Garland Jeffreys | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Garland Jeffreys’

Amusing the Zillion’s Fave 11 Posts of 2011 – Part 2

Posted in Favorites, Photography, video, tagged Bruce Handy, Circus Vidbel, Clara Bow, Garland Jeffreys, Kevin C Downs Photography, Miss Coney Island on December 31, 2011| 2 Comments »

In July, ATZ posted Circus Portraits: Photography by Kevin C Downs. Circus Vidbel was in Coney Island for an abbreviated run, but Kevin Downs photographs of the performers have a timeless quality that evokes the classic portraiture of the Golden Age of the Circus. You can view the complete set, including a few candids, on the photographer’s website.

Ambra Zerbini, Zamperla-Zoppe Riders, Coney Island July 12, 2011. Photo © Kevin C Downs

The 1927 film “IT” made Brooklyn-born Clara Bow a sex symbol. In August, Video of the Day: “IT Girl” Clara Bow in Coney Island featured anecdotes about Bow and this scene from the film. She plays a shop girl who goes on a first date with her boss to Coney’s Steeplechase Park, where the Human Roulette Wheel and the Barrel of Love help them get acquainted.

Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys’ album “The King of In Between” has been called “as uncannily fresh and forceful as the songs on his debut record, from 1973″ by the New Yorker and it’s on plenty of year-end Top 10 lists. You’ll see why in this live performance of Coney Island Winter: Garland Jeffreys Live on Letterman

New York City hasn’t had any snow since the freaky October snowstorm dubbed Snowtober on the web. In addition to a snow-covered Coney Island Boardwalk, photographer Bruce Handy’s flickr slide show offers snow-dusted Halloween characters and the rare sight of the Wonder Wheel’s cars, which ordinarily have been taken down for the winter before the first snowfall.

As ATZ reported exclusively early this month, Miss Coney Island and Coney Island Always, along with Skin the Wire and two or three other games, are moving from Jones Walk to booths on West 12th Street. Their location is next to the Coney Island History Project. Bring a roll of quarters because it will still be “25¢ to Laugh,” “25¢ to Smile,” and “25¢ to Fall in Love” with the famed mannequin, who is expected to debut a new outfit and new music this season.

Coney Island Winter: Garland Jeffreys Live on Letterman

Posted in Music, Music Video, tagged Coney Island Winter, Garland Jeffreys, King of In Between on October 9, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Released in the spring, the Garland Jeffreys album “The King of In Between” has been called “as uncannily fresh and forceful as the songs on his debut record, from 1973” by the New Yorker. You’ll see why in this video of Garland Jeffreys and the Coney Island Playboys’ live performance of “Coney Island Winter” on “The Late Show with David Letterman” on Friday night.

The Brooklyn-born singer songwriter grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach and Coney Island, and riffs on the “Twenty-two stops to the city” from his boyhood turf in “Coney Island Winter.” You can read the lyrics in “Hail, Hail Garland Jeffreys! Coney Island Has a New Anthem,” (ATZ, March 15, 2011). We’d love to see a live performance on the Boardwalk!

Garland Jeffreys last New York area shows of the year are coming up at the Highline Ballroom on October 14 and At the Tabernacle in Mt Tabor, NJ on October 22. Says Jeffreys on his Facebook page: “And then comes Nashville, Chicago, Austin, Houston, Montreal, Toronto, Los Angeles, and more !!!!”

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Hail, Hail Garland Jeffreys! Coney Island Has a New Anthem

Posted in Music, tagged Coney Island Winter, Garland Jeffreys, Hail Hail Rock "n" Roll, King of In Between, New Release, singer-songwriter on March 15, 2011| 7 Comments »

We’ve always enjoyed the rock poetry of Garland Jeffreys, especially Wild in the Streets (1973) and Hail Hail Rock ‘N’ Roll (1992). The good news is “The King Of In Between,” his first album in 13 years, will be released this spring. The Brooklyn-born singer songwriter grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach and Coney Island, and his new single “Coney Island Winter” riffs on the 22 stops to the City from his boyhood home. The lyrics, which are posted below, are as sharp and biting as the wind on the Boardwalk. Give a listen…

“Coney Island Winter” by Garland Jeffreys

Vanity strikes
Humility speaks
Insanity lives on the edge of the streets
This is a story, it happens every day
Politicians kiss my ass
Your promises they break like glass
Royalty looks down
Me, I want to kiss the ground
Twenty-two stops to the city
Twenty-two stops to the city
Twenty-two stops to the city
Twenty-two stops
Freezin’ cold no time to weep
Boardwalk’s dead on a midnight creep
It’s colder than a polar bear
But I don’t care

Coney Island Winter
Coney Island Winter

Woman walks down the street
Tears come rollin’ down her face
Frozen on her cheeks
Steeplechase, no time to waste
Heaven blessed, heaven sent
Hark the angels, can’t pay the rent
Jobs are gone, they came and went
All the money has been spent
All the games are broken down
Rust is fallin’ to the ground
They say they’re going to fix this town
Straight from City Hall

Coney Island winter
Coney Island winter

Last stop off for the Iron Horse
Ride shuts down on a winter course
Round and round, round and round
On the Ferris Wheel comes to a stop
Standin’ on Mermaid and Surf
Shutters have been shut
Colder than a knife that cut
Streets of summer
Coney Island strut
I’m on a mission of my own
Don’t wanna die on stage
With a microphone in my hand

Coney Island winter
Coney Island winter
Coney Island winter
Coney Island winter

You can download “Coney Island Winter” on itunes or Amazon via links on Garland Jeffreys’ website. Jeffreys is scheduled to perform at Stony Brook University (March 20), the Highline Ballroom (April 30) and Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble in Woodstock (May 7). Hail Hail Rock ‘N’ Roll! Here’s a classic performance via YouTube…