Wade on February 2007
By Wade KwonThen and now
Festival future: Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival goes on. The new executive director, Catherine Pfitzer, and the board held a town hall meeting last week to cull ideas from a small groups of attendees. In addition, the organization has an online survey to pinpoint positives and negatives about the festival and other events. Birmingham Shout, slated for April, sponsored comedian Margaret Cho at the Alabama Theater, drawing around 1,500 fans.
And coming up next weekend, another Sidewalk Scramble with a new twist: pre-submitted scripts. Should be an interesting year for filmmakers and fans.
Bank on it: Like the other major homegrown financial institutions, Compass Bank found a suitor. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria snapped up the 43-year-old bank for $9.6 billion. In the wake of Birmingham’s banking shakeups, quite a few startup banks have emerged to take your money. Of course, you can always keep in in your mattress — we won’t tell.
Tough guys, pretty girls: Birmingham continues its role while on a reality roll. Beyond “American Idol,” “The Amazing Race,” “The Real World,” “Two-a-Days” and “Survivor,” another resident has popped up, this time on “America’s Next Top Model.” In addition, a Montgomery woman is also part of the Final 12 (and counting).
Meanwhile, Angela Hacker beat out her brother Zac to win season 5 of “Nashville Star” Thursday, earning a country record deal with Warner Bros. Both are from The Shoals in northwestern Alabama. Can we get a “yee” and a “haw”?
Here’s her performance of “Strawberry Wine” from the final round:
Gulf Coast getaway: We’re organizing a volunteer trip to help residents of Biloxi, Miss., and New Orleans, called the Magic City Mission. You can help by signing up for our April trip or donating an item. Won’t you join in the effort?
Haiku flashback
things to do while driving [Feb. 8]
Eat, talk on phone, change
CD, adjust heat, yell at
other car, primp, nap.
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Archives: February
Special report: Wade on 2007
