A couple of weeks ago Diana and I were walking the dog in the Upper Haight neighborhood and noticed a poster in the window for an upcoming roller derby match pitting The Bay City Bombers vs. The Brooklyn Red Devils. Knowing that our friends back in MN had attended roller derby in the past and had become devoted enthusiasts, we figured we had to give it a whirl. Thus, we attended our first Bay City Bombers (I thought it would be way cooler if they were nicknamed the Rollers instead, trademark laws be damned) on S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y, Night!
We met up with our group at the Kezar pub across the street from the Kezar Pavilion where the match was taking place. Unfortunately, numerous others had decided to meet their groups of friends there as well, which resulted in the worst service I have ever had at a restaurant. Eight of us ordered food right away, but only six meals ever came. They even had the gall to try and tack on the gratuity at the end. Blech.
After that rocky start, I was concerned for the rest of the evening, but those fears were unwarranted. The pavilion looked like something straight out of the 70’s with an overall feeling of beige. You could just imagine this place being a sweaty, smoky haze housing all sorts of events as varied as Donkey Basketball, Professional Wrestling and Flower Shows back then.We took our seats in the upper corner of the pavilion and watched the events unfold before us.
I vaguely knew the rules to roller derby due to my viewing habits as a youth, but couldn’t exactly figure out what was going on, so after the 2nd of 8 periods I sprang the $5 for a program so I could better understand the action. It basically boiled down to this: There are five rollers on the track at one time for each team. Two rollers for each team were the Jammers, who were signified by the x’s on their helmets. A point was scored for each time the Jammers would pass someone from the opposing team (essentially lapping that team member) once a jam was signaled from the referees. Physical contact is allowed to avoid being passed. Repeat for eight, ten-minute periods, with each period alternating between the men’s and women’s sides of the team.
What it really turned out to be was choreographed pro-wrestling on wheels and a banked track. Often someone from the Bombers would be elbowed and fall straight to the ground in overwhelming agony, only to have the manager of the opposing team stalk over and stomp them when the ref wasn’t looking, much to the chagrin of the home crowd. Especially vocal were the hordes of children and two older, perm-mullet coifed ladies who I could only assume were former rollers themselves.
We saw numerous rollers from both sides go up and over the rails, crashing hard to the floor. We saw many a pier six brawl, many a donny-brook, many a fisticuff. Basically, a ton of fake fights when frustrations bubbled to the surface. Our entire group of about 15 people were having a blast howling along and screaming at the villainous Red Devils, except for two people in our group from NY who were cheering the squad from Brooklyn, the traitors.
Two fan favorites quickly emerged among our friends. The first was a delightfully cute little roller named Rose Sylvia. She had the whole alterna-chick look working for her, and even when she wasn’t on the track, many in our group kept their eyes out for her. She was a hottie.
The second was the team captain on the men’s side, number 38, Maverick. He only goes by one name like Madonna or Cher, and certainly knew his way around the track, not to mention a buffet table. We had nicknamed him Crisco before we found out his name in the program. Crisco executed a couple of crowd-pleasing moves, including giving a Superfly Snuka belly splash on a downed opponent, and basically a rolling butt-drop on another.
With the score 57-52 going into the last jam, the Rollers thwarted the Red Devils last second attempt to pull the score even. The mustachioed villain for the Brooklyn crew ended up getting thrown out over the top of the rail, then one of our nimble heroes jumped up on the rail, skates on and all, and leapt down on him to finish him off. We cheered like mad and all declared it was most likely the best $10 we had ever spent.
Final Score: Bombers 57, Red Devils 54.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Last week I went to a sports bar to see the Twins take on Seattle with my friend Tracie who is a devoted Mariners fan. The Twins ended up dominating that game thanks to a grand slam from Torii Hunter, which netted me a free drink from Tracie. The other good thing that came out of it was that we made plans to go see the A’s/Mariners matchup at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, which took place last night.
I took BART straight from work arriving at 5 with a couple of hours to kill before game time. I looked up stuff on the internet and asked my friends what there was to do near the stadium. The closest thing I could come up with was to hang out at the convenience shack in the BART station or go to an In ‘n’ Out Burger. The latter would be right up my alley most days, but not on dollar dog night at the park. There is NOTHING to do near the park, good thing I had a paper.
I walked a couple of laps around the stadium, killing time until Tracie got there. Once she arrived we picked up our tickets at will call and scurried to the GA outfield seats to watch the Mariners take batting practice. The seats were reasonably priced at $12 each and afforded some really decent sight lines. Only when the ball was hit to deep center would we miss any of the action. Also of note was the massive amount of foul territory in the park. It is usually mentioned on television broadcasts how much foul territory there is, but it’s really strange seeing it in person.
The Mariners ended up winning 2-0 on two solo home runs, featured at least 4 double plays, the last one sealing Seattle’s victory. The game was less than two hours and was a great defensive/pitching match-up.
The dollar dogs were good, as everyone knows, hot dogs always taste better at sporting events. The $7.75 Kona Brewery Longboard Lagers were tasty and cold, which they had better be for that price.
Making our way out of the stadium we were funneled into the walkway to the BART station with all of the other fans. I hear some screaming and see two girls going at it; scratching, punching, hair pulling, the works. Then the boyfriends get into it (after one of them flicks a lit cigarette in the other’s face) and chaos reigns. I quickly push Tracie on the other side of me and debate who is the bigger douchebag of the two combatants. Things settle down fairly quickly, but something tells me this happens in Oakland more frequently than San Francisco, it’s just a hunch.
We ended up meeting another Mariner’s fan on the train back into the city who had caught a foul ball from Eric Chavez, which is as close to knowing someone who has caught a ball that I know. Has anyone else ever caught one?
Overall I give the experience a B+, bonus points for the baseball game itself and the seats, negative points for the barren wasteland around the stadium.
I took BART straight from work arriving at 5 with a couple of hours to kill before game time. I looked up stuff on the internet and asked my friends what there was to do near the stadium. The closest thing I could come up with was to hang out at the convenience shack in the BART station or go to an In ‘n’ Out Burger. The latter would be right up my alley most days, but not on dollar dog night at the park. There is NOTHING to do near the park, good thing I had a paper.
I walked a couple of laps around the stadium, killing time until Tracie got there. Once she arrived we picked up our tickets at will call and scurried to the GA outfield seats to watch the Mariners take batting practice. The seats were reasonably priced at $12 each and afforded some really decent sight lines. Only when the ball was hit to deep center would we miss any of the action. Also of note was the massive amount of foul territory in the park. It is usually mentioned on television broadcasts how much foul territory there is, but it’s really strange seeing it in person.
The Mariners ended up winning 2-0 on two solo home runs, featured at least 4 double plays, the last one sealing Seattle’s victory. The game was less than two hours and was a great defensive/pitching match-up.
The dollar dogs were good, as everyone knows, hot dogs always taste better at sporting events. The $7.75 Kona Brewery Longboard Lagers were tasty and cold, which they had better be for that price.
Making our way out of the stadium we were funneled into the walkway to the BART station with all of the other fans. I hear some screaming and see two girls going at it; scratching, punching, hair pulling, the works. Then the boyfriends get into it (after one of them flicks a lit cigarette in the other’s face) and chaos reigns. I quickly push Tracie on the other side of me and debate who is the bigger douchebag of the two combatants. Things settle down fairly quickly, but something tells me this happens in Oakland more frequently than San Francisco, it’s just a hunch.
We ended up meeting another Mariner’s fan on the train back into the city who had caught a foul ball from Eric Chavez, which is as close to knowing someone who has caught a ball that I know. Has anyone else ever caught one?
Overall I give the experience a B+, bonus points for the baseball game itself and the seats, negative points for the barren wasteland around the stadium.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
I Like the Tin Man
On Monday I had an all-day company meeting, two brief highlights:
1) During the opening speech and introduction, my boss’s boss’s boss wavered about 3.5 minutes into it and proceeded to pass out. He kind of just wavered there behind the podium, glassy-eyed. The theme of the meeting was courage, and I mistakenly at first thought he might be doing something to enhance this point. However, when people started screaming out “call 911” I figured that wasn’t the case. Luckily someone caught him before he bought it, but it was weird. Turned out he had been sick all weekend and hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast. Not smart.
2) As mentioned above, the theme for this meeting was courage. Numerous portions of the meeting referenced The Wizard of Oz, including portions of the film interspliced in slide shows and two presenters dressing up as bad witches. The real double-footed Jimmy kick was at the end of the meeting, where they asked everybody to stand up and sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. I couldn’t believe people were participating in this, are you kidding me? I just about lost it right then and there.
I have a weird job.
1) During the opening speech and introduction, my boss’s boss’s boss wavered about 3.5 minutes into it and proceeded to pass out. He kind of just wavered there behind the podium, glassy-eyed. The theme of the meeting was courage, and I mistakenly at first thought he might be doing something to enhance this point. However, when people started screaming out “call 911” I figured that wasn’t the case. Luckily someone caught him before he bought it, but it was weird. Turned out he had been sick all weekend and hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast. Not smart.
2) As mentioned above, the theme for this meeting was courage. Numerous portions of the meeting referenced The Wizard of Oz, including portions of the film interspliced in slide shows and two presenters dressing up as bad witches. The real double-footed Jimmy kick was at the end of the meeting, where they asked everybody to stand up and sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. I couldn’t believe people were participating in this, are you kidding me? I just about lost it right then and there.
I have a weird job.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
An Ear-Splitting Good Time
I had a chance to attend two shows in two nights last week and thought I’d let you know about them.
The first was The Aggrolites with Knock-Out at Slim’s on Thursday evening. It was a really crummy night out, with lots of rain and wind. Diana and myself had a nice Vietnamese meal before the show and did our best to stay dry during the walk to the show.
Knock-Out was the first up and they were adequate. Hailing out of Riverside, CA, these guys sounded like Sublime Jr. The lead singer even sort of looked like Brad’s younger brother. They would alter between slower ska tunes to hard, fast-paced punk numbers. I wasn’t mad at hearing them, but the lead singer came across as kind of a dill-hole, so I didn’t pick anything up by them. Note to opening bands: Don’t insult the audience when you are the curtain jerking band that no one has heard of, especially when you follow up the rants with pathetic pleadings to buy your merch. Good luck with that gas money.
The Aggrolites were the main event, and worth every penny spent on the ticket times five. You may remember this is the same band that we saw open up for Hepcat on New Year’s Eve. They were just as good this time, but had even more time to play. The new songs were fantastic, and the crowd had a great time singing along to their older material. This “dirty reggae” that they play is one of the greatest styles I’ve heard in years and years. It’s a shame more people haven’t heard them. As a result, if you email me or ask me at any point for an Aggrolites album, I will buy it for you, straight up, no strings attached. I don’t want to burn it for you, this band deserves more money and more popularity than they currently have, and I will consider any additional albums I buy as an investment. So, let me know…
On Friday night I hooked up with AJ, Tera and Toby to go to Annie’s Social Club. Two of the bands on the bill, La Plebe and The Cobra Skulls are recent signings to Toby’s label, Red Scare Records. Annie’s is a pretty decent venue that holds about 250 people, is really loud, and has Strongbow on tap.
The first band to play was Beer Can out of Reno, Nevada. They were pretty decent for an opener. Toby likened their sound to “Lagwagon’s first practice”, which is a pretty good compliment, if you think about it.
Next up was Nothington from SF. This band has members of former SF bands Enemy You and Tsunami Bomb in it. They played a really great show and sound like a cross between Leatherface/Motorhead/Hot Water Music.
Going on next was The Cobra Skulls, who recently relocated to SF from Reno as of last week. Going in I thought they sounded a little bit like Against Me, but I don’t think that’s quite right. Good three piece band and the lead singer has a ton of charisma, plus a kick-ass cookie duster.
The headliner was La Plebe, a Latino punk rock band out of the Mission neighborhood in SF. Plus, they have horns. I can’t understand a dang word they say except for when they cover Dirty Old Town by The Pogues, and even then it’s tough. They are fantastic, however, and some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. The first time I saw them, one of their friends/relatives brought a bunch of tamales to give to people after the show, how awesome is that?
I ended up grabbing a couple of CDs and T-shirt at the show to show my support for the fun night.
Two additional notes about Friday’s show:
1. I briefly met Eric Heitmann, the center for the 49ers. He went to Stanford and goes to a bunch of punk rock shows. I met him through Toby’s friend Nolan, who used to be a merch guy for Alkaline Trio, who went to school with Eric. This brings my SF celebrity sightings to 3 (Augusten Burroughs, Rob Courdrey, and Eric).
2. After the show, Toby and I piled into The Cobra Skulls van, stopped and grabbed some beer, and then went over to their new pad. Beers were drank and songs were played and I got home around 4, if I remember correctly. Fun times.
The first was The Aggrolites with Knock-Out at Slim’s on Thursday evening. It was a really crummy night out, with lots of rain and wind. Diana and myself had a nice Vietnamese meal before the show and did our best to stay dry during the walk to the show.
Knock-Out was the first up and they were adequate. Hailing out of Riverside, CA, these guys sounded like Sublime Jr. The lead singer even sort of looked like Brad’s younger brother. They would alter between slower ska tunes to hard, fast-paced punk numbers. I wasn’t mad at hearing them, but the lead singer came across as kind of a dill-hole, so I didn’t pick anything up by them. Note to opening bands: Don’t insult the audience when you are the curtain jerking band that no one has heard of, especially when you follow up the rants with pathetic pleadings to buy your merch. Good luck with that gas money.
The Aggrolites were the main event, and worth every penny spent on the ticket times five. You may remember this is the same band that we saw open up for Hepcat on New Year’s Eve. They were just as good this time, but had even more time to play. The new songs were fantastic, and the crowd had a great time singing along to their older material. This “dirty reggae” that they play is one of the greatest styles I’ve heard in years and years. It’s a shame more people haven’t heard them. As a result, if you email me or ask me at any point for an Aggrolites album, I will buy it for you, straight up, no strings attached. I don’t want to burn it for you, this band deserves more money and more popularity than they currently have, and I will consider any additional albums I buy as an investment. So, let me know…
On Friday night I hooked up with AJ, Tera and Toby to go to Annie’s Social Club. Two of the bands on the bill, La Plebe and The Cobra Skulls are recent signings to Toby’s label, Red Scare Records. Annie’s is a pretty decent venue that holds about 250 people, is really loud, and has Strongbow on tap.
The first band to play was Beer Can out of Reno, Nevada. They were pretty decent for an opener. Toby likened their sound to “Lagwagon’s first practice”, which is a pretty good compliment, if you think about it.
Next up was Nothington from SF. This band has members of former SF bands Enemy You and Tsunami Bomb in it. They played a really great show and sound like a cross between Leatherface/Motorhead/Hot Water Music.
Going on next was The Cobra Skulls, who recently relocated to SF from Reno as of last week. Going in I thought they sounded a little bit like Against Me, but I don’t think that’s quite right. Good three piece band and the lead singer has a ton of charisma, plus a kick-ass cookie duster.
The headliner was La Plebe, a Latino punk rock band out of the Mission neighborhood in SF. Plus, they have horns. I can’t understand a dang word they say except for when they cover Dirty Old Town by The Pogues, and even then it’s tough. They are fantastic, however, and some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. The first time I saw them, one of their friends/relatives brought a bunch of tamales to give to people after the show, how awesome is that?
I ended up grabbing a couple of CDs and T-shirt at the show to show my support for the fun night.
Two additional notes about Friday’s show:
1. I briefly met Eric Heitmann, the center for the 49ers. He went to Stanford and goes to a bunch of punk rock shows. I met him through Toby’s friend Nolan, who used to be a merch guy for Alkaline Trio, who went to school with Eric. This brings my SF celebrity sightings to 3 (Augusten Burroughs, Rob Courdrey, and Eric).
2. After the show, Toby and I piled into The Cobra Skulls van, stopped and grabbed some beer, and then went over to their new pad. Beers were drank and songs were played and I got home around 4, if I remember correctly. Fun times.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Always Up to No Good
Yesterday we had a nice dinner in the North Beach section of town. The eight of us were at an Irish Pub/Curry House called Kennedy’s for the monthly supper club. It was a pretty cool joint, about 100 different beers and they even had Big Buck Hunter, the first time I’ve seen it in this city.
Some of the girls didn’t like the fact that there was no hard alcohol, only beer is sold at Kennedy’s. They cruised next door to The International Club to get some cocktails, while the guys finished up our deer shooting and pool games before going next door.
Five of us (JR, Doug, Becca, Diana and myself) decided to head back into our neighborhood around midnight. As we stepped into the night air, the first thing we encounter is a chauffer getting out of the backseat of a limo. “How much for a ride back to The Sunset?” Doug asks. The chauffer replied, “Make me an offer I can’t refuse”. Quickly, Doug comes up with a number, “How about $55?” The chauffer had a very brief response, “Get in”.
Sweet! So we pile into the backseat of the limo and are giggling that we don’t have to worry about catching a couple of cabs to go home. I crawl in and immediately find a half-bottle of champagne that was on ice. We quickly realized that this limo had been hired by someone else, and we had hijacked it so the chauffer could make a quick $50. Awesome. As a result, I helped myself to the bottle of Korbel.
We cruise around the city, heading back towards our neighborhood while the smooth sounds of “Tha Doggfather” is blasting out of the limo’s windows. At some point, the driver asked us if we were Giants fans. We all admitted that we were not, but found out that our driver composes and sings songs about the SF Giants. We were very excited and had him pass his CD into the backseat so we could shove it in the player. The only song we had a chance to hear was about how awesome Barry Bonds is and how cool the new park is and about how much he likes John Miller (Giants announcer). The driver told us that he composes and records the songs under the moniker “The San Fran Fan Man”.
His website is www.sanfranfanman.com. Unfortunately, his music isn’t working on the site right now, but it was fantastic.
I woke up this morning with vague memories of talking to a member of an Arnold Schwarzenegger tribute band called Arno-Corps, but the Korbel had fogged my memory quite a bit. This town is fun.
Some of the girls didn’t like the fact that there was no hard alcohol, only beer is sold at Kennedy’s. They cruised next door to The International Club to get some cocktails, while the guys finished up our deer shooting and pool games before going next door.
Five of us (JR, Doug, Becca, Diana and myself) decided to head back into our neighborhood around midnight. As we stepped into the night air, the first thing we encounter is a chauffer getting out of the backseat of a limo. “How much for a ride back to The Sunset?” Doug asks. The chauffer replied, “Make me an offer I can’t refuse”. Quickly, Doug comes up with a number, “How about $55?” The chauffer had a very brief response, “Get in”.
Sweet! So we pile into the backseat of the limo and are giggling that we don’t have to worry about catching a couple of cabs to go home. I crawl in and immediately find a half-bottle of champagne that was on ice. We quickly realized that this limo had been hired by someone else, and we had hijacked it so the chauffer could make a quick $50. Awesome. As a result, I helped myself to the bottle of Korbel.
We cruise around the city, heading back towards our neighborhood while the smooth sounds of “Tha Doggfather” is blasting out of the limo’s windows. At some point, the driver asked us if we were Giants fans. We all admitted that we were not, but found out that our driver composes and sings songs about the SF Giants. We were very excited and had him pass his CD into the backseat so we could shove it in the player. The only song we had a chance to hear was about how awesome Barry Bonds is and how cool the new park is and about how much he likes John Miller (Giants announcer). The driver told us that he composes and records the songs under the moniker “The San Fran Fan Man”.
His website is www.sanfranfanman.com. Unfortunately, his music isn’t working on the site right now, but it was fantastic.
I woke up this morning with vague memories of talking to a member of an Arnold Schwarzenegger tribute band called Arno-Corps, but the Korbel had fogged my memory quite a bit. This town is fun.
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