Every Thursday evening, Peoria Pizza Works in the Heights hosts an open stage night. This has been a long-standing tradition since 1992 and I’ve never been to one. Time to change all of that right here and now!
My friend Clare is behind the wheel tonight and she’s driving me to drink at...
Peoria Pizza Works in Peoria Heights!
And here we are, let’s go inside and see what’s happening on this fine Thursday evening.
There’s lots of tables in the front of the room, but we’re in search of a booth inhabited by our friend, Jen...
And look, we’ve found both the booth and Jen seated opposite of Clare! I love it when things fall into place like this, it’s MBIP magic, I tell ya! All I need now is a giganzo bottle of Budweiser and this night would be perfect...
Ask and ye shall receive! Here’s that giganzo 22 ounce bottle of Budweiser served up by our pretty waitress, Shaina. We placed our dinner order and now it’s time to wander around with the MBIP camera and catch some of the action going on here on this thirsty Thursday evening.
There’s a full crowd up here at the bar.
Lizzie is doing bartender duty behind the bar...
And on the other side of the bar I met Emily and Adam, a friendly couple who told me that they’re faithful readers of MBIIP! Always love to hear that and I thank them for reading the blog!
Here’s the back room where the open stage takes place, let’s go up and see who’s setting the stage up.
It’s Roy the talented guitarist with Brainchild, who we last saw at The Yardbirds show at LImelight. That’s Aaron to the right of Roy who’s a bass player. Roy and Aaron are both part of the band that host’s the open stage here every week and the band’s name is The Turkeys. Gobble, gobble!
This wooden Indian has been standing guard here for as long as I can remember. It always makes me think of this scene from Seinfeld.
As I made my way back to our booth I ran into Gary who’s the manager here at Peoria Pizza Works! Great to see him!
And I got back to the booth just as Shaina is serving up a basket of onion rings, perfect timing!
These were so good! The batter is really crispy and tasty, MBIP onion ring aficionado Scott Turley needs to try these if he hasn’t already! And I love the Cheap Trick paper that lines the bowl!
Now it’s time for the main course, a cheese pizza. Wow, it’s huge!
Cheers from our booth!
Okay, the dinner portion of the evening is done, time to make our way into the back room and check out the music at the open stage.
We got a table in the back and settled in, but I soon my way up to the front of the stage with the MBIP camera to get some photos of the band in action.
There’s Roy and Aaron fronting The Turkeys and they’re making a wonderful sound up there!
This fellow is offering Roy a swig of beer, how very generous of him!
This is a great show and there’s no cover charge to watch the music, such a deal!
Presto change-o, another group of musicians have now taken over the stage. I didn’t get the name of this band, but they sound great!
If you haven’t checked out the Thursday open stage at Peoria Pizza Works, you should stop by soon, lots of great tunes and a ton of fun! And don’t forget about the giganzo 22 ounce bottles of Budweiser!
Check it out, I’m not the only one taking photos! In case you’re wondering who this photographer is...
It’s T.J! So there!
Busted flat in Baton Rouge! Clare and Jen are having a smart phone moment. Ladies, put the phone down and watch the musicians on stage. Sheesh!
And now the weekly thanks for people that bought us a beer by using Paypal on our Virtual Beer page.
• Tim and Tina Hennessey sent in a generous donation and I thank them not only for that, but for being two of my best friends for decades and putting up with lots of crazy shenanigans from me. Can you say, “surpirse party?” Uh, oh, Tina’s getting mad all over again, I better shut my big mouth up and just say, “thanks!” Thanks, Tim and Tina!
• Emack & Bolio’s also chipped in for the beers tonight. Check out their facecrack page here and you can get some of Peoria’s best ice cream at the Heights location and downtown on the riverfront.
If you’d like to help keep this blog rolling along by buying us a Virtual Beer you can find out how to do that by clicking right here. Thanks to Clare and Jen for hanging out with me and to everyone at Peoria Pizza Works for a fun night out on the town! We’ll see you all tomorrow, and hey...let’s be careful out there!
Peoria Pizza Works
3921 N. Prospect Road
Peoria Heights
309-682-5446
facecrack page
Related posts: Beers @ The Basket Case, The Fox Pub And Cafe and The Friendly Valley Tap.