August 25, 2005 | Posted by Blair at 2:00 PM

I Discovered Florida

the ponce
"Snap Goes The Gator Jaw" by Ponce de Leon

Juan Ponce de Léon was born around 1460 in San Tervás de Campos, León Spain. He first visited the New World on Columbus's second voyage in 1493, and settled there in 1502. In 1508 he conquered an island which he called San Juan de Puerto Rico (now Puerto Rico), where he established a colony and brought the island under Spanish rule. In 1509 he was named governor of Puerto Rico. Later, Ponce set out to find an island rumored to lie north of Cuba, called Bimini, which legends said contained a Fountain of Youth. Instead of the fountain of Youth, he found Florida, which he called Tierra La Florida, because he discovered it on Palm Sunday (Pascua Florida in Spanish). On 2 April he landed, just north of present-day St. Augustine, and remained there for six days. The king honored Ponce de Léon with a knighthood and governorship of Florida, where in 1521 he attempted to establish a colony. Not surprisingly, the fledgling colony soon suffered from Indian attacks (duh), and had to be abandoned. Ponce de Léon himself had been mortally wounded, and he died shortly after arriving back in Havana (Cuba), in July 1521. Booya.

The other Ponce De Leon is these guys, who make crazy, historically inspired rock music with a synth-y keyboard twist. Take for example this song, about the danger of alligators, converting the natives, and shame of nudity, Ponce De Leon is a lot like the other one, just without the actual exploring and killing and such. Hilarious. Their new self-titled album is out now on Thorn01 Records and is available to buy on the label's site. They've also got a Myspace page on which you can listen to three of their other songs, all of which are weird and funny, yet stone cold rockin.

AAAAAAAAAAND For you NYC kids, PDL are playing tonight at the Mercury Lounge w/ Palomar & The Mosquitos at 9:00PM, so go check them out, seriously. The show should be bizarre and super fun, since its their first show in NYC in ages... last time I saw them perform, they were all dressed up like conquistadors, so that's fun.

Oh, and since I'm back from the wild wild west, I'll be there too, so come say hi.

Comments

this is a huge rip off of Loius XIV. same idea, same gimmick.

Posted by: at August 25, 2005 9:54 PM

except that Ponce De Leon have been doing it for a number of years now...

Posted by: robot blair at August 26, 2005 3:01 AM

what came first the chicken or the egg, i mean ponce or louis?

Posted by: at August 26, 2005 10:46 AM

the concept behind the bands may be similar, but this song blows Louis XIV's tired, played-out cock-rock out of the water. i've been listening to this song pretty much nonstop since you posted it.

Posted by: dan at August 26, 2005 11:40 AM

Louis XIV is horrible anyways so who cares which came first, as long as you listen to the better one.

Posted by: skot-bot at August 26, 2005 12:08 PM

Righteous - last night's show was amazing!
Too many highlights to list, but their final song (I believe it was called "My Lord Put A Mountain Down On Me" maybe?) was a major sing- and dance-along jam, including a breakdown where they all collapsed onto the stage, that had everyone in the place rocking out.
Awesomeness

Posted by: robot blair at August 26, 2005 1:29 PM
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