Unions, Infrastructure, and CB13

Tonight is the Community Board 13's hearing on the plan for Coney Island, held at Lincoln High School in Brooklyn at 6:30pm. Interestingly enough, there is also a great article about the possible cost of the infrastructure upgrade that would be required there, as well as the new union complications that have arisen regarding the plan - http://www.observer.com/2009/real-estate/latest-coney-troubles-unions-hundreds-millions-infrastructure

Finally Found Some Human Blockhead

Yes, the Schmaltz brewing guys Twittered me about finding the Human Blockhead Lager. I tried it with my cousin Steven when it first came out, at the premiere party held at The Gate, and we loved it. The Schmaltz guys told me I could find some at Bierkraft, so I stopped off there on Friday night right before they closed and picked up a couple of bottles.

At The Gate we had tried the Human Blockhead on tap and it was great. However, since then the drink (in the bottle at least) has been upgraded from around 8% alcohol to 10% alcohol. I'm not sure if anything else about the recipe has been changed but the beer isn't as good as I remember and I think it's the higher alcohol content. Unfortunately, the beer is a little too strong and has too strong an aftertaste.

I am glad I finally found it! But I'll stick to the regular Coney Island Lager.

Three Coney Island Events this Saturday!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen! There are a few weird and wacky Coney Island items this Saturday to be aware of!

Saturday, February 28th 2009 -

1) Coney Island Polar Bear Cruise - Start off your Saturday with a brisk (aka chilly) morning cruise with the Coney Island Polar Bears! Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises is having a fund-raiser cruise to help raise money for the New York Aquarium and the Wildlife Conservation Society. You can endure the cold for donations, or you can pay up and gawk at the people freezing their butts off. Boarding begins at 7:45 at Pier 83 at West 42nd street. Fund-raisers can participate for free, but spectators must pay $20 for their ticket. More info at http://www.circleline42.com/index.ihtml?page=polar_bear

2) What's in the Box? No, it's not a reference to the movie "Seven" but a performance art piece. From 1 to 4pm you can come and play the box game, run by the traveling art venue Black Hole Space. Using your imagination, vote for what you think is in the box, and at the end the ballots will be counted and the winning idea will be announced. All players who provide contact information will receive a gift during the final stage. The box game will be set up on the Boardwalk at Stillwell Avenue. More information can be found here - http://www.boxgame.org/

3) Coney Island Sideshow at the Highline Ballroom
This is a great showcase of the Sideshow performers (Donny Vomit, Heather Holliday, Serpentina, Angelica, Scott Baker and more!) in a beautiful and classy setting. Well worth the $12 to get in ($10 if you order online), this show is opened by the Hungry March Band. Nicole and I went to see this the first time and had a great time, and then we went to a diner afterwards with Heather and Serpentina. Doors open at 6pm, the show starts at 7:30, and you can get tickets here - http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=874364

Lighthouse Tour with Charlie Denson and M'lady

Coney Island Light!

On Saturday, Nicole and I went to my little lighthouse in Coney Island along with Charlie Denson, to do a tour. Despite the weather, it was a great day, and Charlie seemed really happy to finally get to go inside the lighthouse. And I was happy that he and Nicole finally got to see it. For me, it was just great to be back.

The New Jersey Lighthouse Society originally asked for the tour, and they came with smiles in the rain. I did what I could to tell them a little about the light and my grandfather, and then up the tower they went! Well, most of them anyway, but we all had a great time.

Busy August!

Well, I haven't had a post in a couple of weeks! Shame on me, eh? I've been going to Coney a lot lately though. Started learning how to roller-skate at Dianna's Dreamland rink, which is awesome. I try to get there early so I don't kill anyone while I learn.

The films that will show at the Coney Island Film Festival have been announced and I'm starting to look into them to see which ones I definitely want to check out. It's going to be a lot of fun, and I'm trying to get a bunch of friends to join me this year.

I'm messing around with my websites, consolidating them. And Coney's very own "cutest sword-swallower in the world", miss Heather Holliday, has asked me to create a website for her, which I'm also working on. She's a lot of fun and even though the site is just a modified version of my design for my own sites at the moment, we're moving along with the customization pretty quickly.

Anyhow, happy Labor Day weekend everyone! Come check out Coney and the Rockabilly Music Festival!

Guerrilla Sand Sculpting in Coney

Amazing weekend. I sculpted the looming "Coney Mall", complete with Zombie shoppers. The sand sculpture contest was basically a shill for Whore Equities. They were as far away from subtle as possible, too, with T-shirts on all of the workers that had their name slapped on them and they hired a professional team to build a huge clone of what they built last year, except this time with Whore Equities' name on it.

A loving cup! A loving cup!

Ah, Coney Island Lager, and having one at the Freak Bar is the best. Can you believe that some bars in Manhattan are charging $20 for one of these? Come down to Coney Island and have one with me at the Freak Bar for $7.

I love Brooklyn.

Working on a few big projects, that should be ready soon. And lots of things going on in Coney at the moment. The Dreamland Roller Rink is coming back! And the Siren Music Festival is coming up! I'll keep everyone posted.