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I can, at last, write a bit about the Gainesville Roller Rebels’ debut bout, which took place on Sunday, April 20 at Mandarin Skate Station in Jacksonville. 

First, the Jacksonville Roller Girls have been unbelievably good to the GRR.  They have coached the GRR girls and offered countless pointers, JRG girls have come down to Gainesville, even, to help out: Anita Hardone did a radio interview with Ms. Rebel a few weeks ago to promote the the first bout. 

So, it was beyond kind for the Jacksonville Roller Girls to allow the GRR girls to debut in the context of a mixed-team competition.  Occasionally, derby teams’ first competitions will be against an established teams B-squad.  The Jax Girls don’t have a B-squad, and in a head-to-head contest against the GRR girls a blowout would be certain.  So this competition featured two teams–Preps and Punks–made up of a mix of Jax and Gainesville girls.  Miriam was a Prep, and wore a collared shirt with a necklace.  The punks probably had it easier fashionwise, but each team did a good job. 

The morning began early with a practice, and a review of how the match would proceed.  There is a little stagecraft involved, primarily orchestrating the way the teams will skate out onto the rink, and this bout involved a shoolyard pick.  Once that portion of the practice was done we all went to get lunch, and then split into groups for leisure activities.  Miriam and I joined Black-Out Brady and Sidless Nancy and headed up to the beach, where her fiance’s sister and brother-in-law have a house and a million bicycles.  We formed an impromptu gang and ruled the streets and the beach.  It was a delight.

Getting back to the Mandarin Skate Station in the late afternoon, the GRR girls found that the Jax girls had given them gift bags.  It was such a kind thing to do.  Steve and Kathleen had come and were running the merchandise table.  Spectators were showing up and taking their suicide seats.  Once the bout started it went fast.  Roller Derby is a fast game, and the jammers have to move especially quickly.  There were some serious spills, but the girls got right back up and kept on skating.  It was awesome.  You can see the full gallery here.

Generally, I think, Fox News’ mistakes can be seen as having a tinge of malice or spite to them, like when they put the initial “D” (for Democrat) after the name of some scandal-tainted Republican.  This time, however, it was just a dumb goof: an intern or graphic artist or other control room personnel that typed in a name in Google Images and didn’t bother to take a second glance at it.  But it’s the funniest thing I have seen in ages:

I’ve written in the past about my English Romanticism professor, James Twitchell, and how brilliant–if a bit monster-obsessed–he is.  His class isn’t easy, and he doesn’t shy away from giving Ds and Fs if that’s what a student deserves.  Grade inflation is not his style.  Indeed, my marks have been disappointing, but not undeserved.  When I conferred with him recently after doing especially poorly on a test, he was remarkably understanding and sympathetic, but the grade was fair. 

Imagine my horror when, upon arriving at work this morning, I was presented with a copy of today’s Gainesville Sun, the cover of which featured this above-the-fold headline:

UF Professor Admits He Plagiarized in Several Books

Below these bold letters was a photo of James Twitchell and a damning article.  I was astonished and dismayed.  Twitchell has been a professor at the University since the 1970s, and has written many, many books.  He is a frequent guest on a call-in show here at my work, and some of my colleagues, substantially older than me, had him as a teacher during their college years.  That he could even be accused of plagiarism is shocking to me considering how serious a charge that is in a college setting.  It is spoken of in the same tone used to describe genocide. 

To tell the truth, I’m giving Professor Twitchell the benefit of the doubt.  Someone as apparently gifted as he wouldn’t need to steal another’s ideas.  If he says it was a note-taking error I believe it. 

As I wrote on Thursday, Roger McGuinn was a surprise guest at Wednesday night’s concert with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, where they played “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “Mr. Tambourine Man” to a stunned audience, of which I was part. Jim Abbott of the Orlando Sentinel now reports how the historic moment came to pass: Steve van Zandt sent an email to McGuinn on Wednesday morning saying the E Street Band was in town would he come hang out. They sent a car to pick him up, and later that day we all got to hear something very special. Totally spontaneous.

Yesterday afternoon I picked Miriam up from work and we drove to Orlando to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play at the Amway Arena (the same venue we where we saw them in 2004, when it was named the T.D. Waterhouse Center). Some smart navigating kept us from having to sit in any traffic, and we made excellent time. Of course, we had missed the pit lottery, but we found the general admission entrance without difficulty. The many steps were hard for Miriam to negotiate since her roller derby injury last Sunday (that’s another story). We staked out a spot in the middle of the floor behind some shorter people, and there we stood for the next three hours.

The show started about 8:15 with a video tribute to the late Danny Federici, and it was a touching scene. In addition to a handful of songs from Magic (not “I’ll Work for Your Love”, alas), and “The Rising”, the set-list was mostly old favorites. I’d never seen him play “Lost in the Flood”, “Fire” (which was preceded by a funny story about Babyface making, in Bruce’s opinion, the best version of the song ever, such that, so sure was he that it’d be a hit, he went out and bought a new car), “Out in the Street”, “The River”, or “She’s the One”, but I last night they were all there. I had heard “Prove it All Night” in 2004, but last night it had the most over-the-top solo by Nils I have ever heard. It went on forever, and just when you thought it couldn’t get any more ridiculous, it got much, much more ridiculous. “Badlands” is a personal favorite, and though it’s often included, I was still glad to hear it again. A seldom played oldie, “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?” was offered to a person in the front holding a sign that had instead asked for “Growin’ Up”. “We played ‘Growin’ Up’ last night”, said Bruce. Oddly, he played “Does This Bus…” in Tampa in 2002, but last night it included to great mid-’70s intro. He seemed unsure before hand if he could remember it. I had been crossing my fingers for “Racing in the Streets”, which was played the night before in Tampa, but I had to settle for “Candy’s Room”, instead. He fulfilled a sign request for “Spirit in the Night”, which I’d never seen live, but didn’t answer another sign for “The Fever”. God bless the person in front of us with a sign reading “Drive All Night”, which is my second favorite rock song. He didn’t play it, but I appreciate their effort on behalf of an unloved masterpiece. And that brings us to “Backstreets” - from which “Drive All Night” was born: he opened the Tampa show with “Backstreets”, so I was crossing my fingers it’d show up last night, but it wasn’t to be. However, as though some sort of angels were smiling upon us, he reached out and took a sign from someone in the pit, held it up, and it read:

I’ve been waiting 30 years to hear Jungleland.

Then, lo, the band played “Jungleland”, and it was good. Roy Bittan is a rock pianist without peer.

Now, if I said that “Jungleland” wasn’t the most amazing moment of the evening you might think I was a liar, or simply stupid. And, under any other circumstances I’d believe you were right. But something even more astonishing happened last night, and, thanks to the magic of YouTube, you can witness it for yourself.