it begins

Monday night, 6:30pm PST, derydolls.tv presents an all-star celebrity event featuring:

- a sneak preview exhibition of Tough Cookies vs. Varsity Brawlers
- an exclusive performance by recording artists and Whip It star Landon Pigg
- a Q&A with the cast of 'Whip It' live from the middle of the LADD banked track, and you can ask questions of Drew, Ellen, Juliette, Andrew Wilson and others directly from our chat room!

FREE and LIVE from the comfort of your own home on derbydolls.tv

And if you want to get up close and personal, there's a game Saturday night. Get your tix here.

Couple's vacation captured in photos and police log

Something I like to do when visiting a small town is to find the local newspaper and subject my traveling companion to a dramatization of the paper's police log. So here I give you a few choice pics from Big Sur and Monterey accompanied by excerpts from the Carmel Pine Cone. Reporter Mary Brownfield is a new favorite writer.

Carmel-by-the-Sea: A citizen on Dolores Street attempted to grab onto an object to maintain his balance prior to crossing the street and lost his balance after his hand slipped off the object. The citizen slid to the ground but did not sustain any injuries. CFD and CRFA responded as a precautionary measure but were informed by the citizen that he was not injured and he had no complaint of pain. The citizen advised he fell as a result of losing his own balance.

McWay Falls, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

Carmel-by-the-Sea: Fire engine and ambulance dispatched to Scenic and Eighth for a hazardous condition. There was a report of a hot air balloon on fire traveling over the area of San Antonio and Eighth, headed east. Crews searched the area but were unable to locate.

Yurt interior.

Carmel-by-the-Sea: Female roommate reported an unwanted person visiting her roommate on Seventh Avenue. Roommate and unwanted person contacted, and roommate advised the mentioned person was not unwanted.

Carmel-by-the-Sea: Report of littering and minor property damage to a tenant’s unit on Mission Street that was previously reported. Contact was made with a party who may have leads. This was met with negative results.


Garrapata State Park.

Carmel area: Man reported that someone went inside his residence at Valley Way and Highway 1 during the night and stole a bottle of vodka.

Carmel-by-the-Sea: Citizen called to report being verbally harassed by the manager of a restaurant on Sixth Avenue. She was offended because the manager came out of the restaurant and asked her to pay her bill. She has an agreement with the owner that her daughter will receive free meals up to $200 a month. The manager stated there was no longer an agreement regarding free meals and verbally assaulted her outside the business. Citizen was concerned with the tone and the words used by manager. Citizen’s daughter was in vehicle and citizen believes daughter may be affected by words used as they were detrimental toward her husband, who had committed suicide. None of the language was threatening, according to the citizen. She stated it was only rude in nature and inappropriate.

Cell reception not-so-good in Big Sur.

Carmel-by-the-Sea: Person called the police department to report losing his wallet last night while visiting Carmel Beach. A brief description of the wallet was provided. The person was advised to call police if the wallet was found. At 1700 hours, the person called the department to request to cancel the report. Person said he found the wallet at a nearby restaurant he dined at last night. Nothing further.

Garrapata State Park.

Carmel area: Report of a suspicious note.

Biker Bar in Carmel Valley.

Carmel-by-the-Sea: A 32-year-old subject was located lying asleep in the middle of the street at Santa Rita Street and Fourth Avenue next to his bicycle. The subject had vomited all over himself and was under the influence of alcohol. Subsequent investigation revealed the subject in possession of a small amount of marijuana.

Organic garden, beer in hand, Treebones.

Carmel area: An adult male in Palo Alto reported his 15-year-old daughter ran away from home. After receiving the report, the responding party received a telephone call from the juvenile and agreed to pick her up in downtown Carmel.

Beer Committee Report: Zeno Supper Club

On Tuesday night, the Beer Committee held court at the Zeno Supper Club, an event described on their web site as:

"a social experiment to see what happens when you bring interesting people together with food, drink, and a creative environment. Through webisodes that are based on cooking lessons with 'Top Chef' Lee Anne Wong, the Zeno Supper Club will explore broader themes like environmental activism, buying local, living in a sustainable community and alternative transportation."

The BC's very own Beermonger (and only non-Derby Doll Committee member) is a Zeno chef and resident Beer Expert.

Other Brewsers in attendance: BEO, BE-Co, B-EMT, Beerbrarian (moi), Pilsnerd, & Brewologist.

Appropriately, Zeno's theme for the evening was Action Sports and the event was sponsored by Stone Brewing Co. It was as if the night had been custom tailored for the BC's athletic, albeit beer paunch-burdened, bod.

In the spirit of the Supper Club's commitment to alternative transportation, and given the athletic-themed evening, and knowing that we would be doing some serious brew-chugging and face-stuffing, the B-EMT and me opted to ride our bikes from Hollywood to Venice. We arrived on the scene sweaty, frizzy-haired and a little winded from the trek -- though, IMO, the most convincingly athletic-looking of the dinner guests. We were also very hungry and thirsty.






Yes, the food was good, the brews were tight, and the Committee even scored a tour of Stone Brewery (date TBD), whose CEO was in attendance and is the newest L.A. Derby Dolls fan.

Lessons learned: Do not drink good beer from a plastic mug (even a 2006 hot pink LADD Championship mug -- it will taste funny). Also, the ride back from Venice, uphill, is slightly more strenuous when you're toting several bottles of Arrogant Bastard in your messenger bag.

where are you going, where have you been?

Labor Day weekend found me in Kansas City, KS for a traditional Hindu wedding where JD was a groomsman. Yes, traditional Indian buffet made an appearance.

My impression of Kansas City is mostly limited to the various freeways connecting the Kansas City International Airport to the Sheraton Hotel, which is where we stayed and where the ceremony, lunch, cocktail hour, dinner, and reception were held. I also spent a reasonable amount of time in the Sheraton's fitness center between festivities.

The ceremony was two hours long and conducted in Hindi. An excerpt from the program:

In Tamil tradition, the bride and groom sit together on a swing and married women from the families circle rice balls around the couple in circular motions and walk around the couple four times while holding a lamp. This rite is believed to prevent evil forces from disrupting the wedding ceremony.

JD with the bride and groom, Maya and Chetan:

JD and I at the reception with much-photographed Ganesh ice sculpture:


Summer's officially over but I'm not done vacationing. On Sunday morning, we're hitting the road again, bound for a yurt in Big Sur.

I don't want to talk about it

Photo by Stalkerazzi.

Sad Gloom in the penalty box. Photo by Charlie Chu.

So, we lost the game by 10 points. What else is new? Console yourself with this radical bout intro:



Thanks Dr. Detroit and Awesome Sean!

In other news, there is a tiny 53-year-old librarian playing roller derby in Ohio. Totally commendable, though my gut reaction to the article was "Dear God, let me be done playing roller derby at 53. " Which may not be the case if my team doesn't pull out a victory in the next 23 years.

Inspired by the CNN story, this blogger, Fresh Meat Daisy, compiled a rundown of known Derbrarians worldwide.

And finally, I'm on a roll with the ice-cream-eating. Tuesday night, the beer committee biked it to Golden State, where I downed a beer float: Old Rasputin paired with a scoop of Scoops' peanut butter coffee ice cream. In an attempt to negate this indulgence, I accompanied my beer float with a tuna salad.

Who am I kidding?