For smooth-jazz lovers, it's a "Highway to Hell": South Carolina's Hard Rock Park promises all the thrills of your local theme park with a much better soundtrack.
While the tourist attraction doesn't have its official grand opening till June 2, a "sound check" is letting ride aficionados get their first look at Hard Rock's first theme park.
The coasters in this $400 million park are designed to be extra quiet so riders will be able to hear the corresponding songs--even over all the screaming.
Besides the "Life In The Fast Lane" and "Nights In White Satin" rides, the park boasts a memorial to dead musicians, a Mount Rockmore and a "Bohemian Rhapsody"-themed fireworks show. Alas, there will be no "Love Roller Coaster."
Married man or woman seeks single or married registered voters for long-weekend-night stand. I'm leaving town Tuesday night, but before that, maybe we can have some fun!
If the candidates want to get the most votes for their shoe leather, they ought to go to Wal-Mart, the overwhelming winner for Charleston, South Carolina's Craigslist most-missed page. (It's okay, we can never find anything there either!)
If on the other hand you only need one vote of confidence, try these local hot spots:
Blind Tiger Pub -- This casual bar, voted Best Pick-Up Joint by the Charleston alt-weekly, City Paper, is named for Prohibition-era establishments which offered complimentary drinks for animal shows (thus skirting the no-selling law). These days, you can order your Wild Turkey legally. 38 Broad St.
Club H2O -- This newly opened disco is primed for '80s nights two nights a week and second chances. 8484 Dorchester Rd.
California Dreamin' -- Apparently it's okay to have West Coast designs even this far east -- so long as you have the soul patch to match. 1 Ashley Point Dr.
So John McCain called the retinue of reporters following with him in South Carolina "you little jerks," and we weren't even there! Despite his slide in the polls this year, the Senator from Arizona is not only chipper but appears not to be worried about the Iowa caucus on January 3rd. "If I don't finish in the top 50 in Iowa, I'll still stay in the race," he told the press, which is pretty bold in the face of what looks like a three-way race. (We hear McCain is cool with Mike Huckabee, but not so much with Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani.)
On the other hand, the Senator has more national experience than most of the other candidates in either party, and he just got endorsed by 2000 vice-presidential candidate Senator Joe Lieberman and the classically conservative Wall Street Journal. Today he'll be in Boston at a lunch in Faneuil Hall Market Place with Henry Kissinger. Tomorrow he stops in Louisiana before returning home to Arizona on Friday.
Remember Led Zeppelin's one time reunion gig set for London next month? Well just in case you can't pay scalper's prices or get yourself to London the Hard Rock has you covered, if you can make it down to Myrtle Beach next May.
The Hard Rock Park, a.k.a the world's first rock 'n' roll theme park will open next spring and will feature "Led Zeppelin -- the Ride," a 155-foot-tall steel roller coaster. Apparently, Jimmy Page named the ride himself and picked the song "Whole Lotta Love" to be played as riders try to stomach six loop rolls at 65 miles per hour.
The 140-acre park will have more than 40 attractions, including, three other roller coasters, a hip-hop-themed ride, and a "Pinball Wizard" arcade. Sweet, but there better be some sort of KISS ride in this park.
Suburban white mild-mannered man goes pyscho in today's pick, Death Sentence. Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon--always good at the suburban white man roles) is a middle-class executive with a nice life, a wife Helen (Kelly Preston--who somehow always gets stuck in this same role) and two boys.
One night Nick witnesses a gang initiation murder and violent act on a family and never recovers. The rest of the movie is spent tracking down each gang member and exacting revenge. Nick can't go too far. We know, sounds a little fantastical, but it's a suburban-style thriller, not a piece of neorealist cinema. Let the tripped out mind games begin!
This one was all shot in stunning Columbia, South Carolina, so we offer you some cool things to check out there:
Where To Stay:Inn at USC -- Pass up the tons of chains here, and check into the Inn at the University of South Carolina. Sure, it's plain and simple, but has all the basics (free wi-fi, coffeemakers, fireplaces) and a dose of Southern charm. Originally built in 1912 as a family home, if you look hard enough you'll see traces of Georgian, gothic and art deco features throughout.
Where To Visit:Riverbanks Zoo -- Head to this mammoth zoo and Botanical Garden (two birds, one stone) and visit the animals in their authentic habitats, like Lemur Island and Koala Knockabout. Spend the day there for a thrifty $9.75 but be aware they close at 5pm sharp most days.
Where To Eat:Blue Marlin -- Don't be fooled by their "steaks and seafood" claim: The chef at Blue Marlin trained in NYC under Alain Ducasse and worked at the James Beard House. The ambiance is a bit lacking, but the crab cakes and fried green tomatoes with cracked cornmeal make up for that.
Contrary to its name, South of the Border is not a rest stop that hugs an international crossing point -- unless you consider the passage from North Carolina to South Carolina a national divide. Founded in 1950 as a beer stand, the roadside attraction now boasts a fireworks store, souvenir kiosks and an admirably frightening collection of plaster statuary.
It strikes us as the kind of attraction that appears in the dreams of 5-year-olds (and the nightmares of their parents, who will be forced to stop or endure the unending whine). In this video, the site sucks out the joy in a whole carload of Spring Breakers.
Before Anna Nicole, James Brown was the shocking celebrity death that captivated us in '07. The suddenness of death! The vigils! The lockout of his unmarried partner! This weekend, the Godfather of Soul was finally laid to rest in Beech Island, South Carolina, with the Reverend Al Sharpton presiding, according to the New York Daily News.
But before you book your tickets to Columbia Metropolitan Airport, the nearest to Beech Island, reports suggest the Godfather of Soul's final resting place might not be completely final yet. The family is in talks to build a more permanent mausoleum -- which could be out on Beech Island near one of Brown's homes or further inland, perhaps in Atlanta. They even sought out Elvis Presley's estate for guidance on how to build a successful museum. So what should they call the new attraction? SoulLand? Hardest Working Museum In Show Business?
Who knew that Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is the Minigolf capital of the word? We didn't, until we read about it in the San Francisco Chronicle. After an abortive attempt to play miniature golf in our own hometown over Labor Day weekend, we definitely wish that at least one of the courses mentioned in the article--there are 50 in town--would relocate.
What were we missing? Only this:
The next day we assembled at Dragon's Lair Fantasy Golf. Dragon's Lair was voted No. 1 in the "Best of the Beach" poll and features both a replica of a Viking ship and a life-sized fire-breathing dragon.
Man, all we wanted was a windmill and a few waterfalls, but that's an entirely higher level of minigolf course construction. Forget other players on the PGA Tour; we'd like to see how Tiger Woods would fare against a dragon.
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by egw
