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Thousands of People Remain Unkilled in Parade Aftermath — Brooklynian

Thousands of People Remain Unkilled in Parade Aftermath

dailyheights
dailyheights
edited November -1 in Prospect Heights
image
Originally uploaded by ranjit.
Ranjit sent DH a link to his West Indian Day Parade pics: "thought you might like 'em! sje and I went to the parade and totally didn't get murdered..."

"We" didn't get killed either! We went with Quig and Quiglet to check out the action, and tried some great chicken roti (sje was right!) and fried shrimp. Along the way we ran into Laura B, who was hanging out with a friend at a Daily Heights-recommended parade-watching site. Thanks for the recommendations, message board people.

Comments

  • cathleen
    cathleen
    I *also* made it thru the event unscathed. *breathes sigh of utter relief*
  • daveb
    daveb
    Thousands of people lived? Sorry, but I can't allow that. :evil:
  • quig
    quig
    Still checking for bullet holes.
  • metulj
    metulj
    Three Letters: W. T. F. Look, I went to the University of Tennessee for my Master's degree. The football crowds there are akin to some sort of fucked up Orange and White Nuremburg Rally. The 15 minutes after the game ends are the scariest of your life, especially if the Vols lose. Where was all the trouble some told us n00Bs to expect?

    With all of the hysteria, I was expecting the Apocalypse in re the West Indian Day Parade. It was totally cool. The noise was acceptable (I am on Grand Army Plaza) and the place was thick with cops. My interaction with all of the parade goers was one of "How ya doin'?" I wasn't disappointed by the parade (nor the street food). I got the second best goat roti out there I have ever had. The best came from a summer gig housesitting in Montserrat (even with the volcano). C'mon, it was great!
  • sje
    sje
    Just posted my pictures here:

    http://www.redlipstick.net/wip_05/index.html

    We had a great time!! Ranjit and I shot some of the same things, but they came out so differently, I love that. One amazing experience was watching and being in the middle of literally THOUSANDS of people chanting, dancing and running after Massive B's giant float. Incredible energy in the air. Super-Duper loud. We stepped out of the way. :P
  • candicissima
    candicissima
    My roommate and I ventured over and we had a great time. Once we got away from the mass about to sweep us away near Franklin and I could get a sight line (tall people to the back please), that is. The highlight was watching the dancers at the judge's truck (is that what that thing was?). Believe it or not, that was my first parade. I still hate crowds, but it was nice.
  • daveb
    daveb
    I just saw a brawl under my living room window. :D
  • cathleen
    cathleen
    sje: those pictures are fantastic!!

    However, I feel compelled to point out:

    Pic #6 That girls ass is TOTALLY hanging out of her skirt :idea:

    Pic #23 The guy in the background is checking out that girl's behind :lol:

    Again, though, great pictures.
  • dailyheights
    dailyheights
    By the way...

    At least 10 people shot in lead-up to parade

    BY SEAN GARDINER
    STAFF WRITER

    September 5, 2005, 7:05 PM EDT

    Violence blazed across Brooklyn during the traditional night of partying leading into Monday's West Indian Day Parade as at least 10 people were shot, including one fatally, in a seven-hour span, police sources said.

    Newsday [article]
  • anonymous
    anonymous
    I am so glad I have missed this mayhem once again. The best part is driving back and having to show ID to the cops to get to my home. After experiencing five of these parades I can say I do not not miss them. I'd rather be at the US Open.
  • anonymous
    anonymous
    I am so glad I have missed this mayhem once again. The best part is driving back and having to show ID to the cops to get to my home. After experiencing five of these parades I can say I do not not miss them. I'd rather be at the US Open.
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    As always, the parade was awesome- great food, great music, great costumes, and fun times. Also as always, there were violent incidents that didn't affect the vast majority of parade-goers (and as always, most occurred the night before).

    This was my first time going since finding out about The Islands though. They had the best deal going: $8 for any item (stew chicken, curry chicken, jerk chicken, curry goat, curry vegetable, oxtail) with rice and peas and cabbage salad. Considering the usual prices there and the general inflation over the past few years for most of the food along the parade route, this was fantastic!
  • arielbl
    arielbl
    Was anyone else bugged by the circling helicopters? Between that and the near-constant fighting under my window (ground floor front: fights featured such great openers as "is that your baby? telll me that's not your baby...") it was definitely a low-sleep weekend.

    I did however have a near-religious experience with some jerk chicken, which more than compensated. YUM.
  • sje
    sje
    Cathleen, Yes, I know. :lol: That's why those shots made it into the lineup.

    Both Ranjits and my pictures are inked to from Gothamist this am!
  • whyfi
    whyfi
    I made it through unscathed- I had a good time, even! My wife, though, says that I "almost got [my] ass kicked!" I was talking on the phone, trying to meet up with a friend that was lost in the crowd, when I supposedly bumped in to some guy. According to my wife, the guy gave me an evil stare and called me a "dumb mutha-f*****" I was completely oblivious to the whole exchange, so it couldn't have been too violent a bump... And who goes to a parade with millions of spectators and expects NOT to be bumped into, here and there?! That's like people that ride the subway and get pissed off when they don't get enough personal space! What the hell did you expect?!

    Anyway, good time, good food, and the best damn parade weather...
  • daveb
    daveb
    daveb wrote: I just saw a brawl under my living room window. :D
    Make that one brawl, two fistfights and two instances of of some stupid motherfucker(s) screaming for an hour about murdering someone, stopping traffic and standing in the middle of Washington dealing out drama. :twisted:
  • bluedove
    bluedove
    metulj wrote: Three Letters: W. T. F. Look, I went to the University of Tennessee for my Master's degree. The football crowds there are akin to some sort of fucked up Orange and White Nuremburg Rally. The 15 minutes after the game ends are the scariest of your life, especially if the Vols lose. Where was all the trouble some told us n00Bs to expect?

    With all of the hysteria, I was expecting the Apocalypse in re the West Indian Day Parade. It was totally cool. The noise was acceptable (I am on Grand Army Plaza) and the place was thick with cops. My interaction with all of the parade goers was one of "How ya doin'?" I wasn't disappointed by the parade (nor the street food). I got the second best goat roti out there I have ever had. The best came from a summer gig housesitting in Montserrat (even with the volcano). C'mon, it was great!
    Wait, you housesat in Montserrat? For whose house? My grandparents lived there for years...I was supposed to go visit them for the second time the summer the volcano erupted :(
  • sje
    sje
    My large plate of perfectly good fried plaintains was unceremoniously knocked out of my hand after I had eaten only one by someone who didn't even look back. We had a laugh about it as they scattered all over the sidewalk {slippery bananas on the street, yadda yadda}. :o Minor rudeness is the worst we experienced at the parade, and a just tiny bit at that.
  • jack
    jack
    Just to balance things out here regarding safety and perceptions, in my experience going to the West Indian Day parade--not this year, but in the past--it's really been about as good/bad as the times I've been to other large celebrations. Like the Feast of San Genaro in Little Italy and the Giglio Feast in Willliamsburg. Fights always break out there, and I've been yelled at for stupid reasons. Not to mention the glory days of the Saint Patrick's Day Parade back in the day where people puking and fighting on the side streets were quite common.

    It's just par for the course. Things happen when you have a bacchanal that hinges on a common heritage of most any group.

    And when I lived in the midwest (Madison, WI specifically) the riots caused by football fans, drunk fratboys and others was waaaaaaay worse than anything I've seen in New York. Memories of turned over cars on fire after the innocuous Mifflin Street Block Party and smashed store windows after most any Halloween come to mind. Heck, come to think of it I had to call the cops many more times in the 6 years I lived in the midwest than I have in the 5 years I've lived in NYC since I've come back.
  • arielbl
    arielbl
    Second that on football riots. I went to Penn State. I would much rather have the west indian parade go by my apartment than football crowds.

    Not only that, a pretty good job was done cleaning up! I heard street cleaning trucks go by 3x last night, and other than a few guys pushing grocery carts with HUGE loads of cans and bottles, it did not look like anything too out of the ordinary had happened when I went to the subway this am.
  • cheddar
    cheddar
    I was a little disappointed the Parade was not as chaotic as it usually
    is

    But it was a good time for all, if not most and I had my usual fill of
    jumping up and waving my flag in celebration of my peeps

    Nice photos, danke
  • t-fal
    t-fal
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/31751443@N00/sets/892168/

    there's my photos...not my greatest ones because the weather was so nice this year, it was impossible to get close up. plus i was totally pished. so focus was a bit of an afterthought. i didn't mean to be so drunk, its just that my boyfriend neglected to tell me that the ginger beers he brought for us were half full of rum.

    it amazing though, that i also escaped being murdered...i've been going for 4 years, its about time my luck runs out you know ;)


    totally a no sleep weekend though, i was like the living dead as a dragged my sorry carcass into work yesterday. no major fights outside my window, just some asshole who set his car alarm on super sensitive.

    sadly, this year was the first year that i didn't get any "welcome to the hood!" greetings from people that don't live in my hood.
  • anonymous
    anonymous
    Give me a break. That is one lame-ass parade. A bunch of flat-bed tractor trailors with sound systems blasting annoying music. Bring back the steel drums!
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    Anonymous wrote: Give me a break. That is one lame-ass parade. A bunch of flat-bed tractor trailors with sound systems blasting annoying music. Bring back the steel drums!
    The steel drums were there. I don't know which parade you went to.
  • anonymous
    anonymous
    The steel drums were fantastic! :P
  • captain m
    captain m
    It looks like the cops got to commit some assault and battery too, fun for everyone!

    http://ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=53359
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