All Tied Up!

I want to start of by saying thanks to everyone who nominated a Rebel for Roller Rebel of the Month. We now have a tie that needs to be broken.
Chest Blockwell and Psycho Billy have received an equal amount of nominations and I need your help to break that tie!! Please email me your vote - ettajams@yahoo.com The voting poll will close tomorrow night at midnight.

Thanks for all of your help and good luck to the two fantastic contenders!

xo
Etta

What's Happening?

It seems as though once the month of June hits, so do many great events and fundraisers. Here's a list of whats coming your way soon......

Starting it off, this Sunday, June 21st, our friends The Mortal Skulls will be hosting the 4th annual run for awareness benefiting the Rose Brucia Foundation. The event includes a ride starting at (10:30am-12PM for sign up) at Bellmore Train Station and ending at DJ Rider's Rhythms and Brews where food will be served, live bands will play and plenty of vendors will be there to sell their goods. Fee is a $10 donation. We attended last year and had the most fun!!

Then next weekend, June 27th and 28th, most of us Rebels will be taking a road trip to Pennsylvania for a derby filled weekend. We will be attending The East Coast Derby Extravaganza. The event includes various bouts, competitions, workshops and derby vendors galore! Enough to keep us busy for 2 full days and nights.

Upon our return, it's back to practice and back to Roller Rebel business as usual. But that doesn't mean that the fun stops. On Thursday, July 2nd, come and laugh with us at Governor's Comedy Club. This fantastic fundraiser was thought up and organized by our powerful blocker, Mean Frostine. Have some drinks and laughs with your favorite derby girls. See the flyer below for full information:Don't get too comfortable yet, because the following Saturday, July 11th, you won't want to miss one of the most exciting bouts of the season! For the first time in years, The Ladies of Laceration and The Wicked Wheelers return to battle it out on the track! Live music by Brittany Jean and The Boogie Brains and DJ JoeJack. Click here for tickets and more information.

Wait, did you think I was done? Nope. Sore muscles and all, us derby girls are ready to keep the fun going even the day after our bouts and thanks to our favorite rockabilly band, we have a place to go on Sunday, July 12th. Our friends The Buzzards will be performing live from 1PM-5PM in Freeport at Otto's Sea Grill and best of all, there's no cover charge! So work your way over to the South Shore for some good food and great music. You will be sure to catch a Roller Rebel at this event!

See you all soon....

xo
Etta

Help an Ettator Out

How are you all doing? If you remember, I've had some life "things" going on which deterred me from Rebel Yell upkeep. As a result, I've neglected to address my own monthly blog columns; Ask Etta and everyone's favorite Roller Rebel of The Month. It seems my set back a few months ago left me little time to catch up on those. So, I thought I would ask for a little help from my friends. Yes, that means you!
Next month, I will bring back Roller Rebel of the month and I would like all of you to nominate someone. This includes any Roller Rebel; Skater, ref, non-skating official, coach, volunteer, announcer, etc. To keep things fair and ensure that everyone gets their Rebel Yell fame, if someone was already interviewed for the blog, she/he will not be eligible to win (sorry). This includes:

Captain Morgan
MadDonna
Cyanide Kisses
Amaretto Sourpuss
C-Roll
Regine Bull
Anita Cookie
Celtic Thunder

The person with the most nominations (you may nominate more than one person) will be featured next month. So let the games begin! Email me (ettajams@yahoo.com) with your vote, no later than June 21st and stay tuned to see who is chosen.
Thanks for lending a hand!

xo
Etta

Long Island Pride

Today, Sunday, June 14th, The Roller Rebels were proud to march in the 19th annual Huntington Pride Parade. Members of the parade flocked Main Street with banners, beads, masks, music, giveaways and rainbows of all kinds. The parade ended in Heckscher Park where vendors set up booths and various performers and speakers appeared on stage. The park also had a Walk of Pride set up where pictures from previous year's parades were displayed. We were so excited to see that the images (see the two pictures below) from 2008 included a photo of The Rebels! Many thanks to our teammate BRAWLette for organizing such a fun event for the 2nd year in a row!! Here are some pictures:

Face the Facts

Disaster
A Roller Derby “touring group” and their support team (our version of a travel team and NSO’s aka none skating officials) were headed for a performance (bout) in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were traveling from St. Louis, Missouri with an estimated 23 passengers on board March 24, 1937. Unfortunately, when their journey neared Salem, Illinois their chartered bus blew a tire going 40 miles per hour down a hill on U.S. Route 50, crashed into a bridge abutment, flipped onto its side and was engulfed in flames. Most of the passengers were trapped inside with only a few escaping. Later some that escaped the burning disaster died from the injuries they sustained, bringing the death toll to around 20 (sources vary on the exact death toll number).
This tragedy nearly killed derby as a sport, but luckily replacement skaters were found and the sport continued to be played. To pay homage to the members of our derby family lost that day, the number “1” was permanently retired for all Roller Derby teams.

I know this is a tad depressing but I just wanted everyone to be careful – especially those on the travel team. We are the ones keeping derby alive and well today – and I want to keep it that way!

Your Saucy dish of history,
Muscles Marinara

A Heartless Wedding

On Friday, June 5th, our wonderful, intelligent ref and derby player, Roxie Heartless married her long time boyfriend Dave aka Greg Heartless. The bride was a natural beauty in a white polka dot vintage halter top dress with a full layered crinoline skirt. Her hair was softly curled and pulled back under a stunning vintage cocktail hat/veil which was changed for the reception into a headband holding a single flower. She wore big red hearts atop her sleek high heels to further express the spirit of the day. While the groom was handsome in a simple gray suit with paisley tie, it was the expression he held on his face standing beside his new bride that really lit up the hall. The guests consisted of the bride and groom's friends and family and of course two tables full of Roller Rebels. And really, what is a party without some derby girls? All of the girls and their dates looked so fantastic! Now because we are a tough league, I know talking about the beauty of the girls won't ruin the reputations they hold as "bad girls on the track" and so I will fill you in on some of the details. Ruby Redrum with her feminine bone structure and gorgeous pixie haircut, was a modern day Audrey Hepburn in her black, ruffle top dress. MadDonna was a perfect lady in a 1950's style beige dress and pearls, while Amaretto Sourpuss wore a retro-esque rockabilly style black dress and hot pink leopard cardigan. Chest Blockwell and Captain Morgan were both elegant and gorgeous and D-Ball blew our minds in a ruffled collar, plum halter with pinstripe gray pants. Carnage Electra, #2 and Butterscotch Cripple each represented floral prints of various colors and patterns on their dresses. Dedly Weponz and her man were color coordinated as were Celtic Thunder and Jefferee. I could go on and on about how wonderful everyone looked and not only that, but we all had a really great time. It could have been the vodka lemonade drinks that helped make the party a success, but quite honestly, I think it was the fact that we are a fun group of people who truly know how to laugh and have a good time together.

We danced for the majority of the night thanks to live rockabilly music supplied by our friends and favorite band The Buzzards who performed. As always their undeniable talent and antics kept the crowd roaring, dancing and wanting more! They effortlessly played three sets, all the while dancing right along with us, calling out our derby names and sounding as fantastic as always!

Rumors have it, an after party took place at a nearby hotel. I unfortunately couldn't make it and called it a night. So no details yet on those happenings. I can tell you this though. If my derby family was there, it was a guaranteed good time!We are so happy for our derby sister Roxie and her husband Dave and we wish them a lifetime of happiness, health and great times!! Thanks for having us Mr. and Mrs. Heartless. It was an honor to be your guest.

xo
Etta