Coney Island
©2007 Craig Ashby
Digital Photograph

Coney Island is a great set of photos from a great outing. Well it wasn’t all great, but I will get to that. It did end in these magical pictures so overall it was a great experience.

Originally Ernie and I had planned to go to a free concert out at Coney Island. The big draw being MIA. Let me just say now that standing room only concerts in New York are frequently like prison riots. Except that in prison you have guards.

We arrive and quickly locate the concert. As always in the city it is packed. We find a safe spot about midway in the field a little to the right of the stage. Some band named We R Scientists is playing.

A brief interlude. I remember vividly that on his day I was suffering back and neck problems that have been with me since my years of Hospice. Sometimes my neck locks and I can’t turn my head fully and the back aches are intense.

We are there about 45 minutes and it is getting packed. Right as MIA comes on a guy and a girl come rushing up and get directly in front of me. I don’t mean just standing in front of me. His heels were standing on the front half of my foot.

I politely ask him to move. He doesn’t. I ask again and he says I should move, that he is here now. So I make the mistake of pushing him off my feet. He pushes back and completely knocks me on the ground.

As Ernie is helping me up the guy lunges just a tad and Ernie finishes the whole thing. A quick note, in the south we would say Ernie is built like a brick shithouse.

Ernie’s single punch lands so intensely the guy goes down and his glasses slow mo away a good ten feet. The gasp and sudden displacement of the crowd was so intense the stage and performer noticed.

Immediately after I just can’t be there. I have had this realization so many times here. That mutual interests aren’t enough to bond people together in a positive way. It profoundly saddens me and sometimes prevents me from sharing art or music because I fear that the people who may like my work may be reprehensible.

Of course Ernie turned it all around. Standing up for me. Just carrying me through a gorgeous night of magic. As he always has.