Here is a blurry pic of the crowd. I wish I had brought a real camera. I am going to regret this later when I look back at the iphone years.
It was interesting to see a part of downtown so populated with so many people. I heard multiple people taking about how they were amazed at the progress and to all the people who said they would never see a revitalized waterfront downtown - the time has come - at least for the Fourth of July. I actually heard one woman say she loved the fact that now she can take visitors downtown to see the waterfront and not be embarrassed. I have to question if she has ever been down there before though, because the Marina area itself has been pretty nice for a while.
Floating War Junk
I know I will get some slack for this but the floating war junk cemetery looks so ridiculous to me. Is it really an attraction. I mean I know it has always been there, but really put yourself in some other country visiting on the waterfront and imagine the impression you would have. Like imagine a trip to China and they had those warships on the riverfront. And if we are trying to give a mighty powerful image, then those are the wrong ships. They look ancient.
What I really did not understand was the really bad irish musi. THey played almost no American music andwhile I am not a big americana fan, serioulsy - isn't that what the fourth is about. I think they really need to reconsider the music next year - almost no one clapped.
The reason the war ships look old is because they are from the last real war we fought in WWII (The Korean war doesn't count because it is the forgotten war and I don't even think I knew anything about it until I saw someone who had a hat from the ship they where on in that war). They are not junk and people can go on them, and I did when I was a kid. On a side note have you ever looked at an of the Memorials down there? There is a pretty interesting Irish one if you know where to find it, and the polish one is so Pretty it is solid black and the eagle is white and cut into it.
Music wise the only band I saw was Jackdaw and they are great, if it isn't what you like then I guess you don't like them. The thing with Jackdaw is they are pretty well known and a big name band. But if you don't know there music or there type of music it is kinda a whats going on here and even when they do a cover it is done in their way so it doesn't sound like the original. I think they where a pretty good choice.
HEY! No picking on the sexy moustache! It's smokin' HOT!
Paul, what is up with that mustache?!? I can't tell if you look like a gay porn star from the 70s or a corrupt South Buffalo cop. Either way its terrible. I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course.
I was there as well!!!!! I can't believe I missed you all!! I missed another chance to make amends and introduce (e:james) as the ruler of the land of the dead. The fireworks were very pretty but somewhat shorter than I expected. I saw that they had better and longer fireworks day before yesterday when BPO played at Dunn Tire Park (saw them from my window).
I think the war junk museum is pretty impressive. The warships bristling with surveillance devices and weaponry give off plenty of aggression! To a certain extent, all military museum around the world exist to serve the same purpose. I am not sure you need modern warships to make an impact on civilians who casually visit to gawk at all the arsenal majesty. But then, I am from India and we used to buy second-hand military equipment from Russia, back in the day. I think when we outgrew a certain age, our parents stopped taking us to military parades, shows and museum. I now wonder how they thought it was okay for us as kids but not as adolescents... Hmmm.. interesting.