WE ARE WHAT WE EAT & ALWAYS HAVE BEEN: Birminghamians are obsessed with food, with eating, with cooking, with restaurants. It didn’t start with the current crop of fine-dining establishments but rather with the workaday places that brought Birmingham into being in the first place – the iron and steel manufacturers.

Way back in 1927, right around the time that the Sloss-Sheffield Iron & Steel was modernizing its methods of pig iron production, the company launched a marketing inititative called Pig Iron Rough Notes. The mini-magazine consisted mostly of metallurgical matter, but also included a recipes page called “Gentleman Cooks.” These delicious formulas are the subject of a new book titled Man Food, as well as this week’s cover story.

Elsewhere in the paper we’ve got less appetizing news: Alabama Democratic Conference Chairman Joe Reed is all for black candidates – except the one running for president. But then again what do primaries matter in the age of making playlists?

In the New Year, the living is easy, at least for J’Mel Davidson. That guy means to live right in his own inimitable style.

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THE CONTENTS PAGE IS FULL OF LIES: Yep. The table of contents for Vol. 11, Issue 12 says that Kyle Whitmire’s “War on Dumb” can be found on page 4, when in fact what appeared on page 4 was a guide to the first-ever Downtown Holiday Open House (it went well, thanks for asking). And the contents page also said that Molly Folse’s story “Permission to Stare” about the awesome AXIS Dance Company was on page 23 or thereabouts, when in fact, it’s here. Otherwise, we meant every word we said, and that includes “Midterm Marks” for the Birmingham City Council, Courtney Haden’s consideration of I’m Not There, Jim Fahy’s contemplation of Dead Confederate and Carey Norris’ review of Lions for Lambs.

Next week, the truth will be revealed on the contents page – and a day early due to the holiday. Meanwhile, just prowl around www.bhamweekly.com

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If you need a dose of spirituality or poetry or both, the place to get it during the next few months is St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Montevallo. Dr. James Mersmann, who taught American literature and poetry writing for more than 25 years at UAB, is giving a series of “joyful talks” on the poetry of Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Richard Wilbur, Robert Bly, Rainer Maria Rilke, Kabir, Rumi and others on the second Tuesday of each month through January. Tonight’s talk is titled “Walt Whitman’s Great Camerado: ‘Letters from God dropt in the street’” and begins at 7:30 p.m. The church (not to be confused with the local parish of the same name) is located at 925 Plowman Street in Montevallo, at the corner of Oak and Plowman just across from the high school. Future talks are scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 11, and Tuesday, Jan 8.

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Greg Allman returns to Birmingham this week for a show at the Alabama Theatre. Weekly contributing writer Brent Thompson has an interview with him here.

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FINE ART & HAUNTING ARTIFACTS: Visitors to “Pompeii: Tales from an Eruption” will be treated to perhaps the most powerful exhibit that the Birmingham Museum of Art has ever had. For this week’s cover story, guest curator Robin Meador-Woodruff and exhibit designer Terry Beckham spoke to Glenny Brock about creating the exhibit.

Contemporary devastations are covered in this week’s edition too – in particular, the murder last weekend of Fernando Flores and the depressing prospect that, barring any unforeseen delays, Larry Langford will spend his first day as mayor of Birmingham in court rather than decorating his new office in City Hall. If it’s more bad news you’re looking for, check out how your home state scored in Forbes magazine’s annual survey of “America’s Greenest States.”

As always, the only solace to be found is to be found in art, food, music and fashion.

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THIRTY YEARS IN THE TAKING: That’s the subhead of this week’s cover story, “Larry Langford’s Greatest Hits.” If ever 4,000 words might affect the decision you make in a polling booth, this is surely the time.

A few Five Points South business owners attended this week’s meeting of the Birmingham City Council, demanding to know what – if anything – the city plans to do about the crime that continues unabated in the flagging entertainment district.

Meanwhile, there’s music playing – Courtney Haden reviews Bruce Springsteen’s new CD Magic, Brent Thompson talks to Tea Leaf Green and Evan Gray gets into the earthy rhythms of Mickey Hart’s Global Drum Project.

The big news in this week’s Eat Beat is all about the Break ‘N Bread festival scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 7, at the Pepper Place Market. The main reason to go, of course, is the food and beverages from more than 20 independently owned local restaurants. The other reason to attend Break ‘N Bread is that the festival marks the official release of the 2007-2008 Menu of Menus. The winners list and a few of the features will be in next week’s paper, but you’ll want the whole book for sure.

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Almost three months ago, Jeremy Harper began his one-to-million shot — counting to one million live on the Internet. (Can you imagine putting that on your resume? Summer 2007: Counted to one million live on Internet.) You can read our original cover story here. But more importantly, you need to get yourself to the Barking Kudu this Friday evening to watch him cross the finish line. Here’s the plan. At about 6:30 Harper will finish counting, and everyone at the Kudu will be able to see it live on the Kudu cam. After his big number (sorry, couldn’t resist) Harper will finally leave his house for the first time in three months to go have a drink at the Kudu and to shave that nasty-ass beard he’s been growing since the count began. The Matt Woods band will play some tunes during the intermissions, and Push America will be there to take your donations and thank Harper for sacrificing his summer for charity.

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THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW that says no self-respecting publication in the city of Birmingham can ever put Vulcan on the cover again. Don’t get us wrong – we love that big guy and appreciate all the nuanced metaphorical implications of having him as the symbol of our city. Still, as far as putting him on the cover, it’s been done a time or 10,000. We opted to do it again this week to highlight our story on the world premiere of Miss Vulcan 1939, which opens this Saturday at the Red Mountain Theatre. The play is a dramatic reimagining of a once-in-a-lifetime Birmingham pageant (not to be confused with the political beauty contest in which Larry Langford is a perennial candidate).

Speaking of pageantry, as of 12:01 a.m. today, there’s a fella born in Sheffield, Ala., running for president. The Republicans had their movie actor president in Reagan, their puppet president in George W. Bush and now are angling for a TV ham candidate in Fred Thompson. If anything about having a Law & Order president makes you feel safe, take a minute to ponder what you were doing six years ago this Tuesday. Then take an hour to ponder that while there’s no proof that Osama bin Laden is dead, there’s plenty to verify that nearly 4,000 of your compatriots are.

Such truths try men souls, making comedy necessary – special yuks in the offing this week come from Doug Stanhope and J. Michael McCall, as well as the steady funny J’Mel Davidson. Other worthwile diversions include Georgia wineries, Artwalk or the movies (although Halloween is evidently best avoided).

Finally, start counting – only a month until the release of the 2007-2008 Menu of Menus and only a week until Jeremy Harper reaches a million.

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Birmingham resident Joe Shannon, 86, who flew a B-26 bomber into combat at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in 1961 while working for the CIA, is the subject of my cover story in the current issue of the Weekly.

However, Shannon gave me so much juicy behind-the-scenes information and dropped so many names that I felt duty-bound to commandeer a piece of the Weekly’s cyber-space and bring my fellow cloak-and-dagger freaks a little more of this amazing story.

Read the full story

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Some weeks are full of history and music, and so are some weeklies, particularly this week’s Birmingham Weekly, which includes the true story of the Alabama Air Guard and the Bay of Pigs invasion, plus – count ‘em ¬– one-two-three-four music stories. In addition to an interview with the not-so-anonymous John Doe, we present a trio of local legends concerning The Ramblers, Vulture Whale and Menewa. Those last two bands both have CD release parties coming up this week at Bottletree, and Menewa will likely open their show with the Bob Dylan song “Isis.” How the band came to record that gem is a remarkable story.
Nearly as remarkable is the character monologue form that J’Mel Davidson occasionally pulls out of his hat and the fact that Kyle Whitmire can write such a kindly remembrance of a kingmaker.

Finally, for dessert, there’s ice cream, made in Alabama.

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