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.”

The last chocolate chip.
The text message saying yes.
The sun settling down.

• • •

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With a few weeks left till Election Day, voters still have time to study the candidates and issues.

We have the sample ballots for Jefferson and Shelby Counties for the general election. (The Jefferson County ballot has 178 versions, one for every sub-district.)

Find your polling place/districts.

The ballot has five state amendments, top state and county offices, plus one contested Congressional seat for the metro area.

And check out the Alabama Voter Guide 2014, with voting procedures and frequently asked questions.

For easier viewing, you can print, download or zoom to full screen with each ballot.

Election Day is Nov. 4.

• • •

Sample ballots for all 67 counties.

• • •

Jefferson County

[Mobile version]

• • •

Shelby County

[Mobile version]

• • •

Alabama Voter Guide 2014

[Mobile version]

• • •

More Vote 2014 coverage.

Her magnetic smile
kept me going through the lulls
and hiccups. Thank you.

• • •

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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

What they have, we want.
What they struggle with, we mock.
What they do, we shun.

• • •

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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]

He declared his love
in a beautiful text that
was stuck in the cloud.

• • •

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Birmingham mayor William Bell speaks at the National Press
Club on Sept. 25 in Washington to campaign for the 2016
Democratic National Convention.

Birmingham mayor William Bell has not sat still for long. Since August 2011, he has traveled out of state on city business some 37 times, including 17 trips to Washington.

AL.com received information on the trips from city spending forms, including the total cost, $65,000. He most recently visited Japan in September for the Southeast U.S./Japan Association meeting, at the request of Gov. Bentley, and spoke at the National Press Club later in the month in Washington.

Official trips for the City of Birmingham, August 2011-July 2014:

*One trip combined with Baltimore, one with New York and one with New Orleans and Point Clear.

Al.com columnist John Archibald lists five other trips for Bell in that period. The City of Birmingham did not pay for these excursions:

• Ferguson, Mo.
• Geneva
• Liverpool
• Paris
• Saudi Arabia

Mayor Bell has traveled out of state 42 times in 3 years. For comparison, President Obama has traveled out of country 37 times in 6 years.

A nation forged by
exhaustion, expectations
and excesses. (Yawn!)

• • •

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Birmingham, July 2014
Photo: Wally Argus (CC)

Nine years ago, I
started blogging every day
on this very site.

I serve as a scribe,
reporter, commentator,
blogger and poet.

Birmingham is my
muse, an endless source of great
hope and frustration.

The secret is out,
as travelers flock to our
bistros and taprooms.

Underneath, the schools
continue their decay, in
foundation, in minds.

Room enough here for
hipsters to congregate and
leaders to plunder.

The good intentions
are not enough to wipe out
the lingering stench.

What will become of
our home, our community
and our livelihoods?

Birmingham’s motto:
“The people are the city.”
A blessing and curse.

• • •

First, second, third, fourth and fifth and eighth anniversary posts.

Sloss Furnaces, July 2014
Photo: Shannon (CC)

How lovely are the
simple sweets of our youth when
shared over some tea?

• • •

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