CoasterGallery.com Podcast #1212 – Live from Silverwood Theme Park!

Joel is on location recording a live interview with Lane from Silverwood Theme Park. Home to two cool wooden coasters, the first coaster with a Corkscrew loop, and a Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerang ride, Silverwood sits in northern Idaho. One coasters has four tunnels and passes underground and right through the gift shop!

CoasterGallery.com now has lots of new pictures and videos of Silverwood Theme Park! Here are a couple little previews:

Episode #1209 – Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park

Today’s Podcast comes live from a mountaintop amusement park in Colorado.  Listen as I get to interview the owner of the one of the coolest amusement parks I have been to!  The Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park started when the Fairy Caves opened to the public in 1895 but were closed in 1917. The caves reopened in 1998 and now cave tours are available year-round.  The only way into the park is the Iron Mountain Tramway, a nearly mile-long ride which carries guests from the floor of the Roaring Fork Valley to the top of Iron Mountain.  About 10 years ago, the park started adding rides to keep people entertained while waiting to tour the cave.

The park added two new coasters, Cliffhanger and Wild West Express, in 2012.  The park also has an amazing Alpine Coaster that is open all year!  Glenwood Springs, Colorado is also home to one of the scariest rides I have ever been on… The Giant Canyon Swing.  The S&S Swing takes is literally built on the side of the mountain and swings riders out over a 1,300 foot drop off.  I didn’t tape my rides on the swing since my language was a little too colorful to broadcast, but I can say that it is one of the most intense experiences I have been through!

I also added three videos of Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park:


Podcast #1207 – Dorney Park, JPEG vs. RAW

Today marks my first interview from inside an amusement park.  Carrie Basta, Public Relations Director of Dorney Park, talks about the park’s history and its new coasters.  With this new podcast, CosaterGallery.com released new pictures of Hydra, Stinger, Possessed, Steel Force, Thunderhawk, Talon, and more.

Joel and Jeff then talk about photography, specifically the difference between JPG files and RAW files.  Joel likes RAW files because they are uncompressed and have a lot more data, but he has to do some post-processing.  On the other hand, everyone can open a JPG file without any additional work or processing.

Joel ends the episode with a preview of the amusement parks he will be visiting later this summer.

Podcast #1206 – Harry Potter, turn off your flash, and a song about death.

The music at the beginning and ending of the podcast is Joel’s music pick of the week: Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel (Album Version) by Barenaked Ladies:

Joel gives a quick report about his trip to Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. He loved Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey ride, but was a little bothered by the crowds and small stores. Joel also drops the news that Dueling Dragons, which is now called Dragon Challenge, doesn’t duel any more.

At 6:00, he goes on a rant about people who use the pop-up flash when they don’t need to.  He invokes the “Inverse Square” rule to show why it is a waste to use flash at long distances.  It’s another chance for him to tell people to move their cameras off the “AUTO” or “Green Square”  modes.

At 9:50, he starts eating Humble Pie.  He admits that he had no idea that Canon EOS camera straps all have a built-it eye piece cover.  He has been carrying around a cover for years and didn’t even know it!

At 10:30, he talks about the music pick of the week.  It is either the happiest sad song or the saddest happy song he has ever heard.  There is also a shameless plug asking people to use the Amazon.com links listed here.

At 12:40,  Joel describes his delema this week.  He has a chance to go to HersheyPark this week, but the new coaster isn’t open yet.  Should he go, or should he save his visit for later?  Please let me your thoughts by clicking on the bubble to the right of the podcast’s title!

And be sure to listen to the end of the track… You never know what you will find.  Just like the hidden song at the end of Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel (Album Version).

Episode #1204 – Photography preview, the new Wing Coaster, and musical time signatures

Joel quizzes Jeff about how he takes pictures.  He promises to get him off the Auto or  “Green Square” program mode!  He also mentions White Balance, Exposure Compensation, Flash, Flash Exposure Compensation, and Focus and says that all of these will be addressed in future podcasts.

At the 3:00 mark, Jeff and Joel discuss the new Wing Coaster models built by Bollinger and Mabillard.  (Joel also goes on a quick couple about other roller coaster podcasts where people don’t know what they are talking about and tells why he and Jeff are coaster nerds, but won’t get into too many details about amusement parks.)  They each try to figure out if the new coaster design is great new frontier or a passing fad.  A couple Wing Coasters are being built now, so check CoasterGallery.com later this summer to see pictures of the new rides in action.

At 13:00, Joel and Jeff talk about musical time signatures.  A lot of music is in 4/4 or 3/4 time, but Joel loves a song in seven beats per measure, and Jeff picks a song with 104 time changes!  How can they have a song written in 7/8 and 13/16 and 6/8?

So broaden your musical horizon and listen to some music you have never heard before:

Lightning Strikes by Yes
The Dance of Eternity by Dream Theater
Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel
Back in N.Y.C. by Genesis

As usual, music for this podcast is provided by Jeff Rogers… it is cool even if it is written in 4/4 time!

What is your favorite song in an unusual time signature?  Please post below!

Podcast Episode #1202

PowerLand's Thunderbird roller coaster

The lift hill of the world's most northern wooden roller coaster

At the start of this week’s show, I celibrated the life of Robert Sherman.  Robert, who died at age 86 the day after I recorded Episode 1201, wrote a ton of Disney music along with his brother.  He had 9 Oscar nominations, numerous Grammy awards and nominations, and wrote the music for  numerous Disney rides and movies.

At 2:00 I discussed Finland’s Powerland Park.  This new park has five really cool coasters.  It is home to Thunderbird, the world’s most northerly wooden coaster, and one of my favorite rides anywhere!

At 7:00 I talk about long-exposure photography.  Solar flares are sparking some great displays of the Northern Lights, and I give some techniques about how to capture pictures at night.

At the end of the episode, I give a preview of “The Mouse and the Blue Cat people”… What?

Test Podcast

A test of the new CoasterGallery.com Podcast.  Let’s just call this Episode 0.1 – The Test Show.  To be honest, it is pretty rough… You shouldn’t even listen to it!  But if you do, you will hear the following:

Joel Rogers starts by describing the future of the new Podcast.

The biggest coaster news is Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom‘s future life after the Holiday World folks agreed to make the park into Bluegrass Boardwalk.

The latest photos added to CoasterGallery.com are the TL*3 Wacky Worm at Adventurer’s Family Entertainment Center on New York’s Long Island.

Joel concludes with his philosophy of photographic equipment… Buying a new camera doesn’t make you a better photographer!

Right click here to save the podcast on your computer:
CoasterGallery.com Podcast 0.1 – The Test