PRB / Vegas

First up, apologies for the lack of posts recently.  As anyone who has attended Punk Rock Bowling before knows, any down-time is best utilised by sleeping !

PRB was again great.  Got to tick of seeing Madness as a bucket list item.  They were excellent.  As were the other headliners, Descendents and Devo.  I also got to see ALL again - almost 30 years after seeing them for the first time.  But, my highlight, was seeing The Queers again.  In typical Ramones-style the set was just song after song with no banter in between.  This was in complete contrast to Billy Bragg, who was my lowlight of the show.  Festival goers do not want minutes of political opinion in between songs.  Don't get me wrong, I agree with a lot of his sentiments, I just don't think a festival is the best place to air them.

We didn't have the Aussie contingent as we did in 2019, but caught up with the American crew and made a few more friends as well.  Hopefully see them all again next year.

Off to Minneapolis now.  No idea what it's like.  I'm off to the Chicago Blues Festival next week and had a week to fill so chose somewhere I hadn't been yet (that is also sort of on the way).  

The temps here in Vegas for the next 10 days or so range from 37°-43°; Minneapolis should be 21°-31° - much more palatable.

ALL

Descendents

The Queers

Cosmic Psychos

Subhumans

The Chats

Devo

The English Beat

Stiff Little Fingers

Madness

Last day in NYC

Last afternoon/night here in NYC.  Back at the Double Down Saloon.  I've grown to like this place (4th night out of the last 5).  Will have to try the original one in Vegas and compare.

I really like NYC.  Seen a fair chunk of it now but will need to come back to tick a few more things of the list - Coney Island being one.

It's a lot more expensive than the other times I've been.  Guess I was lucky those times because the dollar was close to parity - it's about AUD$0.64.  But I converted all my cash early so I not really worrying about the costs when I buy.  Still don't understand why they can't just add the tax into the shown prices but hey ....

Next blogs from Vegas and PRB - yay !!!

NYC 3

 Much better day weather wise.  Decided to get out there and do some of the few obligatory NYC snaps.  Started by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Spent some time walking around Brooklyn Bridge Park. Got a few skyline shots and a few of the local fauna

Then ventured back into Manhattan.

Was pretty stuffed so called it a day for sightseeing.  Headed out later to check out a few more dive bars.  My fave, Manitoba's, closed a few years ago ☹️.  Niagara is still there though.  Some of you may recognise the following photo - it is on Niagara's wall.

Didn't stay out too late.  Tomorrow night I have the Joey Ramone Birthday Bash, which is the main reason I'm here in NYC.  Gonna rest up for it.

NYC 2

 As stated previously the weather has been quite dreary here.  Only got out for a short stroll late in the day today.  Sunset is after 8pm atm.

Here's the United Nations

The Pepsi Sign

All these shots are from the Gantry State Park in Long Island City.

I think the rain is supposed to ease overnight.  Don't know what else to see - I have been here before.  Was originally thinking of a trip to Coney Island, something I haven't done yet, but the weather seems to not want to cooperate.  We'll see.