PORTFOLIO
These stories were published in The Crimson White and ALICE Magazine.
INT. BIRMINGHAM - FILM INDUSTRY
A few days before she was due on set in Naples, Florida, Virginia Newcomb sat at one of the many tables in Birmingham’s Pizitz Food Hall, raking her chopsticks through a Poké bowl and settling in for her eighth interview of the week.
“This is probably the third thing today and the eighth thing this week where I’m talking about this kind of stuff,” Newcomb said. “It’s my world right now.”
ALABAMA'S UFO CAPITAL STILL HAS A STORY TO TELL
When Fred Works holds out his hands – palms down, thumbs together, index fingers touching – it’s his best attempt to approximate the shape of something he saw in the sky more than 30 years ago.
The corners were more rounded off, he said, but that’s the gist of it. A thick, charcoal-colored triangle flew through the night sky, with three lights shining back onto its undercarriage. From Works’s spot on a hillside back in February of 1989, he saw the craft glide toward him before flying overhead. And he isn’t alone.
TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF TUSCALOOSA HISTORY CELEBRATED THROUGH MUSIC
Showers of fireworks and confetti took precedence over rain on Saturday, when Tuscaloosa came together to celebrate 200 years of Alabama’s history – and Alabama music.
The Tuscaloosa Bicentennial Bash, an event endorsed by the Alabama Bicentennial Commission, featured 10 musical artists with origins in Alabama, spanning genres from gospel and soul to alternative rock and Americana.
HARD ROCK ARTIST SHIFTS FROM MUSIC TO ACTIVISM
Michael Wilk, currently an instructor of music administration at The University of Alabama, met John Kay in 1980, when Steppenwolf was looking to hire a new keyboardist. The band distributed tapes of their hits and most difficult songs with an invitation to audition, with varied results.
“One guy came in with tons of equipment,” Kay said. “I mean, racks on wheels and everything like that, and it was pitiful.”