Coney Island | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Coney Island’

Street Art: Happy Happy July 4th USA

Posted in art, Photography, tagged Coney Island, Fourth of July, street art on July 4, 2011| 2 Comments »

Happy, Happy July 4th USA. June 30, 2011. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i

Street art found on a door on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island. Have a glorious Fourth of July!

Photo of the Day: Mermaid Avenue at Dusk

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged Coney Island, Mermaid Avenue, Prince of Mermaid Avenue on June 30, 2011| 1 Comment »

Mermaid Avenue at West 28th Street, Coney Island. June 25, 2011. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i

In Woody Guthrie’s delightful song about Coney Island’s Mermaid Avenue, where he lived in the 1940s and ’50s, the songwriter says that he’d never seen a mermaid here. Neither have we. But at last night’s screening of “The Prince of Mermaid Avenue” at the South Brooklyn Youth Consortium at 2811 Mermaid, ATZ asked a couple of kids in the summer program if they were mermaids.

The avenue of neighborhood shops, churches and residences is just one block north of the Coney Island amusement area’s main drag, Surf Avenue. So close, yet a world away. At dusk we spotted this poster for “A Coney Good Time” at the bus stop at West 28th Street.

While there may not be any mermaids on Mermaid Avenue, there once was a prince: The documentary “The Prince of Mermaid Avenue” is about Jimmy Prince, who retired after 60 years at Mermaid Avenue’s Major Market. Charles Denson’s film is screening again today, June 30, at 2 pm at the Coney Island Library, 1901 Mermaid Avenue at West 18th Street.

Casting Call for Second Annual Coney Island Talent Show

Posted in Events, tagged casting call, Coney Island, talent show, Thirsty Girl Productions on June 23, 2011| 2 Comments »

Imagine making your stage debut on the Coney Island Boardwalk before thousands–no, wait–zillions of people, as well as the Wonder Wheel and the Parachute Jump. If you’ve got talent, this could be your lucky break: Jen Gapay of Thirsty Girl Productions, the creator and producer of the Coney Island Talent Show, has posted an open call for contestants for this year’s contest. The talent show’s four categories are Creative Kids 9-12 years old, Creative Kids 13-17 years old, Circus Freaks and Sideshow Geeks, and Song and Dance. July 15 is the deadline for applications for the July 30 show.

Last July’s First Annual Coney Island Talent Show – “A spectacle of sunshine and lollipops on the Boardwalk!”–was the most successful new Coney event of the season. It featured singers, dancers, magicians and jugglers, as well as a contortionist, a sword swallower, and Justin Bieber and Jackie Gleason impersonators. Here’s a video featuring clips of some of last year’s contestants. The world-class hula hooper in the vid is not a contestant by the way. She is Miss Saturn, who co-hosted the show with the World Famous BOB.

Gapay says the contest’s Circus Freaks and Sideshow Geeks category welcomes all variety and novelty acts, including circus and sideshow performers plus drag and celebrity impersonators. Song and Dance includes both solo performers and troupes. The top three contestants in each category will win cash prizes—$250, $100 and $50— as well as passes to participating Coney Island attractions. There’s a “special mystery prize” for the best-dressed person in each category. Sponsors of the contest include Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, Luna Park, the Brooklyn Cyclones, Nathan’s, the New York Aquarium, the City’s Parks Department and the Coney Island Development Corporation.

Contestants are requested to fill out an application on the contest’s website and post a video of the act they plan to perform. Seven lucky contestants in each category will be selected by local talent scouts to compete in the July 30th show on the Boardwalk.

Here’s Phineas, a comic daredevil who was awarded one of the first prizes at last year’s First Annual Coney Island Talent Show. Can anybody top this?