BBC to Beam Country Boy Eddy to the World

Ringing a cowbell, playing a fiddle, and braying his famous “mule call,” Country Boy Eddy (aka Eddy Burns) was more reliable than a barnyard rooster as his daily 5 a.m. television show woke up households across the Southeast. For some WBRC Channel 6 viewers, the day couldn’t begin without coffee and the purest country music ever heard. For others, it was the perfect way to end an all-nighter.

Sunrise was never the same after “The Country Boy Eddy Show” was canceled in 1994. Burns was as proficient doing advertisements and delivering one-liners as he was strumming a guitar while reading funeral announcements. He advertised everything from mobile homes to Eagle Seven Rat Bait (“If you love your rats, neighbors, don’t give ‘em this stuff, ’cause it kills the ol’ rat dead!”). He continually poked fun at his regular cast of sidekicks with a devious grin. While interviewing a chimney sweep who had arrived at the television station to plug his expertise at “reaming out chimneys,” Country Boy turned to one of his ever-revolving cohosts and asked, “Bobby T, you ever been reamed out?”

In the mid-1960s, a blond hairdresser named Wynette Pugh, barely out of her teens, shyly walked into WBRC studios and asked Burns for an audition. “She looked over at me after she finished that song and asked, ‘Do you think I’m good enough to be on your show?’” Burns laughed and said, “Yeah, you can be on anytime you want to.” Pugh became a regular, eventually moving to Nashville and changing her name to Tammy Wynette.

The British Broadcasting Corporation recently paid Burns a visit at Fox 6 studios to interview him for a BBC special on Wynette. The program is scheduled to air in January 2003. “They wanted to see the studio we performed in. They wanted to do a little story about it,” said Burns, who added that he had never been to Britain, nor had he ever seen any BBC programming.

These days, Burns still makes occasional commercials and performs at churches, nursing homes, restaurants, and mobile home centers. “One guy up in Cullman pays me $500 to come sit on the porch with my guitar and greet people when they come in to buy a mobile home. I say, ‘Come on in folks!’ and give ‘em a mule call and a cowbell ring. We sell the heck out of ‘em!”

City Hall — A Political Education

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A Political Education

At the June 11 council meeting, as Mayor Kincaid ignored her and studied the material before him, Councilor Carol Reynolds offered apologies to District Two constituents and fellow councilors for the controversy surrounding her attempt to cut a deal with the Mayor. Weeks earlier, Reynolds had offered to swap her vote in exchange for an appointment to the Birmingham Airport Authority Board. The vote would have been to approve an ordinance that would raise the amount the Mayor could spend without approval from the Council to $50,000. At the June 4 council meeting, Reynolds made a motion to delay the ordinance because the council had not yet finalized the Fiscal Year 2002-2003 budget. After that meeting, Kincaid played a voice-mail recording that Reynolds had left for him weeks earlier in which she offered the trade. The rift made headlines the following day.

At the June 11 meeting, Reynolds expressed regret that the issue had become public and worried about the public misreading her “lobbying” efforts. “Lobby [sic] has been acceptable procedure. . . . I just failed the course, I guess,” said Reynolds. The councilor said that the representative of the council’s Transportation and Communication Committee has traditionally served on the board. She added that it is a nonpaying position for which she is qualified, due to her work to save homes in East Lake Park from airport expansion plans. Asking forgiveness from fellow councilors, Reynolds pledged, “I will serve this city. I will serve this mayor or any other mayor while I’m here.” Reynolds concluded, “I’m a rookie, I’m not a politician. I don’t understand that you don’t have friends anymore when you do this. And I don’t want to come out cynical at the end of my next three and a half years, and I’m going to work really hard not to become a cynical person. I love you Birmingham.”

Expressing surprise at the fall-out from the controversy, Councilor Roderick Royal said he voted for the delay because the proposed ordinance increased the Mayor’s spending limit from $10,000 to $50,000 without a cap (an unlimited number of contracts, in other words). Royal emphasized that he was not using Reynolds’ rationale for delaying the measure. “I make my own decisions,” said Royal. “Let’s move this city forward and drop the petty politics, no matter what.” The councilor added, “I’m sorry that Ms. Reynolds’ feels that her trust, somehow or another, was violated. . . . I think I would have felt the same way. But unlike Ms. Reynolds, I certainly would have dealt with it.”

Disturbed that decisions are being made at City Hall that are not beneficial to communities, Councilor Gwen Sykes balked at excusing controversial civic involvement as simply political. “It’s just not politics. We have a responsibility to treat one another right. And we can name it anything that we want to name it.” As usual, her line of reasoning is difficult to follow. Criticizing those who behave as if they have no life outside the political ring, Sykes said, “We act like we don’t have nothing else or nowhere to go once this life is over with. And doing the work and the business of this city should not be worth losing our lives!” She then profusely thanked the Birmingham Airport Authority for hosting valedictorians and salutatorians at a recent luncheon. In her next breath, though, she condemned the blight and devastation that has resulted from airport expansion. Sykes urged the airport to be more sensitive to the needs of its surrounding neighborhoods.

Councilor Elias Hendricks thanked Sykes for addressing the necessity for cooperation with the airport and offered Reynolds his support. “It would be a heck of a lot easier if we had a sitting council member on the board. It would really facilitate our work getting done, and we have a lot of work to do out there.” Hendrick’s wife presently serves on the Airport Authority Board.

After the July 11 council meeting, Mayor Kincaid at first refused comment on the matter, but did offer a final word: “The Council was led to believe that there were genuine concerns for the budgeting process as to why a request to put this off for six weeks was requested and passed. My intent solely was to show that there were ulterior motives to that, not the sanguine motives of checking with the budget.” Kincaid added that the council “backhandedly admitted that they had been misled as to the reasons for [the delay].”

As for Reynolds’ response to Kincaid’s assessment that councilors were misled, her reply was direct. “He can’t speak for the whole council,” said Reynolds, adding that Kincaid had been discussing the Airport Authority Board appointment with her since she took office in November 2001. &

George Jones

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George Jones

By Ed Reynolds

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Having relinquished his reputation for being too drunk to appear on stage, George Jones had gotten as predictable as April rain over the past 20 years. However, Jones’ performance at Oak Mountain May 25 was anything but predictable. Though still relegating his best hits to medley-status, the 70-year-old singer abandoned his uptight sing-and-get-the-hell-off-the-stage philosophy for a more relaxed approach, as though he were entertaining at a backyard barbecue. Stylishly attired in white boots and a western-stitched powder blue suit, Jones bears a striking resemblance to the late Charlie Rich. His silver hair remains considerably long, meticulously brushed into place, as if manicured rather than sprayed.

In the past, Jones’ voice has been as precise as Pavarotti’s. The classic nasal whine and resonating bottom tones are strong as ever, but on this night, Jones struggled with high notes, often singing flat through entire phrases. Instead of detracting, the loss of vocal control added an intriguing accessible element that complemented the singer’s admittedly simple approach to performing: “We don’t need anybody flyin’ around on a rope. We’re just a plain, ol’ country music show.”

A plain, ol’ country music show, indeed. Before Jones came on stage, a video screen behind the band’s instruments hawked a recent George Jones recording, urging fans to simply raise their hands and the latest CD would be delivered to their seats for 10 bucks. During the show Jones bantered with the crowd, bemoaning the current state of country music, “Ya’ll notice that they don’t write songs about drinkin’ and cheatin’ any more?” he asked at one point. The crowd vocally shared his dismay. Moments later, a young, obviously intoxicated fan leaped onto the stage to hug Jones and tell the singer how much he loved him. Jones replied, “Well. I love you, too, son.” As security personnel dragged the besotted fellow from the stage, Jones asked them to take it easy on the kid. “He’s a good boy. I remember those days,” he laughed.

Proudly admitting that he was drinking “spring water, though I don’t know how much spring it has in it,” Jones acknowledged several birthdays in the audience. With surreal abandon, he sang “Happy Birthday” to a couple of people instead of squeezing all the names into one version. An American flag was brought out toward the show’s conclusion, as Jones introduced a husband and wife duo that had opened the concert. “They’re gonna sing ‘God Bless the USA’ by Lee Greenwood or Ray Stevens or whatever his name is,” Jones said flippantly. “I get ‘em mixed up. All I know is, one’s funny and the other one isn’t.”

Dog Day Afternoons

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Dog Day Afternoons

By Ed Reynolds

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	A crowd gathers for the opening day at one of the first Dairy Queens. This year, DQ celebrates 62 years of Dilly Bars and dip cones.

Every time the mercury hovered near the 100-degree mark on the thermometer outside the kitchen window, a three-block trek to Dairy Queen to relieve the relentless heat was our summer ritual. Life in Selma was pretty uneventful, so the Dairy Queen was our Taj Mahal — an oasis that added a flurry of exhilaration to pointless afternoons. Times were different then, and during the 1960s, there weren’t too many black folks venturing into white territory for an ice cream cone. The serving window marked “Colored Only” was consequently rarely occupied, which only fueled my impatience as an eight-year-old waiting in line with a dozen other white people.

Dairy Queen ice cream was more fun to eat than “store-bought” because it was much softer; no bending of stainless steel spoons (or breaking your mom’s antique silver) while attempting to scoop from a carton, or crumbling a cone while trying to load it with supermarket ice cream. DQ vanilla or chocolate dispensed into a cone or Dixie Cup and crowned with a trademark curly-cue (often resembling a pig’s tail) made long walks on hot days worthwhile. Even more amazing than the soft texture was the hard shell created when the cone was dipped into chocolate. (This treat was eventually put on a stick and called a Dilly Bar.) The menu at the Dairy Queen was too good to be true: hot fudge sundaes, peanut butter parfaits, banana splits, foot-long hot dogs laden with an avalanche of onions and kraut, and a strange, brain-freezing drink called a slush.

In 1940, J.F. “Grandpa” McCullough introduced soft serve ice milk in his fast-food restaurant in Joliet, Illinois, a dairy joint that he guaranteed would be the “queen of the dairy business.” When the United States entered World War II, there were 10 Dairy Queens in the country. By war’s end there were 100, which grew to 2,600 a decade later. Today, there are 5,900 restaurants worldwide.

Everybody in Selma, including our dog Timothy, swore by Dairy Queen ice cream. It was common for Timothy to climb the backyard’s four-foot chain link fence during summer’s hottest days and disappear for the afternoon, though we usually knew where to find him: three blocks away, lounging around the cement tables outside the Dairy Queen, watching people eat ice cream with the hope that someone would buy him a cone. Sometimes they did, and Timothy didn’t even care if it came from the counter marked “Colored Only.”

Once Upon a Bargain

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Once Upon a Bargain

By Ed Reynolds

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Najjar’s Discount Bargain Center was a landmark Birmingham oddity for 41 years. Originally located on 20th Street on Southside before UAB expansion forced a move downtown, the store remained a stubborn curiosity over the next 23 years, selling “out-dated but new” merchandise from as far back as the 1950s. The proprietor, a balding older man of few words, appropriately referred to his odd-ball inventory as “an old-fashioned general store.”

Mr. Najjar passed away three months ago at age 95. The bargain store stands empty now, its high ceiling and hardwood floors full of nothing but dust. In its day, however, Najjar’s Discount Bargain Center was a time-traveler’s dream and a place where bargain-hunters went to find items they forgot they needed: Sylvania Blue Dot flash bulbs, disco-style leisure suits with original price tags, a 98-cent set of stainless steel measuring spoons, Lloyd Bridges “Seahunt” snorkels, zodiac medallions, and unbreakable Hercules pocket combs (guaranteed for life) that sold for 25 cents apiece. If it was your lucky day, he might sell the entire box of black combs for a quarter. Najjar never used a calculator; instead he licked a pencil as he tallied purchases on paper.

The son of a Lebanese immigrant peddler, Najjar dropped out of school after the third grade to work in his father’s store in Marietta, Georgia, and the “working man” ethic came to define his life. Najjar diligently labored for his father until the morning he picked up a newspaper while returning from his honeymoon to read that downtown Marietta and the family store had burned to the ground. “They didn’t believe in insurance,” remembers Najjar’s son, retired Circuit Judge Charles Najjar. “From relatively successful people, [suddenly] they were broke again.”

Najjar sought any work available. After establishing a successful ice cream sales route in rural north Georgia, he moved to Birmingham, where he became president of the 7-Up Bottling Company. He eventually opened a successful bargain store in Fairfield, which he sold before moving to downtown Birmingham. “He ran his store literally until he died . . . ate at John’s [Restaurant] everyday,” says his son. “He worked awfully hard. They were not people of means, but they were people of discipline.”

City Hall — Bills Due

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Bills Due

It was bound to happen. Council President Lee Loder, whose patience with his Council colleagues has been tested in recent months, blew his top at Mayor Bernard Kincaid during the May 14 City Council meeting. At issue was the city’s failure to pay a $7,100 bill for the Council’s inauguration reception held at the Harbert Center in November 2001. The unpaid expense has accumulated late fees and includes a $672 charge for wine, which Loder and his fellow councilors claim to know nothing about. Loder angrily lashed out at Kincaid for keeping the Council in the dark regarding reasons for nonpayment. The Mayor snarled right back. And before everyone was through arguing about the correct procedure to finance parties, Operation New Birmingham (ONB) was characterized as a “money-laundering” system.

Kincaid said the city didn’t receive the bill until February, and has no idea when it initially appeared in the Finance Department. According to the Mayor-Council Act, the Finance Department must certify that the money is available to cover the expense. Authorization for the Harbert reception was made by recently departed Council Administrator Jarvis Patton when the former Council was in office. Ironically, only one of the incumbents was re-elected. [The reception was originally scheduled as a private event, but the newly elected Council made it a public affair after public outcry.] Patton was told a purchase order was needed, said Kincaid, but the Council administrator ignored correct procedure. Denying that his office had been sitting on the bill to avoid paying for the event, Kincaid angrily denounced the insinuation that the Mayor’s office was “derelict” in duty.Food cannot be paid for with city funds unless the function is deemed to be for a public purpose. The inauguration reception did not meet that criteria, according to the city’s Law Department. “Liquor cannot be paid for under any circumstance,” added Kincaid. “The liquor was problematic.”

Loder argued that the event was a public function and therefore eligible for city funds. “I don’t know what the problem is,” said Loder. “I haven’t received a response — a formal response — at all over the last three months as to what the problem is with this event. And that’s a problem.” When asked by Loder when he expected to inform the Council that the bill was not payable by the city, Kincaid said his office has been trying for the past four months to find a way to cover the outstanding debt. The Mayor said that the corporate community could cover the expense.

Addressing the issue, Council Attorney J. Richmond Pearson said, “It is the most foolish thing in the world for you to take money from a private company, or a public utility, that comes before you for decisions,” warned Pearson. “That’s just plain common sense. You don’t even have to have lunch at law school to know that.” Using an example, Pearson pointed out that Alabama Power Company is on the council agenda seeking an easement on city land, though it was not stated that Alabama Power would be one of the corporations asked to pay off the reception expense.

“Investitures and inaugural festivals that include citizens, as well as public officials, is [sic] an extension of public business,” Pearson said, adding that, however remote, those benefiting from city decisions are in potential conflict if they contribute money, which should be avoided lest any “appearance of evil” be construed. City funds should cover inaugural events, with direct payment to “those vendors who rendered service, and not through any conduit,” continued Pearson. “And I mean by that, don’t send it through Operation New Birmingham, send it directly where it is intended to go.” “That’s what some of your legislators have done,” said Pearson. “There’s always the avenue of campaign funds being utilized to pay expenses of the nature referred to here. . . . All this other esoteric nonsense I’ve heard doesn’t make sense.”

Councilor Joel Montgomery noted that the Council had previously followed the advice of Patton regarding the reception. Montgomery suggested that perhaps Patton, who was Council administrator for over 20 years — and signed the original contract for the event — should foot the party bill. Montgomery added that he has refused many times to approve payment through the city custodial fund at ONB. He agreed with Pearson that the city is using ONB as a conduit to pay for food and other activities.

“You’re taking your citizens as fools, the same thing racketeers do,” said Pearson, unafraid to speak his mind. “You’re laundering money. It’s tainted all the way! If you owe somebody, pay ‘em direct. Don’t send it through the Devil!”

Commending the Commenders

Never one to miss an opportunity to laud the city for anything, the Birmingham City Council saluted the Vonetta Flowers Planning Day Committee. That’s right, the Council passed a resolution at the May 7 council meeting recognizing those who organized the city’s salute to Flowers in honor of her Olympic Gold Medal as a member of the two-women bobsled team. Each member of the group received a certificate and told the Council how moved they were to be able to honor the Olympian. Council President Loder calls the group a “dream volunteer team.” As the resolution’s sponsor, Councilor Bert Miller posed for photographs with the Planning Committee members and led a round of applause for Flowers because she was named “one of the most fiftiest most beautiful people in the world [sic]” by People magazine.
Auto Auction Prompts Questions

“Remember the day, folks . . . because it’s all going to come out in the wash,” Councilor Montgomery warned. The “day” in reference is the City Council’s approval of a redevelopment agreement with Serra Automotive. Birmingham will spend nearly $3 million to purchase land and make infrastructure improvements that will keep all Serra dealerships in the city for the next decade. The city expects to reap $8 million in tax revenues.Montgomery voted with other councilors several weeks earlier to endorse the plan, but when the May 28 vote to finalize the deal came up, the councilor protested vehemently. Montgomery’s change of heart was prompted by radio ads announcing that Serra Toyota was holding a used vehicle auction in Trussville. “Why would you be selling those automobiles there the weekend before you were fixing to enter into an agreement with the city of Birmingham to do business exclusively in the city of Birmingham?” Montgomery said after the meeting. “That raises the question in my mind as to where they think the true market is for their being able to sell the vehicles.”

Serra attorney Tom Baddley told the Council that the automobile dealer was holding auctions outside Birmingham because there was no available space near the dealership. Serra needs an area large enough to park 150 to 200 vehicles, according to Baddley, who said that auctions were also conducted in Irondale. Sales tax revenue goes to the municipality where the vehicle is delivered, according to city officials.

“If you want to do business in the city of Birmingham, we’ve got lots of parking lots,” Montgomery said to the Serra attorney. “What good is that [$8 million in projected revenues] gonna do us five years from now if they’re gone and we’ve got blank land sitting out there? We need to start trying to have businesses come to the city of Birmingham because they wanna be in the city of Birmingham . . . not because we’re having to pay them to stay here.”

Councilor Roderick Royal shared Montgomery’s concerns. “We want 100 percent of the revenues generated,” said Royal, who would like to see Serra hold auctions at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Huffman after it closes [a new Wal-Mart SuperCenter is currently scheduled for East Lake]. Serra attorney Baddley said that it was his understanding that an effort was being made to develop potential auction space in eastern Birmingham. “If [available area] is there and closer, Toyota would love to have their auctions in the city of Birmingham,” said Baddley, who added that automobile manufacturers approve auction sites. The attorney noted that the annexation agreement had not been signed, and that Serra was not yet in the city.

Should Serra violate the contract in an attempt to relocate, the city would be forced to go to court to recoup the $2.5 million it is paying the auto dealer. City attorneys said that the dealer’s right to conduct auctions outside the city could depend on how often they took place. &

Buddy Miller

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By Ed Reynolds

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	Buddy and Julie Miller

Buddy and Julie Miller have been harmonizing for 20 years with a passion not heard in country music since the heyday of A.P. and Maybelle Carter. Julie’s little-girl voice contrasts with husband Buddy’s sandpaper howl in an eerie yet soothing style that brings to mind the grand duets of Porter Waggoner and Dolly Parton; Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty; and George Jones and Tammy Wynette. As a guitarist Buddy Miller is widely considered a musical wizard, his unique “less is more” style earning him the role of lead guitarist and bandleader for Emmylou Harris as well as contributions to Lucinda Williams’ classic album Car Wheels On a Gravel Road. The couple recently released their first “official” recording under the family name, “Buddy and Julie Miller,” which was up against the likes of Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, and Gillian Welch for best contemporary folk album.

Black & White: Where did you and Julie meet?

Buddy Miller: In Austin. She’s from there, and I auditioned for a band that she was the chick singer in. In trying to be discriminating, she told them not to hire me. They hired me anyway, and we became pals after that.

B&W: Did she give a reason for not wanting you in the band?

Miller: She was a teenager and she wanted to appear like she had good taste. So she just said, “No, he’s no good.” But they hired me anyway.

B&W: I was impressed to see that Little Jimmy Scott had recorded one of your songs.

Miller: Yeah, one of Julie’s songs. In Nashville, a lot of the things that get recorded are by Nashville artists, and we’ll hear about it in advance. People that have our songs will be real excited and call us up and say, “Hey man, so-and-so’s cutting this song.” So I was on a gig out in L.A. with Emmylou and somebody said, “Hey, Little Jimmy Scott cut Julie’s song ‘All My Tears,’” and I just looked at him and said, “Nah, you must be wrong.” And later on at the gig, the guy went out and bought the record and brought it to me, and I flipped. It was such a cool version of the song. I took a red-eye home, and got back at seven in the morning. Julie was still asleep, and I just put it on the record player in the bedroom, and she didn’t even recognize her song until about a minute into it.

B&W: Is there anyone who you would like to hear record one of your songs?

Miller: It sounds funny to say it ’cause he’s so fashionable, but we’ve always been such huge Ralph Stanley fans. That was one of the things that we had in common when we met way back when. Julie actually wrote that song “All My Tears” with Ralph in mind. And we did get to sing it to him on this last “Down From the Mountain” tour back in his dressing room. We were in Emmylou’s band for that whole tour.

B&W: Has the success of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Down From the Mountain been a boost to your career?

Miller: I don’t think so. Things were going OK before that kicked into high gear, and they’re going OK now. It probably is, and I just don’t know it. I think it’s helping everything a little bit. If people hear good music, I think that can only be a good thing. I don’t know if it’s changed country radio. When I’m flipping television channels — I don’t watch that CMT thing — I see the little 15-year-old video disc jockeys talking about bluegrass every once in awhile.

B&W: Nashville has a pretty vibrant scene that’s apart from the typical country stars.

Miller: Yeah, we live right down the street from all that. We’re real close to Music Row. We’re so disconnected from that. There’s such a great community of singer/songwriters and folks that are so like-minded with us. It’s a great town; there’s so much going on.

B&W: Do you and Julie have similar tastes in what you listen to?

Miller: It’s funny. Julie can write a great country song and sing great. But she just wants to rock if left to her own devices. Whenever she comes down into our music room when we’re working, she wants me to put on Social Distortion. So, we kind of have our little feuds, but I love singing with her.

B&W: I heard someone say that you can play guitar every bit as well as Richard Thompson, but you’re funky.

Miller: [Laughs] Well, I wish I could play like Richard Thompson. He’s just unbelievable. I did get to meet him once, but I’m sure he wouldn’t remember. We’re huge fans of his songs and his guitar playing. I love guitar players who go out on a limb and don’t even think about it. It’s just what they do. They get out there and if they get back, great. If not, great. Richard Thompson, Daniel Lanois. Dave Rawlings, I think, might be my favorite guitar player. He plays with Gillian Welch.

B&W: Ever see George Jones and Tammy Wynette perform together?

Miller: Yes. The night I saw them, they closed the show with “The Ceremony” [a 1970s hit where George and Tammy basically sing wedding vows to one another], and when he got to the line about “I’ll take this woman” he pointed to a girl in the front row. When I got in my car to drive back home, the news came on and said, “Tammy Wynette filed for divorce today.” [Laughs] It must have been 1972 or 1973 and they still had the bus that had “Mr. and Mrs. Country Music” on the side.

B&W: You’ve done the Grand Ole Opry with Emmylou?

Miller: Yeah, a couple of times. I did it at the Ryman and did it at the new Opry. It was a real thrill. I’m a big Porter Waggoner fan. He was so far ahead of his time. When I went with Emmylou to play the Opry, I was really sick. I told her, “I’ve never asked anything of you, but I want to meet Porter Waggoner.” But I was too sick and I think she spaced out. She was having a gig and her drummer kinda disappeared. You know, the Opry is a tightly run ship, and she has her 10 minutes or whatever on stage. When it’s time, you’re on stage and playing, whether you’re there or not. She’s introduced and we’re up there, and we’ve got no drummer. She was a little upset at him after that. Well, actually, she wasn’t. She’s very forgiving, but she had to tell a joke on stage while [the drummer] was chitchatting with Grandpa Jones at the Coke machine. &

Buddy and Julie Miller perform on the Blockbuster Stage on Saturday, May 18, at 6:35 p.m

Vida Blue Winds Up at Rickwood

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Vida Blue Winds Up at Rickwood

By Ed Reynolds

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Snap on your bow ties and call in sick to work, because former Oakland A’s pitcher Vida Blue will toss out the first pitch for this year’s Rickwood Classic on April 25. The annual game, played at Rickwood Field, features the Birmingham Barons, decked out in vintage 1928 uniforms, battling it out with the Chattanooga Lookouts.

Vida Blue compiled a 10-3 record during a 1969 tour of Double-A baseball duty in Birmingham. Two years later, he was in Oakland, striking out 301 batters as he chalked up an ERA of 1.82 to win the Cy Young award and MVP. (His salary that year was $14,700.)

With an unforgettable moniker and a blistering pitching delivery, Blue was the perfect fit for the Oakland A’s. Sporting white shoes, sunshine-yellow uniforms, and long-haired pitchers with names like Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers, the A’s of the early 1970s were a powerhouse club years ahead of other major leaguers in terms of style. Owner Charlie Finley’s insatiable addiction to garish flamboyance established a collection of personalities never before encountered on a baseball diamond. The A’s were poster boys for irreverence, bringing to baseball what Joe Namath had brought to the American Football League a few years earlier. Blue was one of the aces on the rotating wrecking crew that debilitated hitters’ efforts during the Oakland A’s string of World Series titles from 1972 to 1974. A left-handed flame-thrower, Blue dazzled the baseball world in 1971 with his powerful wind-up as he pitched eight shut-outs en route to a 24-8 record. He threw a no-hitter against the Twins that year; a walk to Harmon Killebrew was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect game. Blue was also the first pitcher to start for each league in the All-Star Game.

Blue had an early run-in with Finley for refusing to comply with the owner’s request that he change his first name to “True.” Some of Finley’s affection for gaudy promotion must have rubbed off on Blue, however. The pitcher staged his wedding in Candlestick Park in 1989 (he spent the end of his career as a San Francisco Giant) before 50,000 spectators to celebrate Fan Appreciation Day. Former baseball great Orlando Cepeda gave away the bride and Giants’ legend Willie McCovey was best man.

For more on Vida Blue see interview, link above

City Hall — Liability on parade

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City Hall

By Ed Reynolds

Liability on parade

With one week to go before the Birmingham School Board election, Councilor Gwen Sykes is eerily close to playing a vote-solicitation card prompted by the March 22 killing of 15-year-old April Lynn Jamerson at Bessie Estell Park. Lurking in the background is fear from the city’s Law Department regarding the ever-dreaded word liability.

Sykes proposed a resolution at the April 2 Birmingham City Council meeting to rename the Friday before spring break “April Lynn Jamerson Senior Future Day.” That day has traditionally been known as “skip day,” when high school students play hooky without fear of school administrators taking disciplinary action. Present at today’s name-change proposal is Jamerson’s mother, Shunda Milhouse, who noted that officials had “promised” recognition of a day remembering her daughter’s death. Noting that “there is no privacy when it comes to privacy,” Milhouse urged parents to inspect bedrooms and “observe what’s going on in your child’s room, because a lot of these males, they are carrying guns.” Milhouse called for adult supervision of future student gatherings, and Sykes’ resolution endorses police patrol for any events next spring honoring Jamerson. Some councilors are hesitant to recognize the skip day.

Acknowledging that he understood “where we want to go, at least, in trying to honor the young lady who was unfortunately killed by another one of our children,” Councilor Roderick Royal protested: “Skip day has never been sanctioned by the school system.” Royal argued that school officials’ authority is being usurped as to “what days will be school days, and which days will not.” Councilor Bert Miller agreed, and noted that police involvement might make the city responsible for any problems that arise. “If we sanction this day, we are giving the kids permission to skip school. And also, if the city is patrolling with police officers, the city would be held liable if something was to happen again.” The ears of Council President Loder, an attorney by trade, perk up at mention of the word liable. Loder told Shunda Milhouse that he was hesitant to “draw [her] into this,” and asked if she would approve the Council delaying the renaming until all questions could be addressed. The mother replied that was fine as long as her daughter’s death was not “swept up under the rug.”

Councilor Sykes immediately went on the defensive as she attempted to clear the air, explaining that the resolution was never intended to allow a skip day. Sykes protested, “Skip day has never been really authorized, but I’m in the system. And I know, for some reason or another, there hasn’t been what it takes in order to make sure that this didn’t happen!” The councilor’s voice began to rise in anger. “There are people who knew that this was going on, because it’s been going on for years. We’re not authorizing the children to skip on this day. We’re saying that they will no longer skip on this day! And we’re saying the Board of Education had to put some teeth into what they’re doing.” Sykes added that teachers need to contact parents when children are not attending school. “There are some things the Board of Education is going to have to do!” thundered Sykes, assistant principal at Green Acres Middle School and head of the Council’s Education Committee. Sykes led a teacher walk-out a year ago protesting a salary raise given by the Board to current superintendent Johnny Brown. Her clashes with the Board have been front-page news, and her council administrative assistant, Gwen Webb, is running for the Board in the April 9 election.

Councilor Royal was “more than greatly disturbed” to hear Sykes say that those in the school system “would know and tacitly approve of students being out of school.”

An audible sigh emerged from the direction of City Attorney Tamara Johnson as a look of horror crossed her face. “This is a very emotional situation,” said Johnson. “However, there may be legal ramifications in some of the things that people are saying. To know that something takes place does not translate into a ‘tacit approval’ of something taking place. Nor does it translate into an obligation to perform some kind of duty or to have some kind of responsibility.” Johnson warned against making a public record of comments “about an independent board such as the School Board and its operations” since the Council does not know the facts in the case.

Sykes immediately changed her tone after Johnson spoke. “By no mean [sic] did we mean to imply that [school officials had been responsible],” said Sykes. “Just based on what we’ve been hearing for a long time, that it’s been something that’s been going on traditionally.”

Montgomery fulfills pledge to slow airport expansion

While campaigning for election to the City Council, Councilor Joel Montgomery said he was “hounded” to stop airport expansion, and promised “to do everything in my power to stop the expansion of the Birmingham Airport.” After extensive research, Montgomery found documentation that East Lake Park was dedicated in 1931 and certified by City Clerk Paula Smith in 1999. If a park has been dedicated with proper notification, no use other than that relating to park activity can be made of the property in question without a vote of the public. An ordinance of permanent operation must be published in a paper of record before becoming law.

Montgomery is convinced that expansion of parallel runways through East Lake Park will not be allowed. “I don’t see a problem with the documents presented. I attached the legal description, and I also attached the [land] survey. That means the park’s dedicated.” Montgomery said he did not know if proper notification in a paper of record had been given. “If it was not put in the paper, people have been going to the park for how many years? They all know it’s a park,” surmised Montgomery. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s dedicated.” &

Roll Away the Stone

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Roll Away the Stone

By Ed Reynolds

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This Easter morning, in addition to chocolate bunnies and brightly colored candy eggs, some children will awaken to their very first Easter Tomb Basket.

“I believe it was an inspiration of God that gave me the idea,” says Randy Jordan, creator of the “tomb baskets” and owner of Cornerstone Novelties, a business he runs with his wife, Virginia, in Thorsby, Alabama. After becoming a Christian 15 years ago, Jordan started a building company called Cornerstone Construction; the name was derived from Biblical teachings stating that “Jesus is the chief cornerstone.” About three years ago, Jordan’s novelty business began selling the plastic replicas of Jesus’ tomb. Baskets come in aqua, pink, or tan, and are filled with toys, candy, traditional plastic Easter grass, and a selection of Scriptures relating Jesus’ birth, crucifixion, and ascension to Heaven. There’s even a tiny bendable figure with “Jesus Loves You” imprinted on its torso.

Jordan says he did not enter the novelty business for the money; rather, he seeks to teach children the real meaning of Easter. While future plans might include other religious novelties, Jordan admits that it is not up to him; he’s simply waiting on word from the real Creator. “God knows when I’ll be able to do something else. God will inspire,” he says. And who knows? One day Easter tombs may be as popular as Nativity scenes. The tomb basket is available at www.cornerstonenovelties.com or by calling 888-770-1277.