TV’s Craig Ferguson spent the weekend with us in Alabama, performing a funny two-night stint at the Comedy Club at the Stardome in Hoover. Monday night, he shared his experiences in the “Late Late Show” monologue, trolling Homewood for Philly cheesesteaks and taking in that Southern hospitality.

“Alabama is America’s most misunderstood state.”

“I walked into Salem’s Diner, and it’s like, ‘Hey, it’s the guy from TV.’ I was very flattered. A couple of minutes later, a guy comes in, and they go, ‘Hey, it’s the guy from the hardware store.’ “

(It’s about a third of the way in the 10-minute clip, around the 3:30 mark.)

Thanks to our reader Dave for the tip.
• CBS: “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” March 19 monologue

Also:

• Comedian Christian Finnegan’s decidedly different experience at the Comedy Club

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OK, so no Alabama teams made it to the Big Dance. Heck, even Alabama flamed out in the first round of the NIT. That doesn’t mean the state’s post-season reign is over.

Enter the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers. They’re not headed to the Final Four — they’re playing for a shot at the Frozen Four. As in hockey. It’s the only university-sponsored team in the South.

The team claimed an automatic tourney berth by winning the College Hockey America championship over Robert Morris. The Chargers’ record? A lousy 13-19-3. But they’re in, and the selection show starts at 1:30 today on ESPN2.

Update: UAH will play top seed Notre Dame in the first round, 4 p.m. Friday in Grand Rapids, Mich.

(CSTV video highlights of the championship game after the jump.)
• Associated Press: Hockey in Alabama: There’s more to ice than cold drinks

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ABC superhit “Grey’s Anatomy” isn’t just known for its on-camera hi-jinks and off-camera homophobia. It’s also a music machine, having helped The Fray (“How to Save a Life”) and Snow Patrol (“Chasing Cars”) climb the charts after integrating their songs into episodes.

Birmingham band Wild Sweet Orange checks into Seattle Grace Hospital tonight with its ballad, “Land of No Return” (free MP3 from I Rock Cleveland; streaming version: MySpace | KEXP-FM). Rumor has it the unsigned band, which plays a show Monday at WorkPlay, is in talks this weekend for a possible record deal.

Catch the episode “Scars and Souvenirs” at 8 p.m. on ABC-33/40, repeating at 7 p.m. Friday. Also available via broadband (free) and download ($1.99).
• Band’s blog: Wild Sweet Orange on Grey’s Anatomy TOMM. NIGHT!!!

Also:

• WBHM (90.3 FM): band interview and free MP3s
• The music of “Grey’s Anatomy”: ABC guide | fan guide | soundtrack site | soundtracks 1 and 2 (iTunes) | soundtracks 1 and 2 (Amazon)

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Taylor the charitable: Hoover’s Taylor Hicks returned to town this weekend for a two-night sold-out performance at the Alabama Theater. The reigning American Idol used the opportunity to have the Red Cross on site to raise money for disaster relief in Enterprise, which was hit by a deadly tornado on March 1. Hicks donated a portion of proceeds from his first single, “Do I Make You Proud,” to the Red Cross in June. Also, Hicks’ Saturday performance earned praise from one reviewer.
• American Idol Champion Partners With Red Cross [press release]

Taylor the charity case: While his tour stops have been sellouts, his album sales have been underselling. “Taylor Hicks,” his first major-label release, has sold 640,000 copies in three months, but ranks 136th on the Billboard charts. Chris Daughtry, who finished fourth on the show last season, has already sold more than a million CDs. Hicks could end up being the first Idol who fails to hit the 1 million mark. So what’s most important: ticket sales, CD sales, radio airplay, song choice, “Idol” voting, music genre or artistry?
• ‘Idol’ winner Hicks says fans will rally behind slow-selling album [Associated Press]

The big P: We don’t typically trade in rumor around here, but a leading journalism industry site is good enough for us. The Birmingham News could be one of three finalists for this year’s Pulitzer Prizes in the Public Service category for its thorough — and thoroughly enraging — series on corruption in the state two-year college system. The newspaper was a finalist in 2006 for its reversed stance on the death penalty and a winner in 1991 for its editorials on inequities in the state tax system. We’ll know for sure April 16, when the winners are announced.
• Here We Go Again — Pulitzer Finalists Leaked! [Editor and Publisher]

Also:

• Green spaces threaten to wipe out urban blight, ground-level ozone
• County commission proposes burning large pile of cash, then loses large pile of cash
• Not-quite-spring forward: Time shift deflates helpful phrase

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Then and now

Festival future: Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival goes on. The new executive director, Catherine Pfitzer, and the board held a town hall meeting last week to cull ideas from a small groups of attendees. In addition, the organization has an online survey to pinpoint positives and negatives about the festival and other events. Birmingham Shout, slated for April, sponsored comedian Margaret Cho at the Alabama Theater, drawing around 1,500 fans.

And coming up next weekend, another Sidewalk Scramble with a new twist: pre-submitted scripts. Should be an interesting year for filmmakers and fans.

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A heckuva job: President Bush toured the disaster area in Enterprise today, shortly after Gov. Riley surveyed the tornado damage. Bush put the call out to Americans to lend assistance, even as the Coffee County was declared a federal and state disaster area.

The students killed on Thursday at Enterprise High School were Michael J. Bowen, 16; Peter James Dunn II, 16; Andrew Joel Jackson, 16; Ryan Andrew Mohler, 17; Kathryn Madora Strunk, 16; Michael D. Tompkins, 17; Jamie Ann Vidensek, 17; and Alice Michelle Wilson, 16.
• Bush to Americans: Help the folks down here [CNN]

Showdown in Selma: Former President Clinton and presidential hopefuls Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Barack Obama are all crowding into Selma on Sunday. To commemorate the 42nd anniversary of Bloody Sunday at the Edmund Pettus Bridge? Sure. To win voters in a casually Red State? Maybe. To grab camera time? Hmm …

Mr. Clinton will be inducted into the Voting Rights Hall of Fame. Yes, but will they ever let Pete Rose in?
• Clintons, Obama hope to woo black support in Selma [CNN]

So easy, even a Cave 9 could do it: Some things you may not know about the tiny hole-in-the-wall all-ages rock club known as Cave 9 … For instance, in 2006 the Southside venue became a 501(c)(3), meaning it’s a nonprofit organization. And, it owes $6,200 in back taxes to the state of Alabama. And, (whispers) they worship the devil. OK, maybe not the devil, but probably trans-fats or shaved-head Britney.
• Cave 9 rocks with independence [Birmingham News]

Also:

• Birmingham fails, forced to take Cool Remedial Summer School
• State two-year college system to offer lottery, cockfights
• Daylight Saving starts earlier, yet shows no real savings

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Ten people were killed Thursday in tornado-related damage in Alabama, including eight students at Enterprise High School in the southeastern corner of the state. School officials sent students to interior halls at 10:30 a.m., but waited until 1 p.m. to close school. At that point, no one was able to evacuate until 1:30, because a tornado had already been spotted in the area. At 1:15, the storms struck, causing a concrete slab roof to collapse. Could a quicker response have saved lives?

Want to help? Red State Diaries has begun compiling a list of relief efforts for Enterprise, including ways you can give blood and cash. Don’t wait — do it today.
• Associated Press: School Was Warned Hours Before Tornado

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If they had a million dollars …: We may be short on cash for school, public transportation, economic development, homelessness, etc., but not for the oft-praised, oft-maligned music festival. The Waldrep, Stewart & Kendrick City Stages Presented by Lanny Vines & Associates has raised $750,000 toward its goal of $1 million, to pay off old debt and secure a nest egg for the future. Also, the first major acts for this June’s edition will be Earth, Wind and Fire (again), Dr. John (again), Rickie Lee Jones, Poison and the Steve Miller Band. Ticket prices will go up (again).

Still unanswered questions linger: Who’s putting up the $666,000? How much, if any, did Catalyst raise? Is it realistic to expect $300,000 in taxpayer money from city, county and state officials? And can this festival actually make money as a festival, rather than as a begging machine?
• Music fest paying off its debts [Birmingham News]

Epithet debated: Today concludes the four-day “N” Surrection Conference at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa. The subject? The n-word. Should it be banned? Should blacks stop using it, even ironically? Does banning it really change anything or give the word more power? We’re guessing that those who use the word regularly won’t be hanging out on campus debating with scholars, activists and attendees.
• Alabama college hosts n-word conference [Associated Press]

‘Thick’ and theatrical: Updating an earlier story, the documentary “It’s a Thick Book” will screen for free at 3 p.m. March 4 at WorkPlay. This 49-minute documentary examines the most overweight lawmaker in Montgomery, otherwise known as the state constitution. Director Lewis Lehe will also be there. The premiere is the first in a series of screenings that week around Alabama. If you see only one documentary about a pile of 743 amendments, make it this one.
• World Premiere of “It’s a Thick Book” [Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform]

Also:

• Mayoral race to feature diverse array of future losers
• City schools move from Black History Month to Black Algebra Month
• Uptown bar’s opening delayed by construction woes, crippling sobriety

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If it’s not bad enough that Hispanics are taking over all of the crummy chicken processing jobs and day laborer positions, then you’d better sit down. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria is buying Birmingham-based Compass Bank for a cool $9.6 billion. BBVA is the second largest bank in Spain.

We’re a little rusty on our high school Spanish. What’s Spanish for “layoffs”? Or “headquarters relocation”? After Wachovia’s takeover of Southtrust and the Regions-Amsouth merger, the Big Four of banking are no more. Says one Auburn University Montgomery economist, “The idea of Birmingham as a banking center is gone.” Heck, we just want our free toaster.
• Birmingham News: Compass bought for $9.6 billion

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The latest in a series of tubes: The Birmingham News is awfully proud of its latest site changes on Alabama Live, the corporate template for all Newhouse newspapers. (See Nola.com and Oregon Live.) For example, the editor claims that Internet is “interactive” in nature. Crazy!

Of course, his column has no mechanism for reader comments, or even the social bookmarking tools infecting the rest of the site. Heck, you can’t even click on his e-mail address, jumbled into the last paragraph of every online column. (Ten points to anyone who can even find the mythic interactive peanut butter story cited as an example.) While the daily newspaper wants to create a sense of community, its welcome mat appears frayed around the edges.
• Giving a voice to readers [Birmingham News]

Web 0.0: You would think an alternative weekly cheeky enough to refer to the News as “the Evil Empire” would have a handle on this new media thing? Birmingham Weekly, which launched its overdue site design last week, was thoughtful enough to include a blog called Mixed Media (fun fact: blog is short for “weblog” … neat!). “What is ‘Mixed Media’? We’re still trying to figure that out. It’s a blog-type-thing. That much we know. We don’t yet want to call it a blog, because for now we’re not any good at blogging. We’re dead tree people. Reporters and editors.”

If that kind of brutal honesty doesn’t win over readers and advertisers, we give up, dammit.
• Mixed Media: What the hell? [Birmingham Weekly]

Scapegoats and sinners: And now, the rare plug for something close to home. If you’re in the media, advertising or PR, join us tonight for the monthly Media of Birmingham gathering. Nothing fancy, just drinks and networking and socializing and good-natured fun at Metro Bistro from 5:30 to 7:30. See, we’re building community via interactive media. Double neat!
• Hail to the MOB [Media of Birmingham]

Also:

• Martians purchase Birmingham-based bank, threaten 300 humans with layoffs
• BJCC to expand facilities, rednecks’ sense of wonder
• Domestic squabble erupts into nuisance homicide

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Picking up where Schoolhouse Rock left off, a new documentary tells the long and sordid history of Alabama’s constitution. How long? How sordid? A gentleman never asks, and a lady never tells.

However, Lewis Lehe, a 20-year-old Homewood High grad and University of Pittsburgh sophomore, dares expose all in his 49-minute documentary, “It’s a Thick Book.” The film, funded by Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform, uses insight and humor in explaining how the massive document is crippling the very state it defines. The Legislature has come closer to calling for a constitutional convention in recent years, even as the document continues to grow, currently at 743 amendments.

The film could be screened in theaters in March, followed by possible online availability.

Trailer after the jump.
• Birmingham News: A clever look at constitution’s many problems
• Votelaw: Alabama: “It’s a thick book”
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Continuing our theme of fashionable finds, our pal Amy is up and blogging at New York Fashion Week. She may be digging the Fashionista Scoop, but you may know her as the driving force behind Young Professionals of Birmingham or her other(!) new blog, My Scoop.

Amy covers the runways and the raves while keeping an eye on what’s hot (and the diametric opposite, what’s not) for fall. She’s a veteran of the NYC style scene, so check out her latest dispatches from the fashion front.
• AL.com: The Fashionista Scoop

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Then and now

The Nick rocks: (Warning: Every item will be about football or television, just like real life.) Nick Saban, the former LSU coach and recently departed Miami Dolphins coach, graciously accepted the head coaching position at Alabama for a paltry $30 million. Talk about sacrifice.

Since then, a reporter released off-the-record comments in which Saban uses an ethnic slur regarding Cajuns. (It’s as though our prediction No. 85 came true!) And he’s been the subject of a “salary” vs. “feed the poor” or “educate kids” or some such crap debate. Plus, the classic welcome video, after the jump …
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And now, our annual plug for Black and White’s Annual Manual, a handy guide to Birmingham and all its offerings. Be sure to grab a copy in the next day or so (even if the online version stays up throughout the year) for those who still enjoy the tactile sensation of printed stuff.

Highlights include a lovely compendium of places to visit, quirky and otherwise; a terrific historic photo exhibit at Vulcan Park; and a long, if not completely unbiased, look at the exploding condo market.
• Black and White: 2007 Annual Manual

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Birmingham-based Cobb Theatres was once the only game in town. It was sold to Regal Cinema in Knoxville, which has gradually closed all but one of its locations in the metro area. Brook Highland 10 closed Sunday.

Along the way were the Green Springs 6, Hoover Twin, Hoover Square 6, Center Point 6, Wildwood 14, Festival 18, Galleria 10 and the lone survivor, Regal Trussville 16. Rave has become the dominant player with locations at Vestavia Hills, Lee Branch and Patton Creek, and Carmike still has the Summit, Wynnsong and bargain Carmike in Hoover. And AmStar has one location in Hoover.

Arthouse fare had had a home at the Galleria, and then at Brook Highland. A few can be seen sometimes at Summit. Still, Safari Cup, Workplay, Rojo, McWane’s IMAX and Sidewalk have opened up new options for indie and non-mainstream films, and UAB will have its 25th annual three-day International Film Festival starting Friday.

By the way, Cobb Theatres quietly resumed operations in 2000 in Birmingham, with locations in Tuscaloosa, Jasper, Gulf Shores, several cities in Florida, soon to be in Savannah, Ga. — and none in Birmingham. Thank you, and enjoy the movie.
• Birmingham News: Brook Highland Cinema to close

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