Encouraging People to Improve Financial Fitness in the New Year
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Throughout the month of January, Regions Bank is hosting more than 350 events designed to help people improve their financial fitness in the New Year. The free events are part of the third annual Regions Financial Fitness Fridays℠ program and will offer practical tips and guidance for anyone interested – regardless of whether they are a Regions customer.
The public is also invited to learn financial fitness tips and ideas through social media by liking Regions Bank on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RegionsBank and by following @RegionsNews on Twitter. Social media users can join the conversation by using the hashtag #FinancialFitnessFridays.
“We know that sound financial management supports the overall well-being of individuals, their families, and their communities,” said Carol Clarke, manager of the Regions Financial Education Institute. “As the New Year begins, people often resolve to improve their physical health. Through Regions Financial Fitness Fridays℠, we are encouraging everyone to develop healthy financial habits as well, such as saving, paying off debt, and planning for retirement.”
Further, Regions is also launching a fun and informative video series outlining financial “workouts of the week” on topics including planning, savings, tax preparation and retirement. The videos are available on the RegionsBankNews.com website and on the Regions Financial YouTube channel and will be shown in select Regions Bank locations throughout the month of January.
Information presented during Regions Financial Fitness Fridays℠ is designed to benefit not only individual consumers, but also small businesses. Regions is also helping its associates improve their own financial fitness in 2015 through a series of financial fitness quizzes, tips, and articles available on the company’s intranet.
While the Regions Financial Fitness Fridays℠ program lasts for one month each year, the bank’s commitment to financial education is ongoing and year-round. Consider these examples:
• Regions delivered more than 38,000 free financial seminars at businesses and schools in 2014 through the company’s Regions At Work® program.
• Regions provides free online financial education courses to students and Regions Bank customers, as well as Regions Bank associates, through the Regions Bank Financial Learning Center. In 2014, nearly 9,000 high school and college students registered and participated in online courses presented by Regions through the company’s agreement with Everfi. Also, the Adult-EverFi@Work program included participation by more than 4,500 Regions customers and associates in 2014.
• New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram and Alabama State Treasurer Young Boozer teamed with Regions and Visa for a game of Financial Football at an Alabama high school. Also, Regions and Visa partnered with ex-NFL cornerback Ken Lucas and Mississippi State Treasurer Lynn Fitch to bring the game to Jackson, Miss. area- students.
• Regions, EverFi and Judge Glenda Hatchett honored more than 150 Atlanta high school students for their participation in the Regions Financial Scholars Program.
• Regions also offers the My GreenGuide® online financial resource center to help people save, plan and make smarter financial decisions. My GreenGuide is available at regions.com/mygreenguide and features tips, advice, articles, and calculators on a variety of financial topics.
In addition to events such as Regions Financial Fitness Fridays℠ and tools such as My GreenGuide®, Regions Bank works closely with community partners and nonprofit organizations to provide financial education resources to students and adults. Organizations interested in taking advantage of complimentary financial education programs are encouraged to visit any Regions Bank branch or make an appointment through regions.com.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— During the holidays, the spirit of giving and investing was realized by Holy Family Cristo Rey from BancorpSouth. The company has been a supporter of the school for several years and is involved in the highly successful Corporate Work Study program implemented by Holy Family Cristo Rey. Recently, BancorpSouth had people from around the company in BirmIngham looking for some community outreach projects that they could get involved in corporately. After an invitation to the school, BancorpSouth left impressed. “We saw some tremendous work being done and this looked like a project that BancorpSouth could support,” said Don Giardina, a division president of the company. With the visit, BancorpSouth learned of a technology need at the school and their company was undergoing an upgrade of their technology simultaneously. Giardina said, “We were able to identify about 22 PCs to give to the school and a contribution for the soft costs in getting those computers up and running and make them an integral part of the IT at Holy Family and in turn an integral part of the overall educational effort of Holy Family Cristo Rey.”
The computers have been brought to the school and are being implemented now to the best resource they can be in helping the technological needs for them. The Corporate Work Study Program that BancorpSouth is involved in as well with the school helped in the decision as well. “It is really kind of a unique program that we have seen in regard to the footprint of our company and something we felt like we would be well served to be a part of,” said Giardina. He went on to add that they saw more greater need and no more greater benefit to the community than Holy Family Cristo Rey and that is why they chose to be a part of it.
To learn more about Holy Family Cristo Rey, please visit www.hfcristorey.org.
Should the President Have Been at the March in France ?
by Jesse J. Lewis, Sr.
I really don’t think so, but I do think he should have sent a higher level representative like Kerry. The thing about marching is a lot of people march, but at the end of the day, that’s all they do. Unquestionably, the President has shown his commitment to France. He was in direct contact with the leaders in Paris every step of the way.
I also question how many people came to America world-wide. To my knowledge, one or two, but that does not mean they did not care. Had the President showed up in Paris that would have added another level of confusion from a security-aspect.
We all know that the Republican Party attempts in every way to discredit President Obama’s administration, making it an issue of his not going to Paris. Had he shown up they would have criticized him for starting a disturbance at the march.
Mostly everyone in America, who is interested in politics, is aware that Mitt Romney, the 46 percent man, has decided that he would run for President for the third time. The third time is not necessarily a charm, if you don’t believe me ask those people who have married for the third time. They wish they had stayed with the first one.
This time Mitt Romney will campaign on how to make poor people rich and will support increased minimum wage and will campaign heavily in Hispanic and Black communities. Keep in mind, that Mitt Romney is the same person who played the race card when he spoke to the NAACP two years ago.
Here’s what he said at the convention:
1. I will repeal healthcare.
2. I will not support increasing the minimum wage.
3. I will cut all social programs by 50 percent, which includes food stamps.
He made these statements for the sole purpose of getting booed, so he could picked up votes from the extreme left of the voting population. He lost the election because of little or no votes from women, young voters, Blacks and Hispanics. Now he realizes that he cannot win without them.
What the Republicans plan to use as a platform in 2016 are scare tactics like they did to win the mid-term election in 2014 with Ebola. Republicans are sensing that a world seemingly spinning out of control could give them an opening to reclaim their traditional strength on national security issues heading into the 2016 presidential election. Even before terrorists killed 12 people in Paris, Republicans were fine-tuning an assault on President Obama’s foreign policy. They want to undermine the President’s proud claim of dismantling al Qaeda’s ‘core’ and put Democrats on the defensive – especially Hillary Clinton, who carried out the President’s foreign policy as his first-term Secretary of State.
This is an opportunity for Republicans to reclaim their vote advantage on national security.
“To most Americans, the world feels like a dangerous place right now. Six years into the Obama administration, it is difficult for President Obama to blame that on anybody but himself.”
The Republicans will use every scare tactic they possibly can to convince the American public that a woman, especially a Democratic woman, is not strong enough to defend this great country of ours.
There’s a strong possibility that these scare tactics can work. But like Ebola, as that threat faded away, the scare tactics will fade away also.
by Hollis Wormsby, Jr. The Queen Latifah Show is Being Cancelled RHOA is Expanding (Lord Have Mercy)
I am a big fan of the Queen Latifah show even though I don’t get to see it that often. I love the realness of her show, and the way that she offers perspectives on issues that challenge me to see things differently than I did before watching her show. I love the energy of the show and the way she is able to so engage her audience and get them up and dancing and shouting. I love the lack of low class bs. So I hated to hear that the show was being cancelled. Funny thing is on the same website where I read about the Queen Latifah Show being cancelled there was a story about yet another expansion of the Real Housewives of Atlanta franchise.
I think the Queen Latifah Show is a show that should be worth fighting for. I can give you an example of just one interview on the show that shows how valuable it can be. I was watching the show recently when the featured guest was Snoop Dogg, a guest that Latifah has a long and personal history with. Of course I am familiar with Snoop at a surface level because of hits like Gin and Juice and Drop It Like It’s Hot, and I am familiar with the media persona of him as just some pot head, who can spit urban style, but on Queen Latifah I saw a different perspective on Snoop and it really made me think of how we let the media define folks and perspectives for us.
When Latifah interviewed Snoop he became a father and a man who was making a difference in the lives of hundreds if not thousands of Black youth. In one part of the interview Latifah asked Snoop what it was like for his daughter, having such a famous father. Snoop told her he didn’t know about the famous part but that his daughter would probably like her to know what it was like living with someone who thinks she shouldn’t start dating until she is like 47 or so. In that moment he was not a hip hop star, he was a proud daddy, and that was so much more real to me. Later in the interview she talked to Snoop about his involvement with his youth football league. I knew Snoop had a football league for urban youth, but there was a part of me that imagined him out there hitting blunts with his charges. In this interview he revealed that he took his work with the youth seriously; that it was not just a financial investment and it was definitely not a publicity stunt. He told her that several hundred youth from his program had already earned NCAA scholarships; that about 30 kids from his program were now NFL players and that his goal was to help more kids in the future. I don’t think I would have seen that perspective on an interview by David Letterman or even Tom Joyner for that matter.
That is a good example of why it is so frustrating to me to see the show being cancelled, especially while RHOA and Sorority are going strong while putting out every negative stereotype of our community possible.
The Queen Latifah Show airs on the Fox Network. Let me encourage you to go to their website, www.fox.com and voice your support for the show. Even better, bring this up as a topic at your church and get the church to launch a campaign to get the whole congregation to get behind this effort. It is simply wrong that the mainstream media can find every negative image of the community possible to exploit for its financial and entertainment value, and yet cannot leave one decent show that shows the community in a positive light and offers perspectives that make you think, on the air for more than one season. Or at least that’s the way I see it.
(Do you have a question or comment on this column? Look me up on Facebook/HollisWormsby or email me at hjwormsby@aol.com.)
Indications are that an increase in the federal taxes on gasoline could occur this year. Currently 18.4 cents per gallon, the tax has not changed since 1993. At that time, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.09.
Recent statements by the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, John Thune of South Dakota, indicate an increase is under consideration. In addition, there appears to be some bi-partisan support in the Senate for the action.
One initiative has been recommended by Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut. They have suggested an increase of 12 cents per gallon over the next two years. After that, future changes in the tax would be linked to inflation.
What is the motivating force for an increase, especially by Republicans who are generally opposed to tax increases? One factor is falling gasoline prices, now at the lowest level in years. The thought is that this might be an opportune time to raise taxes.
The major force driving the action, however, is the dire state of the nation’s infrastructure. To underscore its status, the American Society of Civil Engineers has rated the nation’s roads and bridges as a D plus.
Gasoline taxes fund most of receipts of the federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF), accounting for 63 percent of the total. The HTF was established in 1956 to provide a stable and secure level of funding for construction of the nation’s interstate highways. Estimates are that the HTF is looking at about a $100 billion shortfall this year.
Business leaders are generally supportive of the measure. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in particular, has been a vocal supporter of increased gasoline taxes.
Like most fiscal measures, there are trade-offs involved here. Some groups are opposing it because higher taxes would offset some of the gains associated with lower gas prices. They point out that this would penalize lower income individuals.
On the other hand, action must be taken to restore our crumbling roads and bridges. Many have reached dangerous levels. And the gasoline tax, the major source of revenue for the Highway Trust Fund, has not increased in almost 22 years. In the interim, the purchasing power of that tax has declined by about 40 percent.
Wayne Curtis, former superintendent of Alabama banks, is a retired Troy University business school dean. Email him at wccurtis39@gmail.com.
Throughout Alabama political history, certain cities, counties and enclaves have had a proclivity for having an inordinate number of their citizenry serve in Alabama politics. The most dominant example is the unbelievable number of governors produced by Barbour County. It is referred to as the Home of Governors.
However, currently we have a remarkable occurrence that will probably never happen again in Alabama politics. Tuscaloosa County’s prominence and representation on the Alabama political stage in the year 2015 is unparalleled.
Tuscaloosa presently lays claim to Alabama’s Gov. Robert Bentley and our Senior U.S. Senator Richard Shelby. Laying claim to the top two leading political figures in the state would be sufficient to make political history. However, you add to that coup the Chairman of the Alabama House of Representatives Ways and Means and Education Budget Committee, Bill Poole, is also from Tuscaloosa. He is joined in the House by another young, outstanding state representative, Chris England. England’s father is former State Supreme Court Justice and current Tuscaloosa Circuit Judge, John England. Rep. England knows more about Alabama football than the sports information office. Speaking of Crimson Tide Football, legendary Alabama linebacker, Rich Wingo, will be joining Poole and England in the Alabama House of Representatives from Tuscaloosa.
Their state senate delegation is also remarkable. Gerald Allen is their resident senator. His is joined by veteran Senator Bobby Singleton from Greensboro and one of the brightest rising stars in Alabama politics, Senator Greg Reed of Jasper, is also representing Tuscaloosa in the Alabama Senate. Very few counties this size have three State Senators.
The Tuscaloosa delegation also pulled off a coup in reapportionment when it comes to their Washington representation. They now have Congressman Robert Aderholt representing them in Congress. Aderholt is Alabama’s most powerful and senior member of Congress. He got to Washington at a very young age and if he stays the course will be an even more prominent leader in Congress in years to come.
In addition to Aderholt, Terri Sewell, who is Alabama’s only Democrat in Washington, represents the southern portion of Tuscaloosa County. She has tremendous ties to the White House. She is considered a very bright rising star within the national Democratic ranks.
Having two U.S. Representatives representing one county of this size is again unheard of in Alabama politics. You add to the mix that State Civil Court of Appeals Judge Scott Donaldson is from Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosan John Merrill will be sworn Monday as Alabama’s Secretary of State. Folks they may as well move the Capitol to Tuscaloosa.
Another county also enjoys a remarkable story in recent years. The sparsely populated Black Belt County of Wilcox is the home to an elite number of public figures in Alabama. This county produced our Junior U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, who was born in Wilcox County. Sessions is an extremely popular 18-year veteran of the U.S. Senate.
Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey hails from Wilcox. Kay is beginning her second term as lieutenant governor of the great State of Alabama.
University of Alabama President Judy Bonner was born and raised in Wilcox County. As was her younger brother, former 1st District U.S. Congressman Jo Bonner. Congressman Bonner served with distinction in the U.S. Congress for over a decade.
The Bonners have a long lineage in the rich political history of this county. Their forefathers were probate judges and state senators. They have family ties to Wilcox Governor Benjamin Miller, who was Governor of Alabama from 1931-1935. They also have ties to one of Alabama’s most famous and effective State Senators, Roland Cooper. Sen. Cooper was known as the Wily Fox of Wilcox.
Jeff Sessions, Kay Ivey and Judy Bonner all grew up together at around the same time. Jo Bonner is about 12 years younger.
See you next week.
Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column on Alabama politics appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Whites have a history of taking credit for the accomplishments of Blacks. As a result, the attempt by some whites, and their Black surrogates, to tarnish the recently released movie “Selma” for its attacks on President Lyndon Baines Johnson during the Selma, Alabama, march of 1965 makes sense.
When Napoleon, the famed French dictator and general, invaded Egypt in 1798, he saw the splendor of the Egyptian pyramids and obelisks. But he concluded that Blacks were too uncivilized to have built such enchanting monuments. And so his soldiers shot off the noses of the Great Sphinx and other sculptures, and he had his historians claim that the Greeks and other Europeans constructed such magnificence.
When Black slaves came to America from Ghana, Nigeria and other African countries, they brought with them some of the finest cuisines America had never tasted. They taught Southern whites how to cook okra, sweet potatoes, chit’lins and fried chicken. Yet, to this day, some whites swear that those delicacies resulted from white ingenuity.
And even though jazz emerged from the spirited pleasure of the Black experience and originated formally in New Orleans many historians believe, some whites give such racists as Nick Larocca credit for Jazz’s birth and liveliness.
This latest attempt to usurp Black achievement comes from Joseph A. Califano, Jr. and others. Califano was President Johnson’s top assistant for domestic affairs from 1965 to 1969. Califano wrote an op-ed piece for The Washington Post defaming director Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” movie.
In the article, Califano says “the film falsely portrays President Lyndon B. Johnson as being at odds with Martin Luther King Jr. and even using the FBI to discredit him, as only reluctantly behind the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and as opposed to the Selma march itself.”
Then, he makes an astonishing assertion, “In fact, Selma was Johnson’s idea.” He asserts this point boldly, as if the 20 years or more prior to the march, when Black Selmans discussed such a march, had been erased from even the smallest paragraphs in history’s memory.
Califano’s assertion is a lie. Hence, this Califano is a wretched Califano, one who argues with a bayonet in his mouth.
Thus, we need no drones or pigeons, no bald eagles or National Security Agencies to spy on the intentions of men and conclude that data on Black truth is as much in danger of being deleted from the pages of history now as they were when the nation was founded.
As a further instance of this concern, about a week later, The Post continued its rape of truth by printing an op-ed piece by Alvin B. Tillery, Jr. defending Califano. Tillery claims to be an Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University.
Tillery says that “in 2009, the late Hanes Walton, Jr., of the University of Michigan and I initiated a study on how presidents were portrayed in African-American media. We gathered and examined thousands of editorials about presidents that appeared in five [major] Black newspapers between 1900 and 2012.”
Though the study has not been completed, Tillery makes this statement regarding his current study: “Our results show that of the five presidents between 1948 and 1972, Johnson had the highest approval ratings among the editorial boards of these newspapers. Astoundingly, all 34 of the editorials on Johnson’s civil rights record that ran in these five papers during his administration evaluated him positively.”
He then implies that these editorial boards represent the opinions of Johnson in the whole Black community. And, consequently, Black America welcomed him as their savior on a sturdy white horse.
Tillery’s conclusion, of course, is ridiculous. It is as untidy as a beaver’s dam.
First, Tillery commits the fallacy of drawing a false conclusion when the facts don’t warrant it. (That’s why polls are rarely trusted these days.) Tell the Nation of Islam that they loved Johnson. Tell Amiri Baraka, the Black Panthers, the followers of Marcus Garvey, Daddy Grace and his adherents – tell many Black scholars of that day, tell all African Americans – that they adored Johnson and they will spit in your face, if they don’t shoot you first.
Second, most Blacks during the 1960s didn’t have the information about Johnson’s true self that we have now. We now know that Johnson was a conniving little leech, that he couldn’t stand Martin Luther King, Jr., that he used the FBI to spy on King, that he tried desperately to discredit King, that he initially opposed the Selma march, that he insisted on not providing ample federal protection for the marchers during the first “Bloody Sunday” march, and that some white historians and bigots hide these truths to maintain fiction.
If Blacks during that time were fully aware that Johnson was an anti-Black fox with a Southern drawl, not one Black would have cared about him. Well, maybe we would have mildly clapped when he signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But not because he signed it willingly, knowing that he endorsed it reluctantly.
Thus, Tillery’s conclusion is similar to saying that because no more ebola cases have been found in Liberia, no more ebola cases exist anywhere in the world either. The roasting of a single pig insinuates more validity than the logic of Tillery’s argument.
And so, we see again how some whites and their Black proxies think. They are experts as stealing the achievements of Blacks. They begin with the facts, the facts are reshaped into half-truths, half-truths barter to become lies, and lies are recycled into whole truths for white consumption and Black deception.
One long bandwidth of fact, strong and clear, streams from this reality. Whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, sane or insane, some whites will fire any weapon – display any police badge, swing any billy club, pass any legislation, propound any wild, ferocious fallacy – to shoot down the amazing triumphs of America’s Blacks.
LET’S CELEBRATE MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.’S BIRTHDAY ….AND BLACK HISTORY MONTH!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY…TO YOU… DR. CAROLYN BOLIVAR HAMEEN, LEBOISE DERU, LEKAMEREN DERU, JACARYS BRAXTON AND LEKOTA DERU!! …MANY MANY MORE!! “WISHING YOU THE BEST OF EVERYTHING!”
Don’t Forget….
BIRMINGHAM TIMES MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. SPECIAL – Pick up your copy of the Birmingham Times special edition TODAY!!
….Here are a few things for the season… FOR THE BLACK HISTORY LOVERS… 29th ANNUAL MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. UNITY BREAKFAST – The MLK. Jr. Breakfast is Monday, 7:30 a.m. at the BJCC North Exhibit Hall. This breakfast is held annually in recognition of the national holiday bearing the name of the slain civil rights leader – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The speaker for this year’s breakfast is TANNER COLBY, Birmingham native, former Saturday Night Live writer and comedic biographer. Colby, a New York Times bestselling author, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Non-Fiction for his book, Some of my Best Friends are Black: The Strange Story of Integration of America. Colby has also written and co-written biographies about Michael Jackson, Chris Farley and Jim Belushi. The book, Some of my Best Friends are Black, will be the centerpiece of a city-wide community dialogue project held in partnership with Ensley-based The Bethesda Life Center with support from the office of Joyce Vance, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. Details of the book project will be announced at the breakfast.
(Photo Credit: NABFEME) MARC H. MORIAL SPEAKS AT SIXTEENTH STREET CHURCH – National Urban League President and CEO, Marc J. Morial will speak at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Friday, 7 p.m. Remarks will be by Mayor William Bell and Reverend Arthur Price, Jr., Pastor. REFLECT & REJOICE: A TRIBUTE TO MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. – the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Alabama Symphony Orchestra will host a concert, Sunday, 3 p.m. with Michael Morgan, Conductor, Jeh Jeh Pruitt as host, Malik Kofi on Cello, Roderick George as Tenor, The Aeolians of Oakwood University and Lockhart Dance Theatre Youth Ensemble. Call (205) 97555-2787 for more.
NEAR…..IN MONTGOMERY…..2015 MLK COMMUNITY CLEBRATION – ASU co-sponsors a musical event, 2015 MLK Community Celebration, to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision and legacy, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. at Davis Theatre, 251 Montgomery St., Montgomery. The public is invited to the musical event. The event’s theme is “A Message for the Future, From Keepers of The Dream” and will feature the Montgomery Interfaith Choir. Performances will be held at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Call (334) 229-6755 for more.
MLK DAY OF SERVICE – Volunteer and help to clean up the preschool and the adjacent health center at 712 25th Street North, Birmingham downtown. Call (205) 326-0564 for more. They both provide services to the underserved.
FOR BUSINESS OWNERS… 2015 ALABAMA’S MONEY EXPO – The Money Expo is March 7, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at George W. Carver High School, in Birmingham with Honorary Co-Chairs Melvin Carrington Smith and Stewart H. Welch. This financial educational expo will feature everything about money, including how to make it, grow it, keep it and share it with families and communities.
WOMEN’S AND GIRL’S BUSINESS NETWORK – The Women’s and Girl’s Business Network invites you to attend a monthly networking meeting, TODAY, Noon,at Room 140 in Cudworth Hall on UAB Campus, 1919 University Boulevard. Speaker is YOLANDA MARSHAL-NICKERSON, Author and Motivational Speaker “You Are Bound for Success and Destined for Greatness. Park in Deck #3 and bring ticket to be stamped. Call (205) 934-8539 for more info.
FOR ART LOVERS… BIRMINGHAM MUSEUM OF ART is presenting SMALL TREASURES: REMBRANDT, VERMEER, HALS AND THEIR CONTEMPORARIES, January 31-April 26 as the next exhibition welcoming small-scale masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age. SMALL PAINTINGS, BIG PARTY, on January 30, 6-9 p.m. is an exhibition where you can see the exhibition, enjoy food and cash bar, sample beers and chocolates, take a tour of our Dutch galleries, hear live music and more. DECODING BLACK ART, January 18, 3 p.m. is a talk with BMA Ford Fellow KELLI MORGAN, Ph.D. candidate of Kerry Marshall’s School of Beauty, School of Culture. FIRST THURSDAY is February 5, 5-9 p.m. for the Small Treasures exhibition, tapas and cocktails with a film by Tim Vermeer as well as an art class and more. KUNA KARAMU: AFRICAN CULTURE FESTIVAL is February 7, Noon-4 p.m. Free. Celebrate the arts and cultures of Africa, go on a scavenger hunt, weave your own Kente cloth, or sculpt an African Pot, while enjoying African food, music, fashions and more with the entire family. THE MARCH QUILTS: COMMUNITY SEWING DAYS are January 18 at 1 p.m., February 5 at 5:30 p.m. and February 22 at 1 p.m. FREE. All ages can join the community sewing days as a part of The March Quilts, a project celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march of 1965.
FOR OUTDOORS LOVERS…, JANUARY 17, SATURDAY, 9a.m.
Southeastern Outings Waterfowl Viewing Trip at the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (WNWR), Decatur, AL – Experience the thrilling sight of thousands of sandhill cranes, wild geese and ducks plus herons and other birds. The Refuge has the largest concentration of wintering geese and ducks in the entire state of Alabama! You don’t need to be a bird watcher to enjoy this outing! Experienced birders leading the trip will share their knowledge with all. This 35,000 acre refuge attracts thousands of wintering waterfowl each year. WNWR is comprised of diverse habitat types including bottomland hardwoods, wetlands, pine uplands, shoreline or riparian woodlands, agricultural fields, and backwater embayments. These habitats provide excellent feeding, resting, and roosting sites for wintering waterfowl and sandhill cranes, as well as nesting sites for migratory songbirds and many species of resident wildlife. We are highly privileged to have as guide Dwight Cooley, the Refuge Manager who will take us on refuge roads behind locked gates, various bays and sloughs where hundreds of ducks and geese in large numbers can be seen. We’ll also see many other types of birds including bald eagles, huge flock of sandhill cranes which winter at the refuge each year. The gated roads are closed to the public but will be open to our group. Bring binoculars, a birding field guide and a spotting telescope with you if you have them. The leader and Dan Frederick will each bring a spotting scope, and the refuge is willing to make available some extra pairs of binoculars to loan to participants on this trip.
This outing is rated easy with very little walking involved or climbing hills or walking through thick brush. Dress for the weather because the wind at the refuge can be biting, blowing across open water on cold days. Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 10 and over who can remain quiet for extended periods of time (so as to not disturb the birds and bird watchers) are welcome.
There is a (possible) optional dinner after the birding trip depending on what time we finish bird watching. Depart at 9 a.m. from the Hayden/Corner Park and Ride parking lot, or you may meet the group at 10 a.m. at the WNWR Visitor Center with driveway entrance on Ala. Highway 67 between Priceville and Decatur 2.7 miles west of the Highway 67 exit (Exit number 334) off I-65. People can carpool from the Hayden/Corner Park and Ride meeting place up to the refuge. There is no limit on the number of participants we can accommodate on this outing. For more information, call Dan Frederick at (205) 631-4680.
FOR MUSIC LOVERS…. WHITNEY HOUSTON WORLD PREMIER MOVIE – Lifetime station on cable TV will show the movie WHITNEY, Saturday at 7 p.m. Golden Globe Award winner and Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett makes her directorial debut with the Lifetime Original Movie “Whitney,” featuring Yaya DaCosta in the lead role with Arlen Escarpeta alongside her as Bobby Brown.
HERE ARE A FEW MORE THINGS GOING ON…
THIS WEEKEND… TODAY…
**ASHLEY AND THE KEEPERS at Ona’s Music Room. FRIDAY…
**URBAN MYSTIC & VICK ALLEN featuring MIZ BARBIE DOLLE, 8 p.m. at Archibald and Woodrows in Tuscaloosa.
**KELLEY ONEAL AND THE KAYOBAND at Ona’s Music Room.
**NINE POUND PUSSY UNPLUGGED (members of: Nashville Pussy & Nine Pound Hammer) BLAINE CARTWRIGHT (of Nashville Pussy) EARL CRIM (of Nine Pound Hammer) with Special Guests: BEITTHEMEANS THE PRIMITIVE TALK at The Nick on southside.
SATURDAY…
**ONA WATSON AND CHAMPAGNE at Ona’s Music Room.
**TIDE AND TIGER LOUNGE, 8 p.m. on Graymont Avenue across the street from Legion Field. Open Tuesday through Sunday.
**SISTER HELEN, SHARIFF SIMMONS, and FIFTH NATION at The Nick.
GIFT OF LAUGHTER….IN THE ‘HAM… AT THE STARDOME AND IN DA HOOD… …LAUGHTER FOR THE NEW YEAR… (Photo Credit – Dayton Local)
**AT THE STARDOME…DON’T MISS… DON ‘DC’ CURRY, this weekend… Widely known as the star of numerous stand-up comedy tours (including the highly lauded “Royal Comedy Tour,” of winter/spring 2010) playing huge theatres at home and abroad and headlining special engagements at the nation’s hottest comedy clubs, Don “D.C.” Curry’s talents are far more than meets the eye at a single glance. At second glance you’ll see him co-starring in major studio pictures or taking the duties of leading man in indie feature films. Look again and you’ll see him touring the country as the lead in a hit stage play or serving as the front man of his own R&B and Blues band. Take yet another glimpse (or listen) and you’ll hear him shining as a skilled voice-over artist on hit TV shows like Boondocks. Bottom line, DC Curry is a very versatile, and extremely funny man. COMING SOON…, SMOOTH JAZZ – January 22, STEVE McGREW – January 23-25, TONY ROBERTS – January 30 – February 1, DL HUGHLEY – February 6-8, FINIS HENDERSON – February 13-15, SHERYL UNDERWOOD – February 20-21, MIRANDA SINGS – February 7-8 (Tell Bruce that Gwen sent you.) Enjoy some good laughter and fun times while you eat some great food with your friends. For more, call (205) 444-0008. **MORE LAUGHTER…COMEDY IN DA HOOD at the New Tide and Tiger on Graymont Avenue. Comedians are invited! Call (205) 503-3880 for more.
**February 17-18 – A. G. GASTON CONFERENCE – Economic Empowerment through Enterprise Development AT THE BJCC.
**MARCH 5-9 – BRIDGE CROSSING JUBLIEE in Selma, Alabama.
NOW…. BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUTS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU… LEKAMEREN DERU, KACARYS BRAXTON, LEKOTA DERU, JANICE BELL, DEIDRA PERRY, CHARLES MCCAULEY, RENEE KEMP-ROTAN, KYLE WHITMIRE, PHYLLIS CONNELL, BETTINA BYRD GILES, MICHAEL GOULD, EVERETT SPRUILL, DR. CAROLYN BOLIVAR HAMEEN AND TO ALL CELEBRATING!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL YOU BIRTHDAY BALLERS…MANY, MANY MORE HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!! ENJOY!!
Well, that’s it. Tell you more ‘next’ time.
(People, Places and Things by Gwen DeRu is a weekly column. Send comments to my emails: thelewisgroup@birminghamtimes.com or gwenderu@yahoo.com.)
Featuring his longtime employer, Drum Legend Al Foster
“Flawless technique, intuition, superb touch and an adventurous spirit ….” – Kenny Barron
New York City pianist Adam Birnbaum hasn’t been keeping a low profile in recent years. While touring internationally with drum legend Al Foster’s quartet and subbing regularly in Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society and with recently minted vocal star Cécile McLorin Salvant he’s also released several well-received CDs under his own name. Still, his new album Three of A Mind marks a major leap for the pianist, capturing a working ensemble with enviable chemistry. Slated for release on February 10, 2015, the trio session is the work of an artist with unimpeachable taste, exquisite touch, and a commanding vision.
Though Birnbaum is joined by two celebrated rhythm section partners, the album is no ad hoc all-star session. He and bassist Doug Weiss have spent the past six years together working with Foster, and the trio’s road-tested cohesion shines on every track. In many ways Birnbaum designed the album to showcase Foster, a drummer who “embodies true musicianship,” Birnbaum says. “He has huge ears. He doesn’t just keep time. He actively engages you, creating a constant dialogue. If you can learn to ride the wave of rhythms he is throwing at you it makes your own ideas sound even hipper.”
A supremely accomplished accompanist, “Weiss is one of the premiere bassists around,” Birnbaum says. “His sense of taste, rock-solid time, and superb melodicism make him in many ways the perfect bassist. He doesn’t go for flash, but for true music making, and his ears are always open to going wherever the music takes him.”
The album opens with Birnbaum’s rock-inflected “Binary,” an irresistibly upbeat tune that he wrote to slyly draw Foster back to Miles territory. In much the same way, he composed “Dream Waltz” with the trio in mind. An alluring melody with an uncomplicated song form, the piece facilitates some beautifully balanced group interplay. The pianist is at his most rhapsodic on the enchanted ballad “Rockport Moon,” and at his most ambitious on the blues-like “Dream Song # 1: Huffy Henry,” one of a dozen pieces he composed for a suite inspired by John Berryman’s wildly creative poems.
Though Foster isn’t widely known as a composer, he’s written many memorable tunes, including two that Birnbaum chose to include on Three of A Mind. Written for Foster’s son, “Brandyn” is a tricky piece that opens in 12/8 before eventually settling into some sizzling swing. It’s a recognizable but significantly reimagined version of the piece that Foster introduced back in 1996 as the title track of his first album as a leader (with Larry Grenadier, Dave Kikoski and Chris Potter). And Foster’s pleasingly aggressive “Ooh What You Do To Me” closes the album with a satisfying whomp. No fuss, no muss, this is a trio that takes care of business.
Birnbaum is an award-winning player who has more than lived up to his considerable promise since graduating from Juilliard as part of the first class of the illustrious conservatory’s jazz program. Born and raised in Boston, Birnbaum spent his early years studying the European classical tradition. At 13 he got exposed to jazz and turned onto improvisation, and he spent the rest of his teenage years dividing his attention between the worlds of jazz and classical music.
While studying at Boston College, Birnbaum connected with New England Conservatory’s Danilo Perez, and the great Panamanian pianist became an important mentor. He graduated from Boston College with a degree in computer science but spent the bulk of his time practicing piano. The shedding prepared him for plunging into the New York scene in 2001 via Juilliard, where he was one of only two pianists selected for inaugural class in the conservatory’s new jazz program. He worked closely with piano legend Kenny Barron, and later studied with Fred Hersch “who really opened another world for me,” Birnbaum says.
In 2004 he won the American Jazz Piano Competition and became the American Pianists Association’s Cole Porter fellow in jazz. In 2006, he received the first-ever “special mention” prize at the Martial Solal Jazz Piano Competition in Paris. More important than any contest was the call he received from alto sax master Greg Osby, one of jazz’s keenest talent scouts. On the recommendation of bassist Matt Brewer, Osby hired Birnbaum for a series of gigs starting at Birdland. His phone started to ring regularly after that.
Over the past decade Birnbaum has performed with veteran masters such as Wallace Roney, Eddie Henderson, Eddie Gomez, and Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis, as well as with well-established contemporaries such as Pedro Giraudo, Marshall Gilkes and Dominick Farinacci. As a leader, Birnbaum has released two albums in Japan under the Pony Canyon label in 2006: Ballade Pour Adeline with Quincy Davis and Matt Brewer (which received a Gold Disk award from Swing Journal as one of the top albums of the year), and A Comme Amour with Ben Wolfe and Rodney Green. Smalls Records released his 2009 U.S. debut, Travels, a critically hailed album with Joe Sanders and Rodney Green.
By far the most significant relationship of his career has been with Al Foster. Miles Davis famously described his first encounter with Foster saying that the drummer “knocked me out because he had such a groove and he would just lay it right in there.” Foster went on to spend more time accompanying the trumpet legend than any other drummer, recording more than a dozen albums with Davis, from 1972’s hugely controversial On The Corner through his 1981 comeback The Man With the Horn, and all three career-capping sessions produced by Marcus Miller. Sought out by fellow masters, he’s also recorded extensively with Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, and McCoy Tyner.
Birnbaum set his sights on Foster’s quartet when he got word that Kevin Hays was leaving the group in 2009. Not the easiest musician to approach, Foster presented a forbidding front. But after showing up at various gigs around New York, Birnbaum eventually got the chance to sit in at Smoke (with a little help from Weiss). He’s been with Foster ever since, while the horn chair has showcased some of the era’s most potent tenor saxophonists, such as Dayna Stephens and Eric Alexander. For Birnbaum, the experience has been the ultimate jazz education, “a real connection to another era,” he says. “These aren’t the kind of lessons you can learn verbally or in a classroom. There’s an intensity that Al brings whenever he gets behind the drums. He expects something special to happen every time he plays, and if it’s not happening he’ll be upset with himself and the band. This is not just a way to make money for him. Music is his life. It means everything to him.” It’s an ethic that Birnbaum has clearly absorbed, and that manifests itself throughout Three Of A Mind.
Cast of "Love Thy Neighbor" Tony Grant, Kendra C. Johnson, Patrice Lovely, Palmer Williams Jr., Andre Hall, Jonathan Chase and Darmirra Brunson
Photo Courtesy of OWN
Cast of “Love Thy Neighbor” Tony Grant, Kendra C. Johnson, Patrice Lovely, Palmer Williams Jr., Andre Hall, Jonathan Chase and Darmirra Brunson Photo Courtesy of OWN
Tyler Perry’s popular television comedy picks-up after Linda (Kendra C. Johnson) discovers she’s pregnant with Philip’s baby (Tony Grant)
LOS ANGELES – OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network’s popular television comedy, “Love Thy Neighbor,” from Tyler Perry, returned January 7 for an all-new, drama-filled season.
“Love Thy Neighbor” is a half-hour comedy set at The Love Train Diner, a family run restaurant where every day the menu serves up good food, great laughs, valuable life lessons and a whole lot of love.
In the season premiere, Linda (Kendra C. Johnson) is expecting Philip’s baby and grapples with breaking the news to him. Meanwhile, a patron at the Love Train Diner looks familiar to Uncle Floyd (Palmer Williams, Jr.). Upon further investigation, he discovers that the woman is Sarah, Philip’s (Tony Grant) new girlfriend. This information sends Linda’s Mama Hattie (Patrice Lovely) and her son Danny (Andre Hall) into a tizzy and they decide they must confront Linda to make her aware of Philip’s new flame.
“Love Thy Neighbor” is created, written, directed and executive produced by Tyler Perry and is produced for OWN by Tyler Perry Studios. The series stars Palmer Williams Jr. (“House of Payne”), Patrice Lovely (“Madea Gets a Job”) Kendra C. Johnson (“Phat Girlz”), Andre Hall (“Goodbye LA”), Jonathan Chase (“Chemistry”), Darmirra Brunson (“Sunset Junction”) and Tony Grant (“Why Did I Get Married?”).
Catch all the hilarity Wednesday nights on OWN and join the discussion on Twitter using #LoveThyNeighbor.
