Roller Derby!
Jul. 27th, 2008 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fancycwabsI figured it would be a good time to check out the Memphis Roller Derby last night, as they're not scheduled to be back in town again until November. They usually play in Collierville, which is a good distance removed from their midtown hipster fan base, but they rechristened the Youth Events building at the Mid-South Fairgrounds as the "House of Bruise" and set up to skate on the concrete floor there.
The Mid-South Fairgrounds is home to the now-defunct Zippin' Pippen. I took a shot of it as I entered the building, since it's kinda a throwback to the same era.
The crowd wasn't huge; they've taken a medium-sized livestock exhibition hall (from the days where livestock exhibitions were a big deal) and slapped some tape on the floor and bleachers. Not being in a building expressly built for skating gave the event an underground feel, adding somewhat to the punk pastiche.
The Arena:
The event proper didn't start for a few minutes, so I wandered around, getting a beer, snapping what photos I could manage in the low light (I took a bunch of photos, but most are made of digital film grain). Some did turn out, like this shot of the referees:
In addition to bleachers and folding chairs, you could sit right along the edge of the track with the possibility that a skater would come careening into you. In keeping with the theme, this area had a name of its own:
They introduced the away team, from Ft. Smith, Arkansas:
and the home team:
There's a certain unsportsmanlike rudeness that comes with Memphis sporting events, real or fake. Andy Kaufman could not have selected a better location for his wrestling career, as local fans get worked up. Because of the punk aesthetic and some built-in theatricality, some folks were really getting into the rivalry aspect of the team, making obscene gestures and yelling obscenities. As the women who do this pay in order to perform, and buy their own gear, and train pretty hard, and hold down full-time jobs, often, in addition, that's probably uncalled for--but maybe they like folks getting into the spirit of things. Most fans were well-behaved.
Now, a confession. I have no idea what the rules of roller derby are. I got a vague sense of them after watching an hours worth of the sport, but I'm not going to try to explain them here, as I'm sure Wikipedia would be more or less accurate.
That doesn't mean I'm going to leave you without some document of the actual bout, in which people skated around in circles:
...engage in cosplay:
...bodycheck one another, resulting in accidents:
...and sometimes get into bench-clearing catfights:
(The fight took place in the last thirty seconds of the match, spurred on, no doubt, by the fact that Memphis embarrassed Ft. Smith pretty handily in the scoring department).
Fun. Worth checking out locally if you get a chance (and since every city with a couple of skating rinks seems to have a league, you probably have a chance).
Memphis' Roller Derby has a flickr pool, which has much better pictures taken with much better cameras, incidentally. Check that out, too.
The Mid-South Fairgrounds is home to the now-defunct Zippin' Pippen. I took a shot of it as I entered the building, since it's kinda a throwback to the same era.
The crowd wasn't huge; they've taken a medium-sized livestock exhibition hall (from the days where livestock exhibitions were a big deal) and slapped some tape on the floor and bleachers. Not being in a building expressly built for skating gave the event an underground feel, adding somewhat to the punk pastiche.
The Arena:
The event proper didn't start for a few minutes, so I wandered around, getting a beer, snapping what photos I could manage in the low light (I took a bunch of photos, but most are made of digital film grain). Some did turn out, like this shot of the referees:
In addition to bleachers and folding chairs, you could sit right along the edge of the track with the possibility that a skater would come careening into you. In keeping with the theme, this area had a name of its own:
They introduced the away team, from Ft. Smith, Arkansas:
and the home team:
There's a certain unsportsmanlike rudeness that comes with Memphis sporting events, real or fake. Andy Kaufman could not have selected a better location for his wrestling career, as local fans get worked up. Because of the punk aesthetic and some built-in theatricality, some folks were really getting into the rivalry aspect of the team, making obscene gestures and yelling obscenities. As the women who do this pay in order to perform, and buy their own gear, and train pretty hard, and hold down full-time jobs, often, in addition, that's probably uncalled for--but maybe they like folks getting into the spirit of things. Most fans were well-behaved.
Now, a confession. I have no idea what the rules of roller derby are. I got a vague sense of them after watching an hours worth of the sport, but I'm not going to try to explain them here, as I'm sure Wikipedia would be more or less accurate.
That doesn't mean I'm going to leave you without some document of the actual bout, in which people skated around in circles:
...engage in cosplay:
...bodycheck one another, resulting in accidents:
...and sometimes get into bench-clearing catfights:
(The fight took place in the last thirty seconds of the match, spurred on, no doubt, by the fact that Memphis embarrassed Ft. Smith pretty handily in the scoring department).
Fun. Worth checking out locally if you get a chance (and since every city with a couple of skating rinks seems to have a league, you probably have a chance).
Memphis' Roller Derby has a flickr pool, which has much better pictures taken with much better cameras, incidentally. Check that out, too.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
every now and then I like to pretend I am Ray Smuckles
Date: 2008-07-28 02:13 am (UTC)Shit. I need to call some people. Let's make this happen. *reaches for the phone*
thanks!
Date: 2008-08-22 07:18 pm (UTC)OH!
Date: 2008-08-22 07:21 pm (UTC)There's more pics on my flickr two (i asked if we can be 'friends' already. my flickr URL is http://www.flickr.com/photos/matadorblossom
xoxo
Dirty Constance
Agent 99
Re: OH!
Date: 2008-08-22 07:34 pm (UTC)