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October 18, 2006

Best Music Festival That Runs By The Sun’s Rays- Solar One

It’s one thing to have a nice bright day to enjoy a good outdoor show, for Solar One, it’s a must. For their summer shows, the bands don’t have to plug into any outlets to play. At their Stuyvesant Cove Park outpost on the East River, their offices aren’t just for administrative work and education workshops: The roof of the building is made up of 80 solar panels, which generate enough juice for the groups. For the past year, this setup has worked well- except for some cloud cover that stopped the last DJ from getting ray power at the end of a concert and a show that was postponed because of rain. (The organization will now have a biodiesel generator in place as a backup for future cloudy-day gigs.) So far, indie mavens like Japanther and Parts & Labor have graced their stage. And though it presently only does a handful of shows each summer, the group hopes to produce year-round events, in the process alerting music fans to environmental issues: wind energy, recycling, and other green initiatives like, you guessed it, solar power. (Jason Gross)

Best Downtown East Side Water Walkway- Stuy Cove Park

Stretching from (basically) 22nd Street to 18th Street and located under the FDR Drive is this scenic strolling Stuy Cove Park- one of the best places for a breezy, safe, picturesque, waterfront walk or jog. Financed and created by Stuy Town (the massive apartment complex), the park gets its name from the lush greenery that lines the path- hedges, flowers, plants, landscaped gardens and various bushy drooping trees that create an almost nature-tunnel feel. All different kinds of people enjoy the park for its colorful rock- and cement-tiled walkway, its numerous benches, picnic table- perfect for dining alfresco- its two-lane bike path (safely out of harm’s way for the park’s many joggers), and its cityscape views of Brooklyn and Queens. One crew surprisingly represented is fishermen, most with four to six poles propped up against the guardrail; they sit back on the benches and await their bounty. I’m not entirely sure I’d recommend dining on any three-eyed East River blues, but cheers to those who do. I saw one gent recently who hooked a two-foot-plus leviathan. The park opens at dawn, closes at 11 p.m., and is pet-friendly, provided pets are on a leash. (D. Shawn Bosler)


Posted on Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 at 11:28 am | Tagged in S1 in the News | posted by Dina

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