tale of two weekend music fests

coney island music fest

the past weekend saw 2 music festivals. in both occasions, the side sights and sounds stealing the show somehow.

saturday saw me biking all the way down to good old coney island to catch the village voice sponsored siren music festival. a minor misturn on the way to the beach left me taking a longer bumpier avenue which eventually ended up in the same destination thankfully. by the time i had gotten to the boardwalk, it had started to drizzle. which though bad news to those who started leaving, was a very much welcomed break for me. the concert area was a bit too packed for my liking so i had myself walking around the famed beach, and boardwalk instead, soaking in the lively brooklyn atmosphere.

by the music area, different stalls were set up. the tower records tent got me tempted into purchasing the new solo album of thom yorke, radiohead lead singer. not much of a radiohead fan but with that cover art and good album reviews (and the more than 50% off discount), i was quick on the draw with my wallet. and so far so good, the album has not disappointed.

yummy shortcake

$10.86 poorer, i walked around the fair grounds snapping away with my lomo toy camera which takes 8 different exposures in one single frame. great shots of the cyclone and people in varying degrees of queesy on the other stomach-spinning rides. in the middle of photo ops, i was able to stop at the different food stalls. yumyum chorizo soft tacos next to the freak show booth. and the greatest find in the boardwalk—a nice cool small bowl of strawberry shortcake. and the business owners were quite friendly as well, quick to recognize the handy dandy lomo camera i was using to capture the shortcake sweetness. quick click on their website eventually led me to discovering that they're actually part of wooster collective, a group dedicated to showcasing the wonders of street art.

after i had my fill of coney island treats, sights and sounds, walked back to my parked bike only to realize that my rear tire was flat (again). uhoh. no worries though coz instead i took the subway back home and an easy walk over the billyburg bridge. towards the sunset, yes. or maybe it was against it. i forget.

live indie music at mccarren pool

sunday afternoon was spent in mccarren pool, an old operational swimming pool which has been drained out and restored from its worn down dilapidated state. and which served as the afternoon venue for a neighborhood pool party which featured different bands from all over the area, as far as DC and philly. nice music and atmosphere. hordes of billyburg 20-something hipsters abound.

some serious side dodgeball matches

big scene stealer for me though were the dodgeball games by the side. as scorching as the sun were the heated yet tons of fun matches. team motherf*ckers probably went 14+ games straight undefeated. one of them (the dude in the center of the pic) was probably in his 40s or 50s already and was quite the dodgeball animal. he threw those balls as though they were rockets out to take your mom's head off. ok i exaggerate. funny scene though (well not really that funny) was when he got so dehydrated he was drooling all over asking for water from one of the hipster bystanders, whose only refreshment on hand was a glass of beer. nice.

nice great fun. although once again, it was not without any casualties. after snapping away on my lomo and finishing up all the shots, realized that the camera had actually wrecked the film. ergo, all those shots in coney island and those i took in mccarren were all in vain. oh well. nevertheless, it was another afternoon well spent outdoors. which leaves me wondering how some people could spend their whole weekends indoors locked up infront of the telly or computer. but who am i to say, not my loss anyway. besides it was probably a million degrees out there.