Saturday, November 26, 2005 Out on the street, they call it derby
The internet tells me that roller derby is going to be featured on an upcoming episode of CSI:OMG. Maybe it was CSI:LOL. Or NY, you know. If you can find a blog that belabors a joke more than this one does, you read it!
I guess this is good news. We're going to blow up, just like the furries.
Little lame: the roller girls who are going to be on the show are NOT from the Gotham Girls. Instead they're using members of the LA Derby Dolls. I'm sure the Derby Dolls are a fine organization, but who will they be playing? Some fictional New York league? Themselves, trapped in a twister and dumped in New York on top of a witch? They should have flown the real Gotham Girls out there.
Meanwhile, the reality series about the Austin league is going to come out in January. It is from the producers of Laguna Beach. Sample diaologue: "I don't have a problem with authority. I just have a problem with people telling me what to do." Cut to another roller girl, "She HAS a PROBLEM with OTHER GIRLS' BOYFRIENDS."
Last night my own league, the Charm City Roller Girls had another event, a "Bout of the Bands" where bands performed roller derby themesongs they'd composed. "We wrote this this afternoon," one singer admitted. I ended up abstaining from the voting, because I don't care which shitty themesong they pick. One thing I did: signed posters. It was more yearbooky than cornered-starlettey, because the girls on the league bought most of them, but I know I signed at least one for a stranger.
I was wearing a purple satin sash with my derby name on it at the time, as were most of the roller girls. It was to differentiate us from the commoners.
Now, I've had my share of themesongs composed for me in the past, and I've worn satin, and I've signed my name and the names of others, but all together these things created something greater than the sum of its parts. The girl who was emceeing invited all the other girls up on stage with her, and it took us a long time to file off after she was done. We who were in the back stood kind of awkwardly, focusing on the steps, as the first band said, "How about another hand for the LOVELY LADIES of the Charm City Roller Girls." And some people standing on the floor went, "Woo."
The girls who put this whole league together seem to have a real handle on how to create celebrity (at least in certain circles) out of nothing, and I admire that. DIY celebrity. If we say we're big shots, we're big shots. If we say we're lovely, we are. Maybe real famous people feel like this too, like, Why the hell would you want me to sign anything? Why are you cheering just because that guy told you to? I'm just regular.
I stifle these thoughts daily. I learned it from Good Housekeeping. I do four sets of twenty stifles each morning, and by Christmas I will be a brand new me. posted by Frenz | 11/26/2005 11:48:00 AM
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