Down from the mountain: The women’s two-man bobsled competition just finished. Did Birmingham’s Vonetta Flowers move up or down from Monday’s ninth-place rank? Did the United States team repeat as medalists? (No spoilers until the jump.) The third and fourth runs air between 7 and 10:30 tonight on NBC 13.
• Bobsled results, day 2 [NBC Olympics]

Birds of a feather: Is Alabama ready for a possible outbreak of bird flu? Wednesday will be a major step in preparing for pandemic, as Gov. Riley and Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt join area leaders for a half-day summit. On the agenda: “setting up a surveillance system, identifying ways to stop the spread of infection and building a health emergency response.” Although transmission from chickens to humans is rare, avian influenza has killed more than half of infected humans and could spread rapidly through all of us. Then, we’re all totally clucked.
• Flu-response summit set [Birmingham News]

Food fight: Our pal Cary writes about how the influx of upscale restaurant chains is pushing independent eateries to offer something different to retain employees. Special meals and involvement in daily decision-making are two tactics against the chains’ often higher salaries and bigger benefits packages. We’ll settle for a working intercom at the drive-through.
• A fine-dining dilemma [Birmingham Business Journal]

Also:

• Anti-violence campaign hawks new slogan, “Peace out, bitch!”
• Bank earns high marks in customer service, speedy layoffs
• Tuscaloosa promises to stop stealing water, cable from Birmingham

Olympics bobsledding results after the jump …

(more…)

Ice cubes can kill you.
What you don’t know can kill you.
More at 11.

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Slip-sliding away: Birmingham’s Vonetta Flowers, along with teammate Jean Prahm, competed in the first two of four heats in two-women bobsled competition earlier today in the 2006 Winter Olympics. How did the twosome do in Turin? (No spoilers until the jump for those of you who, for some reason, TiVo’d this afternoon’s tape-delay broadcast.)
• Bobsled results [NBC Olympics]

Building a legacy: The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church received national landmark status today. The church was the site of the 1963 bombing that killed four girls. But you know you’ve really made it when you’re worth hundreds of dollars as a “Jeopardy!” clue.
• Alabama church bombed in '63 gets designation amid church arsons [Associated Press]

Bringing in outsiders: Think it’s cold this week? Try enduring it outside, like the estimated 3,000 homeless individuals do each night in Birmingham. But can we end homelessness, especially as federal dollars are disappearing? Homeless advocates are struggling against shrinking resources and wavering public attentnion. Said Rev. Lawton Higgs, “We live in what is supposed to be one of the most religious states in America but if we can allow this kind of suffering to go on, we are spiritually ill people.” Amen.
• Scaling the Wall [Birmingham Weekly]

Also:

• Forest Park partner promises to clean gutters without really meaning it
• National Guard called in to monitor county commission
• Downtown protestors decry War on Presidents Day

Olympics bobsledding results after the jump …

(more…)

You say Turin, and
I say Torino. So let’s
call the whole thing off.

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Homeless guy wants food.
I give weekend of coffee.
Wired, warm … no thanks.

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Camera, lights, mike,
coffee, 48 hours.
Let’s make a movie.

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EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Hicks, the latest “American Idol” hopeful from Alabama, said his soulfulness will help him stand out from the 23 other singers in the reality show competition. Producers announced the finalists Thursday.

Hicks, 29, is the second-oldest contestant this season; Mandisa (yes, one name), a songstress from Antioch, Tenn., is older by just five days, he said. That experience means Hicks may have an advantage over the others, some as young as 16.

“Considering I’ve had more years performing, playing every honky-tonk imaginable in the Southeast, that’s helped a lot,” said Hicks, by phone today from Hollywood.

(more…)

Beneath cool facade,
heart pounds with anxious longing
capped with too brief kiss.

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Hicks in '06: The world’s biggest karaoke contest is down to the final 24, including Birmingham native Taylor Hicks. He joins American Idol Ruben Studdard, and runners-up Bo Bice and Diana DeGarmo as hometown singers gone Hollywood. Hicks sings at 7 p.m. Wednesday on Fox 6, as the 12 men compete for six spots. How big is “Idol”? Bigger than the Olympics, bigger than the Grammys If only he could get some local coverage … Meanwhile, try his sound out for free.
• Taylor Hicks bio [Fox]

On the Dial: Our pal Celia Carey has picked up another award, this time for a yet-to-be-aired documentary on Black Belt-native folk artist Thornton Dial (see a preview in Windows Media). The 20-minute film earned the Golden Gate Award for Best TV Documentary Short Form at the upcoming 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival. Carey won an Emmy in 2005 for “The Quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend,” airing again in March.
• San Francisco film fest honors APT documentary [Birmingham Business Journal]

The Oprah touch: Look, an extreme home makeover, the first in Birmingham. Without sextuplets. Or stuck on basic cable. Colette, the homeowner, said, “We planned on doing a lot of the work ourselves, but there were so many costs we didn’t foresee. We didn’t expect to have to rewire the electrical system, change the plumbing, and move heating vents.” Oprah Winfrey put her best man on the job, redoing the kitchen, foyer, living, dining room and den.

A rug really pulls a room together.
As do chairs, paint, a lamp, mirrors, a coffee table …

Hey, O, how about helping us finish the damn raking?
• Nate’s Sweet Home Alabama makeover [O at Home magazine]

Literary atonement: OK, to make up for all the TV hype, don’t forget the Southern Voices 2006 writers’ conference Friday and Saturday at the Hoover Library. One panelist will be our pal David Rachels, co-author of "What The Shadow Told Me." Ah, everything in balance.
• Southern writers converge on Hoover library event [Birmingham News]

Also:

• City’s young professionals getting old
• New landmark to honor area’s white trash heroes
• State quail send taunting faxes to White House

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Bogus lawsuits cause
consumer probs, so I can’t
sue for fake damage.

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If you make it, they might come: American City Business Journals studied 179 major cities to see if their total personal income could support pro teams. Birmingham, with a total personal income of $48.1 billion, makes the cut for football, basketball, hockey and soccer — but not baseball, which apparently isn’t affordable in any market. The report acknowledges other factors would affect attracting a franchise, such as stadium availability and proximity to existing franchises. A huge strike against Birmingham is population: Not enough eyeballs in the market to watch in person or on television. Also, much bigger cities are ahead of us in desirability. Also available: study overview | spreadsheet (MS Excel) | 10 most overextended markets.
• Birmingham is wealthy enough for pro sports team, study shows [Birmingham Business Journal]

Flame war: Ten burned churches, 200 investigators, $30,000 reward, more than 400 leads — and no arrests. (Except for a copycat mentally retarded/ill suspect, whose brother is a volunteer firefighter.) Jim Cavanaugh, head of the ATF field division in Nashville, leads the task force based at the Tuscaloosa Airport — and is better known as the hostage negotiator who talked with David Koresh by phone during the 1993 Waco standoff. Meanwhile, residents are keeping close watch on their own churches.
• U.S. Mounts a Vast Hunt for Church Arsonists [New York Times]

Of fairways and speedways: Do country clubbers like to cheer on Dale Jr. in the No. 8 car? Do NASCAR fans like to shoot birdies (the other kind)? That’s the promotional push behind Alabama Speedweek, touting April 21-30 as a dream week of golf and NASCAR/motorbike racing for fans. We’re gonna put up the caution flag and suggest that the only thing these two groups share is … well, flags.
• ‘Alabama Speedweek’ packages state’s golf, racing attractions [Birmingham Business Journal]

Also:

• Elementary school locker raid turns up 11 guns, 3 knives, 1 textbook on evolution
• Weekend visit to Georgia refreshes, relaxes uptight human resources manager
• Transit board misses meeting because of heavy traffic

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Roses are red, but
haiku demands more than rhyme.
Ah, romantic verse …

• • •

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From the Viacom empire: The 50-million-dollar man is coming to the BJCC Concert Hall. Comedian and Comedy Central fugitive Dave Chappelle will perform Feb. 25, along with two bands TBA. The quickie tour promotes the March 3 theatrical release of "Dave Chappelle’s Block Party." Shot in September 2004, the concert movie features Kanye West, Common, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, the Roots and a reunion of the Fugees (though none are likely to be onstage here). Tickets, $55, go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday through Ticketma$ster. We’d go, but who wants to listen to hundreds of rednecks drawl, “I’m Rick James, bitch”?

And from MTV, a reality show on the Hoover High football team will likely air in July or August. Despite our past criticism, we’d like to offer possible titles: “Buc It Up”; “Buc Fuddies”; “My Super Sweet 6A.” Go team.

Update: The MTV show could be called "Two-a-Days," referring to twice daily practices under the blazing August sun. “MTV is … offering an unvarnished look at the lives of young people in settings not often seen in primetime. … ‘Two-A-Days’ … will reflect not only the town’s rabid interest in high school football but also the pressures the players face to perform in order to secure college scholarships and live up to the lofty expectations of their relatives and friends.” Um, this ain’t “Friday Night Lights — the TV Series,” and Hoover ain’t some tiny town in the Texan Outback. We’re guessing it’s like “Laguna Beach,” where a privileged set of high schoolers is more powerful than other students, teachers, administrators, parents and school board. Whee.
• Chappelle comeback trail includes Birmingham stop [Birmingham News]

To serve (The) Man: In case Dave needs a little material, how about this nugget? The Museum of Slavery and Civil Rights in Selma will offer visitors a unique experience: working and living as 19th-century plantation slaves. The package includes shabby clothes, standing on the auction block, working construction and being called the N-word. It’s all a part of the new tourism push in Alabama. We’d go, but who wants to listen to hundreds of rednecks drawl, “You’re Rick James, bitch”?
• Soon, Selma museum’s visitors can spend the day as a slave [Birmingham News]

Masters of their destiny: Alabama had 14,707 black-owned businesses in 1992 — and 28,684 in 2002, almost double. Now that’s progress. Plus, not only are more minorities becoming entrepreneurs, but also possibly more young people, too.
• In business [(Florence) TimesDaily]

Also:

• Dollar store sees run on “slightly defective” lingerie, candles
• High school wrestling team to be featured on gay-themed cable channel
• Part of me wants Italian, part of me wants barbecue

• • •

Send us your news tips.

Happy V-D! (That joke never gets old.)

If you’re writing a note for your sweetie, we like the classics. And did the “Roses Are Red” poem originate with Sir Edmund Spenser’s "The Faerie Queene" in 1590? See for yourself in Book 3, Chapter 1.

If you’re really stuck for rhymes (because real poetry rhymes), try these colorful suggestions. For pink, try … Wink, Rink, Sink, Stink, Drink, Kink, Link, Zinc, Blink and Mink.

Zinc? Really??

Or maybe you just need a good lesson plan.

Enjoy the crushing disappointment and loneliness! Kisses!

Flu epidemic
sweeps through offices and schools.
Cover your nose, mouth!

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