Coney Island, Siren Festival, Sunset

I was going to blog about the Siren Festival, but instead I'll just blog about the afternoon and evening.

We went to the Siren Festival last weekend. It was a not-too-hot day on Coney Island. But there was a crowd. This is the crowd before M.I.A. took the stage:


Here's the best shot I snagged from my brave little camera:
We met up with friends Aransas and her husband Andy. Since we couldn't really get close to M.I.A., we decided to head to the boardwalk. We snagged some beer and ambled down the beach. After a while, the following scene unfolded before us:



We wandered on. We passed the aquarium and then headed back. As we neared the festival, Melanie saw something and she reacted. Along the back side of the aquarium was a corridor fabricated out of the French barricades. The path was created for the festival V.I.P.s. This is what we saw:



I love the picture because of the hugeness and color of the wall. Upon closer inspection, we see that it is David Johansen, lead singer of the New York Dolls, walking to the backstage area.


We followed along a while, watching as the frontman from the legendary band neared the security checkpoint.


After the band disappeared toward the backstage tents, we mingled on the boardwalk, chatting and taking in the sights. Suddenly Melanie pointed out something she had seen earlier:


Two guys were walking around with a huge wooden phallus. Perfect for BillyBlog, I thought. I approached the two Guardians of the Object, and requested to take their picture.

They complied, and then requested that I pose with the phallus. I did, and they snapped a photo (so much for a career in politics), but they politely declined to take a picture of me, avec l'objet, saying they were not allowed to do so. They explained to another curiosity-seeker that their friend had carved the giant appendage and entrusted them with a mission to wander the city and record their adventures. I wandered back to my companions and we continued chatting, pausing occasionally as people reacted to the trio of interest.

We heard the band start up. We couldn't get close. The sun was setting.



I then chose to record a "New York Minute:"


You may have noticed in the video that we were right next to the world-famous Cyclone:


We then decided to go grab some dinner. As we left, I snapped some pictures. I love this one:

I was shooting the couple on the ground,

but the whole picture, the sun setting on the Cyclone, the trash on the pavement, the colored skirt of the woman in the foreground, all make me interested in the moment caught in time.

Our walk to supposedly the best pizza in Brooklyn at Totonno's was punctuated by a breath-taking display in the sky.


and here:

Alas, Totonno's closes at the despicable hour of 8:30, and when we arrived at 8:34, we were turned away.

The dusk blurred into nightfall:

Before we settled into a dining establishment, we were intrigued by this sign:

We ended up at Coney Island Surf & Turf Grill where we had some of these:


Tasty and perfect for the location. Check out their website here.

Brooklyn Vegan has tons of pictures of M.I.A.

Oh, and I thought I was a dork because I brought my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to read on the train to Coney Island, but Brooklyn Vegan spotted some folk even dorkier than me. Well worth the step to the link here.

More photos from Gothamist here.