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Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
Xennial co-hosts Dani and Katie talk about their analog childhoods, digital adulthoods and everything in between. If you love 1980's and 1990's pop culture content, this is the podcast for you!
Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
Roller Rinks: Skating Back in Time
Did you ever celebrate any major milestone of your childhood, on wheels?
Are you a skate or blade person?
If you ever rocked and rolled to Ace of Base as a disco ball lit up the room, you might be a Xennial who went to roller, or skating, rinks as a kid. And we are too.
Birthday parties, Friday night hangouts, and school field trips all revolved around these magical spaces of disco balls, arcade games, and questionable snack foods.
Join us as we journey back to the roller rinks of our childhoods, and even earlier.
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Have you ever grooved and glided to your favorite song while literally doing circles around and with your friends?
Speaker 2:Did. Saying the words let's hit the rink make you feel like the coolest kid in your fourth grade class, if you ever went to a birthday party where you laced up your skates or blades to have a good time.
Speaker 1:Ever went to a birthday party where you laced up your skates or blades to have a good time.
Speaker 2:You might be a Xennial and we are too. Hi, I'm Katie and I'm Dani and we have to stop for a second to let you all know that chat GPT wrote that intro for Katie. Oh my God.
Speaker 1:We cannot stop laughing. Oh, that's funny.
Speaker 2:I've never in my life said hit the rink until today. All right, okay and welcome to Generation Inbetween, a Zennial podcast where we revisit, remember and sometimes relearn all kinds of things from being 80s kids and 90s teens, and, if you could not tell, by our most eloquent descriptive intro. Today we're talking roller rink. Yes, interesting thing, though when I was a kid we didn't call it a roller rink. What'd you call it? Skating rink Skating. I've heard that too, so I wonder if that's like a regional thing.
Speaker 1:Skating rink. I don't know which one. I did more. I feel like they were interchangeable though, but I think now I say skating rink because we do have one locally, and I'll say, oh, it's at the skating rink.
Speaker 2:See, we always just said skating rink, but louisiana people, we say weird stuff, so whatever grammar's not our that works top skill and I can't wait to talk about skating slash roller rinks with you.
Speaker 1:But first a quick reminder if you are listening to this, please leave us a five-star review wherever you are listening. Just a quick little five-star review. If you want to leave a comment, that's great too. Make sure you're following us everywhere Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, even YouTube, where you can subscribe.
Speaker 2:Can we please tell people about our comment that we had this week?
Speaker 1:We are getting some weird comments on YouTube, not even like negative or positive. Oh no, it wasn't negative, I don't think no, just strange. Tell them what it said. We had a request for a video of Dani and I throwing pies at each other from a stranger. He's like have you all thought about throwing pies at each other? Listen?
Speaker 2:From a stranger.
Speaker 2:He's like I mean, I thought about throwing pies at each other. Listen, we have not. We do need extra money, so that might be the key. And I said I was talking about this. Who was I talking? I talked about this to several people yesterday. Okay, because it was so funny and I'm like anything. That video of us throwing pies at each other would be anything but what that guy is wanting, correct. It would be funny and ridiculous. There is nothing alluring about Danny and Katie throwing pies at each other. No, no exactly.
Speaker 1:I just, oh my gosh that was really funny.
Speaker 2:I was like, okay, that's a new one, that's a new request We've gotten a request to stop right now and shut down the podcast.
Speaker 1:We've gotten that request at least once, but I think I like the pie one better Creative feedback.
Speaker 2:It's so weird People are. You know what. Everybody's into their own thing, Whatever.
Speaker 1:We're not doing that for you, though. It's a weird place and we're on it.
Speaker 2:Well, talk to us in six months, we'll see how desperate we are.
Speaker 1:We'll see, yeah, maybe the, maybe the pie is the key. We're going to find out anyway. Well, so, danny, I have to know. Yeah, what are your memories of the skating slash roller rink from growing up?
Speaker 2:We had one in my hometown called skaters paradise. I think it's still there. I'm not sure it may have. It may have, uh, gone away in hurricane Katrina. Anyway, slide L people. Let me know if Skater's Paradise is still there. Yep, and you know, it was like every other skating rink back in the 80s it was. They had like a little arcade, they had concessions. I remember this is super weird At the end of the year when I was in middle school, we would take field trips, like you know, sometime in the last like span of school with PE to the skating rink Okay.
Speaker 1:One of my kids went on a bowling field trip for school.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I just don't. I just am like that's a weird whatever. Anyway, because we would go and like buy all this junk food and snacks and crap, and then of course we'd skate too, of course, but they always had like theme nights. Did your skating rink have theme nights? Like glow night and like also I remember this is the stupidest thing, that just popped my head they would always, at a certain time in the night, do some weird dice game in the middle of the floor and you could win something. What's it?
Speaker 1:like tiny little dice you know how I have big dice when I teach class.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were like three times the size of that. Oh wow, they were like foam blocks, but they were like huge like a cardboard box and I don't know why. And they would always do the hokey pokey. Uh-huh, did you do the hokey pokey at your skating rink? Oh yeah, oh God, and you'd like skate in? That's a skateboard.
Speaker 1:It is Okay, I thought it was just my skating rink. Because I've seen it at a skating rink since then, and I swear it's the same recording of Hokey Pokey.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God.
Speaker 1:It's like the skating rink version or something. Well, we have to go to the skating rink, we do. I want to do a photo session there.
Speaker 2:We need to.
Speaker 1:I think that'd be really fun Like a new outfit, but also we're going. We're going to take photos.
Speaker 2:She's like we have to have a purpose and I'm like, no, we do not, we need to just go. Yes, well, katie's, like every second have you been to the one here in Melbourne? No, I haven't been skating. I have not been roller skating since middle school.
Speaker 1:It is definitely not because like old school it should be. Yeah, it's old school. It's kind of like I don't like to get food from there. I'm sure it's fine.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's that bad.
Speaker 1:It's kind of run down. This rink itself is pretty nice, though Like am I going to injure? Myself Not on the rink. You're like, just stay on the rink and you'll be okay. Do they sell beer there? I'm just curious, no alcohol there.
Speaker 2:Okay, no alcohol. They sell like fountain drinks and then nachos, like with the cheese and pretzels and I love that fake cheese. Personal pan pizza. Katie's like don't eat it. You do like shitty pizza as we determined. I haven't tried it there.
Speaker 1:I should Well I should You're missing out, then I'm hating on their, hating on them, and maybe they have the best shitty pizza in town and I never knew. Okay, but all right, so tell me your skating memories Similar to yours. There was one maybe 15 or 20 minutes from our house and I just remember for a few years there like everybody's birthday party was there yes. Friday nights my parents would take us.
Speaker 1:I think, like my church youth group would have like a night parents would take us, I think, like my church youth group would have like a night, a skate night, and then, yeah, just the kind of the junk food and the snacks, and it was just really dark in there. Pinball, pinball, yes, arcade was definitely in that one.
Speaker 2:So were you a good skater? You strike me as somebody who probably was.
Speaker 1:I was. I was pretty good. So I think we have a similar story, because we talked about this. When I said I was going to do this episode Not my basement, but my grandparents' basement in the Midwest I would skate down there, didn't you say? You and your sister would skate in your house, girl.
Speaker 2:we ain't got no basement. Oh, it's Louisiana. We're below sea level.
Speaker 1:You weren't skating underground. That wasn't you.
Speaker 2:No, it was someone else at you. No, it was someone else.
Speaker 1:Tell me who you are when you I yeah. Um no, my mom would kill us if we had skated in the house. We would go downstairs to their basement and it was like unfinished, like just yeah just concrete slab, yeah, and like the the high windows and I would just. Every time I go to my grandparents, I just go down there and be either me, my cousins. If they were over, we would all skate. And then, when I got a little older, I got rollerblades and I would skate in like my driveway and on the sidewalk.
Speaker 1:I remember listening to um mariah carey's fantasy cd and choreographing on my rollerblade yes, ma'am, there's probably video somewhere that exists of this and I was trying to get like the turns down. Yes, but I was on roller. It's like harder to turn on rollerblades than like skates.
Speaker 2:I never could get the. I never could get rollerblades down. Yeah, I can only do skates.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I probably had very strong calves at the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Probably because I would be out there for like hours trying to get my.
Speaker 2:Did you have like the matching like knee pads?
Speaker 1:and elbow pads, oh yeah, I think I had like hot pink or something.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, y'all you've seen a picture of me and my rollerblades that.
Speaker 1:Christmas morning I got a suede jacket and rollerblades.
Speaker 2:But then the rollerblades, like never didn't take off.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:I just could not like the rollerblades, would not? I could not get them mastered. I want to buy some rollers. You know, what I've always wanted to do is be um as you roller Derby.
Speaker 1:Yes, and the rink here has it. What? Yes, because, when this is funny my kid's school has a skate night every month.
Speaker 1:It's on a Wednesday night every month and the and the money, like, goes back to the school. I love that. So every month, when that Wednesday comes along and someone's asking us to come, we're like, oh my God, it's a Wednesday night. We don't want to go to skate night, but we usually do and we have a great time and we're done at eight and the roller derby ladies are coming in and warming up while we're leaving, I got to get my skate skills All right.
Speaker 2:You know, awesome, I've done something new every year of my 40s, so this year maybe it's roller derby. I said maybe I was gonna do ariel this year, but that'd be fun too, I know.
Speaker 1:But maybe roller derby you just need. I mean, they all had a lot of padding on that's what?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, because I'm a wuss also well, I just mean because you're small oh yeah, but I'm tough listen I'm not saying you're not tough.
Speaker 1:It's the little ones you got to watch out for that's true.
Speaker 2:It's you know you have a dog like that I think, you have a daughter like that? No, a dog no none of my.
Speaker 1:You have a dog?
Speaker 2:yes, my dog, oof I know, and she's tiny and she's mean, she just she can't get the, the doodle puppy to leave her alone.
Speaker 1:And when I say puppy, he's like 50 pounds now and she's six pounds, so he'll back her in a corner to play. And now she just jumps from nothing and grabs his jowls and bites down, and then he shakes her off and runs away.
Speaker 2:That's gonna be my technique in roller derby, seriously just jump up, bite people on the jaw, no, but you know like roller derby, like you know you have like a whole persona you take on like you have like a name. You have a name and like a whole persona and I'm like I've always wanted to do it but I've never lived anywhere that had it. Okay, if anybody local knows any connections to get me up in there, let me know.
Speaker 1:Come to skate night with us next time I might. No, I'm not coming with kids I'll come after.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to skate nights with children that aren't mine.
Speaker 1:It's always so busy too. The whole school goes yeah it's one of those rings where there's like not enough seats for everyone, so if you don't get there like super early, you just stand or skate the whole time, which I guess is the point.
Speaker 2:But you know, girl, okay, did your skating rink do lock-ins no, you were talking to me about that okay so what explain?
Speaker 1:except I don't. I remember well. You know what a lock-in is. I do. I did lock-ins other places, but in case our listeners don't know, because I don't think those are as popular anymore with this generation- yeah, I mean it is actually pretty insane, but you would go wherever and you wouldn't be able to leave as a kid you have a good drop-off.
Speaker 2:It's like a giant sleepover with whoever Right, and sometimes it wasn't really a sleepover Like the one at our skating rink wasn't all night, it was until like midnight or something. So it was really like okay, but some of them were. But I mean, I did lock-ins at church all the time. I did too. I did it with Girl Scouts.
Speaker 1:I did it with them in high school.
Speaker 2:I was in a. They had a only like a female, only like key club called Kiwanuts. And honestly it was really like a junior sorority. I swear it was like we did hazing and we like whatever, but we did do a lot of good service for the community. So there you go. No, but I remember the skating rink lock ins were kind of risque. What do you mean? Like you said, it was dark there and you're there for a long time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's people making out in corners, see, so we would have them and we I don't know if this was, I don't must not have been girl scouts specifically, because there were definitely boys there. It might have been church youth group or like a service organization, but I remember being like middle school age and doing a lock-in at the y and we didn't spend the night either right, but same thing. Yeah, people were like sneaking off to the racquetball court yeah, like we're.
Speaker 2:I was like I play this thing. Yeah, yeah, I was not one of the make outers and middle school guys. I was messed, so that wasn't you. No, not me, not in middle school. It's okay, it's okay.
Speaker 1:All right. So there's our memory. That's fun and hopefully, and I'm hoping, we a couple listeners who tell us they've done roller derby.
Speaker 2:I know that would be amazing I want to hear more about it. Yeah, let me in. I think that's going to be my new thing, all right.
Speaker 1:All right, that's going to be my new goal. That's it. You heard it first Roller derby.
Speaker 2:What if I put skates on again and I can't skate anymore? You'll just learn how again.
Speaker 1:That's not that hard, yeah, but we know, ago at a skate night for my kids. So this is what's funny. I was trained. I ended up being okay, but I was training for a marathon, and so it's the week of the marathon, and so I'm like oh no certain foods I'm not drinking. I'm like not doing anything that would like do, whatever Cause I don't want to mess up all my training girl. I put on roller skates for the first time in like 15 or 20 years and I start roller skating like three days before I was on a marathon.
Speaker 1:I was fine, I did fall and I just I fell almost backwards, so like my butt hit first, but then my elbows hit, oh no. So I could like barely bend my arms for a couple of days, girl, yeah, I was like what was I thinking?
Speaker 2:That was really dumb dumb.
Speaker 1:I am worried about my hip because you know, I got that hip but I've done it several times since and you get it back and I'm always a little wobbly at first and then it's fine okay, keep going around circles, you'll be okay.
Speaker 2:I need to do this.
Speaker 1:I need to get my ass to the skating rink but I'm one of those skaters that just it's almost like a um, like a canoe, paddle with my right foot, what Like.
Speaker 2:I just go, only do one foot yeah.
Speaker 1:And I got around the skateboard. Oh my God, that's really bad, it's true, I don't even understand how that works. My husband will be like pick up both feet. I'm like I am. So, you'd be amazing on a skateboard. Yeah, maybe I missed my calling. Maybe you need to get a skateboard.
Speaker 2:We've got like three at my house.
Speaker 1:I've got a bunch too.
Speaker 2:Well, go home and try. Well, maybe not Get some cushions, get some cushions Get all the padding.
Speaker 1:That's funny, I've never seen anybody skate? And so I just keep going in circles, like my right leg is on the outside and my left leg's on the inside. I just laugh the whole time.
Speaker 2:How do you make it around a circle then?
Speaker 1:My left foot's on the inside, so I just pivot around myself. I guess that is hilarious. I skate the same way and it drives my husband nuts, I have got to video that. It's probably video somewhere. Speaking of roller skating, we haven't even started in your that's okay, honestly, there's not that much um when I did the research.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot of words on that no, that's true we'll see what happens. Okay, have you seen xanadu? Yes, have you seen starlight express?
Speaker 1:yes, okay, I have not seen starlight express.
Speaker 2:Good, that was the first um musical troy ever saw and he saw it in London when they lived there. Oh my god, right, I bet that was good. He said he always remembered it and he really liked it and he is not a theater person. Yeah, but Starlight Express, he's like I can't believe you've never seen that. I was like I don't think it was very popular, it wasn't around very long. But now it's back show. That's for all my theater peeps out there. I was just curious. Starlight express, yeah, to me it's andrew lloyd weber, right, don't want you to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, does everybody roller skate? Because I've never seen it. No, not everybody okay.
Speaker 2:so it's like xanadu or just some some people do Okay.
Speaker 1:And it's funny you said that about theater because I have a very brief I promise history of roller skating. Oh wow, as a sport I went way back, but it is rooted in theater. Oh, it is. Those are where the first roller skates appear for theatrical effect. Basically, oh, this is funny, they were trying to make it look like people were ice skating. That's funny which already existed.
Speaker 1:So they figured out these like wheels that you would attach to shoes, kind of like. When we were kids, they had the plastic ones that you could like open and close, kind of like that, so that it would give the appearance that the people on stage were ice skating or gliding or flying or whatever. Oh that's fun, yeah, so that's kind of where it started. So the earliest known record of this is in 1743, and it was on a London stage. 1743?, 1743.
Speaker 1:Wow, and then in 1760, john Joseph Merlin created Merlin Merlin. He created a primitive. This is funny, funny inline skate, so a roller blade, okay, with small metal wheels. And that was in 1760, so they wow you went way back way back, but don't worry, I'm not gonna like do every year from there, we're gonna jump on forward. Um, they were used, like I said, in theater and musical performances and early roller skating was done in a straight line because they really didn't give space. So good, take me back. Turning or curving was very difficult?
Speaker 2:I feel that not if you've got one peg leg just stay stationary and just go around yourself.
Speaker 1:That is my best roller skating coaching, so you know that would be, could be your roller. Derby name is peg leg polly peg leg, polly parsons, okay, well, I don't think you have a last name oh yeah, I think yeah, that's true, because it's a persona.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sorry guys, I'm still drinking you could have like a whole pirate thing that's actually really oh my god right I'd afraid to.
Speaker 1:I couldn't wear an eye patch.
Speaker 2:You are very concerned. I couldn't wear an eye patch. Peg leg, absolutely Peg leg.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Cause you don't use your left leg anyway, doesn't matter, but my funny tricks you could do. Oh my God, I'm telling you.
Speaker 2:And then the way everybody beats you is they just knock down.
Speaker 1:Think of all the funny tricks you could do Just spinning on one leg. Oh my God, I'm telling you.
Speaker 2:And then the way everybody beats you is they just knock down your other leg.
Speaker 1:They're just like, oh, that's the peg leg Just hit that one, oh shit. Okay, she's useless, she's useless. Okay, all right, focus, focus, wonderful. So do you know who else wore skates way back when Shakespeare? No, I don't think, waitresses.
Speaker 2:I thought we were still talking about theater.
Speaker 1:Well sort of. The first known instance of a waitress wearing skates was in 1840s Beer Hall in Berlin. Oh hey, they used roller skates to serve customers faster, and then they continued appearing throughout the 1840s in ballets and operas in Europe. So it was really in, of course, europe where it all kind of first came together, okay. But it wasn't until we're going to jump ahead 1863, that the four-wheeled turning roller skate, also known as a quad skate, similar to what we have today, was first designed in new york city by james leonard plimpton in an attempt to improve upon these previous designs, okay, and make something he had. The first one was more like a roller blade.
Speaker 1:It used a lot of metal too, like it didn't have like the rubber didn't have like the stopper thing exactly, exactly, um, so this one had a rubber cushion that allowed the skater to skate a curve just by pressing his weight to one side or the other. It was all such a huge success that people just started like buying them and using them for exercise and the first public roller skating rinks were opened in 1866 in New York City, nice, and yeah, just kind of what you said. The design of that skate allowed turns, maneuverability and the opportunity to stop. I had to stop her on the skate. Let's see, I talk about him a little longer. But basically he oh, and he opened the first skating rink. So it's kind of like he improved the skate and then was like, oh, it's popular, what?
Speaker 2:year.
Speaker 1:Come do this. That was 1866. Oh dang, yeah, okay. This, that was 1866. Oh dang, yeah, okay. Uh, so they were early. Roller rinks varied in size and type. They were indoor and outdoor. A lot of them had simple wooden platforms that they could also use as dance floors or ballrooms, which makes or tapping or tapping.
Speaker 1:Oh, I didn't even think of that, I don't know, um. And so there were also these like roller skate kind of circuits where entrepreneurs would go from town to town, like in the Midwest specifically, and it would be connected to circuses or carnivals and you could come roller skate and they would bring roller skates, because a lot of people didn't have them? Oh, because there wasn't roller rinks it was kind of yeah, it was like a traveling rink.
Speaker 2:Like a traveling, yeah, but also they brought the skates. So it was like part of like an amusement.
Speaker 1:It was like an amusement activity, yeah yeah, it's like a kind of like a special thing you could do if you didn't have one of your own. Well, you know what?
Speaker 2:they did that when um we lived in missouri. Every year they on base they would bring an I like make an ice skating rink. They have you seen those where? They're mobile things Cause we didn't have. I mean, it was the middle rural Missouri.
Speaker 1:There's no ice skating rink.
Speaker 2:It was freezing AF, yeah, but they would bring like this weird platform I don't even know how they did it and set up ice skating. So that's what I just thought about. So they still kind of do that for things.
Speaker 1:They still do. Yeah, you think about it. When you go to the roller rink, you usually rent skates yeah, they're, so that's still a thing.
Speaker 2:I know, it's kind of weird, well, a lot of places won't even let you bring your own anymore, right? Well, and I get that were you ever fancy as a kid and brought your own skates?
Speaker 1:no, but my daughter erin has her own.
Speaker 2:She won't wear oh yeah, I'm gonna blame her.
Speaker 1:I kind of want my own and they light up and it's a whole thing. What?
Speaker 1:they're super cute, but they're rollerblades but yeah she brings her blades, but you can probably get skates that did something similar. I'll figure out, we're gonna find them. So, basically, roller skating in the us then boomed from 1880 to 1910. This is when all the skates were getting mass produced places in south america. Europe and australia also saw a big boom in skating during this time and the new sports appeared, such as figure skating in roller skates and speed skating in roller skates.
Speaker 1:Figure skating in roller skates yes, I tried to look up anything on that and couldn't find video. Nothing That'd be hard. That'd be really hard, at least on ice. You kind of have a natural like I don't know how to explain it, but it's slower unless you're like really, really quick right roller skates, just go.
Speaker 2:I think it'd be more scary on ice. Yeah, maybe because it's slippery, that's true and obviously we don't blades.
Speaker 1:So they're kind of dipped in popularity in the early 1900s, you know, just because other things came along. But from the 1930s to the 1950s is known as the golden age of roller skating.
Speaker 2:Why does everything have a golden?
Speaker 1:age.
Speaker 2:I don't know. Everything we talk about is like it was the golden age of arcades.
Speaker 1:It was the golden age of arcades. It was the golden age of that's something else we've talked about. Like to call it a golden age, you have to have had a decline after it yeah right is that? I wonder how they figure that out and how do you know there won't be another golden age of arcades or roller skating well, that's like when I did the arcade research.
Speaker 2:There is a golden age of arcades, but now it's that they're having a resurgence.
Speaker 1:So I don't know which is it.
Speaker 2:I mean it's all about money and numbers. It is so data, I guess.
Speaker 1:So our, our old friend, the organ is back For some reason the organ is our old friend. What? So we talked about it and showed his pizza. Oh, I was where he was going to have an organ. I was like the organ.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that we were down with the organs.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah it just reminded me of that, how he was gonna have that vintage organ restaurant got it musical organs, not people or not people, organs so for some reason in from the 1930s to the 50s, um, probably because there was no way to like pipe in any other music, skating rinks often had organ music.
Speaker 2:Get out. Can you imagine? That?
Speaker 1:was built into the rink and someone would play live.
Speaker 2:Huh, yes, can you imagine? Just like bebopping around is like church music. It'd be so crazy, because organ music just sounds like organ music. You cannot make it upbeat, you cannot make it, it just is an organ.
Speaker 1:I'm just trying to like envision skating to that. I think that'd be really tricky.
Speaker 2:It'd be boring.
Speaker 1:But if that's all you had, if it's no music or organ music, would you want no music? Maybe, I don't know, sing to yourself, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Let's give it a try when we go to the roller rink, we should bring a keyboard and put it on the organ setting. Can you imagine? I think I have an organ setting. I know, I know you do. Can you imagine if we brought that giant ass keyboard Katie has a keyboard in here for her voice lessons. If we drug that in there and I was like, okay, I'm going to go skate, you play the organ music.
Speaker 1:I would so do it. I could play Starlight Express on the organ. It'd be great. Or Xanadu, I could play Starlight Express on the organ It'd be great or Xanadu, oh my God that'd be really great.
Speaker 1:So post-World War II Baby Boom also saw a resurgence then in roller skating rinks, and that's kind of when this idea of having a roller skating birthday party took root. It sort of became a rite of passage in American cities in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s and then since we were just talking about the 70s, anything you can think of that may have heightened the disco craze. Oh, I just said it, I tried to say roller skating. What, oh, I wanted you to say? Disco made roller skating. You were so proud of yourself too.
Speaker 2:You're like, you're like so proud, You're like, can you tell me that heightened the disco craze? Oh shit, I said it. You mean the skating phase Disco? Oh well, that makes sense Completely.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes. So the popular culture of disco kind of intertwined with roller rinks, or they called them roller discos, some of them. What the organs were gone, oh, yeah, our skating rink had a giant disco ball, the one here in melbourne still does girl. Why am I not there? I'm telling you you're gonna love this I'm gonna love it.
Speaker 2:We're.
Speaker 1:We're going what? So, they didn't have the old-fashioned organ music anymore, they had special lights and disco beats. And then you mentioned, you know, xanadu and Starlight Express. There was a movie that came out in 1979 called Roller Boogie. I've never seen that. I've never seen it either, and it came out in 79, and it was an American film and it was a teen musical film about roller disco. I bet it's terrible.
Speaker 2:So I bet it can't be hated it. Well then it's, it's probably great.
Speaker 1:But like it was a huge box office. Like people loved this movie and it made people like flock to the skating rinks and the disco aesthetic even more because of this movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, so the the plot is that it's set in the venice suburb of los angeles at the height of the roller skating fad. It follows an upper class young woman who falls in love with a working class skater and the two seek to thwart efforts thwart, I can't even say it thwart efforts from a powerful mobster attempting to acquire the land where the popular roller rink is located. So yeah, I love that one so much. It sounds like a good time. But it says over 50 professional skaters were employed for the film.
Speaker 2:I bet they have some cool skating sequences.
Speaker 1:I know I want to watch it, kind of just for that, because if you have 50 professional skaters you know that's good, it's like Saturday Night Fever.
Speaker 2:All the dance sequences make it. I don't even care about the rest of the story.
Speaker 1:Seriously, literally, yeah. So yeah, mostly negative reviews from critics that it said it exploited the trends of disco and roller skating what who cares? Well, isn't that the point? Yeah, doesn't every movie kind of do that to an extent? Don't you want that? So in the years since its original release, the film has developed a cult following for its campy style.
Speaker 2:Yes, we know we love some camp and focus on disco roller skating culture.
Speaker 1:So as the disco era sort of toned down, oh, I got, yes, we'll get to this. That's in the 80s is actually when the inline skates or rollerblades come into play, even though they were became popular much later. Yeah, yeah. So in 1983, president Ronald Reagan declared October National Roller Skating Month.
Speaker 2:What.
Speaker 1:I don't know why?
Speaker 1:Well, guess where we're going, but he did where we're going, but he did um. So in 1980 then scott and brennan olsen, their two minnesota brothers, discovered an older inline skate in a sporting goods store and they thought it'd be perfect to practice for off-season hockey training. So they were hockey players from minnesota, so they were using these land skates that you didn't need for ice and they just they enjoyed it and they thought it was like helpful, but they didn't work the way they really needed them to. They were kind of clunky, they weren't smooth, like who knows how old they were. Um, oh, they said they. Yeah, they found those. So then they decided that they would improve it and they came up with this idea that they called roller blade and they thought, yeah, you know, maybe we'll just improve this, so the inline skate was different the inline skate.
Speaker 1:So this is funny. So rollerblade is one of those words that has become synonymous with inline skate but they're different but inline skates already existed okay so people say oh, I'm gonna get some rollerblades, even if it's a different brand. I mean, it's mostly usually rollerblade, but kind of like we call tissues Kleenex. Oh, so it's a brand. It's a brand.
Speaker 2:Ah, okay, of inline skates. Got it.
Speaker 1:And because they had such a big network of hockey players, they caught on and it says soon. All these skiers and hockey players were cruising the streets of Minnesota during the summer on their rollerblades.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, Do you know what that makes me think of? One of my favorite movies from the 90s is Wayne's World. Oh God, and you know when they're playing street hockey and they have to move and they're like car, car, and then they come back game on, game on. I love that. That's a rewatch we need to do.
Speaker 1:I'm putting it down now. Put it down now so we don't forget. Put it down um, so kind of what we were just talking about. Rollerblade then becomes sort of this generic name. Okay, well, I never knew that. Over over time, strategic market f? Efforts thrust the brand name into public awareness. Skating enthusiasts began using rollerblade as a generic term for all inline skates. Okay, however, as of as of February 2021, it is still a trademark name owned by the company.
Speaker 2:Never knew that.
Speaker 1:But there are 60 inline skate manufacturers. But Rollerblade is credited with the introduction of the first polyurethane boot and wheels, the first heel brake and the development of active brake technology which makes stopping easier.
Speaker 2:And Rollerblade as a company has 200 patents and 116 registered trademarks so if you have a peg leg roller skating technique, how do you do rollerblades same? You can't, though, because that's why I had such a hard time with rollerblades, because you have to skate different. Like you can't, you can't peg leg it I must not, I must just scoot along.
Speaker 1:I don't wear I can't remember the last time I wore rollerblades, but I, I skate like that, I skate with one foot. That's some skills and probably way harder than it needs to be. Yeah, because I? I think it's because I just want one thing on the ground the whole time, and if I am like lifting both legs, what about when you're walking Like in?
Speaker 1:life, that's fine, walking is okay, but if I'm on like ice, I'm more scared of ice than a rink, yeah, so I do not want to fall on the ice and then I don't know, I guess I need some lessons or something. I just that's amazing.
Speaker 2:That's like I wonder how.
Speaker 1:I roll it. I mean, I haven't rollerbladed in forever.
Speaker 2:I don't have a pair right now.
Speaker 1:but you know it's funny and it's because he plays hockey. My husband has rollerblades. Does he, and when he gets into like a cleaning tear, he will put them on. And he's already so tall, so tall, I think. I sent you a picture. I'll send you a picture.
Speaker 2:Cause he's. So, you guys, how tall is he?
Speaker 1:He's like six, four.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and he's a big guy and he has big curly hair, so it makes him even taller.
Speaker 1:I mean, he and he'll wear like a hockey Jersey and have on these rollerblades and he'll be sweeping.
Speaker 2:So that is amazing.
Speaker 1:He was going to skate night last week, the one I've been telling you about and I couldn't go because of something I had with the show or I couldn't go. Yeah, and so it was twin night. So God bless my 10 year old. She's like Dad, my friend can't come. Will you twin with me? Oh, he was just gonna go like work on his laptop.
Speaker 2:So now he's like oh, now it's skate skate, so he has his own business. So they wore bright orange business shirts so that they matched.
Speaker 1:She wore like mine and he had one of his. But that afternoon I come home and he's got his rollerblades on. He's like I'm just just getting used to him for tonight and he said he skated for like 90 minutes straight. That is so cute, it's a great workout and his are rollerblades. But yeah, yeah, he just takes his own, but yeah, he loves to rollerblade.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, see, I'm just picturing him and Tegan out there on the rink. How cute.
Speaker 1:I know it's adorable and she's like she does pick up both feet. She's not like me, but she's a newer skater till recently, the little yeah little walker thing. So you know, she still kind of holds onto the wall and stuff, but I don't know, it was very cute I saw a couple pictures, um, so that's kind of it. Oh, I told you I didn't have that much. The only other thing I have is that, in general, roller skates were in short supply during the pandemic oh, because everybody, everybody wanted them and everyone wanted to have something.
Speaker 1:you know, everyone took up either new or old hobbies. Yeah, they were just like my neighbor across the street.
Speaker 2:Um, when we lived on base during the pandemic, she would go roller skating and I would see her out of the window like skate skate. Yeah, I want some. I've been wanting to get some roller skates, but you know you have to have different ones for outside than inside, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so because you, you don't want to mess up the wheels for indoors. That's why a lot of rings don't like you to bring in your own Cause you can bring in, like you can scuff up the floor and stuff like that. Yeah, Wow, there wasn't that much about. I told you I thought I found that movie.
Speaker 2:I had chat GPT to help me and it was just telling me all the same things that I already had Chat GPT. I don't like it, and our intro is proof why.
Speaker 1:It's unnatural, right, like we were, like we've never said these things, oh, but look at these cute pictures I got.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's really fun, isn't that fun? We'll put them on socials. It looks like little bicycles on this man's feet, yeah.
Speaker 1:I love it. And then these are like the ones we had when we were little, except it's like the metal version.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you just slip it over your shoe. I actually think I had metal ones. I didn't have. Oh did you? I had those Fisher.
Speaker 1:Price ones.
Speaker 2:I had those too, but I think the first ones I had were metal. They're probably my sister's. She's older than me, so all right well, you know what this means.
Speaker 1:We have time for trivia. Oh yeah, because we have totally been always lacking for trivia, but sometimes we forget um.
Speaker 2:So apologies everyone, because we're like, oh yeah, like episodes ago, we're like we're gonna do trivia at the end of every episode and we've been forgetting not, if you care let's do three oh, you want to do three each. All right, hold on, let me grab.
Speaker 1:Okay, she's grabbing the boxes. But yes, sometimes we have so much information like, okay, so the last one we recorded was disney drama one and two. So by the time we had done all that, it was a lot and we had to leave. Literally we were out of time, but we we could have made time for trivia. We just didn't remember. All right, all right, so I have the 80s box like totally 80s.
Speaker 2:Yep, I have hella 90s. All right, I feel like we've done a lot of these. I feel like they're going to start repeating.
Speaker 1:But you know what's funny? No, you think we've done that many.
Speaker 2:Even if they repeat, we probably still won't know the answer.
Speaker 1:So it's going to be okay, we totally won't. All right, I grabbed three out. I'm going to just quickly glance over, okay, I feel, oh no, we haven't done that one. Okay, this is a good one, I've got one for you. Okay, ooh, the front and back of this are good, so I'm going to use them for two different. All right, you go first. Okay, put these. I have 1980s. By the way, put these 1980s People Sexiest man Alive winners in the order. Now, we did one of these, but I think we did it for 90s. In the order they appeared on covers from earliest to latest. Okay, so it's only three. Three names Mel Gibson.
Speaker 2:Sean Connery John F Kennedy Jr. Okay, I'm going to say Sean Connery. Sean Connery jfk jr.
Speaker 1:Mel gibson backward oh really, gibson was in 85, jfk was in 88, but I don't know why. Yeah, he was like a big deal. Then was there like something that came out around. Then he was dating somebody.
Speaker 2:Oh right, wasn't he dating like sarah jessica? Parker he was so good looking too he was good looking um.
Speaker 1:I don't okay, so he was 88. So gibson 85. Jfk jr 88. Sean connery 89 okay, well older version james bond.
Speaker 2:So cooper told me a fun bit of trivia the other day. This is just off the top of my hat, this won't count. He said how many times did sean connery play james bond? I think it's just like three. It was seven. Oh, that is a lot.
Speaker 1:I don't know how I know that, but I was like okay, I'm not a James Bond fan.
Speaker 2:Okay, oh, okay, this is Okay. We actually have talked about this. Let's see if you can guess it. Okay, this I'm going to show you a picture of an outfit and you're going to tell me who wears this. Okay, this I'm going to show you a picture of an outfit and you're going to tell me who wears this. Okay, I'm going to show it to you and then I'll explain it to you guys.
Speaker 1:Okay, I won't answer yet Okay, got it.
Speaker 2:Yeah so it is a green sweater vest with a white t-shirt under it, khaki shorts and then red Converse high tops. Let me give you a hint. Is it Doug?
Speaker 1:yes, I was about to do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do yeah yes, I was like thinking I can't believe you got that, because the way the card is it wasn't in order of the out, like it's not like just the person missing the outfits in order right next to each other, so that I had to.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean it's a shirt in my brain.
Speaker 1:I had to put them like shirt, shorts and then shoes in it. Then it hit me love it.
Speaker 2:Wow, welcome to my brady getting a cartoon one right.
Speaker 1:Wow, amazing so this one. We did a similar one to this uh a few times ago and didn't do so great. I messed up because I just kept saying beethoven oh, jesus, yeah okay, so beethoven too pick another player to compete with, so you and I'll just go back. Well, what if I want to pick another player? Hey, you go ahead. Fine, um, so one player named something from the category. The next player must repeat what was said in order and add to it All right.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I guess I'll say the first one, but the category is things not yet invented in the 80s.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right, so I'll go first iPhone, iphone Internet oh shit, that's already wrong.
Speaker 1:Were you going to say internet?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess let's try it again okay, iphone okay. Oh, I thought you were gonna do a new one. Oh, I could do a new one.
Speaker 1:Okay, do another um, uh-oh, uh, let's see um, um, um netflix. Okay, netflix youtube netflix youtube keeping up with the kardashians. We're just gonna say websites Netflix YouTube Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
Speaker 2:We're just going to say shit. Websites are just Netflix, youtube Keeping Up With the Kardashians and e-tickets Ooh.
Speaker 1:Netflix, youtube, keeping Up With the Kardashians e-tickets oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Why is this so hard? I? Know, know this shouldn't be so hard. Podcasts oh, that's good. Yeah, okay. Netflix, youtube keeping up with the kardashians. Um, what did I say after that?
Speaker 1:e-tickets you just say you said it was a good one.
Speaker 2:Podcast yes, Uber, ooh yeah. Remember like having to call a taxi cab, yeah. Or like literally stand in a street, wave or call on the phone. Do people still?
Speaker 1:do that in big cities. Yeah, okay, people do that in New York and Chicago. Oh God, now I've done a side conversation, I've got this Okay, oh, netflix, yes, oh, my God. No, don't tell me Netflix what? Why can't I remember YouTube? Oh, youtube, that's right. I wanted to say Uber-Tickets, podcasts, uber Ozempic Ooh. Hot button topic there Katie I didn't say we have to talk about it, true, true that it wasn't invented.
Speaker 2:All right, netflix, youtube, keeping Up With the Kardashians, e-tickets, podcasts, uber, oz, uber, ozympic, covid tests.
Speaker 1:Ah, that's a good one. Okay, we can stop. We're just going to keep going. That was a good one. That was a good range of things.
Speaker 2:It was, but I feel like we're just going to get caught into like a. Yes, we are Okay good job, okay, good job.
Speaker 1:Well, we both did good. We did better that time. Nice 90s, all right.
Speaker 2:This is a lot of. Oh, this is a good one. Oh, you'll probably know this, but I'll ask you anyway. Before it sank into cinematic history, what city was Titanic traveling to?
Speaker 1:Oh, um. They left from New York City to go to Liverpool.
Speaker 2:Or am I backward?
Speaker 1:I can't remember.
Speaker 2:New York.
Speaker 1:They were going to New.
Speaker 2:York? Yeah, okay, back to New York. It left from Liverpool, right? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1:Or it was designed in Liverpool Something. Yeah, I really want it to be in Liverpool. Okay, one more from the 80s. Okay, I did not know this one, so we'll see if you do. Okay, in Back to the Future. What actor was cast as Marty McFly, only to be replaced by Michael J Fox four weeks into the film's production? Was it Matthew Broderick? No, oh but there's multiple choice. Oh, but he's not on there. Eric Stoltz, Kirk Cameron.
Speaker 2:Tom Cruise C Thomas Howell. Oh, it was Eric Stoltz. It was Eric Stoltz. Yeah, it was Eric Stoltz, as soon as you said his name.
Speaker 1:See, this is what I get for having ADHD and not paying attention. Okay, that was your three 80s.
Speaker 2:Oh, eric Stoltz, yeah, I remember him. Okay, nope, not doing a drawing. No, okay, in the spice girls, who was mel c, better known as how mel c was there's mel b and mel c.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm thinking of mel b.
Speaker 2:Right now is mel c sporty, yeah, okay, yeah yeah okay victoria is posh yeah, and I don't know if I remember baby spice oh baby, I forgot that was ginger emma, and then ginger jerry. Ginger was my fave, as always I love her awesome all right.
Speaker 1:Well, look at us doing us doing that so much in a short amount of time. Thank you everyone for tuning in. If you have more to add to roller rinks, let us know your skating technique. You can use both legs or one or if you would like skating lessons from me, because you would only like to use one leg and you're not sure how this is accomplished. Please give me a call, send us a message, or if you would like us to surprise at each other. No, we do not need to start this Like a go fund me.
Speaker 1:If we get to this number, we'll do it.
Speaker 2:Listen, we have had conversations about ways to make extra money. If we were like I mean, feet, feet picks are not off the table. I have had this conversation with multiple people Like everybody's struggling for money right now, and Troy was like Danny, I really don't think there's money in like feet pics. I'm like, listen, there's money in anything Because honestly, literally, if you do it the right way, people are in all kinds of stuff. I saw this whole video like a tick tock. I'm going to take your word for it. I saw this random Tik TOK or real or something about this this girl who makes bank sitting on cakes.
Speaker 1:What do you mean?
Speaker 2:Literally smashing them, like just sitting on them and I mean not even nude or nothing, just sitting on the cake. So she, her video was like her going to like the Walmart and she was like well'm gonna get this one and this one and this one because the like the different kinds of icing like squish, weird and like that's literally all she does. She makes thousands of dollars a week.
Speaker 1:Wow, okay, well I feel like my eyes have been opened.
Speaker 2:My point is there's a lot of avenues out there if you need to pursue something.
Speaker 1:Get creative, get creative, get creative. Awesome, sorry, all right. Well, thanks everybody for tuning in. We'll see you next time. Bye.
