jones beach fireworks

The Daily Spotlight For 7/5/2015

Tom Lynch The Daily Spotlight , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 Hello everyone, I hope you had a happy and safe 4th of July. I don’t think it would have worked out any better with the 4th falling on a Saturday as it gives all of us a chance to recover with a lazy Sunday before getting back on the weeklong grind tomorrow. I ended up getting to Jones Beach for their annual fireworks celebration, their first in six years. I really enjoyed the fireworks and there isn’t anything that compares to being on the beach with your girlfriend watching fireworks on the boardwalk.  Unfortunately, however, the fireworks celebration was run terribly.  You would really think that over the six years in which Jones Beach didn’t do the fireworks, they would find a better way to handle the traffic. The fireworks show ended around 10PM & we didn’t get out of the lot  until it was close to midnight.  I understand there was some 100,000 people who attended the fireworks spectacular but 2 hours to get out of the lot is inexcusable. To make matters worse, there was nobody in the lot to offer any sort of assistance. This led to people getting into accidents, fights breaking out and of course people shooting fireworks everywhere you turned. Fireworks were another major problem as there were people setting off fireworks in the middle of the boardwalk and causing a major disturbance for everyone. Sure, setting off fireworks can be fun but they’re incredibly dangerous and there’s no place for that at a family event. It was a real shame for me who grew up on the tradition of the Jones Beach Fireworks and couldn’t wait to give my girlfriend and her kid brother to the experience. If the Jones Beach fireworks are back for good, I hope to see an uptick in security next year and they really need to hire some extra help to control the parking lot crowds. Even if they put people there to guide the cars in order, then you wouldn’t have hundreds of cars trying to get to the exit at the same time.

 – Really interested in seeing the MLB All Star Game Selection Show Tonight if for no other reason than to see how many Kansas City Royals get to start the game for the American League. I am actually pulling for the team to consist only of Royals and Mike Trout like it looked like it was going to be just a few weeks ago. People will complain and some may even whine about how this makes the all star game a joke due to home field advantage in the World Series being on the line here but I have no problem with it. I feel that if you’re ever going to take the voting power away from the fans, they should just put all of the statistically best players as the starters but that’s not as much fun. It isn’t as if the city of Kansas City is the biggest city in the US, every other fan base had an equal chance to send their players so if the Royals fans voted all of their players into the game, then they should be rewarded.

– Last Wednesday night i went back to the Adventureland Amusement Park in Farmingdale, NY for the first time in about a decade. I had grown up going to Adventureland and so it was cool to return there for an impromptu visit. My girlfriend and I brought along three kids including our two year old god daughter and there was plenty for everyone to do. What I like about Adventureland is that despite being a little smaller they’re always trying to find ways to differentiate themselves. The new Turbulance Roller Coaster is like nothing I’ve ever rode before as its a coaster that features spinning cars. Thus, you’re spinning the entire time you’re riding the coaster which is a real blast. Likewise, the Crocodile Run water ride is really unique (and my favorite attraction) as you control your own ride as you stand on a rotating platform while trying to avoid different waterfalls (or going under them intentionally if you’re inclined to get drenched) by controlling your individual pod. Though I really enjoyed the new rides, I was glad to see some of the classic rides like the water flume, the classic Ferris wheel, the ladybug roller coaster and the pirate ship were all still there. Speaking of the pirate ship, I couldn’t believe that after all these years the mermaid on the pirate ship has finally been covered up!

That’s going to do it for me today, I’m on my way currently to New York City to try out the new Hunger Games exhibit in Times Square! Keep your eyes pealed for that but until then feel free to visit Adventureland.us for more information on the theme park!

Editor’s Note: I never did post this yesterday so sorry for the delay.

The Daily Spotlight for 7/4/2015- The Fourth Of July Edition

Tom Lynch The Daily Spotlight , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy 4th of July everyone.  I hope that all of you guys celebrating have a great time but do so responsibly.  If you’re going to have a few beverages find a place to stay if you don’t have a designated driver.  Even if you do have a designated driver, it may be a good idea to find a place to stay as there will be people on the road who aren’t as responsible.  Furthermore, if you’re thinking of driving after having any drinks whatsoever, cops will be out in full force.  It’s Saturday night and so everyone is off tomorrow, the party factor will be greater than ever (as it should be) but everyone also has no excuse not to find a place to crash until tomorrow morning.  Now that I’m off my soap box, for today’s blog I’m going to talk about my favorite personal 4th of July memories.  Let’s get right into it.

-It’s funny but in a pre 9/11 world there were fireworks shows literally taking place everywhere in every town.  I actually remember many of these shows we would go see as a kid would be held by police officers.  My family and I would go to local parks and watch police officers fire off fireworks that they probably had confiscated from people who had them illegally.  Looking back these were pretty unsafe as well as you could stand right under them.  Speaking of standing under fireworks, back in the Shea Stadium days, the Mets still fired off fireworks behind centerfield so you can see them anywhere in the town (Nowadays the Mets do an impressive Pyrotechnics show which are brought out after the game in the middle of the outfield).  Well my friends and I would head down to watch the fireworks and we would lineup by the fence right outside of shea stadium.  The firework residue would actually fall onto us after the fireworks went off, it was insane.  As I got into my teenage years my family, friends and I would all head to Jones Beach to watch the fireworks.  We would always plan to stay on the beach until we were kicked off because the traffic on the way home was always the worst.   I remember one year in particular, I ended up hurting my hand during July 4th weekend a few days prior to the 4th of July.  I wore a sweatband on my right wrist but didn’t it let it stop me from driving everyone and spending the entire day at the beach.  Well, it turned out that I actually broke my wrist and spent the entire day there with a broken wrist hanging there.

-As we got older my friends and I ended up going from Jones Beach to Montauk, once the Jones Beach fireworks went on hiatus.  Montauk was great because you were able to make bonfires right on the beach and also stay there all night if you wanted to because most of the people there were spending the weekend there.  Well one year, I was the designated driver and we piled four friends into a room at a budget hotel with my girlfriend and I.  We had a good amount of snacks with us at the beach and my friend, James, infamously brought along a full pizza from Seven Eleven.  In any event, as time went on, we started to file out of the beach and drive back to our hotel.  Well in one car it was my friends James and Bruce as well as my girlfriend and I and in the other car it was my friends, Adam and LP.  I was leading the way for Adam but halfway through the trip a police officer pulled me over.  I hadn’t drank anything so I wasn’t worried but had some sort of busted tail light or may have been swerving a bit due to forgetting my glasses (I told you cops are looking for any reason whatsoever to pull you over).  Well before long, the cop let us go but Adam and LP didn’t know as they were already at the hotel.  James had a great idea to pretend I had been arrested for a DUI (bear in mind I didn’t drink anything at all) and to arrive with Bruce back at the hotel without my girlfriend and I.  My girlfriend and I hung out around the pool area of the hotel and my girlfriend called James pretending to be at the police station picking me up.  The story was ridiculous that the police would arrest me and let my girlfriend tag along, then let James take my car to the hotel but Adam and LP bought it hook line and sinker.  When I returned triumphantly to the hotel 10 minutes later they still weren’t sure if I had really been arrested.  It was a pretty good rib.

  -This year for the 4th of July Flo Rida and Robin Thicke will be performing “live” on the Macy’s Fireworks Spectacular.  Well the show was actually recorded on Thursday night and we were invited to the live taping in what we being billed as a free Flo Rida concert by the New York skyline in Long Island City.  First things first, this was really cool venue for a show.  It was awesome to see Flo Rida right by the water with the Empire State Building lit up nicely right behind him.  However, to call this show a concert, would be the understatement of the century.  First off despite the venue selling food and craft beer, you couldn’t bring any of this into the concert area which made things pretty annoying for everyone who purchased food.  From there Flo Rida came out with Robin Thicke and the two did their new hit ” I don’t Like It, I Love It”  which got the crowd really into it.  Then the producer of the special came out and said they had to do the song again and finally a third time to get the best take.  They then played the song a fourth time so that they can film just the band and the dancers.  Finally they played the same song a fifth time just to film the crowd during the song for crowd reactions.  After this, Flo Rida came out and did his new song “GDFR (Goin Down For Real)” which was great and then they went through the same thing playing the song five times.  Then…that was it! That’s right Flo Rida performed two songs, five times each and that was it.  I don’t know if it was a Flo Rida call or a producer call but it would have been nice for him to do a few more songs for the live crowd that spent their night coming to see him perform.  At the end of the day we ate at a great place called “Shi” so it was nice night out with friends, but still this rubbed me the wrong way.  That’s going to do it for me today but be sure to check out the Wrestling section of the site.  I was up and at em at 5:30 this morning providing you guys with coverage of the WWE Network live special “Beast In The East” and I’d love your feedback on that. Until then, have a happy and safe independence day everyone.  God Bless America!