Friday, May 11th:
- Coney Island
On Friday, I trekked down to Coney Island, roughly an hour train ride from Grand Central. I spent the afternoon walking the beach and the boardwalk. Random notes:
- There is a fair bit of post-Sandy recovery work going on; there were at least two fair-sized crews working on different parts of the beach.
- The public notices are in English, Spanish and Russian (cyrillic), given the large Russian immigrant population in Brighton Beach.
- I, of course, ate at Nathan's; they do make a good hot dog.
- Luna Park was not open, so I could not ride the Cyclone.
Saturday, May 11th:
1.- Gotterdammerung (the final instalment in The Ring Cycle)
Random observations:
- Props! Up until today, there had only been two props used on stage, both in Die Walkyrie (sp?); one of those, a throne for the goddess Fricka, was out of necessity, as the singer had limited mobility (she was using a cane when she came out for her bows after the performance). The other prop was a sort of gigantic eye, where images were swirling as Erda was telling Wotan about what the future had in store for the gods. Today's performance had a more classic staging, in that many props were used (e.g., chairs, table, a mechanical horse, a raft) rather than just relying on the amazing back drop. I think this more concrete approach to the production served to show that the Age of men is beginning, following the Age of the gods, sprites, giants and other mythical creatures.
- There were choruses in this opera, for the first time in the Cycle. I suspect that this is again to show that the Age of men has begun, with multitudes replacing the few gods.
- They brought out the technical crew, which numbered at least 150, to take a bow after the opera; the crowd gave them a well-deserved, enthusiastic welcome. In a way, the mechanical set was the star of The Cycle.
- I am amazed that people do not seem to dress up anymore for these kind of events. I would say that at least 40 per cent of the crowd was dressed casually, some very.
- Opera geek moment: during the second intermission, I attended the opera quiz, always the most fun part of the Met's live opera broadcasts.
2.- Nasau County Memorial Coliseum
Once Gotterdammerung was over around 5 PM, I hurried over to Penn Station to hop on a train to Uniondale on Long Island to, of course, complete an opera/hockey double-header by attending Game Six if the Penguins-Islanders Conference Quarter-Final series.
Nasau County Memorial Coliseum is now the second oldest building in the NHL; it shows. Walking in through the main gate, you feel like you're walking into a junior arena; it is cramped. The concourses are ridiculously narrow; fans were elbow-to-elbow, and that was 5 or 10 minutes before the opening face-off, with most of the fans in their seats. I left my seat with about a minute left in the second period, hoping to avoid line-ups, but I still managed to spend the entire intermission in line either for the washroom or for the concessions. I can see why they are intending to move into a modern facility.
The building is the loudest arena I have ever been in. The long-suffering Islander fans began chanting 'Let's go Islanders' about 10 minutes prior to the face-off and kept at it for a good 5 minutes into the first period. The place was electric. And loud, did I mention loud? The crowd broke into chants of 'MVP, MVP' every time John Tavares did anything worthwhile, or even when his picture was shown on the scoreboard; the cheering and chanting were deafening when he scored the Isles' first goal a few minutes into the first period. They also chanted 'Princess Crosby' when Sydney Crosby was on the ice; that is so much more imaginative than simply booing him. (Note to Sens fans: you really need to pick that one up.) The fans in the concourse were even loud: I missed an Isles goal at the beginning of the third period, but the fans in the concourse erupted in cheers when Grabner scored; it was louder than some Sens games I have attended.
My seat was in the very last row of the arena, behind one of the nets; I could touch the ceiling that overhangs around the arena. Also, I was eye level with the Isles' four Stanley Cup banners (from 30 years ago... Yup, that's a dig, Mark.). No matter, the view was great.
Unfortunately, the Isles lost 4-3 in overtime thus losing the series 4-2 to the Pens. I am not sure the building would have survived the eruption from the crowd had they scored an OT winner.
Random observations:
- I had a pretty good personal sized pizza from one of the concessions; it just shows that you can sell decent food at a sports venue. Canadian sports franchises should maybe read the memo.
- The train ride to Hempstead Station was about an hour, followed by a 5 or 10 minute cab ride to the Coliseum. It takes me roughly as long to travel to a Sens game in Kanata from downtown Ottawa by public transit. Obviously, the train was much more comfortable. Also, they run all night, which enables Long Islanders to hit the city on a Saturday night. Damned civilised, if you ask me.
- When the third period ended I started doing the math as to what time I needed to leave the rink and grab the train back to the city, given I had a 6:45 train to catch in the morning. I had visions of someone re-enacting Pat Lafontaine's 2 AM goal...
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
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