Tag Archives: music

East Lake residents to get choices for their morning cup

east59interiorIt’s been several months since the REVIVE pop-up initiative visited several of REV Birmingham‘s commercial districts. One of the long-awaited results of that effort in East Lake is the opening of East 59, a coffee shop to be located at 7619 1st Avenue North near Oporto-Madrid Blvd. A May 19 status update to the company’s fan page on Facebook let folks know they’d been approved for build-out, keeping them on-track for the summer opening long mentioned on their website. They won’t be the only ones keeping area residents caffeinated this summer though…

coffeebooksbluesA Kickstarter campaign launched by Sharrif Simmons suggests area residents will have at least two coffee houses to choose from later this summer, though the second will have a different vibe. The New York native is looking to open Coffee, Books, and Blues by July, bringing an independent bookstore and music venue to the area at 752 81st St., S., near the corner of Rugby Avenue and 81st St. S. Simmons once worked at the famed Liberation Bookstore in Harlem and is its late founder Una Mulzac‘s great nephew. He plans to offer a selection of both new and used books. There are also plans to serve as a performance venue and to host a farmers market on Sundays.

Looking forward to seeing how both of these efforts move forward.

UPDATE: Reports suggest We Have Signal may cease production

We Have Signal logoUPDATE 1 4:35 p.m., 6/28/2011: The show’s producers have posted a note on Facebook this afternoon announcing that next season will go ahead as planned starting in October. For those not on Facebook, we’ve published the note over on Timetable.

Early this morning the Montgomery Advertiser posted a piece to their website that announced the pending closure of Alabama Public Television’s Montgomery bureau at the end of July due to budget cuts at the state level. The report points out that APT will be making reductions statewide to deal with the $1.3 million lost in funding.

One of the losses of significance to folks here in Birmingham is the announcement that “We Have Signal” will potentially cease production. The musical performance series launched in late 2008 and is recorded here in Birmingham exclusively at The Bottletree in Avondale. The show has won Southeast Emmys in 2009 & 2010 and had been nominated again this year.

According to the show’s fan page on Facebook, episodes were shot this spring and scheduled to air this fall. We’re looking into whether these new episodes will be aired. We’re also waiting to see an official statement from the show’s producers about their plans for the future. According to a tweet earlier today and an email exchange with the show’s producers, the first they learned about the potential situation was from this morning’s story in the Advertiser.

BAMA Rising benefit concert announced for June 14

BAMA Rising Concert logoRandy Owen and Teddy Gentry of Country Hall of Fame band Alabama were among those present at the BJCC Arena Club to announce BAMA RISING, a benefit concert for Alabama tornado relief taking place at the BJCC Arena on June 14.

Proceeds will benefit the BAMA RISING Fund for statewide tornado recovery being maintained by the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham (CFGB). Randy Owen and CFGB president Kate Nielsen shared the following comments after the conference. You’ll also hear comments from Birmingham mayor William Bell and a personal story from Owen shared during this morning’s announcement.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC1Dv-zHlwY?hd=1&w=625]

This is the third fund being administered by the CFGB for tornado recovery efforts; the first ones were announced on May 5 just before the identity of the winner of the Prize2TheFuture idea competition was unveiled. The band contacted civic leaders in Birmingham a few days after the April 27 tornadoes offering to help with raising awareness and funds for relief efforts.

Among the acts they’ve reached out to to participate in the fundraising event: Rodney Atkins, Sheryl Crow, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler & Darius Rucker. Bo Bice and Taylor Hicks have also committed to the event. They plan to announce more acts via the event website as they are confirmed.

Dan Sartain = NPR Song of the Day

dan sartain. fishplums/FlickrBirmingham’s rockabilly export Dan Sartain has landed the fun distinction of having a track off of his latest album, “Dan Sartain Lives” – “Walk Among the Cobras IV” picked as NPR’s Song of the Day for December 22.

The accompanying piece refers to Sartain as “an old-fashioned kind of cool” channeling  “the raw quality of surf rock.” Sartain did an interview with J.R. Taylor for a story in Black & White earlier this year, talking primarily about how much success he’s enjoying internationally, perhaps also hinting at what he hopes people actually get from the work he’s already put out there.

If you’ve made it this far down the page, you’ve got to head over to NPR and take a listen to the track off of what NME considers one of the most underrated albums of the year.

Photo: dan sartain. fishplums/Flickr

Holiday music fills the airport terminal

Foxxy Fatts & Company. Courtesy of BHMThe wait to check in at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport‘s been a little easier to deal with this week.

It’s definitely not because it’s seeing a drop off in use; it’s actually seen an increase – at least up through October – according to recent reports.

No, this is because those flying out of The Magic City this holiday season are being greeted with the sounds of beautiful music as they enter the terminal. It’s part of the airport’s Twelve Days of Holiday Music series.

Today “The Connection Band” and Clay Chalkville High School Chamber Choir are scheduled to serenade those starting their journeys from BHM. The performances are being announced on the front page of the airport’s website.

It’s a nice way to take off on your holiday adventure, especially considering the upcoming changes for the airport. Today’s The Birmingham News story talks about some of those plans and the recent sale of $151 million to help start those changes in January.

Photo: Foxxy Fatts & Company. Courtesy of BHM fan page on Facebook.

WorkPlay foreclosure sale postponed, deal in works

It’s an early holiday gift for fans of WorkPlay. We received word via an email earlier this afternoon from WorkPlay‘s Alan Hunter that the foreclosure sale of the entertainment venue scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday) has been postponed by the bank due to to a pending deal. The announcement was also relayed via Alan’s Facebook profile shortly thereafter.

More than 14,000 people joined the Save WorkPlay Facebook fan page after Dana Jaffe reported on The Second Front that the popular Southside venue was being threatened with foreclosure back on October 21, with pieces by The Birmingham News‘ Mary Carluso helping to raise the awareness level.

The support has not gone unnoticed by those at WorkPlay.

Photo: Overview of WorkPlay’s bar from 2006. André Natta/bhamterminal.com.

This is not a revolution. This is a solution.

The Mountain - official logo“The Uprising” across Birmingham, AL will soon have a web-based radio station resulting from their online revolution earlier this year.

Scott Register of Reg’s Coffee House was the last voice heard on Birmingham’s Live 100.5FM back on Valentine’s Day, despite nearly 16,000 people showed their support for the station and the format via an online campaign.

Recent activity on Facebook suggests that a web-based solution in the form of an online radio station is about to be unveiled to Alabama’s Magic City. A website has been created for The Mountain, as well as a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account.

According to the digital outposts, the new venture plans to launch later this month with mobile apps available for download for when you want to listen while out running, etc. Reg’s Coffee House is also expected to make a return to the digital airwaves.

FYI: The “issue” with Timetable is being worked on; the hope is that it will be back up and operational by the end of next week.