let her fly through the fury of the race

It’s roller derby night! The Boston Massacre goes up against Baltimore’s Mobtown Maulers at the Shriner's Auditorium in Wilmington at 6:00 PM tonight. I won’t be there, given my general dislike of crowd scenes, but the wife will shouting her support for the local team from the stands.

I don’t really get roller derby, no matter how many times the principles have been explained to me. My better half, though, has become a diehard fan of the newfangled, punk rock iteration of the sport. She attends all the local matches, follows the national scene via the internet, and had undertaken a rigorous personal training program to get in shape for the Boston Derby Dames tryouts coming up in June. I support her ambitions, partly because any outlet for her natural aggressiveness that does not involve me as a target can only be a good thing. (I kid. Sort of.)

As for the possibility that I will become a roller derby widower, I don’t mind. They also serve who only sit and make themed music posts…

Jim Croce – Roller Derby Queen (from Life and Times, 1973) – From a conversation my father and I had about roller derby a while back:

Dad: “That singer I like who died in a plane crash did a song about roller derby.”

Me: “Ricky Nelson?”

Dad: “No, that one guy I liked, you know?”

Me: “John Denver? Buddy Holly? Otis Redding? Glenn Miller? The guys from Lynyrd Skynyrd?”

(I knew who he meant, but dickishness runs in my family, and it’s rare I get a chance to turn the tables on the master practitioner. It could have been worse. He could have said “that one guy who overdosed.”)

Phil Ochs – Kansas City Bomber (from The War Is Over, 1988) – I like Raquel Welch as much as the next guy, but in the 70’s roller derby exploitation film sweepstakes, I have to award the crown to Unholy Rollers, by virtue of my long-standing crush on the late Claudia Jennings.

The Soviettes – Roller Girls (from LP III, 2005) – Along with the Au Pairs, The Soviettes are a case where I know my evangelism on the band’s behalf on this site has paid off in terms of convincing people to go out and buy their stuff. It’s a damn shame that the band is currently on hiatus, given how strong the material on their last album was.