Famous Photo of Coney Island Bather by Lisette Model is up for sale at Christies.
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lfsearch_coa/LotDescription.aspx?intObjectId=4983455
(My link option seems to be malfuctioning today)
Monday, October 22, 2007
Coney Island Bather...For Sale!
Famous Photo of Coney Island Bather by Lisette Model is up for sale at Christies.
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lfsearch_coa/LotDescription.aspx?intObjectId=4983455
(My link option seems to be malfuctioning today)
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Coney Island and circus prices too high for Berbicians
Ok, so maybe this doesn't actually have anything to do with New York's Coney Island, but still, I found reading it rather compelling.
From www.stabroeknews.com
Dear Editor,
As a little boy I was always excited by the now classic Disney Channel series for children 'Dumbo's Circus' which featured persons in costumes portraying animals who move from place to place giving circus shows. There was also the 'The Bozo Super Sunday Show' on what was then, WGN-TV, which was a must-see every Sunday after attending church some years ago.
A circus provides an atmosphere of gaiety, fun, excitement, frolic and thrills for all. In a world where stress and worries are the mainstays of one's day, we all need to let loose once in a while. And what way better to do so, especially since we had the Coney Island which visited Guyana some months ago and now the Suarez Brothers Circus from Mexico? I could also remember when the Grand International Circus visited some time in 1993 or 1994.
However, it seems that one has to be financially obese to afford an audience with such events. The Suarez Circus is currently in New Amsterdam and the prices to be a part of the fun at this circus are too expensive! Why are these Mexicans exploiting Guyanese? On the same par I can ask also how come the Brazilians of the Tom and Jerry Coney Island (which came and went) exploited Guyanese also?
Mr Editor let me clarify my premise. Tickets for the circus cost in the range of thousands. The most expensive (front seat) ticket costs nearly $3,000.
The Coney Island exploited Berbicians because they began charging a flat $1,000 fee for entrance and any amount of rides some months ago after they moved to Georgetown, whereas Berbicians had to pay an entrance fee plus buy tickets for each and every ride. Guyanese are not rich people. At the same time, it is understood that they incur expenses while moving from place to place and country to country, but still, every family should be afforded to opportunity to visit these fun events at very reasonable cost. I am sure there are excited children out there who are ecstatic about the circus, through all the ads on TV, newspapers and the loud speakers on the roads in East Berbice, but whose parents cannot afford thousands of dollars just for a ticket - and snacks inside the big top.
Here's the other part of the story. They, like any other international circus, do not allow food and drink to be brought in. However, they charge over 100% more for their food than what people would usually purchase in stores and shops. A serving of popcorn costs $500; snow-cones cost $300; 20 oz. Coca Cola costs $400, and get this, a serving of nachos costs $500! Are you kidding me?! Yes, $500 for a couple of chips with melted cheese. Banks DIH is the distributor of Coca Cola, so why didn't they have a say in the recommended price for the drink in the circus? It's ridiculous! It also costs $1,000 to take a picture under the big tent with the animals!
It is also interesting that this circus seems to have hit numerous snags with animal rights organizations in the past. If one were to look at http://www.circuses.com/fact-suarez.asp you would see the dates and nature of offences concerning the circus and some polar bears. It's certainly information the local animal rights group would be interested in seeing. There are other archived news reports of animal negligence (most of which had to do with polar bears), etc, by TV and newspaper by 'Googling' the circus' name online.
Although their time in New Amsterdam is nearing an end (and Georgetown would be next), could there be some redress (perhaps for the future)?
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
From www.stabroeknews.com
Dear Editor,
As a little boy I was always excited by the now classic Disney Channel series for children 'Dumbo's Circus' which featured persons in costumes portraying animals who move from place to place giving circus shows. There was also the 'The Bozo Super Sunday Show' on what was then, WGN-TV, which was a must-see every Sunday after attending church some years ago.
A circus provides an atmosphere of gaiety, fun, excitement, frolic and thrills for all. In a world where stress and worries are the mainstays of one's day, we all need to let loose once in a while. And what way better to do so, especially since we had the Coney Island which visited Guyana some months ago and now the Suarez Brothers Circus from Mexico? I could also remember when the Grand International Circus visited some time in 1993 or 1994.
However, it seems that one has to be financially obese to afford an audience with such events. The Suarez Circus is currently in New Amsterdam and the prices to be a part of the fun at this circus are too expensive! Why are these Mexicans exploiting Guyanese? On the same par I can ask also how come the Brazilians of the Tom and Jerry Coney Island (which came and went) exploited Guyanese also?
Mr Editor let me clarify my premise. Tickets for the circus cost in the range of thousands. The most expensive (front seat) ticket costs nearly $3,000.
The Coney Island exploited Berbicians because they began charging a flat $1,000 fee for entrance and any amount of rides some months ago after they moved to Georgetown, whereas Berbicians had to pay an entrance fee plus buy tickets for each and every ride. Guyanese are not rich people. At the same time, it is understood that they incur expenses while moving from place to place and country to country, but still, every family should be afforded to opportunity to visit these fun events at very reasonable cost. I am sure there are excited children out there who are ecstatic about the circus, through all the ads on TV, newspapers and the loud speakers on the roads in East Berbice, but whose parents cannot afford thousands of dollars just for a ticket - and snacks inside the big top.
Here's the other part of the story. They, like any other international circus, do not allow food and drink to be brought in. However, they charge over 100% more for their food than what people would usually purchase in stores and shops. A serving of popcorn costs $500; snow-cones cost $300; 20 oz. Coca Cola costs $400, and get this, a serving of nachos costs $500! Are you kidding me?! Yes, $500 for a couple of chips with melted cheese. Banks DIH is the distributor of Coca Cola, so why didn't they have a say in the recommended price for the drink in the circus? It's ridiculous! It also costs $1,000 to take a picture under the big tent with the animals!
It is also interesting that this circus seems to have hit numerous snags with animal rights organizations in the past. If one were to look at http://www.circuses.com/fact-suarez.asp you would see the dates and nature of offences concerning the circus and some polar bears. It's certainly information the local animal rights group would be interested in seeing. There are other archived news reports of animal negligence (most of which had to do with polar bears), etc, by TV and newspaper by 'Googling' the circus' name online.
Although their time in New Amsterdam is nearing an end (and Georgetown would be next), could there be some redress (perhaps for the future)?
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
Coney Island side show 'freak' studying to become a lawyer
9/4/2007, 11:38 a.m. EDT
The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The man known for 15 years as "Eak the Geek" wants to leave behind eating nails to become a lawyer.
Eduardo Arrocha says he's following in the footsteps of his father and brother, both lawyers.
The tattoo-covered Coney Island side show performer says he knows its sounds weird but he wants to represent the so called riffraff of society.
Arrocha or "Eak" is starting classes today at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing.
The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The man known for 15 years as "Eak the Geek" wants to leave behind eating nails to become a lawyer.
Eduardo Arrocha says he's following in the footsteps of his father and brother, both lawyers.
The tattoo-covered Coney Island side show performer says he knows its sounds weird but he wants to represent the so called riffraff of society.
Arrocha or "Eak" is starting classes today at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Robbery in Brooklyn-I from the New Yorker, 1939
By Jack Alexander
May 13, 1939
The idea for the Brooklyn armored-truck robbery began, as great concepts frequently do, in a small way. One morning in June, 1934, a couple of West Side thugs named John Manning and Bernard McMahon took a subway ride to Coney Island. They had nothing more grandiose in mind than robbing one of the heavily patronized bathhouses. They just thought that they would look over the big ones, pick out the easiest to rob, and return someday and do it.
While they were walking along Surf Avenue discussing aspects of their little enterprise, something happened that caused them to change their plans. They were approaching a branch of the Brooklyn Trust Company, at Surf Avenue and West Twelfth Street, a block from the boardwalk, when an armored car of the United States Trucking Corporation trundled past them and stopped before the bank. Manning and McMahon halted too, and out of professional curiosity looked on while the crew began transferring bags of money from the bank to the truck. The number of bags carried from the place amazed the pair, who up to then had never thought, except wishfully, in terms of big money.
To read more, click here.
May 13, 1939
The idea for the Brooklyn armored-truck robbery began, as great concepts frequently do, in a small way. One morning in June, 1934, a couple of West Side thugs named John Manning and Bernard McMahon took a subway ride to Coney Island. They had nothing more grandiose in mind than robbing one of the heavily patronized bathhouses. They just thought that they would look over the big ones, pick out the easiest to rob, and return someday and do it.
While they were walking along Surf Avenue discussing aspects of their little enterprise, something happened that caused them to change their plans. They were approaching a branch of the Brooklyn Trust Company, at Surf Avenue and West Twelfth Street, a block from the boardwalk, when an armored car of the United States Trucking Corporation trundled past them and stopped before the bank. Manning and McMahon halted too, and out of professional curiosity looked on while the crew began transferring bags of money from the bank to the truck. The number of bags carried from the place amazed the pair, who up to then had never thought, except wishfully, in terms of big money.
To read more, click here.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Rock the Boardwalk
by Brian Childs
This article appeared today in Metro in a shorter form, but since the website hasn't been updated I thought I'd just place it up here for posterity.
CONEY ISLAND - On Friday night, Cha Cha’s was packed with 50 burlesque dancers dressed as Princess Leia, Marilyn Monroe and even sexy, creepy clowns. Saturday featured eight free hours of surf music and sideshow on the boardwalk and on Sunday- a roller derby. Countercultures collided this weekend at the Coney Island Rockabilly Festival, a four-day event by Cockabilly Records with over 80 acts.
“It’s a cool new subculture,” said the 56 Kid, a musician from Philadelphia who performed on Saturday, his birthday, without pay, “It’s the reclamation of the 1950’s culture, minus the racism.”
The 56 Kid is new to Rockabilly, having switched his style from Country three weeks ago after meeting a mysterious old man he believes to be Elvis.
“I was playing in this bar in Philly three weeks ago and I met this old man who changed my whole sound,” said the 56 Kid, “I had my suspicions, and on the third day I held up a photo and it was dead on. Elvis. I think he heard my sound and he honed in on that. It was a chance to get out some of his final stuff.”
Although Coney Island is New York’s home of sideshow and burlesque, most of the festival’s performers were from other cities, Boston, Philadelphia and even Austin, and were new to the Coney Island scene. The result was a fresh take on old acts, such as Philadelphia’s Baron Von Geiger, a Human Pin Cushion who swung a beer keg around with his earlobes and allowed people to staple money directly to his body and face.
The festival was conceived as a one-day show at Astroland by Cockabilly Records’ Ben Wilson, but turned into a four-day bonanza as more and more performers heard about the show through MySpace.
“This was grassroots, 100 percent MySpace,” said Nelson Lugo, a magician who performed Friday night at Cha Cha’s, “when Ben [Wilson] called me I thought I’d be performing to an empty room, but he did it. He pulled it off.”
Most of the fans heard about the festival from MySpace as well and weren’t Coney Island regulars.
“I wanted to come to Coney Island for the last summer and I love Rockabilly music so this was perfect for me,” said Jaime Gillette, who came from Connecticut for the Friday show, “I love burlesque too so this was literally the perfect weekend for me.”
As for Wilson, he already has his eyes on next year.
“We’re going to add a tattoo convention, a hot rod show, and a formal roller derby events, maybe at Keyspan Park…we’ll have a whole year to get sponsors!” said Wilson, “You look at Crimson Boudoir, who’s burlesque, and Betty Bruiser, who’s roller derby. Look at Jelly Bean the sideshow performer. It’s all on the same page, it’s a beautiful crossroads of cultures.”
This article appeared today in Metro in a shorter form, but since the website hasn't been updated I thought I'd just place it up here for posterity.
CONEY ISLAND - On Friday night, Cha Cha’s was packed with 50 burlesque dancers dressed as Princess Leia, Marilyn Monroe and even sexy, creepy clowns. Saturday featured eight free hours of surf music and sideshow on the boardwalk and on Sunday- a roller derby. Countercultures collided this weekend at the Coney Island Rockabilly Festival, a four-day event by Cockabilly Records with over 80 acts.
“It’s a cool new subculture,” said the 56 Kid, a musician from Philadelphia who performed on Saturday, his birthday, without pay, “It’s the reclamation of the 1950’s culture, minus the racism.”
The 56 Kid is new to Rockabilly, having switched his style from Country three weeks ago after meeting a mysterious old man he believes to be Elvis.
“I was playing in this bar in Philly three weeks ago and I met this old man who changed my whole sound,” said the 56 Kid, “I had my suspicions, and on the third day I held up a photo and it was dead on. Elvis. I think he heard my sound and he honed in on that. It was a chance to get out some of his final stuff.”
Although Coney Island is New York’s home of sideshow and burlesque, most of the festival’s performers were from other cities, Boston, Philadelphia and even Austin, and were new to the Coney Island scene. The result was a fresh take on old acts, such as Philadelphia’s Baron Von Geiger, a Human Pin Cushion who swung a beer keg around with his earlobes and allowed people to staple money directly to his body and face.
The festival was conceived as a one-day show at Astroland by Cockabilly Records’ Ben Wilson, but turned into a four-day bonanza as more and more performers heard about the show through MySpace.
“This was grassroots, 100 percent MySpace,” said Nelson Lugo, a magician who performed Friday night at Cha Cha’s, “when Ben [Wilson] called me I thought I’d be performing to an empty room, but he did it. He pulled it off.”
Most of the fans heard about the festival from MySpace as well and weren’t Coney Island regulars.
“I wanted to come to Coney Island for the last summer and I love Rockabilly music so this was perfect for me,” said Jaime Gillette, who came from Connecticut for the Friday show, “I love burlesque too so this was literally the perfect weekend for me.”
As for Wilson, he already has his eyes on next year.
“We’re going to add a tattoo convention, a hot rod show, and a formal roller derby events, maybe at Keyspan Park…we’ll have a whole year to get sponsors!” said Wilson, “You look at Crimson Boudoir, who’s burlesque, and Betty Bruiser, who’s roller derby. Look at Jelly Bean the sideshow performer. It’s all on the same page, it’s a beautiful crossroads of cultures.”
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