Alabama State, left, and Alabama A&M will battle Saturday
in the Magic City Classic.

The largest black football classic in America kicks off again Saturday. The 73rd annual Magic City Classic features Alabama State (4-3) vs. Alabama A&M (2-5) at Legion Field.

It won’t be just Hornets vs. Bulldogs in football, but also in the Battle of the Bands, tailgating and partying this week. The events start tonight with the Throwback Ole School Event at 7 tonight at the Birmingham Museum of Art, with singer Yvette Cooke.

Other Classic events include the 7 a.m. Magic City Classic Scholarship Breakfast at the Harbert Center downtown, plus the 3 p.m. Classic Day Party and Concert with Willie Clayton and George Tandy at Legion Field, both on Friday.

The parade begins at 8 a.m. Saturday downtown. The game itself begins at 2:30 p.m., airing on ESPN3; tickets are $20 for general admission and $25 for reserved seats. Following the end will be a concert with Bell Biv DeVoe.

More events can be found in the Classic Weekend Event Guide below.

Video: “Scrubs” does Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison.”

Magic City Classic

• Website | Facebook | Twitter @MagicCtClassic | Instagram

The Design Shop, located at the Alabama Center for Architecture,
has goods from local and regional designers
during Design Week Birmingham.

Design Week Birmingham returns for a second year with a series of events around town, including lectures, workshops and discussions. For more details and tickets, visit the Design Week Birmingham site.

Design Week Birmingham

• Website | Facebook | Twitter @dwbhm | Instagram

A look at Birmingham in videos …

Fort Payne’s Pierce Pettis performs at Moonlight on the Mountain in Hoover. From Alabama Music Office.

•

Charlotte from Birmingham goes skydiving. From Chattanooga Skydiving Company.

•

Birmingham-Southern College Cross Country JSU Foothills Invitational. From Sharks Soccer.

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Mobile group Willie Sugarcapps performs at WorkPlay in Lakeview, full 3-hour performance. From Alabama Music Office.

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Andrew Thompson of Birmingham’s Plenty Design Co-op at the Southern Makers event in Montgomery. From Joy to Life Foundation.

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Claire’s solo at the Greater Birmingham Ministries’ 45th anniversary celebration at Boutwell Auditorium downtown. From Molly Merkle.

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A passenger held a camera to the window for 30 minutes of a Southwest flight from Dallas to Birmingham. From Benjamin Gebo.

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Chattanooga gospel group Back Home found inspiration for its song “Birmingham” from a waitress’ story of failure, rejection and redemption. From Fresh Well Media.

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The 10th annual Barber Vintage Festival. From Eddie Roberts.

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Centreville’s Megan McMillan performs at WorkPlay in Lakeview. From Alabama Music Office.

• • •

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

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.

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

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

A look at Birmingham in videos …

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

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

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

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

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Blood moon over Oak Mountain. From Leilani Carroll.

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

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

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

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

• • •

Send us links to your videos.

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.”

Cask and Drum takes place in Lakeview on Saturday.

Video: “Live Forever,” by Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

The second annual Cask and Drum music festival takes place in Lakeview on Saturday. Included in this year’s event is the sixth annual Kick’n Chick’n Wing Fest and a tent with 12 TV sets showing college football throughout the day.

Schedule

The event runs from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday between First and Second Avenues South and 27th Street in Lakeview [map].

Tickets are $30 in advance and available online. Proceeds from the event benefit Magic Moments, a Birmingham-based nonprofit organization granting wishes to children in Alabama with life-threatening medical conditions.

Video: “Tolerated,” by Girl Talk and Freeway,
featuring Waka Flocka Flame

Video: “Used to Be a Cop,” by Drive-By Truckers

https://vimeo.com/93424213

Video: Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires on “We Have Signal”

Cask and Drum

• Website | Facebook | Twitter @caskanddrum | Instagram

Audio: “The Beat Goes On,” by Gabriel Tajeu

Musician/doctoral candidate/ TEDx Birmingham performer Gabriel Tajeu released a new single Tuesday. “The Beat Goes On” features his social justice message with a mix of rock and soul.

Tajeu sang it at March’s TEDx event, along with “Raindrops and “Southern Skies.”

Video: Gabriel Tajeu at TEDx Birmingham 2014

Gabriel Tajeu:

• Website | Facebook | Twitter @gabrieltajeu | Instagram
• iTunes | Amazon [aff. links]

Vanderbilt coach James Franklin celebrates with his team
Sunday over their BBVA Compass Bowl invitation.

The state of Alabama excels at football. Doubters, see evidence below …

• While No. 2 Auburn heads west to play for the national championship, rival No. 3 Alabama (11-1) will play Jan. 2 in the Sugar Bowl. Facing the Tide in New Orleans will be No. 11 Oklahoma (10-2).

Should both Auburn and Alabama win their bowl games, they could end the season ranked 1 and 2.

• Alabama and Auburn received additional good news today, as Tide quarterback A.J. McCarron and Tigers running back Tre Mason received invites as finalists to the Heisman ceremony Saturday in New York.

Leading candidate Jameis Winston, left, quarterback at No. 1 Florida State, is a Hueytown native.

• Closer to home, the BBVA Compass Bowl will feature Vanderbilt and Houston, both 8-4. The Jan. 4 game at Legion Field will be the last to feature the bank as title sponsor; a new sponsor has not been announced.

Vanderbilt last played in a Birmingham bowl game in 1982, for the Dec. 31 Hall of Fame Classic. The Commodores lost to Air Force 36-28 (and yes, I was at that game).

• Mobile will hold its two annual bowl games. The GoDaddy Bowl on Jan. 5 will pit returnees Ball State (10-2) against Arkansas State (7-5). It’s Arkansas State’s third consecutive appearance, and the first for Ball State since 2009.

And the 65th Senior Bowl will take place Jan. 25.

• With 78 bowl-eligible teams but only 70 slots, someone has to stay home and watch all these games. Alabama teams Troy and South Alabama — both 6-6 — didn’t receive invites.

• In last week’s state high school championships, Hoover beat Auburn 20-3 in 6A, a second consecutive title and 30 straight wins. Madison Academy topped Leeds 31-14 in 3A.

A look at today’s newspapers, with front pages showing Auburn’s win over Missouri for the SEC Championship on Saturday in Atlanta.

The No. 3 Tigers (11-1) defeated No. 5 Mizzou (11-1) 59-42 to claim their third title in 10 years. Auburn heads to Pasadena to play Florida State in the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 6. This marks Auburn’s second trip in 3 years, and a possible fifth consecutive national championship for the state.

Alabama

The Anniston Star

The Birmingham News

The Decatur Daily

Dothan Eagle

The (Florence) TimesDaily

The Gadsden Times

(Mobile) Press-Register

The Opelika-Auburn News

The Selma Times-Journal

The Tuscaloosa News

Georgia

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Missouri

Columbia Daily Tribune

The Kansas City Star

Missourian

Springfield News-Leader

St. Joseph News-Press

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Zoom to full screen, zoom in on page details
and embed on your site.

Also:

• Alabama wins 2012 BCS National Championship: newspaper front pages
• Alabama wins 2011 BCS National Championship: newspaper front pages
• Auburn wins 2010 BCS National Championship: newspaper front pages
• Alabama wins 2009 National Championship as seen on newspaper front pages

Hoover, right, defeated Vestavia Hills 31-28
in Friday’s semifinals.

Two Birmingham-area teams are back in the state high school football championship games this week. Defending 6A champ Hoover is making its 13th trip in 14 years, while Leeds returns for its third trip to the 3A finals in 5 years.

Hoover (14-0) will play Auburn (13-1) on Friday. Leeds (12-2) will play undefeated Madison Academy today. The Green Wave of Leeds won titles in 2008 and 2010.

All Super Six games take place today and Friday at Tuscaloosa’s Bryant-Denny Stadium, airing on CBS 42.2 and streaming online. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the gate, and available online.

Today

• 11 a.m.: Class 3A: Leeds (12-2) vs. Madison Academy (14-0)
• 3 p.m.: Class 1A: Maplesville (14-0) vs. Pickens Co. (14-0)
• 7 p.m.: Class 5A: Spanish Fort (14-0) vs. Muscle Shoals (13-1)

Friday

• 11 a.m.: Class 4A: Charles Henderson (14-0) vs. Oneonta (13-1)
• 3 p.m.: Class 2A: Washington Co. (13-1) vs. Tanner (12-1)
• 7 p.m.: Class 6A: Auburn (13-1) vs. Hoover (14-0)

The last time he won a reality TV competition 10 years ago, Ruben Studdard donned a “205” jersey.

This season, the Birmingham singer sports the “462,” his starting weight as the heaviest contestant on “The Biggest Loser.”

Studdard, the winner of “American Idol” in 2003, will be among the 15 contestants competing for a $250,000 grand prize, awarded to the one who loses the highest percentage of weight.

The NBC show enters its 15th season.

Age 34 when the competition began, he comes in not only with a weight problem, but also sleep apnea, high blood pressure and diabetes. Studdard is the first celebrity contestant among the 300 in the show’s history.

Even the show itself is slimming down, with most episodes to run 1 hour instead of the usual 2.

“The Biggest Loser” premieres at 7 p.m. Oct. 8 on Alabama’s 13. The finale will air Feb. 4.

Video: A look at season 15 of “The Biggest Loser,”
with a shocking announcement for Ruben Studdard

•

Video: The first workout. Ruben: “Realizing I was
the heaviest guy on the ranch was an eye-opening
experience for me.”

•

Video: Interview with Ruben Studdard

More coverage of “The Biggest Loser.”

Chef Andrew Zimmern featured the Birmingham food scene in the most recent episode of “Bizarre Foods America.” It premiered Monday on the Travel Channel.

Zimmern visited the city in January to visit restaurants, a UAB lab and a pig farm, as seen in the clips below.

Video: Andrew Zimmern’s Top Five favorite Birmingham eats

•

Video: Visiting the Peanut Depot on Morris Avenue
in downtown Birmingham

•

Video: A pig farm just outside Birmingham

•

Video: Checking out Shindigs Food Truck and Hot and
Hot Fish Club with chef Chris Hastings

•

Video: Researchers at the University of Alabama at
Birmingham develop sea urchins in the lab.

• Andrew Zimmern tours Birmingham
  
• Birmingham News: “Andrew Zimmern feasts on oxtails, bullfrogs and sea urchins during Birmingham episode of his show”
• Birmingham’s Best Eats