Live, from Peoria, Illinois, it’s Saturday Night, starring this week’s hosts, The Judge’s Chamber and the Apollo Theatre with special guest stars, Wanda, Chip Joyce and the California Style Fitness Studio! And now, please welcome, down on Main Street, this week’s dueling hosts, Judge’s Chamber and the Apollo Theatre!
Tonight’s a special Saturday night here at MBIP, I’m going to a show at the Apollo Theatre. The California Style Fitness Studio is putting on a dance production called, “A Night At The Movies” and I have a ticket for that. I figured since the Apollo is the oldest building and business on Main Street, I’d have dinner at another place of business that’s been on Main Street for quite some time, the Judge’s Chamber! As I entered the always dark bar, I see that I have the entire bar to myself, what luck! And the good fortune continued as I took a seat and the pretty and friendly bartender, Wanda appeared with an ice-cold can of Budweiser! Wanda told me she’s been working here since July and she also does freelance house and corporate cleaning, but I couldn’t find her facecrack page. If you’re interested, call the Judge’s Chamber and get her contact information.
It’s a simple menu at Judge’s Chamber and they serve tasty food late into the night. I decided to go for a sausage and cheese Butch’s Pizza and an order of the cheddar cheeseballs. I’m not going to take a ton of pictures in here tonight, because I know I’ll take a lot at the show at the Apollo. You can see more photos of Judge’s Chamber at this post where we wondered if this is the oldest bar on Main Street or is it the Basket Case. We never did find out, so if you know, feel free to chime in at the comments section or on the MBIP facecrack page.
Well, that was quick, there’s Wanda with our Saturday night dinner! You can’t go wrong with Butch’s Pizza and it always tastes better in a bar for some reason. And the cheeseballs were delicious! Okay, that’s the dinner portion of the evening, now on to the big show!
The Apollo Theatre is right down the street and there it is in all its glory! It’s been standing tall here on Main Street since the early 1900’s. It’s really a beautiful theatre. Hey, check out the sign, I love it when we get welcomed! Before we go in though, let’s go back in time about two weeks ago to a rehearsal at the California Style Fitness Studio to take a look at the studio and a little preview as to what’s coming up tonight!
Rehearsal At California Fitness Studio
The studio is located in the space that used to be occupied by photographer, Keith Cotton on Prospect. I need to find out where he’s at now, but in the meantime, let’s take a look inside. There’s a desk in the front foyer and some photos of pole dancers on the walls. The bottom photo is the beautiful owner of the studio, Kimberly Cumming holding a poster for tonight’s show. She’s also an instructor here and you can see the whole staff here and the different classes offered at the studio right here.
Kimberly brought me into the studio where some of the women were rehearsing for tonight’s show. Wow, they’re really talented! I need to hang out here more often! Okay, back to the present at the Apollo Theatre!
The doors have opened so let’s go inside. The front hallway is so ornate and beautiful as is the entire theatre. This is a real slice of Peoria history and I love seeing shows here. The stage is all lit up for tonight’s show and I took a shot of the ornamental ceiling. As I made my way down the stairs I ran into my friend and MBIP Contributing Writer, Chip Joyce! It turns out Chip is the emcee for the evening, I didn’t know that and that’s a nice surprise! We last saw Chip when he performed his one-man show, Getting Wilder at the Broadway Lounge in the Maxam building. As I looked for a seat I noticed this sign in the front row. Very nice of them to have done that for me and perfect for pictures!
The lights have dimmed and the stage is all set, looks like it’s time for “A Night At The Movies!”
A Night At The Movies
Chip came out and gave an entertaining introduction and now it’s time for the show to begin!
A smoke machine was set off next to the giant popcorn box...
And Chip introduced the first dancer. Pole dancing is a real art and I’m already mesmerized by the first dancer! It’s a movie themed night and a couple Spidermen came out and performed and then we were entertained by more impressive pole dancing.
Not all the performers used the pole, these two used each other in a unique dance routine in a tribute to the movie, “Purple Rain.” And not all of the dancers are female...well, all but one are, but this guy came out while the Ghostbusters theme played and put on an exhilarating performance. Then Chip introduced the next dancer. These static pictures don’t do the show justice. As fun as they are to look at, the live performance was unbelievable! And this is just a small sampling of the dancers and entertainment, if I put it all up here it would go on forever! So I’m just using the pictures that turned out the best, my apologies to the dancers that aren’t included here, I just couldn’t fit everyone in!
Okay, the show’s halfway over and Chip came out and announced a short intermission.
Intermission is now over and here’s Chip introducing the next act, which is a tribute to “Silence of the Lambs” and it even includes a little blood in the act! Next up was a dancing Godzilla that the crowd loved!
The next dancer was really a talented pole dancer and just a little cheeky too! Superman then arrived on the scene and did a unique dance utilizing rope curtains. Just like the real Superman, she appears to be defying gravity!
Here’s Chip introducing the entire cast and you can see why I couldn’t include everyone! This was a two hour show and it was packed with dancing entertainment and there was also trivia and other fun aspects to the show. Keep your eyes on their facecrack page for more events and if you missed the showcase this year, you’ll definitely want to make next year’s show!
Chip brought out Kimberly and the stage manager, Corey Sanford for the showcase for some well-deserved applause. This was really a fun and unique show for Peoria and I’m glad I got to see it, I’m already excited for next year’s show.
The end. We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Related Posts: Saturday Night @: The Apollo Theatre and Judge’s Chamber.