Entertainment Archives - Page 3 of 5

Wordless Wednesday: The Color of Music

October 19, 2016 By Kara Kennedy

Wordless Wednesday:

This past weekend I attended an event called Music We Stand which was an event benefiting The Color of Music organization in Huntsville, Alabama. This event was a showcase performance and panel discussion in front of an all-star music industry cast for songwriters. The event was geared towards aspiring songwriters who were looking for their chance to make it in the music industry or how to make it in the industry.

About the Color of Music:

According to their website: The Color of Music organization is a youth driven with programs and activities geared to motivate kids of all ages. They teach children the values of life through the arts; music, spoken words and visual arts. We believe spending positive and creative time with our youth will help provide a safe avenue for their untapped creativity and keep them off the streets. The organization is for children of all ages that strives to connect young dreams with music industry leaders; giving everyone a chance to live out part, if not all of their dream while working together in year round entertainment. Our professional staff and volunteers are dedicated to the mission. We welcome and facilitate the development of strength and character of all who participate regardless of race, creed or national origin. I hope to give more volunteer hours to this wonderful organization.

Photo: Grammy nominated songwriter Clay Mills who wrote the hit song Beautiful Mess for Diamond Rio and he also is the owner of Songtown a website for songwriters.

Football Saturdays Are A Family Tradition

August 30, 2016 By Kara Kennedy

This entry is a modified post of an entry from last year. I am grateful every year that I get to continue to take my dad to the Auburn football games.

There is no question that SEC football is a way of life in the South, watching football, SEC football in particular, seems to be a way of life for most southern women I know. This is especially for women who have grown up in the state of Alabama. In Alabama, you are born to wear either the colors of Auburn, orange and blue, or the colors of Alabama, red and white. There are no other teams or color choices.

Most people in my immediate family were born into the orange and blue side, and fall Saturdays were always spent in stadiums. I learned the cheers at an early age and my grandmother on my dad’s side was a huge fan because her sons went to Auburn. My dad is a former coach. He’s always loved sports, in fact, he played baseball at Auburn University. He spent 30 plus years coaching in public schools in Alabama. My sisters and I were exposed to sports early on, so my love of football comes honestly. I grew up going to the football fields on Friday nights for games and to the gym on Tuesdays and Fridays for basketball games. My dad began his coaching career in 1963, coaching B-Team football and B-Team track at Phillips High School in Birmingham, Alabama. He eventually coached baseball and basketball at Phillips. When I was in second grade, we moved to Opelika, Alabama where he coached basketball, tennis and golf at Opelika High. He got the job as head basketball coach at Minor High School in Birmingham after spending a few years at Opelika. While at Minor he started the Magic City Classic Basketball Tournament with his coaching colleague, Coach Willie Scoggins, at Jess Lanier High. The tournament was held during the Christmas break every year. He also started what he called the ‘Top 20 Ranking of Teams and Players in Basketball’ and was often interviewed by the media about his rankings. My dad had 47 players that went on to play in college. I know that my dad has been a great influence on a number of the players he coached because some have told me over the years. I also remember specifically the love and compassion my dad had for his players, and the help he and my mom gave to some of those players who were in need.

I really didn’t realize how big a fan I was of football until I moved out of Alabama to Washington, D.C. Most people in other parts of the country cannot relate to the fandom of the South, collegiate sports and SEC Football. Pro Football is a mainstay in most parts of the country, and I get how dedicated their fan base is, but for me adjusting and trying to enjoy the game at the pro level was not as easy as I thought it would be. Luckily for me, Washington D.C. had the Metro Auburn Club, so I joined and watched the games with fellow Auburn alums at the Crystal City Sports Pub in Arlington, VA. Just for those few hours I got to spend time with fellow fans who had the same love of Auburn football as I did. It was a welcome venture for one who was trying to adjust to living outside of the Deep South.

Once I moved home back to Alabama in 2006 I decided I was going to purchase Auburn season football tickets. For me purchasing the tickets brought back so many childhood memories: my grandmother’s love of Auburn, my dad coaching high school football and basketball and going to the Auburn games with my dad as a child. When I started buying tickets in 2006 I had not purchased them in many, many years so had to learn the process. The sole purpose of buying season tickets is to take my dad to the games. We go together to most all of the home games which has been our tradition going on 10 years now.

Some critics of college sports complain that college sports and football have gone the way of big business, however, I have a different point of view. I have personally lived and witnessed how sports changed the lives of those athletes my dad coached and helped. It means a lot when you care enough for your students to help them grow and prosper. He did and does. My dad impacted and changed lives of many young people throughout his life and years of coaching. Hopefully that is a trait I have inherited. Football is not only a southern tradition, it’s a family tradition a tradition, I get to enjoy every fall with my dad.

Sloss Fest: Magic’s Back in the Magic City

July 21, 2016 By Kara Kennedy

I love music and anyone who knows me, knows this. In fact, I once said, if I had to do it all over again, my full time job would be in PR for either a record label or for bands. (Well I have worked with bands on their PR strategies in the past). I have to say that my love of music comes naturally, just riding in the car with my dad one could not help, but love music. I grew up listening to the sounds of Motown that’s the only music my dad allowed to be played in his car. I learned to appreciate Country music at my ma’am maw Kennedy’s house. When I stayed with my grandparents during the summers, our ritual was to watch The Grand Ole Opry reruns.

The City of Birmingham used to host a three-day music festival called City Stages and I would plan my summers around the event because I attended every night. The event was held in downtown Birmingham and included all genres of music. The 21-year event ended in 2009 after some financial trouble. After the event ended, to me it has felt like the City has been missing something with no major music festival to attend until last year when the Sloss Fest Entertainment and Music Festival began. The event was held at the historic landmark Sloss Furnaces and it didn’t disappoint. I got the opportunity to attend this year. The festival was a learning opportunity for me because I had not listened to the music of some of the bands that played.

Alabama has been on a fast track in the music industry lately so, it was exciting to again see Birmingham on display in the form of a music festival. Our city was filled to the brim with visitors from all over who converged to listen to bands such as Ben Harper, Death Cab for Cutie, Dylan LeBlanc and Ray Lamontagne.

The event took me back to the days when you could hardly move through the crowd at City Stages. In my opinion, an event like Sloss Fest only continues the positive renaissance and reboot of my hometown in the last couple of years. I tell people all of the time that I was a volunteer on committees for Operation New Birmingham and the things happening now are the things we WANTED to happen all those years ago when we talked about our city during committee meetings. How wonderful it is to see the transformation. Birmingham continues to receive accolades from all over about the quality of life, food scene and the strides it’s made in economic growth. Most who visit and spend any time in Birmingham come to know this, something I knew all along.

Proudly, I am one of the biggest cheerleaders of Birmingham, so my hat’s off to the organizers of Sloss Fest. Thank you also for bringing (back) a great music festival that adds more Magic to the Magic City.

Southern Road Trip #1: Quad Cities- Northwest Alabama

March 20, 2016 By Kara Kennedy

A lot of people do not know that the Northwest corner of the state of Alabama is rich in history about the music industry. It is a beautiful area along the banks of the Tennessee River and is known as the Quad Cities that includes the towns of Florence, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia and Sheffield. No one really knows where ‘Muscle Shoals’ got its name, but according to the city’s website, one theory is that it got its name from the piles of mussel shells that were one time found along the shoals in the Tennessee River. Another theory is that the shape of the river looks like the muscle in a man’s arm, therefore, Muscle Shoals. The last theory comes from several booklets that were published before Muscle Shoals incorporated. This theory states: “Muscle Shoals, the Niagara of the South, derives its name from the Indians, who, attempting to navigate upstream, found the task almost impossible because of the strong current.” Thus came the word muscle, symbolic of the strength required to “paddle a canoe up the rapids.”

The area also is home to the Tennessee Valley Authority a program that was formed to bring economic development to those in the Tennessee Valley that were suffering during the Great Depression.

In the 1960s the area began to become known as the ‘Hit Capital of the World’ because of the music industry legend Rick Hall of FAME studios and the Swampers the session musicians who played on the hit records. Many musicians travelled to this northwest corner of Alabama to make hit records, some names you may recognize like: The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, The Staple Singers, the Allman Brothers and the Osmonds.

The area also is the home of the now historical landmark, Tom Hendrix’s Wall, a memorial wall he built to honor his great-grandmother and her struggles during her journey to Oklahoma and back to Alabama. She was a member of the Yuchi Indian tribe. The wall is located off of County Road 8 near the Natchez Trace. It is very spiritual place and you will feel its importance while you take a journey through it.

If you plan to make a visit to the area make sure to watch the documentary ‘Muscle Shoals’ before going because it will explain a lot of what you hear in our discussion in the video below. My friend Dorothy Bloom Little and I visited the area last summer to take the ‘Swampette’ Tour and to visit Tom’s Wall. We hope you enjoy our discussion about our wonderful and meaningful road trip to the Quad Cities area.

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