfunctional and dishonest. Come to think of it, maybe some bomb-throwing radicals are just what the wild-eyed doctor ordered. As ever - BB

"What a field day for the heat, thousand people in the street. Singing songs and carrying signs, mostly say 'Hooray for our side!" - For What It's Worth - Stephan Stills

 

One Wit Whiz

The above is order-speak for a cheese steak with fried onions and Cheese Whiz at Pat's Steaks in Philly. Below is some history about the sandwich, and places to consider if you ever go on a cheese steak crawl through the City of Brotherly Love.

The two most famous establishments are Pat's and Geno's both
located at the intersection of 9th Street, Wharton Street and Passyunk Avenue. Many locals decry these places, but this is the corner where the sandwich started, so you have to try them.

Kristin and I will go to Philadelphia on a Saturday morning, visit the Italian Market on 9th Street and be back in Fells Point by 2pm. On one such trip we got there about 9am and had not eaten yet. Pat's is open 24-hours, so we decided to have cheese steaks for breakfast.

We ordered, sat outside, the only option, and proceeded to eat. Across from us were several neighborhood gentlemen enjoying morning pastries and coffee. They discussed sports and politics with a liberal sprinkling of foul language. Out of the side door came Frank Olivieri, Sr. Frank Jr. now runs Pat's, but his father is always there. He began to lambast these guys, "Hey, I got f@#kin' customers here. Watch your f@#kin' language damn it!" He then turned to us and said, "I'm sorry for these a**holes."

We basked in the irony of his berating them while using the same obscenities. The sheepish gentlemen apologized to us and proceeded to tell us about the Italian Market, gave directions and recommended places for the best fresh pasta, olives, cheeses, etc. I thanked them, not having the heart to explain that we go to the Italian Market often. We proceeded up 9th Street relishing the glow of South Philly local color.

Pat Olivieri with 2 of the Stooges

In 1930, Pat and Harry Olivieri started a hog dog cart at 9th and Passyunk. They picked that location because it was a trolly stop just blocks from the Italian Market insuring lots of traffic. One day, getting sick of eating hot dogs, they went to a local market for some chopped steak to grill with fried onions for their lunch. A regular saw it, asked for that, and the steak sandwich was born. A couple years later an employee, who the story goes put provolone on everything, added cheese. It wasn't until the early 60s that Cheese Whiz was introduced.

As an aficionado who has lived in many places, any cheese steak from Philly beats those from anywhere else. I once had a "cheese steak" in Iowa that was sliced roast beef with Havarti, raw peppers and onions on a hamburger roll. The Hindenburg disaster comes to mind, "Oh the humanity!" Just about every Philadelphia neighborhood has its favorite cheese steak place. Here are some of mine.
 
Gooey Looies -  several blocks south and east of Pat's & Geno's, it's a small place. I usually order and eat it in the car, or drive across Delaware Avenue (now Christopher Columbus Boulevard, but always Delaware Ave to me) and sit by the waterfront. It's huge, the onions are darker giving it a toasty flavor, loaded with American cheese, where the gooey in the name comes from, and a dollar cheaper than Pat's or Geno's.

Jim's Steaks - It has won Philadelphia Magazine's best cheese steak award several times. Located on South Street in the midst of several bars and clubs, I usually have this cheese steak at 2am after several libations. Great drunk food rivaling the cheese omelet and Italian sausage at the Melrose Diner. (Diner stories for another time)

Ishkabibbles - on South Street just down from Jim's, this was the first place I experienced a chicken cheese steak. Sacrilege to some, I find it a nice break from the standard Philly sandwich. They offer a unique drink, the Gremlin, a mixture of lemonade and grape drink. Also a good "after drinking on South Street" stop.

Tony Lukes -  the original is on East Oregon Avenue, several blocks south of Gooey Looies. Tony Lukes has expanded to include places in both the Link and Citizen Bank stadiums, Wildwood NJ, and even Bahrain. Their cheese steak is good, but try the Italian roast pork sandwich. It's the best in the city!

These are my rules concerning cheese steaks:
The cheese depends on my mood. I avoid American, except for Gooie Looies, and go with either Whiz or Provolone. Sometimes I'll go to Pat's and get one with Whiz and have Kristin go to Geno's and get one with Prov. We share getting a taste of both. This can be done at Jim's & Ishkabibble's too. A cheese steak must have fried onions, nothing else, not even condiments.  If you are having a cheese steak hoagie, then raw onions are acceptable. In fact I prefer raw onions on the hoagie. For the uninitiated, the cheese steak hoagie has lettuce and tomato. On these olive oil and/or a little mayo is acceptable also.

If you go down to the shore it's a sub not a hoagie. I consider the shore anywhere from Long Beach Island to Cape May, anything above LBI is North Jersey and doesn't count. The two best places are White House Subs in Atlantic City and Sack O'Subs. Sack O' has several locations. I've only been to the ones in Ventnor and Ocean City, NJ. Both are equally good. If you visit those, ignore the cheese steak and get the cheese steak sub. As ever - BB

"If you're associated with the Philadelphia media or town, you look for negatives. I don't know if there's something about their upbringing or they have too many hoagies, or too much cream cheese." - Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies' Hall of Fame 3rd baseman.

Philadelphia Story

Not the play, nor the movie, but some musings about the town in which I was born. I love it's quirkiness and panache. Founded by Quakers, full of blue bloods, yet Philly emanates a blue collar ethos. I hope the following vignettes bring to light some of the eccentricities that I love about my birthplace.

Philadelphia embraces its museums: the Museum of Art, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Franklin Institute, to name a few. My attraction leans to the more bizarre. 

The Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians includes a collection of over 130 skulls, sections of Albert Einstein's brain, about 1,300 wet specimens of body parts, cysts and tumors in fluid...not the place for those with weak constitutions especially after lunch.

The Mummers Museum, not to be confused with the above, celebrates Philly's tradition of mummery. Mummers have marched through the town since the mid-17th century.  The first official parade was 1901. The Comics, Fancies, Fancy Brigades and String Bands parade every New Year's Day in a noisy, cold, endless procession. Not understood by out-of-towners, which could explain why it is dear to this Philadelphian.

The Rodin Museum is one of the most comprehensive collections of the French sculptor outside of Paris. Not as off-beat as the above, I only mention it here because when I was about 10, my father took me there. I was very excited to visit a museum dedicated to the Japanese sci-fi monster, Rodan. What did I know about the artist, Auguste Rodin. Guess I wasn't much of a thinker!

Philadelphia loves public art. The Liberty Bell, Billy Penn, the
LOVE statue. Then there's the clothespin. Directly across the street from City Hall was a bar where, incidentally, my great uncle, Jim, bartended for 40 years...ah digression. The bar was demolished. In its place for America's Bicentennial, the city wanted a sculpture. The commission went to Claes Oldenburg who constructed a 45-foot steel clothespin.

The city residents were outraged; how could the administration waste money this way; it's an eyesore and an embarrassment to the city. In 1984, newly elected mayor, Wilson Goode announced he would have the clothespin removed. The city residents were outraged; how could the administration do this; it's our clothespin and we love it. The clothespin still stands at Centre Square.

Philly has over 600 murals. In 1986, the city began the Mural Arts Program to fight graffiti in a positive way. Murals exist all over town. My favorite is on the corner of 3rd and South St. There sits Jon's Bar & Grill, but in 1902, it was the house where Louis Fineberg was born. Better known as Larry Fine of the Three Stooges, the owner decided to celebrate the birth of this great comedian by putting his image on the outside wall of his bar.

The only museum about the Stooges, the Stoogeum, is close by in Ambler, PA. But since it's not in the city proper, I only mention it as an aside. At least it's not in Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls...slowly I turn, step by step, inch by inch...as ever BB

"The streets are safe in Philadelphia; it's only the people who make them unsafe." - Frank Rizzo, chief of police of Philadelphia 1967-71, mayor 1972-80





Just a few of the Philly's magnificent murals: