If you weren’t aware, as I wasn’t until my wife witnessed someone get a ticket for this, talking on a cell phone in a school zone is illegal as of January 1.
Also, it is illegal to use a cell phone in a construction zone and at all times for a kids under 19 while driving, thank goodness.
(War & University)
Westminster Presbyterian on Moss was pretty much dead. How about your polling place?
Steve Patelli, Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office prosecutor: “In Peoria [...] If you leave your car running, it’ll get stolen.”
{PJStar, Kid left in car raises questions}
Anonymous commenter, J1973: “As a Peoria city employee at City Hall I’m often asked, ‘where’s a good place to stay for the night’. I always tell visitors to drive over the Bob Michael bridge and stay at the Embassy Suites in East Peoria because the ‘demographics’ are different there and they’re not as likely to have their car broken into or otherwise be a victim of a crime. Downtown Peoria is the pits unless you’re a prostitute.”
{PJStar, Holiday Inn to show off upgrades as State of the City address}
1. OutKast: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
You can’t say anything about Dylan that hasn’t already been said. (Go ahead and try sometime!) But this album looms large in his storied catalog, and not just because it came out on 9/11. Sure, “Lonesome Day Blues” and “High Water (for Charley Patton)” were spooky-prescient meditations on autumn 2001’s au courant themes of apocalypse and loss, though the swing-rockin’ “Summer Days” and the lascivious stomp of “Cry a While” showed that Dylan wasn’t through giving pleasure or cracking wise, either (“Last night ’cross the alley / There was a pounding on the walls / It must have been Don Pasquale makin’ a two a.m. booty call”). Add to the package his best backing band in decades, and it’s all over but the debate with your boomer parents about whether this achievement equals Blonde on Blonde.
3. Kayne West: The College Dropout
4. Miranda Lambert: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
6. Hilary Hahn and Esa-Pekka Salonen: Schoenberg & Sibelius Violin Concertos
7. M.I.A.: Kala
8. The Chris Potter Underground: Follow the Red Line – Live at the Village Vanguard
As reported in the Journal Star, the Central Illinois Landmarks Foundation released a wish list of properties which they consider worthy of protection. One thing’s for sure, with 115 properties listed they can’t be faulted for not being comprehensive, but that’s the problem, it’s too big. That’s not to say what is listed are not worthy, but surely some are more worthy than others and maybe taking the list and prioritizing the properties would be wise.
“What we’ll do is receive and file and then blame (CILF members) when we get down to a sticky situation,” {Gary} Sandberg said. “Let’s use their expertise and get ahead of the learning curve on the property before there is a gun on the property owner’s head.”
With any luck this will spur some interest in preserving some of Peoria’s treasures. I’m not optimistic, but I hope to be proven wrong.
It is not my intention to call out businesses who fly flags which have only recently became tattered and torn and whose condition may have been briefly overlooked. The Metro Center is the perfect example. As I was shopping a few days ago I noticed theirs was in horrific shape, but I saw today that it has been replaced. Of those shown in my original post on this subject, National City, Methodist Med Point and 8919 N. University have all also been replaced.
The flags show below have all been neglected for months.
As I said before, if you’re going to fly a flag, fly it properly, and when it becomes tattered and torn, properly remove and destroy it. If you can’t take care of it, don’t fly it in the first place.
While browsing the Journal Star archives I ran across a touching local story that I had never heard before. Some of you may know the story already, but for those who don’t this is the story of John Doe No. 24.
John Doe No. 24 was a teenager when he was found wandering the streets of Jacksonville, Il in 1945. He was deaf, blind and mute, had no relatives that could be found and after being picked up, was institutionalized for the rest of his life. He was named John Doe No. 24 because he was the 24th unknown person to be taken in to the Lincoln Developmental Center. Later he was given the middle name of Boyd, from a combination of the words ‘Boy’, because the caretakers called him John Boy, and ‘Doe’. Throughout his life he was moved between various institutions and wards before ending up in Peoria at what was known as the Smiley Living Center in 1987.
Phil Luciano wrote this about the burial service.
In August 1993, he went into the hospital for colon cancer surgery. He returned to Smiley, showing signs of depression, then went to Sharon Oaks nursing home in Peoria. He had a stroke and died there Nov. 28. After a five-minute funeral attended by a handful of caretakers, he was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave at Parkview Cemetery in Peoria. At the service’s end, a woman asked if anyone wanted to offer any words; no one did.
The original article, written after his 1993 death by Journal Star reporter Sarah Okeson, was picked up by the A.P. and reprinted in the New York Times. Singer/songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter was moved by the story and penned the song “John Doe No. 24.” Thanks to the efforts of Phil Luciano, she quietly, and without fanfare, purchased a simple gravestone to be placed at John ‘Boyd’ Doe’s unmarked grave in Parkview Cemetery. It reads:
John ‘Doe’ Boyd
Unknown — Nov. 28, 1993
Life’s a mystery, but so too is the human heart.
It’s sad to think a person can live a life, die, and no-one even notices. In this case, albeit posthumously, someone did.
My French Dip was excellent and the few bites I stole from my wife’s Bleu Cheese Burger rocked!
Oh I’m picking out a thermos for you
not an ordinary thermos for you
but the extra best thermos you can buy
with vinyl and stripes and a cup built right in
I’m picking out a thermos for you
and maybe a barometer too
and what else can I buy so on me you’ll rely
a rear end thermometer too.
*not completely true.
Happy Birthday, honey!
Is this the end of their afternoon show and are they moving to a morning FM show as Billy Dennis reported which will compete with Greg & Dan and John Riley? I didn’t hear the notice, but I’m told we will find out tomorrow afternoon. I’ll miss their drive home show if they really do move away from the afternoon and sincerely hope local programming continues. Another nationally syndicated show on 1470 would be a shame.
I will actually be out of town all weekend, but I’ll tune in on Monday to see what happened.
Unfortunately you’d better have a pencil and paper handy because the online quiz isn’t set up like most online quizzes, it’s just a reprint of the paper copy. Nevertheless, here ya go:
21 Questions: How well do you know the news?
So how did you do? I flunked miserably.
Basically, I don’t have anything I’m dying to blog about, but I do have new posts on both Name This Peoria Landmark and Overheard In Peoria.
For any newbies out there, NTPL is a trivia and open-ended discussion blog of all things Peoria which I usually update weekly. OIP is just silliness updated whenever someone emails me a story.
I can be contacted at peoriaillinoisan@yahoo.com
While I’m generally more a fan of Genesis during the Peter Gabriel years, Duke, from 1980, has been slowly climbing in the ranks.
It’s catchy, but not overly popish as they would become, sentimental without being sappy and they still take the opportunity to stretch out musically. Other than Man Of Our Times, which I couldn’t find a video for anyway, there’s not a clunker in the bunch.
Wikipedia explains it quite well… “Duke showed both sides of the band’s music, containing both short radio-friendly pop tunes (e.g. “Misunderstanding”) as well as lengthy progressive rock suites (e.g. “Duke’s Travels”). Hence, Duke enjoys the anomaly of being simultaneously regarded as either the band’s last progressive outing or their first pop-oriented release.”
Behind The Lines.
Duchess.
Guide Vocal. The third of a wonderful three song cycle.
Misunderstanding. Gotta love vintage MTV era videos! {must be watched on YouTube}
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KACuukWiL8
This is a cover of Heathaze, but it’s not bad.
Turn It On Again.
Can’t find a video of Cul-De-Sac either, but I did find a song of the same name by a band called George Dorn Screams and it’s pretty darn good!
Please Don’t Ask. A touching song performed solo by Phil Collins. (is he really using sheet music?)
Duke’s Travels / Duke’s End.
Genesis was voted into the 2010 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. One can only hope thier performance will be the long awaited reunion with Peter Gabriel.
Area forecast discussion
National Weather Service Lincoln Illinois
1039 am CST Wednesday Jan 6 2010
Discussion…
issued 1036 am CST Wednesday Jan 6 2010
stubborn high pressure ridge finally starting to drift a bit to the east. Light winds around the area…and some high and middle level clouds beginning to push in from the west ahead of the developing storm system over the plains. Forecast is actually well on track for today… with the snow still anticipated to start this evening between 00z and 06z.
Random Thought
As good a reason to vote for a Lawmaker takes in on the chin 
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