Jersey Mike

It’s 7:48PM on a Wednesday night and I’m doing three things that are making me quite happy at the moment.

The first: I’m eating the new Torino sandwich from Nonna’s Delicioso on Reily Street in Midtown. And it is absolutely incredible. (More on that in a minute)

The second thing I’m currently doing which is delivering me great joy and happiness is listening to Guns N Roses ‘Appetite for Destruction’ straight through for the first time in over ten years.

[By the time I publish this post I'll have listened to it straight through twice...and skipped around to hear "You're Crazy" and "Mr. Brownstone" a couple times each. At a volume level which will be completely unacceptable to my neighbors in about fifteen minutes.]

And thirdly, I’m washing it all down with an ice cold grape-flavored Boylan’s Vintage Soda Pop (Sweetened with pure cane sugar…and proudly made in Carlstadt, New Jersey).

And the combination of these three things is the closest thing to Zen I’ll probably find tonight.

The opening chords to Paradise City are ringing out as I take another bite into this stupendously scrumptious sandwich creation from Jersey boy Ray Diaz. Almost fittingly, “the kick…snare_kick-snare” of this classic gem from 1987 seems, at this moment, like the perfect musical accompaniment to the kinda-spicy, sorta-crunchy, just-cheesy-enough combination of breaded chicken soaked in a homemade Buffalo sauce topped with Gorgonzola cheese, sprinkled with just a taste of blue cheese and served on a long Ciabiatta roll.

“Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty”

Axl…dude…you forgot about the Torino sandwich from Nonna’s in Harrisburg.

Pretty girls, green grass and this damn-filling and tasty goodness served on a crunchy roll. Does life get any better?

___________

I just finished reading the fourth of four books by writer Chuck Klosterman. Actually, I think what I just finished reading was his second offering- Fargo Rock City- but I read it last.

Have you heard of this guy? He’s a journalist for Spin Magazine who writes almost obsessive-compulsively and with an air of arrogant narcissism about social trends- “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs – A low culture manifesto” has been heralded as “one of the brightest pieces of pop analysis to appear this century” by The Onion A.V. club and almost-exhaustively covers everything from kids’ cereal to Saved by The Bell to why Billy Joel is one of the most relevant songwriters of the past fifty years- but one of the most uncool guys on the planet to the first season of MTV’s The Real World…and everything in between.

But it’s the chapter about Ohio’s greatest offering to the current wave of tribute bands crisscrossing the country – Appetite for Destruction- which influenced my rediscovery of what could be one of my personal top ten favorite records of all time (okay, maybe top twenty)

Klosterman goes on the road with these guys for a couple of days and writes about what it’s like to experience the sex, drugs and shenanigans of one of the best tributes to Axl and Co. in the country.

Additionally, ‘Fargo Rock City’ is a virtual-bible for all-things-80′s-metal.

Which inspired me to take a trip to CD Warehouse, find a used copy of Appetite for Destruction, call in an order to Nonna’s for their amazingly great new sandwich, drive home, pop in this disc and devour these things tonight.

I’m a pretty simple guy.

“Do you know where you are? You’re in the JUNGLE baby!”

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