Atlanta Roller Derby

(roller skates & lightning bolt artwork from this kit by Minitoko who also happens to be a Derby Girl in her home country of France!)

This weekend Ethan and I made good on something we've been wanting to do for years. Years! It's an abomination that we haven't been to a roller derby game in our city for as long as we've lived here. We've never seen roller derby in person, so needless to say, we were excited. And it was SO much fun! Ethan loved it, too, which made me happy! We're already planning on going to another game in September. We might try and take Cooper with us (Campbell is still at that squirmy age.) It was fun to have something different to do for a change for date night other than dinner and a movie.

And apparently I've been living under a rock because I had no idea that Roller Derby was originally a sport popular in the 70's... WHAT?! How did I not know this? So I did some googling and look at these gems I found. Of course, Ethan being the cool cat he is, knew all about it. He said they used to air derby games on TV and the summer between his senior year in High School and freshman year in college, he rented hundreds of movies from the library, including a roller derby movie or two. Needless to say, I'm hunting down these movies so we can watch them.

Unholy Rollers

The crowd was awesome. A totally diverse group of people. You had hipsters, moms and dads, grandparents, punks, your average joe, and misfits. When I left I craved my bright pink hair again and the urge to get that tattoo I've been wanting, came back with a vengeance. ; ) The place was packed and the energy totally contagious. 

They have the games at the Yaarab Shrine Center and the building is a spectacle in itself. Next time we go I'm going to take more photos. It's a really beautiful, if not slightly kitschy, place. I kind of think it's pretty cool that they skate in a Shrine Center. All I can think about are those little old men in hats standing at intersections. ; )

I found another movie while googling 70's roller derby called Kansas City Bomber with Raquel Welch. As if this lady could get any hotter.

(photos)

I'm kind of coveting those socks. need.want.need.

Oh, and there was a disco ball hanging from the ceiling at the Shrine Center. Just more awesomeness.

And speaking of socks, I fell in love with that hot pink and black combo worn by the Apocalypstix. And, yes, I just now got that double entendre, heehee.

And check out these pics! This looks way earlier than the 70's. Not sure when, 50's? Couldn't find a date on the website where I found them.

I was really intrigued to find out how you actually play the game! What the rules were, what the goal was. You can read more about it here if you're interested, too. I love the whole concept behind the game.

And it was BYOB. Yes.

This was the end where all of the players slap the fans' hands. Awe.

Afterwards, the team members hung out outside in the courtyard and signed autographs. I think they're all pretty darn cute. And I kind of love their helmets.

While doing said googling, I also stumbled onto these 70's roller skating gems, Xanadu, Roller Boogie (yes, your eyes aren't deceiving you, that's Linda Blair of Exorcist Fame. I know. I died, too.) 

And Skatetown USA! .... OMG. Is that, Patrick Swayze, Scott Baio and.... Marcia Brady?!?!!!

GET OUT. Check out that jumper she's wearing! Lawd. The love.

The late 70's disco era was such an bizarre time. It's like you LOVE it but then it just makes you go "this is just weird." Ha. I'm sure these movies are pretty horrible. But I must, must see them. It kind of reminds me of when I watched Logan's Run for the first time. It's so awful and weird but yet... you can't... quite... take... your eye's off... it.

Are you a Derby Girl? Do you skate? If so, please share a link to your team, I would LOVE to see! :D

If you have a Roller Derby in your town, I definitely recommend going. I can't wait to see another Atlanta Derby Girls game and maybe even become a fan girl of one of the teams.

I bought a t-shirt after all.

Comments

[Hot Legs Hooligan]

Thanks for posting these photos!
To see a list of roller derby leagues worldwide: www.derbyroster.com

September's bouts=ARG's last regular season home game of the year, and tickets will sell out very quickly.

In November, ARG will host the top 12 roller derby teams in the world at the Georgia World Congress Center during this 3-day event: http://wftda.com/tournaments/2012/championships

[Tanya Hyde]

These are some gorgeous photos! Thank you for sharing!! Glad you could come out - come back next month :) The Championship games are always amazing!

[Courtney Smash]

I'm glad you had fun at derby. I've been skating with the Tallahassee Rollergirls for 2 years. You can check us out on Facebook or at tallyrg.com! We're about 4 and a half hours away from ATL and we played the B team a few weeks ago.

[Philomeen]

Yes, I'm a derby-girl and i love it!!
This is my team : http://rockcityrollers.nl/
and this is me :) : http://rockcityrollers.nl/meet-the-team/#philly-mean-108

[thompson family]

thanks for stopping by the blog! :D

[thompson family]

thanks so much! i already purchased our tickets to a september bout!

[thompson family]

AWESOME! i'm checking out your site now! : )

[thompson family]

you are adorable! love your site!

[Scout SnipeHer]

Glad you had a good time and great pics!

[thompson family]

thank you!

[Deb]

Such memories. Derby used to be on TV in Iowa when I was growing up. (That will certainly date me.) It was usually on Saturday or Sunday afternoon and I mostly remember it in the fall/winter since it's an indoor sport and wouldn't then conflict with baseball or football. There were a lot of teams across the US. I seem to remember the "biggest" team was in LA and those games on TV were LA versus whomever. I even think, but can't prove, that I heard the inestimable Chris Schenkle call a derby game.

I think there were major and minor "leagues", if you will, with places like Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa having their own teams which fed into the larger teams we saw on TV. I cannot remember a single person's name, sorry. I do remember that most gals had knicknames, X "The Bomber" X, being something rather prevalent.

I remember them being rather viscous events, too. An elbow here, tripping there, shoving into and over "the wall" and the "clothesline" effect where two gals would skate slowly and then knock over someone coming up from behind them. I used to know some of the moves although my skating abilities consisted of hanging onto people and being towed around the rink.

My guess is that the hey day of roller derby was in the 1960's and coincided with the hey dey of indoor roller rinks. (You need to be of a certain age to remember having parties at roller rinks.) Teams had custom built rinks and I seem to think they were highly polished wood floors for a time before something more seamless was installed. I also remember that the floor in LA was elevated so you sat at floor level and looked up. When a gal was shoved to the "wall", very often, she tipped over into the crowd. Fights were common and it wasn't without reason roller derby was called "hockey on wheels".

I seem to remember reading that Raquel did most of her own stunts and this was rather cringe-worthy for the studio. She was a huge star at that point and they were more than a little afraid of her being hurt.

This is a very interesting post. Thanks for a trip down memory lane.

[Amanda]

I used to be a huge derby fan and was briefly practicing with a group of girls for tryouts (back when I was not working). One of the ladies I practiced with played for a season or two on the Toxic Shocks! I have since sort of fallen out of love with the derby though. I think its mostly that I don't care for its fans so much. We vended there twice (once last season and once this season) and found that the fan base has shifted some. Where it used to be more young, cool folks...now its a lot of waaaayyyy OTP people and older buckhead-types. Not that I take a particular issue with either, but I felt like the spirit of the derby and the atmosphere has changed.

Sidenote...I see Ed Selby there in your picture...IMO another good reason to skip the derby.

I do LOVE derby movies and if you haven't watched the TV show that was on a fewr years back you should netflix it...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497306/

[Amanda]

PS...they should hire you as the new derby photographer!

[thompson family]

Deb, thank you for being such a wealth of information! Wow! i loved reading it all. I learned so much.

[thompson family]

hi Amanda! Thank you for your perspective! I didn't get that feeling that you mentioned while i was there (in regards to the audience), maybe it was the "newbie" fog that i was in and everything seemed so awesome. There was definitely a diverse group. I will check out that show. Thanks!

[Cantadora]

Excellent pics! (Hey, I can even see myself in the audience!) Glad you had a fun time at the ARG bout. I've been going to the bouts here in Atlanta since February of last year and it is so much fun! I'm even in the ARG rec league, which is great fun (and exercise), especially if you're a newbie. The ARG community is so great, I could go on all day about it. It's just very diverse and just awesome all around. We hope to have you back!

P.S. Some of those movies you mentioned are lots of fun. When I got into derby last year, I watched all the skating movies I could get my hands on. 'Xanadu' is an old cheesy favorite of mine. I saw 'Roller Boogie' and 'Kansas City Bomber' recently and both were also cheesy fun. Oh, and roller derby actually dates back to the Depression, though if memory serves, it didn't start getting really popular until the 40s & 50s. The rules were *very* different back then. The roller derby that you see now started in Austin, TX in the early 2000s. ARG was started by Tanya Hyde (who commented here as well) in 2004. :)

[thompson family]

hi Cantadora! wow, i love hearing about the history of roller derby! thanks for sharing! that is so funny that you can see yourself in my pic. I didn't realize the new RD started in Austin! love that city. I'm definitely going to have to get my hands on those movies. : )

[Cantadora]

Enjoy the movies! And definitely check out the local championships here in Sept -- it should be fun!

Derby can definitely suck you in. My husband and I began as fans, then he became a security volunteer last year and this year he is an official. And, as I mentioned, I joined the rec league (which, if you like to skate at all, is fun -- you can find info on the ARG website). As Amanda above said, the make-up of the crowd has been changing over the years, but I still find it one of the more diverse fan bases and, honestly, I don't mind more mainstream people showing up because I think it opens their eyes a bit more to non-mainstream people/entertainment/sports. Plus, I love that it is very friendly toward queer and other non-normative groups. You can never be too weird for derby and as a self-proclaimed weirdo, I love that. :)