Derby Madness
Hands down, the most diverse crowd I have ever experienced at an event in Columbus, Ohio is at the premier of the Ohio Rollergirls. Their first bout, aptly titled "First Blood," took place Sunday, April 23th at the Columbus Convention Center.
Outside the glaringly obvious void of people of color in the crowd (nothing new to "mainstream" events in Columbus), there was the most amazing cross section of fans I have ever seen in one place at the same time.
I alone sat surrounded by gay men, lesbian women, a presumably straight middled aged Harley couple, and a punk rock family. While waiting in line for beer I stood among indie hipsters, frat boys, burlesque divas and four year olds carrying signs that read "My Mom Can Kick Your Mom's Ass."
From what I saw last night, Roller Derby bouts are prime locale for studies in 21st Century Urban Diversity.
And by the way, the skaters sported names like "Mother Trucker," "Pippy RipYerStockings" and "Ruby Doom." I'm certain we weren't the only ones who left the match plotting names of our own, like "Ripper Titsoff" and "Sveltana Slapabitch." If only old bones and shitty health insurance weren't keeping us from fame on the flat track!
3 comments:
Well hold onto your hats for Helena Hanbaskit
Part of our crew included my friend's mom! It seemed that, at the demo bout in December, lots of the attendees were family members of the rollergirls, which was cool, but the crowd was waaaay smaller than Suday's group! I'm already getting excited for the Mother's Day Massacre....
Hi, I found your blog from Alana's link. My mom was the mom in question, and she had an awesome time. Let me also mention that she managed to tell every person she came into contact with that she used to watch rollerderby on tv during the 70s.
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