Vinny From Brooklyn

Last night I had one of the best times watching fireworks. At the last minute I went down to the Brooklyn Promenade to watch the Macy’s fireworks for the Fourth of July. After hanging around on the Promenade I decided to try to get closer so I wandered down into Brooklyn Bridge park. It ended up being an amazing place to watch the firework show.

The place was amazing, the energy, the anticipation had you all excited for what was about to happen. Once the show started I knew I made the right choice. I should have been there sooner and had a blanket and a cooler with food and drinks.

You can see some more pictures of Fireworks over Brooklyn here.

I met a few people that were in from out of town and found the park. There was a couple from Atlanta and Toronto, and a family from St Louis, I was sure to give them some places to see and do while they were in Brooklyn.

If you are coming into town to take pictures of the man made waterfalls that are going to be in the Harbor until October you have to view them from both Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Promenade. I personally think it is the stupidest things that I ever saw but people like them.

A few weeks ago I took a walk through the Brooklyn Botanical garden and I was amazed at the beauty and the size of the place. Actually I am shocked I never been there before. Maybe its like the Statue of Liberty most New Yorkers know its there but they never go to the statue because they never find the time.

On the way I took the “C” train and then the Franklin avenue shuttle and discovered some of the treasures that you rarely take a look at but you see all the time in the subway. When you go upstairs at Franklin avenue to take the shuttle they have the most amazing stained glass. If you are a fan of stained glass you can easily spend an hour there taking pictures of it.

Took the shuttle to the Botanical Gardens stop and had no idea where to go after leaving the train station. They should have a helpful map or a sign for people to follow. I walked down Eastern Parkway and passed by the Brooklyn Musuem and found the place.

Although it was a gloomy day and the flowers were well past blooming due to winter it was still a good day to take in the  sites. As you enter the gardens from the Eastern Parkway entrance you are in a huge garden and the place to walk is along the fence to the left as there is a replica of the Statue of Liberty in the nearby Museum backyard.

Then I passed a huge bank of cherry trees and an overlook that makes you forget you were in Brooklyn. Then it was on to the Japanesse garden which was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and it was in Brooklyn. I took over 400 pictures during this little trip. I met a few nice women who came from Baltimore just to see the garden. I had no idea it was such a popular place. Sometimes it surprises me what we take for granted as nyer’s.

I sat in the Japanese garden and took pictures of a few ducks that called the pond their home, it was very relaxing! As I walked around I seen the many varieties of herbs that grow in the garden and that amazed me.

Then it was off to the conservatory that had many tropical plants in the rainforest. Yep thats right there is a rain forest in Brooklyn. There is actually three conservatories in all and they have a desert and even a bonzi room. I took a break and had some lunch and that was amazing. It was a tomato, mozzarella and basil on a hero. It was worth it that I may go back just to have lunch lol.    

I consider this place as a MUST DO if you are coming to Brooklyn or you live here.

A loyal reader on the Vinny From Brooklyn website made a nice collage using some pictures that I took in Brooklyn. Kind of cool if you ask me.

A tornado hit Brooklyn yesterday! As much as I heard it all on the news for the last two days it is still hard to believe. I was not near where the twister set down. I was about 5 miles away and I had no clue that a tornado was that close to me. I was by the Atlantic Avenue Mall around 6am and was caught in a rain storm that made my umbrella totally useless.
The tornado was also said to have touched down in Staten Island as well. The reports from Brooklyn are still not complete but it is said that it touched down around 68th street and 4th avenue and kept on going until it ended up over in Sunset Park. The twister tore the roof off of a couple of houses. It even ripped apart a Baptist church. It just goes to show you these things don’t care what they destroy. There were no lives lost which is hard to believe considering the amount of people that were effected by this freak storm. The New York Subway service was almost shutdown system wide as the 3 inches of rain that fell in about an hour. All this rain ended up in the subway.

There was no escaping the wrath of this storm as people all over New York City lost power due to the high winds. The winds were all types of speeds all over the area. Even parts of Long Island had lost power due to trees falling over power lines

The best part about living in New York City is you never know what you are going to do from day to day. Sure you can plan stuff to do but it never seems to go as planned.A few months ago I was listening to a Joan Jett album and I even looked up to see when she was playing New York so I could go see her. She had played here the week before so I knew it would be a while until she came back from her tour. I kind of forgot about it until yesterday.

I was on the train reading the newspaper when I saw Joan Jett was playing a free concert on the pier at Hudson River park. Needless to say I went to the show. They have free concerts all summer see www.hudsonriverpark.org for more details. Joan was way better than I expected and she sounded great as did the Blackheart’s. I can’t wait until Joan plays a club date here again so I can go see her again. One of the best parts of the night was the opening bands. I am now hooked on a band called “The Dollyrots” www.thedollyrots.com

The band is a three piece unit with the lead singer Kelly handling the bass as if she was Gene Simmons at a Kiss concert. What was impressive was the vocals she provided besides the great bass playing. At first I thought this was at least a four person band because the sound was surrounding and very full.The rest of the band is Luis on guitar and Chris on drums. They sounded great and they played like they have been together for a long long time.

There was a slight rain and that was great as it cooled off the crowd. I think that they had to cut their set a little short as the rain was about to come down and Joan still had to take the stage. I have made a plan to see them when they come back to town.I had never heard of The Dollyrots before this and was surprised they had a hit rising in the charts called “Because I’m Awesome” which they played and it was sounding great with the same flow as the song has on the album.

I enjoyed the cover version of Melanie’s hit from the 1970’s “Brand New Key” which I haven’t been able to get out of my head all day now. As they were finishing their set I wandered over to the place they were selling their Cd’s at and bought the first two Dollyrots Cd’s. I couldn’t wait to get home to listen to them. Needless to say I am now a Dollyrots fan. This was my first time to Hudson River Park or I should say out on this pier. It seems like a great location as the backdrop of New Jersey and the sun going down made for a great evening.

For more pictures see my picassa album Joan Jett at Hudson River Park

Here is a video for the song “I Love Rock n Roll”