Frank Viele joins George Wacker on the Lehigh Valley with Love Podcast ahead of his Friday, November 6 show at Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem. Arielle Silver opens the 8 p.m. show.
Frank learned guitar in Dave Matthews concert parking lots and had seen the band 137 times by college graduation. He talks about those early influences, recording with Lee DeWyze, and his history playing SteelStacks with Frank Viele & The Manhattan Project.
The story behind The Silo
A canceled show left Frank stranded in a Portland motel for three days. He spent two nights writing the original songs for The Silo and recording demos on his phone. A last-minute studio session with Lee DeWyze brought those songs to life.
Frank also gets into Bigger Beast Records, its community outreach arm All Boats Rise Entertainment, and the work of keeping an independent music career going.
November 6 at Godfrey Daniels
Returning to Bethlehem to headline Godfrey Daniels means a lot to Frank. He talks about the room’s history and why he takes it seriously when people choose to spend their evening listening to him.
Frank Viele with opening guest Arielle Silver
Friday, November 6, 2026, at 8 p.m.
Godfrey Daniels · 7 E. Fourth Street, Bethlehem
Harvest of Hope is working toward a $10,000 goal: provide 100 Lehigh Valley families with $100 grocery gift cards for Thanksgiving 2026. Families can apply for themselves, and community members can nominate someone who could use a little extra support.
Samantha Iannelli of The Eric T. Neith Team joins George Wacker on the Lehigh Valley with Love Podcast to explain how the effort started, why the team wants to reach more families, and how people can help.
Samantha recalls an early Thanksgiving effort that came together quickly during the team’s first year. They distributed about 10 gift cards worth $100 each, helping local families with roughly $1,000 in support.
This year’s Harvest of Hope campaign sets a larger goal: 100 families receiving $100 each. Samantha describes seeing people working hard and still struggling to cover what they need, including through her earlier work in healthcare.
She also remembers Thanksgivings when she could enjoy the food and time with family without worrying about the cost. Helping more households have that breathing room is part of what drives the campaign.
How to apply or nominate someone for Harvest of Hope
You can nominate your own household or someone you know. Samantha encourages people to share the opportunity with neighbors, friends, and families who might hesitate to ask for help themselves.
The current nomination form lists a November 15, 2026 deadline. The Harvest of Hope committee will review nominations and contact selected recipients afterward. Distribution is planned for the week following November 15, with pickup instructions sent directly to selected recipients.
Submitting a nomination does not guarantee selection. The form also states that agents and individuals directly affiliated with The Eric T. Neith Team | eXp Realty may not submit nominations or be nominated as recipients.
Donations can be made through the Harvest of Hope Givebutter page. Samantha also welcomes businesses interested in contributing or finding another way to support the effort.
Sharing the campaign helps it reach potential donors and the people it is meant to serve. If someone you know could use support this Thanksgiving, send them the application information or nominate them.
Lehigh Valley life and a Thanksgiving food story
The episode also covers Samantha’s path from personal training, healthcare, and other businesses into real estate, along with what she and George enjoy about living in the Lehigh Valley: local restaurants, hot dog spots, and drive-in theaters.
And her Thanksgiving food pick? Oven-roasted Brussels sprouts. That leads to a story about rolling one in sprinkles and offering it to her daughter as a doughnut-hole lookalike. It did not go over well.
Harvest of Hope links
Goal: $10,000 to provide 100 local families with $100 Thanksgiving grocery gift cards
Explore the community-built map of Halloween displays across the Lehigh Valley and check out the limited-edition It Came From the Lehigh River shirts created with Bethlehem artist Thymes Zup.
Scott Morro brings Bethlehem into a story of growing up, making mistakes and finding a way forward with Cooped Up. Scheduled for release October 30, 2026, exclusively on Amazon, the young adult novel follows 13-year-old Cooper Grieve, whose Halloween weekend takes an unexpected turn when he is sent to stay with his grandmother at an assisted living community.
The book is Morro’s eighth and his first venture into self-publishing. His decision to use ChatGPT for its cover also raises questions about AI artwork, creative control, publishing costs and opportunities for local authors and artists to work together.
AI cover art and the cost of self-publishing
Morro says the novel’s writing, characters, development and themes are his own. He explains that his previous publisher suggested self-publishing after indicating it might take a couple of years to bring Cooped Up to readers.
For earlier books, Morro worked with artists and illustrators through his publisher, contributing ideas while relying on their visual skills. With Cooped Up, he chose ChatGPT for the cover. The practical questions include the cost of commissioning artwork, alternatives such as hiring a local artist, and how collaborations could make financial sense for both writers and illustrators.
Cooper, Charlie and second chances
Cooper is a seventh grader juggling school, sports, friendships and changes at home. Morro describes a character who sometimes does the wrong things for the right reasons, with consequences that force him to reconsider his choices.
At the assisted living community, Charlie Cunningham becomes a friend and mentor. Their relationship helps shape a story about loss, forgiveness, learning from older generations and making the best of a difficult situation. Morro also says he is working on a sequel that builds on their friendship.
Lehigh Valley roots and a teacher’s ear for dialogue
A Nazareth native and Moravian College graduate, Morro draws on more than 30 years of teaching experience. He credits current and former students with helping him write dialogue that feels natural to young readers.
His earlier novels, The Washington Pursuit and The Albrecht Society, use historic Bethlehem settings, including the Sun Inn and Moravian’s South Campus. Morro recalls book promotions that brought readers on walking tours through places connected to those stories, including spaces beneath South Campus.
Explore the community-built map of Halloween displays across the Lehigh Valley and check out the limited-edition It Came From the Lehigh River shirts created with Bethlehem artist Thymes Zup.
The first Lehigh Valley Discovery Ball: Unlocking Hope takes place November 12, 2026, at Vault 634 in Allentown. The mystery-themed event raises money for the American Cancer Society and its work in cancer research, advocacy and patient support.
Taylor Kosak, senior manager of events for the American Cancer Society, joins event co-chairs Katie Santana, president of Turnstone Creative, and Angela Malpedo, owner of Frosted Bakery, to preview the evening and share their families’ experiences with cancer.
The event has a Clue-inspired theme, with guests following clues and taking part in interactive experiences that introduce the American Cancer Society’s work. Chris Martin, executive chairman of C.F. Martin & Co., serves as honorary chair.
The event website also lists live entertainment featuring Craig Thatcher and Cliff Starkey, food stations and a silent auction.
The family stories behind the fundraiser
Katie shares that her husband lost his mother to cancer when he was 13. Although Katie never met her mother-in-law, the family continues to remember her, including through their daughter’s middle name.
Angela describes how Hope Lodge helped her parents while her father received treatment at Penn Medicine. The free lodging, transportation and support eased the strain of repeated trips to Philadelphia.
Taylor recalls the American Cancer Society paying for her family’s rental car during an eight-month stay in Seattle for her father’s treatment. She explains how that assistance shaped her decision to build a career helping other families.
A Frosted Bakery update in Bethlehem
Angela also discusses her plans for Frosted Bakery at 518 Long Street in Bethlehem, her return to the former Granola Factory space where she began baking, and her collaboration with Lovely. Follow Frosted Bethlehem for updates.
Lehigh Valley Discovery Ball tickets and event details
Date: November 12, 2026
Location: Vault 634, 634 Hamilton Street, Allentown
Explore the community-built map of Halloween displays across the Lehigh Valley and check out the limited-edition It Came From the Lehigh River shirts created with Bethlehem artist Thymes Zup.
Data centers, warehouses, property taxes and housing costs are all part of the conversation when Ron Beitler, an independent Lehigh County commissioner representing District 2, and Frank Pintabone, Easton’s vice mayor, join Off the Record with Lehigh Valley with Love.
Hosts George Wacker and Jeff Warren, Northampton County Council vice president and host of The Philadelphia Sports Table podcast, ask what first drew the guests into local government and what keeps them involved.
Warehouses and the decision to run
A warehouse proposal on farmland in Lower Macungie Township brought Beitler into local politics. He had grown up in the community and wanted a voice in how it developed. He learned that agricultural zoning and permanent farmland preservation offered different protections, then went on to serve as a township commissioner before joining the county board.
Pintabone was concerned about teacher layoffs, school finances and threatened cuts to music and sports in the Easton Area School District. After he complained on Facebook, somebody challenged him to run for school board. He took office thinking he could fix things quickly.
“I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong.”
He eventually became school board president. After leaving in 2017, concerns about Easton’s neighborhoods keeping pace with downtown helped persuade him to seek a seat on city council.
From Democrat to Republican to independent
Beitler once led his college Democrats chapter. He registered as a Republican after returning home and starting a small business, describing his views as fiscally conservative and more liberal on social issues.
Now an independent, he is concerned about the expansion of executive power under presidents from both parties and the erosion of checks and balances. He says his approach to public service has remained consistent through those changes in affiliation.
County property taxes and essential services
Beitler has to weigh property taxes against the cost of county services, including jails, health and human services and public nursing homes. Both Lehigh and Northampton counties operate nursing homes, and he describes caring for their residents as a moral and ethical responsibility.
The proposed 2027 county tax increases were still under review when the interview was recorded. Beitler said commissioners were scrutinizing new spending and looking for ways to limit an increase while keeping services funded.
Housing and neighborhood life in Easton
Pintabone wants to help residents who earn too much to qualify for assistance but struggle to afford market-rate rents. He calls them the “forgotten middle,” including teachers starting their careers, police officers and city employees.
His workforce housing approach ties requirements to qualifying developments receiving public subsidies or tax incentives. He also wanted income calculations based on Easton itself so the program would reflect city residents’ earnings.
A fourth-generation South Side resident, Pintabone has seen neighbors respond when families need help. After fires displaced residents, he requested gift card donations on social media. So many arrived that City Hall called asking him to collect them because there was no more room.
Data centers and local rules
Pintabone and Beitler support giving municipalities more time to study data center proposals, including water use, electricity demand and where facilities should be built.
Beitler backed moratorium proposals from state Senators Jarrett Coleman and Katie Muth. He wants communities to be able to update their rules before applications move ahead under older requirements.
Residents interested in public service can also contribute through parks boards, planning commissions and other local bodies. Beitler encourages people to use those opportunities to work on issues they care about and learn how local decisions get made.
Explore the community-built map of Halloween displays across the Lehigh Valley and check out the limited-edition It Came From the Lehigh River shirts created with Bethlehem artist Thymes Zup.
Tiffany Sondergaard, CEO and principal consultant of –ts Brand Elevation, joins George Wacker on the Lehigh Valley with Love Podcast to explain how the evening connects business owners with practical resources while giving shoppers a chance to support local, women-owned businesses.
Legal, banking and payroll resources for small businesses
Whether someone is building a side business or working to grow an established one, Tiffany discusses the questions that can come up along the way: opening a business account, understanding contracts, preparing for financing, managing payroll and finding the right professional support.
The Small Business Resource Roundup will include brief expert overviews followed by roundtable conversations. Experts will rotate among guest tables, giving attendees a chance to ask specific questions in smaller groups.
In the interview, Tiffany highlights:
Deborah Carey of Community Bank, discussing business banking and available resources.
Tiffany also mentions event partner Venture X Bethlehem and explains how interior designer Wandra Neal Cain of WCA Interiors will help attendees think about the first impression their virtual backgrounds make.
A holiday marketplace for shopping local
The Home for the Holidays Podcast Holiday Marketplace adds local shopping to the evening, featuring women-owned businesses and a chance to meet the people behind the products.
Tiffany previews offerings including Bethlehem stars, fragrance products, chocolates and Caribbean food. In the interview, she also invites businesses interested in vending to contact her at tiffany@tsbrandelevation.com.
Explore the community-built map of Halloween displays across the Lehigh Valley and check out the limited-edition It Came From the Lehigh River shirts created with Bethlehem artist Thymes Zup.
We caught up with Lara Bly at Lara Bly Designs in South Bethlehem as she gets ready for her Fall/Winter 2026 Fashion Show at The Wilbur Mansion in Bethlehem on Friday, October 9.
Lara takes us inside her boutique and working design studio, where much of what you see on the racks is actually made right there.
Lara Bly Fall/Winter 2026 Fashion Show: Friday, October 9, 2026, at The Wilbur Mansion in Bethlehem.
Explore the community-built map of Halloween displays across the Lehigh Valley and check out the limited-edition It Came From the Lehigh River shirts created with Bethlehem artist Thymes Zup.
Cathleen O’Malley is bringing Milkdrunk, her original one-woman show about childbirth, breastfeeding, motherhood and everything messy that comes with it, to Touchstone Theatre in Bethlehem October 7-10.
Cathleen joins George Wacker to talk about how her own experience giving birth became the starting point for Milkdrunk, and how documenting the strange, difficult and funny moments of early motherhood eventually turned into a theatrical show.
She describes Milkdrunk as a brutal comedy about breastfeeding, but the conversation goes well beyond that. Cathleen talks about using humor to explore some very raw territory, the taboos and expectations surrounding birth and motherhood, and why audiences who may not initially think the show is for them have connected with it.
The show premiered Off-Broadway at the United Solo Theatre Festival at Theater Row and has since been performed in Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Cathleen also talks about her history with Touchstone Theatre, what it means to return to Bethlehem with this show, and what she hopes audiences take away from Milkdrunk, including a little more curiosity about the caregivers in their own lives and the demands placed on them.
Milkdrunk: October 7-10, 2026, at Touchstone Theatre, 321 East 4th Street, Bethlehem, PA. Performances are Wednesday through Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.
Tickets: Adults $35; students and seniors $25. Thursday’s performance is Pay-What-You-Will.
Explore the community-built map of Halloween displays across the Lehigh Valley and check out the limited-edition It Came From the Lehigh River shirts created with Bethlehem artist Thymes Zup.
Anja Keister is bringing burlesque back to Northampton. After D20 Burlesque’s Valentine’s show sold out the Roxy earlier this year, the hometown performer and producer returns with D20 Burlesque’s Spooky Spectacular on Sunday, October 4.
Anja joins George Wacker again to talk about how that first Roxy show went and what surprised her about the crowd. People just old enough to attend showed up alongside older couples, longtime friends and guests in their eighties. She calls burlesque “an art form for the masses,” and seeing that range of people in her hometown made the return especially meaningful.
The Halloween show builds on what audiences enjoyed in February: burlesque alongside dance, pole performances and flow arts. Chicago performer Red Rum headlines, with Anja hosting and performing. The lineup also includes Caresse Deville, Rosa Darling, Miss Shuggenah, Pixie Styx, Sarah “Chillidawg” DeRemer, Jade Retrograde and Taylor Sweet.
Anja also talks about the handmade work behind burlesque, from costumes and choreography to producing a show. She and George discuss why horror and burlesque fit together so well: both know how to build anticipation and give an audience a memorable payoff.
D20 Burlesque’s Spooky Spectacular: Sunday, October 4, 2026, at the Roxy Theater, 2004 Main St., Northampton, PA. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show begins at 7 p.m. This is an 18+ event, and IDs will be checked.
Explore the community-built map of Halloween displays across the Lehigh Valley and check out the limited-edition It Came From the Lehigh River shirts created with Bethlehem artist Thymes Zup.
Nathan Szydlow, creator of LV Crime Map, joins the Lehigh Valley with Love Podcast to explain how he built a live incident map for police, fire and EMS dispatches across Lehigh and Northampton counties.
Szydlow has been programming since he was 12 and wanted to combine his software-development background with his interest in the Lehigh Valley. The idea for LV Crime Map began while he and his girlfriend were looking for an apartment and grew after he started seeing ambulances responding to incidents around their development.
LV Crime Map follows publicly available scanner feeds and uses AI to convert dispatch audio into text, identify locations and place incidents on an interactive map. The conversation covers how the technology works, how the automated map differs from local breaking-news pages and why AI-generated information can sometimes be incomplete or inaccurate.
LV Crime Map is an independent informational resource. It is not affiliated with law enforcement and is not an emergency notification system. Always call 911 during an emergency.
Explore the community-built map of Halloween displays across the Lehigh Valley and check out the limited-edition It Came From the Lehigh River shirts created with Bethlehem artist Thymes Zup.
Kelsey Aikens, Director of Social Services for Battle Borne, joins the Lehigh Valley with Love Podcast to discuss the housing gap facing women veterans in the Lehigh Valley.
Women veterans experiencing a housing crisis can find themselves caught between general shelters that may not understand veteran-specific needs and veteran programs that were not designed around women, children or families.
Kelsey discusses Battle Borne’s effort to expand transitional housing for women veterans and their families, her own experience returning from deployment during COVID, and how the organization connects veterans with housing, benefits, mental health care and other community resources.
Explore the community-built map of Halloween displays across the Lehigh Valley and check out the limited-edition It Came From the Lehigh River shirts created with Bethlehem artist Thymes Zup.
Dave Burgio, co-founder of Trifecta Credit Solutions in Allentown, joins the Lehigh Valley with Love Podcast to talk about how credit connects to capital.
The conversation covers credit readiness, business funding, SBA loans, debt consolidation, creative finance, private real estate lending, and the mistakes people often make before applying for funding. Dave explains why credit is not just about removing negative items, why personal and business credit often work together, and why paying on time is still one of the simplest and most important things people can do.
This is a practical conversation for consumers, small business owners, and real estate investors who want to better understand how to get lender ready before they need the money.
The Flint water crisis did not begin at the faucet. It grew out of economic decline, aging infrastructure and a system that removed local control from the people most affected by decisions about their water.
George Wacker talks with playwright Maura Haney and two-time Obie Award-winning director Lee Sunday Evans about The Poisoner, a neo-noir thriller inspired by Flint. Maura explains why the play takes place in the fictional Mack City, while Lee discusses theater’s ability to connect individual lives with larger structures of power.
They also discuss emergency management, the journalist at the center of the story, the production’s four-person cast, and the decision to tour seven industrial cities ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The conversation reaches the Lehigh Valley through growing questions about data centers, water use and who gets a voice when communities make decisions about essential resources.
The Poisoner begins its national tour at Touchstone Theatre in Bethlehem, September 17 through 19, 2026, at 8 p.m. The production runs 90 minutes without an intermission.
Moms mean business, and at The Mom Market, kids do too.
Founder Devika Knafo returns to the Lehigh Valley with Love Podcast as The Mom Market approaches its first anniversary. What began with 40 women supporting Devika’s vision has grown into a community platform that she says has supported more than 160 mom- and women-owned businesses.
Devika talks about creating space for women at every stage of business, from entrepreneurs developing their first idea to established owners opening brick-and-mortar locations. She also explains how her own postpartum experience inspired her to build the support system she wished she had.
The Mom Market’s Summer Glow event will include a dedicated Kids Market for young entrepreneurs ages 5–17. Parents can offer support, but the children will run their booths, speak with customers, and learn how to adjust in real time.
The Mom Market: Summer Glow
Sunday, August 23, 2026
9 AM–2 PM
Bethlehem Rose Garden
Free admission
CeaseFirePA Lehigh Valley Organizer Maggie Hartmann joins George Wacker to discuss gun violence prevention in Allentown and the work continuing after the July 16 Allentown Gun Violence Prevention Forum.
Maggie talks about bringing elected officials, community organizations, law enforcement and residents together, including young people in decisions that affect them, addressing gaps in after-school support and building trusted partnerships within Allentown neighborhoods.
The conversation also covers school safety, secure firearm storage, House Bill 2244 and practical ways Lehigh Valley residents can support CeaseFirePA’s work.
