Festival organizers have made the first announcement about the 2008 City Stages lineup. Acts playing on nine stages in downtown Birmingham June 13, 14 & 15 include:

Diana Ross
The Flaming Lips
Old Crow Medicine Show
The Roots
Buddy Guy
Citizen Cope
Sean Kingston
Galactic
Marc Broussard
Ledisi
Dave Barnes
Will Hoge
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
Israel & New Breed
Martha Munizzi
Toubab Krewe
Fredy Omar Con Su Banda
L’Angelus
Rosie Ledet
Michael Warren
Jon Black
Ford Turrell
Act Of Congress
Blues Old Stand
Beyond Me
The Basement
Within Reason

Weekend passes for City Stages will go on sale in May.

The 2008 festival marks the first time that Knoxville, Tenn.,-based A.C. Entertainment, which co-produces the wildly successful Bonnaroo Music & Arts festival, has handled booking talent for City Stages. Bonnaroo takes place the same weekend as City Stages and acts that perform at the Manchester, Tenn., festival sign a non-compete clause that precludes them from playing both festivals. While having A.C. Entertainment involved in City Stages won’t eliminate the non-compete clause, it does connect the Birmingham festival with a significant talent pool: Musicians who already have a working relationship with Bonnaroo organizers.

Popularity: 41% [?]

A small but appreciative crowd of about 40 or 50 people was all that our fair city could muster on the night of Tuesday, March 18, to witness the final performances in the history of The Bomb Shelter, the legendary BYOB music venue on 24th Street North downtown. Birmingham’s Menewa, an acoustic folk-rock-country group, opened the show, and Spottiswoode and His Enemies were the headliners.

As we reported a few weeks ago, the 2-story building that houses The Bomb Shelter and nearly a dozen artist studios and rehearsal spaces is for sale by its owner, Mitch Damsky. Gary Hyche, whose construction company is based on the first floor, has leased the building since 1993 and made spaces available at bargain rates to scores of artists and musicians. Hyche also plays guitar in Menewa.

Menewa’s set included material from it’s CD, Fairlane, including a tune called “Wash” that I liked a lot. For information, visit www.myspace.com/menewa

Jonathan Spottiswoode, originally from England and now based in New York, was playing The Bomb Shelter for the third time and seemed genuinely pleased that he had the opportunity to take part in this final show. He and his band were exhausted after a 12-hour drive from Houston, Texas, but they chugged down some coffee and played for at least an hour.

Spottiswoode plays acoustic guitar and sings, and his band — who packed a lot of muscle onto a tiny stage — back him up with drums, bass, guitar, mandolin, keyboards, accordion, trumpet, and saxophone. Spottiswoode has an engaging stage presence, a good sense of humor (which manifests itself in his lyrics), and a sound that seems to evoke a little Nick Cave, a bit of Tom Waits, even some Ray Davies. Rather than use the horrible cliches employed by music writers who don’t actually have a musical vocabulary, I will stop now and suggest that, if you want to learn more, you consult the band’s website at www.spottiswoode.com

Credit for the photo used with this entry goes to Bob Farley of f8 Photo. See his web site at www.f8photo.org

Popularity: 38% [?]

Best known as frontman of the Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies, Mike Farris knows about redemption and salvation. Having battled alcohol and drug dependency for most of his life, Farris now embraces Christianity and sobriety. But shunning the excessive lifestyle and finding God have not softened Farris’ music. As his recent release Salvation In Lights proves, Farris sounds rejuvenated and impassioned as he interprets Christian standards alongside his own compositions. Salvation In Lights plays like a joyous revival drenched in the sounds of Memphis soul, Delta blues and traditional country.

On Wednesday, March 26, Farris will perform at Workplay. Matthew Mayfield and Marc Harris will open the 8 p.m. show. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at www.workplay.com or by calling 380-4082.

Popularity: 34% [?]

In terms of participating in internet commerce, I’m something of a Luddite. I have only purchased four items on Amazon ever and I’ve never participated in a single eBay auction. But my life as an online consumer is about to change dramatically now that I know about Etsy.com. The website is a showcase for handmade goods of every sort — paintings, paper goods, clothing, candles, crochet and knitted items, jewelry housewares and all manner of useful eye-candy. Etsy’s explicit mission is “to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers.” The point, they say, is to build a new economy and make it possible to “Buy, Live and Sell Handmade.”

Perhaps the most dazzling feature of Etsy’s super-intuitive site design is the Geolocator, which lets you shop for local handmade goods. At present, there are a total of 66 Birminghamians hawking their wares, including Veronique Vanblaere, Kate Merritt Davis and Weekly contributing artist Daisy Winfrey (Bonus! here’s an awesome song titled “I’m Callin’ Daisy” by the blues legend Brownie McGhee!).

A lot of the local artists on Etsy are also on the awesome local artist marketplace run by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham. The purpose of Ask Artie is to create connections between individual artists and arts professionals, arts/cultural organizations, venues and galleries plus a wide variety of resources and services of interest to the cultural sector.

Popularity: 44% [?]

IN BIRMINGHAM WE ARE FIGHTING HISTORY: Race against race, class against class, this side not talking to that side. Last month, that sentiment was the impetus that prompted Birmingham Weekly to convene five local leaders for a lunchtime conversation about our community. This week’s cover story features excerpts from that two-hour, one-of-a-kind conversation.
Other highlights of Vol. 11, Issue 30 include Hot Seat & Limelight, the news in brief and Courtney Haden ruminating on what makes the BAMAs so worthwhile by considering the slow decline of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And what with the rising popularity of Guitar Hero, the problem is only bound to get worse.

Finally, if you don’t want to wait around for Peter Cottontail, check out Eat Beat for details on Easter brunch specials at local restaurants.

Popularity: 44% [?]

Last week Mayor Larry Langford said he was upset because the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce had added “regional” to its name. As I wrote in this column, Langford was not being entirely forthcoming about why he’d soured on the chamber, which had previously supported his revitalization ordinance (or “tax hike,” as most businesses have known it).

One thing that I forgot to address was how Birmingham chamber nomenclature compares to other chambers of commerce. For instance here in Alabama we have the Mobile AREA Chamber of Commerce, and the Montgomery AREA Chamber of Commerce. And that place we envy so much across the state line, Atlanta? There they have the METRO Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

I know what you might be thinking. None of those are regional, right? More than a few chambers around the country have added “regional” to their names, including the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association and the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce, among many others.Even some of those smaller cities we’re learning to envy have regional chambers, places such as Jacksonville, Fla., Charlottesville, Va., and Memphis, Tenn.

But let’s assume Langford is right. If the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce isn’t going to represent Birmingham, maybe Birmingham should find someone who would. The Hoover AREA Chamber of Commerce, perhaps?

Popularity: 49% [?]

Perhaps the most important and poignant speech on race relations in a decade.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Happily for us, the author of The Well and The Mine has had quite a few bylines in Birmingham Weekly. And as proud as we’ve been to have Gin Phillips on the masthead, it was far more thrilling to run her name on the cover last week, announcing the publication of her debut novel..

You can read an excerpt from the first chapter on the Birmingham Weekly website.

Popularity: 51% [?]

Brothers will play at WorkPlay March 17.  Read Brent Thompson’s interview with Brothers here.

Popularity: 43% [?]

When I hear singer/songwriter Cary Brothers describe the aura that surrounds the Hotel Cafe Tour, I keep thinking of the 2003 documentary film The Festival Express. The film captured a group of like-minded artists and friends - namely The Grateful Dead, The Band and Janis Joplin - as they traveled by train across Canada in 1970. The Hotel Cafe Tour parallels The Festival Express by featuring a collection of artists that are touring as much for the camaraderie as the music.

“The energy is fantastic,” Brothers says, speaking by phone from El Paso, Texas. “There’s something really special about this tour in particular. It’s just a bunch of friends on a bus together - you really can’t go wrong.”

Read the full story

Popularity: 51% [?]