Category Archives: Birmingham

City Council Approves Sears Building Purchase

June 30, 2005

On June 14, the Birmingham City Council voted to spend $1.525 million to purchase the former Sears building in downtown Birmingham. Joel Montgomery was the only councilor to vote against the transaction. The dilapidated building, owned by Barber Properties, has been appraised at $3.05 million. The Birmingham Entrepreneurial Center, currently housed in the former Tillman-Levinson building, will pay the remainder of the purchase price. The Entrepreneurial Center will combine with UAB’s Office for the Advancement of Developing Industries [OADI] to move into the Sears structure after $12 million in renovations have been completed.

UAB has decided to close OADI, currently located in Oxmoor Valley. OADI Executive Director and Entrepreneurial Center President Susan Matlock said it has been difficult trying to attract to Oxmoor Valley any emerging businesses that result from technology commercialized by UAB. She added that UAB faculty affiliated with OADI had complained that the distance from campus to the Oxmoor location was a detriment to the process. Al Herbert of the Mayor’s office echoed Matlock’s observations about proximity, adding, “The tenants [at OADI] are displeased with the amount of travel time from the facility to downtown [Entrepreneurial Center].” OADI and the Entrepreneurial Center have been associated for approximately two decades.

Upon finalization of the transaction, the city will deed the purchased Sears property to the Entrepreneurial Center, according to guidelines stipulated in securing the $12 million loan. Part of the funding involves new market tax credits, which require that the Entrepreneurial Center spend all the funds by the end of the year following the one in which the money is borrowed. The city has the right to buy out the Entrepreneurial Center’s half of the initial $3.05-million purchase should the business incubator fail to secure the loan. If the Entrepreneurial Center sells the property to an unrelated third party, the city is entitled to recoup its investment plus 3 percent interest.

“I think $2.5 million to get 1,000 people to working is pretty good numbers.” —Councilor Carole Smitherman

Matlock said OADI and the Entrepreneurial Center have generated $1 billion in economic impact when applying economic multipliers, in addition to the revenue produced by industries in the business incubators. The “multipliers” reflect money turning over in the local economy, according to Matlock. Once the two incubators move into the Sears building, income of the expected 65 businesses that would be housed there is projected to be $334 million, with an additional $664 million when economic multipliers are factored in. Matlock said more than 1,200 are expected to be employed by the incubator. When asked how the new Entrepreneurial Center would be affected should businesses from OADI relocate elsewhere upon closure of the Oxmoor facility, Matlock said there have been 70 to 80 applicants per year for the business incubators over the past 20 years that the entities have been in operation. She did not feel that filling the new incubator should be a problem.

“I think $2.5 million to get 1,000 people to working is pretty good numbers,” said Councilor Carole Smitherman, who had been skeptical of the project during the June 6 finance and budget committee meeting. “If we’re going to capture the creative class and give them a place to work, to invent their ideas and make them work, I want to make sure that Birmingham is that place. What we are doing is fighting a battle every day to keep our young people in Birmingham.”

Councilor Roderick Royal questioned the wisdom of paying the fair market value for a property no one wants. (The Sears building has been an eyesore for well over a decade.) Royal, who supports the project, suggested, “I don’t think we ought to be paying for something, certainly at the appraisal price, that nobody else wants or has any use for at this time.” Councilor Joel Montgomery had asked for information from the city’s revenue department on June 10, regarding which graduates of the business incubators were paying property, sales, and occupational taxes to the city. As of June 20, Montgomery still had not received the information he requested. &

City Hall — Ready to Rumble

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By Ed Reynolds

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June 16, 2005

In lashing out at legislators who appear ready to change the makeup of the Birmingham Water Works Board, Mayor Bernard Kincaid may have kicked up more sand than rate-payers are prepared to swallow. Drawing lines in the regional sandbox that purchases water from the Birmingham system, Kincaid compared the plans of five Jefferson County state lawmakers to actions on par with “Jesse James.” The legislators—Jabbo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills; John Rogers, D-Birmingham; Eric Major, D-Fairfield; Jack Biddle, R-Gardendale; and Steve French, R-Mountain Brook—want to make the Water Works a regionally controlled entity. They insist that the board be expanded to include a more comprehensive representation of the area. Approximately 25 percent of the state uses Birmingham water.

The Mayor angrily dared surrounding municipalities to start their own systems if they didn’t want to purchase water from Birmingham. Apparently intent on taking jabs at every side, he then compared the contentious Water Works Board—whose outrageous salaries and unbridled rate increases have sparked outrage—to children. The Water Works Board voted unanimously on May 26 to increase rates by 6.5 percent, beginning July 1. Controversy has ensued, as the board claims rate increases are necessary because less water is being used. Several years ago, the board wanted to boost rates because too much water was consumed. Future rate increases are projected for January 2006 (8.75 percent) and January 2007 (7.75 percent).

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous to have two executives making $186,000 . . . Board members who are supposed to be providing public service are being paid for telephone meetings. Or to go and cut a ribbon and be paid. That’s ridiculous!” Kincaid thundered at a press conference following the June 7 City Council meeting. “You might have a sick child, and because you have a sick child, that’s of benefit to a lot of the community, you can’t have outsiders just coming in taking that child. And so you have to discipline the child, if it’s yours, to the extent that you can. The discipline is the tether that the City Council holds with respect to board appointments.” (Kincaid couldn’t resist taking a shot at the Council, either. Referring to the appointment process as “a circus,” he criticized them for not being able to get behind one candidate to put on the board.) The Mayor added, “You don’t go to the Galleria and tell them that you’re going to take over because you don’t like what they are charging. You might negotiate with the owners and try to see if you can get some concessions made on what’s being charged. But you don’t Jesse James the enterprise.”

“Anyone who thinks that they can take the Birmingham Water Works from the control of the city of Birmingham is sadly mistaken if they think they can do it without one heck of a fight,” Kincaid told councilors. “If the Galleria is based in Hoover and the majority of people that come and purchase from the Galleria live outside the city of Hoover, do you think it’s right all of a sudden for the Galleria to be divvied up among the people who shop there? The same thing pertains with the Water Works of the city of Birmingham. It’s ours! If individual entities outside of the city decide that they want water, and they don’t want to get it from Birmingham, they can start their own systems. But when they purchase from us, they do it because we have some of the best water in the country . . . . We are a provider. Individuals who get water from us are consumers. But it gives them no right for management, it give them no right for ownership. It’s ours.” As Kincaid concluded his call-to-arms, Councilor Carole Smitherman practically shouted, “Let’s get ready to rumble! Let’s get it on!”

From his bully pulpit, Kincaid may view himself as simply kicking sand back in the faces of local state legislators who dare to challenge Birmingham’s control of water. But if he’s not able to wrestle the Water Works into submission as a city department, as he tried several years ago, the Mayor may find his constituents choking to death when the suburbs start their own water system. With fewer rate-payers, Birmingham water may eventually become a little too expensive to drink.

Downtown Blight May Be Renovated

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Downtown Blight May Be Renovated

By Ed Reynolds

June 16, 2005

A downtown eyesore that has frayed relations between the city and developer George Barber might finally be resolved. At the June 6 meeting of the City Council’s finance and budget committee, Susan Matlock, executive director of UAB’s Office for the Advancement of Developing Industries [OADI] technology center and president of the Birmingham Entrepreneurial Center, presented plans to city officials. Under the proposal, the two entities would move to the long-abandoned Sears Building on First Avenue North. Barber Properties has reached an agreement to sell the property for $3.05 million, with the city and the Entrepreneurial Center splitting the cost evenly. The city has budgeted $1 million to the Entrepreneurial Center in the past five years. Matlock told city officials that consolidation of the two business incubators under one roof would increase efficiency. She added that the combined incubators would also be of benefit because as residential development continues to sprout in the downtown sector, new businesses will be attracted to the area. Up to 65 companies could potentially operate from the site.

The Entrepreneurial Center, located in the 100 block of 12th Street North, is sponsored by the city of Birmingham, Jefferson County, and private business. Both the Entrepreneurial Center and OADI, which is currently located in the Oxmoor Valley area, would relocate to the Sears property, which will require another $12 million for renovations. The OADI is a high-tech business incubator affiliated with UAB. The Entrepreneurial Center nurtures information technology and service for the light manufacturing industry.

Controversy between George Barber, owner of Barber Properties, and Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid over the dilapidated Sears structure deprived the city of a chance to host to one of the top motorcycle races in the world. A year ago, Barber asked the city to commit $250,000 annually for three years to bring the North American Grand Prix to the Barber Motorsports Park. The race is part of the MotoGP, a worldwide motorcycle racing series that is the equivalent of the Formula One racing circuit for automobiles. In exchange, Kincaid asked for control of the Sears property, but Barber would not comply, arguing that the economic impact to the city should be a sufficient swap. Famed Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, got the Grand Prix instead.

At the meeting, Councilor Carole Smitherman remained skeptical, noting the large expenditure and past problems with Barber as she questioned if the proposal was the best use of the building. “You’re going to have to convince me that this is the best thing to do,” Smitherman said. “We’ve lost money with Mr. Barber because the Mayor demanded that he fix up the blight problem. So we didn’t get a chance to bid on the motorcycle races. So that’s lost revenue.” &

Mr. Barber’s Neighborhood

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Mr. Barber’s Neighborhood

Tempers flare as George Barber reveals plans for his mountaintop condominium.

By Ed Reynolds

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June 02, 2005

Don Erwin of Barber Properties presented former dairy tycoon and current real estate magnate George Barber’s Red Mountain development plan to some 60 residents at the Redmont Park neighborhood meeting May 24. Barber wants to build a six-story condominium and 21 private homes on 15.5 acres at the crest of the mountain. Two-thirds of the audience passionately denounced the proposal, which calls for a construction project estimated at $75 million. The gated community is to be called The Crest on Red Mountain and would be the only such structure standing on Red Mountain.Rumors about Barber’s building plans have swirled around the Redmont community for the past couple of years. “I know some folks thought we were going to build a tall skyscraper that was going to rival Vulcan, but that’s actually not the case,” Erwin told the neighborhood. At the meeting, drawings of the proposed development were viewed for the first time. Afterward, many residents compared the aesthetics of the condominium complex to a prison and others voiced concerns about the impact of an additional 200 cars on their street, as well as the strain on already tenuous sewer and water pressure situations.Erwin said Barber was focused on making the development a unique, attractive place to live. “If we just wanted to do the easy thing, what we could do is do a single-family, cookie-cutter housing development in there and probably do about 35 single-family houses. But that’s not something that we want to do. To us, that would be an example of a less-than-ideal change,” said Erwin. “The truth is that the Redmont Park neighborhood has always been changing . . . change is always going to occur. There’s nothing we can do to prevent it.”Noting that condominiums are vilified because the structures often block residents’ sight-lines of the city, Erwin pointed out that won’t be a problem with The Crest on Red Mountain. “One of the nice features of our project is that our building is right on the crest of the mountain, so we don’t block anybody’s view. By being on the top, there’s no view, that we can find, that’s blocked in any way,” he explained. The condominium units are expected to range from $650,000 to almost $1 million, depending on the square footage. The four 5,000-square-foot penthouses that will comprise the top floor would be about $2.5 million each. The homes are expected to sell for $850,000 on average.

Redmont Park is currently zoned R-1 (single family homes). A change to R-6 (multi-family homes) zoning allows condominium construction, but many residents question why the single-family homes portion of the acreage would need to be rezoned along with the condominium units. Others simply do not want any rezoning at all, preferring that only private homes be in the neighborhood. “My concern is zoning the property at R-6. I’m not convinced that they made the case for why that needs to be,” said Leah Webb, a Redmont resident. “Overall, I think that Mr. Erwin was trying very hard to make the case, but he just didn’t convince me that a [zoning] change had to be made. I don’t see how this is a win-win situation for anyone.”

Warning that the introduction of this condominium on the mountain will invite others to build the same, Redmont resident Bill Mudd predicted, “Sooner or later Vulcan will be a little blip on the skyline . . . Mudd asked Erwin why Barber didn’t build the development downtown, where the developer currently owns one of Birmingham’s more noxious blights, the long-abandoned Sears building on First Avenue North. Erwin responded that not everyone wants to live downtown. “If we’re going to be a viable city, we have to offer all kinds of living arrangements to different kinds of people. We have to offer condominiums in the middle of town. We have to offer lofts for young people; we have to offer single-family houses. We have to offer the whole range,” explained Erwin, who added that a deal was close to being wrapped up regarding the Sears property.

Erwin refused to delay the vote until the next month’s meeting, even though many residents requested a delay so they could have time to review the plans before voting on the project. The final tally from a secret ballot was 42 residents against the project, with 21 in favor. The neighborhood vote is only a recommendation to the Zoning Advisory Committee (ZAC) and is not binding. The ZAC will make a recommendation, and then pass its decision along to the Birmingham City Council, which has the final word. The ZAC will take up the matter on July 5.

Barber currently has two residences in Redmont Park. One has reportedly been abandoned for several years, and neighbors have complained about rats and an overgrown lawn at the site. An irate resident who lives in close proximity to the proposed development acreage angrily complained to Erwin that Barber has not bothered to discuss the project with her. Other neglected Barber properties make her doubt the developer’s intentions. “Now you’re going to build a project and keep your word? I doubt it,” she hissed at Erwin. &

City Hall — Homeless Plight and Blight

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By Ed Reynolds

June 02, 2005

With Birmingham City Council elections only five months away, Councilor Elias Hendricks is feeling the heat from downtown and Five Points South merchants who want the city to do something about the urine, excrement, and sleeping bodies discovered on business doorsteps each morning. It’s been 18 months since Hendricks first proposed an ordinance that would crack down on such trespassing. But he “resents” Mayor Bernard Kincaid’s referencing the ordinance as “criminalization” of the homeless. “This is about trespassing and about definitions of trespassing, and how those definitions have to change as we become a more urban environment with people living (downtown),” Hendricks told the Mayor. “It’s not denying anybody access to shelters, and it’s not against the homeless. It’s against a behavior, no matter who’s exhibiting this behavior.”

At his May 24 press conference following the weekly City Council meeting, Mayor Kincaid addressed the issue. “I think there’s a duty to protect the businesspeople and the residents who live downtown, to be sure. But there’s also a duty to provide adequately for that genre of citizens [the homeless]. So we haven’t done all we could do. And the councilor that is presenting this ordinance is the councilor that was most vehement in his opposition to the [abandoned[ Parisian warehouse becoming the place that would house (the homeless). We could have additional housing facilities, we could have counseling facilities, we have job opportunities, all in that property that’s lying fallow sitting over there on 26th Street . . . But NIMBY is alive and well—Not In My Back Yard—and that’s what we get everywhere,” explained Kincaid. “Trespassing is a criminal act. You can’t take a criminal statute and attach this doorway portion to it and pretend it’s not criminal in its scope and nature. Criminal penalties don’t provide for civil remedies.” The Mayor also had a startling suggestion. Referencing Councilor Carole Smitherman’s solution to a vagrancy problem by erecting a fence around the entrance to her downtown law office, Kincaid said, “[Councilor Smitherman] talked about putting up a gate, and when the business is closed, the gate was closed. And the sleeping in her vestibule stopped. Maybe we as a city can make resources available to business owners as a stop-gap measure, to be sure, that will help abate the problem while we search for a permanent solution.”

“That just seems like a gigantic waste of money to build fences for private residences and businesses,” said Jeff Tenner, owner of Soca Clothing in Five Points South, in an interview the day after the Council delayed the ordinance. “If somebody wants to build a fence, they should build a fence themselves. But a much simpler (solution) is to pass this ordinance, which is not really a new law at all. It just defines a certain area to make sure that it’s specific to trespassing.”

“This is just a simple common-sense tool that says you cannot do things on my property that I don’t want you to do.” —Five Points South business owner Jeff Tenner

Tenner had addressed the Council during the Tuesday meeting. “Things need to happen simultaneously. We need to do what we can to get more shelter beds and to be able to help the people that need the help,” said Tenner. “But at the same time, we need to recognize that it’s an economic issue and that if we cannot give the police the tools needed to deal with those certain members of society who are breaking the laws, that it will affect the tax base . . . This is just a simple common-sense tool that says you cannot do things on my property that I don’t want you to do.”

Barbara Dawson, business manager of Chez Fon Fon in Five Points South, read a statement from Frank Stitt, owner of Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega, and Chez Fon Fon. Stitt noted that he is “saddened and disturbed by the decline of the Five Points District.” The restauranteur complained of loitering and “very conspicuous drug deals” made in the Five Points South area. Stitt commented that homeless persons sleeping in doorways are also more commonplace now. “Consequently, the daily observance of men and women urinating and defecating on the walls of buildings and in potted plants and alcoves is increasing as well,” he wrote. Stitt added that he had witnessed panhandlers harassing visitors and the “unsolicited rantings of a person or persons gathered around the fountain.”

Michelle Farley, executive director of Metropolitan Birmingham Services for the Homeless, was on the original task force that crafted the ordinance, which Hendricks previously delayed so concerns for the homeless could be addressed. “There was work being done on solving the problem rather than putting a Band-Aid on the problem,” said Farley. She explained that Birmingham has a chronic homelessness rate (those homeless for a year or more) of 29 percent as opposed to a national average of 20 percent. While she sympathizes with businesses that deal with excrement and loiterers in doorways, Farley said there is another aspect worth considering. “When people are asked to move along, they don’t really have a place to move along to,” she explained.

City Attorney Tamara Johnson said the challenge for the law department is “to try to fashion a penalty that will allow some kind of punishment for these individuals who are breaking a law that the Council will enact but, at the same time, have some kind of humanity in it.” Johnson added that penalties for loitering in doorways “really depended on the moral compass of the Council in terms of what they actually want in the ordinance.” At the suggestion of the law department, the ordinance will be rewritten to address such items as a lack of specific definitions for “plazas and common areas,” and to make enforcement of the law city-wide. =-

“It was poorly written,” Kincaid said of the ordinance. “No one in the law department takes authorship of this document, and it’s wrought with problems, as I see it, just from a legal standpoint: the absence of definitions, the applicability of one part of it to one part of town and not to the other.” &

World Cup Soccer at Legion Field

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World Cup Soccer at Legion Field

By Ed Reynolds

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March 24, 2005

On Wednesday, March 30 the most popular sports tournament in the world will make Birmingham’s Legion Field the “Soccer Capitol of the South” for one evening. The United States Men’s National soccer team will host Guatemala in a second round 2006 World Cup qualifying match that promises to pack thousands into the stands. Once revered as “The Football Capitol of the South,” Legion Field’s success at hosting past soccer matches hasn’t been too shabby either; the U.S. Olympic men’s team played two games there in 1996, drawing a crowd of 46,000 for the second match. The Men’s National team attracted 22,000 in 2000 and 24,000 in 2002 for non-World Cup events.




	Landon Donovan, a midfielder on the U.S. Men’s soccer team, will show off his deft footwork at the World Cup Qualifying game against Guatemala on March 30.

The upcoming bout with Guatemala will be tough and not simply because of the opponent; two days earlier the U.S. will be in Mexico to face the Mexican National team. Both the Mexico and Guatemala matches will be telecast live on ESPN2, with noon and 7 p.m. starting times, respectively. Sentimental fans of the stadium should note that this will likely be the final event held at Legion Field before the condemned upper deck comes tumbling down (by design). City officials have reassured all concerned that the upper deck is safe as long as it remains unoccupied. But then again, Legion Field has never been invaded by a bunch of rowdy World Cup soccer hooligans.

Cat Show Confidential

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Cat Show Confidential

By Ed Reynolds

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February 10, 2005

“Of course not!” shrieked a woman from Atlanta when asked if her cat traveled as cargo when flying to feline shows around the country. “I keep him in a cage beneath my seat on the plane!” she indignantly explained, recoiling in horror that some insensitive soul would ask such a question. The occasion for the shocking query was the 34th annual Cat Fanciers’ Association Cat Show at the BJCC South Exhibition Hall on January 29 and 30. It was my initiation into the world of pampered cats, and before the afternoon was over, I would make the acquaintance of people who purchase plane tickets for their pets.

Approximately one hundred cats and their doting owners patiently waited to be summoned to the judging area. Persians, Himalayans (a couple of fanciers engaged in a lively debate concerning whether Persians are Himalayans or Himalayans are Persians), Egyptian short hairs with big eyes, Oriental shorthairs with long, protruding faces, Somalis, Birmans, Sphynxes (hairless cats that are “so ugly they’re cute”), basset-hound-size Maine Coons, shorthair Russian Blues, and the outlawed Singapuras all lounged in their cages with complete disregard for curious observers. Each cage was partially covered with materials distinctive to the owner’s personality; some cats resided beneath pink chiffon; others glanced with boredom from cascades of gold lamé; a British flag covered a British shorthair’s cage, while a Somali from the Gunsmoke Cattery (a cattery is defined as an establishment for the breeding and boarding of cats) peered from a cage draped in mock blue denim adorned with tiny guns and cowboy boots. “I just like old westerns,” the cattery owner explained.

The unforgivable sin at cat shows is to touch the animals. Warning signs urge the curious to back off: “I Do Not Bite But My Owner Does” and “Hands Off! This Cat Insured by Smith & Wesson!” Some have name plates attached to the cages: “Hello, my name is Johnny Cash.” The owner affirmed that, yes, there once was a June Carter in the family, but she was Johnny Cash the cat’s late sister. His mother was Loretta Lynn, and there were a couple of other siblings named Hank Williams and Crystal Gayle.




	(click for larger version)

The outlawed Singapura (Malaysian for Singapore), recently declared a national treasure in Singapore, has been banned from exportation. The breed is smaller than the average shorthair cat, with incredibly large, Martian-like eyes and a disposition to interact with humans (a characteristic that earned it the nickname “pesky people cat”). Singapuras are the only known breed of which two non-neutered males can coexist without conflict.

A Maine Coon named Jordy was the show-stealer. An unbelievably large animal, Jordy looks as though he belongs in a zoo instead of a cat show. Weighing in at a whopping 22 pounds, the cat shed four pounds after going on the “Catkins diet,” according to his Miami owner, who put the cat on the diet not only due to health concerns, but also because it was getting difficult to fit him into the cage on the judging stand. Judges wave feathers in the face of each feline to examine a cat’s personality, among other traits. Jordy merely stared at the feather, then turned his gaze to other cats waiting their turns.

Clare Hames of the Birmingham Feline Fanciers, coordinator for the household pet division of the cat show, explained the feather-teasing by the judges. “They’re trying to make the cat play,” explained Hames. “Most household pets are not used to getting out and going to a show. So [the judges] are trying to play with it. Now as far as the purebred, they’re doing that because most purebreds will play, but they’re also trying to notice anything else they need to. Purebreds are judged by things like color, or they can’t have a kink in their tail. Persian cats’ noses are supposed to be smushed a certain way, things like that.”

In the perpetual cats-versus-dogs debate regarding intelligence, Hames, who owns both, admitted that she would have to side with cats. “Cats are much more demanding. A cat has a set schedule, while a dog has a schedule that goes along with yours. A cat wants things its way or not at all.”

The Set List — Roberta Flack

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By Ed Reynolds and Bart Grooms

Roberta Flack has made a career singing boring pop that has about as much passion as Liza Minelli or Phoebe Snow. So it’s hard to fathom that a breathtaking song on Flack’s debut album First Take that Clint Eastwood demanded be included on the soundtrack of his film Play Misty for Me rates as a true 24-karat masterpiece. “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” is nothing short of spellbinding, an awe-inspiring, hypnotic slice of musical history that rarely fails to make one stop whatever they’re doing and simply listen. To her credit, Flack told music big shots and producers overseeing her career to take a hike when told to speed up the tempo. Instead, her voice approaches each phrase with a delicate caress. Too bad she couldn’t pull off that neat trick again with “Killing Me Softly,” “Where is the Love [with the late Donny Hathaway],” “The Closer I Get to You,” and, of course, the thoroughly irritating “Tonight I Celebrate My Love for You.” (Saturday, January 22, at the BJCC Concert Hall) —Ed Reynolds




	Roberta Flack (click for larger version)

Regina Carter




	Regina Carter (click for larger version)

Although she later received classical training, violinist Regina Carter began the way many of her jazz forbearers did—playing by ear. She later mastered written music and theory, but as she puts it, “I think that kind of experience has freed my playing up a lot more, so I’m not stuck on the page. A lot of people are afraid not to have a piece of music in front of them.” She sees her mission as expanding the profile of and approach to her instrument, and to this end she plays in an aggressive, often percussive manner that recalls the great Stuff Smith’s bluesy swagger more than, say, Stéphane Grappelli’s more refined style. “Instead of being so melodic,” states the fiddler, “which I can be, I tend to use the instrument in more of a rhythmic way, using vamp rhythms or a lot of syncopated rhythms, approaching it more like a horn player does. So, I don’t feel that I have a lot of limitations —I feel like I can do anything.” Indeed, what she can do is pretty striking, and her quintet’s ASC concert on Saturday, January 22, at 8 p.m. will give us an opportunity to hear for ourselves. Until then, her beguiling duet album with master pianist Kenny Barron (Freefall, on Verve) is highly recommended. Tickets are $46, $36, and $26; For more information call 975-2787 or visit www.alysstephens.org. —Bart Grooms

Vintage Bike Racing

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2004-10-21 Diversions

Vintage Bike Racing

By Ed Reynolds

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How low can you go?: Taking a turn at the Barber track. (click for larger version)

October 21, 2004

With riders who ride at gravity-defying angles while ripping through turns at more than 100 miles per hour, no form of motorsport teeters closer to the edge than motorcycle racing. Vintage motorcycles (some dating back to the 1920s) will be racing at the Barber Motorsports Park on October 22 through 24 when the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA) comes to town. And what better place to feature historic motorbikes than at the home of the largest motorcycle collection in the world, the Barber Motorsports Museum. For details, visit www.barbermotorsports.com or call 800-240-2300.

The Set List — 9-09-2004

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2004-09-09 Music

By J.R. Taylor, Ed Reynolds, and David Pelfrey

September 09, 2004

Janis Ian

Janis Ian was the first musical guest to appear on “Saturday Night Live,” where she sang her ode to lonely, unattractive teenage girls, “At Seventeen.” With its verses about “ugly duckling girls like me” and “inventing lovers on the phone,” one could almost hear the universal sobs emanating from the bedrooms of acne-plagued adolescents. It’s rather odd that she found such a natural connection singing about the younger set, because her teenage years were anything but normal. She had her first hit at 15 with “Society’s Child,” a tale of interracial teen love. Needless to say, she had parents drenched in cold sweat as they perused their children’s albums to find out what other mischief their kids might be getting into. (Friday and Saturday, September 10 and 11, at the Hoover Library Theater; 8 p.m. $20) — Ed Reynolds

The Damnwells

You’d be enjoying a proper interview with The Damnwells if they weren’t the most publicity-averse band in New York City. I used to blame the Epic label for trying to bury this Brooklyn band’s Bastards of the Beat—despite the album being loaded with earnest plainspoken tunes whose lack of pretension is their biggest charm. Smooth and sparse tracks are contrasted with others that work up convincing heads of steam, all brimming with stylistic atmosphere and sheer musical invention.

And if any of those descriptions sound reliably dull, it’s because I lifted a bunch of misleading praise from the Trouser Press reviews for BoDeans and Grant Lee Buffalo. The difference is that you won’t be embarrassed to someday still own a Damnwells album.

The guys in The Damnwells won’t mind that gag, either. They’ve already had to endure plenty of more insulting comparisons—although the real high point was when the indie mag No Depression accused them of sounding like “poor man’s Americana.” It was a bad review, too, which should leave all of us wondering exactly what’s missing from the logic there.

Most likely, what’s missing is the $20 that certain No Depression critics charge for providing positive reviews. Anyway, The Damnwells have recorded one of those Albums of the Year that you’ve never heard of. Actually, it’s kind of refreshing how that’s their own damn fault. (Wednesday, September 15, at The Nick, $7) —J.R. Taylor

Paul “Wine” Jones

Listening to Paul Jones’ raucous, haphazard vocals and runaway train guitar licks, it’s easy to start wondering how he got the nickname. Make that stop wondering. This isn’t juke joint or front porch blues so much as falling-off-the-porch blues, egged on by adult doses of getting-tossed-out-of-the-joint, Mississippi back-roads skronk. It’s a glorious mess, but Jones’ lack of technical proficiency is matched by an appealing lack of pretense; song titles such as “Roll That Woman” and “Guess I Just Fu**ed It All Up” suggest that this artist is what is sometimes referred to as “the genuine article.” If it were possible to isolate the basic elements of Delta and Memphis music, toss them into the trunk of a big ’78 Bonneville, and then get liquored up for an all-night drive to Memphis, you might not recreate Jones’ sound, but you could get dangerously close to his style.

In one respect, someone actually has isolated the elements of Jones’ particular style. A remix of his song “Goin’ Back Home” adds jazz samples and electronic flourishes to Jones’ gritty number, sounding like The Fall and Gang of Four covering Canned Heat, with John Lee Hooker’s vocals. That won’t happen at the live show, but this stunning track can be heard on Jones’ 1999 Fat Possum gem Pucker up Buttercup. (Wednesday, September 15, at Club XS, Tuscaloosa and Tuesday, September 21, at The Nick; $6) —David Pelfrey

The Pierces

It was a strange day when the mail brought The Pierces’ debut CD in 2000. I’d never seen ballerinas from Birmingham who’d grown up to be anything but waitresses and/or heroin addicts. It certainly wasn’t their fault that gorgeous harmonies and ethereal beauty were about to become old hat. The record was pretty impressive, but it was kinda obvious that it wouldn’t age any better than your average Christina Ricci performance.




	The Pierces (click for larger version)

And nobody could’ve complained if The Pierces’ long-delayed follow-up was a commercial contrivance. Instead, Light of the Moon is even more unrepentantly gorgeous than the first album, with producer Brian Sperber carefully anchoring their languid sound to a true heart of darkness. Maybe everyone in Birmingham has been enjoying this maturation, but idiots in NYC didn’t have any idea what the gals have been doing lately. Oh, wait—the Strokes guitarist, right? (Wednesday, September 15, at Workplay; 8 p.m. $8) —J.R. Taylor

Billy Joe Shaver

Perhaps the greatest country music outlaw since Johnny Paycheck, Billy Joe Shaver has never strayed far from the working-man ethic embraced by his more famous buddies Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and the late Waylon Jennings. Shaver played Zydeco several years ago in a quartet that featured his son Eddy assaulting patrons’ ears with a bulldozer guitar attack. Despite his son’s electrified licks, the elder Shaver’s songs retained their stark lyrical and melodic charms. After the show, the band immediately hit the bar to drink and carry on with unattached women. Not Billy Joe. Having been sober for quite a few years after a lifetime of hard drinking and drugging, the ever humble, unpretentious Shaver carried on with business as usual as he broke down and packed up everyone’s gear, including the drummer’s equipment. And he didn’t mind chatting with a stranger while he worked, talking endlessly about how much he missed his dog back home.

Billy Joe Shaver found a way to whip his demons. Unfortunately, his son never did. Eddy Shaver died of a heroin overdose on New Year’s Eve 2001. Devastated, the elder Shaver found solace that night by enlisting Willie Nelson to take his son’s spot in the band at an Austin club in what must have been the most emotional performance of his career.

In a world of boring, generic singer/songwriters too numerous to list, Billy Joe Shaver is the last of a dying breed. Widely regarded as a cowboy poet laureate after Waylon Jennings recorded an entire album of Shaver songs (except for one) on Honky Tonk Heroes, Shaver nevertheless continues to labor in virtual obscurity. And he does it his own way. Who else would record a song written after Kurt Cobain’s suicide and end it with a shotgun blast? (Wednesday, September 22, at Workplay; 7 p.m., $20) — Ed Reynolds

Gene Watson

Like musical legend George Jones, Gene Watson is admired throughout the country music industry as a “singer’s singer” for his smooth but unique vocal delivery. It’s country in the truest sense. Watson spent a decade touring Texas honky tonks before hitting the charts with “Bad Water” in 1975. His only number-one record was the catchy “Fourteen Carat Mind.” But the real diamond in his repertoire is the tearjerker “Farewell Party,” the greatest funeral dirge since the Carter Family sang “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” It’s the ultimate song of self-absorption and self-pity, as Watson sings from the perspective of a corpse peering from his casket, watching his friends bringing him flowers one last time while his true love has the time of her life “at my farewell party.” More creepy than tragic. (Thursday, September 23, at the Cullman County Fair, Cullman) — Ed Reynolds

Marc Broussard




	Marc Broussard (click for larger version)

Remember when we used to complain about bands whose soulful roots were as deep as the theme-park camps of Orlando, Florida? At least those kids had an excuse. Marc Broussard is genuinely depressing as the product of both a fine musical heritage and an industry that was supposed to spare us from pop pap. This guy grew up surrounded by some of the best musicians in Louisiana. He was also helped along by the same crappy Americana industry that’s hyped soulless acts such as Ryan Adams. The result has been a major-label career that’s left Broussard fitting in perfectly on bills with Maroon 5 and Gavin DeGraw. The new album’s called Carencro, and it’s just more of a beautiful R&B voice singing useless crap. (Thursday, September 23, at Workplay; 9 p.m. $12) —J.R. Taylor

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