Man, I love my United Airlines bonus miles! I never have a reason to travel, so I’ve accumulated tons of bonus miles that I occasionally redeem for free plane tickets, whenever I do have somewhere to fly to.

Well, now I have somewhere to fly to.

On a whim, I’ve decided to go to Austin, Texas on September 17 to visit the land of the Lonestar Rollergirls (featured in the A&E television series “Rollergirls”). Quentin Tarantino will be hosting a roller derby film night at the Alamo Drafthouse on the 17th, which will feature the movies “Kansas City Bomber” and “Unholy Rollers.” I have tickets to both screenings.

Unfortunately, it’s currently the off-season for the Lonestar Rollergirls. I do hope to make it to next year’s championship bout–just to experience all the splendor of the coolest roller derby event in the country. But seeing some of those players at the Alamo Drafthouse in September will be pretty cool as well.

I will only be in Austin for about 24 hours. In addition to the film night, I’m hoping to buy a really cool black-straw cowboy hat and ride my first mechanical bull. I hear Austin is really cool, so I’m pretty excited.

I saw my first ever live roller derby bout last Sunday in Baltimore, Maryland. It was a bit of a drive, but so worth it. The Charm City Rollergirls put on a great show and really seemed to know what they’re doing (good production values). CCRG are a new league–much like the DC Rollergirls. This is their first year of bouts, and they already have a big following.

I had VIP tickets to the bout, so I was able to get great seats right by the track with a sweet angle for taking photos and shooting video. Speaking of which, click below to take a look at my images and video from the bout. If you’re sad you missed out on this roller derby fun, be sure to make it to the playoff bouts in August!

Click here for pictures.



Click here for a high-rez version of the video (25MB).

Here are some pics I did for my friend Matt’s band [3StarKarma]. These were taken on Friday night at Jaxx in Springfield, Virginia.

Click here for the photos.

Here are some pics of the DC Rollergirls (click the image below). Some are from their practice in Fairfax on Thursday, and the other set is from their carwash fundraiser in Woodbridge yesterday. I’ll also be at their recruitment party at Asylum in Adams Morgan this Saturday at 8 PM, in case any of you want to check it out and/or get involved.

I took a lot of pictures at last week’s 4th of July parade in Alderson, West Virginia. But none were quite as good as this one…