Kate McCabe Warehouse

I apologize in advance.  Today’s entry is a bit of a quickie.  I’ve been bogged down a bit in other happenings, but I wanted to post something for the week.  (In an effort to keep up a four-entry-per-month minimum habit.)  To make up for the brevity, I’m going to ratchet up the ‘awesome’ factor here.

First of all, let me say thanks to my buddy Jason for posting a video of today’s great thing on Facebook recently.  It was that link that made me flash back to the fact that these special people actually existed.

117.  Central Park Disco Skaters

Whether it’s the old-fashioned roller boot you’re rocking or in-lines, all are welcome to the event.  From April until Halloween, on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, this group sets up camp in the middle of Central Park with a kick-ass sound system and blazes some old school jams.  Though there is an ‘official’ season, lots of folks still show up after Halloween if there’s a nice sunny day to be had.  CPDSA’s blog page can be found here:  Central Park Disco Skaters Association

Here’s one of my favorite clips.

These guys look like genies!  I’m also loving the dude dancing in the background without the skates on.  Don’t let that stop you, brother.

Is it just me or does it all seem so much sweeter and more care-free than that stuffy old ice-dancing?  Plus roller disco minimizes the possibility that someone with a sharp blade on their boot will skate over one of your appendages if you take a spill.

I think one reason that I’m so mesmerized and tickled by these clips (beyond the magically awesome participants) is that I love roller skating but I’m not very good at it.  I can pretty much just skate straight forward in a line or large and gentle ring–sometimes not even that.  What they do, to me, looks like such a cool skill to have dominion over.

One song that always reminds me of roller skate parties, like the birthday parties in elementary school, is  “Supersonic” by J.J. Fad.  Like I said, I was never one that could do any sort of smooth or fancy trick-skating.  But, when I listen to this song, it makes me feel like I could if I just tried hard enough.  Check out the video.  When it actually cuts into the high-tempo beat, it almost even looks like the trio is on skates.

Here’s a compilation sort of video.  It’s opted to edit music over all the clips instead of leaving whatever was originally playing when they were filming, but it’s still pretty cool.  I especially love the old-school video camera graphics employed here–particularly the ‘stars out of butts’ effect.

When, oh when, will this be an Olympic sport?  It’s something I would actually give a crap about and I bet every gold medalist would either be from Brooklyn, Washington DC, or Philadelphia.

One final clip, here.  Unfortunately, the music quality isn’t captured particularly well, but it does feature an excellent array of skate-folk.

The world would be a better place with more roller disco–as long as it didn’t get all Rollerball dystopic.  I’m pretty sure that roller dancers are the coolest people on earth. I want them at my wedding.  Why not start a group in your own local park?