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Vote 2016: Alabama v. Apathy: Dawn of Super Tuesday

Tuesday, March 1st, 2016

American flag, by James Willamor

Photo: James Willamor (CC)

Look at Alabama, the early bird getting the political worm all thanks to today’s primary. Twelve other states and American Samoa are participating in Super Tuesday, a k a the SEC Primary.

Vote 2016The polls are open: Voting takes place till 7 p.m. for candidate in national, state and local races.

Q: Where do I vote?

A: Call Jefferson County: (205) 325-5550, Jefferson County (Bessemer only): (205) 481-4105, Shelby County: (205) 669-3913.

Or Search Your Polling Place on AlabamaVotes.gov.

Wade on Birmingham:
primary election results tonight

Remember, if you have problems at your polling place:

  • Notify a poll worker immediately.
  • Call the state attorney general at 1-800-831-8814 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Wednesday or fill out this online form.
  • Call the secretary of state at 1-800-274-VOTE (8683) or visit StopVoterFraudNow.com.
  • And tell the probate court for Jefferson County (205-325-5203) or Shelby County (205-669-3713).
  • E-mail us at Vote2016[at]wadeonbirmingham.com.

Q: What can I expect to see on the ballots?

A: Check out these sample ballots for each county.

You’re voting for president, U.S. Senator, state and county officials, plus a statewide amendment.

Let us know where and when you voted, and how many votes were cast before yours.

• • •

More Vote 2016 coverage.

Vote 2016: Sample ballots for Jefferson, Shelby County primaries

Friday, February 12th, 2016

Download general election sample ballots
for Jefferson, Shelby Counties

Voting registration deadline Monday

Alabamians will have a shot at shaping the presidential race for 2016.

Vote 2012With an early SEC Primary on March 1, Alabama will be among 14 states and territories holding elections on Super Tuesday. Also on the ballot, a Senate race, several state and county races and an state amendment.

Citizens still have time to register to vote, either online (for the first time) or by handing in this PDF form. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. Monday for online submission or end of business Monday at the county Board of Registrar offices for hand-delivered forms.

To help you see the full candidate list for your district, we’ve included sample ballots for Jefferson and Shelby Counties for the primaries. (The Jefferson County ballots, 32 pages and 46 pages, include versions for every district.)

Also included is the Alabama Voter Guide, which has information on voting procedures and frequently asked questions.

For easier viewing, you can download or zoom to full screen with each ballot.

Primary elections take place March 1 across the state.

• • •

Find your polling place and districts.

• • •

Sample ballots for all 67 counties.

• • •

Jefferson County: Democratic ballot

Jefferson County: Republican ballot

Shelby County: Democratic ballot

Shelby County: Republican ballot

Alabama Voter Guide 2016

• • •

More Vote 2016 coverage.

Books: Excerpt from Tanner Latham’s ‘Know Thy Farmer’

Sunday, December 13th, 2015

Tanner Latham, Know Thy Farmer

The following chapter is an excerpt from San Francisco author Tanner Latham’s “Know Thy Farmer.” He is a Piedmont native and a content strategist, writer, editor, radio reporter and multimedia storyteller. Latham is also a former Southern Living colleague of mine.

His book profiles 30 Alabama farmers and the food they provide to chefs and restaurants.

In this excerpt, Latham recounts a farm-to-table dinner at Sanctuary Farms.

• • •

Farm Dinner

The guests rolled in slowly in near-idling cars and discovered the bright, mid-afternoon sun bathing warm light over the house, barn and a patchwork layout of heirloom fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs anchoring this little farm. A freshly mown path welcomed them and led their steps through naturally wild lawn grasses. It served as an entre to the evening’s event — a first scent of a seven-course dinner, a true farm to farm table experience. And at the path’s end, awaiting each guest, was the first sip — Peach Cobbler Moonshine cocktails stirred and seasoned with locally made popsicles. There, too, was the first bite — skewers of hushpuppies and fried green Sun Gold tomatoes picked earlier that morning from the vines beside which they now mingled.

Garlic. That was what initially sparked chef Drew Terp’s interest in Milan Davis and Jeannine Freed of Sanctuary Farms. “It was some of the most incredible garlic I had ever seen,” says Drew, who first met the couple at their booth at the Market at Pepper Place. “They had some of the most beautiful produce I’ve ever seen in any restaurant I had ever worked for. I’ve used ginger imported from all over the world, and Sanctuary’s was the most gorgeous I can remember.”

The couple was fairly smitten with Drew as well. “He had this very positive and boisterous presence,” says Jeannine. “His passion for food was contagious, and his personality went along with it.”

The chef visited the farmers at the market each week, buying produce, chatting and slowly, strongly building a relationship. One Saturday morning, Drew offered to volunteer on the farm just to see what the couple was doing and learn more about their process. The farmers obliged, and throughout the summer, he and his girlfriend visited the farm in Etowah County, Ala., and helped clear brush, till, plant seed and harvest.

After working one day, Jeannine and Milan began talking to Drew about their idea of hosting a fall dining event similar to those held among their network of farmers. It was an opportunity for a chef to show off his or her culinary skills at a farm, sourcing most of the ingredients on site.

“We were reaching a point where we had enough food in our garden,” says Jeannine. “We envisioned it more as a celebration of accomplishments of the season and sharing them with those who come and experience it.”

Yet, the farmer couple had never done anything like that before and weren’t sure how to even begin, but they knew they wanted it to be right. Lucky for them, Drew had experience hosting such events, and he willfully partnered with them as an organizer.

“Drew’s obvious passion left us with no doubts that we were going to plan a wonderful experience for everyone who came,” says Jeannine.

The cocktail hour spilled seamlessly into supper, and the guests moved to the barn to seat themselves on wood-topped bales of hay at tables built by Milan from wood he had milled. Above them, string lights and herbs hung from rafters. Around them, used burlap fabrics draped doorways. Before them, flower centerpieces colored the tables. Overhead, the sun was just beginning to set.

As Chef Drew’s team brought out the first course, a charcuterie board with cured meats, local cheeses, a savory okra jam, radish pickles, pickled garlic and local honey, the guests’ eyes widened and lit up, a response repeated with each course presentation throughout the evening.

Then came wrinkled potatoes with Spanish tortillas, a small-bite dish Drew had learned about while traveling through the Canary Islands. After that, mixed greens with seared goat cheese, figs and honey vinaigrette followed by a sweet potato soup with sage farmer’s cheese and brown butter emulsion.

“Everything had a really nice balance. Each course allowed the vegetable to be what it was without covering it up,” says Jeannine.

For the main course, Drew presented a suckling pig with rosemary polenta, glazed baby carrots and wild persimmon pork jus. It had actually been supplied and cooked on site by Will and Liz Doonan of Heron Hollow Farms located in Lacon, Ala.

“We structured the menu so that we would have intricate courses followed by easier courses,” says Drew. “We wanted plenty of time to prepare the more difficult dishes.” With each course, servers poured wine and beer pairings provided by Grassroots Wine from Birmingham and Gadsden-based Back Forty Beer Company. As they placed the plates, the chef stood before the guests and guided them through the dishes, explaining the sources and answering questions.

“It’s my passion,” says Drew. “If you take a plate, and you set it down in front of somebody, they can just taste it and decide if they like it or not. But when you can put something out in front of somebody and tell them a story about it, now they are eating through your eyes and looking at the food through the creator’s vision. They get the story behind the food. It’s so important when people are eating to know there is a background behind the food.”

A big, beautiful pecan tree stood next to the barn, its branches extending far enough that their ends sagged to the ground and created a natural canopy and seating area. With the supper courses finished — the fork-clinking silenced — the guests moved from the table to the tree to watch a bonfire grow into a cozy blaze that popped sparks upward to the dark sky.

Local musicians provided a post-dinner soundtrack, picking and singing folk and bluegrass songs. And for the final taste, the chef’s team served dessert, sea salt caramel popsicles from Gadsden-based Frios Gourmet Pops and Drew’s grandmommy’s recipe pecan pie made from nuts that had fallen from the large tree.

According to Jeannine, watching someone taste the produce she and Milan grows is akin to the moment you feel when you meet your soulmate. “It’s like, ‘Yes! That’s what I’m talking about!'” she says. “When someone gets the whole process, it’s kind of like a camaraderie. There’s a lot of passion in that moment. I think, ‘These are my people!’ Those moments contribute to making it all worth it. We can grow beautiful food, but there has to be someone there who truly enjoys it.”

She says that this event could not have occurred without their “farm community of friends” who willingly helped to make it happen in a passionate and selfless way. Those farmer friends and musicians sat and dined at the tables alongside the guests and added another depth and dimension to the atmosphere.

In a broad sense, Jeannine believes that events like this only occur when people care from where their food comes. Drew agrees, stating that a major problem today is that people lose track of their food sources. “You go to the store or drive-through and you buy food that is packaged, but that’s not real food,” he says. “The realness of an event like this is picking carrots that morning and serving them that night. You take the food right from the farm, make something beautiful and then share it with those around you. That is what is all about.”

These intimate dinners symbolize the best that has come from the farm-to-table movement and from literally knowing your farmer. They display a through-line that connects those who participate. Chefs respect and revere the live produce and even animals that grow just steps away from the diners. And the guests, a table full of strangers sitting elbow to elbow who quickly bond over their commonalities, can directly ask the farmers about their challenges or the chef about his vision for the dishes.

“This was not only the best of a beautiful harvest and a talented chef,” continues Jeannine. “But it was also a gathering where new friendships came together to show love and support among one another.”

Slowly, the guests peel away from the group and the bonfire’s warmth. With bellies full and smiles grand, they turn into the chill of the October evening and follow the same path, now lit by flickering, lighted bags, out to their cars. They occasionally steal a glance over their shoulders to view the glow of the barn and garden. But they have to return. Back to their homes. Back to their families. Back to their lives. Still, they now carry a memory that they’ll recount about a dinner that connected them to the land and to each other.

“This is how a community grows,” says Drew. “One person and story and experience at a time.”

• • •

“Know Thy Farmer” (November 2015, Friends of the Market)

Tanner Latham

To free UAB will require immense financial pressure

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015

Ray Watts, UAB

UAB president Ray Watts shows where he had his soul
surgically removed. 

Author’s note: In the past, I have worked in my capacity as a communications consultant for the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Dear Free UAB,

Only 21 months till kickoff. Without you, we would have no 2017 season for Blazer football.

Of course, Dr. Ray Watts is still president of UAB, still collecting $853,464 annually for hiding from faculty and students and performing an inept job. It was 1 year ago today that Watts and his bosses in Tuscaloosa killed three sports teams, only to resurrect them 6 months later.

The good news is that you’ve met every athletics funding deadline so far, even the ones that have been moved up in a brazen attempt to discredit you. Now that the University of Alabama System board of trustees has shifted even more of the burden usually assumed by colleges to fans and donors, it can spend even more insane amounts of money on its preferred team in Tuscaloosa.

Speaking of preferred teams, it’s nice to see the rifle team with its 2015-16 schedule intact. Sadly for the bowling team, it has had to go dark till next season (or the season after, maybe). And the on-campus stadium plan may live someday as an off-campus stadium on the BJCC property, safe from the trustees’ spiteful actions.

It’s heartening to see the students and the faculty united in its official lack of confidence in Watts. But to pry him from his cushy expensive president’s chair will take more than chants of “Fire Ray Watts” at basketball games in Bartow Arena.

Much more.

The simplest equation is to make it more expensive to keep Watts than to send him back to medicine full time with an unholy severance package. All across the South, calculators have been working overtime on cost-benefit analyses …

  • Cheaper to keep or fire Les Miles at LSU? Keep, since the PR damage alone was astronomical.
  • Cheaper to keep or fire Mark Richt at Georgia? Fire, though the numbers aren’t looking real solid.
  • Cheaper to keep or fire president Tim Wolfe at Missouri? Fire (technically, resign), because football TV cash.

Watts is an expensive hot mess, but he’s simply not costly enough (yet) to trustees. I had suggested a year ago that UAB supporters oust him and then wrest the university from the UA System for the good of the school and Birmingham.

(If it was always about football and only football, then I guess … mission accomplished? But don’t be surprised when the board takes it away again.)

What does a Ray Watts cost UAB?

  • His salary, $2,338.26 a day (and that’s if he hasn’t received a raise, oy).
  • All those pricey consultants and attorneys.
  • His security detail.
  • His president’s mansion.
  • The new secret biased report to kill football, which we’ll find out about in August 2017.
  • The $1 billion Campaign for UAB, which was on pace to reach the finish line now but has slowed so much, it may be as late as 2019 (or worse).
  • Lost tuition (plus future alumni donations) from plummeting enrollment, down 7.3 percent from fall 2014.

While all of these cost UAB money, the key to is to hit the board where it hurts most: the University of Alabama. The school is on track for another national championship, with the mountains of cash that come with it, so you must be clever and persistent in finding any financial weaknesses.

The Mizzou football team figured it out, using its leverage to force the school to act decisively and quickly on allegations of long-term racist harassment of students. Replacing Wolfe is far easier and cheaper than forfeiting to BYU.

Until you convince enough fans, football recruits, donors (individual and corporate), professors and politicians to abandon Tuscaloosa, you have no leverage. Until you steer away millions of dollars for buildings, players, coaches and research projects, you have no hope.

It may take years/election cycles. It may take scorched earth. It may take a beatdown of every board member’s company. But it can be done.

The fight has to be uglier and hit the trustees where it hurts most, right in the bank account.

Go Blazers,

Wade

Video: E.O. Wilson, ant man

Wednesday, October 28th, 2015

Video: “E.O. Wilson: Of Ants and Men”

A lifetime of studying the natural world has aired on PBS as a 2-hour prime-time documentary. “E.O. Wilson: Of Ants and Men” premiered in September.

The titular subject was born in Birmingham and spent his childhood in Mobile and Washington. He studied at Alabama and later Harvard. His career in science led to the creation of sociobiology, earning him a U.S. National Medal of Science. Wilson has authored many books, which brought him two Pulitzer Prizes.

The program looks at milestones in his life, along with the ways we better understand the world, including the formation and behavior of ant societies, and how humans have much more in common with them than with chimps. Wilson spends time in our state’s rich environment, and even dissects the tribalism behind Alabama (and Auburn) football.

E.O. Wilson

E.O. Wilson in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique,
in a scene from “Of Ants and Men”

Books: Excerpt from Carla Jean Whitley’s ‘Birmingham Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Magic City’

Sunday, August 2nd, 2015
Carla Jean Whitley, Birmingham Beer

Cheryl Joy Miner

The following chapter is an excerpt from Birmingham author Carla Jean Whitley’s “Birmingham Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Magic City” [aff. link]. She is a features reporter at Alabama Media Group, a freelance writer and a journalism instructor at the University of Alabama and Samford University, plus a good friend.

This is her third(!) book in 13 months, and the second to be featured on this site. (Read an excerpt from her book, “Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.”) “Birmingham Beer” traces the century-long rise and fall and rise of local brewing.

In this excerpt, Whitley takes us behind the scenes of the real battle, not in Birmingham but in Montgomery …

• • •

Chapter 6, Brewery Modernization Act

Free the Hops initially identified alcohol limit and container size as its top priorities. After the success of the Gourmet Beer Bill, the organization considered continuing along that path. However, lobbyist Michael Sullivan recommended launching the Brewery Modernization Act instead. Because 2010 was an election year, the Gourmet Bottle Bill was unlikely to see much attention. However, the brewery efforts stood a better chance as a pro-business, economic initiative.

Dan Roberts, of both Free the Hops and Alabama Brewers Guild, explained that the Brewpub Act of 1992 was insufficient because it was so difficult to find an approved location. He, too, expected fairly quick progress with the Brewery Modernization Act since it focused on business operations rather than the alcohol itself. “We are severely limiting the growth of an industry that is finding success and creating jobs in other states,” Roberts said to the Birmingham News. “It’s really about making an environment more friendly for business, which ordinarily we would all be in favor of.”

Five Alabama production breweries were in operation as the Brewery Modernization Act made the legislative rounds in 2011. But if visitors wanted to tour Good People, Madison’s Blue Pants Brewery, Huntsville’s Yellowhammer Brewing, Old Black Bear Brewing or Straight to Ale Brewing, they could admire brewing equipment without appreciating the fruit of its labor. State regulations meant breweries were unable to serve even a sample on site. And by 2011, all brewpubs had closed.

“Why are breweries and brewpubs under different legislation? At the end of the day, they both manufacture beer,” Stuart Carter said to the Birmingham News.

“Everything about it [the Brewpub Act of 1992] is set up to make a brewpub fail,” Carter told Birmingham magazine. Why should 21st-century businesses be bound to Prohibition-era precedents? The proposed legislation would loosen the historic district requirements and allow taprooms in breweries. But the Brewery Modernization Act, which passed the Senate, didn’t get a final vote in the House because time ran out.

“Alabama law will not allow us to even charge $5 for a tour followed by free beer tastings like they can at wineries. Why are we treated differently?” Craig Shaw asked the Birmingham News. Shaw was brew master at Avondale Brewing Company, which was gearing up for business as the legislation went through the 2011 session.

That wasn’t the only lost opportunity. Because of the existing laws, Alabama breweries — and therefore the state itself — missed out on tourism dollars, proponents said.

“In many states, breweries are tourist destinations. Our phones are ringing and our email inboxes are filling with travelers looking for interesting places to stop while heading to the beach, in town for business, or looking for places to take their out-of-town guests. Currently we must deny their request for tours or to sample our products at the brewery,” the Alabama Brewers Guild wrote in its statement supporting the Brewery Modernization Act.

“That’s what it’s all about — enabling Alabama business to grow,” Roberts, the ABG’s executive director, explained to the Birmingham News. “If you go to other states, taprooms are the most common things in the world. Tasting rooms and tours are the way small breweries grow their brand. When you’re dealing with beer on this level, it’s not a commodity like the big beer brands.”

“At a time when we need more job creation and economic activity, our laws are preventing growth in one of the industries that is trying to grow here,” past Free the Hops president Stuart Carter said to the Birmingham News.

“It’s taken the hard work of hundreds of craft beer makers several years to change things. Of the 50 million cases of beer sold in Alabama last year, wouldn’t it be better if more of that revenue stayed in this state?” Back Forty’s Jason Wilson asked the News.

The city’s existing brewery and brewery-in-the-making both hoped to utilize freedoms a successful bill would offer. The repeal of brewpub laws would allow for on-site taprooms at Good People, Avondale and any breweries to come.

“At the end of the day, it’s about two things: economic development and competitiveness for Alabama businesses. It’s a travesty we can’t have a group of tourists stop by our brewery, show them around, sell them a pint of beer, talk to them about our brewery and Birmingham, tell them which grocery stores carry our products and recommend a great lunch stop or a hotel. We are constantly contacted by out-of-town people wanting to stop by the brewery to buy a pint of beer, and upon our explaining the restrictions of Alabama law, I doubt many people take the exit off of I-65,” Good People brewmaster Jason Malone told Black and White City Paper. He noted that taproom revenue would help subsidize brewery growth.

Likewise, the paper noted that breweries could stimulate growth in other ways. “Avondale Brewing’s [Coby] Lake says that he and his partners advocate SB 192 because they have spent considerable dollars to renovate a building that could easily become a hotspot in a Birmingham neighborhood that has been challenged for years,” the paper’s Chuck Geiss wrote.

Free the Hops’ Gabe Harris explained in the same article:

“The Brewery Modernization Act will help create jobs and revive dying neighborhoods in local communities. In addition, this bill allows brewpubs to provide tours and samples, which in turn would increase receipts from such taxes that go straight into Alabama’s education fund. Existing data supports how the earlier legislation has benefited the businesses that are now carrying these beers and all the things that our opponents once railed against simply haven’t happened.”

Budweiser Boycott

The act’s proponents ran into another obstacle before the bill could come up for vote, and a surprising one: an area distributor. In April 2011, Birmingham Budweiser, the local Anheuser-Busch distributor, worked against the bill. Gadsden’s Back Forty Brewing co-founder Jason Wilson said distributors worried that, with breweries being allowed to sell beer on premises, larger breweries like Anheuser-Busch and Coors could challenge the three-tier system. That system requires manufacturers to sell their beer to distributors, which then sell to stores. If breweries were permitted to self-distribute, Wilson explained to the (Mobile) Press-Register, distributors could see their business decline.

Free the Hops (by then 1,700 members strong) quickly called for a boycott of all beer carried by Birmingham Budweiser, which meant not only avoiding products such as Budweiser but also national and even local favorites, including Back Forty.
Harris told Black and White City Paper:

“Anheuser-Busch and their individual distributors have every right to work the legislature against the Brewery Modernization Act. They can be opposed to a jobs-creating, economic development bill that would benefit local business. They can oppose craft beer and Free the Hops. But the craft beer community and Free the Hops can oppose them, too. Anheuser-Busch products and products from their distribution network are now banned from Free the Hops events. This will have its first big effect on the Rocket City Brewfest and will continue with the Magic City Brewfest unless the Brewery Modernization Act becomes law in a form we find acceptable. The state can support many more breweries and we think it is in the best interest of consumers, the economy and the state to see [the legislation] move forward.”

(In 2012, the Alabama Wineries Association called for a similar boycott on beers distributed by opponents to a bill that some said aimed to create an exception to the three-tier system for wineries alone.)

It wasn’t a decision Free the Hops members took easily, the organization’s Stuart Carter explained to the Birmingham News:

“The only power we have is the content of our wallets. What we’re saying with this boycott is we as consumers don’t want to be channeling profits to wholesalers who are using those profits to prevent other consumers from getting the beer we want to drink. This is hurting friends, either friends we know or friends who brew the beer we love to drink. The problem is they’re the innocents in this who are caught in the crossfire.”

Those beers would have been excluded from Huntsville’s Rocket City Brewfest and Birmingham’s Magic City Brewfest had negotiations not resulted in a compromise prior to the events. But within weeks, the parties reached an agreement. Free the Hops conceded to maintain a distinction between brewpubs and production breweries. As a result, breweries were allowed to offer tastings without restriction or an additional license, but sales were limited to on-site consumption. Draft-to-go must still be purchased elsewhere. Brewpubs, on the other hand, still faced a number of the existing restrictions. Some were modified: the historic requirement was expanded to include economically distressed areas as determined by the municipality, not just a historic building; they were allowed to sell to wholesalers for outside distribution; and while a restaurant was still necessary, the minimum seating requirement was eliminated. This compromise was necessary in part because distributors wanted the brewpub license to remain special and limited.

On the Free the Hops blog, Alabama Brewers Guild executive director Dan Roberts wrote that the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Bill Holtzclaw (R-Madison), favored the economically distressed area addition. “Does an area with an empty building — a building that would be perfect for a brewpub — constitute an economically distressed area? That’s up to a city council,” Roberts wrote.

In addressing the media, he explained that the compromise was preferable to the alternative. “It will not be everything we wanted, but it is definitely a workable solution and represents a significant improvement over the current restrictions,” he told the Birmingham News. “We were not going to get everything we wanted. The bill we ended up with is still a vast improvement over what we currently have.”

Jason Malone echoed those sentiments in an interview with the paper. “Anything in the right direction is better than the current status quo. Obviously, some compromises did have to be made, and while we would have rather not had to give up anything that we were going after, that’s not realistic.”

Moving Forward

Birmingham Budweiser became a top-level member of Free the Hops after the gourmet beer boycott, and the legislation gained forward momentum. On June 1, 2011, the Brewery Modernization Act passed the Senate and awaited Gov. Robert Bentley’s signature. Many worried that he would veto the bill, but Bentley explained that responsibilities as governor differed from those of state representative. “When I represented my local community, I voted against Sunday alcohol sales and things of that nature,” he said to the Birmingham News. “As governor, it’s a little bit different. I don’t feel I should impose my views on everybody in the state. The legislature has had a chance to look at it and passed it. I’m sure I will sign it.”

He did so, and Free the Hops again celebrated success. “It’s the biggest change in Alabama brewing laws since the repeal of Prohibition,” then Free the Hops president Gabe Harris told the Associated Press. The bill was expected to result in more breweries and brewpubs opening in the state. The bill opened up the viability of the businesses by creating additional revenue opportunities.

“The state will be able to print a beer tour map of the state where people can go from Huntsville to Mobile visiting brew pubs and breweries,” Carter said to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Kline also rejoiced in the organization’s success. “We went from taking 5 years on a bill to taking 2 years on a bill,” Kline said. “There was starting to be some clear economic impact from craft beer that people could see and quantify. Free the Hops had gained the reputation of only advocating bills that do good things, as opposed to bills that do bad things. So it got easier each time,” Kline said.

The economic impact was evident almost immediately: The state’s brewery production increased by 672.19 percent in the year following the bill’s passage. Following the passage of the bill, brewpubs were able to sell beer to wholesalers, which could then distribute the beer. It didn’t stop there. Between 2012 and 2013, United States breweries increased production by nearly 15 percent, and in Alabama, the growth was even more significant: at 22.35 percent. “The thing that I think has spawned all of the growth in the industry is the taprooms. That really gives you a ready revenue source rather than having to wait 30 days for a wholesaler to pay,” Good People Brewing Co. co-owner Michael Sellers told the Associated Press. He said the brewery’s taproom would create additional jobs, and his business partner, Jason Malone, indicated expectations for continued growth. “I’m excited about where the market is headed in Alabama as people get more tuned into how much better craft beer is. We’ve come a long way and I think this trend is here to stay,” he said to the Birmingham News as Avondale prepared to open.

Although Avondale debuted later that year, it was far from the last brewery to reap the legislation’s benefits. Although only five breweries existed in Alabama as the Brewery Modernization Act began circulating through the legislature, thirteen were in operation by 2014.

In 2014, Alabama Brewers Guild president and Back Forty co-founder Jason Wilson attributed that to the act. “So when you prohibit these small microbreweries from doing things like selling pints at their production facility, that’s the difference between a profitable and an unprofitable business model. The slightest restriction you impose on them can mean the difference between it being successful and failing,” he told Business Alabama. “Since these pieces of legislation have passed, we haven’t seen a single brewery shut down in the last five years. That’s a testament to the impact this legislation has had.”

• • •

Carla Jean Whitley has book signings for “Birmingham Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Magic City” throughout the rest of summer and fall:

  • Thursday: 4-7 p.m., Trim Tab Brewing Co., Lakeview
  • Saturday: 2-4 p.m., Books-A-Million, Brookwood Village, Homewood
  • Aug. 12: 5:30-7 p.m., Neighborhood Hops and Vine, Homewood
  • Aug. 13: 5:30-7 p.m., Neighborhood Hops and Vine, Crestline Park
  • Aug. 14: 5-7 p.m., Little Professor Book Center, Homewood
  • Aug. 15: 1-3 p.m., Vulcan Park
  • Sept. 4: 5-8 p.m., Good People Brewing Co., Southside
  • Oct. 9: 7 p.m., Hoover Public Library

“Birmingham Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Magic City” (July 27, Arcadia Publishing)

Carla Jean Whitley

‘The Great Invisible,’ 5 years after the BP oil spill

Tuesday, April 21st, 2015

Video: “The Great Invisible”

Monday marked the 5th anniversary of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 workers and dumping countless barrels of oil into the surrounding water. Tar balls from the disaster continued to wash ashore on Alabama beaches as late as 2013.

The PBS series “Independent Lens” aired the national premiere of “The Great Invisible,” a 2014 documentary by Mobile’s Margaret Brown on the biggest oil spill in American history. It won the South by Southwest festival award for documentary feature.

The film looks at life after the explosion and its impact on the Gulf Coast.

Reviewers have praised the doc:

  • Entertainment Weekly: “A sobering look at a part of coastal America that will never be the same again. A-.”
  • The Hollywood Reporter: “A powerful documentary that reminds those of us who’ve moved on to other worries that this one is far from finished.”
  • Variety: “A uniquely thought-provoking chronicle of an event that, in the absence of any real preventive action taken by oil companies or the U.S. government, calls out for further cinematic and journalistic attention.”

“The Great Invisible” streams online through May 21.

Latham Smith, The Great Invisible

Tugboat captain Latham Smith

Deepwater Horizon, The Great Invisible

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig

“The Great Invisible”

Books: Excerpt from Thomas Spencer’s ‘Five-Star Trails: Birmingham’

Sunday, January 25th, 2015

Five-Star Trails Birmingham, Thomas Spencer

The following chapter is an excerpt from Birmingham author Thomas Spencer’s “Five-Star Trails: Birmingham” [aff. link]. He grew up hiking and camping in Alabama and worked as a reporter for the Anniston Star and the Birmingham News. Spencer is now senior research associate at the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama. He was a founder of the Friends of Red Mountain Park and serves on the board of the Cahaba River Society.

“Five-Star Trails: Birmingham” provides plans and details for three dozen hikes, from downtown to the surrounding wilderness areas.

In this excerpt, Tom takes us on a hike to Oak Mountain State Park’s highest point.

• • •

Hike No. 12: Oak Mountain State Park, King’s Chair Loop

At-A-Glance Information

  • Scenery: ★★★★★
  • Trail Condition: ★★★★
  • Children: ★★★☆☆
  • Difficulty: ★★★★
  • Solitude: ★★★☆☆
  • GPS Trailhead Coordinates: N33° 21.438′ W86° 42.288′
  • Distance and Configuration: 5-mile loop
  • Hiking Time: 3 hours
  • Highlights: Challenging uphills, great mountaintop views from Eagle’s Nest and King’s Chair, wet-weather waterfalls
  • Elevation: 600 feet at trailhead, 1,200 feet at peak
  • Access, Maps, Wheelchair Access: [included in book]
  • Facilities: Restrooms and changing rooms at the trailhead
  • Comments: Remember that the Red Trail is a shared hiking and mountain biking trail.

Overview

This route is intense because of its uphill climb and the scenic rewards it provides. It’s a great hike for fall colors, providing sweeping scenic vistas. In wet weather, cascading streams tumble down the mountainside. In any season, it’s a quick way to feel far from civilization.

From the North Trailhead, this hike follows the Blue Trail up Double Oak Mountain to two of the park’s favorite overlooks. It continues southwest along the south rim of the mountain before taking the south Red–Blue Connector Trail to the Red Trail, which heads downhill back to the north trailhead.

Route Details

This hike doesn’t mess around. It makes an immediate climb up Oak Mountain. Between the North Trailhead and the Eagle’s Nest overlook, there is a 500-foot elevation gain, and that’s in the first mile-and-a-half. But that early and intense exertion pays dividends. You get away from civilization quickly. Thanks to the size of the park and the way the trail twists up the ridges, you encounter views on this hike in which all you see is woods and mountains, quick access to the feeling that you’ve wandered off someplace remote.

We hiked parts of this route in the warm and dry early fall and enjoyed the way the breezes on the ridges cooled us after a tough climb. We returned in winter after a rain and were surprised to find that what had been dry drainages in the fall had become a series of gushing waterfalls. There was so much water that creek crossings on the Red Trail offered a challenge for anyone wanting to keep their feet dry.

The hike starts at the North Trailhead, across from the gravel parking lot on the north end of the park, near the lower lakes and the park entrance off Alabama 119.

While the White, Yellow and Red Trails gain elevation gradually, the Blue Trail heads directly up the mountain. It is well marked, with plastic blue blazes nailed to trees. Distance markers are posted every quarter-mile; on the Blue Trail, they start at 0 and go up. So at Post 4, you’ve gone 1 mile.

The forests are a mix of pine and hardwood, with a nice sampling of longleaf pines on the ridges and white oaks in the draws; the latter provide a generous supply of fat acorns in the fall. When we went back in winter, the acorns were harder to find, likely gobbled up by the wintering wildlife. What was present in the winter that had not been there in the fall was water. And lots of it. A little less than a half-mile into the hike, you begin crossing a series of streams dropping down the mountainside, creating little waterfalls as they go. At the 1-mile mark, you pass the north Red–Blue Connector Trail, which serves as a shortcut back to the parking lot if you need it.

Oak Mountain State Park

Oak Mountain State Park
(click image for larger version)

King's Chair Trail map

King’s Chair Trail map, above,
and elevation profile, below

King's Chair Trail elevation profile

Shortly thereafter, the trail splits. Continuing straight, the original Blue Trail offers several unobstructed views of Shackleford Ridge, then descends gently to a saddle between ridges before resuming its upward climb. If you’ve had enough of steep hills by now, this is the way to go. Be forewarned, though, that heavy rains can turn the original Blue Trail into a swiftly flowing creek. Alternatively, if you turn left at the junction, a newer Blue Trail (with the same blue blazes) makes an exceedingly steep 0.2-mile climb to a rock outcropping at the Eagle’s Nest overlook, then continues downhill not quite as precipitously to rejoin the original Blue Trail just before the final pitch up to the Double Oak Mountain ridgetop. From the top of the rock at Eagle’s Nest, you can see yet another perspective of Shackleford Ridge and the park’s highest point. From all points, your view is forest and twisting mountain ridges that hide any evidence of civilization.

At the 1.5-mile marker on the trail (you’re about 2 miles into your hike if you went up to Eagle’s Nest), you top the ridge and reach the junction with the spur trail to the King’s Chair Overlook. Take the spur. At 0.3 miles, it’s a little longer than the spur to Eagle’s Nest, but it’s much less arduous.

At the rocky outcropping of King’s Chair, you get your first chance for wide-open views from the southeastern ridge of the mountain. In the far distance across the wide Coosa River Valley, the Talladega Mountain ridges are visible. In the middle distance, you’ll see steam rising from the cooling towers at Alabama Power’s Gaston electrical plant in south Shelby County, along the river.

Returning to the main trail, continue south along the ridge on the Blue Trail to the southern Red–Blue Connector. Take that connector, which cuts back to the north 0.75 miles to the Red Trail, which in turn takes you back to the North Trailhead. The return trip is especially nice if it has been raining. Those little mountain streams gather together with more volume, creating trailside waterfalls and challenging creek crossings. Along the way, you’ll notice stonework in the drainage system along the road. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps built the Red Road. Remember that you’re sharing this trail with mountain bikers.

The trip back to the parking lot is well marked and easy.

Directions

From I-65, follow the directions on page 111. After entering the park, you’ll drive almost its entire length to get to the North Trailhead.

From US 280, follow the directions on page 111. About a mile past the back entrance to the park, the North Trailhead parking lot will be on your right, along the main park road.

• • •

Thomas Spencer has two library events in March: a brown bag lunch talk at noon March 11 at Emmet O’Neal Library in Mountain Brook [map]; and a book signing at 6:30 p.m. March 19 at Homewood Public Library [map].

He also has a free group hike at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 28 at Perry Lakes Park with Southeastern Outings. Other hikes with him and Scale Back Alabama will take place through April. For more information on the hikes, email Tanya Sylvan at Keen Communication or Tom Spencer.

“Five-Star Trails: Birmingham” (November 2014, Menasha Ridge Press)

Thomas Spencer

Books: Excerpt from Marie Sutton’s ‘The A.G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham’

Saturday, January 3rd, 2015

Marie Sutton - AG Gaston Motel in Birmingham

The following chapter is an excerpt from Birmingham author Marie Sutton’s “The A.G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham” [aff. link]. She is a writer with a passion for immortalizing the African-American experience, married to the Rev. James Sutton with two children, Simone and Stephen.

In this excerpt, Sutton shares the history of segregated Birmingham and the rise of entrepreneur A.G. Gaston.

• • •

Locked Out, but Creating a New Way

“I couldn’t understand why the color of your skin made you better than me. That didn’t make sense.”

— Brenda Faush, a native of Birmingham

Alabama’s scorching summer days do not discriminate. Beneath the merciless sun, there is neither black nor white, rich nor poor — the warmth oppresses all. From the pristine streets of Mountain Brook to the dusty roads of Acipco-Finley, the thick, humid air can be suffocating and the pavement like hot lava.

If your skin is brown, however, it doesn’t take long for a million little reminders — like needle-thin icicles — to prick you back into reality; not even the indiscriminate Alabama heat can thaw out cold hearts or melt away the blistering, blue knuckle winter of segregation.

During the 1950s — in the sweltering June, July and August months — a Negro child had to still any excitement at the sight of Kiddieland Park. Riding along the endless stretch of Third Avenue West in Birmingham, the fairgrounds could be spotted from the road. The smell of salty, buttered popcorn and sweet, airy cotton candy was a seductive lure. The bright, colorful Ferris wheel sliced through the skyline, and the grounds danced with spinning boxcars, mock airplane rides and a merry-go-round.

Kiddieland was an annual summer carnival that was created in June 1948 for area children. Described by the Birmingham News as a “miniature Fairyland,” it was touted as “welcome to all,” though it was understood that that meant everyone except Negroes. The fair featured Sunday concerts, “hillbilly” shows, a “pint-sized edition of the Southern Railway’s Southerner” train and advertisements that showed rosy-cheeked children drunk with glee. It was not until years later that blacks were allowed to come, but only on the last day when the stuffed toys were usually picked over and nearly gone; the vendors were packing up and the popcorn stale.

Ask a room full of blacks who grew up in Birmingham during that time, and only a scant few won’t mention how their memories were stained by not being allowed to attend the fair.

“I remember looking over there and knowing that I couldn’t go and not quite understanding why,” remembered Samuetta Hill Drew, who was a colored child in Birmingham during the 1950s.

Tamara Harris Johnson’s parents tried to shield her from the Kiddieland discussion, she said. Even though the street on which the fair sat was a main artery to downtown, her parents, and many others, found alternate routes so as not to explain why admission to the fair was more than a dime. It also required that your skin be white.

That was the way it was in Birmingham. If you were black, you were only given access to scraps of the American dream, the torn and tattered pieces, the chewed up and spit out ones. Jim Crow laws made sure of it.

City ordinances deemed it illegal for blacks and whites to play cards together or even enjoy movies collectively unless there was separate seating, entrances and exits. And the only way they could eat in the same room was if they were divided by a solid partition that reached at least 7 feet from the floor. Signs that read “whites only” hung on doorways and water fountains throughout the city. Even the telephone directories noted whether people or businesses were “C” or “Colored.”

(more…)

The 2015 Birmingham sports preview

Tuesday, December 30th, 2014

James Hinchcliffe, Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

James Hinchcliffe races in the No. 27 GoDaddy car
at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

Birmingham isn’t just Barons and other-city football. Take a look at the loaded calendar of sports for 2015, including a February of nonstop track and field, plus marathons, new pro football, three basketball tournaments and the Tide playing home games in Hoover.

Baseball

  • Birmingham Barons: The 2015 season begins at home on April 9 at Regions Field with a five-game series against the Mobile BayBears.
  • Crimson Tide: The University of Alabama baseball team will have its season opener Feb. 13 at the Hoover Met with 31 home games there. The Tide is spending the season off campus as Sewell-Thomas Stadium has a $35 million renovation.
  • SEC Tournament: Speaking of the Met, the conference capper returns May 19-24. Hoover has been the annual home of the tournament since 1998.

Basketball

  • AHSAA Tournament: Boys and girls high school teams from 1A to 7A converge Feb. 23-28 at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena.
  • Birmingham Blitz: The semi-pro team should have games through March, with a new season starting in November.
  • Conference USA Tournament: For the first, and probably last, time, Birmingham will play host to the men’s and women’s tournament. (UAB’s Bartow Arena held the 1996 women’s tourney.) The women will play opening rounds at Bartow. The women’s semifinals on and the all the men’s games will be at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena. UAB will likely be dropped from Conference USA in 2015 after the school punted football.
  • SIAC Tournament: The men’s and women’s tournament returns March 3-7 to the CrossPlex.

Football

  • Alabama Outlawz: The minor league team’s home opener is April 11 at Bill Harris Arena at the CrossPlex.
  • Birmingham Bowl: 11 a.m. Saturday. Legion Field. Florida vs. East Carolina. $30-$50. Airing on ESPN.
  • Birmingham Freedom: The 14th try’s the charm, as a new pro league with a new local franchise. The teams kick off May 16, schedule TBD.
  • Hoover Bucs: The first defending 7A champion will open its season on the road against Oakland in Murfreesboro, Tenn., probably on or near Aug. 21. We mention it because it’ll probably be on ESPN.
  • Labor Day Golden Classic: The annual event returns after a 3-year absence, pitting Miles against the University of North Alabama Sept. 6 (the day before Labor Day) at Legion Field.
  • Magic City Classic: The nation’s largest black college football game, played since 1924, is on Halloween at Legion Field.

Golf

  • Regions Tradition: The Champions Tour returns May 11-17 at Shoal Creek with a $2.2 million purse at stake.

Hockey

  • Frozen Tide: The Alabama hockey team is off to a rousing 14-3 start, with home games at the Pelham Civic Complex throughout January, culminating in the SECHC Tournament Feb. 6-8.

Multi-sport

Racing

  • Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama: Fans will see Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves, Will Power and two-time defending champ Ryan Hunter-Reay go by real fast. April 24-26 at Barber Motorsports Park.
  • Triumph SuperBike Classic: Excitement on two wheels, June 21-22 at Barber Motorsports Park.

Rugby

  • Birmingham Vulcans: The first match of the year is Feb. 7 against Jackson at Krebs Field, Ramsay Park.

Running

  • Magic City Half Marathon: Benefitting the Ruben Studdard Foundation for the Advancement of Children in the Music Arts. Nov. 22.
  • Mercedes Marathon: Got what it takes to run the Boston Marathon? Prove it right here Feb. 20-22.
  • Vulcan Run: More than 1,500 runners will stream through downtown Nov. 7 in one of the most popular local 10K races.

Track and Field

  • AHSAA Indoor Tournament: High schools compete for state titles Feb. 5-7 at the CrossPlex.
  • College Tournaments: No less than five conferences will hold track and field championships over 13 days in February at the CrossPlex. Southland: Feb. 16-17; SWAC: Feb. 21-22; Sun Belt: Feb. 23-24; Conference USA: Feb. 25-26; SIAC: Feb. 27-28.
  • NCAA Division II Indoor Championship: The CrossPlex will hold the big event March 13-14; the Division I Championship will be there in 2016.

Volleyball

  • AHSAA Tournament: The high school state championship will be Oct. 29-30 at the CrossPlex.

Which events will you see in 2015? Shout it out in the comments.

Don’t miss the 2015 Birmingham food and drink preview!

Get free passes to preview of ‘Selma’

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014

Selma - David Oyelowo, Ava DuVernay

David Oyelowo stars as Martin Luther King Jr.
in “Selma,” directed by Ava DuVernay, right.

The historical drama “Selma” hits a few screens on Christmas, opening wide on Jan. 9.

A preview screening takes place in Birmingham at 7 p.m. Jan. 6 at the Carmike Summit 16, and free passes are available.

The movie tells the story of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, led by Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo, recently in “Interstellar” and “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”). Ava DuVernay, who became the first African-American woman to win the Sundance Best Director Prize in 2012, signed on to direct after Lee Daniels chose to make “The Butler.”

Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt are among the producers.

“Selma” shot primarily around Atlanta, but did some on-location work in Selma and Montgomery.

Free passes for the Jan. 6 screening are available from Gofobo.

Video: Trailer for “Selma”

“Selma”

Alabama to face Ohio State in Sugar Bowl

Sunday, December 7th, 2014

Auburn to Outback; Birmingham Bowl taps Florida, East Carolina

Alabama SEC Championship 2014

Alabama celebrates its SEC Championship win over Missouri.

It’s been a crazier-than-usual week for football in Alabama …

• For the 6th consecutive year, a team from the state will be battling for the national championship. No. 1 Alabama (12-1) faces No. 4. Ohio State (12-1) in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day in New Orleans.

The winner faces either No. 2 Oregon (12-1) or No. 3 Florida State (13-0) on Jan. 12 in Dallas.

Alabama beat No. 16 Missouri 42-13 Saturday in Atlanta for its 24th SEC Championship. Hueytown native and persistent troublemaker Jameis Winston led Florida State over No. 12 Georgia Tech 37-35 in the ACC title game.

• No. 19 Auburn (8-4) will head to Tampa, also playing on New Year’s Day, for the Outback Bowl, facing No. 18 Wisconsin (10-3).

South Alabama (6-6) will play in Montgomery’s inaugural Raycom Media Camellia Bowl on Dec. 20, taking on Bowling Green (7-6).

• In the Naming Sponsorship Still Available Birmingham Bowl on Jan. 3, Florida (6-5) will battle East Carolina (8-4). The Gators are making their first trip to this bowl, while the Pirates lost to South Florida in the first then-called PapaJohns.com Bowl in 2006.

• Mobile’s GoDaddy Bowl will have Arkansas State (7-5) in its fourth consecutive appearance Jan. 4. The Red Wolves won two out of three times and will face Toledo (8-4), last in the bowl in 2005 beating Texas-El Paso.

UAB will not go bowling. The Blazers finished 6-6, with slim hopes of a bowl bid turned even slimmer by Tuesday’s announcement that the program was kaput.

• The 66th annual Reese’s Senior Bowl takes place Jan. 24 in Mobile. The South leads the series over the North 29-26-3.

• In last week’s high school finals

  • Hoover beat Prattville 35-21 to win the first ever 7A championship.
  • Leeds defeated Deshler 30-0 for the 4A title.
  • Clay-Chalkville topped Saraland 36-31 for the 6A championship, finishing a perfect 15-0.
  • Pleasant Grove lost to St. Paul’s 35-13 in the 5A finals.

Video: Announcement of the Top 4 teams

Books: Excerpt from Carla Jean Whitley’s ‘Muscle Shoals Sound Studio’

Sunday, December 7th, 2014
Carla Jean Whitley, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio

Cheryl Joy Miner

The following chapter is an excerpt from Birmingham author Carla Jean Whitley’s “Muscle Shoals Sound Studio: How the Swampers Changed American Music” [aff. link]. She is managing editor of Birmingham magazine, a freelance writer and a journalism instructor at the University of Alabama and Samford University, plus a good friend.

Her newest book is “Balancing Act: Yoga Essays.”

In this excerpt, Whitley shares how the Rolling Stones snuck in a recording session in Muscle Shoals in between stops on its 1969 U.S. concert tour.

• • •

The Rolling Stones

“I know I’ve dreamed you a sin and a lie
I have my freedom, but I don’t have much time
Faith has been broken, tears must be cried
Let’s do some living after we die
Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.”

— “Wild Horses,” Rolling Stones

They really weren’t supposed to be there.

The Rolling Stones pulled in to Sheffield, Ala., on Dec. 2, 1969. Two nights earlier, they had wrapped a thrilling performance in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The band had a few days of downtime before their next big show, the soon-to-be-legendary Altamont performance in Los Angeles. The free show drew 300,000 fans to Altamont Speedway, and it was the site of four births and four deaths, including a stabbing death committed by a member of Hells Angels just in front of the stage. But before they went on to make rock ’n’ roll history on Altamont Speedway, the band hoped to sneak in a little recording time.

There was a problem, though: Union complications and back taxes meant the Rolling Stones weren’t actually supposed to be on a working vacation. Not that it stopped anyone. Part of the appeal of recording in the Shoals, after all, was its out-of-the-way location, and the Stones had been assured their visit could be kept secret. A band could show up with British accents and flamboyant style and still go unrecognized.

After all, Muscle Shoals Studio was a nearly unknown entity. The owners had a little backing and plenty of talent, but there was only one hit to the fledgling business’ credit: R.B. Greaves “Take a Letter, Maria.” Cher’s “3614 Jackson Highway,” the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section’s first attempt at working with a well-known artist under the auspices of its own studio, was a commercial nonstarter.

But the Rolling Stones, newly signed to Jerry Wexler’s Atlantic, were something else. The British invasion had been dominating American airwaves, and the Stones’ most recent album, “Let It Bleed,” was an emotional release that elevated the band from its previous work (and briefly knocked the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” out of the top spot on British charts).

With the Beatles on the cusp of releasing their final album, the Rolling Stones were arguably the best band in the world. And the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section was prepared. Jimmy Johnson was at the ready with the studio’s Scully eight-track machine primed to roll tape whenever the band was set. That’s exactly what occurred during the Stones’ 3-day residency at Muscle Shoals Sound. The band spent the majority of its time in the studio, playing out its kinks before launching into new material.

“The Stones came in, and they were a little rusty at first because they hadn’t been practicing on account of the tour,” Johnson recounted to BMI in 2009.

So the band would spend the first several hours of work on any particular song ironing things out, and Johnson would be poised. On Night One, they recorded “You Gotta Move,” a cover of a Mississippi Fred McDowell song. A review in Rolling Stone magazine would later cite this track as an album highlight, especially because of Mick Taylor’s electric slide guitar and [Keith] Richards’ acoustic guitar and harmonies.

The band and session musicians spent most of Day Two ironing out wrinkles in their sound before settling in for the second evening’s task. This time, as tape began rolling, the now famous strains of “Brown Sugar” filled the former casket factory. The Chuck Berry-inspired song clocked in at 490 on Rolling Stone’s list of the Top 500 Songs Ever Recorded.

In that list, the magazine wrote, “Here the Stones lay waste to a battery of taboo topics — slavery, sadomasochism, interracial sex — and still manage to be catchy as hell. The song got its start at a session at Muscle Shoals studios: [Mick] Jagger scrawled three verses on a stenographer’s pad, and Richards followed with an impossibly raunchy riff. Add some exultant punctuations (“Yeah! Yeah! Woo-o-o!”) and you have a Stones concert staple.”

Day Three was equally — if not more — successful. At one point, Keith Richards began ruminating over what would become the song “Wild Horses.” His son had been born 4 months earlier, which made being on the road difficult. After Richards jotted down the chorus in the studio’s small bathroom, Jagger polished the lyrics. He left only one line of Richards’ original work, but it sticks with listeners: “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.”

Between Richards’ inspiration and Jagger’s finesse, the Rolling Stones walked away with what would go on to become one of the band’s signature songs. Richards added a guitar riff, and “Wild Horses” was born.

Richards heard Jim Dickinson, a Memphis studio musician whose sons Cody and Luther are now two-thirds of the North Mississippi AllStars, noodling around on an old piano in the building as the band worked up the song. After Richards commented, Jagger declared Dickinson should play on the song — and so he did.

“I got on ‘Wild Horses’ because Ian Stewart, their regular piano player, wouldn’t play minor chords,” Dickinson later recalled. “In the meantime, they wouldn’t be saying anything to me, but I knew I had to get the very best performance when it happened,” Johnson said in the BMI interview.

“After a few takes of ‘Wild Horses,’ Jagger just looks up at me and says, ‘Is that it?’ — like I’m the producer or something! But I knew when they had it — and I just told ’em to come out and hear it back.”

Sure enough, the song went to No. 28 on charts, and “Brown Sugar” hit No. 1. Andrew O’Hehir wrote on Salon.com that the songs represented a new sound for the Stones — and one they never again created. Rolling Stone ranked the song No. 334 in its list of the 500 Best Songs of All Time.

“Richards wrote this acoustic ballad about leaving his wife Anita and young son Marlon as the Stones prepared for their first American tour in 3 years. Stones sidekick Ian Stewart refused to play the minor chords required, so Memphis musical maverick Jim Dickinson filled in on upright piano at the Muscle Shoals, Ala., recording session for ‘Sticky Fingers,’ ” the magazine wrote.

Despite the Stones’ sometimes colorful reputation, they were professionals in the studio. In his autobiography, Jerry Wexler noted, “As producers, they knew exactly what they wanted and how to get it. Their musicianship really came into play in the studio process. They controlled their craft and ran the whole show with dead-on direction. I was confabulated.”

Nights later, when the Rolling Stones performed at Altamont, Jagger introduced the newly recorded “Brown Sugar.” While the three songs the band taped during those 3 days all became part of “Sticky Fingers,” the Rolling Stones’ first No. 1 album in the United States, “Brown Sugar” remains one of the band’s most enduring songs.

And though the recording session would produce the band’s first stateside smash, it wasn’t as though the Stones were unheard of in Alabama. Even so, as the band lounged in the median of a Tuscumbia highway, watching and waving at passersby, locals seemed to accept them as nothing more than a passing curiosity. Bands weren’t unusual in the Shoals, after all.

But had they been recognized, having the Rolling Stones in town would have been newsworthy indeed. Imagine if the residents had realized who the odd-looking out-of-towners actually were!

• • •

Carla Jean Whitley has two book signings for “Muscle Shoals Sound Studio”: Books-A-Million’s Brook Highland location [map] from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday and its Brookwood Village location [map] from 2 to 4 p.m. Dec. 14.

“Muscle Shoals Sound Studio” (July 2014, History Press)

Carla Jean Whitley

Also

Video: “Brown Sugar,” by the Rolling Stones

Green and gold and black and blue: On the murder of UAB sports

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014

UAB Marshall

Blazer tight end Kennard Backman leaps as UAB faces
No. 18 Marshall in its final home game.

Author’s note: In the past, I have worked in my capacity as a communications consultant for the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Summary: After the loss of its football program, UAB must fire its president and leave the UA system to avoid future calamity.

Dec. 2 would have been a news-filled day without the end of UAB football, and bowling, and rifle.

• Pat Sullivan, a beloved Auburn quarterback and 1972 Heisman winner, stepped down as Samford’s football coach after seven seasons. He turned around a program even as he battled health issues.

• Charles Krulak announced his retirement as president of Birmingham-Southern College, ending in May. His 4-year service brought about a remarkable turnaround for a school drowning in a surprise $67 million debt. Before coming to Birmingham, Krulak served as U.S. Marine Commandant general and MBNA vice president.

UAB would see its own share of departing coaches and a different kind of turnaround from its leader.

Dr. Ray Watts, barely 22 months into his tenure as president, has forged an ugly legacy. He has done so through his unwavering service to the University of Alabama system trustees, rather than UAB’s students and employees, not to mention Birmingham proper (that bothersome B in UAB).

Watts managed to murder UAB football, after a history of 23 years, a 117–150–2 record, plus one bowl game. Caught in the crossfire were UAB’s bowling and rifle teams. He pulled the trigger, and the board of trustees gave him the gun.

UAB is the only FBS school in 19 years to drop football; University of the Pacific ended its program in 1995. Twenty schools have added football or moved up to FBS in that period, including Troy (which welcomed a new coach Monday) and South Alabama (headed to the first Camellia Bowl, Dec. 20 in Montgomery).

His leadership has been laughably disastrous, and UAB should find a way to oust him as soon as possible.

Previously: Should UAB football continue?

Some saw the warning signs earlier. Justin Craft, a former UAB player and member of the UAB Football Foundation, sounded the alarm in a Nov. 5 letter. New coach Bill Clark, who would lead the team to a 6-6 record and a possible bowl game, wasn’t being considered for an extension on his paltry 3-year contract; no non-conference games beyond 2016 were being discussed.

Watts met with Craft on Halloween, but Craft said he received no definitive answers from Watts about the program’s future.

Watts’ public statement offered no hope, referring only to a consulting firm’s report (below) that would determine football’s fate.

Over at Samford, Sullivan leaves a hero as the all-time leader in victories and a string of winning seasons. Attendance hovered just under 5,000. The Bulldogs made the FCS playoffs in 2013, the first time in more than 20 years.

Clark pulled off his mini-turnaround in a single season without an on-campus stadium, without an indoor practice facility (Mayor Bell and the UAB Football Foundation offered to foot the $10 million bill), without the support of UAB’s top official.

In seeing a couple of UAB games over the years as a guest of the university, I remember talking with then-president Carol Garrison at the tailgate party. She has chatted up guests at the pre-game receptions, talked to the squad in the locker room and graced the luxury box at Legion Field.

Watts, to anyone’s knowledge, hasn’t been to any of this year’s six home games at rickety old Legion Field, where attendance more than doubled.

Video: UAB president Ray Watts meets the football team
(perhaps for the first time) to kill the program.

Samford, of course, is a private institution with autonomy and lower expectations in the FCS division. UAB is part of the UA system, represented on a board with only four UAB alumni out of 15 members (the rest UA alums), though UAB brings in three times the revenue.

On Saturday, UAB beat Southern Miss on the road for its sixth win, becoming bowl eligible for only the second the fourth time in program history. The Football Writers Association of America gave the Blazers its Big Game National Team of the Week award.

On Sunday, Sports Illustrated broke the story that UAB was about to dump football. Watts was silent, away on vacation in New York for Thanksgiving weekend.

On Monday, hundreds of student protestors marched to the administration building and demanded answers. Watts’ campus parking space was vacant. Watts, in hiding from his own students, offered a statement nearly identical to the one from a few weeks before.

On Tuesday, protestors again marched to the administration building. Watts could drag this out no longer, his office announcing a meeting with the football team at 2 p.m. and a media conference at 3:30. During the afternoon, the official word came by email: UAB would eliminate the football, bowling and rifle programs.

Watts emailed students. He didn’t announce it in person first to students. He emailed it. And not to alumni, even as student volunteers continued to place fund-raising calls for the $1 billion Campaign for UAB.

The school begs for money, but when alumni and the City of Birmingham offered millions of dollars, Watts said no.

Football was the real target. And it was an easy one: It loses money, as most FBS programs do. Even Auburn, which played for a national championship this year. He said as much during a closed meeting to a disbelieving group of players, who confronted him about his singular focus on the numbers.

When Watts tried to slip out the back door after that meeting, an angry mob of students shouted and lunged at him, pounding on the SUV taking him to the media conference. He needed an armed escort to make it to the vehicle.

Watts explained his position to the media, citing the consulting firm’s report that estimates UAB athletics’ spending at $100 million total over the next 5 years while mentioning the university’s cancer research.

He played the cancer card, even though research funding through grants isn’t the same as athletics revenue through conferences, television, licensing and donations.

CarrSports Consulting report for UAB on how to
cut football, 16 pages

CarrSports Consulting report for James Madison University
on how to move up to the FBS division, 65 pages

The report from CarrSports Consulting has been in the offing for months, even when Clark was hired as football coach in January. It’s less a consideration of the question of football and more a how-to guide on dropping football.

Title IX requires a balance of men’s and women’s sports in number and participation, so out go rifle and bowling’s all-female teams after football. In come men’s cross country and track to keep the university in NCAA Division I sports.

UAB will get the boot from Conference USA, which requires members to sponsor a football team. Ironically, the conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will take place March 11-14 at the BJCC Arena and on campus at Bartow Arena.

The financial intangibles muddy the picture, such as in enrollment, Blazer merchandise and donations.

Chuck Krulak has received accolades not only for his fund-raising at Birmingham-Southern, but his hands-on attitude, living in the dorms, eating daily in the cafeteria. Many alumni were justly concerned about the school’s financial malpractice, but he won them over in his first year by putting the college in the black for the first time in 7 years.

Krulak never took a salary during his 4 years on the job. Watts’ annual salary is $853,464, the 11th highest among American public universities. But Birmingham-Southern is a small, private college, one that resumed its Division III football program in 2007 after a 68-year hiatus. UAB has more faculty members than BSC has students.

In August, Krulak co-wrote an op-ed piece for the Chicago Tribune asking President Obama to force the military and CIA to come clean on the use of torture in Iraq. He shows courage and leadership in financial, practical and moral issues.

Watts demonstrates no such courage, no such knack for leadership. He displays no grasp of candor, no backbone, no vision for making the university and her students stronger and smarter.

He will drag UAB, Birmingham’s largest employer, into an abyss.

The first step is clear: My pal Steven E. Chappell named his new site FireRayWatts.com.

Don’t look for help from the UA board of trustees, which denies any involvement. The same board that approves all UAB athletic personnel contracts (bye bye, Jimbo Fisher) and nixed plans for an on-campus stadium in 2011. The same board that bows to the dictates of the overly influential trustee Paul Bryant Jr.

And don’t look for help from ex officio board member Gov. Bentley. Bryant donated $25,000 to his re-election campaign, as editor Jeff Poor noted.

Purge Watts, this sorry, gutless wonder, from campus as soon as possible.

The second step will be more difficult. Because none of this was really about football. It’s about self-determination.

UAB cannot function with absentee landlords, as reporter Kyle Whitmire notes in his al.com essay. He likens UAB to UA’s plantation, great for the masters and terrible for Birmingham. (As I would liken al.com/Birmingham News to Advance Digital’s plantation …)

Since Birmingham cannot hope to win over the trustees, it must wrest UAB from the UA system. Let the trustees bat around the Huntsville campus instead.

UAB must have autonomy or face the whims of an untrustworthy board, one that can and will make decisions that continue to damage the city’s crown jewel. What next … academics, research, the arts, new construction, housing? Imagine a worse successor as university president. Imagine fewer amenities to attract top professors, undergraduate applicants and research dollars.

Only a month ago, the suggestion of decimating UAB football would’ve seemed crazy.

It will take the authority of the Legislature to grant such a divorce from the UA system. Last week, Rep. Jack Williams proposed a bill to remake the board, but a far more drastic reshuffling is required.

The Blazers won’t play again in Birmingham, but if they’re very lucky, they might still go to a bowl game at 6-6. ESPN’s Brett McMurphy is alone in picking UAB for any bowl: the first Popeye’s Bahamas Bowl vs. Western Michigan on Christmas Eve.

It’s one last chance for those orphaned players and coach to shine before a national TV audience and perhaps find new schools that won’t lie to them and use them up for sport.

P.S. Columnist John Archibald writes an epitaph for UAB football: “In the end we lost again, because Birmingham did not support its own. … Support local sport. High schools and colleges …”

If only his employer, Alabama Media Group, had followed his advice, instead of giving the Blazers such inadequate coverage during the season …

• • •

  • Kevin Scarbinsky, al.com: “Ray Watts and his balance sheet kill UAB football, and strong men shed honest tears”
  • Jon Solomon, CBS Sports: “The day UAB football died a painful death”
  • New York Times: “It’s a Game of Spiraling Costs, So a College Tosses Out Football”
  • Kyle Whitmire, al.com: “The leader vs the lackey: UAB’s Ray Watts could learn a lot from BSC’s Charles Krulak”
  • John Archibald, al.com: “Evidence mounts that killing of UAB football was premeditated”

What are your thoughts on UAB, football, self-governance and the future? Share them in the comments.

Four Birmingham teams headed to state championships in Auburn

Friday, November 28th, 2014

Hoover, Clay-Chalkville, Pleasant Grove and Leeds have one final game next week

Clay-Chalkville beat Gardendale in the regular season on the
way to a perfect record and a 6A title fight against Saraland
next week.

In a football-crazed state, why not more football?

The 3-day binge of high school championships has expanded with two more games. The Alabama High School Athletic Association changed to a seven-classification system in January, sending the state’s 32 largest schools to 7A.

The Birmingham-area teams competing for state titles are Hoover, Clay-Chalkville, Pleasant Grove and Leeds. Hoover faces Prattville for the first 7A championship; the two teams won 11 of the last 12 6A titles.

Clay-Chalkville won the 6A title in 1999; the Cougars face Saraland making its first trip to the finals. Pleasant Grove also makes its first trip to the 5A finals, taking on St. Paul’s, which won the title in 2007. Leeds won the 3A title twice before moving up to 4A; the Green Wave faces three-time 4A champs Deshler.

The seven championship matches will kick off with an exhibition flag football game between Hewitt-Trussville and Lawrence County. The Unified Sports program, part of Special Olympics, puts students with mental disabilities with other athletes for competition and fun. The Alabama Special Olympics is helping put on the Wednesday afternoon game.

All Super Seven games take place Wednesday through Dec. 5 at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium, airing on Fox 6.1 and 6.2 and streaming online. Tickets are $12 per day and available online.

Wednesday

  • 3:30 p.m.: Exhibition flag football: Hewitt-Trussville vs. Lawrence County
  • 7 p.m.: Class 7A – Prattville (11-2) vs. Hoover (11-2)

Thursday

  • 11 a.m.: Class 3A – Dale County (14-0) vs. Madison Academy (13-1)
  • 3 p.m.: Class 1A – Maplesville (13-0) vs. Hubbertville (13-0)
  • 7 p.m.: Class 5A – St. Paul’s (14-0) vs. Pleasant Grove (12-2)

Dec. 5

  • 11 a.m.: Class 4A – Leeds (13-1) vs. Deshler (12-1)
  • 3 p.m.: Class 2A – Elba (14-0) vs. Fyffe (14-0)
  • 7 p.m.: Class 6A – Clay-Chalkville (14-0) vs. Saraland (13-1)

Super 7 / AHSAA