(From Cole Wimpee) BroadwayWorld.com reports that Eric “Badlands” Booker will appear at the Binge Olympiad which will be held at the Wings Theater in the West Village. Booker’s myspace calendar says he will appear at the August 15 and August 23 shows. Eating contests will be held during the festival, but dates and foods are not listed.

According to Badlands Booker’s myspace blog, his new line of Hungry & Focused apparel will be released on August 1. A myspace page is dedicated to the line and has pictures of the T-shirt styles which include three new designs in addition to the traditional 6XL logo.

In other competitive eating clothing news, Paul Barlow has posted a ranking of the best dressed Nathan’s finalists. He also has a myspace gallery (requires login).

Badlands Booker has uploaded to his youtube page a clip from a segment the Canadian show Careers TV about his competitive eating career. Tim Janus and Crazy Legs Conti also appear.

• Video of bacon eating contest from Super Paul Barlow
• Video of a recent Pat Bertoletti practice session
• amNY article about Badlands Booker
• Video promoting upcoming “Hungry & Focused” apparel from Badlands Booker
• Synopsis of upcoming “Hurl” episodes on G4
• Crazy Legs and Eater X make the cover of the current Village Voice (from Liz K) - a gallery from their article
• MSNBC on extreme July 4 meals
• 2 for the price of 1 Nathan’s online coupon
• Slideshow of Henderson, MN sauerkraut competition
• Fox News article about Nathan’s
• Krystalist announces Krystal Square Off V
• Megamunch emails the following request for an upcoming Baltimore Examiner story:
  

  Are there any long-term health effects of competitive eating? What about just short-term effects? Should people take certain precautions if they are competitively eating? Are there warning signs someone should look out for if they compete frequently? Contact: Sara Michael, smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com

Badlands Booker has emailed the following information about his performance tonight

July, 2 2008

Hungry & Focused 4 Fork Knife & Mic Concert Live @ Rehab

25 Ave B, Lower East Side (Formerly Club Midway), New York, New York
Cost : $5. More Info: www.clubmidway.com

Don’t even think about Sleeping on July 4th Week Because Badlands will be burning the midnight oil performing songs off the critically acclaimed CE Themed-Hip hop Album Hungry & Focused 4_Fork knife & Mic. I will also be performing hits from the previous H&F albums in anticipation of the upcoming 92nd. Annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. so come by Club Rehab The Day B4 the big show, Wednesday night at 11:33 PM. to experience Hungry & Focused Live Midnight Show. Don’t miss it and we’ll See u There!

The producer of the promotional contest that took place in Westbury, NY yesterday between Eric “Badlands” Booker and “Hungry” Charles Hardy has a blog entry and gallery of the event. Kobayashi does not appear in the pictures.

update (from Sean Gordon) Kobayashi’s most recent blog entry says he was too fatigued to appear at the Long Island event.

update #2 The news video clip is now available

Beautiful Brian’s Bits & Pieces mentions that Eric “Badlands” Booker and “Hungry” Charles Hardy will compete in a promotional contest early next week. The blog for the contest producer has more information about the event:

Monday, June 30th at 3pm

Nathans Famous
1530 Old Country Rd
Westbury, NY 11590
(516) 832-8900‎

This location is east of Meadowbrook Parkway. It is a big Nathans/Burritoville/Arthur Treachers/Famous Rays (down the block from the main Nathans Headquarters). Come down to watch if you want to be a part of the show.

The segment will be shown on TV10/55 News at Eleven’s sports report at 11pm on June 30th or July 1st.

Philly.com has an article about the Camden, NJ and West Chester, PA Nathan’s qualifiers with the following information about the field:

Expect other big-name, gut-throat gorgers to be in West Chester and Camden. Eric “Badlands” Booker, who has recorded hip-hop albums about his eating exploits, will exit retirement to take on the likes of Eric “Steakbellie” Livingston and Micah “Wing Kong” Collins, both of Drexel Hill, as well as Pat “from Moonachie” Philbin, who has qualified for three straight July Fourth finals.

PhillyBurbs blogs reports that Booker will compete in the Camden qualifier (which is not clear in the philly.com article)

(From Badlands Booker) A segment from Holiday Foods: Fourth of July: Hot Dogs which culminates in a hot dog eating contest between Eric “Badlands” Booker and Famous Fat Dave can be seen on the History Channel’s website. Ryan Nerz also makes an appearance.

• Beautiful Brian’s thoughts on Badlands Booker’s possible comeback. (He thinks that Tim Janus will compete in the Shea Stadium qualifier)
• Musician Dan Bern trains for and wins a hard boiled egg eating contest (he thinks that the female who ate 65 eggs is 8 years old) (via Ugly Dude Food)
• Megamunch has a blog entry about his participation in City Chase, which had a dog food eating segment
• Wing Tut to do Cleveland brownie eating contest and 5K Race for the Cure in Pittsburgh on Sunday. He is seeking donations for the Race for the Cure.
• Article about eating contests at Fitchburg State College
• 8.5 month pregnant woman competes in taco eating contest
• Videos of Scozzy Bone at the Acme Oyster Eating contest: video 1, video 2
• Dallas Nathan’s qualifier to be held at Plano Sam’s Club
• Skinnyboy competes in Denver CE meetup group burger contest
• CE: sport / not a sport debate in New Mexico State student paper

HungryTravels.com reports that they recorded an interview and mock hot dog eating contest with Eric “Badlands” Booker in which Booker ate 11 HDB in 3 minutes for history.com. History.com is the website for the History Channel. The blog entry does not say if Booker’s material will be televised or appear only on the web.

Badlands Booker has started a youtube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/badlandsbooker The page has clips of Bookers appearances on “Wife Swap, “Attack of the Show” and the hard boiled egg eating contest from the “Glutton Bowl”.

• “Badlands” Booker is Sonya Thomas’ featured eater for the second quarter of 2008
• Page on the eating contest at CollegiateNationals.com - only the winner of the qualifier will appear in the finals
• A press release for Phoenix Battle of the Bone says it is restricted to amateurs. The rules appear to make no such restriction
• Lufkin, TX tamale festival runs out of tamales, but still manages to put on a tamale contest.
• Joey Chestnut’s matzoh ball contest victory mentioned in the Vallejo Times Herald
• Nashua, NH hot dog contest report
  
• “Stretch” eating contest at Missouri University
• Group burger challenge attempt at Mount Airy, NC

Video from the Travel Channel’s “Battle of the Buffets”, in which Badlands Booker, Cookie Jarvis and the LeFevres competed can be viewed on the Travel Channel’s website

BeautifulBrian.com has a bluesy song on his website about the travails he experiences. The first verse of the song goes:

I came in as an eater I do the best i can
I never made no money but i dont give a damn
I get the blues when im not eating Im an eater till i die
Dont care how i finish , It aint about a piece of pie

BeautifulBrian.com also has a review of Badlands Booker’s fourth CD.

Philadelphia sports blog The700Level.com has no recent Wing Bowl coverage, but there is some competitive eating content in the form of the picture of a helmeted Badlands Booker illustrating a blog entry about the burger Eagle Brian Westbrook devised for Chili’s Restaurants. Westbrook’s burger has extra-thick applewood-smoked bacon, slices of smoked Cheddar, Swiss, and Provolone, sauteed onions and jalapeno-ranch dressing.

The Major League Eating youtube page has been updated with two segments from the Tour de Gorge programs produced for HDNet. George Shea interviews Sonya Thomas before a meatball contest. Brian Seiken makes an appearance in the interview to discuss his dream about Sonya and Dale Boone. There is also footage from the 2004 Thanksgiving Invitational won by Badlands Booker in which Cookie Jarvis, “Hungry” Charles Hardy, Tim Janus, Don “Moses” Lerman, Brian Seiken, Dale Boone and others competed.

An announcement about Badlands Booker’s fourth album is available after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »

Hungry & Focused 4 is now available for purchase on Badlands Booker’s myspace page. Paul Barlow made the artwork above for the CD. A T shirt with the above image can be purchased on Paul Barlow’s zazzle page.

There are now 15 videos on http://www.youtube.com/user/majorleagueeating I think that most if not all the videos were originally on majorleagueeating.com There are profiles of Badlands Booker, Don “Moses” Lerman and Cookie Jarvis in addition to footage of recent contests.

Emailed by Badlands Booker:

Pre-order the latest badlands booker album “Hungry & Focused 4 - Fork, Knife, and Mic” and get the new ‘07 Edition Badlands Booker T Shirt free while supplies last. Offer ends on the album’s official release date: 11/21/07. Stay Hungry and focused everybody

The album can be purchased at myspace.com/badlandsbooker

Several articles about competive eating from the New York Times archive which previously required payment are now available for free (in reverse chronological order)
preview of 2005 NJ pizza contest, mentions Pat Philbin
2005 Review of Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating
Short article about Kate Stelnick (she claims to have drunk 14 glasses of water while eating the 96er)
Long 2003 profile of Carson “Collard Green” Hughes
Preview of 2003 Wing Bowl, focuses on Bill “El Wingador” Simmons and “Belly” Donna Villec
Report on the 2002 pelmeni contest
2002 preview of Nathan’s finals, mainly about the Sheas
2002 article about Don Lerman, Badlands Booker & Cookie Jarvis, calls George Shea a “competitive eater since 1988″
2001 profile of Kevin Lipsitz
Article on quick start controversy at 1999 Nathan’s finals
Report on 1999 Nathan’s finals
preview of 1999 Ben’s Deli’s matzoh ball contest
1998 article about Mike DeVito, also mentions start of the IFOCE, originally the International Federation of Hot Dog Eating
1997 interview with Ed Krachie
Report on December 1996 duel between Ed Krachie and Nakajima
1996 Nathan’s final report
1995 Nathan’s finals results
Report on 1995 Nathan’s New Jersey qualifier, contest was 10 minutes long
article on 1994 Nathan’s finals, mentions Curtis Sliwa’s participation
Report on 1990 Nathan’s, says Jay Green & Mike DeVito tied for first place
Preview of 1987 Nathan’s, registrations were still being accepted by phone on July 3
Report on 1984 women’s only pancake contest

Badlands Booker appeared on two videos for the online interview show “Dave’s Detours”: a hot dog slam and a freestyle rap showdown.

Kobayashi has continued his New York travelog with blog entries about a visit to the Museum of Modern Art, the Peter Luger steakhouse and a performance by Eric “Badlands” Booker. He does not mention the size of the steak he ate.

From a Patrick Holbert email:

I’m throwing a party Friday night at The Underscore in NYC. Would you mind plugging this event on the blog since Badlands will be performing? I’m performing as well as my alter-ego Pat Miscellaneous. I’m a huge fan of competitive eating so I’m really excited that Badlands is on board for this show.

The Clams are playing as well and these guys are a riot. It’s going to be a really fun time so I’m trying to get everyone in the CE community to come out and have a good time.

www.myspace.com/badlandsbooker
www.myspace.com/patmiscellaneous
www.myspace.com/theclamsmusic
www.theunderscore.com

Badlands will go on around 10pm.