Peoria Illinoisan

Due to a scheduling screwup on my part, I didn’t get to take a tour of the park, but I visited anyway… because… well, you just have to. Unlike Wrigley, which is pretty ugly from the outside, I was surprised to find that Fenway is quite attractive from outside, in some respects resembling an old but well-kept warehouse.

As I walked around, I realized something else. Unlike Wrigley, it is not smack in the middle of a thriving neighborhood, as I thought it would be. Parking appeared hard to come by, but the whole area around it was dead. No life at all. The interstate was off to one side a heavily trafficed (is that a word?) street in the other direction. It lacks the dense urban feel and vibrancy that I expected. I’mcertain it’s a blast on gameday, but otherwise it is very much unlike Wrigleyville, and much more like a suburban ballpark neighborhood.

            

 

I found this very ironic.  McDonald’s new Asian Salad in Boston’s Chinatown.

This is the grave of John Hancock.

Notice the small picture frame leaning up against it at the bottom. Here’s a closer view:

Tampa Preparatory School is, as far as I can find, a private advanced honors school based in Tampa Florida for grades 6 - 12. The text of the picture is this:

In Memory of

John Hancock

First to sign

Wealthy, Rich

Helped to find this country of mine

How is it that a minimum 6th grader at a honors grade school doesn’t understand grammer… and even if it’s a smaller child, what about the line “Weathy, Rich”. Is that what John Hancock is known for, and is that really why we honor people? What does this say about private schooling, and why would their teacher think this is good? I took the picture because I thought it was cute that a first or second grade class would do this, but now I’m a little troubled and somewhat baffled.

From a sidestreet in Cambridge, MA.  Apparently drugs are permitted elsewhere.

Follow me…

Down this hallway…

Through this door…

…and this door…

to your room:

After about 10 minutes of initial shock, I got the color back in my face and everything was fine. The room is quiet and clean, albeit TINY. The door key doesn’t always work, but the nice desklady is more than happy to come up and open it for me whenever I want. The bathtub is about 3 ft short, there’s no room for a door on the bathroom and you have to step out by the bed to zip up your pants (honest!)

Amazingly enough, the room has wireless internet. I may be stealing the signal from across the street, but I still have it!

Hitting the highway for a rare vacation (at least rare in the fact that it’s somewhere I want to go.  Freedom to hit the road is hard to come by these days.)

I won’t be updating Peoria Landmarks until I return, so in the meantime, join me in a game of I Spy @ A. Lucas & Sons. 

I’m taking a laptop, but I may have to cross the street and sit in the lobby of a swanky hotel to get internet access. 

Chase Ingersoll’s pipe dream of turning the Grandview into an upscale 4-star hotel may actually become a reality.  After months and months (that seemed more like years and years) of empty promises, bickering and whining, what should’ve happened a long time ago is finally going to happen.  The damn thing is being town down.

The current owner Alexis Khazzam stated the obvious when he said this: “We considered a lot of ideas and it finally came down to our belief there was no salvage value whatsoever.�

Stupid Journal Star quote of the day: “With the Grandview closed and the nearby Deluxe Hotel now being torn down to make room for more parking at American Pi, the nearest hotel is north of Pioneer Parkway.� – yea, as if anyone from out of town would actually consider staying at either.

With the new owners trying to court a real hotel for the site, all of Chase’s hot air may actually come true.  All he had to do was get out of the way.  Go figure.

I’ve been to Boston once as a younger child, and all I remember was someone sticking their head out of their car window to yell out “WELCOME TO BOSTON!”

Hopefully I don’t look like quite the tourist this time, but thanks to my wife, I’m going back.

She’s staying with two other women at the swanky conference hotel in the “backbay,” and I get the priveledge of driving them and staying at a 1 1/2 star hotel for $109.00 (long story, don’t ask)

I tried priceline, but they laughed at my bid of $75 for a 4 star hotel downtown and reminded me that they average $300+.

I am about two blocks south of Boston Commons (Boston’s equivilant of Central Park.)  I’ve got three days on my own to screw around and explore.

I’ve got a bunch of travel books that I haven’t looked at yet… I figure I’ll get some vague destinations and find interesting things along the way.  I’ll definately want to see some of the history sites, Cambridge and Fenway, but I haven’t yet researched any further.

Any suggestions?

 

It seems Peoria’s new blogger Cruise Control doesn’t care for WMBD’s programming.  I take exception to his arguments.  Greg & Dan do a fine job.  Dan has been here forever.  He’s not going anywhere (even though sometimes he tells the same stories over and over).  Greg was not hired for his knowledge or world affairs.  He is there to ad levity to the show, which he does very well.  Remember the 3-D morning show of Dan, Doc, & Dave?  Once Dave Dahl began limiting his involvement, the show was over.  It was too serious to the point of dryness.  Greg keeps Dan in check, limiting his political ramblings.  I only wish Yvonne would come back and join them!

As for the afternoon show of Markley & Luciano.  I’m a listener, but not a huge fan.  The format is getting old and somewhat predictable.  They laugh with themselves, but I don’t find myself laughing with them all too often.  It’s obvious to me that they are trying to imitate Roe Conn from WLS, especially Cannonball Friday.

Roe Conn is a true professional, and is tops in the market for good reason.  If you only listen to it for the drive home, you’ll hear the lighter “Markley & Luciano� fare.  To hear some excellent discussion of current events, tune it in between 2 and 4, with 3 o’clock being a half-hour with ABC7’s Ron Majors.  During Katrina and the ensuing events in the Gulf and New Orleans, I heard no better analysis anywhere than Roe Conn’s.

We’re not a huge market, and talk radio is not a huge format here.  Switching over to the strong signals out of Chicago is easy.  I give our local hosts credit for trying to compete and keeping it loose enough to attract a younger crowd.  If NPR is what you are looking for, turn on WCBU.

I was looking for something to play tonight and ended up pulling out The Who Sell-Out (1967)… Pete Townshend’s first concept album based on the rebel “Pirate” radio stations who would broadcast from ships off the coast of Britain and illegally play what the BBC thought was inappropriate.

The only hit song off this album is the under-rated “I Can See For Miles.” For WHO fanatics though, this album is indespensible, including a preview of Tommy, which would be later expanded on.

What I didn’t know, and took me 20 years to figure out, was why “Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand,” while not the prettiest girl, was so popular with the guys. When I told my wife, I got the stupid dumbass look! DUH!

As the disk repeated itself, I had to turn it off because it was bed-time and the kids were hoppin’ all over the place, feeling Pete’s power-cords, Roger’s strong vocals, John’s Entiwhistles driving Bass, and Keith’s insane drumming.

During the instumental “Hall Of The Mountain King,” my wife told me that this is the devil’s music… (I couldn’t disagree, and it was oh so way ahead of it’s time)

Destroy the stained glass windows of a Church over Easter Weekend, and you’ll get your wish.

Source:PjStar 

Today’s episode of Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure on XM40:

Pete Townshend – Rough Boys

Jimi Hendrix – You Got Me Floatin’

-break-

The Chartbusters – She’s The One (shameless Beatles imitation played from a slightly warped lp, which gives it a nice sound)

Little Eva – The Loco-Motion (could’ve done without this one)

Dave Clark Five – Any Way You Want It (trying to be psychedelic)

The Beatles – You Really Got A Hold On Me (now the previous three make sense)

Dee Dee Sharp – Mashed Potato Time (could do without this one too)

-break-

The Pyramids – Penetration (instrumental surf song. Tom related a story about them- the band members all had their heads shaved bald, but would wear wigs during their concerts. Halfway through the set, to the dismay of the crowd, they’d rip off their hair. The original surf-rock skinheads?)

The Rolling Stones – Money (deeper, dirtier, and grungier than the Beatles version. Never heard it before, and it’s great!)

The Rascals – You Better Run

Van Morrison – (Straight To Your Heart) Like A Cannonball

-break-

The Who – A Legal Mater (like me, Tom Petty seems to prefer Pete Townshend on lead vocals over Roger Daltrey)

Jimmy Reed – Bright Lights, Big City. (from the album “live at Carnegie Hallâ€?. Only problem… it’s not recorded live. Vee-Jay put a compilation together of songs that might have been played at Carnegie Hall at some point.)

Bob Dylan – Sweetheart Like You (Wow. Love this song! Produced by Mark Knopfler) Lyrics & Audio Clip

-break-

Gene Vincent – Be-Bop-A-Lula

The Yardbirds – Too Much Monkey Business

-break-

The Beach Boys – Cabinessence (nice way to end the show)