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!
“Sixteen,” a song about a young girl dancing with the Devil, takes its inspiration from Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You.” In an interview at Songfacts, The Heavy’s Kelvin Swaby tells how the group happened to shoot the vid in Coney: “Michael Maxxis, the video director, decided that we should go to Coney Island. We were in New York for a few days, and he was like, ‘Let’s go to Coney Island, because it’s just so wrecked, so rotten down there now. And it just seethes the vibe of the song.’ And it does.”
If you Google “seedy” and “Coney Island,” you’ll get more than a million hits, including “The place was magical and seedy at the same time… pure excitement!” But the days of Coney Island providing a seedy backdrop for music vids like this killer of a neo-blues song may be over. Redevelopment has created the beginnings of a shiny new amusement area since the video was shot in 2008.
The carless Wonder Wheel is a clue that the band was here during Coney’s desolate off-season. The monumental wheel feels like the last ride left standing, but if you watch closely you’ll catch a glimpse of the Saturn 6 in motion. The Astroland rocket, seen on the roof of the old Gregory & Paul’s (now Paul’s Daughter) in the video, was put in storage by the City in January 2009 and this season the eatery was renovated inside and out. Coney Island Arcade burned down and Shoot the Freak was banished from the new Boardwalk. The Henderson Music Hall, with its idiosyncratic “Water Raceing” game sign, was demolished to make way for a generic-looking building that looks like it belongs in a suburban mall. Rides fill the empty lot across the way.
The Heavy are playing at New York’s Mercury Lounge on June 18, but it’s already sold out. Coney Island is not on the tour. Catch them in Chicago, Austin, Denver, L.A. and Vegas. Hat tip to food blogger devourNYC for tweeting this vid!
In early December, ATZ posted Eric Kowalsky’s photos of country singer and songwriter Alan Jackson strumming his guitar on the Coney Island Boardwalk. The music video was released today on YouTube and it’s a beauty. We love it that Coney’s landmark Cyclone, Wonder Wheel and Parachute Jump, as well as the Astrotower and Paul’s Daughter’s Mama and Papa Burger make an appearance along with the Beach and the Boardwalk.
In the new single about the end of a love affair, Jackson sings that he’ll be the SOB, “So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore.” The shuttered stores and lonely beauty of Coney Island on a December day suit the lyrics, which are sorrowful yet defiant, in the way that the best country songs often are.
I will keep all those memories of the good times
Yeah there were some good times
So when you think of you and me
They won’t even cross your mind
“I didn’t write this one. It was written by Jay Knowles and my nephew, Adam Wright,” Jackson told Country Weekly in December. “This one just hit me. I can say this because I didn’t write it, people are comparing it to ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today.’ I would never put one of my songs up against that one, but since I didn’t write it, it’s OK.”
Thanks to Alan Jackson for making Coney Island the setting for your next no. 1 hit!
Amusing the Zillion 