Amusing the Zillion

Art of the Day: Monster Truck Mural at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park

February 9, 2011 by Tricia

Monster Truck Mural by Barbara Listenik at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park. February 8, 2011. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The Big Trucks from the kiddie ride at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park are in storage for the winter, but Barbara Listenik’s Big Truck mural keeps on trucking. We’ve seen the mural countless times, but it looked especially striking yesterday with freshly painted yellow fencing in the foreground against a clear blue sky. On Saturday, April 16th, the Big Trucks and the rest of Coney Island’s rides will rev up for the season.

Barbara Listenik is an accomplished artist whose work has been exhibited in over 65 galleries in addition to being on view throughout Coney Island. Listenick painted the mural at the center of the Mangels Pony Cart, the Thunderbolt facade, the Flying Elephants, and the Carousel in Wonder Wheel Park, as well as the Ghost Hole and Polar Express for 12th Street Amusements and the Skeeball mural for Coney Island Arcade. The Sea Gate resident’s company is called Fierce Release Design.

Posted in art | Tagged Barbara Listenik, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, monster truck, mural | 2 Comments »

Music Video: Coney Island Washboard Roundelay on Ukelele

February 7, 2011 by Tricia

When our friend John Bianchi tweeted a YouTube vid recorded at a Ukelele Meetup, we asked if he took requests. Turns out he does! He thanked us for suggesting “Coney Island Washboard Roundelay” because “playing it was like a little summer in the midst of the coldest winter on record.” John’s delightful rendition is played on his new Ohana CKP-70 ‘Vita’ Uke. “I learned 29 years ago so that I could take up the guitar, but I’ve been playing more seriously for the last year and a half,” he says. “I have six of ’em now.”

“Coney Island Washboard Roundelay” was written in 1926 by Hampton Durand and Jerry Adams, with lyrics by Ned Nestor and Aude Shugart. The song was recorded by the Mills Brothers in 1929. The lyrics are as catchy as ever…

Down by the beach there’s the sweetest peach
if I may say she has the cutest way
Playing a chord on her washboard
Folks would gather ’round from everywhere in town
Just to hear that sound!

Coney Island washboard she would play,
She’d play it on the boardwalk every day,
Soapsuds all around
Little bubbles on the ground
Rub-a-dub-dub, in her little tub
All of the tunes she found
Thimbles on her fingers made that noise
She’d play the ‘Charleston’ on the laundry for the boys
She could rag a tune through the knees
Of a brand new pair of BVDs
Coney Island washboard roundelay

Next request: Wouldn’t it be fun to have a ukelele orchestra strumming and singing this tune on the Boardwalk this summer, perhaps at the Coney Island Talent Show? Straw boaters required!

January 6, 2011: Music Video: Strange Powers by the Magnetic Fields

April 17, 2010: Our Fave Coney Island Song: Joe McGinty’s Million Dollar Mermaid

December 15, 2009: Victrola Vault: Mills Brothers “Coney Island Washboard Roundelay”

November 26, 2009: Coney Island Boardwalk Music Video: The Supertones “I Surf in Black”

Posted in Music Video | Tagged Coney Island Washboard Roundelay, John Bianchi, ukelele | 2 Comments »

Coney Island’s New Coaster: First Piece of Track Put in Place

February 7, 2011 by Tricia

On Friday, Coney Island photographer Eric Kowalsky captured the moment when workers secured the first piece of track to the steel supports of Zamperla’s flying coaster. The Soaring Eagle-themed Volare flying coaster is one of four thrill rides in Coney Island’s new Scream Zone, slated to open on April 16. The photo reminds us of the excitement in Coney Island last May, when workers put the giant pinwheels and crescent moons into place on Luna Park’s gate.