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Comeback trend rolls with soul

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published January 11, 2006

The best thing about an old trend coming back is that, for once, it gives you the cultural upper hand when dealing with your kids.

Consider when my sons sat down recently to watch the roller disco movie Roll Bounce.

Not only was I able to regale them with stories about my own fabulous roller-dancing days (all lies, I was terrible), but I was able to name every song on the soundtrack. In fact, I have most of the songs on CD.

Saletta Coleman will tell you, however, that the roller disco craze never really went away. Coleman, who has lived in Tampa Bay for four years, was invited to a huge roller disco event in Chicago in the summer. To prepare, she searched for a local scene and discovered the Sunday Night Soul Roll at United Skates of America, 5121 N Armenia Ave.

Coleman was so hooked she started a Web site: www.getyoursk8on.com The site is booming and driving the popularity of this weekend's inaugural Tampa Soul Roll Invitational.

The three-day event, the sixth anniversary of United Skates' Soul Roll, is drawing skaters from around the nation and even Europe. Coleman said participants have booked more than 150 rooms at the host hotel, the Sheraton Suites at 4400 W Cypress St.

Traveling to the event is fun and a chance to showcase different styles. West Coast skaters bring a certain flavor to the movement, as do those from the Midwest and England.

But Coleman says you can't discount the Tampa folks.

"We have a great group of skaters here who have never been put on the map before," Coleman said.

The weekend begins with a mixer at the Sheraton on Friday night, and a roller workshop on Saturday morning by Richard Humphrey, a man Coleman calls the godfather of roller disco.

The big events are a Saturday night skating session from midnight to 4 a.m. and another on Sunday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Each session is $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Skaters must be at least 21.

Sandwiched between those two skate-a-thons is a Sunday afternoon bowling tournament at Pin Chasers, 5555 W Hillsborough Ave., and a Sunday night screening at the Sheraton of 8 Wheels and Some Soul Brotha Music, a documentary that inspired Roll Bounce. Ty Dixon, who made the film, will be in attendance.

It sounds like an exhausting weekend to me, but Coleman said the passion for roller disco fuels their drive. They love to travel to different cities and participate in events.

And the best news is that when it comes to Florida, Tampa and Jacksonville are leading the trend. Orlando and Miami are trying to catch up.

Miami following in Tampa's footsteps? That's a new trend.

Another new trend? Braces are cool.

I couldn't believe it, either, but my older son has had braces for more than a year, and my younger son is in the process of getting them. Neither is complaining.

One parent told me her son practically begged her to get braces.

What in the name of tinsel teeth is going on?

Orthodontist Neal Stubbs, who has practiced for 28 years and has his primary office in Brandon, said braces haven't become the hot new trend as much as kids are simply growing up faster.

"I think they're more mature about it," he said. "I think they would rather get it over with now than have them when they're a senior in high school."

It also helps that modern advances allow kids to make fashion statements with their braces. Back in the day, gray wire connected the braces. Now, children can choose from a variety of color bands. You can pick red to match your red shirts, or as Dr. Stubbs noted, you can get colors that clash with your wardrobe.

Yes, I would like shocking pink for my top teeth and black for my bottom teeth. And see if you can get mauve before my next visit.

Even more surprising is that some kids want braces to avoid being ribbed about their overbites.

"I've put braces on even when it wasn't quite time because other kids were making them miserable," Stubbs said. "The braces get them off the kid's back."

That's just like kids. As soon as we get a chance to be hip again with something like roller disco, they reinvent some other tradition to keep us confused.

That's all I'm saying.

Ernest Hooper can be reached at 813 226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 11, 2006, 11:20:43]