The Romantics at Coney Island

If you’ve been reading my blogs, then you’re no doubt familiar with the music of The Handcuffs, a fantastic, rocking band from the windy city of Chicago. (Get their latest CD here, if you haven’t already.) The founding members of The Handcuffs are Chloe F. Orwell and Brad Elvis, both of whom, I’m happy to say, are very good friends of mine. In fact, I think they’re the only people to appear on every single blog I’ve done. Check them out on: The Marty Wombacher Show, A Guy Walks Into 365 Bars and Marty After Dark. They haven’t appeared on this one yet, but we’ll fix that right now, ladies and gentlemen...

The Handcuffs! From left to right: Ellis Clark, Brad Elvis, Chloe F. Orwell and Emily Togni.

Not content to let his drum stool cool down, Brad also drums with the Detroit band, The Romantics. Brad called a week ago to let me know that they had a gig playing out at Coney Island and said if I wanted to go, he’d put me on the band’s backstage list. And so, it’s off to Coney Island we go!

Here we are on the Q train, Coney Island bound!

And once again through the magic of the internet, you're spared a grueling 52 minute train ride and here we are. It rained all day, but it finally stopped and the sky is just a little overcast.

Candygram.

Welcome to Coney Island.

Wow, everything's closed on the boardwalk, I guess because of the rainy day.

Eureka! Ruby's is open, I should've known they wouldn't pussy out because of a little rain, let's go check it out.

There's plenty of room at the bar, let's grab snag a stool and have a pre-Romantics beer or three.

And here's Stephanie, the pretty and friendly bartender serving up the first beer of the evening.

The signage is making me hungry in here.

So I oredered a dog and this gentleman happily served it up.

An ice-cold beer and a hot dog slathered in mustard, a perfect two-course Coney Island dinner!

Stephanie's back!

I love this classic Ruby's poster on the wall.

Luckily, Brad just called and said they had finished their sound check and I could stop by and hang out before the show. I was starting to forget why I came out in the first place for some reason.

A security guard told me I needed to come back here for my backstage pass, but I'm a little lost...

And who shows up to save the day, but Brad Elvis! He saw me wandering around and led me to Jillian who gave me a pass and a wristband for the show.

Here's Brad with Martin and his girlfriend Vinny, backstage in the Romantics trailer. Martin and Vinny are longtime Romantics fans and they live in Brooklyn. Martin's a standup comic and you can check out his website here: Martin Chaddock.

It's Mike Skill's birthday and they had this cake made for the occasion. Very cool!

And here's the band posing backstage for photos. From the left, Brad Elvis, birthday boy Mike Skills, Rich Cole and Wally Palmar.

One last shot and it's showtime!

Since I had a backstage pass, I was able to take photos from the stage, so you can see the show from the band's point of view.

And they're off! The Romantics take the stage, bathed in magenta light.

And there's Brad pounding the skins of the drums. Brad's one of the best drummers in the world and it's always a blast to watch him in action.

Hi Brad!

The sun has gone down as the Romantics rock on!

Mike's getting a workout running across the stage.

It was a great show and the Coney Island crowd loved the Romantics.

Mucho thanks to Brad and the band for letting me take photos on the stage and hanging out before and afterwards, it was a great time!

But all good times have to come to an end, and here I am in front of Nathan's. I thought I'd get a hot dog for the ride back, but it's too crowded.

So it's back into the subway after a great Coney Island night.

And one last obligatory subway window mirror shot, as the train chugs back to Manhattan.

Further Reading: Herald Review, allmusic.com and Chicagoist.

I hear the secrets that you keep,
When you’re talking in your sleep.

Sex and violins.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

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Bonus Photos From the St. Mark’s Bookshop Cash Mob!

Last Saturday was the cash mob at St. Mark’s Bookshop that Jeremiah Moss organized and it was a great success! Lots of people showed up and you can read the details here. Below are some faces in the crowd, no captions, I just thought I’d let the pictures tell the story here. Thanks to everyone for showing up and to Jeremiah Moss for getting the ball rolling on this. Long live St. Mark’s Bookshop!

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P.S. To Ragin' RR!

If you're out there, send me an email, I can't find your address.

Cash Mob At St. Mark's Bookshop

As I posted on Saturday’s Blooper Reel, there’s a cash mob happening over at St. Mark’s Bookshop today at one in the afternoon and then people are going for drinks at The International Bar. It’s a little early for me, but it’s for a good cause and I’m hoping a good crowd shows up, only one way to find out and that’s to get over there!

It's a nice springy day, so I thought we'd walk over there.

And here we are, as usual I'm early and I don't see anyone else here.

So we might as well do a little window shopping while we wait.

I just read an excerpt of that Carole King book in New York magazine, I enjoyed that, so I think that will be one of my purchases.

And here's my friend and star of the first Bar Exam here at TWM, Paul Scanlon.

And here's Goggla and Ed, okay, it's not an official mob yet, but close enough.

And it's through the doors we go.

Ed and Goggla immediately started checking out the selections in St. Mark's.

Here's some cool coffee table books on display, many of these titles you won't find on Amazon or at a Barnes & Noble store.

Kind of an ironic title, considering the reason we're here!

There's always a sales table in the back loaded with books, most of them are priced at under ten bucks, some great deals to be had here!

There's also a great selection of magazines and again, there's titles here you won't find at most other book stores.

Here's some cool postcards on display.

Here's Louis and Dena who were here for the cash mob, Dena is a reader of Jeremiah Moss and read about it at his blog.

I met Steven, who it turns out is a longtime friend of Paul Scanlon's. Nice to see a decent crowd showing up to support St. Mark's!

This is Ben Rossen, who stopped by for the cash mob. Ben is the co-founder of smallknot, a company that helps to get funding for businesses. Maybe they can help out St. Mark's!

And I ran into One More Folded Sunset, who always cringes when my camera comes out. Luckily she had two books to shield her from the TWM lens!

There's a familiar face over there...

My friend and frequent TWM guest star, Shawn Chittle! All of a sudden I'm hungry for a bagel!

Okay, time to get in line and pay for my books.

And here's Benjamin, behind the counter writing up the sales.

And if you're on Twitter, you can follow them here.

After buying books, some of us came over to the International Bar for a few Sunday afternoon drinks.

And here's a stack of books with a can of Schafer's acting as the cherry on top! It was great to see everyone who showed up, and if you couldn't make it or don't live in New York, you can always purchase something online.

I was hoping Uncle Waltie would show up, but I didn't see him. He may have had a rough Saturday night, so maybe he'll make it next time. Till then, "Sip Ahoy" to Uncle Waltie and all of you out there! See you tomorrow!

St. Mark's Bookshop
31 Third Ave. (Near 9th St.)
212-260-7853

International Bar
120 1/2 First Avenue (Near 7th St.)
212-777-1643

Further Reading: EV Grieve, Publishers Weekly and New York Magazine.

Dear sir or madam, would you read my book,
It took me years to write, will you take a look.

Surprise link, click on it, I dare you!

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Bonus CBBM Mutation Sent in By Jason Andersen!

TWM friend and guest star, Jason Andersen sent in this frightening Cardboard Box Man Mutation. It's a sextupet of CBBM's! Aaaaahhh!