Category Archives: 35205

Immediate Casting Need at Birmingham Festival Theatre!

bft logo Immediate casting! Birmingham Festival Theatre needs to cast two lead roles in their production of Hiding Behind Comets which is already in rehearsal. These roles must be cast by Monday 1/7.

TROY – 22 – Bartender in a one horse town bar. Twin brother to Honey. Measured and reserved with a healthy dose of smarta**.

HONEY – 22 – Troy’s twin sister. Small-town sexy, brazen, and impulsive. The flip side of Troy.

Contact the director (Stephen French @ 205.307.9272) to schedule a time to read today (Sunday), January 6. The show rehearses Monday – Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. and runs Thursday – Saturday from 1.31 to 2.16 with one matinee performance on 2.10.

Got plans this weekend? 12.7 – 12.9

This week I am relying on the kindness of strangers. Strangers that have e-mailed about theater. So . . .

You can see “Simple Gifts” by the Red Mountain Theatre Company at their own Red Mountain Cabaret in the basement of the old Kress building (301 19th St. North, downtown). Here’s what RMTC has to say about it

“Bringing you the best of RMTC’s original holiday productions, Simple Gifts pays tribute to past classics, highlights new performances and combines our greatest musical moments into one delightful treat! Enjoy your favorite holiday hits in this cheerful celebration that is sure to spread the humor and heart of the season. Join us an hour before each Friday and Saturday performance for pre-show music by the Youth Programs, a cash bar and yummy Cabaret snacks.”

Holiday bonus: Santa will make an appearance before the Saturday and Sunday shows to visit with young guests. Tickets are $30. You can catch the show through Dec. 16. Thursday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m./Sunday matinee, 2:00 p.m.

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Got plans this weekend? 11.2 – 11.4

If you’re like me, you’re ready to get on with the weekend. So this will be short and brief with lots of links.

Tonight, it’s all about the art, or at least art galleries. Bare Hands Gallery is celebrating its 5th Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Festival tonight. On their website, scroll down to see the festival lineup that includes children’s craft time and live music. The event is free but they’d like to see a donation of $10. You can find the gallery at 109 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. South.

And we’ve heard from very reliable sources that there’s some impressive art hanging at Nordys Gallery. The opening reception for SCAD alum Megan Kimber is tonight from 6 – 9 p.m. Great thing about art is – if you’re just looking – it doesn’t cost anything to expand your mind. You can also learn some more about the plans that the gallery has in M. Blue Horn’s most recent review.

Celebrating nature, open spaces and eco-ideas through art and design” is the theme of the Moss Rock Festival. It’s two days of food, music, art and kid’s activities at that groovy new Hoover subdivision you’ve been curious about. Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event at The Preserve in Hoover is free and even has a free shuttle from Regions Park (formerly the Hoover Met).

I know I don’t have everything listed, so if there’s something else, comment down below.

Newkirk is 2007 UAB Visiting Artist, lectures Sept. 27

Kori NewkirkKori Newkirk has been announced as the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Art and Art History’s 2007 Jack Drake Visiting Artist in a recent press release. The Bronx, NY native will deliver a lecture as part of his five-day visit to the university’s Southside campus. It will take place at 6 p.m. on September 27; it’s free and open to the public.

Click here for directions courtesy of our calendar.

Newkirk makes “multimedia paintings, sculptural installations and photographs that explore the formal properties of materials, the politics of identity and the artist’s personal history” according to the release. He’s known for using pomade and plastic pony beads, both used to style black hair, as well as for his use the color white, with its connotations of race and pristine environments.

Click here to learn more about work by Newkirk that was included in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s 2006 Biennial, including hearing from the artist himself via podcast.

He now lives in Los Angeles, having received his bachelor of fine arts degree from the School of Art Institute of Chicago and his master of fine arts degree as a Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California at Irvine.

For more information, call the department at 205-934-4941.

There’s always time to vote for your favorite bar!

It’s been years since The Garage made it onto GQ’s list of “The World’s Best Places To Fly To”. Now, they and three other local bars are preparing for a similar fate at the hands of Esquire magazine as they vie to be voted one of the Best Bars in America for 2007:

Click on any of the links above, slide the rating meter to 100% and make your voice heard! Visit the complete list to view the current rankings.

Editor’s note: modified from original post on Musings on Birmingham, 8.2.2007

By the Sea, by the Beautiful Sea

Sea Shanties posterWouldn’t a nice evening by the sea feel nice in these 100+ temperatures? While we can’t bring the Gulf any closer, we can enjoy Sea Shanties for the American South, an evening of readings and musical performances at Rojo tonight, August 15, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The event features Chicago musical duo Cup ‘n String, Chicago writer C.T. Ballentine, Birmingham author (and Lemon Puppy editor) Michael Tesney, Birmingham-based novelist and THE2NDHAND co-editor Todd Dills, and Susannah Felts, another local writer whose first novel debuts in May 2008. For details visit THE2NDHAND events page.

An “unseen” side of Spider Martin’s work

Photo courtesy of UAB Visual Arts Gallery - used with permissionSpider Martin’s Unseen Sixties reveals a side of the nationally known photographer that many didn’t know existed. Best known for his Civil Rights era photographs, Martin was a prolific photographer with an extensive and varied portfolio. In addition to his freelance work with McCall’s and other national magazines (some of which is featured in the current show), Martin also spent time working at both The Birmingham News and Birmingham Magazine as a contributing photographer.

It was during Martin’s time as a photojournalist for The Birmingham News that he took his now famous photographs of events taking place during the civil rights movement. Weaving in and out of the crowd, Martin captured the faces and events of that turbulent period with skill and artistry. Many of the images were sent out on the wire, better received in other states than they were in his home city. Martin later became a freelancer, doing commercial photography for McCall’s, Women’s Wear Daily and even Playboy.

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