The MBIP blog is officially on hiatus until Monday, April 18th, 2016. Till then, I'm going to put up a daily Peoria Photo here, so there’s still something to come back and check out every day till MBIP comes back on a regular basis. The photos are below, enjoy!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 28, 2016, 10:17 PM @ MBIP Blog
Okay, today is Leap Day and the final day of February, so I thought I’d put together the entire month’s worth of title art that I worked up for February’s Countdown Posts. Tomorrow I’m going to put up a new “Countdown II” post that has some updated information about MBIP and the hiatus I’m taking, so stay tuned for that and have a happy Leap Day!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 26, 2016, 10:17 PM @ Noir Bar Tapas & Rendezvous Lounge
Last night I went out for a Saturday evening meal at Noir and met my friends, Nathalie and Lea. Below are a few photos from last night and captions are below the photos.
1. Here we are at Noir on restaurant row here on Prospect in Peoria Heights. I love the look of the front of Noir, it reminds me of something you’d see in the French Quarter of New Orleans!
2. Let’s go in and start the evening at Noir!
3. Wow, it’s jam-packed in here, normally I’d find a spot at the bar, but I’m meeting two friends here for dinner and of course I’m early and I need to get a table, but it’s so packed I’m kind of afraid I won’t be able to find one. I need help! HELP!
4. And here comes help in the form of the pretty co-owner of Noir, Georgie! Always love to see and chat with Georgie and she managed to find me a table up by the front window...
5. And here I am all settled in and getting a beer from our server, Jeremy. Jeremy was very knowledgable about the beers and menu and was an excellent server!
6. And here’s the special guests for the evening, Nathalie and Lea, looking very beautiful at our table! Those of you who read the blog know Nathalie as a regular guest and friend here at MBIP and it was great to meet, Lea! We had a nice conversation about things to do in Peoria, music today, work, the internet and then all of a sudden it was time...
7. To say...
8. Cheese...as in Fried Manchego Cheese! This is just one of the many original and tasty tapas treats on the menu at Noir, others include, Chile Relleno, Frittata, Fish Tacos and Bacon Wrapped Shrimp among many other small plate selections. If you’d like a larger entree there’s four styles of Spanish Paellas to choose from along with a Filet Mignon selection. The desserts here are homemade and delicious, but I usually opt out for a chocolate martini after dinner.
9. After dinner we had a nightcap at the bar with Georgie and the other co-owner of Noir, her boyfriend, Galen. Thanks to everyone at Noir for great food, service and hospitality and thanks to Nathalie and Lea for hanging out with me and being such fun dinner companions!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 26, 2016, 10:17 PM—Special Daily Photo Edition—Meanwhile Back in South Africa With Lisa Odum!
My friend Lisa recently had a vacation in South Africa with some friends and she took some photos for the blog and here they are below, take it away, Lisa!
Airplane Safety Check with Gumby & Pokey, their first plane ride to Amsterdam!
Target practice! Keeping the Baboons away from the grapes! No, we don't shoot at them, cuz that's illegal...
Gewurztraminer grapes at Paul Cluver Estate hanging on the vine. They were so pretty! Almost ready for harvest.
Bay area of Hermanus, a quaint seaside village we visited. Whales come to have their calves here between July and October. Great whale watching!
Sculpture of whale vertebra and an old fisherman at Hermanus seaside village. We had a lot to talk about...I think he likes me, but the conversation was a little bit one-sided.
Cool sign outside a market downtown Capetown!
Doorway to private tasting room for VIP's at Klein Constantia Wine Estate, Capetown. It says "Duggie's Dungeon," Duggie was either very good or very bad...
Thanks, Lisa! Very cool photos and it was nice that you brought Gumby and Pokey along for the ride! The last time I took Gumby anywhere we had to get bailed out, but that’s a whole different story! Anyway, thanks again for the photos, you look great in them as always!
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One of the reasons I’m taking a break till April is that I’ve moved the MBIP World Headquarters down the hall to a one bedroom apartment. What’s been fun is finding old stuff I thought was long lost. Here’s a Chicago Tribune article from July of 1995 I found in a box that was in the back of my closet that writer Wes Smith wrote about myself and my magazine at the time fishwrap. And I found the article online and you can read it here: Wombacher’s Revenge. Memories!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 24, 2016, 11:31 PM @ The Old Dairy Queen Building That Used To Be A Sandy’s
Yesterday was kind of a nutty day for me and I didn’t get a chance to get a daily photo. This is going to be happening more often until we resume the blog on its regular schedule on Monday, April 4th. I’m kind of behind on the projects I wanted to work on while I was on hiatus and on days I don’t get a daily photos I thought I’d put up a photo from an older post and a link to it. It’s what I’m doing on facecrack and today’s photo is from a post I put up on October 17th, 2013 of a Dairy Queen that used to be a Sandy’s fast food restaurant across from Sheridan Village. It was a popular place, then it turned into a Hardee’s restaurant till Dairy Queen took it over and transformed it into the photo above. I’m glad I got documentation of the building because last year they tore down the building to put up another Dairy Queen. Yep, they tore down a Dairy Queen just to build another one. Doesn’t make much sense to me, but glad I got some photos of the old building, you can see all of the photos by clicking right here. And it still bugs me that that sign should read, “Smores Are Back,” but what are you going to do? Well, personally, I think I’ll obsess over it all day, but that’s just me! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 23, 2016, 12:31 PM @ Kenny’s Westside Pub
Yesterday I had a special lunch at Kenny’s Westside Pub. Kenny’s is serving up a new sandwich during Lent on Friday’s. It’s a Blue Oyster Mushroom Po’ Boy and Sean invited me over to try one. I also invited Diana Bradbury who runs the Peoria Eats page on facecrack and the man who farms and grows the Blue Oyster Mushrooms, Wes Duffy brought a fresh batch of the mushrooms for the sandwiches and a fried mushroom appetizer. You can read the captions to the photos below!
1. Here we are at Kenny’s Westside Pub on a rare daytime visit! Let’s get inside where we can get out of this rotten sunshine!
2. Ah, that’s better!
3. Here’s our luncheon party, from left: Diana Bradbury from Peoria Eats, Sean Kenny and Yours Fooly!
4. Here’s Sean with Wes Duffy, who farms the Blue Oyster Mushrooms right here in Peoria. Wes also supplies fresh, farm to table mushrooms to Hearth, Jim’s Bistro, Rhythm Kitchen, 2 Chez, Table 19 and many other local restaurants. You can check out his Food 4 Thought facecrack page right here. Wes is also a musician and plays in the band Still Shine, check them out here.
5.-10. Here’s Sean preparing the Blue Oyster Mushroom Po’ Boy. He chops up the fresh mushrooms and then dresses them in a garlic aioli and then they are battered and deep fried.
11. While Sean puts the finishing touches on the sandwiches, Diana and I were served up an appetizer of the deep fried mushrooms. They are so delicious and a perfect precursor for the sandwiches...
12. Which are arriving right now!
13. Wow, this looks like one amazing Po’ Boy!
14. Here I am wolfing it down.
15. This is such a great sandwich! The mushrooms are crispy on the outside and creamy, smooth and rich as you take a bite. The garlic aioli really adds a nice flavor to the mix and the hoagie roll is lightly toasted on the outside and pillowey soft and tasty on the inside! This sandwich is a special item at Kenny’s and served on Friday’s through Lent if you’ve stopped eating meat during this time and are tired of eating fish on Friday. But even if you’re like me and think Lent is something that you pick out of your bellybutton, you should stop in and try one of these farm-fresh Blue Oyster Mushroom Po’ Boys! If Sean sells enough of them, maybe he’ll add them to the menu! Thanks to Sean, Wes and Diana for a great lunch at Kenny’s Westside Pub!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 22, 2016, 10:11 PM @ Sully’s Pub And Cafe
Yesterday on the MBIP facecrack page, I put up a post from the past when I went to Sully’s Pub and Cafe back in 2013. I thought that last night after work I’d go over and take some photos of the place because although it’s been closed for over two years, the signage is still there. I was surprised to see the “closed” sign still on the door and I wonder what will ever move in here? I think if someone just reopened it as Sully’s and didn’t change anything it would do great, but what do I know? I have heard there’s some problem with back taxes, so who knows if anyone will ever move in here outside of a government agency. Anyway, cheers to the memory of Sully’s!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 21, 2016, 2:10 PM @ MBIP World Headquarters, Mach II
Today’s Daily photo is a picture of a new invention created by my friend, Joe Freedman. It’s a Lo-Fi Smartphone Camera Box and it transports your iPhone photos into the low rez world of softly blurred reality. A Camera Obscura for your iPhone. You can read more about this and get one yourself by checking out Joe’s Kickstarter Page. Sadly, I still have a dumbphone, but soon I’m going to have someone take pictures with this using their Smartphone and post them here, stay tuned for that! But till now, you can check it all out right here: Lo-Fi Smartphone Camera Box.
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 20th, 2016, 1:49 PM @ MBIP World Headquarters, Mach II
Today’s daily photo is an oldie, but a goodie, it’s one sent in by MBIP Pal and former MBIP Contributor, Gene Rubbico. He just sent this to me yesterday with the following email: “I ran across this old email today...June 2nd 2010—Manas, Kyrgyzstan—my last beer for 4 1/2 months, as I would be in Afghanistan the next day!
Cheers!
GENE”
Ha! I remember that email and photo and thanks for taking the 99 Beers book across the world, Gene! I guess today’s post can be called, “Meanwhile, Back In Manas, Kyrgyzstan!”
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 19th, 2016, 1:49 PM @ Emack & Bolio’s
Emack & Bolio’s is probably the most popular destination for ice cream and sweet treats in Peoria. They went on a short hiatus after the New Year, but the doors are open again and they’re back to scooping out that ice cream that Peoria loves! Stop by for a cone or a cup of the best ice cream, shakes and frozen treats in the area!
P.S. There's a worthy fund-raiser happening in Metamora tonight to help Veterans obtain access to Medical Cannabis. The event is called "Helping Our Heroes" and you can read more about it by clicking right here.
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 18th, 2016, 12:37 PM @ Seasons Gastropub in Morton
I had lunch yesterday with MBIP Pal and Contributing Writer, Scott Turly at Seasons Gastropub in Morton. This place just opened up a few months ago and both the place and our lunch was very impressive. I was told that the Prime Rib on Friday and Saturday nights is excellent, so when the MBIP Blog goes back live in April, this will definitely be a Saturday Night dinner destination. For lunch I had the grilled ham and cheese sandwich with fries and Scott had the Season’s cheeseburger. It was a super delicious lunch and mucho thanks to bartender Erica for great service and hospitality and to Scott for driving and buying lunch!
P.S. There's a worthy fund-raiser happening in Metamora tomorrow night to help Veterans obtain access to Medical Cannabis. The event is called "Helping Our Heroes" and you can read more about it by clicking right here.
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo (Special Canadian Edition Today!) - February 17th, 2016, 10:37 PM @ The Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort in Canada
Okay, I’ve been really busy putting the new MBIP World Headquarters, Mach II together and yesterday I didn’t get a photo taken for today. But as luck would have it, my friend Lex, who’s on vacation sent me one of her and Morley and Mary Ann from the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort where they’re having a vacation. Lex has the distinction of appearing on two blogs of mine. She was a guest star on the 365 Bars Blog and on Marty After Dark as well! And now she’s appearing on MBIP as well, let’s give her a big hand!
Have fun Lex and thanks for the photo!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 16th, 2016, 10:19 PM @ Barry’s Barber Shop & Co.
Last night I was going to take a photo of The Red Barn, when I saw some red light down at the other end of the strip of store fronts. I walked down and saw, Barry’s Barber Shop & Co. I’ve never noticed this place before and thought I’d start taking photos of closed storefronts a couple times a week. So here’s the first in this upcoming series of eventualities, Barry’s Barber Shop & Co. closed (until 8am)! And below is a mountain that my Canadian friend, Lex has been skiing down with her husband and her son. She sent me this photo last night and I’m getting vertigo big time just looking at it! I’m feeling a little sick just thinking about that experience! But thanks for the photo, Lex!
The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 15th, 2016, 10:27 PM @ MBIP World Headquarters, Mach II
I’ve been working on putting the new MBIP World Headquarters, Mach II together and here’s a few pictures of the place as it’s getting put together. One thing you find when you move is photos that have long been forgotten, the top photo has a couple of pictures of me after a particularly brutal night in New York! Below that is a framed poster of Frank Zappa that my brother Jim gave to me for my 16th birthday, it’s one of my all-time favorite possessions and it’s been in every place I’ve ever lived since he gave it to me. Below that is a collage I’ve started on my refrigerator and beneath that is the MBIP letters I got from my first trip to Julie’s Corner Store on August, 15th, 2013.
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 14th, 2016, 1:17 PM @ The parking lot at MBIP World Headquarters, Mach II
We got a lot of snow yesterday and here’s the MBIP Mobile covered in snow and then uncovered. Also pictured are my Canadian mittens I wear when cleaming off the MBIP Mobile, given to me from my Canadian friend, Lex! Hi Lex and thanks for the mittens, they kept my hands warm in New York and are even more useful here in Peoria! Please say hi to Morley and Mary Ann for me! I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this before, but I fucking HATE winter! HATE HATE HATE the winter! Oh and below is a bonus photo sent in from MBIP commenter raginrr, he said it looks like The Angriest Ice Machine’s distant cousin! I think he’s right! Thanks raginrr!
The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 13th, 2016, 10:15PM @ Smokin’ Notes BBQ and The MBIP World Headquarters, Mach-II
I’ve heard good things about Smokin’ Notes BBQ on Sterling and so last night I called in an order to go. Yes, with the MBIP blog on hiatus I can now have the luxury of just picking food up and taking it home and eat it while standing up at the kitchen counter like a slob. And so that’s exactly what I did! Michelle and Ashley were looking pretty behind the counter and presented tonight’s dinner with Jeremy photobombing the photo in the background! I got the beef brisket, a grilled chicken breast, onion rings, mac and cheese and the dinner comes with two slices of buttery Texas Toast. It was delicious!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 12th, 2016, 2:37PM @ MBIP World Headquarters, Mach-II
I’m slowly getting the MBIP World Headquarters, Mach-II ready to have people over. It’s taking a long time because I feel like putting an apartment together is kind of like a big 3-D collage and everything has to fit in its place perfectly and it’s not easy to to get it just right. It’s kind of like making a snack mix. I’m having about five new pictures framed that I’m really excited about and they’re supposed to be ready on Monday, so then I can start hanging art on the walls. Yesterday, I didn’t do anything before or after work, so here’s some photos of the new MBIP World Headquarters, Mach-II in the works! It’s pretty exciting...well, at least to me!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 11th, 2016, 5:33PM to sometime around 11PM @ Agatucci’s and Landmark Recreation Center
Here’s a string of photos from last night:
1. I went to dinner with my parents, Anne and Jerry at Agatucci’s. That’s my mom preparing to enter the restaurant at the door.
2. Here we are seated at our booth, cheers from Anne and Jerry!
3. Third generation owners, Tony and Dan Agatucci were behind the bar. Always great to see these guys, two of the nicest fellows in the world! They told me that a former Bergan High School teacher was recently seated at the bar telling old high school stories and one of them included him saying that the only kid he ever had to throw out of his class was Marty Wombacher! Ha ha ha!
4. Here’s our pretty waitress Meg, delivering our pizza, we got sausage, pepperoni and onion. It looks delicious!
5. And it was, check out Anne and Jerry chowing it down! We almost ate the whole pizza, there was just two slices left, so we told Meg to give them to Tony and Dan.
6. After dinner I went to meet my friends Amber and Joe to watch the Bernie/Hillary debate last night at Landmark Center in the Bernie Sanders room. The Bernie supporters behind the table are clockwise from left: Kelsey, Eric, Ty, Amber and Jenna. Great to meet these fellow Bernie supporters! #FeelTheBern
7. And here’s our table with Joe, Amber and Brandi, who we ran into and she joined us at our table. Brandi has been on MBIP three times: here, here and here! Great to see her again and it’s always fun to hang out with Amber and Joe, thanks to everyone for a great night last night! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 10th, 2016, 12:33PM @ Double A’s • Pizza Sports Bar • Grill
Yesterday I had lunch with Clay Deal and Ryan Deemer. Clay’s been on the MBIP blog before and this is Ryan’s first appearance. We had lunch at Double A’s, which has one of the best lunch buffet’s in town and it’s also handily located right down the street from the MBIP World Headquarters. Clay and Ryan work for DoMor Equipment and Ryan is part of the Beers and Gears Pub Crawl Community. They’re working on a bike Pub Crawl in May and you can keep up to date on that by checking out their facecrack page right here. I’m going to be working on a project with Clay and Ryan and you’ll be hearing more about that in a couple of months, I’m pretty excited about it, so stay tuned for that!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 9th, 2016, 10:17PM @ Michelle and Todd’s House
Those of you who follow the blog on a regular basis have seen my friends Michelle and Todd on here and if you haven’t here’s a post featuring them from a party last summer: Saturday Night Cheeseburger @ Michelle and Todd’s Patio Cookout Party! Michelle had brain surgery a little over a month ago and I stopped by their place for a visit and I’m happy to report she’s doing great and looking pretty as always! I love the shaved side of her head look and I hope she keeps it like that! Anyway congratulations to Michelle on a wonderful recovery and it was great to see her, Todd and their pack of wild dogs last night!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - Meeting Sam Kinison Sometime in the Late ‘80’s
Meeting Sam Kinison
The year was either 1987 or 1988 I can’t remember. Anyway, it was the late ‘80’s and I had just published a book I had written called “I Was Elvis Presley’s Sheep,” a silly book supposedly told from the point of view of Elvis' pet sheep, Hoppy. I put it together with my friend, Greg Owens. As in the past, he did the graphics and I wrote the book. By this time I had learned to work the local media and we were pimping the book anywhere we could.
We scored a feature article in the Peoria Journal Star, got on two of the local news stations and did all of the morning and afternoon radio shows. There was a local afternoon radio talk show on WMBD and the host was a curly-haired guy in his late 30’s named Robert Roth. I went on his show to talk about the book (and more specifically to tell people where they could buy it) and after the show Robert asked if I was going to the Sam Kinison show at the Civic Center that Friday. I informed him that yes, I had tickets and was going with my girlfriend Lynda.
Robert told me he was going to do his show Friday from backstage at the Civic Center and that Sam was going to be the only guest. And better still, he said he was looking for people to come and act as an audience for the show so they’d have live laughter in the background. And then he asked if I wanted to be part of the audience. Well I didn’t waste any time in saying, “Fuck yeah,” and asked if I could bring along Lynda and he told me by all means. It was kind of fitting, because Lynda was the original producer of Robert’s show and that’s where we had met over a year ago. Since then she had moved on and was working for the Arthritis Foundation in Peoria. I was toiling at a night job at a printing company called, Fleming Potter.
I was a huge Sam Kinison fan (I’ve lost weight since then) and I was psyched. You always knew when Sam was in town because he lived it up when he blew back to P-town. There were always stories of him showing up at bars and buying everyone drinks, doing coke with strippers after hours at Big Al’s, Peoria’s strip club on Main St. and he would always appear on the local radio shows and newscasts. You could tell he loved being a hometown boy that made good. And I was going to be able to meet him! So I went over to Lynda’s apartment and told her the news and she was excited too.
“I’m going to take my book and give him a copy,” I told Lynda who got a funny and kind of frightened look on her face.
“What’s with you?” I asked.
“Well, don’t take this wrong,” she explained, “but what if he makes fun of you or the book?”
“Who cares,” I brazenly shot back. But I was wondering the same thing in the back of my mind and was hoping this wouldn’t happen.
Anyway, show day came and we went to the backstage area of the Civic Center and they had a mobile radio unit all set up, with a desk and microphones and there he was, Sam Kinison, seated next to Robert Roth.
They were just about to go on the air and there were about fifteen people in the “audience” sitting on grey metal folding chairs. Lynda and I sat down and I had two copies of the book, one to get signed and one to give to Sam. They did the first segment with Sam cracking everyone up with Hollywood stories and pre-fame Peoria tales from when he was a preacher. After about ten minutes they went into a break and it was fairly quiet in the studio.
Robert was talking to an engineer. The moment had come.
“Hey Sam, can I ask you a question,” I hollered out from my chair. Lynda was holding my hand and squeezed it tightly after I asked.
Sam stood up, kind of sneered at me and then in that Sam Kinison patented ear-splitting scream yelled out, “NO! CAUSE I’M A PRIIIIIIICK!”
My mouth fell open and Lynda’s fingers were digging into my hand. I was probably red as a beet and was speechless for one of the few times in my life.
Sam looked surprised and then started laughing and said, “Hey, man, I was just kidding, what do you need to know?” He looked like he felt kind of bad that he scared the shit out of me.
Lynda lightened up on her death grip on my hand and I said, “I wrote a book and I’d like to give you a copy.”
“You wrote a book? Yeah come on up here, let me see it.” He told me.
Well I promptly marched up there with Lynda and introduced ourselves. He looked at the book and was really nice and told me it looked really cool. I gave him a copy and he told me he would definitely read it. Robert butted in and said they were back on the air in a minute and I had to go back to my seat. I asked Sam if he would autograph my copy after the show and he said he’d love to.
So we sat down and I was thrilled and so was Lynda. Then it got hilarious.
They came back from the break and Robert asked Sam if he had any future TV or movie projects he was working on. Sam picked up my book and said, “I’m glad you asked that, Robert, I’m working on a movie adaptation of the book, “I Was Elvis Presley’s Sheep” by the world famous author, Marty Wombacher.” And then he waved to me and I was laughing and waved back. Robert laughed, and said, “Oh jeez, don’t get that guy going, he’ll never shut up.”
After they were done with the show, I went back up to him and he signed a copy and he asked if I wrote full time. I told him I worked a night job at Fleming Potter and he said to me, “Hang in there man and keep at your writing, you won’t be there forever. You’ll get out of this town just like I did. I can feel it in my bones.” That meant a lot to me that he said that.
I thanked him and we shook hands and Lynda and I started walking away and Sam hollered out in his scream persona, “Hey Lynda, why don’t you ditch that loser and come and have a drink on the tour bus with me?” We both laughed and he shouted out, “Just kidding, have fun at the show.”
Postscript: Sam Kinison died on April 10th, 1992 when a pickup truck smashed into his car. Lynda and I broke up about a year after the night we met Sam. She married some guy who worked for the Arthritis Foundation where she worked as well. The last I heard they were living in California and have two kids. I took Sam’s advice and kept writing and lo and behold I did get out of Peoria and moved to New York on July 7th, 1993. Now I’m back here in Peoria, but I’m still chasing dreams and taking Sam’s advice.
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 7th, 2016, 2:37 - 5:30PM @ No Wake Zone
Okay, I know I said that until MBIP came back from hiatus I was just going to post one photo a day, but yesterday was Superbowl Sunday and while I’m not a sports fan, I was excited about the day because I was asked to be a judge at the First Annual Super Chili Bowl Cookoff at No Wake Zone! So here’s a sting of photos from yesterday at No Wake Zone! Thanks to the owners of NWZ, Pete and Linda Clarno for hosting a fun Superbowl Party! Thanks to Shannon for taking photos while we were judging the chili! And thanks to Amber and Joe for inviting me to their Super Bowl party after the festivities at NWZ. I didn’t take any pictures there because by that time I was a little Super Bowled over! But I do want to get a photo of Thurston’s new apartment soon, so stay tuned for that! Now it’s time to let my Monday begin. Aaaahhh!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 6th, 2016, 9:37PM @ No Wake Zone
Last night I was going to go to No Wake Zone and take a picture and on the way I discovered I forgot to put the memory card in my camera. Rather than have to go home and then double back down I called and asked NWZ owner Pete Clarno to take a picture and send it to me and his picture of bartender Andrew in action behind the bar is pictured above. This might start a new angle here while I’m on break where I just call businesses and ask them to send me in a photo and we can see what we get. Of course today is Super Bowl Sunday and in addition to 10 dollar buckets of beer, 15% off pizza and 10 wings for six bucks, No Wake Zone is having a chili cook off this afternoon and I’m one of the judges! So if you want to stop by and watch me bitch about people putting beans in chili, I’ll be there around three in the afternoon to be all judgmental about chili! Stop by if you can and hope to see you there!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 5th, 2016, 1:37PM @ Technicraft
I’ve moved into a brand new MBIP World Headquarters and I’m in the process of putting things away and then I’ll decorate it. I’ll post some photos here in a week or so when the place is all put together. Yesterday I took some pictures I’ve been wanting to have framed to Technicraft and today’s photo is Technicraft’s Business Development Director, Collen Kimball getting framed at Technicraft! When the pictures are all done I’ll put up some photos of them. One of them features an issue of fishwrap autographed by Brian Wilson and another is a print of the original album art for the Smile album signed by the artist who designed the cover, Frank Holmes! So stay tuned for that next week!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 4th, 2016, 3:45PM @ Peoria Players Theatre
This is the marquee for the Peoria Players Theatre’s latest production of, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” Below the marquee are the stars of the show, John Donlan and Wendi Fleming. It’s directed by MBIP Contributing Writer, Chip Joyce! The show starts tonight and runs through February 14 (Valentine's Date Alert). Tickets are selling briskly, so reserve your seats before it sells out. More information can be found here: Peoria Players Theatre and Peoria Players on facecrack.
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 3rd, 2016, 10:17PM @ Hoops Pub & Pizza on Main Street.
Last night after work I stopped in at Hoops and got a slice of cheese pizza. Amber was behind the bar and served it up to me. I asked her what her favorite pizza in Peoria is and she told me that she doesn’t really like pizza too well, which cracked me up considering where she works! She told me her favorite food is barbecue and she really likes Smokin’ Notes which just recently opened up in Peoria on Sterling Avenue. I’ll have to check that out when we start posting regularly again in April.
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 2nd, 2016, 1:33 PM @ Moxie’s ReSale
Mollee Wood, owner of Moxie’s ReSale.
Yesterday Mollee posted on facecrack that she had adult coloring books in stock! I had to get the one that had, “Asshole” on the cover and there’s Mollee holding my copy! I asked Mollee what her favorite Peoria place for lunch is and she told me this: “My favorite place to drool but I can’t eat anything there is The Chef and the Baker! But I do bring in treats to Moxie’s from there for my customers! Mollee sold out of all of the adult coloring books yesterday, but more are on the way! You can check out Moxie’s facecrack page right here!
P.S. Check out this interview with me on PEN!
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The MBIP Daily Peoria Photo - February 1st, 2016, 3:45PM @ Hy-Vee Grand Prairie Grocery Store
This is Courtney at the Hy-Vee salad bar. Courtney made me a delicious salad for my lunch yesterday and told me that her favorite Peoria restaurant is One World Cafe. Thanks, Courtney!