Posts

Richard Pryor, Jr. aka: "Rainy McKnight" (1962 - present)

-
Image
Even in death, Peoria comedy legend Richard Pryor casts a large shadow. Perhaps no one knows this better than his son, Richard Pryor, Jr., who left his own mark on the Peoria area in his own way. Those who are old enough to remember the Club Peorian no doubt remember Pryor by another name - Rainy McKnight, the headlining drag queen and emcee.  Recently, Richard Pryor, Jr. wrote an autobiography entitled, In A Pryor Life . While discussing the ups and downs of his life, Pryor wrote the following about his time performing before the tabloids got wind of it: "Club Peoria was a gay club that held about 200 people, featured a nightly drag show, and smelled of stale beer. There was a dance floor with a mirrored disco ball and colored lights. During the shows the DJ played whatever songs the performers lip-synched to. Between shows there was dancing to stuff like “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This,” “Hey, Mickey,” and anything by Donna Summer or Grace Jones. With my performing experiences in...
Read more

David Ogden Stiers (1942-2018)

-
Image
     David Ogden Stiers was born in Peoria on October 31, 1942 to Kenneth and Margaret Stiers at Saint Francis Hospital (the predecessor of the current OSF Medical Center). The Stiers family looked like any other in Peoria at this point in time - his mother, Margaret, worked as a secretary, while his father, Kenneth, worked at Pabst Blue Ribbon. They all lived in a home on Constantine Avenue in Peoria Heights that his father had built. As fate would have it, young Stiers’ path crossed with a pair of other Peoria stars - Fibber McGee and Molly. As Stiers told the Journal-Star back in 1988, “I vaguely recall meeting Jim and Marion Jordan when I was little, because my grandparents sang in a church choir with them.” The longtime husband and wife’s comedy show, which ran from 1935-1959, is considered to be one of the most popular and enduring radio shows of its time.       As he later recounted his time in Peoria to Bill Knight in his 1988 interview: ““It ...
Read more

From the Peoria Journal Star - Sunday, July 28, 1996

-
Image
"The one thing about being human - really human - is figuring out that we're more alike than different. We all hurt, we all suffer, but only a few of us have to do it in silence."  
Read more

Happy Halloween from the Club Peorian!

-
Image
  Judging for a Halloween Emperor/Empress show (date unknown).   Left to right: Chuckles, Ty, Anastasia, Carey & Scott "The lighting is low, the air is thick with smoke and helium balloons, the music pounding and loud. People crowd around the edges of the dance floor and spill through doorways. John, the emcee, greets the crowd and announces the contestants. First, 10 men dressed as women slink onto the stage, decked out in sequined and satin evening gowns, heavily padded in strategic areas. They wear long ringlets and heavy makeup. Next, three women strut out, wearing suits and facial hair. They, too, are padded - in a different area. It’s the weekend before Halloween, and these are the candidates for Empress and Emperor at the Club Peorian, 733 SW Adams. On the Friday before Halloween, more than half the crowd of about 200 were women...On this festive night, the crowd was racially integrated as well, and most Empress and Emperor contestants were black... The Club pu...
Read more

May 14, 1976 - Club Peorian Opens

-
Image
  May 14, 1976 marked the beginning of a new era in Peoria's LGBTQ+ nightlife - the grand opening of the Club Peorian! Originally called the Club Peorian Disco by Roger Heim and the other new owners of the Peoria institution, this became the place to go to dance the night away. Not only that, but the club also hosted events to raise money for various causes such as muscular dystrophy. They even crowned local royalty with an annual Emperor and Empress drag pageant. Like many gay bars at the time, this was more than just a place to get down and have a drink. For many, the other patrons there were family and the Club Peorian was home. Even today, if you talk to anyone that spent any time there, you can still the spark in their eyes as they recall all the memories had there. The Club Peorian would remain the best-known gay bar in Peoria until it was tragically burned down in the early morning hours of December 13, 1994. Eli White was tried and convicted of the arson the next year....
Read more

November 13, 1990 - Birth of Central IL FRIENDS Announced

-
Image
As Central Illinois FRIENDS kicks off their annual Dining With Friends fundraiser, let's take a moment to step back in time to when it all began! From the archives of The Journal Star :
Read more

Jim Flint (1941 - Present)

-
Image
The Miss Continental pageant has become the most prestigious drag queen pageant system in the entire world. Not only is it held right here in the state of Illinois, but its founder is from right here in Peoria. Jim Flint was born on July 27, 1941 in Mason City, but it was not long before he called Peoria home. He knew for a long while that he was not like many of the other boys his age - he did not particularly enjoy playing with toys, nor did he like hanging around the younger kids. Jim always seemed to be hanging around older guys at church and watching basketball. By the time he was eight years old, he had started to figure out why - he was gay, but it was not until right before his 14th birthday that he said anything. This revelation to his mother, however, was not by choice: “I had to tell my mother because I had been caught coming out of the Hotel Pere Marquette at about 4:00 in the morning by the house detective. And of course my mother was head chef there…and he said to me, “Do...
Read more