08 marca 2007
Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track
While at the Dust Devil, I picked up a copy of Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track by Melissa "Melicious" Joulwan. Melicious was one of the original Texas Rollergirls that are considered the pioneers that started the current "flat track" roller derby craze at the turn of the cenutry. Cool that I can say "turn of the century."The book is written in a punk rock jargon, and occasionally profanity, ridden style, which conveys the sport and its fandom perfectly. She goes through the early days of the Texas league, which started as some project by a mystery man from Tulsa, then was taken over by women known as the She.E.O.'s and eventually controlled entirely by the skaters. Her warts and all descriptions of the sometime petty rivalries that existed in those early days is fun reading.
She has a very loving look at the sport's fans. Infamous fan (and borderline stalker) Costas gets three paragraphs. Three! What do I get? Sheesh.Actually, when I met Melicious at the book signing I found her very nice and very gracious to the fans. I got the book signed, and the next day she even called over to me to say hello again. This is a woman that was mobbed every break in the action by autograph seekers, but she made time for all of us. Cool as hell.
Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.
