First I'll show you The Buzzards, then The Wizards, our heroes, then the Wizards with another wonderful group, also our heroes, Scramblin' Feet, all pictures taken in the early '80s, and then Liz and I in 2006, just 25 years later!
Thank you, Liz, for calling to check in last December. I'm sorry we lost touch over the years and am so happy to have reconnected. Marion, it was a total thrill and extreme pleasure to talk to you today.
To see more interesting stuff, go here:
http://snipurl.com/xy98
To see more wonderful pictures and remembrances, go to Julio's website:
http://web.mac.com/roxydjjulio/iWeb/Site/Roxy%20DJ%20Julio.html
To see pictures of the wonderful 30-year skating reunion held at The Rink in Montvale, NJ, on 9-30-06, go here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/marge201/VillageWizards30YearReunion93006
I received an email tonight from one of the people pictured above. The following quote describes the reunion and why we were so happy to be there more eloquently than I possibly could:
"It was really great seeing you after all these years. I'm sorry we didn't get to talk much amidst all the excitement of seeing so many longtime friends from our skating family. Isn't it amazing how after all these years everyone seems to have kept that same vibrant spirit no matter where life has taken them? I guess that's what makes us a special circle of friends."
Here's a picture of Herman, a fabulous photographer and the Buzzard who came up with our name, and Julio, who is single-handedly responsible for all this marvelous and heart-warming reconnecting that is happening now. His website, which is a huge, time-consuming effort of his (thank you, Julio!!), is a treasure trove of memorabilia from back in those glorious days.
Here's the email that Julio sent everybody today. It says it all:
"Hi everybody. I’m writing to thank you all for helping us to create a magnificent night of adult roller skating. It was wonderful to see so many of you that we have not seen for years. There was truly the feeling of a family reunion. It was amazing enough to have skaters from every rink that existed in the '70s as well as people from Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, DC, Florida and upper New York State. We even had one skater, Melody Watrous, an original member of the Village Wizards, travel all the way from Japan for this one special night.
"During the course of the evening we received many encouraging remarks about the good vibes of the session, the music, the mature attitude of the skaters and the fact that everyone there was skating on the same frequency. That's because we are family, bonded strongly together by the roller skating experience.
"We received many inquiries about the continuation of this session. Yes, we will be at The Rink at Montvale every Saturday evening for your adult skating pleasure. However, if we want this session to continue, we must show our support by attending the sessions and spreading the word to all the adult skaters that we know. I would like to extend the Saturday evenings from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. But we need your help. One thing that we can all do is to call 201-391-1155 or email the rink -- http://www.rinkonline.com/ -- to let them know how much we liked the session and how much we would like it to continue. We want to create the best pure adult skating session you will find anywhere! And we are doing it just for you, the adult skater.
"Once again, thanks for helping us to create such a beautiful session. P.S.: Start getting your costumes ready for our fantastic Halloween Party on Saturday, October 28th, 2006."
No, Julio, thank YOU for your creativity and technical knowhow that made this all happen. (By the way, Julio, the music was OUTSTANDING Saturday night!)
http://web.mac.com/roxydjjulio/iWeb/Site/Roxy%20DJ%20Julio.html
