Welcome to Birmingham Profile, the Magic City’s newest and most engaging online publication. We’re here to showcase the people, places, and things that make Birmingham a great place to live, work, and play. Enjoy your visit.

PEOPLE: Dr. Barry Spieler

By Buddy Roberts

“Room 109,” Barry Spieler answered when I asked for directions to his office at Birmingham-Southern College. “You can’t miss it. The door will be open, and it’s the messiest office in the building.”

Not messy, I decided after seeing Spieler ensconced there a half-hour later. Functional. The mathematics texts occupying overstuffed bookshelves, assorted paperwork, and personal paraphernalia coexist in a sort of cluttered orderliness and make a fitting backdrop for a conversation with a personable man who dotes on his children, bakes his own bread, is learning classical guitar, has sung with the Birmingham Jewish Community Chorale, and is a past Alabama Professor of the Year.

A native of Long Island, N.Y., Spieler has taught more than 20 different math courses at BSC since joining the faculty more than a decade ago. Unprepossessing and approachable, seeming more comfortable to be Barry than Dr. Spieler, he’s the professor students hope they get or wish they’d had. Listening to him explain his subject, analyze why some people don’t like it, and discuss innovative mathematical concepts, it’s easy to understand why.

The beginnings of a mathematician: “I liked (math) a lot in elementary school and high school. I was good at it, and it seemed to come easy.” On display in his office are his math team patch from junior high school and an old math paper (endorsed, “Very good, Barry,” by his teacher at the time and saved by his mother, who sent it to him when he received his doctorate). “My grandfather was good at math and puzzles and figuring things out. He was a math major in college but left his last semester because of the Depression. I got my math genes from him.”

Why many people don’t like math: “A lot of people think of math as a field that is very specific, right or wrong. Those words carry a lot of emotional weight, as if it’s almost a moral issue. It’s something bigger than they are, so they’re afraid if they can’t get it right. But math is done by people. It’s all about ideas people have to understand quantitative things in the world. People who are afraid of math or shy away from it haven’t had the chance to see it that way. They see it as ‘always right or wrong, and I always get it wrong.’”

Is math always scary? “The flip side is that some people take comfort in the right and wrong. It’s safe. It’s at least one thing that doesn’t waver. And that’s wrong, too. It isn’t just an answer to some question in a textbook.”

So what is math really about? “Real mathematics is a combination of logic and reasoning and finding a precise language in which to describe your observations about things. You can think of it as a language that gives you an economy of thought. You make use of mathematical abstraction to process something efficiently.”

How about an example? He pointed to the sphere he’s holding in the photograph. “When you notice something that has a pretty symmetrical pattern to it, you can describe it in levels of precision. You could say it’s made up of shapes. Plastic pieces. Pentagons. Squares. Triangles. Equilateral triangles. How many there are of each. The more precise the description, the more mathematical it is. Mathematical abstractions, models, charts, graphs, and equations represent something that’s real and should be used to describe and understand things. There’s no need to make abstractions just to make abstractions.”

Another example: The math and music class he teaches with voice professor David Smith every other year. Open to honors students, The Secret Life of Music and Mathematics explores how the two subjects are related. “It’s really cool. They’re both abstract, they start with ideas in people’s heads, and they involve expressing complex ideas in a non-discursive language. We look at the role both play in society to find other connections between them, we look at the ways in which people make music (which, like math, has its own kind of logic and rules), the students write compositions without traditional instruments, and they learn some serious math and serious music in the process.”

Why do many people perceive mathematics only as pointless abstractions and textbook exercises? “I think that, as teachers, we often underestimate people’s ability to have abstract mathematical ideas, while we over-expect them to be able to manipulate symbols.”

How a guitar lesson prompted him to reevaluate his teaching methods: “This is a good story. When I’d go to a lesson, I’d watch the teacher play his guitar, he told me what to do, then told me to go home and practice, and I made no progress. Eventually I went to a new teacher, and he didn’t have a guitar. I sat down, and he said, ‘Barry, play something you like.’ I did, and he sat there and watched me. Then he moved my elbow about an inch and said, ‘Play it again.’ All he did was nudge my elbow, but I could feel a difference. It relaxed a tension in my hand I didn’t realize was there. The teacher was intently watching what I was doing and then suggested something to help me do it better.”

The epiphany: “I went home thinking, ‘My gosh, instead of showing my students what to do and telling them to go home and mimic it, I want to be the teacher who says, ‘Show me what you do,’ and then nudge their elbows. That experience helped me realize what I was trying to do in my own classroom. Less lecturing, more listening. More showing them how to make things better for themselves, listening to their ideas and helping refine them.”

His hobby: Baking. “I especially like to bake bread. I don’t bake as much as I used to, but for a while we never bought bread at the store.” Even though it’s his outlet, the professor in him couldn’t resist bringing it to academia. “Together with my friend and colleague Terry Goodrick, a psychology professor, I taught a course here about bread-baking and the role of bread in the culture and history of the world. We covered the domestication of grain, the religious significance of bread, geopolitics, and the rise of big agricultural communities. We read about the science of bread and how yeast works, we took field trips to some bakeries, and we baked some pretty complex bread recipes. For some of the students, it was the first time they’d made bread from scratch.”

His favorite hangouts: “I live in coffeehouses. Cool Beans in Homewood and Crestwood Coffee on Crestwood Boulevard are my favorites. They both make a good latte.”

PEOPLE: Mark Michie

His work: General manager of the Summit Club. The Baltimore, Ma., native previously managed the 191 Club in downtown Atlanta.

On working in Birmingham: Having also managed other primary-market properties in Texas and Florida, “this is my first stint in a secondary market. It’s been a nice transition from Atlanta to here. It was different at first because there aren’t as many options in the area of entertainment and culture as there are in Atlanta, but there’s a lot less congestion and traffic, a lot more greenery, and a nice quality of life here. It’s been great.”

The Summit Club: Founded in 1989, the 1,940-member club is located downtown on the 31^st and 32^nd floors of the AmSouth-Harbert Plaza, offering one of the best views of the city, as the accompanying photos attest. Membership is by invitation. The Summit Club is one of 200 business, athletic, and resort properties owned by Club Corp.

Summit Club Service: “Three steps: warm welcomes, memorable moments, and fond farewells. The most important thing is that we exceed our members’ expectations. Our members pay dues, and they do have certain expectations, so it’s up to us to ensure that they and their guests have a quality experience every time they come to the club. That starts with having great employee partners.”

Club staff: It includes 75 employee partners, plus Michie’s senior staff. “I like to work with competent managers, very capable, self-driven individuals, and I have a very good senior staff here. It’s really helped us grow our membership.”

His typical week: “The club is closed Sundays except for Mother’s Day, so I usually keep a 7-to-7 schedule weekdays and float in on Saturdays.”

The most challenging part of his job: “Balancing my time. I have to make sure I’m spending enough time with members while juggling initiatives from the corporate office, capital improvements, landlord issues, and the marketing, financial, and budget aspects of running the business from behind the scenes. I’m autonomous in regard to club growth and new member initiatives, and I love the creative aspect of the business and the opportunity to think outside the box.”

The best part of his job: “Creating unforgettable moments in people’s lives is probably the most rewarding. There are not a whole lot of rewards in this industry, and to be successful, you have to have a servant’s heart. When we host a reception of party for our members, we want to ensure that we give them an experience they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. I also enjoy the opportunity to see our employee partners grow and go on to successful careers. Professional mentoring has been very enjoyable for me during my 20-plus years in the industry.”

His beginnings in the business: “I worked as a bartender when I was in college, and I fell in love with the people and entertainment aspect of the hospitality industry.” After earning a degree in hospitality management, “I worked in some high-volume, upscale night clubs in the early 80s and from there worked my way through fine dining, resort property management, and other aspects of the industry. For a while, I owned a restaurant management company in Atlanta, creating and developing restaurant concepts, but I decided to come back to corporate life.”

On downtown development: “Birmingham is growing, and downtown is really coming alive. Operation New Birmingham is responsible for that. They’ve renovated a lot of vacant buildings, turned them into office and residential properties, and done an incredible job to help Birmingham compete with other Southeastern cities like Memphis, Nashville, and Charlotte. They won’t let go of their dream and vision, which has been good for the city and good for the club.”

His favorite leisure activities: Working out (“It helps me deal with the mental aspects of the industry”), golf (he once scored a hole-in-one), and reading (“I’m a James Patterson fan, and, of course, I try to soak up as much from industry magazines as I can”).

His philosophy for success: “It’s been said that if you stand in the middle of the road, you become roadkill. Plan your work, and work your plan. Without doing that, you can’t be successful.”

AROUND THE HOUSE with Ericka Woode

By Buddy Roberts

Ericka Woode answered her front door wearing grey bunny slippers and holding the jar of baby food her daughter was having for lunch, hospitably offering some of the squash to her visitor. The smooth-voiced radio personality was in full mommy-mode and relishing every moment of it.

In the living room, as Ava (nine months old at the time her mom was interviewed for this profile) played on the floor and her husband Kevin kept an eye on the Braves game on TV, Ericka talked with enthusiasm about her family and living on the air in Birmingham.

Her husband: Kevin is a firefighter, currently at Station 1 downtown, “the fire station,” as he designates it. A motorcycle enthusiast, he also played guitar in a local cover band for several years.

Her daughter: “She’s fun to be around,” Ericka said as Ava tugged at the ear of her slipper. “Her personality’s coming out. I see a lot of her daddy in her. She seems to be a lot more patient than I am, although you learn patience when you have a baby. She’s given me new eyes.”

Their dog: Roebuck, a border collie. “He absolutely loves Ava. He gets excited when she wakes up from her nap.”

Their home: A small older cottage-style house in Pleasant Grove. “We both sold our houses and moved here with just the basics. Most all of our furniture is in storage because there’s no room for it in this house. It’s just temporary; we’re looking for a new place. We need more space, and it’s all about being near good schools for the little one.”

Their living room: A cozy room with hardwood flooring, a fireplace, and an open-rafter ceiling. It’s decorated with photos of Ava and populated by her toys and indications of her parents’ occupations: a reproduction of a vintage radio which occupies an end table and a firefighter’s helmet (partially melted while Kevin was putting out a blaze) hanging from the hearth.

Time together at home: Because of their work schedules, it can be hard to come by. “We hardly ever get a Saturday or a weekend together,” Kevin said. “When we do,” Ericka added, “we think we’re going to sleep late, but we usually forget to turn off the alarm. Ava is usually already awake playing in her bed, so we get up, start the coffee, read the paper, drink the coffee, take a shower, and then sit around in PJs and bunny slippers. We play outside with Ava, watch TV, enjoy conversation, and order Chinese and eat it on the floor. Those times are such a luxury.”

Her work: Middays on-air personality for Magic 96.5 FM. She’s been in radio since 1998. “I’m lucky that I get to do what I love. I’ve known since I was in kindergarten that it’s what I wanted to do. I was going through a box of photos with my mom recently, and we found one of me at Christmas with a Snoopy radio that had a microphone attached. I said something about singing along, but Mom said, ‘No, you were being the DJ and giving the weather.’”

Is it difficult to balance motherhood and a career? “I love my work, but family means everything. I see myself as a full-time mom and a full-time radio DJ. Magic is a family-oriented station, and I’m glad that I work at a place that allows me to bring her to work when I need to. It was easier when she didn’t crawl, though. There are all kinds of stuff for her to get into at mommy’s work.”

Literally balancing motherhood: “I’ve learned to do everything with one hand. Opening jars, everything, because the other one is holding Ava. I don’t need to work out at the gym. I have a nine-month-old.”

Her hopes for Ava: “I’d love to be able to keep her sweet and innocent like she is now, but I just want her to be happy. When I was a little girl, my mom took me to the ballet and the ASO and helped me learn to appreciate all kinds of great things. I’m looking forward to sharing those experiences with Ava. I want her to be smart, educated, and cultured, but, most of all, happy.”

On music: Her station’s format is adult contemporary, but “I appreciate all kinds of great music. My mom likes Big Band, my dad likes Charlie Rich, my sister listened to the Eagles and Elton John, and I grew up listening to Motley Crue and Metallica. I have a Big Band CD in my car, which drives Kevin crazy whenever he drives it.”

On motorcycles: “I love them,” she said watching Ava flip through one of Kevin’s bike magazines and noting his approval that she chose it rather than one of Ericka’s fashion magazines. “I love to hear it when Kevin cranks it up and the pipes roar. It’s awesome. I used to ride before I had Ava, but not any more.”

ENTERTAINMENT: Joy, the Queen of Clean

By Buddy Roberts

Returning home from dinner, Joy the comedian, the Queen of Clean, was greeted by an automatic garage door that refused to open.

“I’m not believing this,” she said, interrupting the interview she was doing by cell phone to break into a monologue about the uncooperative appliance. “Is this thing on crack, or what? It’s making me do the manual thing here. I hope I remember that when I go out at 5 o’clock in the morning, so I don’t back right through it. See? I told you. My whole life is an episode.”

It’s an episode she happily shares, turning her observations on everyday life into a stand-up comedy act that’s had Birmingham-area audiences laughing for more than three years. The Mobile native schedules her performance around her "real job" with a local manufacturer while working toward the goal of moving into comedy full-time. Nights and weekends, she entertains at churches, trade shows, and talent showcases while working on promoting herself in other Southern cities.

How she got started: "Along the way, people told me I was funny, so I did an amateur night. I really began working it when I learned it is possible to make a living doing it. Besides, it's fun. It's a good thing to make people laugh."

Where does comedy material come from? "My whole life is material. Crazy stuff will happen. Those of us who have wonderful things called children are blessed with lots of material. I'm always telling my daughter, 'You made the show again.' She's not a teenager yet, so the best material from her is still on the way. Relationships -- bad relationships, good relationships, no relationship at all -- are good material. You get good material from your job, too, and church is another place. We are hilarious in church. It's all about everyday observations, and if something is funny to me, I can usually make it funny to other people as well."

Does she take suggestions for material? "Sometimes people suggest things, but it works better if it's something I've observed myself, something that makes me say, 'Hmm...this is weird.' Like helping my daughter with her homework. I have a college degree, but I can't do fourth grade homework. It makes me want to ask her teacher, 'What are you doing to me? I didn't do anything to you.'"

Another example: "A talk show I was watching did a segment about how to host a party. I thought, 'That's a dumb segment. All you need is some chicken and the Electric Slide. That's a party.' What they should have done a segment about is how to tell your relatives not to take home to-go plates if they didn't bring anything. We need to find a way to stop those people."

Why she works clean: "Two reasons. I'm a mother, and I believe parents should lead by example. I can't tell my daughter, 'Watch what I do, but don't say some of the things I say.'"

On the use of profanity: "I've heard many comedians say they feel that they have to use it in their acts. It's easy and simple, which is why it gets used as a crutch. I don't curse in my everyday life -- I used to, but I don't do it any more -- so I'm not going to do it when I perform.

Her favorite leisure activity: "Eat. Eat. Eat. Something with chicken. I could eat chicken 24/7."

The last joke someone told her: "It was actually something that happened to me. This guy came up and told me he had a crush on me, which was funny because he was every bit of 76 years old. I said, 'Couldn't you be a little younger?' Then I wished I'd asked about his insurance policy before I said no. He could've had a million dollars."

Photos provided courtesy of Joy's website, www.joythequeenofclean.com

ENTERTAINMENT: Beth Thornley

By Buddy Roberts

Early into a conversation with Beth Thornley, it’s easy to forget you’re talking to a successful professional musician. Unpretentious and enthusiastic, the California-based singer exudes a charm reminiscent of the girl next door or down the street, which for some Birmingham residents, she was.

The Magic City native still maintains local ties and appreciation for the musical training she received in her hometown.

“I didn’t listen to the Stones or the Beatles or Dylan until I got out of college,” she said, a nod to the “very classical background” she grew up in as the daughter of a music minister and a classically-trained singer. Earning a music degree from Samford, she had planned to teach college-level choral music until getting sidetracked by pop. The detour took her to Los Angeles, where she initially stayed on a friend’s couch while working to establish herself as a musician.

Almost a decade later, she’s performing at clubs, coffee houses, and pop festivals in Southern California and working on her third independently-produced album. “We’ve started recording,” she said early this month. “I hope to have it finished by fall. I’ve written nine songs. I’ve got one more to go.”

Her self-titled debut was met by extremely favorable reviews, and six of its songs have been used in film and television soundtracks. Its follow-up, My Glass Eye (featuring a haunting cover of Eleanor Rigby, the bittersweet hometown tribute Birmingham, and the Beth-recommended Beautiful Lie), earned for her further accolades and more TV and movie exposure.

Speaking by phone from her Los Angeles home, Beth expounded on aspects of the music-making process, the music industry in general, and memories of her hometown.

How she describes her sound: “The Beatles meet Ben Folds meet Death Cab for Cutie.”

Where you may have heard her music: In such television programs as Friday Night Lights, Life, The Hills, and Newport Harbor. “I’ve been fortunate enough to receive phone calls saying, ‘This is what we need. Do you have something or could you write something?’ I love those phone calls. I wish I could get more of them.”

Coming soon to a theater near you: One of her songs is part of the soundtrack for the upcoming film Play the Game, scheduled for a summer release. A romantic comedy starring (according to Variety) Paul Campbell, Andy Griffith, Doris Roberts, and Marla Sokoloff, the film is about “a single guy who teaches his widowed grandfather how to hit on girls.”

On the business of music: “It’s so much about marketing. The record companies look to see where the fan base is, which is where they can make the most money.” That leads inevitably to new artists being categorized by comparisons to established musicians, which some find frustrating. Beth’s view is different. “A lot of people like to know who you sound like, and they need to know a little about how you sound. It’s human nature. There’s a comfort in being able to identify someone with a sound you’re already familiar with and knowing right away if it’s your thing or not. If I were famous, I might feel differently, but it can actually give a new artist a helpful foothold.”

Music online: “The Internet is great for people like me. A few years ago, independent artists didn’t have such an effective means of promoting themselves. It’s been very beneficial for us.” Beth’s website is www.beththornley.com. Visitors can listen to samples from her albums, buy CDs, and learn more about her music. Individual tracks are also available from iTunes.

On writing, recording, and performing: “I like all of them for different reasons, but if I had to choose among the three, performing is the most fun. Sitting down and writing a song is the most difficult. Recording, I guess, would be my third favorite. Each one taxes a different part of me.”

Specifically on writing: “In conversation with a friend, I said something about one of my songs being about somebody else. She said, ‘Beth, all your songs are about you.’ And she’s right. You can’t write a song from somebody else’s perspective.” An example is Double Wide, a track on her My Glass Eye album. “It’s about a restaurant I once worked at. The character in the song isn’t me, but I wrote it based on the experiences I had that summer in Birmingham.”

Singer-songwriter style: “Jeans and t-shirts during the day. Pajamas as soon as the sun goes down (if I’m not going out), and in the mornings I do my first bit of writing in my bathrobe. I used to feel badly about that until a very successful songwriter (Beth Nielsen Chapman) who was speaking at a songwriter’s convention told a story about how when she got a call from Willie Nelson’s people (saying) that he would like her to write a song for his next album, she stayed in her bathrobe for three months until she finished writing the song.”

Besides writing songs and singing: She plays keyboard and accordion and is learning guitar. “I play a mean megaphone too. I use it a lot in shows.”

Her greatest accomplishment: “I guess I’d have to say my albums because they represent the work I do. But it’s not about the finished product as much as it is how I got there. Even though I love music, the writing of it is a discipline. Sticking with it and getting the albums done marks a long and, at times, very difficult journey. Surviving my early days in L.A. was something too.”

Her cover of Eleanor Rigby: “It’s a tribute Lennon and McCartney out of the utmost respect for what they wrote. The Beatles wrote good, solid pop music with great lyrics. I listen to them a lot. They’re the best, and I’m amazed at how well-constructed and how beautiful a song (Eleanor Rigby) is. I hope people like it. I did it my way, and if it succeeds, the quality of the writing has more to do with it than my singing. Credit also has to go to my producer, Rob. I just showed up and sang it.”

About Birmingham: “Birmingham is a great little big city, and the music there is amazing. From classical to rock and roll to pop to singer-songwriters to traditional choir singing, it’s all right there in Birmingham.”

About Birmingham, the song: “I wrote the lyrics (about five) years ago and showed them to my producer. He read them and said, ‘I want to write the music for this.’ Usually I do both, but he really, really wanted to do it, so I said okay. But he’s so busy that the music didn’t get written for three years.”

About the lyrics to Birmingham: “Normally, I wouldn’t say anything, but since I wrote it about my hometown, I thought I’d say a couple of things about it.”

Gotta hear Long Libba sing –“Libba Walker is an amazing local artist in Birmingham. I love hearing her sing, and I always try to find out where she’s performing when I come to town.”

Bitter vine, it beats a line – “All the kudzu” – covers all that could have been. What’s not forgotten gets ignored – “Like in all cities and all places, there are things we’d rather forget.”

And it’s in the blood and in the mud where the light turns red in his hand – “That refers to the statue of Vulcan. I think they took the light out – I wish they hadn’t – but he used to have a light in his hand that would be green or red. Red meant that someone had died that day in a car accident on an Alabama highway. Fortunately, it was usually green.”

Been a long time since yesterday, since the water and dogs had something to say. And it runs so deep and cuts so wide. Be a long, long time to the other side – “This refers to the riots in the 60s with the water hoses and the dogs. I cringe every time I see footage of it. It is a painful and sad and disgraceful piece of Birmingham’s history.”

The wounded pride gets baked inside the cakes of the WMU, and we know what’s said when we turn our heads but don’t know what more we can do – “WMU is the Women’s Missionary Union who (obviously) do good works. There are a lot of good people in the South working very hard to do good things all the time to help people and advance society. Sometimes the South still gets a bad rap in spite of the fact that they are an intelligent and culturally-diverse people. I was never in the WMU and am not a member and am not representing or endorsing them. But I remember all the ladies’ groups at the churches I went to, and they are a part of my history.”

Midnight comes without a breeze – “It’s hot there in the summer! But I love it, and I miss it. I love Birmingham and the hot, humid summer nights, the crickets, the Southern mystique. I tried to capture some of those things in the song, as well as some of the city’s struggles.”

Coming home: “I get back to Birmingham two or three times a year. I love coming back and having grits for breakfast.”

The last time she was here: “I was (in Birmingham) for my mom’s birthday, which is mid-April. We celebrated by going to dinner with some friends. Also while I was there, I went to hear Libba Walker sing during brunch at Silvertron. She’s the best. And, of course, I made sure I ate some fried okra.”

Her interests outside of music: “L.A.’s a big movie town, so I go to the movies a lot. My cats – I have two. I’m taking a hip-hop dance class. I like to hike and take walks. I like books. Surely I’m a lot more interesting than I’m beginning to sound.”

On her reading list: The Great Gatsby, East of Eden, Gould’s Book of Fish, and a biography of Genghis Kahn.

Is it helpful for a songwriter to be an avid reader? “Absolutely. I have ideas all the time while I’m reading. I come across things that I think will be a great subject for a song or a great angle for a lyric.”

If a restaurant offered the Beth Thornley Special, what would it be? “My mom’s fried okra, black-eyed peas, and fried corn. There’d probably be some French fries on the side. And a brownie sundae and lemon icebox pie for dessert.”

Her favorite indulgence: “Car trips. I love car trips. And watching Judge Judy. And sipping Clase Azul. A good massage. And band rehearsal. And three-hour dinners in Paris. And morning coffee. And chocolate.”

Her greatest fears: “Drowning comes to mind. Losing the people I love. Forgetting to wear pants on stage.”

ENTERTAINMENT: Rockstar Sally

By Buddy Roberts

Faster than an up-tempo bossa nova. Conveying the power of a well-crafted song lyric. Able to leap two octaves in a single bound. Yes, it’s Rockstar Sally, pop songstress, who, disguised as Sally Russell Baio, mild-mannered media director for a Birmingham advertising firm, spent a recent afternoon at the Botanical Gardens, discussing her never-ending search for great songs, good wine, and rare Wookie memorabilia.

Her band: The Hearts, a trio she comprises with Rick Lovelady and Jason Slatton. “People sometimes ask us who we sound like, and we usually say, ‘Ourselves.’ Even when we do covers, we always end up sounding like The Hearts. We have a very Americana sound with a few surprises thrown in. We just can’t rap well. We tried.”

Where you’ll hear them playing: Such local venues as The Oasis and The Garage Café (6-10 p.m. Sunday, May 25, and Sunday, June 22). “We are still filling in June show dates, as well as the rest of the summer, so check listings in the Black and White and Birmingham Weekly for more upcoming shows.”

What you’ll hear them playing: Songs by Lucinda Williams, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, and Steve Earle. “We do some original numbers too. I’m letting Rick and Jason shoulder the weight of writing right now while I make sure I do my part correctly and focus on being a vocalist. I have some notebooks of stuff I’ve written that may get pulled out sometime. I hope so, anyway.”

How the trio formed: “I was playing with The Happy Burnells for a while several years ago, and Rick’s band, The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys, was practicing at The Bombshelter, the same place we did. Rick and David Kilmer and Milton Moats began asking me up on stage to sit in on a couple of songs when they would play out. They even played my wedding reception at Sloss Furnaces. I had been in another band before the wedding that fizzled out shortly thereafter and was missing my own band badly. I remember that one morning I called Rick and said, ‘So when are we gonna start a band together?’ He said, ‘I wondered when you would ask. How about Thursday?’ I’d met Jason several times, Rick thought the three of us would work together well, and that was that.”

Is it important for a band to be entertaining as well as musically talented? “We think so. People sometimes tell us, ‘Even more fun than listening to you play is listening to you banter.’ We laugh and tease and poke at each other in between songs, and it’s great when an audience enjoys our music and our personalities. We just want to make sure that everyone who comes to hear us has the best time possible.”

Common misconceptions about musicians: “First, that we all do it to be famous. Absolutely not. A true musician does it for a more transcendent and personally-purposeful reason. Second, that musicians are slackers. Let me tell you, it ain’t always easy. As for The Hearts, we are full-timers, be it school or work, and we all stay incredibly busy and dedicated to and passionate about that. Music just makes it all a little better, and you can’t wait for the next show or chance to play. But it takes time and practice and a lot of heavy lifting. Keep in mind that all equipment, PAs, monitors, mics, guitars, and small animals that will not be harmed during the show – I’m kidding – have to be loaded up, loaded in, and loaded out before and after a show (and sometimes during a show), and then returned safely somewhere for the next rehearsal or show. Then you rest as much as you can and go to work for 10 hours the next day. Who needs a gym membership?”

Her favorite song to perform: Different Drum, written by former Monkee Michael Nesmith and popularized by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. “It was one of the first songs Rick brought to the table to learn. I listened and thought it would be cool, as my mom and I used to listen to Linda Ronstadt on cassette in the car when I was little. Though years beyond the Stone Poneys, I loved her voice and now realize she is probably a huge influence in my desire to sing. Anyway, I tried to do the song when Rick and Jason and I first began playing together. I began to dislike it greatly, frustrated that I would never sound right singing it, and struck it from the list. Then I heard it playing on the overhead speaker at the grocery store – glamorous, right? – and could not get it out of my head. I suggested we bring it back. Now I love it, and in a little way it brought me back around to the reason I called Rick to start The Hearts in the first place. Life is cycles and circles, anyway, the way I see it.”

Is there a difference between rehearsing a song and singing it on stage? “Absolutely. In rehearsal, you are, well…rehearsing, so you can start over, try something different, work something out, make something up. When you’re performing, it’s a one-time deal. You go with it…and still sometimes make things up.”

How she feels onstage: “I guess I feel like me (whatever that is) and in my true element. No stress, no worries, just the true feeling of honest excitement and appreciation to be able to have the opportunity to do it. I don’t think…I just feel. I wish it would never end and am surprised how time flies and suddenly we are at the end of a song or the show altogether. They say that happens when you’re having fun.”

About music: Having studied choir music and classical opera since she was a teenager, “I realized one day that music had become too much of a labor and not a labor of love.” After pursuing other interests for a while, “I had to have it back in my life. No music, no life. So I started playing in bands and found that to be a lot more fun than studying seven languages and practicing pitch. Now that I’m in my 30s, music is a serious business again, but my mantra is that I don’t work music. I play music. And it doesn’t hurt that it makes a little extra shoe money.”

Her day job: Media director for Big Communications, “a hip little ad agency in town.” A specialist in co-op media, she has served as a vice president on the board of the Birmingham Advertising Federation, helping coordinate its annual ADDY awards program and other initiatives. “I know I have made everything out to be that I am some kind of rockstar-type,” she said with a laugh, “but that’s not me all the time.”

On Birmingham: “I grew up here, went away to boarding school in Tennessee and off to college, and then made the rounds of Boston, New York, and New Orleans, but Birmingham is the coolest place I’ve ever been.”

Birmingham’s music scene: “It’s the biggest best-kept secret, and I hope people continue to reveal it. With the mature and developing talent we have here, Birmingham has the potential to be a real hot spot.”

Two things an acquaintance would be surprised to know about her: “Sad (answer): I nearly died of Grave’s Disease when I was in my very early 20s. It changed my life, and I still take meds and keep an eye on it every single little day. Happy (answer): I am a huge Formula 1 racing fan. I love European high-performance cars. If only Rick Bragg and I could talk Porches one day…”

And then there’s her Chewbacca collection…: “I have all the Chewbacca stuff that my brother had as a kid, and the collection grew from there. I’m still collecting – the rarer, the better. I guess my weird fascination with the fuzzy guy stems from going to see Star Wars at a very young age (I always wanted to tag along to anything my big brother did as a child), and it continued on as the movies came out. I’m fascinated with how a character with no actual lines (aside from the incredibly scary and often comforting growls) can have so much personality and be so endearing. Then again, I have been a lifelong fan of The Ramones as well, and they had a lot of shaggy hair, so maybe it’s just a 70s shaggy hair thing.”

Her favorite indulgence: “A glass of red wine and Days of Our Lives on the DVR after work. I wish I could tell you something more intelligent than that, but it’s the 45 minutes of downtime I allow myself pretty much daily. On top of that, my favorite indulgence is the smell of my husband making something wonderful in the kitchen as I catch up on what is going on in Salem (the city where Days takes place). Wash, rinse, repeat.”

Her husband: Phillip Baio, a New Orleans native and noted local chef. “I am extremely proud of his culinary accomplishments, and he is my favorite chef, no doubt. (Not to slight my mama, who is the best soul food cook in the Southeast.) He spent four or five years as the executive chef at the Open Door Café in Crestline, with great success. He left (there) when my brother reinvented his restaurant Bacca into Dexter’s Bar and Bistro.” When Dexter’s closed its doors about a year ago, Baio assumed his current position as sous chef at The Standard Bistro in Mount Laurel.

Her favorite wine: “Probably Domaine Tempier 2005 Bandol Rouge. I also adore Ridge Geyerville and on a more regular basis enjoy Goats Du Roam (Red). I always keep in mind what my brother said when he was in wine retail: ‘Drink what you like.’ Actually, a good metaphor for many things in life.”

If she were stranded on a desert island, the album, book, and meal she’d like to have along: Lucinda Williams Live @ The Fillmore (“All her great stuff on two CDs”), Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer or John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany (“I’ve read it 20 times since high school”), and “being married to a chef, the meal is a harder decision. It would probably be fois gras-related, anything with truffle oil, and something green. And I’d have to have sliced white onion, as any good Southern girl should.”

Rockstar Sally Style: “I am a fan of classic fashion a la Audrey Hepburn. When someone meets me, they usually wonder, ‘Do you always dress that way?’ Yes, I do. I’ve come back to a classic look and red lipstick – everything my mother always wanted me to wear. My poor mother. She raised a debutante and got a rockstar.”

Black-and-white photography by Nikki Snodgrass, Time's Photography, Austin, Texas.

COMMENTARY

By Buddy Roberts

Commentary, my editor called it.

Looking back, it seems a bit grandiose, but at the time I was a 16-year-old kid and thrilled out of my mind to have my name and picture on a newspaper column with such a grown-up and professional-sounding title.

My first hard-hitting offering addressed the controversial topic of time. It took a cold, tough look at how difficult it can be to get things done, blew the lid off of the proliferation of hectic schedules, and drew the reader to the profound conclusion that people surely are busy these days.

Hardly an auspicious beginning. Good thing for me I was working for and learning from Tommy Toles, the finest editor ever to hold a press card. The Chief gave me my first professional break, and as I grew up in the business under his tutelage, Commentary grew up with me. The topics gradually changed from music, movies, and high school antics to foreign policy, public education, federal funding for the arts, allegations of scandalous doings in the state prison system, and various and sundry political and social issues. It was a gas, and Commentary was ultimately the recipient of four professional awards.

The Chief moved on, and, later, so did I, eventually to Chattanooga, Tenn., to develop The Post, a neat little publication that deserved to live longer than it was allowed to. Each of the editors involved in production had a column on the editorial page, but I decided not to call mine Commentary. It just didn’t seem right. New town, new paper…I needed a new column head.

Trouble was, my supervising editor and I could never agree on what to call it. He thought my choice was too avant-garde, I thought his suggestions were too benign, and my column rarely appeared under the same heading twice while we tried to come up with a mutually-agreeable title. It never happened. And never really mattered, because The Post had barely marked six months of publication before it died as the result of acute corporate-level stupidity.

But that’s another story. Here I am now with Birmingham Profile, an electronic publication that we hope will serve as something of a storybook about the Magic City and the people, businesses, and attractions that make the Birmingham area a great place to live. It’s been in development for some time, and we hope you’ll think it’s worth the effort. I know I do.

And I knew, from stage one of development, that I’d bring Commentary back. It’s probably silly, but launching Birmingham Profile had made me feel that I’ve come full circle, back to the enthusiasm I had when I started out in the business 21 years ago. Commentary reminds me of the old days, and it’s a tip of my hat to The Chief. I owe him far more than that.

Do not, however, expect Commentary to completely live up to its name these days. The topics won’t be heavy—no scandals, exposes, or investigative reports. It will simply be another avenue, a different style for telling stories. My stories, other people’s stories…we’re just going to have fun with it. Which is what Birmingham Profile is all about.

It’s been said that good stories last longer than technology (which I firmly believe and for which I'm thankful), but we’ll still see what we can do to preserve a few in electronic form. And hopefully we’ll all have a good time in the process. Thank you for joining us.

COMMENTARY: Stories We Could Tell

By Buddy Roberts

“Talkin’ to myself again, wonderin’ if this traveling is good. Is there something else a-doin’ we’d be doin’ if we could?”

I loved that song line the first time I heard it, on Jimmy Buffett’s A1A album, almost 18 years ago. As it ran through my head again not so long ago during a twilight drive down Government Street in Mobile, and later, shortly after sunrise, as I watched a school of skate swim past the pilings of the boat dock attached to my buddy Bart’s backyard, it still sounded just as good.

Traveling always puts me in a reflective mood, and that dock has become one of my favorite thinking spots in the world. I may never sit on it again, though, since Bart will probably have a new place before I get to visit him again. But there I was, talking to myself and asking myself about doing something else if I could.

Tough question. One I’ve asked myself often, knowing the answer each time. The question was as loaded as the one I asked someone during a recent interview: “Do you enjoy what you do?”
“I love what I do,” she said without hesitation. “I think it’s important for a person to be passionate about their work. And it shows. Like with you. I can tell you enjoy what you’re doing.”

“I never wanted to do anything else,” I’d replied before I realized it.

There was a time when I thought I did. The newspaper game, while a noble profession of which I’ve always been proud to have been a part, isn’t known for creating and fostering optimists. I had the privilege of learning the business from some of the last genuine honest-to-goodness newsmen on the planet – skilled professionals who’d spent their lives doing nothing else. And cynics, every single one.

Once, when a new, enthusiastic, idealistic reporter had joined our staff, I asked The Chief, “How’s she going to fit in? Is she already cynical?”

“No,” he said without looking up from the copy he was editing, “she still thinks the world is a nice place. Give her time.”

The cynicism eventually got to me too. Not that I didn’t have a good time with what I was doing. There's not much for which I'd trade those days, but the longer I did it, the more I lost sight of why I went into the business in the first place. The game just didn’t seem as fun as it used to.

So I got out of it. Was there something else a-doin’ I’d be doin’ if I could? I thought so, but couldn’t quite find it. So, after returning to the game a few years later, I discovered an aspect of it that I’d never really explored before. While working for a short-lived Chattanooga, Tenn., weekly, I quickly learned how many fascinating people there are around that town, each one with a story. And I got to tell some of them. And our readers ate them up. And I was having fun again.

There are similar stories all over The Magic City, too. Stories that need to be told, stories that will entertain, inform, uplift, and inspire. It is the purpose of Birmingham Profile to bring those stories to you. It is our hope that you will have as much fun reading them as we know we’re going to have telling them.

That may sound a bit corny, and maybe it is, but having fun is the reason I wanted to be a reporter in the first place. It just seemed like the coolest job to have. After all these years, it still is.

“If you’re on the road, trackin’ down your every night, playin’ for a living beneath the brightly- colored lights, if you ever wonder why you ride the carousel, you do it for the stories you can tell.”

--John Sebastian.

COMMENTARY: Small Town News

By Buddy Roberts

It was late one night, close on 19 years ago, that I watched through my camera as the florist’s shop owned by my next-door neighbor burned to the ground. As small towns go, it was big news.

Bigger news happened the following night, when a feed and seed store (the one Mr. Hogg, my elementary school principal, bought when he retired from education) was consumed by fire two blocks away. There was as much speculation in the air that night as there was smoke. What caused the fires? Were they accidents or not? Was there an arsonist on the loose? Were both fires the work of the same person, or did he have an accomplice? Where would they strike next?

After exposing a couple of rolls of film, ducking under the yellow crime scene tape, and coughing smoke out of my lungs, I jumped behind the wheel of my car (a grey 1976 Ford Grenada with the front tag screaming PRESS in bright red letters) as J.R. Espy, as pumped on adrenaline as I was, eased into the passenger seat.

“J.R.?” I asked.

“Yeah?”

“Does it get any better than this?” And we laughed all the way back to the newspaper office.

J.R.’s dad is the publisher of The News, an Espy-owned publication since as long as anyone can remember. I went to work there before I was old enough to drive, and J.R. and I became a news team while we were both still in high school. Together, we covered Friday night football games, school board meetings, elections, a major flood, the state legislature, municipal politics, worse crimes than arson, and just about everything else that happens in and to a community.

We had some fun. Life in a small town continued as only it can. The florist hired my dad to rebuild his shop, Mr. Hogg retired again, and somewhere along the way, J.R. and I grew up. Before long, I had been recognized as one of the state’s top political and education reporters, and J.R., having won acclaim as the best journalism student in the country, was making a name for himself in the college press association as an investigative reporter. It’s what he does best, and he’s still at it.

But as time went on, something changed for me. The board meetings became routine, the elections lost their excitement, and the scandals weren’t quite so scandalous any more. The game just wasn’t as much fun as it used to be.

What I didn’t realize then was that my interests had shifted. After leaving the small town for a bigger market, I was able to take a step away from issues and hard news and discover a new focus: people. Such as the centenarian who’d had tea with Eleanor Roosevelt and climbed the pyramids in Egypt. Such as the professional clown who’d studied with Marcel Marceau. Such as the fourth grader who wants to be a tornado chaser when he grows up. Such as the Native American historian working to preserve the ancient legends. Their stories were great fun to hear, and I've always counted it a privilege that I was the one who got to retell them for the public.

And here I am now in another new market. Birmingham. The Magic City. During an interview with Beth Thornley (the talented West Coast singer-songwriter who grew up in Birmingham) for an upcoming entertainment profile, she described Birmingham as “a great little big city.” An apt description, one that's been echoed by others you'll read about in Birmingham Profile: the attorney who grew up in an antebellum house in which part of Gone With the Wind was written, the composer who's traveled the world but happily settled here, the savvy businesswoman who fuses cosmopolitan style with Southern tradition, and many more.

It's been a long journey from small town news to Birmingham Profile. As Harry Chapin put it, "I came into town with a knapsack on my shoulder and a pocketful of stories that I just had to tell. You know I've knocked around a bit, and I've had my share of small town glories. It's time to hit the city and that crazy carousel."

I'm glad to have you along on this new leg of the journey.

SPECIAL INTEREST: Shades -- Chic, Groovy, and Retro

By Debbie Overstreet

You can find many styles of sunglasses in stores today, including everything from fashionably chic to practical and functional to groovy and retro. While looking stylish is one reason to wear sunglasses, there are many other benefits as well.

• To keep the sun out of your eyes. The lenses should be large enough to actually protect your eyes from the sun.
• To cut down on glare. Polarized sunglasses help to cut down on glare and make things much clearer.
• To help prevent cataracts. A pair of sunglasses with high UV protection factors is recommended.
• To keep other people from recognizing you. Hollywood stars use sunglasses in this way quite often.
• To hide the fact that you've been crying. The darker the lenses, the better for this purpose.
• To spice up an outfit. Sunglasses come in many colors and styles so that you can accessorize nicely with any ensemble.
• To keep the wind out of your eyes. This is especially helpful while riding a motorcycle.
• To protect your eyes while playing sports. Be sure to have sunglasses with impact-resistant lenses.
• To accentuate your looks. Your facial shape should determine which shape of sunglasses looks best on you.
• To look cool. Enough said!

Reprinted from valuablecontent.com.