To date, more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers have died in the Iraq War, including 68 from Alabama.

Have a peaceful Memorial Day.

We’re giving away four tickets to Hoover’s June 1 music festival

Like great live music? And a beautiful spacious park in which to hear it?

Enter our special We Jazz June contest. Two lucky winners will win two passes (a $70 value) each to the second annual Preserve Jazz Festival on Sunday, June 1, in Hoover.

Founded by jazz guitarist Eric Essix and Jason Henderson, the festival returns to Moss Rock Preserve with an outstanding lineup of artists:

• Guitar and Saxes: Gerald Albright, Jeff Lorber, Peter White and Jeff Golub
• Bob Baldwin and Joey Sommerville
• Kelley O’Neal Band with Cece Phillips
• Mart Avant’s Night Flight Big Band

We think it’s a well-done event, and you will, too.

To enter, visit our special We Jazz June contest page.

Hurry! Entry deadline is noon CDT, Tuesday, May 27, 2008.

Our thanks to the Preserve Jazz Festival for providing the passes.

Or, Awards you’ve never heard of for a site you sometimes read

We’re pleased to announce that Wade on Birmingham is a finalist for the 58th annual Green Eyeshade Excellence in Journalism Awards, specifically in the Humorous Commentary category in the Online Division.

The annual competition, held by the Society of Professional Journalists, includes entries from 11 states across the Southeast.

The articles selected were “Wade’s 101: Nick Saban’s To-Do List” and “The Other Crucial Vote.” (See, mocking football coaches and daily newspapers can pay off …) (Though we’re not 100 percent sure if we picked these entries or other articles. Oh, well.)

Competing in the same category is columnist Brian Hicks of the (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier. He has written four books and won numerous South Carolina Press Association Awards, including 1998’s Journalist of the Year. (One time in high school, we won honorable mention in a drag queen contest.)

Birmingham’s only other finalist, WBHM (90.3 FM), earned a spot in the Public Affairs Reporting category in the Radio Division for its “Searching for Safetown” series.

Organizers will announce the winners in June.

Also:

• The complete list of finalists

Because we’re still writing 2007 on our forged checks …

Then and now

Pizza Bowl 2: Crust Never Sleeps: The Papajohns.com Bowl by the numbers …

• 32,023 | attendance in 2006
• 35,528 | attendance in 2007
• 3 | Birmingham’s previous bowl games (Dixie, Hall of Fame Classic and All-American)
• 300,000 | payout in dollars
• 21 | rank among 32 bowls in viewership
• 1.9 | Nielsen rating for 2007 game
• 1.6 | Nielsen rating for the 2007 Independence Bowl (Alabama over Colorado)
• 15-20 | average wait time in minutes for pizza at halftime at Legion Field

By the way, who won that game? Who played in that game?

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Because four months after the fact isn’t too ridiculously long a wait …

Then and now

Down Biloxi way: We took eight people to the Gulf Coast as part of the Magic City Mission, and we did all right.

I gave you a small taste of life down in Biloxi, but this is a good opportunity to fill in a few more blanks from our weeklong volunteer trip.

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Enjoy this blessed day. And say hello to the Easter Beagle …

A sweet treat for lovers and lonely hearts: Check out the award-winning 15-minute romantic comedy, “Piece of Cake.” Shot in Birmingham, the wedding-centric tale stars Mo Rocca, and was written and directed by our pal Jennifer West.

And more Valentine’s vids, after the jump …

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Bob Henriques/Magnum Photos

“A riot is the language of the unheard.”
— Address given in Birmingham, Dec. 31, 1963

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Then and now

Hello, Larry: After a relatively subdued campaign, Jefferson County commissioner Larry Langford bested nine other candidates to become Birmingham’s mayor. Soon thereafter, second-place finisher Patrick Cooper challenged Langford’s residency in court, only to drop it two months later.

The mayor-elect wasted no time in stirring things up, even though he wouldn’t officially take office until November. (See below.)

Check out his inauguration on Nov. 13 …

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Then and now

Artistry all around: Two of Birmingham’s biggest festivals made September a downtown destination. Artwalk had another successful outing, pulling in more than 10,000 visitors over two days. Your 2007 winners are Omni Studio (First Place), Bobby Michelson (Second Place), Royal Miree (Third Place) and Scotty White (Honorable Mention).

The Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival closed out the month without the turmoil of the past year (funding issues! staff changes! filmmaker bickering!). The three-day festival featured a new executive director, a better opening night film (“The Ten,” which sent a few audience members scurrying out early), and the usual slate of parties, films and fun. In all, the judges and audience selected 34 winners … 10 more than the Oscars.

Photographer Larry O. Gay shares his snapshots from Artwalk …

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Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters

Happy New Year! Bless us and keep us safe in 2008, a 366-day odyssey of discovery, wonder and joy.

Have a Merry Christmas, y’all!

It’s not the season for me without hearing Darlene Love singing “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home).”

And look for an extra-special bonus video on the jump, whether you’ve been naughty or nice!

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We’re thankful for so much. Have a wonderful holiday! “See you soon, you sly devil.”

P.S. Happy Slapsgiving! (See video on the jump.)

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Eight volunteers from Birmingham are working this week
to rebuild Biloxi and New Orleans.

We made it to the Gulf Coast, and we couldn’t have done it without you.

I’m spending the week in Biloxi with two more Birmingham residents. Our other team of five is staying in New Orleans. The eight of us are volunteering this week as part of the Magic City Mission, a partnership with nonprofit volunteer agency Hands on Birmingham.

Thanks to your generosity, we raised $1,390, which paid for our transportation costs as well as food and shelter at Camp Hope in New Orleans and Hands on Gulf Coast in Biloxi. But it also provided hundreds of dollars for both agencies plus St. Bernard Project in New Orleans, money to use at their discretion.

We’d also like to thank Curtis Palmer and TechBirmingham for donating three laptops to these agencies. And thanks also to Birmingham-Southern College for providing our parking.

So let me tell you about the trip so far …

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