Tag Archives: Commentary

A range of emotions for City Stages

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).

Have you visited Goldie?

If you’re in Tuscaloosa between now and the end of December this year and you’re walking by Woods Quad on the Alabama campus, you’ll stumble upon a sculpture created by graduate student Joe McCreary (who just so happens to work as the metal arts education coordinator at Sloss Furnaces). The piece, named Goldie has a serious purpose to it though, according to the post on Alabama’s faculty/staff blog – dialog:

Goldie symbolizes the closing of Birmingham’s Sloss Furnaces in 1972 and America’s passage into the post-industrial era. The robot is not so much dead or sleeping as turned off.

Now there’s a photo of Goldie on the site, but we were wondering if someone wouldn’t mind scoring one for our use – in exchange for a white Terminal T of course. Drop us an email with the file or link if you’re interested.

Fireworks at the BJCC yesterday

We’ve known for some time (well, some of us have) that Alabama State Representative Mary Moore has wanted City Council representation on the BJCC’s board. Well, yesterday she decided to make those comments again during the BJCC Board meeting and had some words with the city’s current representation on the board, Mayor Larry Langford. Apparently, a lot of words.

I’ve got some words about the situation of my own today over on My Birmingham.

Congratulations President-elect Obama

President-elect Barack Obama. Bob Farley/f8Photo

There are two main reasons why we’ve stayed quiet since Tuesday. One was somewhat implied in my sole entry on Election Day – I (and thus The Terminal) have been moving to a new section of town and it’s a little difficult to write when you’re moving boxes. The other reason was because simply put – Tuesday was one of those days that did not need commentary or opinion. It was a day where we witnessed a peaceful transfer of power and the promise of change in Washington.

Well, there is one more reason, but you’ll have to head over to my Birmingham to learn about it.

On the agenda: Speechless?

You could say that people in Birmingham, AL would be that way yesterday after learning that while Trinity Medical Center prepares to move to property along U.S. 280 with an assist from the City of Birmingham (Item 30), Carraway Medical Center (yes, we’re still calling it Carraway) was going to close as a result of bankruptcy (and not without the city trying their best to save it as well) while word spread about plans for the an item on today’s agenda (Item 35) that calls for the next sitting council to receive a $20,000 raise in addition to another $10,000 added to their expense allowances (Item 36).

We were actually quiet due to some traveling from yours truly, though I found some time to write my thoughts on a couple of those issues over on my Birmingham this morning.

If you didn’t think Larry was serious…

Readers of The New York Times in the Big Apple woke up on this last morning of the Summer Olympics in Beijing to this overview of Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford’s wanting to bid for the 2020 Olympics (NOTE: registration required to view the full article). Granted, it was on page A17 of the New York edition, but it IS the Sunday New York Times, so folks are going to see it while they’re drinking their coffee and getting ready for the first round of the U.S. Open.

It’s all there, the pros, the cons and a comment or two towards the end that resembles the crux of what I wrote about it back when it was first announced in June.

Photo credit: Bob Farley/f8Photo

The Terminal Concert is tonight!

The show’s tonight, July 26, with doors opening at 8 p.m. Fresh Ground Comic Christopher Davis will be performing and serving as emcee with the following bands performing (with links to their MySpace profiles and recent Timetable articles):

Bright Henry
Sorry Saints
They’re Sorry Saints, but not for long – 7.22
Vulture Whale In the belly of the Whale – 7.24
The Green Seed The farmer and his seeds – 7.25

Tickets are available at The Bottletree or via their website for $12 (It’ll also be $12 at the door tonight). Hopefully you’ve been able to relax during this rainy day so you can enjoy the music tonight, no matter where you end up. Check out my e-newsletter comments about tonight after the jump…

Continue reading