The O-town Scene

Scene the O-Town Vol. 2, No. 6 www.otownscene.com 102 Chestnut St., P.O. Box 250, Oneonta, NY 13820 (607) 432-1000, ext. 255, editor@otownscene.com EDITOR Cassandra Miller ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR OF THE DAILY STAR Adrienne Wise PUBLISHER Armand Nardi CONTRIBUTORS Sam Benedict, John Champlin, Jenny Ortiz, Genevieve Pedulla, Jeffrey Pegram, Emily Popek, Mark Simonson, Adam Sisenwein and Cecelia Walsh-Russo. EDITOR OF THE DAILY STAR Sam Pollak ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Sean Lewis The O-Town Scene is published Thursdays by The Daily Star Inc. Free copies are distributed throughout Oneonta, as well as parts of Otsego, Delaware and Schoharie counties. Member of The Associated Press and CNHI News Service EDITOR'S NOTE Around the holidays, my family likes to watch home videos, including an old favorite of a 2-year-old me in pigtails grasping the carpeted walls of Interskate 88's roller skate rink, crying to get off the shiny wooden floor as my dad giggles while holding the camera. This is my first memory of roller skating. But there were good times, too. In elementary school, Interskate 88 was The Place To Go for birthday parties. If you weren't into skating, you knew there would be ice cream cake, arcade games, neon slap bracelets and enough Ace of Base played to learn the lyrics of "I Saw the Sign" so well that you can still sing them word-for- word as a 20-something. I hadn't been at Interskate for at least 10 years before last week, when I spent a 2 O-Town Scene Nov. 10, 2011 few hours there reporting for this issue's cover story on the rink's 30th anniver- sary. Beside the addition of a jungle gym and a money box for birthday kids, it was exactly how I remembered it. It seems the owners of Interskate 88 have lived the "if it works, don't change it" mantra, which is completely fine by its patrons. (If it's broken, 73-year-old owner Fred Nelson will fix it im- mediately.) Interskate 88 is no doubt nostalgic, and the owners have worked to keep the rink in such good condi- tion that even the original carpets from 1981 are still being used. Something that's new to the rink, though, is One- onta's roller derby team, the Derailing Darlings. The lady skating warriors have been practicing running into each other and not falling down at the rink for almost a year. I know a few of the team members (a former one was Scene columnist/Daily Star editor Emily Popek, who had to drop out because of being pregnant). If I didn't dislike skating so much (see first sentence), I would be all over the roller derby team. But, I'm comfortable being an enthusiastic supporter. The Darling's first official home bout will be Friday, Nov. 18. The team will also do an exhibition bout Saturday at Interskate 88's 30th anniversary celebration, which also includes a skate break-dancing competition (that I've been asked to be a "celebrity" judge of. Woo!) In addition to the bout and skate break dancing, I'm looking forward to hearing some ABBA and sampling some of Interskate's heavenly ice cream cake Saturday. – Cassandra Miller Miller is the founding editor of the O-Town Scene. She can be reached at editor@ otown- scene. com.

• Cover