NEVER MISS THE WATER, TILL YOUR WELL RUNS DRY…
November 19, 2008
When Chaka Khan sang these words more than a decade ago, I never thought that they would be more than just lyrics to me. For the past two years, my passion of roller skating has been starved and forced to feed itself only in moderation and small portions.
I moved from Detroit, MI (A skater’s paradise) to Chandler, AZ (A skater’s hell) for a number of reasons. At first it didn’t bother me not being able to enjoy R & B music at an adult session several times a week. I was new to the area, and there was so much to do like familiarize myself with the area and get to know people. However, as the months went by, I started to long for some Patrice Rushen cuts or the occasional Gap Band song when I did visit the rinks here. I was soon forced to put my IPod into overdrive and load up as much music possible and turn it up as loud as I could to drown out the wails of children and undecipherable lyrics that were un-skate able.
I begin to envy what I had so easily taken for granted before and started wishing for a miracle. No longer being able to “leave it on the wood”, now I had to “leave it on the epoxy-glide” (The blue stuff). That doesn’t even sound right. Now, instead of checking into a mental hospital, I travel five hours to California once a month or to the occasional out of town skate party just to get my roll on.
Some may ask, “Is it worth it?” Real skaters already know, “Of course it is!” But I’ll do whatever I have to do to get my roll on.
So when your rolling during the week get a slide, a split, a one-stop, a jack-leg or whatever you style calls for in for me! J
KP “DETROIT STYLE ALL DAY”
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March 2007
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| The Terrace roller rink
was once the hottest spot to roller-skate in Toronto and the plans for the
new Terrace Roller rink have now officially been shelved. Unknown to many,
when the Terrace roller rink was torn down in the late 80's, the city set
aside a space for the new Terrace roller rink not far from the old rink.
Just north of Dundas on Jarvis lies the empty shell that was suppose to be
the new Terrace. If you hurry, you can still look inside through the empty
glass window at the massive space that has been sitting there empty for
years. It is right beneath what is now co-op housing and has been there for
some 15 years waiting.
When the city tore down the old rink on Mutual street it set aside this space but it was never developed because of cost. Who knew that we were so close to having a new Terrace right downtown. A committee which was formed to push for the opening could not swing the city into putting up the funds to develop the site into a roller rink. The space will now officially be turned into an art gallery. For myself this is of particular loss because I saw the space for many years and did not know that it was suppose to become the new home of the Terrace, like many I found out too late. The original Mutual street Arena was the first home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and later was renamed the Terrace. If you would like to put your two cents in about this decision, drop me a line at steve@rollerfunk.com and I will post your feedback. The Terrace Roller rink, gone but not forgotten. Feedback
Toronto Terrace
Thank you for the update on the new Terrace Roller
Skating Rink.
It saddens me and makes me furious that the City of
Toronto reneged on a promise they made back in the early 90's and that
Councillor Tom Jakobek was the one who argued against the rink and
convinced the city to not follow through on Jack Layton's hard lobbying
for the popular sport of roller skating.
Roller skating is a wonderful sport that has something
for everyone from very small children to the elderly. It is a great low
impact, great cardio, and has wonderful social aspects.
Roller skating whether it is in-line or quad is more
popular than Councillor Kyle Rae leads you to believe because he is
trying to shove this artsy, fartsy center down Toronto's throat. I
highly doubt that the kids of today will be flocking to this venue and
even in-line skates which is supposedly more popular according to Rae
could benefit from an indoor rink, especially in the winter months, not
to mention the newly emerging Roller Derby Leagues which has more teams
than I have fingers.
There are many people that remember the Terrace and
roller skating in a romantically retro way but anyone who knows anything
about roller skating knows that Jam Skating, Roller Derby, Rhythm
Skating, Speed Skating, Roller Hockey and Artistic Skating are popular
all over the world and with new movies and advertisements like "Roll
Bounce", "ATL", IPOD, and Coca Cola Ads, just to mention a few bringing
it back into the forefront, not to mention the recent Documentary on the
History Channel on the popular TV show "Things That Move", most
Torontonian's will never know what they are missing because of Toronto
Council's mistake.
When is the last time you took your family out? Let say
just to the movies or bowling, how much did it cost? Most families don't
do this very often because it is not affordable but for $6.00 or $7.00
you can go to a nice rink with great music, happy people and get some
fun exercise for about 3 or 4 hours, even movies are only 2 hours and
with the proper management there can be Day Camps, Mothers and stroller
rolls for mothers who want to get some exercise but don't want to push
babies down snow covered sidewalks, seniors skates so seniors have a
place to meet, socialize and get good exercise, and family rates.
Roller skating today is much more than Disco Balls and
Donna Summer, someone didn't do their homework, or just doesn't care
about the average folks that live in this city. I am sure that City
Council will get a big pat on the back by the important people, when and
if this property gets developed, but for me I will be skating the
dangerous street of Toronto because I don't have a rink to skate in and
I guess it is cheaper to get 200 new officers for the downtown area than
it is to put money into the youth and give them a place to be and
thrive.
London, Ontario City Council has seen the benefits of
having a roller rink and has invested in putting a new roof on and
renovating the N.L.O.C.C. at Highbury and Cheapside and the skating
community is very thankful.
Because the City of Toronto did not do the right thing
when they had the chance, this will always be an embarrassment to the
City of Toronto.
Robert Smith of WayCool Rollers (March 2007)
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