Bham Night Scene

I have to say that last night was one of those great, diverse evenings where you don't plan to stay out until 4 a.m., but have so much fun you don't want to go home. And it was one of those nights that reminds me how much Birmingham has to offer.

It was an evening that included four different events, spanning four different parts of the city - Northside, Southside, Highlands and then of course ended in Lakeview. We started our evening at Magic City Art Connection's GAGA for Art Bash - a great mix of art, food & bev, music and a fun group of eclectic people. With it's Lady Gaga theme, people did not disappoint. Everything from bubble dresses to leotards & wigs to a stuffed-animal frog dress - people dressed to impress. I was also intrigued by the venue, the Pecks & Hill Building on Southside that used to be an antiques showroom. They were able to transform it into quite the affair.

We left to stop by the bimonthly Downtowners Social Club at Skylar Lofts on 1st Ave. N. - always a great excuse to catch up with the great, diverse group of people that live downtown.

We went back to Art Bash to see if our friends were still there and I stayed to dance with the girls. Then that moved to a house party on the top floor of the apartment building above Rojo in Highlands (since it was too early for Nana Funks). I was skeptical at first, but when I saw their view, I could have sat up there all night. We danced there for a bit and then decided to take the party to Nana Funks which was packed as usual on a Saturday night, but so fun. They really do play a great mix of old school hip hop, remixed classic rock & new hits.
After about two hours of continued dancing, we decided to end our evening with a drive-by through the new Burger King drive-thru across from St. Vincent's. It was a fun-filled evening that I wasn't planning on and those are the best - a fantastic night with fun, outgoing girls - felt like we were on top of the world...well at least on top of the city with a great view.

What I’ve come to realize…

So, having lived in Birmingham for almost four years, I have come to realize and appreciate a lot of what Birmingham has to offer and the small gems that only locals know about.

We bought a loft downtown (to make living in Bham as metropolitan as possible), we shop and dine and locally-owned establishments as often as possible, we attend art exhibit openings and local theater productions…in essence, we are yuppies.

I do appreciate the local music scene and the hipsters we have around town. I love our more locally-known “dive” bars like The Garage, Metro Bistro and Speakeasy. And Birmingham has some killer restaurants - and coming from a New Orleanian, that is a big compliment. (Shameless plug for Veranda on Highland – Chef Roby is from Commander’s Palace in NOLA – if you haven’t been, you’ve GOT to go)!

So why am I blogging on a Saturday night? Because I am scouring the Internet for something to do. That is my one major frustration with Birmingham – there are lots of lifestyle options out there and things to do, but you have to know where to look and research everything via three publications and over five different Web sites. It’s frustration when you come from a city where nightlife options are thrown in your face and you have to narrow it down to figure out what you want to do. Here you have to search for options (unless of course, it’s a Thursday in December before Christmas and there are three to four different events on the same night at the same time because that’s when everyone throws a party).

So what will we end up doing on a perfectly good, yet freezing, Saturday night in January? We’ll probably go to Surin West in 5 Points for Thai, then to J. Clyde because of its beer selection (I have a few choice guy friends who are self-proclaimed beer snobs) and perhaps a third stop to hear a great band (Red Halo is at Innisfree – not a fan of the venue, but dig the band).

My main point is that I feel there needs to be a one-stop-shop for things to do in Birmingham…perhaps, since I’m so passionate about it, I should take on this endeavor myself…hmmm that’s an idea…

*Reader’s note – I’d like to apologize in advance for my overuse of ellipses, starting sentences with “So” and abundant sentence fragments. I feel these aspects add to the character of my written works and help with inflection.

Vulcan

"What is a Vulcan?" you may ask...well it is a metal statue atop Red Mountain in Birmingham...with a bare ass. I find this funny as Birmingham is such a conservative town. The dictionary lists:
Vul⋅can
[vuhl-kuh n] –noun - the ancient Roman god of fire and metalworking, identified with the Greek Hephaestus.

So Birmingham has a big, bare-assed Greek God looking down upon its city in honor of its founding industries – steel and iron manufacturing. In fact, the Ham is a rather large manufacturing town. What does this mean to me? Not much. It means that I have to try to explain it to people who come visit me – I just take them up there for the view.

I really am not trying to hate on Birmingham…I’m really not. I’m sure New Orleans has a lot of weird historical aspects that visitors find strange (but most of them originated in the 1800s). I guess Birminghamians might find this strange though: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/photo.php?pid=4369058&id=105457006718
But I was raised with Rodrigue’s Blue Dog and I think it is fantastic!

What's a NOLA girl to do (in Birmingham)??

So, a friend of mine inspired me that with the new year I should start a blog. "What would I write about?" I asked. "I think a girl from New Orleans stuck in Birmingham would be an interesting angle," he replied. As I digested that idea, I had to agree. So here it is, my blog about being from New Orleans but living in Birmingham and how the two are so different and how I struggle with those differences. Let's just put it this way, I was never home sick in college, only after moving to Birmingham and I now make the 5-hour trip home about once-a-month. Let's start off with the things I learned/was exposed to once moving to the great state of Alabama:

1. I learned what "sweet tea" was - I had never heard of nor tasted it before.
2. Learned what a "meat and three" was - I had also never heard of nor had before. (My brother-in-law in New Orleans just asked me over Christmas if I had heard of "meat and three" before and if I knew what it was).
3. Had never listened to a country song all the way through and at my first keg party in college, I was looked at like I had three heads when David Allen Coe's "Darlin" song was on and I didn't know any of the words (let alone knew what it was). They proceeded to play it over & over again until I learned all the words.
4. Never eaten BBQ before, let alone, had places that sell only this type of food all over town. (In New Orleans we have creole/cajun food and seafood...we didn't have BBQ. There is one BBQ place I know of in NOLA, and it is a chain).
5. Didn't realize there were places (mostly fast food) that sold nothing but chicken (i.e. Gutheries).
6. Was perplexed the first time I tried to buy wine at the grocery store on Sunday and was told I couldn't.
7. Was even more perplexed at why the Winn-Dixie in Auburn didn't sell liquor.
8. Started to question why I lived here when I was told that I could not have a go-cup, even if the drink wasn't for me (it truly wasn't).
9. Had a seriously hard time adjusting to the "no open container" law (that was a pain at Soho for St. Patty's).
10. And the number 10 adjustment......"Bars close? at 2 a.m.?!?!?!"