Tag Archives: B’ham

Farewell, Johnny Ray’s

Posted on July 1, 2009 | 20 comments

The word out in the Twitterverse that yesterday was your last chance to enjoy food from Johnny Ray’s – at least as we knew it. The current owners of the 55 year old local barbecue chain have decided to retire with different plans being made for all of the existing locations.

The chatter online has been sparse, though it was apparent that the changes were expected, though some early moves left folks unsure.

Thanks to @bmcgraw for the heads up on the news about the local franchise.

Logo: courtesy of the restaurant’s website.

20 Comments

Posted in food

Tagged AL, Alabama, announcement, B'ham, Birmingham, changes, closing, farewell, Johnny Ray's, ownership, restaurant, Twitter

Parking rates go up today in Birmingham

Posted on July 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

Folks looking for a parking space around Birmingham today may notice that it will most likely be costing them a little more to do so. Last week The Birmingham News reported that parking rates are going up; city officials hope that new parking meter mechanisms will be installed by the end of the year allowing them to double parking fees at 30 minute, 2-hour and 3-hour meters. Municipal parking deck and lot charges in the city center and at the airport will also be going up starting today. Don’t forget that parking ticket rates went up last year, with last July serving as the first of two months of amnesty for those with unpaid citations.

Photo: André Natta/bhamterminal.com

Langford wants to “Do the dome…NOW!”

Posted on June 29, 2009 | 6 comments

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford shared his intentions with the audience assembled in The Harbert Center early this morning. He hoped that the Birmingham City Council approves his request to release funds to begin construction of the much-talked about multipurpose facility for the BJCC campus downtown.

Or to put it simply, he’s saying, “Let’s do the dome… NOW!”

Continue reading →

6 Comments

Posted in The City

Tagged AL, Alabama, B'ham, Birmingham, Campaign, Do the Dome Now, dome, dothedome, downtown, information, Larry Langford, multipurpose facility, Twitter

The Bottletree Bailout is born!

Posted on June 29, 2009 | 4 comments

For those that visited the site this weekend, the post at the top of the page best summed up my thoughts about the situation involving The Bottletree and City Stages. So of course the next question was, what else to do besides asking folks to go. The answer is simple -> ask them to come out!

We’re calling a Terminally Happy Hour for this Thursday, July 2 – only this time it’s a Bottletree Bailout! We’re asking all of you that see this (and your friends) to come out to The Bottletree whenever you can during happy hour on Thursday – we’ll be getting there at around 4 p.m. – and enjoy meeting people from elsewhere in metro Birmingham while providing business for a venue that’s done a lot for us.

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in Take a moment

Tagged AL, Alabama, B'ham, Birmingham, Bottletree Bailout, City Stages, directions, event, fund raising, happy hour, information, July 2, Terminally Happy Hour, The Bottletree

A range of emotions for City Stages

Posted on June 29, 2009 | 1 comment

We’re still finding more conversations and blog posts to add to our list involving the demise of Birmingham’s 21-year old music festival, City Stages:

Dennis Pillion followed up his initial post on his blog about what the festival meant to him with what can best be described as an investigative piece about how the festival ended up where it did.

Secret History Productions shared this post on MySpace that seemed to bring out opinions as well both for and against the idea of music festivals in general.

Mary Jean Baker LaMay was a long time volunteer for the festival (and continues to be a friend to this website) who decided to share her thoughts about what the festival meant to her via yesterday’s editorial pages of The Birmingham News.

For some more nostalgia, why not check out BhamWiki’s gallery of City Stages posters (and submit photos of the others to them if you can).

1 Comment

Posted in music

Tagged AL, Alabama, B'ham, Birmingham, City Stages, closure, Commentary, Dennis Pillion, Festival, follow-up, information, opinion, update

The Caputo Report changes directions

Posted on June 29, 2009 | Leave a comment

Pascal Caputo has served as the vice president of public policy for the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce for nearly two years. For the last seven months he has shared posts on The Caputo Report, a blog that became a valuable tool for the organization in terms of sharing perspectives on Chamber-related issues.

Well, beginning with this post filed on Saturday, the blog is now reflecting only the opinions of Mr. Caputo as he prepares to leave the Chamber in advance of the soon to be reorganized Chamber (their merger with the Metropolitan Development Board will be complete later this summer). He explains what he hopes to continue to do with the blog in the near future. This comes after

Logo: Courtesy of The Caputo Report.

From the Stationmaster: Help out The Bottletree

Posted on June 26, 2009 | 11 comments

I generally do not write directly to y’all unless it’s over on my Birmingham, but I feel as though this is a necessary reason…

Some of you have no doubt heard about The Bottletree’s situation as a result of City Stages’ recent decision to shut down. I do know that The Bottletree has been a major supporter of The Terminal from day one and one of the main reasons that this site is still operating as of right now. I will say that I don’t have any way to put my money where my mouth is because right now I don’t have any money.

Since I can’t support a business that has helped me out on numerous occasions when I’ve been down and out when they need that generosity returned financially, I’m asking you to find any way that you can to help Merrilee, Brad and the rest of the folks over there out.

Eat, drink, see a show, leave a big tip – anything – and if you know of any other vendors that need assistance, besides the ones mentioned in this report by ABC 33/40, please submit a comment to this post and let all of us know.

11 Comments

Posted in From the Stationmaster

Tagged AL, Alabama, assist, B'ham, Birmingham, City Stages, help out, situation, support, The Bottletree