New York, August 29, 2006 – How many people does it take to lace up Jessica Simpson’s roller skates? The singer’s extremely short mini dress may have made it impossible for her to bend over, but ensconced in a booth at the Roxy nightclub at her record release party on Tuesday, she had about half a dozen handlers surrounding her until she finally stood up and wobbled over to the roller rink.

Simpson really looked as if she couldn’t skate at first; she nearly fell many times on her initial rounds with hairdresser Ken Paves. Photographers’ flashbulbs seemed to really make her lose her balance. Once, when she almost fell while standing still on the skates, we clearly heard a laughing Simpson announce over the booming music, “I can’t skate on these skates! I’m used to a different kind of skates”. This was after she refused to do interviews because she’d lost her voice.

Eventually, the recent divorcee found her rhythm, and sailed smoothly around, and even danced a bit while her refrigerator-sized bodyguards were on foot, trying to keep up with her.

Jessica is paying attention to business. With music downloading growing at the expense of record store sales, the savvy singer got Yahoo! to host the celebration for her new recording, called A Public Affair. The roller skating party had an all-American theme, with cotton candy, popcorn and hotdogs. (We especially liked the open bar.)

Jess’ sister Ashlee never made it to the party; she was busy rehearsing for her upcoming role on the London stage in Chicago, her dad, Joe Simpson, said. Ashlee heads to the U.K. this Sunday, and her six-week run begins on September 22.

Joe told us that Jessica is “very disappointed” that her vocal problems are preventing her from singing. We, however, were more disappointed that Jessica’s maybe new boyfriend, John Mayer, did not show up to squire her around the roller rink.