A look at Birmingham in videos …

A Birmingham visit includes trips to Patton Creek shopping center in Hoover, Vulcan and the Heavenly Donut Co. From Roadtrips and Adventure.

•

Scene from “Green Book” set in Birmingham, dubbed in French. From Culture et Creation Artistiques.

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Browsing Hill’s Carpet and Floor Covering in Helena (our vertical video of the week). From Hill’s Carpet and Floor Coverings.

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In this episode of “Drunk Birmingham Music History,” Mark Beasley, drummer for Birmingham punk rock band GT, talks about a memorable house party in Homewood (our other vertical video of the week). From Jenny Gault.

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Promo for Kevin Harrington’s keynote speech at the Real Time Pain Relief national business summit in October at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex downtown. From Real Time Pain Relief.

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On the Birmingham campaign of 1963 and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” From Mira Foster

Experiencing King’s jail cell. From Mira Foster.

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Scenes from the National Veterans Day parade downtown. From Lauren Chisholm.

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More from Christian rapper TobyMac’s April show at Legacy Arena downtown. From Team Presswood.

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Commercial for the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau. From Cayenne Creative.

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Atlanta Southern gothic band Illiterates performs in April at the Nick on Southside (our other other vertical video of the week). From Danny Hammons.

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Interviews with parents whose children take martial arts classes. From Tiger Rock Martial Arts.

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Dancing at the Shades Valley prom in April at Iron City on Southside (our other other other vertical video of the week). From Oscar Rojas Vargas.

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Meditations on Birmingham (our other other other other vertical video of the week). From True Dynasty.

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A look at the Birmingham real estate investment market. From the Holton Wise Property Group.

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Venture for America brings its job fair back in April to Innovation Depot downtown. From Alabama NewsCenter.

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Soccer: New York Red Bulls II at Birmingham Legion in April at BBVA Compass Field, interrupted by a severe weather warning. From USL Championship.

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Time-lapse footage of the city from atop Red Mountain. From Erratic Aperture.

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Preaching at Kiss fans in April outside Legacy Arena downtown (our other other other other other vertical video of the week). From Ray Nix.

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Time-lapse footage of a dance class at Forma Arts and Wellness downtown. From Alessia Lovreglio.

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Neil Diamond performs in 19777 at the BJCC Coliseum downtown. From Ken Butz.

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Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, talks his memories of A.G. Gaston while on a trip to Birmingham. From al.com.

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The choir performs at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church downtown (our final vertical video of the week). From Audrey Kimbrough.

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Promo for Community Church Without Walls’ Easter in the Garden at West End Community Gardens. From Steve Hartley.

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Emilee Grace Dreher of Mann Dance Studio in Prattville performs “The Way You Make Me Feel” at March’s Platinum National Dance Competition at the Alabama Theatre downtown, winning Top Intermediate Act. From Platinum Dance.

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Improvisation ensemble Silica Gel Do Not Eat performs at Southside’s Clubhouse on Highland. From Joel Nelson.

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Promo for Getting Started Acting/Modeling Workshops in Birmingham. From Alex Kiker Co.

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Dutch DJ San Holo performs “Light” in April at Iron City on Southside. From 4d4mz.

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Post Office Pies’ John Hall on coming back to Birmingham from New York. From SYTA: Student and Youth Travel Association.

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Soccer: Birmingham Legion at Saint Louis, highlights from the April game. From USL Championship.

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Fran Scully’s 75th birthday party in 1986. From Advanced Video.

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Spanish-language report on April’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds. From D-Mx Deportemotor México.

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Promo for Birmingham Restaurant Week in August. From W.C. Wright and Son Inc.

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Looking at many inhabitants at the Birmingham Zoo. From John Millwood.

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Testimonials by Chicago rapper Calboy’s fans in April at Boutwell Auditorium downtown. From Sony Music U.

• • •

Send us links to your videos. | More videos on the Birmingham channel.

Height, weight, hairstyle, wealth,
credit score, car, breath, teeth, shoe
size, grammar, aura.

• • •

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Nerd, tech guy, awkward
loner, kung fu guy, but not
the love interest.

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The letters became
blurrier and blurrier
till he switched contacts.

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My picks for #sundayread for May 5, 2019:

• Wade’s 101: Haiku retrospective 49
  #poetry #haiku
• The betrayal: How a lawyer, a lobbyist and a legislator waged war on a North Birmingham Superfund cleanup
  By @StevenMufson
  #Bham #ALpolitics
• Miami Police Arrest Thousands of Homeless But Leave Rapes, Robberies Unsolved
  By @MegOConnor13
• Flashback: I started my blog because …
• None of the President’s Men
  By @SorayaRoberts
  (via @tara_deschamps)
• The Terrible Truth about Alexa
  By @AdamClarkEstes
• Flashback: Make your events winners through consistency
• A Wave of New Fiction From Nigeria, as Young Writers Experiment With New Genres
  By Alexandra Alter @xanalter
  (RT @kikiochieng)
• Book review of Anne Harrington’s “Mind Fixers: Psychiatry’s Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness”
  By @JenSzalai
  (via @2JohnDurant)
• Flashback: Blogging, shilled the radio star
• Profile of Sean Baker, director of the acclaimed “Florida Project”
  By @AnneHelen Petersen
• What I’ve Learned From People Whose Loved Ones Were Transformed by Fox News
  By @LukeONeil47
• The rise of business bullshit in management
  By @Andre_Spicer
  (via @NZPPTA @BisforBerkshire)
• I Think about This a Lot: Marge Simpson’s Pink Chanel Suit
  By Danielle Guercio

More posts from Wade this week:

• The Birmingham channel: Kiss and makeup

More #sundayread:

• All tweets for May 5 #sundayread
• The latest #sundayread tweets
• More #sundayread recommendations from me

It is not enough
to feign disdain; let us dig
deep and feign action.

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Long-term fact storage.
Planning future strategy.
(I forgot the third.)

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The pit scampered in
and made a beeline for the
comfortable couch.

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1. drives of fancy
   They shut the highways
   down to rebuild. If only
   hovercars swooped in …
2. cotton candy snickers
   Every candy has
   a set of improbable
   flavors to stump tongues.
3. the struggle is fake
   No victims but me.
   No truth but my talking heads.
   No vengeance but mine.
4. a swamp to call one’s own
   Turf gives way to mush
   as rainy season brings a
   never ending soak.
5. in the foothills of appalachia
   A remarkable
   city teeming with magic
   and nothing to lose.
6. do i dare eat a peach?
   We fail to reckon
   what we put in motion with
   choices, abstentions.
7. the three kinds of happiness
   Holding a kitten.
   Finishing a marathon.
   And eating ice cream.
8. snow dance
   Trudge in a circle
   around empty milk cartons
   while shaking textbooks.
9. junk in the junk
   A place to store junk.
   A place to pick up bought junk.
   A place to junk junk.
10. the broken parts of the library
    The heat and AC,
    the escalators, leaky
    ceilings, sewage flow.
11. ghost of writings past
    Struck hard by a muse,
    the words flowed with grace and ease
    till they came up dry.
12. common bore
    They teach to the test,
    the test that measures how well
    students fill bubbles.
13. yada yada yada
    Ten years of tweeting
    gets you a dumb hashtag and
    some aching fingers.
14. pro-creation
    Stop buying and start
    making. Imagination
    fuels the best presents.
15. the not me theory of achievement
    To motivate folks,
    “Well, someone’s gotta do it.”
    History is made.
16. to sleep, and sleep some more
    The snooze button is
    a mere suggestion. Fatigue
    is the only clock.
17. inner growth
    It is not enough
    to claim our past misdeeds but
    to learn from them, too.
18. affirmative reaction
    A yearbook full of
    bimbos wearing blackface who
    grow up to be pols.
19. inside the industry
    Surly manager
    barks at servers, customers
    to spread her bad cheer.
20. books not yet on tape
    The narrator sits
    in the booth surrounded by
    ghosts of characters.
21. contentment on demand
    No button on the
    remote can scare up what we
    demand in our souls.
22. the re-evolution of language
    More tech, more letters
    and emoji for more weird
    acronyms, hashtags.
23. confession is good for the soul
    Let us lay bare our
    foibles and weaknesses to
    grow stronger for it.
24. affection disorder
    Love (remarkable
    and unremarkable) fills
    the world with splendor.
25. gratitude day 0
    Let me recall the
    ways my life is very good
    when times are rotten.
26. with liberty and gaping wounds for all
    I pledge allegiance
    to the gun, to the lobby
    for which it adores …
27. a most comfortable rut
    The status quo so
    ordinary it defies
    extremes and insights.
28. shortcuts to culinary mastery
    Is it cooking to
    assemble a meal kit? Or
    to microwave stuff?
29. papy r us
    It’s a paperless
    world till you write a check, send
    a letter, swat flies.
30. soggy state of affairs
    The scorched earth has drowned
    in weeks of rainfall. The skies
    will show no mercy.
31. the cookie fairy
    Boxes of delight
    and sugar fly to the door
    steps of those who dream.
32. beyond the bible and pilgrim’s progress
    No one can be bored.
    No one should be bored. We live
    in this peak culture.
33. state of the union
    Corruption upon
    corruption, lie upon lie,
    so much truth to find.
34. oscar sunday
    Check on the limo,
    squeeze into impossibly
    tight dress, wave to fans.
35. the new shorthand
    Let us trade our thoughts
    in acronyms and smileys,
    hashtags and selfies.
36. mineshaft means
    Work in the dark. Breathe
    in the dark. Go home in the
    dark. Die in the dark.
37. living dead metropolis
    Smashed parking meters,
    burnt shells of houses, rubble
    roads, murderous wolves.
38. rip western
    A grocer made his
    way through growing pains and tough
    times, feeding us all.
39. water worked
    The best tear-jerkers
    bring joy then sadness, hope then
    hopelessness. Then hope.
40. a most imperfect impression
    What do we remem-
    ber? What do we recall with-
    out flubbing details?
41. the promise of a park
    Where once rubble could
    emerge a green space. Instead,
    a new interstate.
42. say it with gifs
    Silent cartoons that
    pop with personality
    on screens big and small.
43. look higher
    If an employee
    fails, check out his boss. If a
    child errs, probe parents.
44. the harm from words
    The testimony
    of the oppressed yields tears and
    yawns from oppressors.
45. common senses
    An outlook shaped by
    media and moms, values
    and voices. We think.
46. at the end of her trope
    She swooned at the ball.
    She waited helplessly for
    him. She cried and cried.
47. verbing weirds language
    Real adults know that
    “adulting” is not a word.
    So very childish.
48. revisionist reality
    What was history
    becomes modern trauma when
    the facts are questioned.
49. strip mining for data
    A soul laid bare for
    computers to harvest our
    tastes, sins and secrets.
50. how ai wins
    They will not need to
    own us, just impersonate
    our online presence.
51. fitzgerald and me
    Let me tell you a-
    bout the very rich. They are
    different from you.
52. beyond trauma
    When surviving is
    no longer the most urgent,
    take some time to heal.
53. all the broken happy ever afters
    What about us? What
    about all the times you said
    you had the answers?
54. the hatred behind closed doors
    Teens say the word and
    giggle. They learned it from their
    community clans.
55. an eternity and a day
    Life’s too short. Or is
    it too long? Depends on which
    end you’re living in.
56. library of regress
    Leaky ceilings and
    broken escalators in
    the home of our books.
57. wagers of sin
    Always bet on your-
    self. Unless you suffer from
    a gambling problem.
58. season’s greetings
    Warm thoughts turn to warm
    days, warm ways. Rejoice in the
    demise of winter.
59. snooze and snooze again
    Just five more minutes.
    Hide under the covers till
    reality wins.
60. work of the past, work of the future
    Hard labor to desk
    jobs to lives of uselessness
    in front of bright screens.
61. the classics
    Where titans conquer
    and peasants falter, where man
    meets himself and weeps.
62. the great gatsby
    Self-made man worships
    ritzy ditzy blonde, felled by
    American dream.
63. a portrait of the artist as a young man
    Coming of age in
    Dublin, straying from and to
    the Church, a soul freed.
64. the chronicles of narnia
    Seven books proclaim
    loudly: Have you heard the Good
    News about Aslan?
65. moby dick
    Like “The Old Man and
    the Sea,” but with a bigger
    fish, meaner captain.
66. the passing of the family dog
    He begged for scraps, dug
    up the yard, chewed on shoes. And
    will be sorely missed.
67. 1984
    Winston smoked out by
    police. Oceania
    wages war on truth.
68. fahrenheit 451
    Books make good kindling.
    Fear the written word, but not
    the flames it brings forth.
69. a song of ice and fire
    When you play the game
    of thrones, you win or you die.
    There’s no middle ground.
70. trolling millions
    You can fool a lot
    of the people a lot of
    the time with Facebook.
71. watching hoops on 11 screens
    With each basket, the
    cheers grew louder, the drunks got
    drunker. Go, team, go.
72. digging for ones and zeroes
    Tiny bots with no
    degrees dive deep into the
    data mines for days.
73. not a name but a data point
    White, female, 30,
    Baptist, 5-foot-4, middle
    class, 110.
74. more data points
    Shops at Target, hits
    yoga every Thursday, drives
    a black Explorer.
75. data points in action
    Sell you this, at the
    right time, right size, right price, through
    manipulation.
76. track and field
    Joggers and doggers,
    strollers and rollers, walkers
    and talkers go round.
77. where new cars graze in place
    Shiny vehicles
    occupy every parking
    space and fire lane.
78. the resurrection of the receiver
    All it took was a
    simple unplug and plug to
    bring it back to life.
79. the forest, but not for long
    Groves of pines, maples
    and oaks sacrificed themselves
    for a new Marshalls.
80. the soul-sucking news cycle
    Stay informed and go
    nuts vs. ignore it all:
    A false dilemma?
81. rare catch
    Fish parts wrapped in rice
    and seaweed, with a little
    wasabi and soy.
82. alexa is listening
    Jeff Bezos, you are
    eavesdropping on my private
    convo with my cat.
83. regrets and remissions
    Sometimes, a money
    order is just as good as
    an apology.
84. taxing situation
    Fill out the form, fill
    out the checkbook, look at the
    receipts, check the math.
85. notre dame
    A majestic church
    where eyes turn heavenward and
    souls sing and rejoice.
86. uncurrent currency
    Money orders, beads,
    barter, two-dollar bills, fine
    metals, shells, squirrel pelts.
87. corneal implode
    Eyes burning with specks
    of pollen, stings of contacts,
    strains of tiny words.
88. chicken coop co-op
    Poor possum. Trying
    to eat farm fresh, but cannot
    get to store on time.
89. silence breeds creativity
    The golden sound of
    nothing yields a delight to
    ears and minds and hearts.
90. the promise of easter
    Can we be reborn?
    Can we atone for sins and
    grow into new selves?
91. leaves behind
    Trees shiver in their
    nakedness. How long before
    their new coat is done?
92. the haunted rite-aid
    Aisles empty, lights on,
    ghosts of shoppers chit-chat with
    ghost of bored worker.
93. the war over grass
    Puff puff pass. Send ’em
    all to prison to enrich
    the rich, slam the poor.
94. the russians aren’t invited
    To our socials and
    our media, to our votes
    and our candidates.
95. viva los measles
    Spotted tongue, spotted
    skin, spotty info, hot spots
    for bedded bodies.
96. the heroes we deserve
    Enthralled by big screen
    spectacle made from comic
    book pages sprung to life.
97. the worst seat in the house
    Stumbling around in
    darkness hitting stairs and rails
    sitting in a lap.
98. quicksand of emotion
    Sinking ever so
    slowly into malaise and
    comforting sadness.
99. what was once television’s provenance
    YouTube the teacher,
    the babysitter, the stealth
    corruptor, the void.
100. spoiler phobia
     Don’t tell me about
     the show. No no no no no—
     dammit, tweet screwed me.
101. comfort drink
     A shot, a beer, then
     three more shots and an IV
     drip of tequila.

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A look at Birmingham in videos …

At April’s Corporate Challenge fund-raiser at Railroad Park, Alabama Power takes on UAB and BBVA Compass in the tug of war. From Alabama NewsCenter.

•

Racing go-karts at the Autobahn Indoor Speedway in Bessemer. From Jared Chandler.

•

Kiss performs in April at Legacy Arena downtown. From Russell Fulmer.

A look around the venue before the Kiss concert. From Crystal Stokes.

•

A round of “Call of Duty: Black Ops 4” with Birmingham-based Alabama Gaming League. From Alabama Gaming League.

•

Atlanta hard rock band Needeep performs in 2012 at Cafe Firenze in Inverness Plaza. From Deadlie13.

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Soccer: Louisville City at Birmingham Legion in March at BBVA Compass Field. From USL Championship.

Celebrating Legion goals with a literal hammer down. From USL Championship.

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Birmingham artist Lillis Taylor, with a special cameo. From Lillis Taylor.

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Performances from the 2018 Alabama Music Awards in July at the BJCC Theatre downtown. From Alabama Music Awards.

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The Don’t Wait Project tour stops in April at UAB to promote organ donation. From the Don’t Wait Project.

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New York punk/blues singer-songwriter Radiator King performs in April at the Nick on Southside (our vertical video of the week). From Danny Hammons.

•

Driving by downtown. From Josh Andrews.

•

Promo for April’s “Soul-Winning Mega-Marathon” at Hamburger Heaven in Green Springs, Homewood. From Sanderson1611.

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Taking in March’s UAB International Festival. From Travel with Annie G.

•

Miami-based Mexican band Los Temerarios perform in April at El Mega Sol in Glen Iris. From Puro Hidalgo Resendiz.

•

Renovating the Stonewall/American Life building downtown with $24 million opportunity zone funding. From Alabama NewsCenter.

•

Parkour downtown. From Obito Uchiha.

•

Promo for the Legal Aid Society of Birmingham. From Jequette Edmonson.

•

Flying a remote control helicopter at night. From Scott Graham.

•

Taking off from Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport to Las Vegas. From R.M. Harrison.

•

Promo for Fit Performance training. From Stephen Young.

•

Alcorn State alumni give a preview of Birmingham attractions. From Josh Lewis.

•

Time-lapse footage of Railroad Park downtown. From Erratic Aperture.

•

Highlights from April’s Inferno Dance Competition at Pleasant Grove High School. From Inferno Dance.

•

A quick look at Composed: The Art of Styling workshop in April at BridgeStreet Gallery and Loft downtown. From Megan Pettus Videography.

•

DC speaker and Birmingham native Reggie Selma visits Amsterdam. From Reggie Selma.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) participates in the bipartisan reading of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” organized by Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.). From Senator Doug Jones.

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Touring Birmingham with stops at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, Vulcan and McWane Science Center. From Rodriguez Tua.

•

Dashcam footage of I-459. From Isaac of Olympia.

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Drone footage of the Rotary Trail downtown, plus a health-related project. From Fig Tree Media Group.

•

Media conference announcing Protective Life buying naming rights to Protective Stadium at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. From Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

•

Backyard horse (our other vertical video of the week). From Suave Jahad.

•

Final match in “Dota 2” in the Birmingham Invitational. From Noob from UA.

•

Inside the New Ideal Lofts downtown. From Rev Birmingham.

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Feature on LeNell’s Beverage Boutique in Norwood. From Alabama NewsCenter.

•

Time-lapse footage of the downtown skyline. From Erratic Aperture.

•

Checking out BlazerCon gaming convention in April at UAB’s Hill Student Center. From Cody Gremlin.

•

Visiting April’s Alabama Vegan Fest at Tropicaleo in East Avondale. From Travel with Annie G.

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Commercial for WBRC-6 weather coverage. From Javohn Cayton.

•

At the McDonald’s drive-through. From Sir Ivy Lee.

•

Jenna Mosley of My Girls Dance Center in Moulton performs “Let’s Get Loud” at March’s Platinum National Dance Competition at the Alabama Theatre downtown, winning Top Recreational Act. From Platinum Dance.

•

Promo for downtown property investment company Spartan Invest. From the Holton Wise Property Group.

•

The Birmingham Slayers perform in the We Are Queens Dance Competition. From Atlbattle.

•

Olympia, Wash., post-hardcore band Karp performs in 1996 at American Beat Records. From the Sound of Indie.

• • •

Send us links to your videos. | More videos on the Birmingham channel.

Don’t tell me about
the show. No no no no no—
dammit, tweet screwed me.

• • •

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Subscribe via RSS to Wade’s Daily Haiku. Or have it delivered daily by e-mail.