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Any fan of the Sopranos or The Wise Guy Show on SIRIUS knows who Vincent "Big Pussy" Pastore and his Posse is. Their SIRIUS show is a celebration of life, arts and meatballs. But what many don't know about is their love for all things pizza, which is one of the reasons why Vinny, John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia, "Brooklyn" Joe Causi, Joe "Joey Rags" Rigano and "Uncle Floyd" Vivino have joined forces with PMQ and PMQ's New York Pizza Show. That's right, if you are at PMQ's New York Pizza Show (March 4-6, 2007) you will get the chance to meet and talk with the Wise Guy gang.
At the recent photo shoot for PMQ, we had the chance to talk with some of the Guys about their radio show, meatballs, pizza and the New York Pizza Show. What some of you may not now is that Cha Cha is one of your own…an actual pizzeria owner. He owns a place on Mulberry Street in Manhattan called Cha Cha's (113 Mulberry Street). One of the favorite pizzas at Cha-Cha's is the meatball pizza. "We tried thousands of meatballs for the pizza, but we finally just came up with our own recipe and people love it," Cha'Cha said. In addition to pizzas, the restaurant is also a gelateria and offers many unique flavors of gelato.
The Guys are also big fans of some of the great and legendary pizzerias in New York. When we asked them where their favorite pizza was, the resounding and first answer was "Cha-Cha's", but we knew that was coming. Besides Cha-Cha's, they guys all agreed that the best pizza in the world obviously comes from New York of course, but their specific favorites are Lombardi's (32 Spring Street), Patsy's (the original location is in Harlem) and Grimaldi's (located under the Brooklyn Bridge).
Having found out about their love of pizza is one of the reasons why PMQ contacted the Wise Guys about becoming part of PMQ's New York Pizza Show. It didn't take long to get a "yes" from them, especially since they have launched not only a pizzeria in NYC, but also have their own line of meatballs called…what else…Wise Guys Meatballs. You'll be able to catch the Wise Guys at their New York Pizza Show booth as they promote their Wise Guy Meatballs.
If you haven't caught their SIRIUS show, you should check it out. Some of the regular weekly features include "What's Your Beef?" where Vinny "Big Pussy" and the boys help listeners blow off steam by getting a few things off their chest. They also play "Guess the Wise Guy" where the boys play a snippet of a famous wise guy movie. You call and guess the name of the film, character and actor. Guess correctly or get whacked. In addition to these regular sessions, they play "Trivial Prosciutto" (This ain't no board game. It's a thinly sliced and very tasty salute to Italian-American history they play with callers who think they've got a clue. You got the cannolis to play?) and "What the Hell Happened This Week?" where they tell news "like it should be told." The gang takes the gloves off and discusses the week's headlines, celebrity scandals, sports talk and strange stories you won't hear anywhere else. If you listen between now and March 4th through the 6th, you may even hear a few plugs for PMQ's New York Pizza Show.
As the PMQ cover shoot was ending, we dropped one last question on the Guys. We asked "What kind of pizza best describes your personality?" Cha-Cha said, "Salt, pepper and onion." Before he could finish, Joey Rags chimed in with, "Crusty!" We're not sure if Joey was describing his personality or Cha-Cha's though.
The Wise Guy Show is a regular thing, every Wednesday at 6 pm ET on SIRIUS's Raw Dog // Ch. 104 (Repeated on Raw Dog // Ch. 104 on Saturday 4 pm - 7 pm ET and Sundays 4 pm - 7 pm ET and repeated on SIRIUS Stars // Ch. 102 on Sundays 6 pm - 9 pm) . In addition to catching their show, be sure to catch the Wise Guys (Vinny, Cha-Cha, Brooklyn Joe and Joey Rags) at 2007 PMQ New York Pizza Show…and bring your pen and paper and camera because they will be signing autographs and taking pictures with attendees.