rollerskating. last night i went rollerskating. the tablemanners crew (tats, gerald, et cetera) and a few other dj’s put on an event at skateland up north of the city.

it was fun. i know that’s a fairly simple statement, but when you take into account i can’t recall the last time i felt that way after an evening, it carries weight. it was fun.

i can’t skate for shit, and a good portion of my night was a wobbly struggle to keep from busting my ass. and on more than one occasion i thought i was going to be the catalyst for a domino catastrophe. but there was no calamity of any kind. i mean, there was the bullshit that manifests whenever you get more than two people together, but even that was minimal. negated by the glee of strapping wheels to your feet.

i’d almost say it was wholesome if it weren’t for the all-you-can-drink alcohol and the abundance of bootyshorts. but i’ve never seen that many smiles at a club or a bar. it was a tenuous balance of child-like joy and drunken impropriety. but the spell was never broken. at least from where i was standing, er rolling (rather tenuously myself). it could very well have been a recipe for disaster, unlimited drink and a rollerskating rink. but either fate was smiling or the communal spirit of a few hundred hiphop heads, club-goers, and scenesters was laden with enough pristine enjoyment that it shielded the event from any drama or disaster. it was really something.

when was the last time you were at a club and all the faces in your field of vision were painted with smiles? when was the last time you were at a bar and somebody stumbled and took down three bystanders?… and all parties involved and even witnesses nearby couldn’t help but laugh; concerned hands outreached to help the fallen back on their feet. it was peculiar seeing the population of a club transported to a fresh setting devoid of the usual posturing and pick-up games (or at least replaced with milder incarnations).

people forget to have fun when they’re out at the club or the bar. or is it just me? that’s entirely possible.

it was new. it was a clean-slate environment. and even though a lot of the faces were the same, the new lighting evaporated the shadows frequently attached to them.

sauced-up nightplay on disco wheels. goofy and slick and reaffirming. a reminder that there was once a time we weren’t so tangled up in the brambles of jaded adulthood. a second look at our fresh-faced reflection. a brand new pair of borrowed skates, one and a half sizes too small.

good times.