Crooning About Coney Could Score You a Trip to Stockholm

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Williamsburg New Wave band Teen Commandments won the first Brooklyn Sweden Song Contest and a trip to the Scandinavian country last summer with its electric ballad about the G train. Video: Teen Commandments

For the second summer in row, the crew at Brooklyn Brewery is packing up their kegs and hopping a flight to Sweden to host an all-out, I Heart Brooklyn love fest for Scandinavian fans of our fair borough—and before they go, they’re giving amateur singers a chance to jet set Scandinavian style, as well an opportunity to perform at the Brooklyn/Sweden music and arts festival in Stockholm Aug. 22-25. All you have to do is come up with the most original ode to Coney Island between now and next Wednesday.

The Brooklyn Sweden Song Contest is open to all amateur musicians with an original song idea and an ID that says you’re legally of drinking age (21, not 16–this is still America). Upload your anthem to YouTube, Vimeo or another video sharing site between now and 11:59pm on July 31 to be eligible for the grand prize. Keep your fingers crossed and you unexpired passport close at hand until the winner is announced next month.

Last year contestants were challenged with creating catchy tunes about the less-than-reliable, bane of many a commuters existence that is the G train—the sluggish subway system spawned an outpouring of entries; the winner among them being the New Wave band Teen Commandments, whose entry, No Burning Headlight, earned them a roundtrip to the Norse country, where its members Brett Moses and Nick LaGrasta subsequently lived out the fantasy of many a fledgling musician: playing a killer set at an international music festival, parlaying that performance into a European tour and returning home with Swedish girlfriends.

Even if all this year’s winners come away with is a new stamp in their passport and a story to tell when they return, it’s well worth entering if you can write, record and make a music video in a week. And really, with its storied history of carnies, crazies, rides and redemption, what could be more inspiring than Coney Island?

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