- Do you like stories about gargoyles and self-playing guitars?

- Well what about little fuzzy monsters?

Well, you gotta see this.

(bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music continues) We're here today at Springdale Cemetery, but before we get into that, I wanna introduce you someone who's normally behind the camera.

- Hi, I'm Jeff Oesch and I'm actually the producer of the show.

- Well, Jeff's filling in while Phil's out on assignment.

So let's talk about Springdale Cemetery.

There's a lot of very famous people who are buried here.

And specifically Lydia Moss Bradley, a Bradley University founder.

- You know, speaking of Bradley University, did you know that there are actually gargoyles on the campus of Bradley University?

- I didn't know, but while Jeff checks out the camera shot.

Yeah.

You go ahead and watch this.

Dark, monstrous, ferocious, all words used to describe gargoyles.

These fierce, gothic creatures have adorned buildings since the 13th century to ward off evil spirits.

These ornate carvings are something you might find on a European castle or Roman cathedrals.

What you might not know is that Peoria is home to some very unique gargoyles.

Gargoyles are seen in architecture as guardians.

And we have two prominent examples of gargoyles right here in town.

Some of these protectors look after our drinking supply and another set of guardians protects higher learning.

- So the gargoyles have a really interesting past with Illinois American Water.

They're a very important part of our beginning and they continue to be with us.

Illinois American Water and our predecessors began operating the local water system back in 1880s.

And this plant, a historic plant, was completed in 1890.

And as a part of that, the architecture is a Romanesque revival architecture and it includes four gargoyles that face out in each direction and they actually face into the roof.

And they have tongues that used to spit water or have water coming from them onto the roof.

And they have a shield in front of them also.

And they were meant to protect the water source.

- [Julie] Each of the four Illinois American Water Company gargoyles on the red sandstone building weigh about 45 pounds and are made of a thin molded zinc.

But even fierce guardians need a makeover now and then.

- [Karen] Around 1980, the gargoyles got new life.

We had a local artist from East Peoria help restore the gargoyles and bring them back to life, bringing them back to have better shape.

You know, they'd been with us for a long time and it was time.

- [Julie] This fully operational building has also been named a historic landmark.

So this gargoyle quartet has been doing a pretty good job safeguarding our water for over a hundred years.

If you think these ghoulish creatures are grotesque, you would be right.

The names grotesques and gargoyles are often used interchangeably, but that's incorrect.

Grotesques are sculptures that are close cousins to gargoyles.

So what's the difference?

Well, gargoyles spew water like the Illinois American water gargoyles originally did working as a gutter, pushing water away from the building.

And grotesques are simply statues.

If you look up to higher education, you can find our next examples of gargoyles on the Bradley University campus.

They adopted the gargoyle as a mascot back in 2014.

- [Dave] They came up with a number of ideas and Joanne Glasser was the president at the time and she said, "Well, why don't we do something different and use a gargoyle?

And since everybody knows for Bradley basketball, Kaboom.

That's how it came about.

- [Julie] If you don't remember Peoria Sports announcer, Dave Snell, here's something to jog your memory.

- Here's a jump shot by Montgomery.

No good, it's long.

Rebound rink mask.

Puts in a kaboom!

- [Julie] Since the 1970s, Snell has been bellowing out his famous kaboom to Bradley basketball fans.

Kaboom became so synonymous with Bradley that they named their gargoyle mascot after the renowned play by play.

- Kaboom is known all over campus and it's very unique.

There's no other mascot in the country like Kaboom.

Oh yeah, he'll get into it for sure.

- [Julie] Absolutely.

- And he's always got his buddies looking out for him up here at Bradley Hall.

- [Julie] The gargoyles continue to silently protect the students from their perch high above on campus.

- I saw them, but I didn't really pay that close attention.

I knew they were there but something about guarding the campus and I understand there are gargoyles downtown too so it's kind of neat.

It's something very special from Bradley's past because Bradley Hall has been here forever.

One of the two original buildings on campus.

They had a fire here.

They had to rebuild after the fire.

So it's now been modernized of course, but the gargoyles remain.

(bright upbeat music) (glasses clinking) Hi, I'm Jim Spears from Jimmy's Bar in West Peoria and today we're gonna make an Irish coffee.

We got the recipe from Jameson Distillery at Midleton in Ireland on one of our trips over there.

You first start with some brown sugar.

Put that in the bottom of your glass.

Take a jigger of Irish whiskey.

Today we're using Tullamore D.E.W, which they used in the original, supposedly, the original Irish whiskey in San Francisco where they claim they made the original Irish whiskey.

Limerick claims they made the first Irish whiskey.

You keep stirring this.

And I know when we went to Midletons, they stirred this for about a minute.

They just kept stirring and stirring, that was the key.

If you don't like Irish coffee, you can just drink Irish whiskey you should say.

Now to this, you gotta add piping hot strong coffee as you stir and you keep stirring this and then you add the cream to the top.

Float that cream on top of this, this is heavy, heavy whipping cream.

When you float that on the top you don't wanna stir that up.

Do not stir it up 'cause you want to, in every sip you get sipped through the cream and the coffee and the whiskey.

- A mean air guitar.

- Well, I actually play a pretty mean air guitar but you don't have to anymore.

- No, because we recently caught up with a young man who invented a totally self-playing guitar.

- And you should watch it right now.

But you can also find out more about it in the September 22 issue of "Peoria Magazine."

- [Jeff] Michael Kuzma's curious invention wows the eyes as much as the ears.

It's called the Kuzma Self-Playing Guitar which does just that.

It's the string version of a player piano.

Music plays with no human being required yet the Bradley University grad sees his handy work less as a machine than his baby.

The 23-year-old sees his self-playing guitar as its own entity.

No mere musical mimic, but an artist in its own right.

- What I'm doing is I'm making my own artist.

I'm making the Kuzma Self-Playing Guitar and it's gonna play its music in its own way.

I'm not trying to replace guitar players.

That's never the intent.

The day it plays better than me, I quit.

- [Jeff] Kuzma came to Bradley to study electrical engineering.

A long time guitar player, he decided to blend his hobby with his studies.

- I've played guitar my whole life and this gave me an excuse to actually apply what I was trying to learn in the classroom.

I had no engineering experience whatsoever, so this gave me an excuse to apply what I would be learning soon.

- [Jeff] The end result was the Kuzma Self-Playing Guitar.

There are other models out there, but none he says can match the musicianship of his invention.

- It's very clear when you look at any other self-playing guitars out there that they're either a hobbyist project or they aren't made by a guitar player.

This is by far the most advanced of the ones out there in my opinion.

- [Jeff] Despite the quality and novelty, not everyone approves.

- You get mixed reactions.

If you run into a diehard guitar player, you get some, I don't wanna look at it, I don't wanna see it, I don't want to know anything about it.

Until they learn more about it, then they realize it's not trying to replace them whatsoever.

But a majority, I get a lot of gapes, I get a lot of people like, oh my goodness, what the heck is that?

Because obviously it's something that no one has really seen before.

- [Jeff] Kuzma thinks there's a solid niche for the self-playing guitar at public and private events, not as a musical headliner, but in the background.

- It doesn't demand your attention but it's by far immensely cooler than just a radio.

So it's that middle ground between Spotify to a live musician.

It's right there in the middle.

It's great for cocktail hours and weddings.

- [Jeff] For whatever gathering, Kuzma's device can play all sorts of music.

There's classic pops, such as "Stand By Me."

(funky electric music) (bells jingling) Special events during the holidays.

Check out "Carol of the Bells."

(jolly electric music) And for graduation, there's plenty of "Pomp and Circumstance."

("Pomp and Circumstance") Eyeing the marketing for his self-playing guitar, Kuzma keeps improving his creation.

For instance, the computer programming involved used to be a burden.

Not long ago, he would spend 24 total hours to write 10 minutes of music.

The process is much swifter now.

Soon, he will unveil a new and better version.

Recently at a tech gathering in Peoria, his original model made its last official musical performance to the public.

- [Michael] This is the final performance for this model besides maybe filming.

So I may travel with it and do some other stunts with it.

But this one will be thrown out of an airplane playing Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'."

It will be a one-way ticket ride.

But yes, I will be debuting a new one in the near future.

(upbeat melodic music) - Today I'm gonna make croque monsieur.

The French really know how to make a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

They use Gruyere cheese, Parmesan cheese, butter, your favorite ham sliced thin, a little bit of parsley.

We're gonna put some spices, salt, pepper, and a little bit of nutmeg and some good dijon mustard and a little flour.

Let's get started.

Place our butter in a saucepan.

Well, while we've got the melting, let's go ahead and add our milk to a separate saucepan 'cause we wanna get that to a slow simmer.

We've got our butter melted, we're gonna add our flour and we're just gonna mix that.

Let that cook for about two to three minutes just on a low medium heat.

And while we're making our roux, our milk is heating up 'cause once our roux is ready and our milk is hot, we're gonna put the milk right into the roux.

Okay.

Our milk is nice and hot.

Gradually add it to our roux.

Whisk this together till it's thick and bubbly.

About three to four minutes.

It's nice and bubbly.

So now we take it off of the heat and we add our Parmesan cheese, our Gruyere cheese, our salt, white pepper, and a touch of nutmeg.

Take our whisk and we're gonna whisk in one direction.

We wanna melt all that cheese into the milk mixture.

That's all melted.

We've got our cheese mixture.

We're gonna get our toasted bread and start making our sandwiches.

I'm gonna put some dijon mustard on half of the slices of bread, just smear it on there.

Now we're gonna place our ham on our other piece of bread.

Now we put our cheese sauce on top of the ham.

Use about half of our cheese sauce.

The other half is for the top.

Tops on.

Now we're gonna slather the tops of the breads with more cheesy sauce.

This is the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich.

Sprinkles some more Gruyere cheese on the top.

I'm gonna transfer these on to a foil lined baking sheet and we're gonna sprinkle them with some parsley.

Slide these into the oven and we're gonna bake these for five minutes.

Turn up the oven to broil and broil them for three extra minutes.

I like to serve these on a pretty plate because it's a special sandwich and I put extra special effort into it.

And when I set my table, I always love to mix and match my napkins.

I think it's charming and fun.

I hope you make this recipe at home.

(bright melodic music) (bright melodic music continues) - Hi, I'm Phil Luciano and welcome to my garage in scintillating Worth Township, Illinois.

And we are here for 8-track time machine where we take a look back at some of the albums of the 8-track era and today's choice is Steve Martin's "A Wild and Crazy Guy."

Now the thing about this album, I'm not so captivated by just it, but all those comedy albums of the '60s and '70s 'cause they were huge.

I mean, they were gigantic.

The biggest era, this era started in the '60s.

A lot of it was like by guys like Bob Newhart who got his whole start in comedy by doing records.

And they exploded because they were so cheap to make.

I mean, record companies could do 'em.

They just put a mic on and comic's doing his standup and then you press some albums and they catch fire and boom, record companies are making tons of money.

And so they were really popular in the '60s and then the '70s, it went crazy.

And that's when I was growing up, in the early '70s.

And I remember it would be like George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and then Steve Martin.

And these are the type of albums that, you know, we weren't old enough to buy 'cause it was stuff like you know, Carlin's seven dirty words, that sort of thing.

And we couldn't buy those things.

A lot of these albums you couldn't even buy.

They weren't even out in the open in record stores.

They were behind the counter.

But sometimes our parents bought 'em or more likely our older brothers and whatnot.

And then we traded 'em all and then we sat around, we're 12, 13, 14, whatever.

Like, wow.

That stuff is hilarious.

Now for those viewers out there who are listening to that and going, what are you talking about?

You're listening to albums and 8-tracks of a comedian?

Yeah, and that kinda sounds like when I was a kid and I listened to my grandma and grandpa talk about how they'd sit around the old stand up radio and listen to serials and westerns and shows and they'd watch the radio.

Yeah, it was kinda like that.

But that was the only way you could really see comics except they'd show up maybe on a variety show or something.

And then that was only one time it'd be on.

And the rerun.

So if you're a kid, that was the, especially, that was the only time you could reexperience a comic.

And so in the '70s, there was this explosion.

And especially when Steve Martin came along.

Holy smokes his whole "Wild and Crazy Guy," "Let's Get Small" and all that stuff.

It just went ballistic.

And this one especially went crazy because it had King Tut on it.

If you remember that song, that was Steve Martin, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band playing behind.

And that was everywhere.

"Saturday Night Live," other places.

And this thing just took off.

It was so big that Steve Martin started playing arenas.

Now you know, these days, you can go to streaming services all the time and there's a comic here, a comic there, sometimes good, sometimes not good.

They're playing clubs.

But think about massive arenas and it was just so huge back then and we're buying all these albums.

And now though, with all those streaming services there are no albums, there are no 8-tracks.

We don't have comics doing these sorts of things anymore.

I gotta tell you, you know when I have, sitting around the garage or doing work out here, I'll pop in some 8-tracks to listen to some music because music is music.

If it's on a CD, if it's on the web, if it's on an 8-track, if it's on a cassette, it's music, right?

With a comic just listening and you can't see the face, the movements, the arrows through the head with Steve Martin, it just doesn't translate as well.

But for the sake of nostalgia, I like to have a few of these albums around, some Carlin, some Pryor, some Steve Martin just to remember that era went comics ruled on record.

and so for Steve Martin and to Richard Pryor and George Carlin who made that era possible, we salute you here and we'll see you next time here in the garage for 8-track time machine.

(bright melodic music) - [Narrators] Fun fact!

- Fun fact, the Cookie Monster has a real name.

It's Sid.

No seriously, the name was revealed in 2004 in a song called "The First Time Me Eat Cookie."

- [Julie] There's nothing like a small town's enthusiasm for homecoming.

Elmwood, Illinois is no exception.

Here, not only are the students rooting on the Trojan football team, they're raising money for a good cause.

- Let's do something different.

Involve the kids as well.

Since we are one small school and we love to involve the community as student council likes to do.

- [Julie] With community being the key, the students decided to do fundraising for your favorite public television station and mine, WTVP.

So the You Gotta See This Team brought one of our biggest stars, Elmo, to Elmwood.

- They were so excited.

They thought it was like the coolest thing to see Elmo.

A lot of them have been talking about how much they like watched Elmo as a little kid.

Thought "Sesame Street" was so cool.

They absolutely loved it out there.

- [Julie] This famous Sesame Street resident and adorable fuzzy monsters strolled into Elmwood's K through 12 building.

And let's just say it was... ♪ La la la la, la la la la, Elmo's world ♪ - [Julie] Absolutely, she got it.

♪ La la la la, la la la la, Elmo's world.

♪ - [Julie] Sharing smiles, hugs, and a kind word with kids of all ages.

Everyone wanted to see and talk to Elmo in person.

- I said to Elmo, "You gotta call me later."

- Yeah?

- Because, well, I don't know, he's my best friend.

- Elmo's the best, Elmo's the best.

Elmo's the best, Elmo's the best.

- I think it's like a good, great learning tool for kids especially at a young age, learns you great values and a lot of just simple learning tools.

It's great for everyone, I think.

Even adults enjoy watching it sometimes.

- Luis, hey, Luis, how do people get money?

- Well, usually people work to earn money.

- Oh, so if Elmo wants to earn money, Elmo could work?

- Right.

- [Julie] Through Penny Wars and other fundraising efforts, Elmwood High School students raised money this homecoming week for this three-and-a-half year old monster and other PBS programming in central Illinois.

WTVP was so thankful that we sent our intern Anita out to find what kids think of Elmo and some of his friends.

- Did you watch Elmo on TV?

- Yes!

- I love Elmo!

- Do you still watch Elmo on tv?

- Yeah!

- You can say yes, you can say yes.

Do you watch Elmo on TV?

- Yeah.

(children laughing) - I would have to say my favorite character on "Sesame Street" is probably the Cookie Monster.

- Yeah.

- The Cookie Monster's pretty cool too.

He's his friend.

Very good.

Have you seen Elmo on TV before?

Yeah.

- Is he your favorite?

No?

Who's your favorite?

- Wild Kratts.

Oh, Wild Kratts, he's pretty.

You guys still watch PBS?

- [All] Yeah!

- [Anita] What's your favorite show?

What's your favorite show?

- "Wild Kratts," it's "Wild Kratts"!

(children drown each other out) - "Odd Squad," "Odd Squad."

- "Odd Squad."

- Bro, that one's my favorite show.

- [Anita] What's your favorite show on PBS?

- "Odd Squad."

- Bro, say "Odd Squad"- - "Odd Squad" and "Daniel Tiger."

- [Julie] Whether Elmo's your favorite or another PBS character, we are so thankful for Elmwood High School's support to help keep programs like "Sesame Street" on the air here at WTVP.

- Adriana, could you change the framing just a little bit for me?

- Oh my gosh, Jeff, stop worrying about the technical stuff.

That is why Phil will be back next week.

And thank you, Jeff, for helping us out.

But thank you most for everybody who's watching "You Gotta See This."