Football Mondays: UA vs. AU

In Alabama the most anticipated thing about the Fall isn’t escape from the summer heat, but College Football. As MADE Paper’s Bamaist, I’ll have the pleasure of guiding Alabama fans through this year’s season with weekly Monday morning online re-caps of Alabama’s game - with a little inside recruiting info splashed in for good measure - on www.madepaper.com.  Before we get into the season, however, we at MADE have decided to wet your appetite with a pre-kickoff preview of the Crimson Tide. 

How should Alabama fans feel heading into 2014? “Hopefully optimistic” best sums it up.  Despite some big questions on offense and defense, Alabama looks primed for a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff and a run at another National Championship.

Like Auburn in 2013, Alabama will benefit greatly from one of the more favorable schedules in the SEC.  Alabama avoids the SEC East’s two best teams in South Carolina and Georgia and gets Auburn, Florida, Texas A&M and Mississippi State in Tuscaloosa.  A road trip to Oxford could be tough, and you’ll probably be able to smell the bourbon from the field when Alabama visits LSU in newly renovated Tiger Stadium with capacity now 102, 321.  Alabama’s other two road trips (at Tennessee & at Arkansas) should be smooth sailing as the Hogs and Vols must continue to dowse the flames of the dumpster fires that are their respective football programs.

The offense, save presently not having a starting quarterback, which we’ll discuss at a later date, looks to be the best of Saban’s tenure.  Led by new Alabama Offensive Coordinator Lane Kiffin, the Tide will likely have to lean on the one-two punch of star running backs T.J. Yeldon (6-2/220) and Derrick “King” Henry (6-3/240) early in the season until the quarterback, whomever that may be, settles into the starting role. 

Alabama is also loaded at wide receiver.  Coach Saban stated this group of wide receivers is his best since arriving in Tuscaloosa, and if you see a 6-3/200+ pounder wearing #8 making catch after catch, don’t worry, you aren’t having football acid flashbacks of Julio Jones. You’re watching Robert Foster, Alabama’s next great receiver to wear #8.

On the defensive side, Alabama is looking to get back to its dominating 2011 & 2012 form.  The defensive line should take a step forward with players like Freshman All-American A’Shawn “Cornbread” Robinson and Jonathan Allen ready to accept bigger roles. After two straight years loading up on speed at linebacker, look for Alabama to be better equipped at dealing with spread and hurry-up-no-huddle (HUNH) offenses. In Saban’s first seven years at Alabama he faced nine spread/HUNH teams, this year alone Alabama will face nine teams running spread/HUNH offenses.

In the secondary, Alabama is loaded at safety, led by Landon Collins and Jarrick Williams. Their experience will make Alabama more comfortable than ever when having to sit in its Nickel and Dime packages. The only question on defense is cornerback. Last year Alabama changed cornerbacks like my wife changes clothes, and I don’t expect things to smooth out this year -- especially with Alabama’s best corner Eddie Jackson sidelined with a knee injury.

For better or worse, this team reminds me a lot of Alabama’s 2010 squad, loads of talent, but young and inexperienced on the offensive linemen and at the cornerback position.  Despite the similarities with a 2010 team that went 10-3 and finished in the top 10, I agree with pretty much every other sports writer on the planet: the SEC crown comes down to one annual game, the one that turns friends against one another and can force you to throw your “lucky” visor and shaker into a roaring fire. That’s right, the Iron Bowl.  For the second straight year, I expect the Iron Bowl winner to win not just the SEC West, but also the SEC Championship and then the inaugural College Football Playoff.

Don’t forget to join us online Monday mornings for a colorful re-cap of Alabama’s game and an update on the latest and greatest from the recruiting trail.  On the quarterback front, we’ll be interviewing the starting QB’s private QB Coach - at least once a starter is named - to give fans the inside scoop on what they can expect in 2014. Until then.

ROLL TIDE,

The Bamaist

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After last year’s unexpected explosion of success that resulted in the most memorable season in Auburn Football History, it’s safe to say Auburn fans are ready for football.  As MADE Paper’s Auburnist I hope to be able to take you on another whirlwind journey that will start in Auburn, and, God willing, end in Dallas, Texas, home of the inaugural College Football Playoff Championship Game.  Along the way, I’ll provide weekly recaps of each game on MADE’s website every Monday and insider recruiting info fresh from the recruiting trail. 

While most Auburn fans went into 2013 thinking how great it would be to get back to a bowl game (and not get shutout by Alabama), it’s pretty safe to say the bar is a little higher for 2014.  With a team that boasts 13 All-SEC players, the sky’s the limit for this season.  As a friend close to a rival SEC program recently told me, “until I see someone hold Auburn to at least 200 yards rushing, it’s hard to see anyone beating them.”  I can’t argue against that, but we Auburn fans are a superstitious bunch and most are leery of the fact that Auburn has posted back-to-back 10 win seasons only once in school history (1988-1989). 

With 13 All-SEC players, Auburn’s roster is loaded - unfortunately, so is the schedule.  Unlike 2013, the Tigers will have to navigate one of the nation’s toughest schedules with road trips to Mississippi (I and II), Georgia, and Alabama, and an unusual Thursday night trip to Manhattan, Kansas to face Dan Snyder’s Kansas State Wildcats.  The home games don’t get much easier with South Carolina, LSU and Texas A&M all heading to Auburn.  All in all, the Tigers will play 7 teams who opened the season in the top 25 of the coaches’ poll.

On offense, Auburn will look to continue to make defenses look more confused than a hungry baby in a topless bar.  Since the early 1990’s, Gus Malzahn’s zone read offense has used a deadly mixture of the misdirection made popular by the triple option with zone blocking and the hurry-up-no-huddle. The results speak for themselves, so don’t expect much to change in terms of play calling.  However, Auburn will look to a trio of running backs (Cameron Artis-Payne, Cory Grant and Peyton Barber) to fill the void left by Heisman Finalist Tre Mason.  Additionally, although known more for his legs than his arm, quarterback Nick Marshall will have a host of weapons at receiver; everyone returns and the Tigers add a likely one-and-done talent in physical receiver Duke Williams.  Speaking of Mr. Marshall, its scary to think that he’ll likely improve on his 3,079 combined yards and 26 TD’s.  However, the real story on the offense is the offensive line, which boasts a combined 99 career starts, more than any other SEC team.  Expect Auburn to continue to run behind that experienced offensive line and let Nick Marshall eat defenses alive with the play-action off the read-option.  

On the defensive side of the ball, Auburn’s 2013 motto seemed to be “bend but don’t break,” a motto they’d like to shed and probably will with plenty of contributors returning.  Most of the time on defense it starts in the trenches, and Auburn’s defensive line is just plain nasty.  Even with the loss of Dee Ford, Auburn is loaded with talented defensive linemen, all of whom wreaked havoc on SEC quarterbacks and made huge plays when needed.  The Linebacker position is no different. Kris Frost, Casanova McKinzey, JaViere Mitchell, Anthony Swain and newcomer Tre’ Williams should make for a deep and athletic group of linebackers.  The secondary, however, could be a work in progress.  Jonathon Mincy and Jermaine Whitehead played well for Auburn last year and each started all 14 games, but after that, the secondary gets pretty darn thin.  In fact, while LSU and Alabama will be the “sexy” tickets, I wouldn’t be surprised to see teams that like to throw the ball (Ole Miss & Texas A&M) give Auburn more trouble than run first, second and third teams like Alabama and LSU.  I’m certainly in the minority, but I tend to think Alabama and LSU simply won’t be able to keep-up offensively in a game that is starting to leave defense on the shelf. 

Although I’ve painted a pretty picture so far, not everything will be peaches and cream for the Tigers.  Auburn fans just learned that starting quarterback Nick Marshall and starting cornerback Jonathon Mincy will not play, at a minimum, the first quarter of the Arkansas game due to some legal trouble they found themselves in over the summer.  Additionally, we learned that starting defensive end Carl Lawson, who was expected to fill Dee Ford’s shoes, is likely out for the year due to a knee injury, and starting left guard Alex Kozan “The Barbarian” is also out for the year due to a back injury. Even with those losses, I expect Auburn to have plenty on offense and defense to become the first team since Tennessee in 1997-98 to win back-to-back SEC Championships.  

Am I right? Am I wrong? Should I stick to my day job? Join us online every Monday morning starting this September to see if my predictions hold true.  Until then, 

WAR EAGLE,

The Auburnist

MADE Guide to Prattville: 1 City, 6 Activities, 3 Ways

WORDS  Brent Rosen

I took a trip to Prattville the other day. My first. I found a lot to love in Prattville, but before I can make recommendations, I need to know a bit more about you. Time for a quiz:

1.    On a typical Sunday morning, you can be found:

A    Rushing out of the house with kids in tow trying to make it to church on time

B     I haven’t experienced Sunday morning in years. I’m more of a Sunday afternoon person

C     Cuddling, all morning long

2.   On Friday night, your biggest concern is:

A    Finding a babysitter

B     Finding yourself in a police cruiser

C    Finding a Zooey Deschanel movie the two of you haven’t already watched on Netflix

3.    You get your recommended 30 minutes of daily exercise by:

A     Chasing children at bath-time and bed-time

B     12-ounce curls

C    Walking through the neighborhood, holding hands, imagining your future home together

4.   Your Social Media feed is mostly:

A    Kid pics

B    Food pics

C    “Him” or “Her,” depending. 

5.    How you connect with your friends:

A    Playdates

B    Drinking at Bud’s

C    We are so focused on each other we don’t have any other friends

6.     Your sex life is:

A    “Before or after we had kids?”

B    “Often impossible”

C    “Everything man, everything.”

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If you answered mostly “A,” you are “Married with Children” 

If you answered mostly “B,” you are “Sunday Funday” 

If you answered mostly “C,” you are “Young and In Love” 

Stop #1: Bamboo Forest 

(800 Upper Kingston Rd., Prattville, AL)

Just around the corner from Prattville High School is a 27-acre bamboo forest. The bamboo shoots climb upwards of 60 feet, creating an alien world of muscular shoots and strange shadows on a stunning scale. A trail takes you from the parking lot to a pond encircled by the forest. As you walk the trail around the pond, small, almost-invisible frogs jump into the water on your approach, creating so many ripples it looks like a rain storm. It’s a magical world, both for you and your kids. 

Stop #2: Play in Autauga Creek 

(park near Fat Boys BBQ Ranch, 154 1st St., Prattville, AL)

Not that you’ve worked up a bit of a sweat hiking around the bamboo forest, it’s time to cool off with a swim. Head to the Autauga creek near Fat Boys BBQ Ranch (a great lunch option on Saturday), and enter the riverbed from one of its many access points. This time of year the current is not all that strong. Walk all the way to the dam on the rocky stream bed, then get into the stream and let the current in deeper water carry you back to where you started. You should be reported to the authorities for animal cruelty if you own a Labrador Retriever and don’t bring it along. Ample room for picnic chairs and blankets. 

Stop #3: Look at the Fish and Hit the Arcade at the Bass Pro Shop 

(2553 Rocky Mt. Rd., Prattville, AL)

The Bass Pro Shops pioneered the concept that shopping should be an “experience.” Just to park one must take a winding drive through heavily wooded landscapes, I assume to get shoppers “in the mood” by making them feel like they’re on the way to a deer camp.  If the driveway doesn’t get you in the mood, all of the fish and game inside the place should do the trick. There are multiple aquariums full of local and exotic fish, stuffed deer, moose, bears, and birds of all variety. Your kids will love seeing the animals and the fish and climbing around in what is basically a life-sized diorama masquerading as a store. Don’t miss the kid-friendly shooting gallery on the second floor where you can measure your sharpshooting talent with a light gun for 50¢ a try.

Stop #1: Bass Pro Shop

(2553 Rocky Mt. Rd., Prattville, AL)

The Bass Pro Shop has a bar with an 11,000 gallon fish tank. The Bloody Mary’s are great, which is good because you are likely hung over. Don’t be a hero - order something fried. Drink as you gaze in wonderment at nature’s majesty - the coordinated movements of the schools, the ripple of unseen waves on a dorsal fin, the peaceful co-existence of the varied species. Had enough majesty? Great. Finish your drinks and head upstairs to the gun section, where the clerks will be offended if you don’t handle the shotgun that comes with an American flag bandana. America is truly a shining city on a hill. 

Stop #2: Time for a Swim in Autagua Creek 

(go to the Doster Road Artesian Well below Jensen Stadium)

Of Prattville’s many creek entrances, the one near the Doster Road Artesian Well seems to be the safest for repeatedly violating open container laws. The city has cleared away the underbrush on the well side of the creek, providing easy access to the water. The creek runs deep but slow, with plenty of shade from the trees lining the banks. Bring a cooler of beer and opaque cups, a lawn chair, and anything that plays music. This little park practically begs you to pull a dozen friends together and head north for a rowdy afternoon swimming hole party. 

Stop #3: Drinks at The Robert Trent Jones Trail  

(2600 Constitution Ave., Prattville, AL)

I’m more Rodney Dangerfield than Chevy Chase on the golf course (and honestly off the golf course too), so I’ve never been to the Capitol Hill golf complex on the RTJ trail. When my friend Donovan Ivey suggested we go out there for a margarita, I kind of thought he was insane. Then I went. The clubhouse features beautiful verandas and porches for outdoor seating, perfect landscaping around a classic fountain, and tremendous views of downtown Montgomery from the first hole of “The Judge.” The margaritas will blow away any of your lingering sobriety. 

Stop #1: The Singing Waffle House 

(2597 Cobbs Ford Rd. off of Interstate 65)

Slide into a cozy booth. Don’t be shy about sitting on the same side. Ask the waitress if Valerie, the singing cook is in. If you go on the weekend before 12:00, she should be. Relax and stare longingly at each other over a cup of coffee while Valerie serenades you with solid gold oldies, classic hip-hop, and the occasional gospel or Christmas song, but with added lyrics about Waffle House. 

Stop #2: Bamboo Forest 

(800 Upper Kingston Rd., Prattville, AL)

Join the hundreds before you who have memorialized their love by carving your initials and a heart into a bamboo shoot. Once you’ve made your love “bamboo forest” official, explore the forest’s 27 acres of pure romance. Go off the trail and into the dry creek beds; feel free to explore the space. Warning: no matter how tempted you are to make love in the woods, remember it is full of frogs and insects. Keep it safe, make-outs only. 

Stop #3: The Park surrounding the Daniel Pratt Gin 

(The middle of downtown Prattville)

Before you leave home, put a bottle of Rose, some chicken salad and pimento cheese, some fresh fruit, some crackers, and a serving piece into a basket. Grab a blanket and something to read. Now you’re prepared for a romantic picnic next to Pratt’s dam across Autauga Creek. You can wade in the water, lay down and read to each other on your blanket, have some snacks and just relax. Now go home and fool around until you get bored with it. Next stop, “Married with Children.” 

Let Us Talk of Moonshine Things

WORDS Caroline Rosen  PHOTOS Thomas Lucas

Stills Crossroads, located at the corner of Highway 7 and Highway 8 on the Bullock County - Pike County Line, looks like any other minor 4-way in any other part of rural Alabama. Cars pass infrequently and leisurely, the woods run right up to the roadway, signs for church events, tree services and political candidates advertise like miniature billboards in one area the otherwise sparse population concentrates. A small convenience store provides necessaries to the locals who don't want to drive 30 minutes to Troy or Union Springs for bread and toothpaste. Cars honk lightly in recognition at the old men congregated under the overhang on the convenience store's front porch, the men partially hidden by advertisements for cigarettes and soft drinks tacked to the overhang's pillars.

If you just drove by on your way to somewhere else, giving Stills Crossroads only a passing glance, you'd never notice what distinguishes this particular rural 4-way from any other. You'd fail to see the Styrofoam cups in those old men's hands, those cups filled with local moonshine. You'd never know that 50 pound bags of sugar fill store shelves on Friday, but by Sunday, they're sold out. You'd fail to hear the gossip about families with "moonshine in their blood," families that took care of people and built this part of Bullock County on moonshine after World War II; families that still show up in arrest records for moonshining today. You would have no reason to know that the area surrounding Stills Crossroads is the moonshiningest place in Alabama. 

Moonshine culture is the culture in Bullock County. At the Macedonia Baptist Church Baseball Diamond, moonshiners sell their liquor on game days in the woods beyond the right-field line. Just down the street from the ball field sits the now-shuttered Almeria Club, site of early performances by Hank Williams, a raucous club where moonshine-fueled good times remain the stuff of legend. If you step off of the road in between, you literally cannot walk through the woods without tripping over a dormant (or working) moonshine still.

The indoctrination into moonshine culture starts early. The moonshine business exists in the shadows of illegality; nothing prevents youths from apprenticing under an old master long before they turn 21. The old masters hire the young people to carry heavy bags of grain and sugar out to the stills in the woods. Once there, the old master mixes the sugar, the grain, and the water, then pitches the yeast into the vat. For the next few weeks, the young apprentice keeps watch. After distillation, when the moonshine is complete, the youngster again does the heavy lifting, moving the moonshine out of the woods by the gallon jug. When the old master sells the moonshine, both locally and to places as far flung as Detroit, he shares the profits with the young apprentice.  Soon, the apprentice grows into a master moonshiner himself (it is almost always a "him"), a continuous cycle unbroken since before the Civil War.

Employment in Bullock County remains pretty much the same as it was before the Civil War too. The county's largest employers are agricultural concerns and the Department of Corrections. Not many are employed, and a good amount of those who are don't make much. What Bullock County, and other counties like it across the Eastern black-belt have, is moonshine. Moonshine is classic "dollar out of 15 cents" hustling, a way to separate yourself and your family from poverty. Moonshine subsidizes the low wages paid in Bullock County and employs hundreds in the shadow economy. Moonshiners invest their profits in gas stations, in farm land, and in timber. Moonshiners give to the church, make sure little leaguers have uniforms, and loan money to their neighbors in need. Moonshine culture, although illegal, keeps Bullock County from falling into the ever-widening economic gap between rural and urban America. But today, illegal moonshiners are under unprecedented attack.

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 Week after week, the headlines keep coming. April 18, 2014: "200 gallons of hooch seized in one of the largest moonshine operations in Lowndes County history." May 5, 2014: "24 gallons of moonshine seized, 8-barrel still destroyed in Bullock County raid." May 14, 2014: "Alabama's war on moonshine continues: ABC agents destroy 18-barrel still in Barbour County." May 28, 2014: "24-barrel moonshine still destroyed in rural Bullock County; 20th smashed since October." As I write, members of the ABC Board "Moonshine Task Force" are camped out in the woods around Bullock County, watching vapor drift from working stills, waiting for the owner's return, ready to make another headline bust.

The Taskforce's success comes from knowledge of the community, knowledge that allows the task force to avoid mistakes made in the past. For example, a few years ago some agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms went out into the woods intending to bust moonshiners. Those agents made one simple mistake: they stopped at a convenience store in Bullock County for canned fish and crackers before entering the forest. As soon as the door to that convenience store closed -- the sound of the cashier saying "y'all come back now" still ringing in the air -- the cashier picked up the phone. Within minutes, like a snow-day phone chain, every moonshiner in Bullock County and the surrounding area was aware of the agents' presence. The agents found some empty stills, but no moonshiners were present for the agents to arrest.

The work of today's Moonshine Taskforce is far less sloppy. Although less than a year old, the Taskforce has successfully forced Alabama's moonshiners into a war of attrition the moonshiners cannot win. Day after day, moonshine barrels are put to the axe, equipment is broken, and moonshine is confiscated by the gallon. The State's resources in this area are essentially limitless -- agents will get their paychecks from the ABC Board as long as Alabama remains in the liquor regulation business. The moonshiners, although operating in vast forestland with the home-field advantage, don’t have the resources to compete. At the current pace with which equipment is destroyed, moonshiners are arrested, and profits are lost, it won't be long before the price of moonshine dramatically increases.

The Taskforce will win the war on moonshine once moonshine ceases to be a low cost alternative to legal alcohol. The higher the cost of moonshine, the more likely a buyer will go to the local ABC store instead of a trailer at the end of a gravel-lined road. But what happens next? What will happen to the churches, the little leaguers and the neighbors in need? How will those currently subsidizing their income with moonshine get by? What will replace illegal moonshine in places like Bullock County?

*                      *                      *

At this point, it’s necessary to mention that not all moonshine in Bullock County is illegal. Jamie Ray owns and operates  High Ridge Spirits in Bullock County, the first legal alcohol distillery in Alabama. Ray's current bestselling product is Stills Crossroads 'Shine, a legal moonshine that has been in Alabama's ABC stores since late last year.  In early June, Ray toured me around his company's namesake, High Ridge in Bullock County, pointing out all of the locations that figure in Bullock County's moonshine lore.

Ray came to moonshining later in life. He grew up out West, and first came to the South as a renowned beer maker. He served as brewmaster across Florida and Alabama at breweries like Back Forty Brewing Company, the Brewpub in Montgomery, Hammerhead Brewing in Key West and a stint as the in-house beer maker at the Clevelander in Miami. He came to Bullock County not for liquor, but for horses. Ray and his wife purchased property outside of Union Springs to use as a horse farm, but when the economy collapsed in 2008, so did the market for $15,000 quarter horses.

When the horse business cratered, Ray needed to find a way to generate income from his Bullock County property. Ray knew the area's reputation for moonshining and knew the area had plenty of fresh spring water (it's called "Union Springs" for a reason), so Ray decided to take the lemons life had given him and make liquor.  He contacted the ABC Board and started what would become months of negotiations. At the end, Ray and the ABC Board had collaborated in re-crafting Alabama's liquors laws, culminating in Ray being granted the first liquor distilling license in Alabama since the ABC was instituted in 1937.

Ray estimates it cost him $75,000 in time and money to gain his license and set up the distillery. All of his equipment is top-of-the-line, with a custom-built copper still, stainless steel fermentation vats, and a bottling machine that fills bottles so efficiently he only uses half of its capacity in order to make it worthwhile for someone working an hourly wage to operate it. Ray's distillery is not limited to moonshine, and he will soon roll out a rum, a gin, and a vodka to go along with the 'Shine. He keeps a barrel full of exotic spices and extracts for use in his distilled spirits, and is currently experimenting with aging his 'Shine in oak barrels in an effort to eventually go beyond moonshine and into the world of craft whiskey.   

I asked Ray if he thought the illegal moonshiners viewed him as competition, or if he'd had any problems with the locals since setting up shop in Bullock County.  Ray said  he had not. An illegal moonshiner charges $30 for a gallon of moonshine. Stills Crossroads 'Shine costs about $30 a bottle, making 'Shine very much a premium product in comparison. Instead of viewing him as competition, the moonshiners view Ray as a novelty, and also as a possible source of work. Ray told me that almost every day someone claiming to have moonshining experience will drop by his farm -- on foot, in a truck, or even once on a tractor -- to inquire about a job at High Ridge Spirits.   

Currently, business at High Ridge Sprits is booming, and when Ray does well, so does the State of Alabama. For every bottle of 'Shine sold in the ABC store for $28.99,  Alabama receives $14.77 in liquor taxes and profit. With that profit margin, it's easy to see why the ABC Board has cracked down on illegal moonshining.  The ABC Board's efforts force moonshiners to make a choice: go straight and split their profits with the State, or go directly to jail.

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And now a for a tale of two cities. The first city has a population of 5,740, with median household income of $36,591 and approximately 10% of the population below the poverty line. The second city has a population of 3,670, with median household income of $18,520 and approximately 40.1% of the population below the poverty line. The first city is Lynchburg, Tennessee, home of the Jack Daniels Distillery. The second city is Union Springs, the county seat of Bullock County and a place in desperate need of an economic jumpstart.  If Union Springs looked more like Lynchburg, people would have no reason to rely on illegal moonshine for supplemental income.  

According to Jamie Ray, legal moonshine in Bullock County could easily be as big as Jack Daniels Whiskey is for Lynchburg. Legal moonshine, like that produced by High Ridge Spirits, could serve as the vehicle bringing moonshine out of the shady woods and into the bright world of economic development. Ray explained his end goal with High Ridge Spirits is the construction of a massive distillery complex featuring tours, a restaurant, an RV Park, and all the other amenities offered at the large whiskey and bourbon distilleries of Tennessee and Kentucky. The job creation and revenue a project like this could bring -- including tourist dollars, sales tax revenue, and direct investment in hotels, restaurants and shops -- is massive. A comparison of the economic situations of Union Springs and Lynchburg amply demonstrates legal distilling's potential.  

Legal moonshine, and the celebration of Bullock County's heritage as the moonshine capital of Alabama, has near limitless economic development potential. Downtown Union Springs once featured a museum celebrating the history of illegal moonshine, but that museum closed due to lack of funding. While it may be painful for some to admit, a museum is where illegal moonshining belongs. If legal moonshine achieves its economic potential, bringing money, jobs, and investment to Bullock County, the reopening of the moonshine museum in downtown Union Springs would be a symbolic way to connect Bullock County's past with Bullock County's future.

World Cup Fever Outbreak with The American Outlaws

This summer, soccer fans from all over the globe will travel to Brazil to experience the cultural and sporting phenomenon that is the World Cup. The month-long soccer tournament is comprised of teams from 32 nations, played every four years in a different country. The United States will be participating in its seventh straight World Cup this summer.

Here in Montgomery, there is a rapidly-growing groundswell of US Soccer supporters. They come together to cheer, chant, sing and proudly display their passion and support not only for the United States and its national team, but for the game of soccer as well. They are dedicated, passionate and organized: They are the American Outlaws, a national organization dedicated to increasing support for the United States men’s and women’s national teams, represented by local area chapters across the country. Montgomery officially became the 130th chapter earlier this May.

“Everyone knows that college football is king in Alabama, but you would be surprised by how many people here in Montgomery enjoy watching US Soccer,” said Bret Stanfield, Montgomery chapter president. “We started getting people on board with this group last fall and now we consistently have strong turnouts for United States matches. It’s great. The support and participation at our watch parties has been amazing.”

Now, with the largest sporting event in the world at hand, the American Outlaws welcome the city of Montgomery to join them for the festivities.

The Montgomery chapter regularly holds events at The Tipping Point in Hampstead to watch US Soccer matches and meet other US Soccer fans from around the city. The Tipping Point will host viewing parties for all United States World Cup matches. “The Tipping Point is the perfect place for our group,” said Stanfield. “It's a good venue for us for many reasons and the staff has done everything to accommodate us. We are very grateful and proud to call The Tipping Point the official home of the Montgomery chapter.”

The Outlaws will gather in full force for the first US Soccer match of the World Cup against Ghana on Monday, June 16. Ghana has eliminated the United States from the last two World Cup tournaments. Enough said. The match is scheduled to begin at 4 pm. Following the opening group stage match against Ghana, the US faces Portugal on Sunday, June 22, and then Germany on June 26. 

For more information about the American Outlaws, visit www.theamericanoutlaws.com. You can also reach the Montgomery chapter by email at aomontgomery@gmail.com.

The Bone Collector

Picking Through Alabama With Butch Anthony

WORDS Brent Rosen  IMAGES Butch Anthony

In the 1970’s, 14-year-old Butch Anthony was exploring the countryside of Seale, Alabama, when he happened upon some bones. Dinosaur bones. Seale is famously fertile fossil territory, but the find was still impressive enough for young Anthony to display. He put the skeleton in what he called The Museum of Wonder, the first of what would be thousands of pieces in Anthony’s five-hundred-square-foot cabin. From then on, love of bones would inspire Anthony’s work.

Anthony did not grow up in an artistic family. “Pinky and Blue Boy were my parents idea of art,” Anthony explained, “they didn’t really understand what I was up to. Still don’t.” But Anthony continued to explore artistic curiosities, mixing fossils, sculptures and crafts. He later attended Auburn, where, naturally, he majored in Anatomy.

Anatomy influences Anthony’s best known work, his superimposition of bones on others’ portraiture. You can think of him as a bizzaro Da Vinci. Anthony is uninterested in anatomical proportion or perfection; instead, Anthony is drawn to what’s going on beneath the human surface. Bones, veins, muscles, the commonality of what’s under the skin. Da Vinci highlighted the perfection of the human form by raising it on a pedestal. Anthony shows us that although many people believe their own perfection is worthy of artistic capture, underneath we are all the same.

Recently, Anthony added another subversive element to his already-renegade version of Southern-Gothic art, adding short, strange phrases to his bone-portraits. “I write down all the weird things I overhear, and then put them on the paintings,” Anthony said. Whether it’s their thought-provoking nature, their outsider rebelliousness, or their subtle memento mori flavoring, Anthony’s bone paintings have become nationally, and even internationally, acclaimed. Galleries in Portland, Oregon, Marfa, Texas, and London, England, regularly display Anthony’s works for sale, and Anthony has a museum show in Akron, Ohio later this year.

But the Museum of Wonder in Seale remains the best place to get the full Anthony. The difference between a hoarder and a collector is the difference between a crazy person and an eccentric: charm, purpose, intentionality. The collection at the Museum of Wonder - skeletons and bones of all kinds, wood working, random bric-a-brac in sufficient form and volume to render the otherwise unremarkable into the sublime - inspires awe because of its purposefulness. The collection may be random, the installation is anything but.

I told a friend about the Museum of Wonder, and she immediately connected Anthony’s museum with the “Cabinets of Wonder” popular in pre-industrial Europe. Cabinets of Wonder, sometimes actual cabinets, other times entire rooms, were proto-museums, private places in private homes where the wealthy could store and display curiosities. The Cabinets served two purposes. First, the collections were meant to show the sophistication and worldliness of the collector. Only a true world traveler could amass Middle Eastern textiles or African sculptures or Jade from the Far East in a world without tracking numbers and international shipping. Second, the Cabinets existed to aid story-telling, the contents acting as visual aids for a somewhat-pretentious seeming game of show-and-tell.

Like most everything Anthony produces, his Museum takes the traditional - in this case the Cabinet of Wonder - and twists it into something new that fits his own artistic vision. Like the Cabinets of old, Anthony’s Museum tells a story, but his is a very Southern story. A story about place, about ancestry, about a connection with land, about taking nothing and turning it into something. If the Museum of Wonder were food, it would be pigs feet, oxtail, greens; food that you don’t even realize is food until someone capable prepares it. 

The Museum of Wonder will always be the personal catalogue of one man’s idiosyncrasies, but it also serves to inspire a new generation of artists and makers in the South. The next generation can come to the Museum, or the Doo-Nanny - Anthony’s annual art festival, and realize one needn’t fancy galleries, fawning critics, or formal training to make great art. The Museum also shows the next generation that curiosity, vision, and dedication are what makes a great artist - and you don’t need to be in New York or L.A. to find an audience for your work.  

One of Anthony’s works is an antique photograph of a woman’s head and shoulders, under which Anthony has painted a curly-cue stick-figure body. The caption: “Reality doesn’t interest me.” If you take nothing else from Anthony’s work, let it remind you that reality is a state of mind, and only one of many.

Audwin McGee

WORDS Amy Collins   PHOTO Robert Rausch

Florence native Audwin McGee works large. His architectural designs are grand, incorporating natural elements like stone and rough hewn wood; original furniture designs boast carved details that demand attention; a recent series of sculptures made from recycled aluminum, commissioned by the four cities that make up The Shoals (Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, Tuscumbia), represent the area’s rich music history and reach nearly 20 feet; and many of his paintings cover an entire wall. A few of those paintings - and a few smaller works - are featured at Southern Makers. 

Of course there’s more to McGee’s work than impressive size. Painting is the artist’s preferred medium, and if you ask him a few questions you’ll quickly realize he is foremost a storyteller, like all good Southerners, and that each painting illustrates a personal tale. A recent painting titled “The Consumed and the Consumer” portrays a tarpon swallowing a man (the artist himself) who is in turn attempting to swallow a school of smaller fish. When McGee talks about the painting, one hears echoes of Santiago’s struggle with the marlin in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Both men are consumed with the fish, with reeling it in, as the fish consumes the man, taking every drop of his physical and mental energy in the fight. In Santiago’s case, the battle is a lost cause, a metaphor for the inevitable. But McGee’s work, even when the images slip into the sobering margins of life, exhibits a whimsical quality that reminds the viewer, and the sportsman, that it is a sport after all. The message may be simple, but it is poignant and effective.  

Much of McGee’s canon is influenced by his passion for the hunt. Past works depict scenes from his adventures in Africa, where he spent several years in hunting camps on the Niassa Reserve in Mozambique, which interlope hyenas and warthogs with tall, thin women in short skirts and high heels - usually images of his wife and muse, Sandi. These days, McGee draws inspiration from a more Southern exposure. One painting in particular, titled “You Just Better Go Chase a Hawk,” tells a common story. A turkey vulture spreads it’s wings to deflect an encroaching crow, as if he’s saying, “Buzz off, this rabbit road kill is mine”!  The colors are vivid, the birds illustrative and amusing, and the background was created with a coffee wash. Yes, he paints with leftover morning coffee. It has fast become a favorite. 

Fishing is a recurrent theme. One painting tells the story of an old bass that has escaped the fishermen’s line so many times it has become a legend. The creature’s body is pierced with lures, many of which are no longer made, a detail McGee promises a bass fisherman would  appreciate. Hog hunting is also a strong influence in the work, or more specifically, the noble dogs that track, bait, and attack the wild hogs. McGee raises hunting dogs and his knowledge of the breeds is impressive. One painting pays tribute to a beloved dog named Tugger, who was lost in battle. The crowned canine sits upon a throne, the background is black as a moonless night, and a mountain of boar skulls are piled at his feet. Another painting captures the dramatic action of a hog hunt, the dogs hanging off the beast by their jaws. 

McGee’s work is immersed in masculinity, though that’s not to say his creations are for men only. The stories that inspire them are universal and lasting. Take, for example, a composition demonstrating a clear admiration for the literary giant William Faulkner, which depicts the author himself, Old Ben and Lion, the Airedale mix, walking in tandem toward the night woods. It’s an obvious hat tip to the writer’s famed short story, “The Bear.” Isn’t every good Southerner well-versed on that classic?

Some of the paintings mentioned here are on display at Southern Makers, along with a few smaller sculptural pieces. You can learn more about the artist, his travels through Africa and his literary influences on his website, www.apmcgee.com.

Mt. Megis Road & The Coming Resurgence

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WORDS Katie Vega   PHOTOS  Thomas Lucas and Jon Kohn

Mt. Meigs Road. You know, that street that makes your morning commute into downtown 31 seconds faster by avoiding Madison. As a Montgomery native, I am fairly familiar with the road — and no, not just from driving it on my way to work. My earliest memories of Mt. Meigs include going with my dad to take his car to the shop and eating breakfast at Capitol Grill every Saturday morning with my mom after our 5 a.m. yard sale adventures.

Today, Mt. Meigs seems to mirror the images I have in my memory. Car shops - still there. Capitol Grill - newly reopened. But deep in the facades of the mechanic shops, beauty salons, and diners is so much more. There are visions of a community main street—think Cloverdale’s Fairview. The City has used it as a project in their Capital of Dreams campaign. And recently, this vision turned into a live sketch of what Mt. Meigs could be, through Better Block Montgomery. Joe Birdwell, the man who brought the program to Capitol Heights, heard about it through TED Talks, and he decided the best place to bring it was to his own block. Here are some of Joe’s thoughts about his neighborhood:

“We have always had a soft spot for Mt. Meigs, having eaten at the original Capitol Grill many times, gone to the food festivals at the Greek Orthodox Church, and shopped at various places along that road. We even dreamed of renovating and opening our own office space in one of the old buildings there.

We are proud of Mendel opening Kru on Mt. Meigs, and we so badly want to see more businesses return to this quaint little district so close to our home. Mt. Meigs used to be a bustling area, and we want to see it that way once more.

We have seen the neighborhood come together time and time again for projects and initiatives like “Save the 1802” and our growing numbers on our neighborhood message board at Nextdoor.com.

My wife grew up in Capitol Heights, with its wide porches and shady sidewalks, so when it came time to buy a house, we completely fell in love with not only the charming and eclectic old houses, but also the friendly and fascinating people that live in them. We have a lot of young families, professors, artists, and just really interesting people overall. And we love being a part of the new energy and revitalization happening here.”

So let’s have a little history lesson, shall we? Capitol Heights was incorporated as a town in 1907 and became a part of the city of Montgomery around 1926. South California’s Craftsman style influenced the developers, and accents such a decorative beams and exposed rafters are still seen in most of the neighborhood’s gentrified homes. During the Depression and World War I and II, duplexes were built to serve as affordable housing for soldiers and young couples - and these Depression era houses are still serving their original purpose. 

Back to present day. The Capitol Heights neighborhood is about as diverse as it gets. While this drives some people away (because, let’s face the sad truth— there are still white people afraid of black people), it draws in the people that thrive off of qualities such as cultural differences, and these are the people most needed to shape Montgomery’s future. I recently met a couple, who I now call my friends, that paint the perfect little picture of what Capitol Heights personifies.
Enter Neil David Seibel and Mendel Brown - one a theatre professor and another a man of many hats - who happily choose to call Capital Heights their home. And there are a couple of facts about these two I would like to point out. One is black, one is white. They are a homosexual couple who have traveled the world and lived in places such as Sweden (the fifth “happiest” country in the world), Hawaii, and New York City. And these two beautiful souls chose to live here - a fact that should make us all proud to call this place home.

And you’re probably thinking, “these people are CRAZY...they left New York to come HERE?” Well friends, as Mendel put it best - paradise is a state of mind, not a destination. And while we are on the subject...can we STOP saying “Montgomery sucks” or “I know...Alabama” when we meet new people. Because if you opened your eyes, you would see what ND, Mendel, myself, and so many others see: a city, deeply rooted in a controversial history coming into its own, with places like Capitol Heights at the forefront.

Okay, back on track...

Always a dreamer, Mendel moved here knowing that he could afford to dream. In New York, he and his partner could have never afforded to do what they wanted. And what they wanted is to give themselves, their neighbors, and visitors from all around a gathering place. Somewhere to be social (or not) with your neighbors, accompanied by a glass of wine or cup of joe. And that’s exactly what they are doing. KRU on Mt. Meigs, (soon to be) Montgomery’s only lounge, will be a third space full of art, world-class coffee, an extensive wine collection, cozy outdoor areas, and comfy sofas (!!!). Housed in a used- to-be abandoned building and clothed in good taste, KRU is Mendel’s baby. And y’all, wait until you see it! I wish I could share every top-secret detail, but I’ve been sworn to secrecy. Just know that you will love it.

The hope for a lot of people is that business owners will follow Mendel’s lead. Think about it... Mt. Meigs is the perfect road for restaurants, shops, lofts, lounges. Rent is cheap. Traffic is steady. And location is pretty perfect. Mt. Meigs is a hop from Cloverdale and a skip from downtown and just beyond the winding porches of Capitol Heights. And already-established business call Mt. Meigs home. Capitol Grill, an eatery featured in Martha Stewart Living, recently reopened its doors after being closed for years. Think sunny-side up eggs, pork chops, and biscuits - a cozy Southern meat and three with a long history. And the sometimes unnoticed Taqueria El Campesino - where you can stop in and get authentic Mexican food made with fresh ingredients, and a Spanish lesson.

Bottom line, put Mt. Meigs on your radar. Remember the aforementioned, and think about its future, because it’s a bright one.

So my challenge for you is this: drive through the neighborhood. Turn on St. Charles, North Capitol, or any street your heart fancies. Stroll down Mt. Meigs, starting on Madison and ending at Adams, and imagine what it could be. Find KRUonMtMeigs, Capitol Grill, Taqueria El Campesino, Save 1802 Madison Project, and Historic Capitol Heights on Facebook. And check back with us to learn more about the opening of KRU.

Monochromatic

WORDS  Caroline Taylor

Working in monochrome, artists featured in monochromatic push their limits conceptually under restriction of a single color. With roots dating back to the Suprematist Composition in Moscow, monochromatic tradition is an important component of the avant-garde of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Influential to the practice, Color Field painters and Minimalists of the mid- twentieth century, such as Mark Rothko, Ellsworth Kelly and Richard Tuttle, developed single-color use – eventually incorporating shaped canvases. With enduring relevance, execution of artworks using a limited palette (today explored in various mediums) references the long tradition from the past while continuing to prove significant to the present.
The three artists included in triumph & disaster’s monochromatic explore the practice from three different angles. Cameron Martin’s meticulous process presents a contemporary use of traditional landscape, evoking a sense of non-specific nostalgia. Leslie Smith III updates the use of the shaped canvas with paintings showing his understanding of spatial relationships – the restricted color palette allowing the strong and intentional lines of his constructions to serve as the composition. Referencing media of pop culture, Javier Barrios’ cut-mylar collages move between fact and fantasy, confronting the great philosophical questions of mankind.
Artists included: Javier Barrios, Cameron Martin, Leslie Smith III TRIUMPH & DISASTER, www.triumphdisastergallery.com


A Man, A Myth, And the Unraveling of a Legend

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WORDS  Brent Rosen   PHOTOS  Jon Kohn

Sam Davis, boy hero of the South, was executed as a spy by Union Forces just after Thanksgiving in 1863. He’d been captured a few days before, well behind Union lines in Minor Hill, Tennessee, carrying papers and information on Union troop movements near Nashville. Had Sam Davis been nothing more than a soldier carrying out orders, his life would have been spared; he would have sat out the remainder of the war in any of a number of prisoner of war camps. But spies were different. The laws of war did not apply to spies; if a spy was caught, the spy was killed.

When Union troops caught Davis, he carried letters and other effects that Union General Grenville Dodge believed could have only come from his personal desk. Fearing a mole in his organization, General Grenville decided to press Davis on the source of his information. Davis was given a choice: he would be freed immediately in exchange for the names of his superior officers and the names of any turncoats in the Union ranks. Davis admitted to being a Confederate courier, but refused to name names and denied any involvement in any sort of Confederate espionage. When Davis refused to assist the Union investigation, he was court martialed on charges of spying against the Union.

The coat Davis wore at the time of his capture became an important piece of evidence against him during the trial. While the modern imagination often envisions the Civil War fought between the South in gray and the North in blue, the reality at that time was not so clear cut. Many soldiers wore irregular uniforms and often took clothing from fallen soldiers regardless of affiliation. In addition, soldiers fighting during the Civil War had limited ability to wash their uniforms, and after a few weeks of marching, fighting, sleeping out in the elements and marching some more, Union and Confederate uniforms would become filthy to the point of indistinguishability.

When Davis was caught, the fact it looked like he was wearing a Union greatcoat was used to support the charges against him. If Davis had tried to conceal his identity as a Confederate by wearing the uniform of his enemy, the thinking went, then the likelihood of him being a spy increased greatly. Davis protested during the court martial that his mother had dyed a found Union coat Confederate gray, but that the color didn’t hold. The failure of the color to hold, coupled with the jacket’s filthy condition, Davis argued, made the jacket appear Union blue. Unfortunately for Davis, his protestations fell on deaf ears, and the military court convicted him of espionage. His sentence: death.

The next day Davis stood, on the gallows, noose around his neck, the skies presumably overcast, maybe even a bit rainy, grimly ready to face his fate. The Union officer overseeing the execution gave Davis a final chance — he offered imprisonment instead of hanging if Davis would reveal his Union source. In response, Davis uttered the words that would make him a Southern hero: “I would die a thousand deaths before I would betray a friend.” Shortly thereafter, 21-year-old Sam Davis was hung until death.

Just before ascending the gallows, Davis gave his coat to a soldier in the Union camp, asking only that someone return the coat to his family and inform them of his fate. The coat eventually ended up back in Smyrna, Tennessee, where the Davis family had a 160-acre cotton farm. Immediately, there was speculation that Davis’ execution was unwarranted, based mainly on the coat -- to Davis’ friends and family, the coat appeared standard Confederate issue. As the story of Davis’ honor in the face of death spread, the boy wrongly executed as a spy became a mythical figure. The legend spread across Tennessee - the Davis family farm was turned into a museum in 1930 and the state of Tennessee erected a statue commemorating Davis on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol. But the mystery remained: was Davis wrongly executed, or was he a spy?

* * *

Howard Sutcliffe took the long way to Montgomery, Alabama. Born in Manchester, England, he attended design school at the University of Dundee, in Scotland. When he enrolled in design school in 1993, his initial intention was to design cars. But when Howard learned that car design is not “sitting in a farmhouse in Tuscany sketching Ferrari’s all day,” he decided to follow his other passion: textiles. So he received a B.A. in tapestry weaving, a degree that would have been extremely useful 500 years ago.

But Howard understood the avenues that opened up for a textile expert, especially in the world of historic preservation. Think about a museum, or a historic home, or the contents of an old wealthy family’s attic. While all of those places are likely filled with paintings, books, and papers, they are equally likely to be full of textiles: rugs, tapestries, blankets, quilts, clothing. Textiles, just as paintings, books, and papers, need to be restored if worn from age or otherwise damaged.
Howard learned the textile conservation trade at Hampton Court, a royal palace in Southeast London. An old palace makes the perfect training center for a textile conservator -- it’s full of old tapestries, rugs, and other artifacts of daily life that need frequent restoration. For three years, Howard trained by working on royal artifacts from the palace, but eventually moved on to museum work in Liverpool. In Liverpool, Howard would restore the museum’s fabric-based pieces before they were exhibited and would repair those pieces damaged while on display.

In early 2000, Howard came to America, where he worked in Lowell, Massachusetts. During the Industrial Revolution, Lowell served as the epicenter of textile production in the United States. In 1860, the city of Lowell housed more cotton spindles than all 11 of the Confederate states combined. Lowell reached its peak in the 1920’s, but the combination of cotton production’s movement to the South and the Great Depression crushed the city’s economic base. Between the 1930’s and the late 1990’s, Lowell could charitably be described as unpleasant. But the city’s historic status as the former center of the textile industry in the United States gave reason to build the American Textile History Museum in Lowell. The museum established a textile conservation program in the late 1970’s, and Howard worked in that program for a few years, preserving and curating the remnants of the New England textile trade.

Following his work in Lowell, Howard moved on, first to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and then to the Detroit Institute of the Arts, where he conserved that museum’s massive collection of Native American and African textiles. While in Detroit, Howard started coming to Montgomery, Alabama, the family home of his partner Rusty, and during his time in Montgomery, Howard came to a realization: textile conservatorship barely existed in the South. Approximately 200 textile conservators work in the United States, but they are clustered mainly in between Washington, DC and Boston, in LA and San Francisco, and in the major mid-western cities of Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis. Howard saw the dearth of conservatorship across the South, and recognized the opportunity.

“I sent information to pretty much every museum and historic house in the Southeast, certainly all of them in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, because there really was no one working in textile conservation in the region,” Howard said. The South generally holds its history in high esteem, but when it came to textiles, things were in a very raw state. Historic houses in Boston knew where to send their textiles for cleaning and servicing and had taken advantage of the service of conservators for years. In the South, not so much. Howard went part time with the Detroit Museum and started spending more and more time in Montgomery.

Private commissions make up a good portion of Howard’s work in the South. For instance, in December 2013, a descendant of President Andrew Jackson living in Atlanta contacted Howard about the restoration of a fan that had belonged to Jackson’s wife, Rachel. The jubilant citizens of New Orleans gave Rachel Jackson the fan after the battle of New Orleans in 1815, one of many gifts showered upon Andrew Jackson, his family, and his troops after the successful repelling of the British invaders.

The fan remained in the Jackson family, but for years no one paid the fan much attention. Over time, the structure of the fan had degraded to a state of catastrophic fragility or as Howard explained, “I’d worked on mummies that were in better condition.” Howard did structural support work with polyesther crepoline (fake silk fabric (I think)) and slowly worked the fan back into shape. When Howard returned the fan to the descendants of our seventh president, they were thrilled with the result. So much so, in fact, they gave Howard another project: the repair of a family wedding veil first worn by President Jackson’s granddaughter.

While private commissions from the families of prominent historical figures are nice, what’s really kept Howard busy for the last few years has been the various 150th anniversaries surrounding the Civil War. The Civil War began in 1861; therefore, starting in 2011, every day a battle, a death, a turning point, or a hero reaches the commemorative milestone of 150 years. These anniversaries created a bonanza for textile conservators, as the Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy supported the conservation and restoration of flags, hats, and uniforms for use in 150th commemorations across the South. One such project supported by the Sons of the Confederacy involved the restoration of Sam Davis’ coat. The Sons wanted the coat for the festivities surrounding the 150th Anniversary of Davis’ execution.

***

The coat remained in the Davis family for some years before it found its way into the collection of the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville. And there it sat, until 2013. The Sons contacted the museum, expressing interest in using the coat during a series of events commemorating the 150th anniversary of Davis’s execution and the museum agreed to loan the coat to the Sons for the commemoration. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just Sam Davis who had a rough go of it after he and the coat parted ways. The coat needed significant restoration. The Sons contacted Howard, and soon after, the coat was in Howard’s Montgomery studio on Ridge Avenue.

When he received the coat, Howard thought it was a mess. “It was in very rough shape, it had been souvenired, was missing chunks, and had lived a tough life at the museum,” he said. Most museums kept atrocious records before the 1970s because no one outside of the museum was paying attention. Things that should have been well-preserved and taken care of simply weren’t. The coat had been in the Nashville Museum since at least 1942, when the director of the museum wrote a letter to someone explaining that the coat was falling to pieces, and that the museum was willing to pay $5.00 to a tailor to stitch it back together.

Modern textile conservators work a bit differently (and for more money). A tenant of textile conservatorship: one should do nothing that cannot be undone. You don’t want to do anything irrevocable as a conservator, because in 10 years, a new process could be available that could restore the work more effectively and authentically. The field is constantly evolving, with new treatments being developed every year.

One of those new innovations in textile conservatorship recently occurred in dye analysis. In the past, in order to analyze the dye in a garment to determine its age — or its color — a sample of the garment had to be taken, and through the process that sample was destroyed. This precluded dye analysis for a number of pieces because of the “nothing irrevocable” tenant of textile conservatorship. Removing a portion of a garment and destroying it = irrevocable. But within the last few years, a new method of dye analysis was invented, and this new method was non- destructive. Suddenly, a whole new class of textiles became eligible for dye analysis. Within that class was Sam Davis’ coat.

As Howard conducted the dye analysis, he realized a 150-year-old mystery was about to be solved. The dye analysis revealed the coat had originally been gray, and that it had been dyed a dark blue sometime after its creation. Sam Davis had lied, his mother had not dyed a blue coat gray — she died a gray coat blue. Although it was a bit more CSI than Da Vinci Code, Howard had solved the 150 year old mystery. Sam Davis was a spy — the condition of his coat, an alibi.

Thanks to Howard, we now know the execution of Sam Davis was not the travesty claimed by Davis partisans. But Howard’s work also confirmed Davis’ incredible bravery. Davis was a spy; he did have names to name. All Davis needed to do was identify his co-conspirators and his life would have been saved. Howard’s work proved Davis made the ultimate war-time sacrifice: he kept his honor, but he lost his life. 

How To Fall In Love With Montgomery Again

WORDS  Rachel Fisher

My husband and I were in downtown Greenville, SC when we saw it: The way the trees leaned lovingly over Main Street. How the night sky was visible through their limbs..no power lines to crowd the view. The way hundreds of people were walking through the picturesque park on the river or making their way to one of the several delicious restaurants that line Main Street.

And for a moment that lasted several months, we wanted out of Montgomery. We had enough of longing for, “a better quality of life”. We wanted more parks, more restaurants. A food truck for crying out loud. So we did what most people would do: we began to plot our escape.

As it would go, things didn’t quite turn out as expected. With our own efforts exhausted, we decided to try this city we’ve called home for 20 plus years on in new ways and learned there’s nothing worse than being here without really “being here.” So, if you’re humming the Gump Town blues or a Montgomery native in need of a refreshing, here’s a few ideas to help to turn that beat around.

Learn: Hang around Montgomery long enough and you might think you know all there is to know about the city known for starting the Civil War, fueling the bus boycotts and raising Zelda. But after a trip to the archives on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I was enchanted all over again. But if the Archives doesn’t suit your fancy, there are plenty of ways to let Montgomery speak for itself. Join local historian Mary Ann Neely on one of her walking tours, visit the Rosa Parks Museum, walk the center aisle at Dr. Kings Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, or take a jog down Dexter and stand on the Capitol steps. It’s small things like this that help us reconnect with city we call home.

Explore: There are parts of Montgomery I never knew existed until I stopped asking Siri and just found my own darn way. If you’ve got the time to get lost make sure you do it with your eyes open. You never know what you might find. A  favorite food discovery has been G&S Donuts. They open at 5:00 am and close when they sell out. Go early and don’t leave without trying their cinnamon roll. For a more hands-on approach, Rescued Relics, run by the Landmarks Foundation, is a treasure trove of historic architectural elements and materials for all your DIY projects.

Create:  Montgomery, unlike other cities, presents the perfect opportunity for people to dream up something and actually pull it off. There’s the ability to meet with city leaders, get involved with what’s already going on and do that the thing you do without getting lost in the crowd. Montgomery provides a place for people to collaborate and innovate in ways other big cities can’t. If you have an idea, chances are you can make it happen. Our city has plenty of blank slates ready for your dreams to become reality.

Give Back: It feels good to invest in our city in a way that helps everyone. There are a handful of initiatives, organizations and people working to make Montgomery a better place. E.A.T. South, House to House in West Montgomery, and organizations caring for the poor like Mary Ellen’s Hearth, One Church Mission and the Nehemiah Center are just a few making a difference.

Into The Woods: Sondheim at The Cloverdale Playhouse

WORDS Katie Vega   PHOTOS Jon Kohn

Cloverdale Playhouse director Randy Foster puts it perfectly—theatre happens in the space between the audience and the actors.  

There is something about theatre.  Maybe it’s the fact that you are watching a story happen right before your eyes, acted out by real, live people.  Or it may be the fact that you know you are experiencing something beautiful that you will never see again, except in your memories.  Whatever the reason, the art of theatre is something to be experienced and our city has many opportunities to live out this artistic fantasy—whether for viewer or actor.  I’ve recently found the perfect place to experience this connection.

Cloverdale Playhouse, housed in a 1930s church, is the location of something spectacular—something that has disappeared into the abyss.  The Playhouse serves as a gathering place for a community of locals, working (and playing) together to create something magical.  This big, happy family, disguised as teachers, shop owners, massage therapists, and restaurateurs, gathers with one goal in mind—to create a creative outlet for ordinary locals—just like themselves—to be something more.  It is the place at the forefront for the redevelopment of our creative community.

As I sat with the actors of Cloverdale Playhouse, they didn’t even need to talk for me to experience the passion that was dripping from their cells.  Whether they had been acting for 60 years or 6 months, the commonality shared by this group of people—who actually highly differ in age, profession, and every other regard—is something to be seen, and you’ll see this unspeakable bond in the magic that happens on stage.

The group of actors I had the pleasure of talking with—including Eleanor Davis, Jonathan Conner, Emily Lowder Wootten, and Sarah Thornton—were so passionate about expressing the importance of a community theater in Montgomery.  Our city is bursting with creative beings that have a burning desire to act without necessarily making a life out of it.  Cloverdale Playhouse gives these citizens the opportunity to act while still leading their already established lives.  And the Playhouse truly is a community effort, with every single person being a volunteer—from the sound guy to the set designers.  Everyone.  

The Playhouse believes in using the resources available to them.  They don’t go out searching the world for the perfect actor to play the part—they use people who have ties to Montgomery and a passion to do what they love.  This simple mantra forces them to stick to the basics, to the true meaning of theater—telling a story that is both satisfying to an audience and gratifying to the actors.  This also allows everyone involved to try new things without having the hierarchy usually seen in the theatre world lingering above their heads.

And don’t be disheartened that these actors aren’t “professionals” (by “professional” standards).  Their unveiling passion trumps over a silly, little title.  And not only do they have passion, but every single actor involved with the Playhouse is extremely talented (the proof is in their sold out shows).  All are surprised at the level of goodness the actors possess.  Hey, you know they’re talented when 13 people are playing 24 parts…

Jonathan Conner, who plays multiple parts in the upcoming production, Into the Woods, explained his reasons for getting into theatre—all of which are intangible.  He believes that testing his own boundaries constantly keeps him on the edge of his own seat and getting into character forces him to understand his fellow man.  Eleanor Davis, who has been acting for SIXTY YEARS, was thrown into the spotlight at an early age, as her parents made her perform at dinner parties held at their home.  She swears if her father didn’t pass at a young age that he would have pushed his blonde-haired baby all the way to Broadway. She has been at the forefront for community theatre in Montgomery for years.  

Emily Lowder Wootten, a UGA theater graduate and former actress on the Chicago theater circuit, quickly learned that she didn’t like being told no, and this outlet allows her to continue living her passion without encountering the harshness of the theater world.  Sarah Thornton, who is the assistant director for Into the Woods, has been surrounded by theatre her entire life.  She grew up in the hallways of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where her father acted as artist director.  This forced her to fall in love with the beauty of a story.  Currently, Sarah lives in New York City where she is involved with Bama Theatre Company—a place where alumni from ASF perform entire plays out of a single trunk.

The Playhouse is currently in their third season and their upcoming production of Into the Woods begins February 13th and runs through the 23rd.  The musical, written by Stephen Sondheim, combines stories from the Brother Grimm into an epic fairy tale where worlds collide.  It is the story of what happens after happily ever after.  And although these fairy tales were written centuries ago, this particular musical merges them with real people and real problems, exposing daily issues we all face.  It makes the characters human, as they must make real choices about real things, things that have consequences.  The story is both hilarious and touching.  The actors of the Playhouse even admit to crying randomly during rehearsals because their hearts were touched by the story.

Everyone should jump at the opportunities available to become involved with Cloverdale Playhouse.  They are always looking for volunteers.  And don’t be scared—they didn’t make me recite every Tony award winner from the beginning of time or list every play written by Shakespeare.  The pretentiousness is left at the door, and these fine people will bring you into their family and make you feel right at home.  As Randy said, everyone has a sense of being, a sense of being a part of something larger than just a play.

So come hang out with us.  We’ll find something for you.  And whatever you’ll be doing, you will be helping to provide our community with the fostering of artistic opportunities.  And that, my friend, is something to be cherished.

For more information about classes, productions, and volunteer opportunities, visit
www.cloverdaleplayhouse.org and join the Cloverdale Playhouse group on Facebook.

Alabama Voices Exhibition at the Alabama Archives

WORDS   Brent Rosen        PHOTOS   Harvi Sahota

My favorite scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark is the end, when Indiana Jones is assured that “top men” are looking into the Ark of the Covenant, but in reality, the artifact joins thousands of other generic crates in a massive secret warehouse. What other treasures, the viewer is left to wonder, are similarly warehoused and what would it look like if all were displayed for public consumption? While that question is impossible to answer because Indiana Jones is a work of fiction, the Alabama Department of History and Archives has done its best to provide one answer with its new Alabama Voices exhibit. Over 800 artifacts have been emptied from the Archive’s warehouses, providing an unbelievably immersive tour of Alabama from the 1700s to the present.
The exhibit begins with the Native Americans, demonstrating small-town life in Alabama before European colonization. After the Native American exhibits comes the Cotton Economy, followed by a most necessary gallery of 19th-century-weapons porn from the Civil War. The complicated period of Reconstruction leads directly to Jim Crow -- just like in history -- before the entire exhibit wraps up with the “Space Race” and the transition of Alabama’s economy from largely agrarian to manufacturing.
The Archives hired the same people who designed the 9-11 Memorial, the George Bush Library, and many Smithsonian exhibits for Alabama Voices, and it shows. There are mini-movie theaters, interactive computer exhibits, ambient sounds from the various eras, and a wealth of photographs and other ephemera from the archives that bring the exhibition to life. Kids will love the many life-sized dioramas of life in the past, while adults can get a sense of how the major social and cultural events of the past 300 years played out across North, Central, and South Alabama.
Most Alabamians haven’t been in the Alabama Department of History and Archives building since their last school field trip in the Fourth Grade. You probably remember nothing but the many steps and the millions of pounds of marble. If that sounds familiar, it’s time for you to go back to the Archives. Alabama Voices is that good.

Grand Opening Schedule: February 15, 2014
9-9:30am - Music
9:30am - Ribbon Cutting Ceremony (Ribbon will be cut by Governor and Mrs. Robert J. Bentley)
9:50-11am - Bay City Brass Band
11-12pm - Poarch Creek Indian Dancers
12-1pm - Mariachi Garibaldi
1-2pm - The Recreators
2-3pm - Flying Jenny
3-4pm - Birmingham Sunlights

For more information about The Alabama Department of Archives & History visit www.archives.state.al.us or call 334.242.4435

Good Luck and Plenty of Money

WORDS Preston WIlliams

Good luck and plenty of money – that’s what many of us wish for as we toast good-bye to the previous year at midnight on December 31. Come lunch (or dinner, depending on how revelrous your N.Y.E.) we pile our plates with black-eyed peas, greens, and pork hoping for the promise of luck and money. Mystery and folk lore surround the tradition, and no one really knows the foundation. The only truth that matters is the one we grew up hearing.

One legend dates back to the Civil War. Black-eyed peas were considered animal food and were not worthy of General Sherman’s Union troops. When the Union soldiers raided the Confederate food supplies, legend says they took everything but the peas and salted pork. The Confederates considered themselves lucky to be left with such meager supplies and survived the winter. Peas became a symbol of luck in the South.

Black-eyed peas were also given to the slaves, as were most other traditional New Year’s foods. Let’s face it: most of the New Year’s recipes are soul food. One explanation of the superstition says that black-eyed peas were all the southern slaves had to celebrate with on the first day of January, 1863. What were they celebrating? That was the day when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. From that point on, peas were always eaten on the first day of January.

How are you supposed to eat the peas? My family always argues over this. Some people believe you should cook them with a new dime or penny, or add a coin to the pot before serving. The person who receives the coin in their portion will be extra lucky. I’ve heard you should eat exactly 365 peas on New Year’s Day; if you eat any less, you’ll only be lucky for that many days. I guess on leap years, you need to eat an extra one. If you eat any more than 365 peas, it turns those extra days into bad luck. Some say you should leave one pea on your plate, to share your luck with someone else (more of the humbleness that peas seems to represent). Others say if you don’t eat every pea on your plate, your luck will be bad.

Want to get rich? Here in the South, collard greens and corn bread bring the money on New Year’s Day, but it’s actually cabbage that is the king green around most of the world for New Year’s meals. Cabbage is a late crop and is available this time of year; because collard greens are a late crop too, they sub for cabbage in the South because that’s what grows here in winter. The southern tradition: each bite of greens you eat is worth $1,000 in the upcoming year. I love greens, all of them, and with as much as I ate last New Year’s, I’m surprised I’m not as rich as Creases! But I’ll try again this New Years!

Today, cabbage and greens (collards and turnips) both represent “green” money in New Year’s tradition, but historically, cabbage was eaten for health benefits. Cabbage was eaten by everyone from Caesar to the Egyptians to aid in digestion and for nutrition, then later for the prevention of scurvy. The philosopher Aristotle ate cabbage before drinking alcohol to keep the wine “from fuddling his prudent academic head” (I wonder why we don’t eat greens on New Year’s Eve then). Modern greens are not so different from those eaten by Caesar and Aristotle. The ancient cabbage those guys ate was closer to kale than our modern cabbage.

Corn bread represents pocket money or spending money. It’s another soul food we eat on New Year’s. The tradition stems from the color of the bread. Its color represented “gold” or “coin” money. Plus, it goes well with greens, peas and our next subject, pork.

The South isn’t the only place that eats pork on New Year’s Day. All over the world people are using marzipan pigs to decorate their tables, partaking in pig’s feet, pork sausage, roast suckling pig or pork dumplings.  Hogs and pigs have long been a symbol of prosperity and gluttony. It’s why we say someone is “being a pig” when they take more than their share. Some cultures believe that the bigger pig you eat on New Year’s, the bigger your wallet will be in the coming year. So, the “fatter” the pig, the “fatter” your wallet. While people around the world are eating pig for New Year’s, we’re the only ones who put so much faith in the jowl cut.

I probably need to explain what a hog jowl is, as some Yankees have never heard of this cut of pork. It’s the “cheek” of the hog. It tastes and cooks similar to thick cut bacon. It’s a tough cut that is typically smoked and cured. Hog jowl is used to season beans and peas, or fried and eaten like bacon. Why hog jowl? The short answer is that we eat cured pork because it’s winter time. Hog jowl is a cured product which stores well for long periods. During the winter, cured pork would be readily accessible meat.

How do you cook hog jowl for New Year’s? Some people only use the jowl to season their black-eyed peas and collard greens. Most in the south would say that’s not enough to make you prosperous. You also have to partake in some fried hog jowl. It’s cooked similar to bacon, but hog jowl is a bit tougher and takes a little longer to cook. Jowl typically comes in a package, sliced like thick bacon or uncut on the “rind.” Most people remove the rind, slice it and fry the slices in a skillet until brown on both sides. It’s then drained on a paper towel and served. Since it’s a cured food, it typically doesn’t need extra salt, but some like to serve it with pepper or hot sauce.

It’s also been said that if you eat only black-eyed peas, and skip the pork, collard greens and the accompaniments, the luck won’t stick. They all work together or not at all. It’s a good thing the people who created these superstitions up didn’t believe luck and money came from a combination of snails, cornbread and black-eyed peas. I don’t think that would have caught on. So, before you go popping those bottles of champagne, run by your local farmer’s market and pick up a mess of your favorite greens, some jowl, and a pound or two of black-eyeds -- just don’t forget to save a coin or two for the peas. 

Ask A Local: Los Angeles for the BCS Championship

WORDS Melissa Tsai

Los Angeles is really what you make of it; the city is rich in so many ways: food, art, music, shopping, nature. There’s a neighborhood for every personality. We’ve chosen Pasadena to be our first home on the West Coast. Pasadena is the home of the world famous stadium, renowned cultural attractions and educational institutions, and some of the best hotels and restaurants in the Los Angeles area. Having just moved here a few months ago with my husband and 19-month old, we already have a list of our local favorites. 

Copa Vida (70 S. Raymond Ave) is my favorite coffee spot in our neighborhood. This is where I’d go to satisfy my caffeine kick and get some work done on the side. If you’re not a coffee drinker, I’d take you down the street to Flour + Tea (238 S. Arroyo Pkwy).  This cozy little teashop has a long list of teas that will satisfy every palate. They also serve up some delicious desserts and breads. 

For a quick lunch, our go-to is Lemonade (146 S. Lake Ave). The atmosphere is casual and vibrant. Their seasonal menu embraces what Southern California cuisine is all about. I never pass up the white truffle mac’n cheese. Afterwards, we love hanging out by the fire pit and the iconic British red telephone booths in the courtyard behind the restaurant.  Another lunch (or brunch) favorite is La Grande Orange Café (260 S. Raymond Ave). If you’re going to order only one thing here (which I highly doubt), get the deviled eggs. 

For a low-key dinner, we’ll stop by Umami Burger (49 E. Colorado Blvd). You seriously can’t go wrong with anything from their menu. Our little one can eat a whole order of sweet potato fries by himself. Being so close to the Pacific Ocean, sushi is a must-eat here. My husband and I love going to Sushi Roku (One Colorado, 33 Miller Alley) on our date nights. If you still have room, walk over to The Coolhaus Shop (59 E. Colorado Blvd) to top the night off with an ice cream sandwich. I bet you’ve never tried some of these flavors: Guinness chip or fried chicken & waffles.  

If you’re visiting Pasadena with young children, Kidspace Children’s Museum (480 N. Arroyo Blvd) is a great place to burn off their energy. There are tons of hands-on activities for one-year olds and up. Old Pasadena Farmer’s Market (54 E. Holly Street; Sunday 9am-2pm) is another place we love going to as a family; it’s become a part of our weekend routine. We love walking around sampling berries while doing our weekly produce shopping. 

Melissa is an architect, mom, and blogger. www.madebymelis.com

WORDS Jeremy Silver

For music, I recommend Hotel Cafe which is by far the best place to see up and coming artists in LA, it’s a very intimate room, and occasionally some big names will pop up just to hang out or maybe even play a stripped down set. Room 5 on La Brea is another small room with great singer/songwriter talent coming through. For slightly bigger, louder shows there’s the Troubadour (another LA classic) which is another favorite of mine; the front bar at the Troubadour is also a great hang for a beer before or after a show.  The calendars for those places are already up, and good shows are happening around the weekend of the 10th.

As far as food, for great authentic Mexican food I’d recommend Loteria in the Farmers Market at the Grove.  Since you Alabama folks might be barbecue connoisseurs, I would offer up Bludsoe’s on La Brea as some of the best BBQ out here. Village Idiot on Melrose is a great pub and I definitely recommend the steak & potato pie. An old-school Hollywood place for maybe the best Italian food in the city is Dan Tana’s on Santa Monica (located right next to the Troubadour). Oh, and obviously In-and-Out for a hamburger. No question, it’s a must.

If you want to hang out in bars the LA classic sports bar is Barney’s Beanery, there’s one in West Hollywood and another location in Santa Monica. For a dive bar, I like Snake Pit on Melrose, it’s not your typical LA flashy bar scene, so it’s a natural favorite of mine.

Jeremy Silver is a songwriter and producer who writes music for film, television, and commercials. @iamjeremysilver

WORDS Kedist & Becky Tsadik

If you’re planning to cheer on Auburn at the BCS National Championship at the Rose Bowl in January, there’s something we have to tell you. You look like a tourist. Why? Because you’re spending all of your free time snapping pictures on the Hollywood Walk of Fame rocking burnt orange and navy blue.

Swap out your football swag for some shorts--it’s 70 degrees in January!--and steer clear of the those double decker tour buses. In the spirit of rivalry, we pit some of the city’s more famous locales against our classier, lesser-known, favorites. Enjoy Los Angeles like a local with these five destinations that are #onlyinLA. 

5. Santa Monica Pier vs. Manhattan Beach Pier

This adorable enclave just south of LAX is packed with charming shops, delicious restaurants, beautiful beach homes and more room to breathe than it’s northern cousin. No, MB’s pier doesn’t include a Ferris wheel or “jokes for $1,” but it’s also completely devoid of huge crowds and screaming ice cream vendors interrupting your blissful beachside nap. Head to MB Post for their seared diver scallops with bacon butter. YUM.

4. In n’ Out vs. Umami

Don’t get us wrong; we heart a Double Double Animal Style just as much as the next girl. But, there’s just something magical about the Umami mini-chain’s rich, creative concoctions tucked into buttery buns that’s crave-worthy. I mean, just look at this menu. House-made truffle cheese? Done and done.

3. Venice Boardwalk vs. Venice Canals

If you’re into scenery that includes men painted silver, street musicians and the half-naked gentlemen of Muscle Beach, then by all means, brave the crowds on the moving circus that is the Boardwalk. But, if you’re looking for a saner escape with a view that’s still near water, head south to the Venice Canals.  Continue your stroll through L.A.’s hippest neighborhood Abbot Kinney.

2. Sprinkles vs. Sugarfina

Perhaps The Original Cupcake Bakery’s $4 red velvet cupcake is “worth” all the hype and the perpetual lines. But, why subject yourself to that madness? Stroll a few blocks down to the magical Sugarfina, which is literally on the same street. Step inside the brand new Tiffany-blue storefront, which sources gourmet candies from around the world and presents them in the most adorable packages for gift-giving--flavors like candy-coated martini olive almonds.    

1. The Standard vs. The Bungalow at The Fairmont

If you’re not on the list at The Standard, you’ll be standing in line for awhile, surrounded by more fake bake, 5-inch heels and plastic surgery than you ever thought possible in one space. Go hang out with real people near the ocean at The Bungalow, an indoor/ outdoor multi-room haven with multiple bars, a pool table and lots and lots of comfy seats and couches for hanging out. Do go early though as a line has been known to form on the weekends (but there are often food trucks or vendors nearby to help you pass the time!)”

Find out more about their company at www.facebook.com/BereketKitchen or at www.bereketkitchen.com.  

Ask A Local: New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl

WORDS Brent Rosen

All places in bold below are recommended. If you want to know more, Google.  

About four years ago, on a trip to New Orleans, I visited my friend Alec Adamick’s house in Mid-City. The cab dropped me in front, just off North Broad Street, and I could see Alec had encased all of his 6 foot plus, 200 pound frame into a thin hammock suspended from two eyebolts, one drilled into his house and the other into one of the stocky columns supporting the  wide front porch. Kermit Ruffins poured from a small alarm clock radio, just barely audible over the hammering and sawing coming from the house next door still under renovation after Katrina.  Alec rolled over as I came up the steps, spilling a little bit of his beer in the process, and careful not to dislodge himself from the hammock, raised his hand and said, “welcome back to the Caribbean.” While I’d never thought of it before, he was right: New Orleans is not America’s most European city, and any self-respecting European would quickly back-track from the comparison. Instead, think of New Orleans as the Northernmost outpost of the Caribbean. When you think about the city that way, the place makes a lot more sense.

*          *          *

If you asked me where to go for Po’ Boys in New Orleans, I couldn’t, in good conscience, recommend just one place. Instead, I’d need to know what kind of Po’ Boy you wanted. You want fried shrimp? Go to Domilese’s. For roast beef, you can’t do better than Parasol’s. Catfish? I’ve never had better than the catfish Po’ Boy at Parkway Tavern and Bakery; I like mine with lettuce, a bit of ketchup, mayo, creole mustard, and Crystal hot sauce. Putting Tobasco on a Po’ Boy should cost you a night in Orleans Parish Lockup. I hope you aren’t craving an oyster Po’ Boy, because they aren’t widely available anymore (thanks BP).

*          *          *

Do you like Jazz? Rap? Funk? Soul? Are you good at dancing? Bad at dancing? Enjoy dancing with strangers? If you answered yes to any of these questions, put the Soul Rebels Brass Band on your itinerary. My first experience came in 2002, at their Thursday dance party at Le Bon Temps Roule. A friend handed me a Miller High Life -- $1 dollar on Thursday -- and we went to the back room stage/dance floor. The Soul Rebels play good high school marching band music, with drummers, saxophones, trumpets, tubas and trombones, except when you enclose a marching band in 400 square feet, the beat of the music replaces your pulse. They will go from an improvisational jam to a cover of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” to an original composition without pause, one song segues into the next. The Soul Rebels use their horns in place of vocals, harmonizing and rearranging the music, creating new compositions out of old songs and melodies. It doesn’t matter where they are playing, just find them.

*          *          *

In 2006, Alan Richman, a food critic and likely asshole, wrote an article for GQ insulting New Orleans restaurants, wondering if they were worth saving after Katrina. The only interesting thing about that article was the recognition that the city of New Orleans, and New Orleans alone, has inspired a genre of food. You don’t go to New York to eat “New York” food, nor would you travel to Los Angeles to eat “LA” food. New Orleans, however, is probably best known for its “New Orleans” food, dishes like shrimp remoulade, trout meuniere, and crawfish etouffee, to be eaten in French Quarter restaurants like Galatoire’s, Arnaud’s, and Antoine’s. These places are tourist stand-by’s, but for a reason. You aren’t going for the food as much as the feel; tuxedoed staff, elegant dining rooms, all of the formality of a fine men’s club. But the elegance is pleasantly undercut, by the sassy staff who talk back, by the tired condition of the dining rooms upon closer inspection, by the copious number of martinis you’ve consumed. Conversations in these restaurants tend to rise louder and louder the longer a meal lasts. I love Galatoire’s during the day, but do it right. Take your time. Drink a lot. Wear a tie. It’s not lunch, it’s an experience.

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Magazine Street miraculously provides something for everyone. The street has excellent cheap bars: Miss Mae’s for cheap well drinks, Balcony Bar for cheap Rolling Rock, and The Bulldog for a variety of inexpensive pitchers of craft beer. For shopping, Hemline, Billy Reid, and awesome screen printed everything from Storyville, Dirty Coast, and Defend NOLA.  Magazine has two “new school” Po’ Boy shops, Mahoney’s and Traceys, along with a classic oyster dive in Casamento’s. Try out Juan’s Flying Burrito if you’re interested in a punk rock Tex-Mex burrito bar, or Monkey Hill or St. Joe’s if you’ve seen enough hustle and bustle and just want a master-crafted cocktail. If you’ve brought your dog along (and who hasn’t?), Bridge Lounge will let your dog run around off the leash throughout the bar. The street is six miles long, so don’t try and walk it all. Pick a stretch, shop around, stop for a snack and a drink, then repeat.

*          *          *

Another conversation about New Orleans restaurants currently simmering is whether newer restaurants that don’t have a “New Orleans” menu or feel are undermining New Orleans’ culture. This conversation, like any other that laments the forward march of progress, misses the point. Many of New Orleans’ newer restaurants are uniformly excellent. Domenica serves the best pizzas and pastas I’ve had in the South; Sylvain’s menu offers everything from braised beef cheeks to the “Chic-Sylvain,” a high-end take on the fast food chicken sandwich; a revamped Le Petit Grocery serves classics with flair; and there is nothing monosyllabic about the food at Pesche, Borgne, or Root. Rather than concerning yourself with whether these restaurants fit into the milieu of “New Orleans,” know that they are not only some of the best in New Orleans, but some of the best in America.

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My senior year in college, we made a commitment: visit the French Quarter once a week. Tulanians get jaded about the French Quarter quickly, failing to look past the bright lights, loud noises, and fanny packs, preferring instead the dark, cheap, and underage friendly spots closer to campus. But when the end is near, you start to see the Quarter with fresh eyes. You visit places like Chart House and realize there are smoky, cash-only dive bars that sell Schlitz. even in the Quarter. We learned about Coop’s a restaurant with the finest rabbit gumbo and excellent fried chicken, but where you can also play pool while you wait for a table. For more sophisticated moods, the W Hotel in the French Quarter (not the one on Canal) offers the best outdoor, courtyard drinking around.  You can’t beat the burgers at Yo Mama’s or Port of Call, and if you like a late night bump-and-grind party, then Goldmine will be rocking until they run out of ingredients for flaming Dr. Pepper’s. If you’re the type that likes to wander aimlessly without destination or goal, then start at the Canal end of Royal Street, have a drink at the Carousel Bar  in the Hotel Monteleone to prepare for your journey, and then walk all the way down to Esplanade. Return via Chartres Street. There are antique shops, jewelry stores, book stores, boutiques, and other purveyors of miscellanea for days. Enjoy your journey.

*          *          *

New Orleans, New Orleans, you shabby bastard of a city. At the end of every trip I end up fleeing from you like a crime scene -- bloodshot eyes, splitting headache, crippling heartburn, and a nagging sense that I might not ever be the same. I’ve formed more memories in your neighborhoods than in any other place, remarkable considering how many memories never quite made it out of your morass of smoke and sin. While I’m not a “local” anymore, a large part of me will always think of you as home. I’d ask you to please show the people of Alabama a good time when they come for the Sugar Bowl next month, but I already know you have no intention of doing anything but.  

I asked some friends in New Orleans to send recommendations for places to go, or a particular story about a place that was worth telling strangers. I received this from my friend Andrew Ryba, and I am extremely pleased:

“The Kingpin is an excellent bar. The prices are decent, the jukebox diverse, the volume correct, the lighting just enough to make everyone look decent. The walls are mostly a tribute to hubcaps.

Several years ago, the ladies’ room at the back of the bar used to be a men’s room -- or at least bordered on unisex.  A painting of Satan hung on the inside of the door. It was tremendous. Bright red Satan holding up his tail, taking a shit, smoking a cigarette, a small teardrop rolling down his cheek. Bloodied toilet paper littered around him, a look of sorrow on his face. 

Last Mardi Gras, I was talking (ranting) to some strangers about the painting, mainly about how I missed it. At that moment someone walked by and said ‘I remember that painting,’ she then continued, ‘I remember that painting and I know where it is.’ I couldn’t believe it.  ‘Come with me.’ My new soul mate walked behind the bar, got a key, then headed to a back store room. She emerged seconds later, and had the devil in her dress. ‘Show me to your car.’ We walked out the front door of the bar and to my car. She put the painting in my trunk.  All I could offer her were Mardi Gras beads. She declined. ‘The thing about this painting,’ she sang, ‘is that someone tried to cover up the heroin needle that sits at his feet. But if you look close you can still see it.’

Also, Kingpin has shuffleboard and you can smoke cigarettes inside.”

ASF: Behind The Scenes at A Christmas Carol

WORDS  Jennifer Kornegay, PHOTOS Contributed ASF

No matter how many times you’ve read it, watched it on TV or seen it acted on stage, some of the final lines delivered by Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ timeless tale “A Christmas Carol” leave you feeling just as this newly reformed character does. “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man.” When watching this scene at The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the effect is particularly strong. You join Scrooge in his elation. You too are “as giddy as a drunken man.”

In the play’s last moments, and often long before, the “third wall” dissolves and there is no boundary between fantasy and reality, the fictional story and real life, as you and your fellow audience members are completely immersed in the world of the story, despite being firmly planted in your theatre seat.

ASF’s roster of over 30 actors for “A Christmas Carol” is impressive, and the holiday favorite is anchored again this year by Rodney Clark as Scrooge, always delightfully curmudgeonly in the play’s pivotal role. Yet as good as every cast member is, from local children portraying the hopelessly optimistic Tiny Tim, to the specters (including the Ghost of Christmas Future who utters not a word but speaks volumes of terrifying truth) who lead Scrooge on his journey, their talents alone can’t create the magical experience that is found at ASF. Behind the scenes is an army of equally talented folks working long, hard hours to find, invent, design, cut, build, paint, compose and otherwise make every element that you see on stage; they ensure all the pieces needed for the whole package come together, allowing you to lose yourself in another time, another place, if for only a few hours. So, like Scrooge, let us take a journey and discover what it takes to fashion the art and craft of “A Christmas Carol.”

Once Upon A Time – The Script

So much more than learning lines and practicing lines and skillfully delivering those lines goes into every ASF production. First, the lines must be written, so we’ll start at the beginning, with the words. “A Christmas Carol” was written in the mid-1800s by Charles Dickens, but while the production you’ll see at ASF is based on this classic story, it has been adapted by the theatre’s producing artistic director, Geoffrey Sherman.(He also directs the play, but more on that later.)

Sherman is a proper Englishman, and as such, you might think he grew up surrounded by Dickens work. You’d be wrong. “At least up to the point that I left England 30 years ago, there had never been a theatrical production of ‘A Christmas Carol.’ It was simply not a part of our theatre history,” Sherman said. Instead, the Christmas plays that were most often a part of English holiday celebrations were pantomime plays. “They consisted of lots of good music, some gags, and lots of interaction with audience,” he said.

So Sherman took the holiday productions of his youth, and wove their most pleasing aspects into his version of “A Christmas Carol.” “That’s why, in my version, Dickens is actually a character and has a presence on stage,” Sherman said. Dickens aids in the storytelling, interacting with the audience. Plus, there’s music and live magic. “These things really set this version apart from any other ‘Carol’ production. There’s humor, and it is entertaining in a way I don’t believe it has been before,” Sherman said.

Dress the Part – The Costumes

From the shoes on their feet to buttons on their coat, every detail of a character’s clothing is given attention at ASF, and the costumes used don’t come from some theatre super store. Most every item of clothing worn is designed and made in house, in ASF’s costume shop. Porcupine-like pin cushions; stacked spools of thread; headless, limbless dress forms; and more than a few pair of scissors fight for space in a room filled with bolts of fabric, racks of costumes from previous shows and the multiple pairs of hands busy drawing, cutting and stitching. Over the hum of sewing machines, Jeffrey Todhunter, director of costume production, explained how most pieces come to be.

“Each costume to be made starts in our costume designer’s mind, and then it is put on paper. Then our drapers create a pattern from the design drawings and the actor’s measurements. Next, the first hands cut the fabric as designated by the pattern, and then the stitchers begin to assemble it,” he said. 

Once it is complete, each costume is tried out a dress rehearsal, and they often get sent back to the shop for a few final tweaks. “Sometimes a skirt just doesn’t move right or a pair of pants isn’t functional for a certain scene,” Todhunter said. “Other times the fabric doesn’t look right under the stage lights; the color or texture looks off.”

Finishing touches like jewelry and shoes come from a variety of sources and, if not made from scratch, are often embellished or stripped down to arrive at “just right.” When we visited, plain straw hats were being fashioned into bonnets for some of “Carol’s” children, having their brims reshaped and ribbon added by Amy Johnson, one of ASF’s resident milliners. Wigs are also made in house in what can be a very time-consuming and delicate process.

Imagination Station – The Sets & Props, Lighting & Sound

In contrast to the low drone of sewing machines, the high-pitched whir of table saws fills the air in the scene shop, where carpenters and other workers cut and build the backdrops and other scenery required to transform the empty stage into a bustling London street, Scrooge’s bed chambers or a cozy Christmas party. Props like furniture, lamps, even tiny things like a pen or coins tossed to purchase a prize goose are period appropriate and procured or made by skilled theatre arts professionals. 

Lighting and sound are the intangible parts of the scenery. Lighting in a play is about far more than ensuring the audience can see the action on the stage. It draws attention to a certain character or movement at the crucial moment. It can change the mood from joyful to somber in a matter of seconds and does so masterfully in “Carol.” The fact that you don’t always notice the import of illumination is a testament to the true skill of the lighting designer and lighting crew. And while hearing the actors clearly is critical, sound engineering for a production is about more too. If there’s music involved, like in “Carol,” it adds an extra layer of drama to the story being acted out, and is perfectly timed for effect.

“Give Me More…” – The Direction

Sherman is directing “A Christmas Carol” this year, and during a short rehearsal he wasn’t shy about sharing his thoughts with his actors after a scene. “Too loud!” he said. “But good,” he added, a bit softer. “Now again.” But this part of the process is the culmination of months of directing work that have gone on with no actors involved.

Before he ever critiques or commends an actor’s work, he must first understand the play from every angle. “I immerse myself in the writing of whatever it is before I go into rehearsal. I try to enter that world that the writer creates,” he said. “Being good director is like being good detective, you are looking for clues along the path. The playwright is telling his story in a very specific way, and you as director must find the heart of their story so you can tell it in the way it was meant to be told. Good directors are those who can see it off the page.”

And Sherman has to go even farther. As producing artistic director for ASF, he is in charge of the business side of things in addition to the artistic, and this requires a delicate balancing act when he’s directing a show. “To direct well, I have to mute the left side of my brain; I have to focus on the art and tune out the money side,” he said. “If I don’t, I will automatically short change the size of the show, the entertainment value.”

Illusion Complete – The Curtain Rises

When the house lights go down, and curtain goes up to signal the start of “A Christmas Carol,” you’re almost instantly transported to mid-19th century London and meet your tour guide, Charles Dickens himself (played by Wynn Harmon). Can you smell hazelnuts roasting? Do you feel a chill in the air as the snowflakes flutter down? When The Ghost of Christmas Present sweeps on stage in his vibrant green robe, it and he seem to fill the theatre with a spirit of generosity that warms your heart. When Scrooge visits his own grave, the lighting, sound and other effects that accompany the scene are bound to bring on shivers. Every aspect of what you see and hear is as important as the other in making you feel something. That’s the magic of theatre, and thanks to the efforts of Sherman, the actors and the huge behind-the-scenes crew you’ve just learned a little about, you easily and happily buy into the illusion they present you.  

So as the actors take their last bow, when you’re standing and clapping and smiling, take a moment to think about the many, many people who are not on stage, but who poured their creative energy into the unforgettable evening you just had, folks like Paul Wonsek (set design), Phil Monat (lighting design), Beth Novak (costume design), Richelle Thompson (sound design) and Ruth Kramer (stage manager). Remember them and add an extra thunderous round of applause.

Get Your Tickets

ASF’s production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” runs now through cember 24. Ticket prices start at $30. Get them by calling 800.841.4273, visiting online at www.asf.net or drop by the ASF box office located at 1 Festival Drive in the heart of Montgomery’s beautiful Blount Cultural Park.

To Bid or Not to Bid? 

I don’t have to be the Ghost of Christmas Future to confidently predict that once you’ve seen “A Christmas Carol,” you’ll be in awe of the time and talent it takes to put on such a marvelous show, and you’ll be inspired to find a way to support our state theatre and all its artistic and educational endeavors. You’re in luck. The 11th annual ASF Armchair Auction is coming up on January 25, and is the major fundraiser for the theatre. Check out all the fabulous items that will be up for bid at www.asf.net and make sure you tune into the radio broadcast (on Mix 103.3 and other Cumulous stations) and the televised hour (on WSFA) on the big day and then bid, bid, bid!! You’re likely to get some great deals on things you both want (a stay at The Grand in Point Clear) and need (pet grooming and boarding), plus, since every penny raised goes straight to the theatre and its programs, you get the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you’ve helped keep the art alive at ASF.

MADE Holiday Gift Guide

WORDS Anna Lowder & Tiffany Bell

A call to put our collective money where our mouth is, the MADE Holiday Gift Guide highlights this year's very special, and very local, gift ideas. Selected from makers, artisans and small businesses, this bunch features unique finds that honor the spirit of thoughtful gift giving. 

With three types of guides, we've included goods and makers working throughout the Southeast (and mainly in Alabama) that will thrill your friends and family who support creative goods. For good measure - and to level out the commercial mayhem the holidays can brew up - we've highlighted charities and organizations that need support and can offer great gift ideas too. Happy Holidays!

FOR THE STYLISH GENTS

Billy Reid Organic Cotton Socks by Zkano

Nothing says warm, fuzzy and stylish from head to toe like a pair of Billy Reid socks by Zkano. The two Alabama-based makers joined forces this season to bring stylish gents a limited-edition collection of organic socks knitted in Fort Payne, Alabama. Knot your average socks. $18; www.billyreid.com.

Stills Crossroads ‘Shine

Alabama’s first legal moonshine since Prohibition hit the stores this Fall and is flying off the shelves like White Lightning. Master distiller Jamie Ray (previously of Back Forty Beer Co. legend) has turned his chemistry skills to moonshine in Union Springs, famous for its secret stills and pure water. Jamie’s pure rye formula has lovely flavor and depth - ideally suited for bloody mary’s or hot cider toddies for the holidays. Hurry, this is almost impossible to find due to demand. Visit Montgomery area ABC Stores.

Wood Studio Lookout Mountain Rocker

This custom crafted woodwork studio was named Garden & Gun’s Made in the South Awards 2013 Overall Winner for its Lookout Mountain Rocker. Hand made with native woods such as walnut and cherry, the curving frame and hand-dyed leather hint at 50’s minimalism and sleek refinement made right here in Arley, AL. Made with integrity by Randy and his sons, Keith and Dylan. From $3,950; www.woodstudio.com.

Yellowhammer Creative

This Birmingham outfit creates inspired, often tongue-in-cheek printed matter spanning from t-shirts to posters. Give the guys you know a bit of street cred while sporting these hand-printed threads. For Birmingham or vintage lovers, there are fantastic industrial-aesthetic pieces that set Yellowhammer apart from the crowd. From $10 posters or $20 t-shirts; www.yellowhammer.org.

River Region Alternative Gift Fair

If you’re lucky enough to know some selfless men - or those who have all they need - honor them with a gift from the first annual Alternative Gift Fair. Saturday, December 7 at Huntingdon College’s Cloverdale Campus, 24 charities and organizations will assemble  so “shoppers” can buy “gifts” from these groups to give to their friends and families. Instead of another item for the shelf, these gifts will fund specific needs of the nonprofit—for example, the shingles for a Habitat for Humanity home or one night’s shelter for a homeless family. Your beloved gent will receive a card recognizing the donation in his honor. Gifts from $5; Fair is Saturday, December 7 from 10am - 2pm. www.givehoperiverregion.org.

PHOTOS: Contributed Billy Reid, High Ridge Spirits, Wood Studio

FOR THE SOUTHERN TRENDSETTER

Alabama Chanin Organic Cotton Scarf 

Alabama Chanin founder, Natalie Chanin, designs world-renowned textiles from small town Florence, Alabama. All of Natalie’s pieces are hand-sewn by local artisans using recycled or organic fabric and materials, including this 100% organic cotton jersey scarf. Choose  from one of 45 colors options and the perfect length (short 72” or long 108”) for countless ways to wear and layer for $40. Or give the gift of Handmade Holiday with the DIY Anna’s Garden Tree Skirt. $168; www.alabamachanin.com.

Cotton + Quill Coco Pillow and Holiday Collection Flat Notes

Birmingham-based collection of stationery, papers and textiles designed and custom-made by Mary Catherine Folmar. With punchy colors, bold designs and a variety of fabrics, her textile collection features great gifts like this Coco 22” Pillow in Emerald color way for $166. Also worth noting: Cotton + Quill’s hand-illustrated stationery. The Holiday Collection comes complete with 8 flat notes and equally artful hand-lined envelopes. $33; www.cottonandquill.com

Anchor & Daisy Statement Necklace

A Martha Stewart Living 2013 American Made Award nominee, Andrea Marty makes and sells her one-of-a-kind pieces right here in Montgomery (look for her pieces at Hue Studio, Welle Studio, ML Bailey Clothing & Accessories and Naked Art Gallery.) Her eco-friendly jewelry line of cuffs, necklaces and earrings is created from found branches and salvaged wood. She’ll love this statement necklace in pine green, berry red and emerald. $36. Also available this month, limited-edition wooden gift tags and handmade Christmas tree ornaments. www.anchoranddaisy.etsy.com

Catherine Brawner Handcrafted Jewelry

Take a little piece of home with you everywhere you go. Catherine Brawner hand-forms each “Alabama” charm necklace right here in Montgomery (now available as a sterling silver holiday ornament.) Necklace $30; ornament $15. Find these and this season’s new designs at Hue Studio, Goathill Museum Shop or www.catherinebrawner.com 

Aid to Inmate Mothers Donation

Help comfort and reunite children with their incarcerated mothers in her honor with a donation to Aid to Inmate Mothers (AIM.) AIM non-profit provides incredible services to Alabama’s incarcerated women and their children through monthly visitations, storybook tapings, reentry programs, family outreach and child sponsorship programs - all to enhance personal growth, provide much-needed support and strengthen family bonds. Make a donation in her name online or donate staple items for children from the AIM wish list. Visit inmatemoms.org for details and easy donations.

PHOTOS: Contributed Alabama Chanin (Robert Rausch) and Cotton + Quill

FOR THE SERIOUS FOODIE

McEwen & Sons

Located in the quaint community of Wilsonville, AL, Frank McEwen founded his corn-grinding business to embark on a healthy diet of organic foods and whole grains. The stone burr grist mill churns organic corn into delicious cornmeal, grits, and polenta that’s touted on the menus of the Southeast’s most gourmet restaurants. Order a bag of yellow grits or popcorn - perfect for stringing around the Christmas tree. From $3.95; www.mcewenandsons.com

Phickles Pickles

This Athens, GA company pickles local carrots, asparagus, jalapeños, green tomatoes, beans, and the ever popular - okra. The secret is in their “liquid gold” pickling juice - spiked with dill, garlic and jalapeño for a flavor that is out of this world. Sold in specialty shops throughout the Southeast, or can grab your jar online including mix-and-match sampler packages. Perfect for your friends who love a good martini. From $42; www.phickles.com

Belle Chèvre DIY Cheese Kit

Screw the gift box: give a gift that is literally a box. A do-it-yourself box with all the how-to on making your own cheese from scratch. This is possibly the least intimidating way you could ever make cheese; simply add milk to the kit and 10 minutes of active kitchen time. They also sell a Kid Kit! Delight your food-curious friends who’ve always told you how much they want to live on a farm. From $27.95; www.bellechevre.com

The Bang Candy Company Marshmallows & Syrups

Give the gift of fluff this season from this artisan, all-natural marshmallow company “specializing in candy for the discerning palette.” We’re talking Rose Cardamom and Chocolate Chili flavors, with reviews that the confections taste like  “swallowing God in velvet pants!” New in for the holidays: hot chocolate on a stick, holiday simple syrups, and Sparkle Bark - pink and dark Belgian chocolate with sparkles and pop rocks. From $3.50; www.bangcandycompany.com

Montgomery Area Food Bank

While the cult of handmade jams and heirloom pork rinds is great and all, there are many in our community who do not have enough to eat. In our area, 22% of all individuals live in poverty. Worse, 30% of children - 1 in 3 - live in poverty. Help our fellow neighbors living meal-to-meal by donating to the Montgomery Area Food Bank. They serve over 300,000 in need and donate over 20 million pounds of food annually - to children, seniors, emergency food pantries, and mobile operations. Give online at www.montgomeryareafoodbank.org.

PHOTOS: Contributed McEwen & Sons, Phickles Pickles (Terry Evans), Belle Chevre, Bang Candy Company (Brett Warren

MADE Previews: Interpreted Architecture

WORDS Caroline Taylor

Oliver Michaels, Gamaliel Rodriguez and Harvi Sahota utilize individual approaches to architecture as a vehicle for narrative or story. Interpreted Architecture is the inaugural exhibition at Made Gallery.

Artist Spotlight: Gamaliel Rodriguez
Influenced by both his years spent in the military and his native Puerto Rico (particularly the 1950s industrialization of the island, “Operation Bootstrap”) Gamaliel Rodriguez executed his series Dark Thoughts while in residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in Brooklyn, New York. Other works in the series are currently on view at the Museum of Puerto Rico.

The paintings – from viewpoint of an aerial photo or surveillance video, give clear image of a situation, but relay misinformation about what is actually happening in the image. Drawing on Roland Barthes’ rhetoric of semiotics, architectural elements imagined and created by the artist act as clues, but the story is completed by the viewer with his or her personal references and experiences – eliciting a state of nostalgia and obscurity in the work.

With an MFA from Kent Institute, UK, Gamaliel’s works have been shown internationally including Galería Espacio Minimo, Madrid; Museum of Modern Art Arnhem, Arnhem, The Netherlands; Sandbekkstua, Raelingen, Norway. His work is included in the collections of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, and Comunidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.

Interpreted Architecture is the inaugural exhibition at Made Gallery. Oliver Michaels, Gamaliel Rodriguez and Harvi Sahota utilize individual approaches to architecture as a vehicle for narrative or story.

November 7 from 6-8pm, Opening Reception of Interpreted Architecture.
Oliver Michaels, Gamaliel Rodriguez, Harvi Sahota
Curated by Caroline Taylor
MADE Gallery, November 7 - 21, 2013, The A&P, 505 Cloverdale Road, Unit 102

MADE Thanksgiving: New South Holiday Sides

WORDS Anna Lowder

Turkey is fine and all, but let’s be honest here: you like Thanksgiving for the sides. I said it. That bird is average at best, but those mounds of mashed potatoes, piles of skillet corn, bowls of sautéed greens… well, those are worth writing about. Some would say even worth traveling across country for every November.

To honor the proud tradition of the Thanksgiving side dish, we’ve elevated its standing to The Crucial Component of the holiday meal. The comforting starches, fresh vegetables, and sweet casseroles are what make memories for most of us. Thanksgiving sides are what keep us, literally, coming back for more each year.

MADE reached out to our favorite local chefs to find out their beloved dishes. Chefs Wesley, Leo and David - they each jumped at the opportunity to share some old family recipes or restaurant best-sellers. All feature seasonal and local - the best way to savor this festive fall holiday.

I’ve also added a MADE Reader Favorite. We reached out to our readers via Facebook & Instagram for their favorite holiday sides. The favorite is featured here, updated with a contemporary Southern slant.

MADE Reader Favorite: New South Waldorf Salad

This 1890’s classic holiday staple was born in New York’s Waldorf Hotel, created by Oscar Tschirky, the famed maitre d’hotel. Traditionally composed with apples, celery and walnuts, I’ve updated the century-old recipe with this New South version.

Livened up with southern apples and radishes, this seasonal rendition also throws local pecans and blue cheese into the mix. The result is a bright side dish that wakes up the palate, perfectly complimenting your turkey and cranberry sauce. Throw chopped turkey in for a delicious leftover.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup pecan halves
3/4 cup greek yogurt
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1 T lemon zest, finely grated
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 large crisp red apples
1 cup red grapes, halved
2 stalks celery (with leaves), sliced into 1/4” thick pieces (leaves chopped)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 bunch fingerling radishes, sliced into 1/4” thick pieces
1 cup blue cheese, 1/2” pieces (sweet grass dairy asher blue or similar)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Place pecans on a baking sheet and toast 8-10 minutes. Cool and break into small pieces.

2. Whisk yogurt, herbs, lemon zest in a large bowl and season to taste.

3. Halve, core, and cut the apples into 1/2-inch chunks, leaving the skin intact. Add apples, grapes, celery, radishes, and lemon juice to dressing bowl and toss. Cover and refrigerate if not serving immediately.

4. When ready to serve, stir pecans and small blue cheese chunks into the salad. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Oyster Rockefeller Stuffing: True Montgomery

Chef Wesley shares his version of Thanksgiving stuffing. Drawing on his seasoned knowledge of Gulf seafood (Wesley is one of the prominent chefs featured in the national Gulf Seafood campaign), he creates a classic oyster stuffing in place of the more conventional Southern cornbread dressing. The oysters had a briny, unexpected flavor that matches well with the mildness of turkey.

Ingredients:
1 pint shucked oysters
4 T pistachios chopped
1 T Tarragon chopped
1/6 cup parsley chopped
1 pound bread (or 10 cups packed & cubed bread)
2 cups sautéed spinach
1 cups raw onion
1 cup celery chopped
8 cloves garlic chopped
½ t nutmeg
4 T butter
2 large eggs
½ cup chicken broth
½ cup oyster juice (from pint)
½ cup Parmesan
¼ cup white wine
1 T salt
½ T black pepper

Method:
1. Toast cubed bread in oven 15 minutes at 350˚ til golden brown

2. Place butter in medium hot pan. Add onions, celery, garlic and sauté for 4 minutes

3. Deglaze pan with oyster juice, chicken stock & white wine. Add oysters and cook 2 minutes

4. In a bowl, combine this sautéed mixture with parsley, tarragon, bread, beaten egg, Parmesan, nutmeg, salt & ground black pepper

5. Transfer to casserole dish and bake 40 minutes at 350 until golden brown, or stuff into turkey and bake for a traditional stuffing.

Gambas al Ajillo with Fall Squash & Sweet Potato Risotto: Central

Chef Leo brings his Panamanian heritage to the table, combining traditional Thanksgiving fare with new bold flavors. Saffron, garlic, Spanish paprika and lemon wake up root vegetables, while risotto and Catalan-style shrimp offer a bold replacement for rice and gravy.

Risotto ingredients:
½ t saffron threads
fresh thyme
fresh parsley
fresh rosemary
½ onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
2 T butter
1 cup EVOO
1 cup cubed acorn squash
1 cup cubed sweet potato
2 cups of butternut squash puree
2 cups Arborio rice
½ cup white wine
1 qt chicken or vegetable stock
¼ cup Parmigiano Reggiano

Method:
1. Peel and dice acorn squash and sweet potatoes to ¼” pieces. Set aside.
2. In a medium sauce pot, bring 4 quarts of salted water to a boil and drop squash and sweet potatoes in for 4 minutes. Remove from water and place in an ice water bath until thoroughly cooled. Reserve.
3. Place wine and saffron in a small pot over low heat and begin to “bloom” saffron.
4. Melt butter and 2 ounces EVOO in a saucepan over medium heat. Add diced onions and garlic. Cook until translucent and add rice. Continue cooking and stirring until the rice begins to brown.
5. Pour saffron-infused wine over rice, stir and cook until evaporated. Add enough chicken stock to cover rice, stir and cook until liquid is reduced. Repeat this process 2 more times and add diced acorn squash, sweet potato and butternut squash puree.
6. Hit the risotto one more time with chicken stock, reduce completely.  Season with sea salt and pepper to taste and fold in fresh minced herbs. Sprinkle liberally with Parmigiano Reggiano.  

Shrimp ingredients:
1 lb fresh Gulf shrimp
4 large cloves of garlic, shaved
1 shallot shaved
1 t sweet Spanish paprika
1 t red pepper flakes
3 oz bourbon (traditional recipe calls for cognac)
4 oz EVOO
3 t fresh parsley chopped
1 lemon for juice

Method:
In a sautee pan, bring olive oil to temp over medium heat. Add garlic, shallots, paprika, red pepper flakes. Sautee for 1 minute, then add shrimp.  Sautee shrimp until firm, pour cognac and lemon juice over shrimp and sautee for 2 to 3 minutes. Reserve for plating over risotto.

Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Dip: Acre

Since we’re breaking all the rules, here’s another curve ball. Why not invite a spread or “dip” to your holiday table? Chef David Bancroft shares his sweet and tangy recipe - an ideal replacement for tired sweet potato casserole, if you dare. Brightened with local goat cheese and bacon, this pairs with bowls of green beans or biscuits. Not brave enough? Serve as an hors d’ouevres with sparkling wine as family arrives.

Ingredients:
1 large baked & peeled sweet potato
¼ cup honey
3 T sugar
2 t kosher salt
1 t ground ginger
1 t fresh black pepper
½ t cinnamon
6oz cream cheese- room temp
6oz Belle Chevre goat cheese
1 cup crispy chopped bacon
1 cup chopped toasted pecans
½ cup minced green onions

Method:
1. Bake the sweet potato wrapped in aluminum foil until completely tender. Remove the potato from the foil then peel and discard the skin.
2. While the potato is still warm, place in a mixing bowl and add the honey, sugar and spices. Mix ingredients into the potato using a large fork until completely smooth.
3. Add the softened cream cheese and goat cheese to the potato mix and fold together - careful not to over mix. 4. Place the dip into a serving bowl and top with bacon, pecans and green onions. Allow the dip to cool before serving. Serve with favorite crackers.
 

McAlpine Tankersley Architecture: Analog In A Digital World

WORDS Brent Rosen 

Butcher shops, artisanal pickles, urban agriculture, craft beer, millinery -- at best people view these as charming anachronisms, at worst as the domain of the silly hipster.  But 50 or 60 years ago, meat came from the butcher shop (“I’m like Sam the butcher bringing Alice the meat”), all pickles were “artisanal,” agriculture did not mean factory farms, most beer remained regionally, if not locally produced, and hats were still made by hand and sold to stylish people of both sexes. It’s not just work, but our culture that has been outsourced to foreign lands or computerized to the point that no human element remains.

In our rush to maximize efficiency and computerize everything, we have certainly made progress. But progress is not always progressive, and some boons are sordid. The return of the butcher shop, urban agriculture, local beer and the like feels somewhat transgressive, as if it is taboo to buck the trend of the high-efficiency/low cost model. Some of the pleasure that comes from shopping at the farmer’s market -- beyond meeting the farmers and the sense of community you get when you know where you food comes from -- is that in truth you should not be there. It would be easier, cheaper, to just buy your tomatoes at the grocery store. You feel like you’ve broken the rules when your tomatoes come from a blue-haired old lady who lives outside Clanton.

In that same spirit of rule-breaking sits the architecture firm McApline Tankersley. For the past 30 years, the firm founded by Bobby McAlpine has refused to be pushed into the high-efficiency, low cost model.  The first thing I noticed after walking in the door of the McAlpine Tankersely offices was the absence of computers. Ok, that’s a lie. I knew a little about the architecture firm, had heard off-hand remarks about the firm’s use of hand drawings, heard that the cost of those drawings was quite high. Computer aided drafting is the norm in the architecture world. The computer helps you draw straight exact lines, assists in developing drawings with the proper proportions, allows for easy correction of mistakes and saves the architect countless hours crouching atop a drafting table. In truth, I looked for computers when I walked in the door, ready for rumors to be confirmed or dispelled. Anyway… there are almost no computers in McAlpine Tankersley’s Offices.

According to Chris Tippett, a McAlpine Tankersley architect, the firm’s choice to draw by hand is both “happenstance and purposeful.” It’s happenstance in the sense that the principals of the firm prefer to draw by hand, and therefore ask their employees to work in their preferred medium. But it’s also purposeful. John Sease, the other architect I spoke with for this story explained that “there is a tactile nature to the drawing part of it that makes it easier and more real than it would be just a line on a screen. It’s a romantic thing. Even a modern house has romance to it. That romance gets lost in a computer drawing.” While hand-drawing architectural plans results in a substantial increase in cost, McAlpine Tankersley believes the value of hand-drawing makes those costs worthwhile. Apparently, so do McAlpine Tankersley clients.

Now, clever reader, you may be wondering how an analog architecture firm can find suitable employees in a digital world. University architecture programs are fully computerized for the most part, with learning to draft by hand  akin to learning Latin: It’s fine as an exercise in the humanities, but has limited practical application. Tippett explained that even though hand drawing is becoming a lost art, students still learn to hand draw if they take advantage of study abroad programs. “Study abroad programs don’t use computers -- they have a sketch book and they are out drawing,” Tippet said, and it is during these abroad programs that students have a “first experience being able to look at something, to figure out the proportions on a piece of paper.” Tippett thinks that once you start drawing by hand, you are inspired to draw more. One need not be a great artist to draw by hand, but someone with an eye for drawing can put art into their drafting. Or, as Sease put it, “The technique, the quirks, each individual’s drawings are like each individuals handwriting.”

McAlpine Tankersley’s quest to find qualified young architects is aided by the firm’s relationship to Auburn. All but three of the firm’s architects in the Montgomery office attended Auburn, and many of them were actually taught by Bobby McAlpine himself. While McApline no longer teaches, Auburn’s study abroad program -- where students get their first taste of hand drawing -- is directed by Scott Finn, whose partner works for McApline Tankersley. This pipeline helps McApline Tankersley identify potential interns who can draw, who have a good work ethic, and who have promise. Often, those interns end up becoming full-time employees.

Bobby McAlpine has a favorite saying, something he impressed upon his students and stresses with his colleagues: “Why it is is what it is.” This simple aphorism drives the firm’s entire approach. During early interviews with clients, it is the architects job to figure out the “why.” A client says, “I want a large dining room so that I can regularly host dinner parties for at least 12 people.” The why -- entertaining -- leads to the what -- a dining room sufficient to graciously host parties. Start with the dining room table. If you want to seat 12 people, how large must the room be accommodate a table of that size? What size windows are proportionate? How high must the ceilings be to create the feeling of grandeur the client desires? Is the dining room sufficiently important to this client that it can serve as the heart of the house? Should the entire home revolve around this room, or would the client prefer a living room in that role? If the dining room’s dimensions are X, what dimensions will the remaining rooms need to be in order for the entire house to have the proper proportions? These are the “why” questions that make the house “what” it will be for the client.

One thing all McApline Tankersley projects share, regardless of individual clients’ desire, is a grounding in classical architecture. McApline Tankersley pulls from Europeans influences, whether English, French, or Mediterranean, but then puts a modern gloss on those classic forms. History creates a base and informs the finished product, no different than how a guitar player must learn the chords before its possible to jam. Using classic structures and forms as a base makes it easier for the firm’s architects to solve problems. There are dozens of books of classical architecture in the firm’s library and sprinkled throughout the office, and the architects can look back to the past to see how a current problem can be solved.

Sease explained that each unique project shares some common problems. “Every house must have a kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, and each house has its own heart and soul. That said, you still need to figure out where the sink will go, where the shower will go, and how all the rooms will interact.” Another frequent problem results when a client’s wish list includes “laundry rooms, mud rooms, dog rooms, home gyms, etc.” and “the tail begins to wag the dog” according to Tippett. Adding all of these rooms requires the proportions of classic architecture to be stretched, and then the architect must to figure out how those rooms will interact with the necessaries. Often, people will live in a home for a year and realize they use the home completely differently than they thought they would upon moving in. The architect’s job is to learn about the client, determine the client’s style of life, and then help the client edit their needs in order to avoid that sinking, one-year-in feeling.

In a similar fashion, architects can use design to determine how their projects will interact with the community at large. Tippett talked about a development in Atlanta where each house is built along a huge common green. Each house shares its “yard” with its neighbors, and this builds a sense of community impossible to create when fences and privacy are the primary concern. This sense of community inspired Tippet when served as lead architect on the A&P Loft project. Tippett designed the A&P to have a pedestrian environment with shopping, communal spaces, and numerous areas that everyone -- tenants, home-owners, random passersby -- can use. At the A&P there are balconies that look out onto a common courtyard so you see your neighbors. In the old days, before air conditioning, neighbors would sit on their porches and their stoops to avoid the heat trapped in their dwellings. Neighbors could visit, gossip, chat, laugh, and get to know one another. Tippett tries to design projects like the A&P to bring that community interaction back.

“We are still learning from things we knew a long time ago, but that we forgot,” Tippett said.  Winding streets that go nowhere, people isolated from each other on huge lots, communities where no one speaks to one another -- these are modern inventions. Before the suburb, before the highway system, back when the home was your castle, not a castle, you had interactive neighborhoods. While residential architecture can only do so much to encourage this interactivity, Sease told me that in meetings with clients they often ask their clients to think communally, and not to build residences that could double as fortresses.

After speaking with Tippett and Sease, I got the sense that the firm does things the old way if that method remains the best way. When cabinets are installed in the homes they design, the architects ask the carpenters to paint the cabinets on site. If the cabinetry is painted in a box in the carpenter’s shop, it looks like a car -- high gloss finish, totally fake. The carpenters will often argue, “’but if we hand paint the cabinets, they will not have a consistent finish,’ but that’s exactly what we want” Tippett explained. A rough, textured, uneven finish lets the homeowner know that the cabinets weren’t  simply machined along with thousands of other, identical, pieces of wood and metal.

And that goes back to the hand drawings. McAlpine Tankersley stands against the notion of, as Sease put it, “the machine does that… why are we worried about it?” Computers and industrial processes can make everything in life fast and easy, but at a certain point, it all becomes cut and paste. Computers and mass manufacturing make it easier to be lazy, to ignore differences in conditions and to apply the same solution to every problem. Hand drawing forces McAlpine Tankersley architects to view each project as unique, to solve each design problem based on the individual project’s unique conditions, to put sensitivity and soul into every set of plans.  Although it’s not the cheapest or easiest way to design houses, hand drawing performs a beautiful bit of alchemy: it takes engineering and turns it into art.

PHOTOS  Courtesy Mick Hales, Kris Kendrick, Tria Giovan, Jean Allsopp, Erica Dines, mcalpinetankersleyblog.com