Mermaid Parade | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Mermaid Parade’

Music Video: Mermaid Day Parade by Barefoot Walking

Posted in Events, Music Video, tagged Barefoot Walking, Cha-Cha's, Coney Island, live music, Mermaid Day, Mermaid Parade on June 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Brooklyn-based band Barefoot Walking’s first music video “Mermaid Day Parade” was filmed on Coney Island’s beach, Wonder Wheel and Sideshows by the Seashore’s stage. The song is from their first album “Running with Sprinklers,” which was released last year. On June 18th at 8pm, after the Mermaid Parade, lead singer Livia Beasley and the band will be singing their songs at Cha Cha’s, the “Home of Wild Women and Wise Guys” on the Coney Island Boardwalk.

Cha Cha’s Mermaid Day Party begins at 3:30 pm with Killer Joe’s classic rock and blues. Frederick the Victorious takes the stage at 7 pm. $5 cover charge pays for first drink.

Also on the Mermaid weekend schedule at Cha Cha’s: Punk Rock Show with 11 bands on Sunday, June 19th, from 2-10 pm. No cover, no minimum.

Last Chance to See Mermaid Parade Before It Turns 30!

Posted in Events, Photography, Visitor Info, tagged Coney Island, Mermaid Parade on June 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Lollipop and Candy Mermaids. Coney Island Mermaid Parade, June 20, 2009. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

This Saturday is the 29th annual Mermaid Parade and if you’re anywhere near New York City, you should come out to Coney Island for the day. Take the D, F, N or Q to Stillwell Avenue and arrive well before the 2 pm start of the parade to pick out a spot on Surf Avenue or the Boardwalk.

If you’re in a faraway state or foreign country, there’s always next year. Of course, we’re joking about seeing the parade before it turns 30. The Mermaid Parade is a quirky Coney Island institution that gets better with age. It should be on your list of things to do before and after you turn 30.

Here’s our slide show from the 2010 Mermaid Parade, featuring our view from the judges stand. The pix are posted pretty much in chronological order, from the judges sitting in the empty stand before the parade to paraders walking east on a still barricaded and empty Surf Avenue after it was over.

This part of our post is for a friend of a friend, who is coming all the way from the Netherlands to play in Sunday’s Brooklyn Pinball Championship in Williamsburg. He was looking for “some advice as a tourist” in Brooklyn so here it is: It’s a big weekend in Coney Island, with the first fireworks of the season on Friday night at 9:30 pm and more fireworks on Saturday after the Brooklyn Cyclones’ season opener. If it’s your first time here– or your first time in a long time– check out the attractions and events listing on the Coney Island Fun Guide before you go.

ATZ’s must see-and-do list includes the landmark Cyclone and Wonder Wheel, the Eldorado Bumper cars, the Air Race in Luna Park, the new Sling Shot ride in Scream Zone, Coney Island USA’s ten-in-one circus sideshow, vintage films and photo exhibit at the Coney Island History Project, Tazo the Sea Otter at the Aquarium, the bars and businesses on the Bowery and Boardwalk, the original Nathan’s Famous, and Williams Candy or Denny’s Ice Cream for dessert!

Coney Island Mermaid Haiku by Patricia Carragon

Posted in Reading & Writing, tagged Barry Yanowitz, Brownstone Poets, Coney Island, Fierce Grace Press, haiku, Mermaid Parade, Patricia Carragon, poetry on October 11, 2010| 5 Comments »

Today we’re taking a holiday break from news about Coney Island deconstruction and redevelopment to shine the spotlight on a new literary endeavor. Urban Haiku and More by Patricia Carragon, host of the Brooklyn-based Brownstone Poets, was just published by Fierce Grace Press. The poet is a member of Brevitas, a group dedicated to short poems, including haiku, senryu, hay(na)ku and other unrhymed tercet poetry.

The subject matter of Urban Haiku and More encompasses such everyday events as riding the New York City subway, thinking about one’s sex life, laughing and crying about being dateless, and –well we’re not sure this one is an everyday event—searching the Coney Island boardwalk for mermaids. The book is illustrated with Japanese-style watercolors of birds and flowers, but reading Carragon’s poems about Coney Island immediately brought to mind the rainy Mermaid Parade of 2009. Thanks to Barry Yanowitz for permission to use his evocative photos of the parade in this post.

weathermen predict
washout at Coney Island
mermaids drown in the storm

Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2009. Photo © Barry Yanowitz via flickr

Brooklyn mermaids
hiding under umbrellas
rain on their parade

Coney Island storm
mermaids do breaststrokes
on boardwalk

Urban Haiku and More is available at BookCourt and upcoming book events:

Sunday, October 17 at 4 p.m. at The Bowery Poetry Club, – 308 Bowery, NYC 10012

Thursday, October 28 at 7 p.m. at Wyld Chyld Tattoo and Café – 1708 Sunrise Highway, Merrick, NY 11566

Tuesday, November 2 at 7 p.m. at the Perch Café – 365 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215

Urban Haiku and More
by Patricia Carragon
Illustrated by William L. Hays
saddle-stitched chapbook, 52pp, $7
Fierce Grace Press / 1515 Benton Blvd., #1727/ Pooler, GA 31322