City Stages 2007 – Day Two
June 17, 2007, 11:00 am
Filed under:
bhamterminal.com/citystages/,
Birmingham,
Birmingham Alabama,
Birmingham, AL,
city stages,
Commentary,
Dr. John,
music Right place, right time
I’d heard Dr. John’s songs. I’d seen Earth Wind & Fire play several times at City Stages. So I gave into curiosity and ventured over to what has long been known as the singer-songwriter stage, and I was not disappointed.
It was a great performance and I’m glad I got there early. When I say I got there early, I ended up catching the tail end of Marcia Ball’s performance as well. Both of them were incredible. I did venture elsewhere in the festival grounds but I also checked out Icon over at The Tutwiler Hotel.
The crowds were a bit lighter in the afternoon, but it seemed like everyone that was going to come out did after the sun went down. The Birmingham News is reporting that festival organizers think they can break even based on Friday’s numbers. Friday was quite steady, but not crowded, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens based on last night and today.
I think that day 3 will be the “tipping point” and a test to see what can happen in the future. A return of a gospel stage with top flight acts is great, as is the idea of (maybe coincidence?) booking several bands considered to be Christian alternative throughout the stages today. It will be interesting to see what the numbers reveal afterwards.
Today Betsy performs with the Birmingham Community Mass Choir as part of the festivities. She’s looking forward to it. I’m wondering how fast I’ll fall asleep when I finally head on home later on today.
Cheers, and Happy Father’s Day!
City Stages 2007 – First Night
June 16, 2007, 2:25 pm
Filed under:
B'ham social events,
bhamterminal.com/citystages/,
Birmingham,
Birmingham Alabama,
Birmingham, AL,
city stages,
City Stages 2007,
City Stages Flickr Group,
Commentary,
Magic City Flickr Group,
music,
Photographs,
street festivals,
The Terminal A little rain (actually, a lot of rain) didn’t seem to keep festival goers away from Birmingham, Alabama’s City Stages festival. Yours truly figured that he’d wait out the storm and then go, and it turned out to be a good thing. Festival organizers delayed the start of performances but that didn’t seem to keep steady, decent sized crowds from showing up.
I’ve been trying to update the online guide I created for The Terminal, so I’ve been a little groggy for most of the day.
But I didn’t want to get too far into the second day without sharing a couple of shots from last night. (more…)
Another City Stages is upon us, and the gloves are off
June 15, 2007, 11:14 am
Filed under:
AL,
B'ham social events,
bhamterminal.com/citystages/,
Birmingham,
Birmingham Alabama,
Birmingham, AL,
Blogging,
Charleston,
Cities,
city stages,
Commentary,
cultural institutions,
current events,
music,
music venues,
My Birmingham,
other cities,
The Terminal,
urban issues It’s crazy how much can change in a year. Last year I was squeezing in a trip to the Unplugged stage at the Harbert Plaza between lunch and traveling out to the city’s west side to go to meeting (while I was still on crutches mind you) as City Stages 18 was just getting started.
One year later I’m healthy but sleep deprived and figuring out just when I’m going to find time to actually buy my ticket to what was once referred to as Birmingham’s block party. I’m going this year, more out of sentimentality than anything else, but also because of this site:
http://bhamterminal.com/citystages/
It’s my first attempt to do a “special section” in The Terminal, and it’s sort of a test to see if viral marketing can in fact work. There are some other things that are about to happen that aren’t that viral, but this is a test to see if a site can make even a small difference in a conversation. Pass it on if you have a chance. Or at least check it out yourself.
I realize now that when I started blogging I did it so that my voice could be heard. I also realize that most that blog have something to complain about, thus it provides a great platform since you get instant feedback and a chance to argue your own point. My problem is that I always want to try to provide something positive (or sarcastic to cut down on the cynicism). Makes it a little difficult.
I realized months ago when City Stages began asking for help, I was thinking about the old days as an outsider. I was told recently that I probably shouldn’t consider myself one, but knowing the ways of the South, I will be for some time. I still approached it as someone that sees the potential of a festival like it being “fixed” and “saved”. I also realized that I wasn’t taking that positive approach in part because I was thinking about what my future was going to be. Now that I’ve had a chance to have some things slow down, I realized that I was not necessarily around all sides of an issue like I normally try to be. Now, I’ve got some thoughts: (more…)
YP Update: Time to go to “Cool School”
February 19, 2007, 7:29 am
Filed under:
AL,
Birmingham,
Birmingham Alabama,
Bottletree Cafe,
COOL Community Task Force,
music,
music venues,
WorkPlay,
yp events One of the suggestions of the COOL Community Task Force of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce was to create a Cool School as a way to provide human resources professionals with additional reasons for young professionals to relocate to (or stay in) Birmingham, Alabama for their next job. This will become more important according those studying the future of our workforce, including this paper written by Rebecca Ryan of Next Generation Consulting.
The first Cool School event will be held tomorrow evening (2.20.2007) at WorkPlay beginning at 5 p.m. The focus of this first meeting will be Birmingham’s music and entertainment industries with a focus on how this information can be leveraged to attract talent. Attendees will also be able to pick up a copy of Birmingham’s “brag book” – a visual ranking of what the chamber says are “…the region’s hottest selling commodities for the young and young at heart.”
The event will be moderated by Malena Cunningham with an industry panel that includes Alan Hunter and Antonio Minnifield and the owners of the Bottletree Cafe. Click here to view the flyer to find out more details.
A few more updates throughout the day.
Cheers.
The Radio Carousel: Latino station hits Birmingham airwaves again
February 1, 2007, 8:29 am
Filed under:
AL,
Birmingham,
Birmingham Alabama,
Birmingham, AL,
music,
radio,
The Radio Carousel,
urban issues,
Wikipedia,
WPSB-AM 
“Oye Como Va” on “The People’s Station”? It appears to have been the case for several days, at least since January 29, as WPSB 1320 AM has decided to change formats again and see if one serving the city’s Latino community can survive on the Magic City’s airwaves again. The station will be providing music, news and information in Spanish. Due to the powering down of the frequency at night, it is not known if they will attempt to broadcast 24 hours a day or not as of yet.
The station has served a similar demographic before; in 2002 as “La Favorita”, the station geared its programming to serve the growing Mexican community in Birmingham, Alabama. The format was short lived as it switched one year later to being the AM simulcast for country music station WZZK. It had only been operating under its current talk format for the past year, something that could make people wonder just how long this format change will last.
It does however fill a need in the community, one that has seen several changes in recent months and one that may see many more as terrestrial radio continues to make adjustments across the country. It will be interesting to see how a community that has not been extremely vocal about a lack of representation on either side of the radio dial will receive this new format.
Click here to learn the history of the frequency in question. I’d also check back here (UPDATE: 2/9/2007 the website is currently down) every once in a while as the station’s website is sure to undergo changes in the near future to reflect the change in format.
Enjoy the day!
Cheers.
Filed under: bhamterminal.com/citystages/, Birmingham, Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham, AL, city stages, Commentary, Dr. John, music
Right place, right time
I’d heard Dr. John’s songs. I’d seen Earth Wind & Fire play several times at City Stages. So I gave into curiosity and ventured over to what has long been known as the singer-songwriter stage, and I was not disappointed.
It was a great performance and I’m glad I got there early. When I say I got there early, I ended up catching the tail end of Marcia Ball’s performance as well. Both of them were incredible. I did venture elsewhere in the festival grounds but I also checked out Icon over at The Tutwiler Hotel.
The crowds were a bit lighter in the afternoon, but it seemed like everyone that was going to come out did after the sun went down. The Birmingham News is reporting that festival organizers think they can break even based on Friday’s numbers. Friday was quite steady, but not crowded, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens based on last night and today.
I think that day 3 will be the “tipping point” and a test to see what can happen in the future. A return of a gospel stage with top flight acts is great, as is the idea of (maybe coincidence?) booking several bands considered to be Christian alternative throughout the stages today. It will be interesting to see what the numbers reveal afterwards.
Today Betsy performs with the Birmingham Community Mass Choir as part of the festivities. She’s looking forward to it. I’m wondering how fast I’ll fall asleep when I finally head on home later on today.
Cheers, and Happy Father’s Day!