Coney Island Doubleheader, Wilco Concert…
July 14, 2009
sunday brad and i ventured out to coney island. it takes about an hour-and-a-half to get there by subway. it’s hard to imagine that you can travel ninety minutes to a place and still be in the same city. such is new york.
coney island is actually pretty sweet. we walked up the boardwalk, out to the pier, checked out the amusement park, and of course, rode the cyclone. the cyclone is a surprisingly fun coaster. it was built in 1927, so i didn’t have very high expectations, which made forking over the $8 it costs to ride even more difficult, but i’m glad i did. since it’s so old, i was expecting a pretty rickety ride, but the seats are basically couches with lap bars making the bumps and turns more bearable.
we also ate at the original Nathan’s Famous restaurant – home of the fourth of july hot dog eating contest. i’ve made watching the event on ESPN every independence day a personal tradition, so it was neat to see where it actually goes down. the food was good and cheap, just the way i like it. and the “homemade” lemonade really hit the spot.
that night i ended up roof-drinking in brooklyn with jill and some other OU kids. it pains me to say, but as far as the view goes, roof-drinking in brooklyn has mound beat by a long shot. if godzilla ever attacked new york, i would definitely want to watch the carnage from a rooftop in brooklyn.
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yesterday i got a call from jill at 5pm informing me she had an extra comped ticket for the wilco concert (at coney island – of course). i sprinted out of my apartment and got to union square as fast as i could to catch the train to coney.
the show was at KeySpan Park, home of the short-season single-A Brooklyn Cyclones. i hadn’t been to a concert in a minor league baseball stadium since my first concert (The Beach Boys – 7/11/1996 – Frontier Field – Rochester, NY) so it was sort of a coming-full-circle experience for me. the stage was set up just beyond the infield, and we were situated around the pitcher’s mound (if that gives you an idea of where we were standing).
it was surreal seeing wilco live 3 and a half hours after finding out i would be going, and the show was amazing. way beyond their performance at OU. jeff tweedy seemed to be enjoying himself and relaxed. fiest even came out for the duet part of “you and i.” i’d talk more about the show but it seems superfluous since i went with and because of an actual journalist doing a review for an actual publication, written much better than anything i could have done. you can check out jill’s review here.
EDIT: pitchfork just put this up too. it’s got some pretty cool videos with decent sound…
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i had my first nyc taco bell experience. i feel this is worthy of mention. if you don’t care, skip to the end.
it was the combination pizza hut and taco bell on 14th. all restaurants in nyc put the caloric content of their food right up on the menu. this is disconcerting on many levels, especially at a place like taco bell. taco bell is supposed to serve as an escape, not a cold, harsh view of reality. the reality here is that a cruchwrap supreme combo consists of 75% of your needed calories for the day. such a shame…
i ordered the new bacon cheesy potato burrito. it was good, but after several attempts of taco bell trying to incorporate bacon into their menu items, (remember the bacon cheesy gordita crunch? of course you don’t), i get the feeling bacon is not really meant to go on ultra-americanized mexican food. bacon isn’t a part of any of their regular menu items, so i’m not sure why they keep incorporating it. maybe they get a deal from a supplier when they buy a certain quantity of grade-D beef. who knows…
taco bells in nyc, (at least this one), are open until 4am on weeknights and 5am on weekends. this is good to know…
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final thoughts:
i got my new NYU ID. i like the OU ones better.
i randomly stopped in a used video game store and picked up a copy of blitz 2000 for PS1 for $3
tonight is the major league baseball all-star game. can the american league continue their 12-year unbeaten streak? we shall see…
and remember, dance like nobody’s watching…
The Beach Boys, in Rochester, in 1996? I was at that concert too!
“IF” Godzilla attacks?? It’s only a matter of time, or maybe you just didn’t watch the Matthew Broderick version of “Godzilla” very closely. They didn’t get all the eggs, Brian. THEY DID NOT GET ALL THE EGGS!
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