No one has had more fun than The Pits did on the cover of an issue of Evansville Living. Since you’re now reading this issue, the rock ‘n’ roll quartet’s cover reign on the newsstand has ended but surely not the fun. The Pits’ lead crooner, Gene Baker, quickly jumped on the opportunity to play to the 1972 Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show song, “The Cover of Rolling Stone.”
“Wanna see my picture on the cover, wanna buy five copies for my mother, wanna see my smiling face, on the cover of the Evansville Livin.’”
The band announced an autograph opportunity at a gig at the Bokeh Lounge in July; we were more than happy to drop off copies of the magazine for the show.
On social media, a fan of The Pits noted, “It’s about time!” when the band shared the news of their appearance on the cover of Evansville Living. They had a point. Certainly, during our nearly 25 years of publishing this magazine, the thought of putting the city’s most tenured party, dance, and rock band on the cover had occurred to us. When it came time to produce the summer music issue, we called up members of The Pits to organize a photo shoot. And they sure did have fun with it!
Perhaps you are thinking, 25 years! Yep, almost. In fact, on LinkedIn, I established my “hire date” at Tucker Publishing Group, Inc., as Sept. 12, 1999. I soon will receive “congratulations on your anniversary” messages and I won’t be shocked that it’s been 25 years.
Of course, we will celebrate this milestone with readers. We are planning the details of the March/April 2025 25th anniversary issue now, along with a celebration. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The annual Best of Evansville Awards have been around almost since the start. Welcome to the 23rd Best of Evansville – also called Best of the City – issue. Readers will note that again this year their voices were heard on standard, expected categories – we wouldn’t dare skip Best Burger or Best Pizza. To keep it fresh, our editorial team adds new categories annually and gives others a rest. Then, we also exercise the magazine’s authority and select a few editors’ picks. If you drive to Indianapolis or other northern parts of the state frequently, we bet you will agree with our pick on page 51. And can you guess what we named Best Glow-Up? (Go to page 50 to see if you are correct!)
I hope you enjoy the issue! As always, I look forward to hearing from you.
