Burke crowned ‘Dancing with the Stars’ queen

   Brooke Burke waltzed away with the mirror ball trophy on the "Dancing with the Stars" finale. The 37-year-old TV personality and mother of four dominated the seventh season of the popular ABC dancing competition and bested former NFL player Warren Sapp and former ‘NSync member Lance Bass during the Tuesday night finale, in which [...]

Toby Keith to play Peoria

Country star Toby Keith will bring his "Biggest and Baddest Tour" to the Peoria Civic Center arena at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29. Keith, who sings songs such as "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," "Wish I Didn’t Know Now" and "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action," will bring along [...]

The Red Barn Will Melt Your Brain

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********************************************************* you probably recognize that dirty drum beat.

Satisfying a Yen for great Chinese food

There have been other times, in the roughly 15 years I’ve lived in Peoria, when I thought I’d found my go-to source for Chinese food. You know that place – the one you can always count on for consistent, great food for a night out or a night in. The one with the perfect egg [...]

Thanksgiving Eve show

Hatch: AC/DC in Peoria? DJ out to make it happen

Radio personality Matt Bahan recently made a proclamation: that he would use all of his radio powers to get AC/DC to play Peoria. It’s a lofty goal. AC/DC hasn’t played Peoria in more than 20 years (the last appearance here was Nov. 7, 1983, at the Civic Center). And it’d be a pretty big fish [...]

History, Kringle mingle in parade

What’s so hard about a parade? You show up, walk down the street and wave. Susie Stockman might throttle you if you say that to her face this time of year. As longtime chairwoman of Peoria’s Santa Claus Parade – the longest-running such parade in the country, now 121 years strong – Stockman is neck [...]

Mudvayne visits East Peoria on heels of new release

When Mudvayne’s record "The New Game" comes out Nov. 18, it will be the first studio album released from the Peoria-formed band in three years. And not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but there’s more where that came from; a following record, due for release in the summer of 2009, is already making [...]

Comedy Spotlight: Phone prankster Wood follows inner calling

You’ve got to appreciate a comedian who can fill two full-length CDs with prank call material. We’re talking about Birmingham, Ala., native Roy Wood Jr., left, who performs this weekend at Jukebox Comedy Club in Peoria. Wood’s prank call work includes "My Momma Made Me Wear This" and "Confessions of a High School Benchwarmer." He’ll [...]