.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }
It’s Sunday, you know what that means. No, not a day spend in reverent reflection of all that god has given us.
It means rollerderby!
Apocalypstix vs. Denim Demons.
Yeah, I’ll be there!
Sunday’s derby bout was fantastic. I won’t go into detail but it was one of the best bouts I’ve seen yet between the Atlanta teams.
So, I got thinking about where other places have derby. Wikipedia has a list of roller derby leagues, old and current. To narrow it down, I stuck with members of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. They have a map…
… but being addicted to Google maps and Google Earth, I whipped up one of my own.
Women’s Flat Track Derby Association Locations
And that’s how I spent my time… instead of doing something more productive. But now I know what cities would be worth moving to next.
First off, hooray for Chinese Buddha reopening. A favorite of ours, this Chinese restaurant had been closed for months, after forced to relocate to a new venue. Time went by, with its opening continually pushed back. Questions arose, would we ever have the good food we craved, how much tackiness would remain, would this picture be hanging in the foyer like in the original?
The answer are yes, not much and no.
Yes, the food is back, they reopened on Sunday. We got dishes that we had before the restaurant’s closing, and there was no difference. You can tell new waitstaff is finding their pace. One thing new thing… white people as waiters. One person missing, our favorite cranky waiter.
Tacky, no. The restaurant is beautiful, a bit too much so for my taste. We heard other patrons commenting about the nice digs, and wondering if the Mick “Ick” Jagger picture would return. I doubt he and friends will be appearing in public again.
Our first visit to Buddha was just us, our second (of the week) was with my in-laws. They liked it very much as well. While there, a hellacious rain storm swept away the blues skies. Before Buddha, we took the ‘rents to the Dekalb Farmers Market. It took awhile for them to overcome being overwhelmed, but then the shopping commenced.
Dinner was followed by a trip to the Aquarium. Special late-night hours made the visit great. Fewer people, much fewer kids and adult drinks. Again, in-laws were pleased.
Next day, we hit the Scott Antiques Market. The 2 massive complexes house loads of dealers, but few bargains, and we left spending money only on some cheap hot dogs and ice cream. A trip to Trader Joe’s was made and dinner at 6 Feet Under made everyone fat and happy.
And now that they have left, I will be doing derby tonight, the Denim Demons vs. Sake Tuyas.
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }
Well, I had to take them someplace nice and quiet, because I managed to get Dad to the roller derby game on Sunday. He felt bad that the girls couldn’t afford new fishnet stockings, and had to skate in ripped ones. Sarcasm, he has it in spades.
BTW, the game was great, the hometown team won against the Colorado Springs team, and I finally got to see another game. Next time I have to track down one of the players as I found out she is distantly related to me.
Can’t wait to have her derby picture added to the family genealogy.
First, a thanks to Creative Loafing’s Bad Habits blog for mentioning me in their Atlanta Blogs Today: PBJ-AJC-WTF post. The spike in visitor traffic was a nice ego boost. And for those who are reading because of CL, don’t make it your last visit here.
Spring is back, making Atlanta particularly enjoyable. Its nice to return to the city in its lovely state, and this coming weekend is providing me with three things of interest.
First: the ATL:MODERN HOME TOUR – April 27-29th – 2007: “The 2007 ATL:Modern Home Tour will focus on showcasing exemplary examples for living modern through lifestyle, architecture, interior design, and landscaping. Homes range from the classic postmodern to the state-of-the-art contemporary.”
Yes, I would like to see great architecture that I will never be able to afford. Thanks for letting me past the gate.
Second: my mom and pop are visiting. As snowbirds, they are driving from Florida back to their home in the north. I always look forward to their visits as they actually treat me as a competent adult. They still have the usual parental concerns, but I’m aware that I’m lucky have parents that managed to let go in ways certain parents can’t.
Third: Atlanta Roller Girls Rollerderby!
I’ve missed 3 season games, and this weekend has the local girls playing the Pikes Peak Derby Dames of Colorado Spring, CO. This coincides with my mom and dad arriving. While my mom has a deep dislike of rollerderby and wrestling due to her mom’s love of the sports (yes I know some will raise an eyebrow at using the word “sports”… deal). Apparently , Grandma Gates got pretty vocal while watching her favorite forms of televised violence in the family living room. But I hoping dad will join me for the game. He’s a people person and enjoys a bit of cultural anthropology.
DeKalb News, Atlanta News: Rollergirls’ Bea Ligerent Hits Hard…
Atlanta Rollergirl Mini-documentary by Scott Crocker
In brief:
Visited the National Museum of Patriotism in Atlanta on Wednesday. Pictures were taken (not posted yet) and some audio recorded in hopes of a podcast on the Georgia Podcast Network. Thanks to Rusty and Amber for the audio recorder, I’ll try get my ass in gear and get a podcast ready before my ship sails.
I will be missing the next two months worth of Atlanta Rollergirls rollerderby because of work on cruiseships. So, please go people, these girls do the derby out of love and it shows. Not happy about missing the derby bouts, but very happy about the paychecks. Soon I will be spending 13 days installing high-tech lighting systems on board a cruiseship. This time it will be at sea and not at drydock like the last one. So the conditions will improve, but I will lose most communication with my sweetie. No cell phone reception, expensive internet, and $7.98 per minute from guest rooms. Notes in bottles, maybe?
I will hate to be unable to not hear her voice on a daily basis, but being away from the internet may be a needed interruption. I’m constantly surfing my usual sites, not out of any real need, but almost compulsive action. I was net-free on the first ship, and found nothing really important/interesting when I resumed surfing again.
And now to finish writing and continue my search for the end of the internet…
Yeah, it gets three exclamation points. It was that good, and it was just the first bout of the year.
The Denim Demons got beat by the Toxic Shocks, 126 to 102. They were a pretty fresh team, with a lot of new players. The Toxic Shocks looked like a better, stronger machine. Despite their loss, the DD’s never stopped playing and tried to cut the TS’s lead right up until the end. Plus there was fantastic ejection by the refs of Toxic Shock’s Captain Queen Loseyateefa.
After illegally pushing a jammer out of the rink, she was kicked out due to a rude gesture aimed at a ref. Nice!
Both teams have some great jammers (the only team member who can scores/moving target). Here are some of the nice quiet girls who skate better than you ever will.
Sk8 Outa Compton – Toxic Shocks
Wheelin’ Jennings – Toxic Shocks
I was bummed that I missed last year’s Vegas match, but we saw 3 of the season games and the great championship. Looking forward to the ’07 season. Did I mention that the bout was estimated by the teams to have about 1,000 people attending? Good number!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Also see:
This week has been a long one of art installation at GSU’s Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Gallery. “BRAZIL PROJECT: One River: Two Views & Palmo Quadrado” took 5 tough days to install, and left me fried I couldn’t recall the artists on display. But fortunately I don’t have to…
…from the GSU BRAZIL PROJECT website, “…Curated by Welch School faculty member Pam Longobardi, One River: Two Views is an exhibition of Brazil-inspired works by artists Jacqueline Bishop, of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Bob Nugent, of Sonoma, California. Nugent has organized Palmo Quadrado, the touring exhibition of small works by contemporary Brazilian artists also on display…”
The different artists’ works are pretty strong and anyone down near Peachtree Center between Decatur and Gilmer should hit the gallery.
Support the arts and all that.
The much-needed break on the weekend was the Atlanta Rollergirls season championship. Fantastic bout, marked by the best, aggressive, fast play we had seen, lots of trips to the penalty box and a final tie that resulted in a 2 minute overtime. Final score – Sake Tuyas 104, Apocalypstix 101.
The regular season is over which means the Atlanta league will be playing its all-star team against traveling teams The Sin City Neanderdolls (Las Vegas, Nevada) , Tragic City Rollergirls (Birmingham, Alabama) , and Dixie Derby Girls (Huntsville, Alabama).
Upcoming work is setting up/tearing down a jazz show at the Ferst Center (Earl Klugh), more weekend art installation, and a day of rest.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Atlanta Rollergirl rollerderby at Stone Mountain. Anyone interested?
Neon Poisoning 
