Red, White and Green!

Were you there? Did you see it all go down? Well if you weren't you sure missed out!

On July 11th, The Long Island Roller Rebels brought another night of fantastic derby action to Skate Safe as The Wicked Wheelers played The Ladies of Laceration. The Wheelers definitely came out strong in the first period, racking up the points and receiving next to no penalties. The Ladies did well, but one too many players spent some time in the box. In the second half however, it was quite the opposite! The Wheelers made their way to the box a few times too many, as The Ladies started scoring more and more points. Ultimately, The Ladies points didn't beat those of The Wheelers and the green team won the bout. Congratulations Wheelers!

It was so much fun to be out there playing and each team seemed to have their very own cheering sections in the audience. Former players came in their old uniforms supporting the new players as they continuously rang cow bells and screamed out our names as we whizzed by them.


Afterwards, we made our way over to Whoville for food and drinks and dancing.

The next day, sore and bruised, I traveled over to Otto's Sea Grill in Freeport to meet up with some of my girls and listen to some good ole' rockabilly. Our favorite band The Buzzards played a few sets outdoors. And as always, they sounded fantastic! The sun was shining, the food was good and I was surrounded by my adopted family, The Roller Rebels. What more could I ask for?

It was a great weekend and the good thing is, there are many, more to come!

Stay in touch for the latest news........

xo
Etta

Wicked on Their Wheels

I wanted to take a minute to say...........

Congratulations to The Wicked Wheelers on their victory over The Ladies of Laceration!!

Photos: Christina Dunalewicz

The Kind of Tickets You Like Getting

It's that time again! This Saturday, July 11th, at 7:00PM, Skate Safe America will open it's doors to a long awaited Roller Rebels' bout. For the first time in years, The Wicked Wheelers will take on The Ladies of Laceration. We've set up the event, ordered the beer and put the tickets on sale, but it's up to you to get your butts there! So order your tickets online now. Can't do it now? You can still buy them at the door, but be sure to get there early. Our last home bout was SOLD OUT and we wouldn't want you to miss out on any of the action.
With the teams' new uniforms; Wheelers in green, Ladies in red, think of this as an early Christmas laceration.....umm I mean celebration. Wear the colors of your favorite team to show your love and support. We can't wait to hear and see all of our fans cheering rink side and in the stands.

See you there........

xo
Etta

A Place Where Everyone Knows Your Name

Last weekend I experienced my first trip to The East Coast Derby Extravaganza. If you have never been to ECE, picture this: A weekend in a world of derby where a sports arena and the surrounding area are transformed into what I like to call The City of Derby aka Derbyville, the place where everyone knows each other's names, since it's literally on everyone's back! Team shirts and uniforms with names imprinted on the back are everywhere you turn, which makes for easy introductions. Derby men and women populate this city, where if you don't have skates on, you're the strange one.


The center of Derbyville (the arena) consists of three tracks. Those of you who have been to a Long Island Roller Rebels home bout, imagine Skate Safe with an extra rink. There are various "employees" in the city; Vendors, Skaters, Referees and NSOs. The tracks are surrounded by the vendors, selling what else but derby related merchandise. Everything from skates to clothing to stickers. More importantly though is what is happening ON the tracks, where the skaters, refs and NSOs do what they do best. Bouts are continuous all day and night and consist of both WFTDA ranked teams and teams made up of skaters from various leagues all over the world. While the WFTDA sanctioned bouts are intense, the competition bouts are full of fun and energy. Skaters of any level can sign up to be placed on a competitive team, which definitely keeps it interesting. In keeping up with the tradition of derby, the competition teams have clever names, such as, Rice vs. Beans, Villains vs. Superheros, Blondes vs. Brunettes and Movie Stars vs. Rock Stars.


Once you're done watching or playing or stocking your bags with merch, you can step outside of Derbyville townhall and lounge by the pool, eat and drink. So much action in this city!

On a more personal level.....I learned so much from watching the bouts and saw some of the most incredible players who made skating look as easy as pie. It was so interesting to check out the diverse styles and forms each individual had and to also see the different strategies they used.

Another great moment for me was meeting the other skater who's name was also inspired by the toughest singer around, Ms. Etta James. Yep, the beautiful Etta Maims who plays for The Boston Dirty Dames found me and introduced herself. I can remember back to when I finally chose my name, looking at her name on the master roster over and over wondering how she would feel about there being another Etta in derby. We spoke and not only was she was just fine with it, she was also a doll!And last, but definitely not least, it was so great to be away with my derby girls. My family, the Roller Rebels always show me a good time. Constant laughter and adventure, that's just the way we roll.Hope to see you all again next year!

xo
Etta

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