The Coney Island Boardwalk is a magnet for music video shoots and whenever a new one debuts, we feel compelled to check it out. Brooklyn-based indie rockers Jukebox the Ghost’s exuberant yet wistful “Somebody” is a nice match for the location. People have been meeting their true loves in Coney Island since it was first called the People’s Playground. “I want it, I need it, I want somebody…” Ben Thornewill sings as he and his band make their way down the Boardwalk. A cadre of energetic dancers bobbing and circling around them. The video was shot in one long take with the landmark Parachute Jump and the gleaming new B&B Carousell pavilion and curious onlookers in the background. Yes, we “liked” it!
Artist Marie Roberts is a third-generation Coney Islander who has been painting the banners that emblazon the facade of Coney Island USA’s headquarters since 1997. Madame Twisto, the name bestowed on the girl who contorts herself inside the bladebox, was Marie Roberts’ very first sideshow banner. Countless Madame Twistos have graced the sideshow stage since the banner was painted. Honestly, we were surprised and delighted to see it again. Having first met Marie in 1999, the banner seems like an old friend.
This early canvas is one of dozens of the artist’s works from the past 15 years on view at the Art Room in Bay Ridge. At the opening reception on Saturday night, banners trumpeting the 2000 Mermaid Parade and Coney Island sideshow stars Insectavora, Scott Baker, Donny Vomit and the Black Scorpion mingled with a miniature banner line and recent paintings on Japanese paper. All of the work is for sale and may be viewed by appointment through August 24. You may also commission a banner portrait for your home, office, or stage persona. The Art Room will be open for Friday night’s Summer Stroll on August 10 and 17 from 6pm- 10pm.
The Art Room, 8710 Third Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11209. Phone 347-560-6572. Email theartroomnyc@gmail.com
The scaffolding towers for the Coney Island Zip Line started going up last week on Stillwell Avenue, but construction has not been completed. No one was working over the weekend. The gates were locked and the lot was a ghost town. Sources told ATZ that the zip line expects to be ready to open next weekend.
In the meantime, the BK Festival’s merchandise vendors who sell hats, sunglasses, jewelry and other items under the multicolored tents did not open as usual on Saturday and Sunday. Word on the street is they were closed because of the ongoing construction. Will they be allowed to open when people are zipping overhead? The new attraction is being set up behind Nathan’s and runs from the Bowery and Stillwell Avenue to West 15th Street. Originally slated to traverse Stillwell Avenue and open in July, the zip line’s debut has been rescheduled a couple of times due to paperwork delays. “It’s taken a bit longer than we thought to get the engineering drawings required for this project,” zip line operator Patrick Ingram told ATZ when we first wrote about it in June.
Another zip line in the news last week was in the UK, where London’s Mayor Boris Johnson got stuck in mid-air when he tried out the 1,000-foot ride at an Olympics celebration. This comic video of him merrily waving little Union Jacks before the zip stalled went viral and won him fans in China. “I love his spontaneity, not pretentious at all!,” one wrote on the social networking site Weibo, according to the Wall Street Journal. Will Coney Island “Mayor” and Mermaid Parade founder Dick Zigun be the first to ride Coney’s new zip line?
The Zipline is finished and ready for zipliners. On Thursday and Friday the crew was being trained and the zipline was tested. We’re expecting it to open today and will post an update via twitter
UPDATE August 7, 2012
Yay! Construction resumed today on the platforms for the Coney Island Zipline.
Amusing the Zillion 