26 years ago on Wednesday, July 7, 1993, I was on a plane traveling to New York City. I wasn’t going there for a vacation, I was moving there. I was also scared out of my ever-loving wits.
From 1990 to 1993 I had published and been the editor and chief writer for my magazine, POP (originally titled People of Peoria.) That led me to writing for the Pekin Daily Times (because you just don’t walk in off the street and write for the Peoria Journal Star!) and through this experience I decided in April of 1993 to move to New York City.
I cashed in my union pension plan, sold everything I owned including my car, my furniture, my record collection, a lot of books, clothes and anything else anyone would give me cash for and put my notice in at work.
I was so busy selling things and getting ready to move, I didn’t have time to think about how crazy it was to be quitting a nice-paying graphic arts union job I had worked for 13 years at Fleming Potter and moving to a giganzo metropolis where I had no friends and no job and no real prospects awaiting me. I just wanted to go there and write in New York City.
I didn’t think about it until I boarded the plane on that fateful Wednesday morning of July 7th, 1993. I remember looking out the window, feeling like I was about to hurl and thinking to myself, “What in the holy fuck are you doing?”
Happily things went great for 18 years (the 19th year, not so great), I wrote for weekly papers, got published in the NY Daily News, NY Newsday, NY Post, Time Out New York and other newspapers and magazines, back in the pre-internet days! Sadly, none of those pieces are archived online, but I did find some interesting articles about some of my independent writing projects.
Below are a dozen links to things I produced while living in New York City and a final link to one from when I moved back to Peoria in 2013 and started this blog you’re reading right now. It’s been a wild ride and thanks to all of you reading this blog and supporting my other projects.
And stay tuned, it’s not over yet! Oh and MBIP Coming Attractions are below as well!
Wombacher’s Revenge - 1995 - This is the only article from the ’90’s I could find archived online. Wes Smith, who was a feature writer for the Chicago Tribune was coming to New York and he had previously written about my POP magazine in the Tribune. He called me (there was not texting back then or even email!) and asked what I was up to in New York City. I told him I had done some freelance writing and was doing a fanzine called fishwrap that ridiculed the world of mainstream magazines and that it was getting a little bit of a buzz in New York after we were written about in Sassy magazine and Spin. He wrote this feature which appeared on the front page of their Metro section.
Marty Wombacher’s Fishwrap Is Worth Looking For - 2001 - Fishwrap was just about over when this article came out in the New York Press. John Stausbaugh wrote it and shortly after it came out, I moved on and put fishwrap to rest.
99 Beers Off The Wall - 2002 - For my post fishwrap project, I wrote a book where I took a vacation from work and went to 99 bars and drank 99 beers in seven days in New York City. This is the Amazon link to the book. The book is being sold for $150.00 now, sadly I’m not getting any royalties!
The Boy Who Would Be A Fire Truck - 2008 - After the 99 Beers book, I had a period where I didn’t do much for a few years, then I rebounded with the book, The Boy Who Would Be A Fire Truck.
Zine-o-phobia? Natalie Word does Australopithecus on Adam Moss Digital Ass - 2009 - This was my last print project and it lasted for two issues. It was a magazine I called, Natalie Word and it got a write up in the New York Observer. The publisher of this weekly paper at the time was Jared Kushner!
Marty Wombacher plans to visit 365 city bars in 365 days and blog about each experience - 2010 - This NY Daily News article put me back in the spotlight. After this came out, the U.P.I. wire service picked up the story and put it on an international wire and all hell broke loose for a couple of months. The blog was written up in newspapers and blogs all over the world and I did hundreds of radio interviews. I was hoping to get a book deal out of all of this exposure. I never got one. Oh well, what are you going to do? I just kept moving along.
The Morning Show in Australia - 2010 - I ended up on the Australian version of the Today Show and got thousands of Australian followers out of this TV appearance from the land down under!
365 bares en 365 idas - 2010 - This article got 34 comments, some day I’ll learn Spanish and read what they say!
Marty Wombacher has started a new blog - 2011 - After the 365 bars blog, I started a new one called, Marty After Dark, which was me roaming around New York, after hours. It was popular in New York, but it didn’t get the big exposure that the 365 bars blog got. But I was happy to maintain my New York audience.
EV Grieve Etc: The Mourning Edition - 2012 - My Tripping With Marty blog gets a mention on the eighth entry on this list. It’s a link to a night with my friend Paul Scanlon who was the Managing Editor of Rolling Stone in the ’70’s. EV Grieve is one of the more popular blogs in New York, so it was always an honor to get a mention there.
Meanwhile, Back In Peoria…
Prolific Blogger Marty Wombacher finds an audience back in Peoria - 2013 - I moved back to Peoria Illinois in October of 2012 after losing my night job that year and falling into a depression over it. It was scary moving back because I knew it was the end of my New York era and I wondered what would happen next. I started Meanwhile, Back In Peoria on December 10th of that year and in April of 2013 the blog got a nice write up in the PJ Star.
And on we go, thanks to all of you who have read and supported all of these projects. What a crazy 26 years this has been! Let’s see what happens next!
Last Thursday was the 4th of July and the Peoria Riverfront Museum had their 7th annual Backyard BBQ and I was there. I’ll be posting photos from that festive celebration tomorrow.
Tuesday we continue the 13 month chicken tour and this week we have a real feast at Tannins & Hops! They prepared their special Spatchcock smoked and roasted chicken for me and it was a real treat! This dish is only available for this month! Tune in and check it out, then get over and try it while you can!
Wednesday we have a new Let Them Eat Cake episode at Lit. On Fire Used Books! I took a Trefzger’s cake there to celebrate the shop’s 4th anniversary!
Thursday I’ll be making a Thursday Minute Marty Meal. I saw this hamburger bowl thing online that I’m going to try out, so stay tuned for that.
Friday I’ll be writing about some knick-knack or photo here in the MBIP World Headquarters for Casual Friday.
Saturday will find me posting some links to the past for a suggested Saturday dining experience.
Have a wonderful and funderful Sunday everyone! I have to go and get all this stuff ready!
Related Posts: Sunday Links: National Lampoon’s Vacation, The Summer of 1969 and Monterey Pop Festival.