September | 2012 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for September, 2012

Art of the Day: Connecticut Fair Midway by Tracy Powers

Posted in Amusement Game, Amusement ride, art, tagged Connecticut, fair, First Street Gallery, Tracy Powers on September 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

It’s fair season in Connecticut as well as at the First Street Gallery in New York’s Chelsea art district, where Tracy Powers is showing paintings of whirling amusement rides and games flashed with prizes. Of course the subject matter caught our interest right away. Seeing the show evoked strong memories of working games on the Connecticut fair circuit as a child. Wolcott Fair, which is the artist’s muse, was last month, but the Guilford Fair is coming up this weekend, followed by the Durham, Harwinton, Berlin and Riverton Fairs.

While sideshow and circus subjects are popular among artists, it’s rare to see rides and games like the Rock N Roll and the Whac-A-Mole depicted in works of art. Powers is an empathetic observer of fair-goers and workers alike. There are also some very charming six inch square oil studies of a Scrambler, a carousel and a Teacup ride.

Tracy Powers, Utopia, through September 29, 2012. First Street Gallery, 526 West 26th St, New York, NY. 646-336-8053

First Street Gallery. Copyright Tracy Powers

Long-Delayed Coney Island Zipline Is Officially Open!

Posted in Amusement ride, tagged Coney Island, zipline on September 14, 2012| 24 Comments »

Open from 2pm : Coney Island Zipline at BK Festival. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

After umpteen updates to our original post “Zip Line Coming to Coney Island’s Stillwell Avenue in July” (June 28, 2012), ATZ tweeted on Wednesday…

Wow, will the long delayed Coney Island Zipline open this weekend?!?! Right now people are zipping across in test runs #BetterLateThanNever
— Amusing the Zillion (@AmusingZillion) September 12, 2012

Happily it’s true, the Coney Island Zipline is officially open for business. After a soft opening last night, ten customers had tried it out when we talked to manager James Wilcox a little while ago. “Hell, yeah, I’m ecstatic,” said Wilcox, who has been on site, but not open for business since July due to paperwork issues with City agencies. “I’m ecstatic that we got our green card,” he said, explaining that the all-important permit saying they’re allowed to open is a green piece of paper.

“It’s $15 to ride on weekends,” said Wilcox, who noted that groups can get a discount. In addition, members of New York City’s Police and Fire Departments and EMS may ride for $10 with ID. Wilcox says they planned to offer this discount on September 11th, but will instead offer it for the duration of the season. “We hope to stay till October 31,” he added. (Saturday Update: After seeing on Cat5’s Facebook page that the cover price is $25, we phoned Wilcox for clarification. He said The $15 price is available this weekend, as well as to people who come in with CAT5 Zipline’s flier or mention reading about the zipline on this blog.)

The posted hours for the Coney Island Zipline are 2pm till ~~midnight~~ 10pm, though hours of operation may vary. The Zipline is located on Stillwell Avenue behind Nathan’s.

FINAL UPDATE: The ride was open for a day and a half before being closed by the City for permit issues and will not reopen. On October 8th, ATZ received an email from the BK Festival operators which said: “After a very long and difficult process the city still didn’t issue the permit needed to operate the zip line.”

Video: Coney Island Dancing 2012 by Jim McDonnell

Posted in Events, Music Video, video, tagged Boardwalk, Coney Island Dancers, Coney Island Dancing, dance party, dancing, free event, Jim McDonnell on September 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

For the past two seasons, photographer and film editor Jim McDonnell has released a video titled “Coney Island Dancing” after the boardwalk dancers pack it in for the season. We’re happy to report that the 2012 edition has arrived just in time for, well more dancing on the Boardwalk! The Coney Island Dancers have announced that they are extending their season of free outdoor dance parties with an October Fest from September 29 through Halloween.

Posted on Labor Day, “Coney Island Dancing 2012” opens with the legendary Tony Disco before segueing to the legendary dancing doll known as “Miss Coney Island.” Both are charismatic old-timers who are famous in Coney Island and deserve wider acclaim. Nice to see them start this show, which distills a season’s worth of dance moves on the Boardwalk and the Polar Express and at Luna Park, Wonder Wheel Park and the Mermaid Parade and Ball into a joyous four minute forty-five second video. Here are links to Jim’s dance vids from 2010 and 2011 in case you missed ’em. Party on!