Designer Bradford Billingsley competes on “Project
Runway: Threads” with assistance from mom
Dana Billingsley.

Two Birmingham designers have competed on “Project Runway,” and both have finished in eighth place. Bradford Billingsley of Vestavia Hills has already outranked those previous contestants.

And he’s only 12.

On Thursday, Lifetime will air the spinoff “Project Runway: Threads,” featuring weekly duels among three fashion designers age 9 to 16. Bradford will compete in the premiere and has previously placed in Birmingham Fashion Week’s Rising Design Challenge.

He is in the eighth grade at Pizitz Middle School.

The show, filmed in Los Angeles, pits three designers against each other in a race to sketch and create apparel to impress the judges. The winner receives a $10,000 store credit at Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts Store, a scholarship to the summer program at L.A.’s Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and a sewing and embroidery studio from Brother.

Birmingham’s Ken Laurence competed in season 12, while Sandhya Garg was in the currently airing season 13.

“Project Runway: Threads” debuts at 9:30 p.m. Thursday on Lifetime, and will air then at 9 p.m. Thursdays in its regular time slot.

Bradford Billingsley

• Facebook | Twitter @BradBillingsley | Instagram

“Project Runway: Threads”

• iTunes | Amazon [aff. links]

Dana Billingsley, left, and Bradford show off his fashion creations.

Video: preview of “Project Runway: Threads”

Update Oct. 24: Bradford Billingsley won the competition in the premiere episode. Full episode below, plus interview with the new winner.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/704435

http://www.hulu.com/watch/703757

• • •

More reality TV coverage in Special Reports.

He would take the page
and transform it into a
symphony of speech.

• • •

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What if all of the
hypochondriacs are right
and placebos kill?

• • •

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Smart Party honorees

The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham will honor these 10 women at its Smart Party 3.0 tonight at Iron City on Southside.

Kay Bains, partner, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings

Louise Beard, Broadway producer who won 2014 Tony Award for Best Musical for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”

Constance Burnes, director of schools, Birmingham City Schools

Michele Elrod, executive vice president and head of marketing, Regions Bank

Susan Greene, executive director, Norma Livingston Ovarian Cancer Foundation

Eileen Markstein, managing director, Markstein Consulting*

Andrea McCaskey, vice president, human resources, BioHorizons

Kathy G. Mezrano, founder and president, Kathy G. and Company

Carolyn Sherer, photographer and director*

Dr. Farah Sultan, founder and medical director, Vitalogy Wellness Center

•

Women Who Make a Difference

Birmingham Magazine and the Alabama Media Group will honor these 20 recipients as Women Who Make a Difference on Wednesday at The Club. 

Lisa Borden, pro bono shareholder, Baker Donelson

Nita Carr, executive director, Cornerstone Schools of Alabama

Carol Clarke, manager, Regions Financial Education Institute

Leigh Collier, Mid-South region president, Wells Fargo

Priscilla Hancock Cooper, interim president and CEO, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Kate Cotton, vice president, community relations, Protective Life Corporation, and executive director, Protective Life Foundation

Trisha Powell Crain, executive director, Alabama School Connection

Phyllis Hoffman DePiano, president and CEO, Hoffman Media

Virginia Samford Donovan, actress, philanthropist, namesake of the Virginia Samford Theatre

Martie Duncan, chef, finalist on “Food Network Star”

Ann Florie, executive director, Leadership Birmingham

Alie Gorrie, founder, Songs for Sight

Kathryn Gwaltney, executive director, National Center for Sports Safety

Shirley Salloway Kahn, vice president for development, alumni and external relations, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Meg McGlamery, executive director, Crisis Center

Shanta’ Owens, district judge, Jefferson County Criminal Division

Valerie Ramsbacher, vice president, corporate advocacy, Regions Bank

Chanda Temple, public relations director, Birmingham Public Library

Véronique Vanblaere, owner and artist, Naked Art Gallery

Beth Wilder, executive director, Literacy Council of Central Alabama

Video: This is a promotional video for which part of
the Birmingham metro area?

This 2-minute promotional video is a rebranding campaign for one part of the metro area, created by Tatum Design of Homewood. (I’ve taken out the identifying city name.)

Can you guess which place it is?

The answer.

A strip mall can go
practically anywhere with
the right greased pockets.

• • •

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In the short term …

The City of Birmingham Electronics Recycling Day will take place on Oct. 23 in Linn Park [map]. Participants can drop off items using the drive-through line from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Accepted items

Unaccepted items

•

In the long term …

The Alabama Environmental Council will hold the Recycling and Waste Reduction Summit from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens [map]. The event will include these presentations:

• Bibb-Chilton Regional Recycling: Forging a Partnership in a Rural Area to Reduce Landfill Waste and Roadside Litter;
• City of Tuscaloosa: Making It Fit;
• University of Alabama: Going Green with the Crimson Tide;
• Advanced Technology Recycling: The Ripple Effect of Responsible Business Recycling;
• Slade, LLC: Lean Management for Solid Waste;
• Homewood Middle School: Homewood Middle School Recycles!
• US Green Building Council, Alabama Chapter: Deconstruction for Workforce Development and Green Building Materials;
• City of Florence: How and Why We Make It Work in Florence.

Tickets are $20 and available online. For more information, visit the event page.

The weeds had free reign
till the suburban posse
got them evicted.

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Homemade kosher cuisine — including brisket, kugel,
stuffed cabbage and matzo ball soup — will be
available at Saturday’s LJCC Jewish Food Festival.

Birmingham’s parade of fall food festivals continues Sunday with something kosher. The 12th annual Friedman Family Foundation LJCC Jewish Food Festival offers eats, games and outdoor fun.

The lunchtime event will be at Levite Field, taking it out of its traditional indoor setting for a carnival approach. New to the festival are pony rides, a cornhole tournament, farm stand, pumpkin patch and a performance by Memphis blues/soul act the Ori Naftaly Band.

Items available for purchase include brisket, kugel, stuffed cabbage, matzo ball soup, corned beef sandwiches and white fish salad, plus dessert breads and pastries from Ricki’s Cookie Corner in Memphis.

The event runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at the Levite Jewish Community Center, 3960 Montclair Road [map]. Admission is free.

For more information, visit the LJCC event page.

Some 1,000 attendees are expected at the
LJCC Jewish Food Festival.

Levite Jewish Community Center

• Website | Facebook | Twitter @LeviteJCC

They would reveal their
disorders and bank accounts
to faux confidantes.

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A look at Birmingham in videos …

A quick tour of Sloss Furances. From Underwear News Briefs.

•

AFI performs at Iron City (our vertical video of the week). From Monica Grey.

•

Rob Burton talks about his cystic fibrosis and Birmingham’s air pollution. From GASP.

•

TechBirmingham’s job fair vendors on the event’s success. From TechFetch.

•

Blood moon over Oak Mountain. From Leilani Carroll.

•

Parades! UAB Homecoming via drone. From UAB Digital Media.

•

The traditional gurney races during UAB’s Homecoming Week. From UAB Digital Media.

•

More from the gurney races, with NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson. From UAB News.

•

Parades! The Birmingham Fire Prevention Parade. From al.com.

• • •

Send us links to your videos.

The morning started
with hot coffee, warm muffins
and birds flying south.

• • •

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Photo: Magdalena Roeseler (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for Oct. 12, 2014:

• To the nines: Wade on Birmingham’s ninth anniversary
• Why the Trolls Will Always Win, by Kathy Sierra  (h/t @griner)
• Southwired presentation: Content Curation for Smarties
• American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World, by @nytrosenthal
• Y’all Connect: Andrea Weckerle on online conflict management
• King of click: the story of the greatest keyboard ever made, by @thedextriarchy
• Flashback: Project Bulk – Day 40: An expanded vocabulary
• 15 Business Books Recommended by 350 Entrepreneurs, by @KatelErickson (RT @tferriss)
• Video: My Tiger Mom
• Finding Video Poker Bug Made These Guys Rich, Then Vegas Made Them Pay, by @kpoulsen
• Author David Sedaris answers questions on Reddit
• Alabama Supreme Court justice Parker’s guide for overturning Roe v. Wade, by @ByNinaMartin (via @glennybrock)
• Ferguson more divided than ever 2 mos after Michael Brown’s murder, by @AmandaWills
• A Couple Gaining Independence, and Finding a Bond, by @DanBarryNYT (RT @vsisson13)

More posts from Wade this week:

• Birmingham Blogging Academy: Speaking gigs: Navigating Today’s Media, October 2014
• Video: Emmylou, Alabama Shakes on ‘Austin City Limits Celebrates 40 Years’
• Vote 2014: Sample ballots for Jefferson, Shelby County general election
• Cask and Drum 2014 video preview
• Gabriel Tajeu releases single, ‘The Beat Goes On’
• Mayor Bell has left Alabama more times than President Obama has traveled abroad

The latest #sundayread tweets

#sundayread Tweets

• More #sundayread recommendations from me

What is the correct
emoji for “indifferent
with a side of guile”?

• • •

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Video: “Austin City Limits Celebrates 40 Years”

The venerable music showcase “Austin City Limits” celebrates its 40th anniversary. The TV program began airing on PBS in 1976 to showcase Texas artists, but has since expanded to feature performers from around the world.

The 2-hour special “Austin City Limits Celebrates 40 Years” includes two Alabama acts, Birmingham’s Emmylou Harris and Athens’ Alabama Shakes (with a bonus performance by lead singer Brittany Howard).

Brittany Howard (left), Jimmie Vaughan and Bonnie Raitt open
“Austin City Limits Celebrates 40 Years” with “Wrap It Up.”

Setlist:

1. “Wrap It Up,” Bonnie Raitt, Brittany Howard, Jimmie Vaughan and Gary Clark Jr.
2. “Your Good Thing (Is About to End),” Bonnie Raitt
3. “Me and Bobby McGee,” Kris Kristofferson and Sheryl Crow
4. “Gimme All Your Love,” Alabama Shakes
5. “What A Little Bit of Love Can Do,” Jeff Bridges
6. “Whiskey River,” Willie Nelson
7. “Funny How Time Slips Away,” Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett
8. “Crazy,” Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris
9. “On the Road Again,” Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett
10. “The Road Goes on Forever,” Robert Earl Keen and Joe Ely
11. “Bright Lights,” Gary Clark Jr.
12. “Two-Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer),” Foo Fighters
13. “Can’t Cry Anymore,” Sheryl Crow
14. “I’m Leaving,” Doyle Bramhall and Sheryl Crow
15. “Mulato,” Grupo Fantasma
16. “The Pleasure’s All Mine,” Jimmie Vaughan and Bonnie Raitt
17. “House Is Rockin’,” Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Mike Farris
18. “Pride and Joy,” Robert Randolph
19. “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Buddy Guy
20. “Texas Flood,” All-Star Finale
21. “Not Fade Away,” All-Star Finale

“Austin City Limits Celebrates 40 Years”

• Amazon | iTunes [aff. links]

Emmylou Harris and Willie Nelson perform “Crazy”
on “Austin City Limits Celebrates 40 Years.”