A detour northwest to give a shout out to the champ
I made a comment recently about the level of pride for my alma mater, SCAD, in reference to the number of them in the Magic City. Now if we could just get them to start putting their window decals on their cars… Anyhow, I’ve been enjoying reading up on what former classmates and fellow alum are doing. It’s one of the best reasons I have for maintaining a MySpace account.
One of them just accomplished what I consider an incredible feat that few people may actually know about. Anis Mojgani repeated as the 2006 National Poetry Slam Individual Champion last week in Austin, TX! He is the only Storm Poet to ever hold the title and now the first to win it twice. It’s great to see him get this kind of recognition for his work. While at the college, he studied sequential art. Those fortunate enough to be near where he currently calls home, Portland, Oregon, can visit Mojgani and an enclave of fellow SCAD alum (and just great people) at their gallery, couch. Here’s a podcast clip courtesy of their site showing the two time champ in action.
More alum and yet another fun event for the weekend after the jump…
One more thing to do this week
It’s sad when there are too many things to do here in town. Just when I thought that I’d figured out my plans for the weekend, I remember about the Birmingham Park Players performing Romeo and Juliet (click here to meet the cast, you may recognize some people) in the Aldridge Botanical Gardens this Thursday, Friday and Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. The production should be a lot of fun, especially since our evenings have been quite comfortable recently.
India brings her style of neo-soul to the Magic City
Another former classmate that’s quite well known and was recently in Birmingham for a concert (though I stupidly didn’t find out until it was too late L ) India Simpson, better known to the world as India.Arie, played a show at Bartow Arena last week. She was a metals and jewelry student at the college during my early years. Some of us wonder what would have happened if she’d won the school talent show that year. Based on what I read, it sounds like a great show was had by all. Maybe we can get here to come back soon. Maybe I’ll actually get to see her at one of her big shows soon too. Looks like she’s still on tour and might be coming to a venue near you soon too.
It still is Hollywood, isn’t it?
Not everyone in Hollywood seems to like our latest American Idol. I was surfing MSNBC’s site and found some comments made by Justin Timberlake in a Vanity Fair insert, where he claims Taylor Hicks “…can’t carry a tune in a bucket.” There’s more from him on Hicks and the competition that catapulted Hicks into the spotlight. So does that mean that the new billboard campaigns are a bad idea? Or that he’s upset he isn’t getting more press right now?
Timberlake not a Taylor Hicks fan, MSNBC.com, 8.16.2006
And in case you missed it…
Check out these posts (1, 2) regarding yesterday’s latest adventure in Alabama politics. And while we’re at it, I guess the King still lives on… it’s 29 years since his death, and he’s still pulling in the crowds. More local items later today.
Cheers.
N.B. Let’s remember to keep Lori, the Martins, and all of our missing people relevant.
