First off, thanks for all the nice comments, likes and everybody tuning in yesterday. It’s a ton of work to put a blog together and I really want to thank you all for checking it out, I really appreciate it and when I see so many page views, it makes it all worth while. Thanks, each and every one of you made my day! And now, on to today’s post!
One recurring feature I’m going to do here is a post called, House Call. Basically it’ll be me making a snack mix, getting some beer, taking it to someone’s house and taking some photos of the house and anything unusual in it. If you have something different in your house that you’d like to show off, please email me and we’ll set up a time for me to stop by. I’ll bring snacks and beer!
For the debut of this idea, I asked my friends Phil and Karen Luciano if I could stop by there house in Germantown Hills. Most people from the Peoria area are most likely familiar with Phil, he’s written a column and features for the Peoria Journal Star since 1988. Check out this feature he wrote about some weirdo from this town that packed his bags on a whim and moved to New York City back in 1993:
In addition to writing for the Peoria Journal Star, Phil teaches at Bradley University and Illinois Central College. He’s also the President of the board of directors for the Friends of the Children of Haiti and he’s co-hosted a couple of radio shows in the past. His lovely wife Karen works in the insurance field and is originally from Canton where she was a cheerleader for the Little Giants.
I kind of invited myself over, so I’m going to make a extra-special snack mix to take over for this House Call. One of the curious things Phil emailed me about hanging out at his house, was he said we could “burn things” in his back yard. I’m interested to see what that means, so let’s make the snack mix and head on over!
Here's the ingredients for tonight's snack mix. I got them at the Friar Tuck liquor store on Glen Avenue which is a ginormous liquor store here in Peoria.
My old snackologist mixing bowl got lost in the move, so I bought this new and improved one. Okay, time to start mixing it together.
Okay, here we go, carefully pruning and dividing the different snacks into one tasty mix. Please remember that I'm a board certified snackologist and you shouldn't be doing this at home unless you have the proper snackology certification.
And here's the final mix, it looks delicious! Okay, let's hit the road, Jack!
And bingo-bammo, here we are at the Luciano household in Germantown Hills!
And here's the host and hostess of the very first MBIP House Call, Phil and Karen Luciano. Note that the picture is taken in the garage. That's because instead of focusing on the house, I thought I'd snap pictures in the garage, because it's probably the coolest garage in Central Illinois. Follow along and you'll see what I mean.
Before we start the tour, it's time for some snacks...
And a beverage or seven, straight from the fridge, Daddio!
Gotta love that Butch's Pizza beer koozie! Speaking of Butch's Pizza, I'll be doing a special Butch's Pizza house call at Tim and Colleen Carey's house after the New Year, stay tuned for that! And now let's start this tour!
Here's a collection of some vintage beer cans. Love the Falstaff can, I forgot all about that beer!
The Harry Caray bobblehead looks more like Bill Clinton than Harry. Although if it was Bill Clinton, his head would be turned to the picture to the right, next to the Pilsner's bottle. I think that's Pam Grier, ooh la la!
In case you haven't noticed, beer is a recurring theme in this garagical museum.
Batter up! Phil poses with a baseball bat from his high school days and the green chair is from Comiskey Park in Chi-town.
Check out the Faber College t-shirt! Toga, toga!
Do you know how tempting it was to shake this Etch-A-Sketch?
This reminds me of the year, 1981. And anyone who knows me knows that that's a thinly-veiled drug reference, so let's just move on.
Phil and Karen are regulars at Mike's Bar, which we went to yesterday and this area with the desk is their tribute to Mike's. Ya gotta love it!
Coolest BBQ Apron in the world!
Okay, this is the biggest 8-track collection I've seen since 1976, but check this out...
They've got an actual working 8-track player in here! All of a sudden I feel like a senior in high school again!
And of course anyone who has a working 8-track player has just got to be a member in proud standing in the Kiss Army.
It's the Lennon Sisters and Myron Floren on a vintage 1981 Lawrence Welk calendar.
The gimp lives down in this hole, luckily they didn't bring him out.
Here's a photo of Phil and some of his college pals dressed up as The Village People. Phil's the indian...young man!
I saved the best for last, Phil has the Bowl Mor Bear in his garage. I spent a good chunk of my youth at that bowling alley playing pinball, smoking cigarettes and just being a little punk-ass juvenile delinquent, so it’s nice to see Bowl-Mor lives on in Phil’s garage! You can read about the Hamm’s Bowl-Mor bear in Phil’s columns, just click, here, here and here.
Phil promised we’d burn things in his back yard and it looks like the burning portion of the evening is about to begin!
Houston, we have fire!
More wood is added to the fire. I have to admit, I’m loving this!
Yep, he’s throwing a ladder on the flaming pile, this is starting to get good!
From the fire to the frying pan...okay it’s a grill, but you know what I’m talking about. Time for dinner to soak up the many beers I’ve had during this house call!
While Phil likes to burn things, the pork chops he cooked on the grill were done to perfection! It was a great night, and big thanks to Phil and Karen for having me over! It was great night and a wonderful House Call!
Further Reading: Deocrating Hijinks, WTVP and facecrack.
Daily Slideshow—Photos via the internet, Photoshoppery by me!
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P.S.
Tune in early tomorrow, I'll be live-blogging from the Greg and Dan Show on WMBD Radio! The first post should go up around 7AM and I'll be interviewed around 8AM. Tune in to both the blog and the show tomorrow!
Greg and Dan with comedian Emo Philips.