Sunday, April 29, 2007

Vandal O'Riley in The Bingo Show

Vandal O’Riley, aka Veve laRoux, Bingomistress in the Bingo! Show was at The Allison Miner Music Heritage Lagniappe Stage on Sunday, April 30th.




Relax, smoking was just part of the act


The Times Picayune marked it their “Hot Acts to Follow” on the front page of Sunday’s paper, Gambit Magazine deemed The Bingo Show a Critic’s Pick. “Half rock show, half game show, half happy psilocybin nightmare, Clint
Maedgen’s wholly unique exhibition is 150 percent exhilarating.” The Times Picayune Lagniappe called it, "Equal parts of the bizarre, band and multimedia extravanganza, the Bingo! Show is a unique manifestation of the lower French Quarter arts community. Audience participation is not only encouraged, but inevitable."







Many Big Easy Rollergirls came out for the show!








If you missed Vandal, you can catch her and the Bingo Show:

Saturday, May 5th @ One Eyed Jacks

Friday, May 11th @ Spanish Moon in Baton Rouge

Wednesday, May 16th & 30th @ Le Chat Noir

Wednesday, June 6th & 13th @ Le Chat Noir

Come out and catch this fantastic show!!!

For more information visit The Bingo Show

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Lusher Crawfish Boil

This Saturday, from 11am to 5pm is Lusher’s annual Crawfish Boil.



Located on the Lusher Fortier Campus at 5624 Freret St, this event helps the Lusher Charter School with their annual expenses. Lusher is a kindergarten through 12th grade New Orleans Public School located in Uptown New Orleans and operated by the non-profit Advocates for Arts-Based Education Corporation. Their motto is “Celebrating Cultural Diversity Through High Academics and the Arts.”

Only one measly dollar gains you entrance into not only a worthy cause, but food, music, art, and entertainment abound!

FOOD: Delicious New Food:
Crawfish Monica,
Kettle Corn,
Reginelli’s Pizza.

Along with tons of boiled crawfish,
grilled oysters,
hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken,
red beans and rice,
Caesar salad, and a
bake sale.


MUSIC: 11:00 – Philip Manuel with Steve, Martin and Sasha Masokowski
and Johnny Vidacovich
11:45 – Cranston & Sons
12:30 ­ Twangorama
1:00 – Char maine Neville Band
1:30 ­ Davell Crawford with Yolanda Robinson and Topsy Chapman
2:00 – The Hons (Richard Bates from Young Audiences)
2:30 ­ It’s Grits (Ben Kahn and.....NOCCA/Lusher Students)
3:00 – David Torkanowsky
3:30 – Hot 8 Brass Band (20 minutes on stage) then second line
4:00 – The Bruisers (Jason Goodman, David Olivier & Mary Tuminaro)
4:30 The Dads staring Anders Osborne, Steve Watson, Mark Hughes,
Doug Garrison, Derek Houston and....


ENTERTAINMENT: 
The Audubon Zoo's Bugmobile,
Pony Rides,
Body Shop Booth with custom made Lusher tattoos, and bindis from The India
Dunk Booth

ART: Art Town - a kids based art making section with activities created by
KidSMART, The Krewe of Muses, the Pussyfooters, Cathy Cooper, and Recycle for the Arts/Green Project… and THE BIG EASY ROLLERGIRLS.

Little Miss Ruffit will be decorating wheels with some of our newbies (aka Skater Tots) and vets: Love’n’blood, Cynthia, Chessa, Blaze, Squirtalicioius. Frida Pancakes, SmasHer & Sophie Nuke ‘Em will also stop by. They will also have tickets available for our Championship Bout on Sunday, April 22nd at Mardi Gras World.

There will also be a fantastic silent auction with a bevy of prizes ranging from restaurant gift certificate, lunch with Mitch Landrieu, jewelry, art, etc.

For more information, please visitLusher

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Favorite Moments of the March Bout

Trixie la Femme: My FAVORITE moment of the bout was sitting back in the audience, watching my league mates playing with so much force and speed. You guys looked awesome and I felt so much pride for BERG and for you individually as skaters. I was losing my mind screaming and clapping!!! Shay, you are my hero of the bout -- the way you dodged and darted and defended the lead, managed to gesture to your teammates and hold the pack. Your predatory timing is wonderful to behold. Mace, whether jamming or blocking you look like you are ready to whoop ass on someone, it slays me. That's why I get the hell out of your way. Scabigail, VVD, WIT, as always, I love to watch you jam. You guys all have such unique styles and I feel like I learn so much from watching each of you. All of you were wonderful to watch, and it really hit home how much we've accomplished over the last year.


Wit



Mace takes 'em on!








Crusty McKnuckle: I agree with Trixie...getting to watch the other team play was great. It gave me a chance to do my favorite thing, YELL! Ya'll played a great game.
I was also very, VERY proud of my teammates and how we came back at the second half with a vengeance. We played hard and well and brought it!










Power Snatch: What a cosmic convergence that both BERG squads would score the same amount of points? It's almost as exciting as our first bout ending with a tie-breaker!
Calling line up for both squads was a fantastic experience. Each squad has a different approach, but with the same goals--VICTORY. Of course, I would have loved to have been out on the track for this one, but since that wasn't possible, I'm thrilled I got to lose my voice cheering both squads on. I jumped around so much, my tush was actually sore the next day!

Another favorite--watching Beatrix jam in a home bout. She looked like a rock star and a Sophie, Jr. rolled into one and never told me "no" when I asked her to jam just one more time. She also took some brutal hits and kept on going.


Beatrix "the rock star!"


Lt. Dan - you are amazing. You took a crazy (and late) hit into a float face first and got back into the game with no pause. The pearls that were dislodged from the impact were strewn across the track, but your trusty teammate, Jaws, tossed them out of the way so that the jam could continue. You shook it off, got onto your toe stops and ran back to the action. Fabulous!


And Dan skates on


Crusty - your abilities continue to impress. Not only can you block a girl with 50 lbs on you, but you can turn a hit and fall into something strategic and positive and then sprint back up to the pack to give it to them again.


Crusty never backs down!


It was a wonderful night, befitting of our great city and in my mind was scored by a great song..."ebony and ivory. Skate together in perfect harmony"





Henry Roll-ins: You guys were so clean and fair and deliberate and smart, so many killer legal hits... it was just fantastic - it was wonderful to see you all unleashed like that, skating and playing derby with so much speed and grace and confidence. It was like a night of personal bests, I kept thinking "she's never played that well before" about so many of you - everyone was playing to their full potential. And though both our teams skated away with big wins, it was clear that both of you were fighting hard the whole way, never becoming complacent and never resting on your laurels - you all just kept the momentum going.
Awesome. Just awesome.
Congrats to you all. Official objectivity aside, I couldn't be prouder to be a ref for any other league, in any other sport, in the world. You guys are my heroes.










Mel Feasance: My favorite moment: Coming back from taking off my skates and finding that the new skaters had already pulled up all of the tape. Thank you, new league members, thank you, thank you, thank you.













The Countess: I guess my own personal moment was either skating my first bout or finding there were BERG players who didn't know that I hadn't skated a bout before
Okay, and one more thing-the teamwork!!! Whether in the set-up/tear-down or the hosting or on the track (especially on the track), it was just amazing. No one does it like we do!!!











Col. Panic: What do I pick from the whole weekend? The Crawfish Berl with BERG, GCRG, ETXB, and Hurt Reynolds? The masterful bout skating? The victories? The super-helpful Skater Tots and Volunteers? The afterparty (and its subsequent and inevitable closing down by the Late Night Krewe)? The overall smoothness of the entire event? Really, there are too many good moments to choose from, so I choose them all.












Marquee de Squad: Showing all of our visitors- ETXB, GCRG, and Hurt Reynolds that New Orleans knows how to host. Thanks everyone for making this event a smashing success. No pun intended.















SmasHer: I loved the thought and effort that BERG put into the crawfish boil – whether it was making the gift bags, shucking corn, or helping clean up – I was so proud of everyone’s heart and enthusiasm.
Watching the Green Country Rollergirls get their team picture taken – they were pros.
Seeing Rosie the Wrecker skate with so much obduracy. Amazing! And then watching her sob with that same kind of passion when she won MVP.


Oh, Rosie, you're a bad-ass



Rosie takes home more than the MVP award


Having Lionel Hurtz tell me that he thought it was going to take the jaws of life to recover one of Tulsa’s jammers (won’t say who) that I knocked under the float.
Seeing those fantastic MVP awards that CHEAP and Ibeatya made. Wow!
Seeing Shay wear black! Heh-Heh! (It was an honor)


It's about time- Shay comes over to the dark side!


Tapping knuckles with Vandal before one of our jams.
Being able to finally skate with Sophie and Trixie (missed you in Philly)
The thank-you card Green Country gave me. Made me teary.



Hugging VVD after the game.
Of course, FINALLY being able to skate in a home bout was fantastic. I had been cheering from the sidelines for so long, but it was so nice to cheer knowing that I would be out on skates as well. And my knee held up! Yay!

Least favorite moment: not getting my picture taken with Scabby’s man Dan. Dan, where were you? You broke the circle of derby life! And.... my wardrobe malfunctions. Sorry.







Anti Em: I got to watch two of the best games the Big Easy Rollergirls have played to date up close and personal - what's not to love? It was also great to see what East Texas and Green Country bring to the flat track. They have some really tough, fabulous skaters in their ranks.

Most favorite and least favorite moment: realizing it was my last bout skating with Team Zebra! (Refs Rule the Rules!)







Beatrix sKiddo: The looks on the Big Easy Rollergirls' faces when ETXB paraded in to the potluck Friday night in what seemed like a never ending stream. My thought, "Wow, those girls are big!" Rather intimidating.

It was great to see our girls play from the outside of the rink (always love ya Team Z) and Lt. Dan, I felt your pain when I saw that Leviathan face plant!

To quote Power Snatch, "She looked like a rock star and a Sophie, Jr." Awww shucks! Next, I want to be just like Rosie the Wrecker!

Everybody brought their A game and it paid off. Much love for BERG, Texas, Oklahoma (you're a bunch of hard hitting banshees -- I've got the bruises to prove it), Mr. Hurt Reynolds and I think I even saw some Mississippi Rollergirls out there. Yay!






Sophie Nuke’em: I loved getting to watch, and skate against, Rosie the Wrecker. She's amazing, as in, I'll bet people all over will eventually be talking about her after Green Country plays a few more bouts. She's unforgettable. And, it was fun to be hostesses to two awesome leagues, with the crawfish boil and bringing them to Mardi Gras World. SmasHer skating with the black team for the first time, and she was terrific! I'm glad she's on skates and bouting!

I also loved skating in to DJ Jubilee. But I think everyone knows that already.








Scabigail: I loved getting to play on both BERG teams. Not only was it fun to skate with all of the black team ladies for once, instead of getting knocked down by them, but I got to win twice in one night!
AWESOME!!!!













Little Miss Ruffit: Scabby was awesome!! Can't imagine what we'd have done without you, Shay, and Cooney. Truly amazing athletes! My favorite moments were seeing how hard the visiting teams kept at it in spite of a lagging score. Very admirable. Oh and yeah, watching LA. Gator take his 10th birthday victory lap. He was soooo looking forward to that!


Gator's birthday lap!












Buck Wild: Being able to watch live derby was a first for me - our team did an amazing job and the other teams played damn well, too. Scabby, Cooney and Shay were stars of the show - bouting for two hours and not looking tired and maintaining their A game - great job ladies!













Lt. Dan: Ok, My Favorite Moments:
Watching Bea kick some Major Tulsa Booty!
Ripping the pearls off that sissy Float! (Watch out Sophie! You're Next!)
Paying Against People I didn't know until after I beat them up (j/j)
And last but not lest, Special thanks to Diamond Girl, her iPod, her fabulous taste in Music, the Dead Milkmen, and everyone else that put up with my insane dance party that only I could hear except for the random outburst of out of tune sing-a-longs!



The always fab Diamond


I LOVE BEING A ROLLERGIRL!!!!









CHEAP THR!LL My favorite moment was the end of the bought when I took the mic from Nutty and handed out the MVP awards with maSCARa. We couldn’t skate but we still had our moment! And I LOVED watching Rosie the Wrecker get knocked down and slide straight into the box with the White Team (who had just won) and the non-skating Black Team. That was intense!


Sophie & Rosie battle it out for MVP!

Friday, April 13, 2007

The City of Sisterly Love



St. Patrick’s Day Weekend was the scheduled time for the East Coast Derby Extravaganza. Over thirty roller derby leagues from around the country descended into Philadelphia to participate in full-length, WFTDA-sanctioned bouts; half-hour challenge bouts and open scrimmages. The Big Easy Rollergirls, being one of the headlining bouts, looked forward to this event with much anticipation. Surely, with the myriad of St. Patrick Day celebrations, and New Orleans’ grand tradition of consecrating just about any event that can be spelled, The Big Easy Rollergirls would have an advantage. Right? Regardless of their superior celebratory skills and ability to multi-task any mishap, they knew that skating without a full team would test their strength, patience and mental agility. What they didn’t know was all of this would occur before they even took the rink. To avoid sounding like a Dickens novel, this tale is best summed up.

The Roster:




Captain: Bessie Smithereens
Beatrix sKiddo
Crusty McKnuckle
Ibeatya Amber
Jaws
Marquee de Squad
Scabigail
Shay Bay
SmasHer
Trixie la Femme
Vandal O’Riley
Victoria von Doom
Ref/Team Manager: Anti Em

A sudden and unexpected ice storm immobilized the East Coast.

It was a dark and stormy night…

The Atlanta Four: Bessie, Jaws, Marquee & Shay, after spending almost eight hours in the Atlanta airport and experiencing numerous delays and false starts, accepted the fact that they were stranded. Thanks to the kindness of Atlanta Rollergirl, Heller Highwater (who not only put them up for the night, but also fed them and took them back and forth numerous times to try and retrieve Bessie’s luggage) they kept their sanity. They later found out that Bessie’s luggage was the only thing that made it to Philly. As Shay said, “Heller wins, ‘Most Amazingly Hospitable and Patient Rollergirl Ever Award.’” Heller took the ladies out to eat where they encountered Trish the Dish and Ivanna S. Pankin (also stranded) from Las Vegas walking down the street. It was a lovely and joyous derby reunion.
Not to be detoured by a mere airline shut-down, the resilient rollergirls rented a car Saturday morning and drove fourteen-hours nonstop. With snow coming down, they drove straight to the rink in Philadelphia where Shay and Bessie immediately (and by immediately I mean within seconds- Shay skated in jeans) jumped into the 10 pm pick-up game Jocks vs. Geeks challenge bout with Beatrix and SmasHer. After their game the drove to the Philly airport to retrieve Bessie’s luggage, which was eventually recovered.

Meanwhile, Trixie was stuck in Memphis, only to have the airline lose all of her luggage (including her skate bag) and send her back to New Orleans. Although she did get to spend the night in The Graceland Hotel, it was a shoddy replacement for actually skating in Philly. Trixie, The Big Easy Rollergirl MVP from the Vegas bout, was greatly missed for not only her skating skills, but also her eternal optimism.

SmasHer’s much delayed flight landed in New York late Thursday night. She took a train into Philly Friday morning to meet the “Atlanta Four.” En route she received a phone call from Shay informing her of their situation in Atlanta. Translated, this meant there was no one to meet SmasHer at the station, or give her a place to stay. With help from VVD, still in New Orleans, she booked a room at the “roller derby hotel” in the suburbs. With visions of checking in and returning to the city to catch the King Tut exhibit, SmasHer took a cab out to the hotel only to have her driver hit a patch of ice, do two 180 spins on the freeway and crash into a guard rail. Yes, she still had to pay $50 for the cab ride. SmasHer later discovered that out of all of the thirty leagues registered at the hotel, she was the only one checked in. Once there, she learned no other cabs would come to the hotel, the shuttle was shut down and no buses were running. SmasHer was only sustained by a book and wireless until… Nina Knockout of the Philly Rollergirls drove through the snow and ice to pick her up and take her out to the rink to help set-up. It was nirvana.

Saturday, On the way to the hotel, Vandal, Bea, and Em’s taxi broke down and left them on the side of the highway while they waited for a new one. They blamed it on SmasHer’s taxi karma.

Crusty, VVD & Scabby had a relatively easy flight. They arrived at the rink late Saturday afternoon.


Scabby's in Philly!


Beatrix participated in many pick up games on Saturday and Sunday.
Anti Em reffed many WFTDA bouts and was impressed and amazed by many of the other refs.
Even with a bout to play that night, Shay skated in various challenge bouts on Sunday. BERG agreed that the challenge bouts were a chance to play with so many different players from around the country with varied skill levels. Everyone felt each game taught them something new.


Bea can't believe she's still working on BERG material


Come Sunday night, slightly stiff, sore & exhausted, The Big Easy Rollergirls took the rink intent on winning. Anti Em, fresh from reffing another bout, did double duty as team manager, expertly calling out the plays for the rollergirls. But it wasn’t to be… The Philly Rollergirls dominated from the very beginning and despite valiant efforts from EVERYONE on The Big Easy Rollergirls victory wasn’t in their favor.
Regardless, there was some fantastic game-playing from BERG.
Shay was a clear stand-out from the beginning with her strong pivot skills and relentless pit-bull drive.
Scabigail wowed the crowd with her speed AND her flashy blue skates.
Crusty charged after skaters twice her size.
Ibeatya invented “jazz hands offense” to breeze past the Philly rollergirls.
Jaws emerged from nowhere to deliver some incredibly lethal hits.
Captain Bessie kept her team in high spirits the entire time, continually shouting encouragement and strategy.
Even Ginger Snap from Gotham, and Ivanna from Las Vegas came to BERG’s side to give advice and show their support.
In the end, The Big Easy Rollergirls may have shown defeat on the scoreboard, but not in their “Goonies-Never-Say-Die Attitude,” and certainly not in their hearts.


Jaws



VVD stretches it out


Shay took home the MVP award, making her team VERY proud.


Our MVP!


The Big Easy Rollergirls were so touched by Philly’s amazing generosity and the fans’ incredible spirit and enthusiasm. They would like to send out their biggest Shoves & Kisses to The Philly Rollergirls for putting on this unprecedented event. It was quite an experience.


On a sad note, it was Bessie Smithereens swan bout. She balanced the extremes of co-captain, law student and kick-ass rollergirl for a long time. Bessie is taking a break to concentrate on her law studies. The Big Easy Rollergirls miss her greatly, wish her the best and can’t wait to see her back dominating on the rink (and in the court room).


Thank you Bessie for all of your lessons (and stories). We love you. Come back soon.



And a big thank-you to our fans. You make all of this possible!