Filed under: Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham, AL, Blogging, Bus Rapid Transit, Catalyst, city stages, Civic Engagement, Erik Jambor, Halloween 2006, other cities, parades, people, Sidewalk, The X at 100.5, The Year in Review
Quick looks
November began with a first look at a new rapid transit bus that could be used for the metropolitan area. We took a quick look back at a local Halloween tradition downtown along 2nd Avenue North.
We recognized the changing face of banking as names were replaced in the Birmingham skyline. I made three trips to New York in one year for the first time since my second year of college in Savannah; one of those trips let me see Homewood High enjoy the spotlight in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
For most of the month, I took a break due to the loss of my grandmother. If nothing else, it reminded me to enjoy life in all of its forms whenever you can.
Recognition and advice/opinion for projects
The end of the month led to the rest of the city finally recognizing the existence of the Bham Wiki, a chance to hear from those interested in the future of City Stages, whether it be through the comments section of this post, or through the comments collected from our attendance at the City Stages/Catalyst town hall meeting about what else could be done to aid the struggling festival.
The Radio Carousel begins
The end of the month also led to the beginning of what we’ve been calling “The Radio Carousel” in Birmingham, Alabama. It began simply enough with the loss of The X at 100.5. It continued well into the first part of December, but not before another significant event hit the cultural scene, the sudden resignation of Sidewalk’s founding director Erik Jambor.
We really weren’t sure how the year would end… we’re still not with hours to spare.
We’ll see you later today.
Cheers.
See also:
The Year in Review: January and a little December ‘05 too
The Year in Review: February 2006
The Year in Review: March 2006
The Year in Review: April 2006
The Year in Review: May 2006
The Year in Review: June 2006
The Year in Review: July 2006
The Year in Review: August 2006
The Year in Review: September 2006
The Year in Review: October 2006
Filed under: Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham, AL, Blogging, Cities, city stages, Civic Engagement, Commentary, music, music venues, other cities, The Rambles
I was preparing to post about the firing of Mike Shula from Alabama. I’m saving that one for tomorrow now, though it may just become a rehash of the Crimson Tide of fans upset with the way that the firing was handled. Instead I want to take a few moments to look at the buzz created out here in the world of blogging about this evening’s town hall meeting about sustaining City Stages; something we decided to mention here yesterday.
The questions and points brought up by Wade and others throughout the blogosphere are valid and need to be taken into account along with the numerous suggestions that are bound to be floating around out there, spoken and unspoken, for this festival. How do you make City Stages unique without making it seem to be like all of the other festivals in the area or the country? One thing to point out is that the fact that we even have a festival like this is unique as many cities are either mothballing the concept or they’re trying to revamp the festival to fit in to their changing demographic.
I decided to do a little digging on my own about the price quotes that Wade mentioned on his site this morning, more just because I needed something to do during my lunch break as well as the fact that I wanted to see how a true apples to apples comparison would look like. I decided to rely on a tried and true resource for my last job search that brought me to Birmingham, Salary.com. I decided to see what the cost of living translation of our $40 ticket would be out on the West Coast using their cost of living wizard. It’s been fairly accurate for me and figured it would allow for the argument to be made as apples to apples.
In citing the comparison that is mentioned on Wade’s site, there turns out to be a few things to remember; the festival in San Diego charges more money, even though they have more people. After doing the conversion, it would still cost less than ½ of what it does to go to the festival in San Diego based on City Stages’ original statement.
The $40 City Stages ticket would be $60.40 compared to $115 for San Diego’s Street Scene festival. Insofar as the argument goes, I have a strange feeling that they draw more people. Their patrons also pay more for the additional acts. I am a huge fan of the festival, but am completely realistic about its shortcomings. The real question is “Is Birmingham ready to admit that it must pay more and see what they get for it before it complains?” By the way, the cost of living is 51% more in San Diego than in Birmingham according to the website; salaries are only 10.3% more.
We already pay the lowest taxes in the country and we suffer mightily because of it. Many of the things that we think are necessary are lacking because of how we collect our taxes and how we choose to save and use them. Why do I bring that up? It does translate to our situation with this music festival. City Stages when it started was comparable and probably more enjoyable than it has been for many in recent years and the prices reflected the cost of brining in talent at that time. We currently do not feel the need to pay more in order to see more here in Birmingham, Alabama.
A better product presented by the organizers will end up leading to a higher ticket price. We have to be willing to live up to our end of the bargain and pay more if we are able to convince the festival to live up to theirs. Only if we’re able to get the other things changed.
Let me know what you think. Enjoy the day.
Cheers.
Filed under: Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham, AL, Homewood High School, New York, New York City, other cities, parades, Photographs, Random shots
I hope all of you enjoyed the holiday. This is one of the sites that Betsy and I were able to see on Thursday…
Soaking rain in midtown Manhattan did not keep the Homewood High School Marching Band from enjoying their performance in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. While this is not the best shot in the world, it does show the band as they pass through Columbus Circle on November 23, 2006 as some of the New York City Police Department stand guard.
I hope to have some more images from the parade up this evening. Check back for links to the photoset.
Enjoy the day,
Cheers.
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: Continue reading →