Friday, February 18, 2005

keep the derby dolls downtown

Do you remember roller derby? The Los Angeles Thunderbirds, the greatest team of the 70's? Before I moved to California, I watched the LA Thunderbirds skate and I wanted to skate in the roller derby. Now, we have the L.A. Derby Dolls, Los Angeles' debut all-girl, quad skate roller derby league. Yes, action fans, you heard it right -- roller derby! They are an actual league with more than 60 women divvied up into four teams, skating on a banked track.

Their web site says, "We're half-clad, all bad!!!" They look like The Suicide Girls on skates. Only I can't stand The Suicide Girls, so I hope they skate better than the girls strip (I caught their show at the Knitting Factory - blech. I wished I were at Jumbo's Clown Room instead, so much more fun). Their next event isn't until March 31st, on the Taste of Chaos tour at the Long Beach Arena ($25/$19 for tickets, 5pm). Who wants to go?

These days, I don't necessarily want to skate in the roller derby (I just saw Million Dollar Baby and fear injury), but I want to watch. I am also trying to convince one of my girlfriends to join the Derby Dolls (they are looking for more girls) so I can live vicariously through her.

Currently, the L.A. Derby Dolls train four times per week on a 100' X 56' banked oval track, located on a second story rooftop parking lot in the Chinatown district of downtown Los Angeles. But they need a new training facility and according to their web site, they prefer Downtown L.A., Hollywood, Glendale or Burbank. With all the press that downtown Los Angeles is getting, don't you think that we deserve our own roller derby team? I know having our own football team is too much to ask for, but we can't lose the Los Angeles Derby Dolls to Glendale or Burbank.

The Dolls are having a Movie Night to raise money at The Dollhouse on March 5th. They're showing Russ Meyer's ode to violence in women, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. Perfect. Who wants to go?

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