While planning the drives from major point to major point on our vacation, we knew there would have to be some corny yet amusing roadside attractions, a la South of the Border. I thought we were going to come across a lot more without having to re-direct our route, but sadly that wasn’t the case. Luckily we had the sense to drive out of our way to see the Cabazon Dinosaurs, which may look familiar to you as they were in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure:
What’s interesting about these dinosaurs now is that the people who most recently bought them are creationists, and they have books and stickers and free DVDs about creationism in the gift shop (which is inside Dinny, the brontosaurus). Inside of the T-rex was “information” on why dinosaurs didn’t exist… and you could also climb up into its mouth. We took one of the free DVDs to watch for later though we haven’t yet gotten around to actually watching it yet. My favorite part has to be their slogan, “By design, not by chance.” You can read much more about the dinosaurs here!
And then we made our way to Joshua Tree! I didn’t know much about it or what there was to do (though the Entourage episode where they go there was pretty great), but we ended up having a lot of fun and I camped for the first time! Though unfortunately it was so windy that our tent kept blowing so far over it was almost touching us! But other than that it was a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend a trip there. We climbed a mountain and saw the moon rise (it was almost full and it was SO bright out at night!) and went to a cacti field and almost got lost in the desert mountains and walked some trails and saw lizards! I wish we could have had more time there!
Follow the link for more photos of the dinosaurs and from Joshua Tree!
I’m starting to become really excited for this summer, even though this random hot then cold New York weather has made me forget that June is only one week away! I’ve got big plans for summer activities, big plans! The following is only a short list of events I’m looking forward to doing this summer that should make for some good times.
Crowd at Warped Tour, 2004
✦ Free summer concerts
New York can’t be beat in the summer, especially with all of the free events that happen all over every borough. There’s so many good free outdoor concerts I look forward to every year, such as Siren Festival, the Williamsburg Waterfront “Pool Parties,” shows at Pier 54 and South Street Seaport, Celebrate Brooklyn, shows at The Yard in Gowanus (usually not free, but I love that lil’ outdoor venue), etc! And I just read that the Virgin Mobile Festival is going to be free again this year, which means driving down to Maryland! I went last year and saw some big names like Weezer, Blink 182 (throwback!), Franz Ferdinand and Girl Talk, so I’m excited to see who plays this year.
Last week, Peelander-Z played in Brooklyn again at the always fun Brooklyn Bowl (for those not from NY, it’s a bowling alley that doubles as a concert venue. You can bowl and watch the bands at the same time!). I hope by now you’re all familiar with this band, as I wrote about them the first time I ever saw them (which was ridiculous fun!), and when I saw them at SXSW last year. I brought my friend Krystalynne with me and it was the first time she’d seen them, or even heard of them, but I knew after the show she’d become a fan. I strongly urge everyone to see this band if they tour near you, because you don’t need to know any of their music to have a good time. Plus, they’re from Japan, so how can they not be fun? I also ended up playing bass onstage with them, again!
If you’ve been a casual reader of this blog, you’ve probably noticed that I enjoy going to shows to see my favorite bands live. In fact, my new years resolution for 2006 was to attend 100 shows, which I barely made by going to 101! So you can imagine that seeing such a high amount of shows can get somewhat monotonous; always surrounded by a crowd, looking up at the handful of people onstage, with nobody really paying attention to you. So I always enjoy something different, like when the band interacts with the crowd, or when people from the crowd get to interact with the band! I experienced the latter last night, mixed with one of my favorite things – karaoke!
Hopefully you are all familiar with the band Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I actually booked them to play at my university in Boston in 2008, and I can confidently say that Ted Leo is a super nice, intelligent, and funny guy, and same with his band as well. Coinciding with the release of their latest album, The Brutalist Bricks, the Rx played a majority of the songs from the new record at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn last week, and after about an hour or so of new music they opened it up to karaoke!
It’s hard to write about the good times you have when there are so many good times going on at the same time! I went to Boston two weekends ago to participate in the Second Annual Boston Scavenger Hunt put on by the elusive Banditos Misteriosos. I was living in Boston this time last year and attended the first one and had so much fun that I had to go back! I ended up staying in Boston an extra day, and then came back to NYC to work on the always amazing Siren Festival, and didn’t have much time to blog between 8-14 hour days consisting of alcohol runs, buying all the plastic cups Kmart had to offer, counting out beer tickets, winning $10 in a foosball bet, and sorting out band gift bags! It’s hard work you guys!
This past weekend was the 4th of July, which in the US brings thoughts of fireworks, parks, BBQs, beaches, and to us this Saturday morning, a HOT DOG EATING CONTEST!!! Yes, the world famous Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition takes place at Coney Island in front of Nathan’s flagship store each yeah on the 4th of July. It’s been a tradition since 1916 to have the contest at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, making this year the 94th annual hot dog eating contest.
A permanent tribute to the hot dog eating contest in Coney Island with a countdown to the next competition as well as the number of hot dogs eaten for the male and female world records
It’s the last day of SXSW! Obviously I have much to update on but definitely no time for that right now. So I will give you a preview of two videos that I did not take of Monotonix from Tel Aviv, Israel, who I saw Thursday night (or should I say Friday morning) starting at 2:45am. The show was at Ballet Austin and inside it was the sweatiest thing you can imagine, you can even see the windows all fogged up. The show eventually got shut down by the cops, but it was still a great time while it lasted. These videos can explain way more than I can in words, but still doesn’t capture the essence of being there::
This is my space to write about my antics & adventures in New York, along with updates about my other interests such as photography, travel, karaoke, dodgeball, & more!
