Blake’s Picks

Music & More in the Valley and Beyond

LOVE & VITRIOL

Without a doubt, the coolest blog in the Valley is lehighvalleywithlove.com.  The anonymous blogger – I know who, but I ain’t tellin’ – pulls stories out of the local news and dishes out some seriously great, no BS tough love for our splendid area.  It’s not for the easily offended or the PC police among you.  It takes “news” like Jon Gosselin getting pulled over in Macungie, a Palmer man getting tasered on his roof, and a rouge alligator at Jordan Creek and goes OFF.  Is it reverential?  Is it slamming human stupidity?  Is it shellacking ridiculous local coverage?  Is it just for laughs?  You decide.  But read it, religiously.

SAVE THE MAMMARIES

For the third year the “We Rock” benefit is coming to The Sterling Hotel in Allentown to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research.  We Rock ’09 kicks off at noon on September 19^th at The Sterling with Marshall’s Highway, No Heroes, The Large Flowerheads, Full Metal Racket, The Cherry Bombs, Nu World Disorder, 3^rd Side, and a Jolly Roger reunion.  Up In Smoke BBQ and The Sterling Hotel will provide food and drink.  Last year “We Rock” raised $5,000 for the Lehigh Valley Breast Health Services & Patient Assistance Fund and this year they hope to double that number.  Around 200,000 cases of breast cancer are anticipated to crop up in the US during 2009-10. Chances are someone close to you has been diagnosed or has lost their life to this disease.  Tickets and info: www.werockbenefit.com

BLUE FOOD

An insider - a monkey mole, if you will - told me that The Blue Monkey in Catasauqua recently got a new head cook eager to get his hands dirty.  Seeing as how I thought the Monkey was pretty good already, I’m happy to report that’s still the case – but you’ll see some fresh new items on the menu.  There’s everything from 8 kinds of cheesesteaks and 11 varieties of salads to upscale steak and seafood entrees.  The Blue Monkey is really a complex of rooms: a family restaurant with TVs at every booth, a sports bar with acoustic acts and shuffleboard, and an upstairs tropical lounge.  And I love that they carry Saranac and Purple Haze (that’s beer).  Keep it up!  Beer snobs will freak over their list.  Yes, the name Private Blake Dannen is on the Beer Club Plaque.  (I want to earn my dog tag.)  View the new menu and their full schedule of music, comedy, events, and specials at www.bluemonkeysports.com.

SPEAKING OF MONKEYS….

Apparently, scientists in England have discovered that the music of Metallica soothes monkeys.  In the study, published in the scientific journal Biology Letters, 14 monkeys were played 30-second blasts of music while the researchers noted any changes in their behavior.  The animals were played a soft piano piece from Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile, followed by Metallica's "Of Wolf and Man" and Tool's "The Grudge." The only music that got any response was the music of fellow bipeds James, Lars, Kirk, and Robert.  Metallica’s music had a calming effect on the monkeys, which the researchers said was an, ahem, "unexpected” effect.  The authors of the study hope to help psychologists “understand the evolutionary roots of music and its effect on the brain.”  Or they’ll just learn that monkeys heart metal.