Made February Issue 10

A Free Independent Newspaper

Issue 10 FEBRUARY 2014

News, Makers & Trends of the New South

Groundbreaking Exhibition Opens This Month

Q&a with ethan kaplan

Co-Founder Live Nation Labs

Into the woods

Sondheim at the Cloverdale Playhouse

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MONTGOMERY

PUBLISHER MADE Paper

Issue 10 FEBRUARY 2014

EDITORS Brent Rosen, Anna Lowder, Caroline Nabors Rosen, Harvi Sahota CREATIVE DIRECTOR Harvi Sahota DESIGN Matter www.iheartmatter.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Brent Rosen, Caroline Nabors Rosen, Anna Lowder, Andrea Jean, Heather Steen, Tiffany Bell, Will Abner, Johnny Veres, Sam Wootten, Jennifer Kornegay, Scott Steen, Melissa Tsai, Tom Jean, Edwin Marty, Evans Bailey, Tina Hofer Medico, Robert Wool, Will Steineker, Elliot Knight, Mark Bowen, Christian Kerr, Rebecca Seung, David Mowery, Brian Carroll, Josh Carples, Katie Lindgren, Natilee McGruder, CarolineTaylor, Skye Borden, Katie Vega, Rachel Fisher

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Harvi Sahota, Grace Photography, Josh Moates, Jon Kohn, Ryan Muirhead, Luke Lindgren MADE PAPER INTERN Diane Humphreys DESIGN CONTRIBUTOR Jay Wilkins

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ISSUE 10 FEBRUARY 2014

DISCLAIMER: Made publishes news and commentary, critique and reporting, offering different views from our community. Our contributors offer a variety of views and perspectives on subjects covered in Made. These views and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. Due to the nature of creative industries and the connections we foster with those around us, contributors may have some personal or professional connection with people, events, or organizations covered in the publication or website.

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COVER PHOTO: Harvi Sahota

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Column feature: ALABAMA VOICES feature: cloverdale Playhouse Makers Food & DRINK EAT SOUTH Music feature: LOVE MGM TRAVEL: MOBILE

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MADE is a collective of citizens celebrating the local, the authentic, and the unique. We are creatives featuring other creatives and the engaging work being produced in our city. We call attention to all fields forging new pathways in expression and innovation. We are makers who love to eat, talk, collaborate, question, party, and laugh, and we want you to take part.

Thanks for reading this and supporting the artists, craftsmen, creatives, and active citizens that make a city thrive.

TEDx, a Stolen Debit Card, and Some Thoughts on Opportunity in Montgomery WORDS BRENT ROSEN Last Thursday evening, my wife and I gave a talk at the Montgomery TEDx about the amazing opportunities we currently have in Montgomery. We’ll get back to that, but first I want to talk about my debit card. I’d used the card earlier that day to buy a fast-food lunch, but somehow managed to lose it between the drive-through window and my wallet. I didn’t think too much of it, assuming the card was in my car, but at about 8:00 p.m. I received a call from my bank. The bank wanted to inform me of some suspicious activity.

Turns out, my debit card didn’t fall into one of those cracks between the seat and the center console. It actually fell into the wrong hands. Just hours after I lost the card, someone had spent more than $450 at WalMart, $50 at a gas station, $60 more at Game Stop, and $38 at Hardee’s; all on Ann Street. If this were an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, I’d take the theft of my debit card and the subsequent $600 expenditure on what I can only assume to be a video game console (a PS4 goes for 399.99), video games, and junk food as a sign of the complete decline of America.

My WSJ op-ed would say something like, “I wouldn’t have even disputed the charges if they’d spent $600 on something to improve themselves, like Jack Welch’s autobiography, or a share of Apple (AAPL). But fast food and video games - get a life.” But this is not the Wall Street Journal.

Instead, the theft of my debit card has me thinking more and more about my TEDx speech. In that speech, I discussed two sorts of city: those that are talent magnets, and those that are talent vacuums. Talent magnet cities - like Nashville and Atlanta - tend to draw talented and ambitious people from an entire region, as talented and ambitious people want to live in cities full of excitement and opportunity… On the other hand, talent vacuum cities - like Montgomery - struggle to retain their talented ambitious people. For years Montgomery bled talent, but that period is over.

Today, Montgomery has a sense of possibility about it, the feeling that opportunity is everywhere. This is causing talented and ambitious people to fill Montgomery’s talent vacuum. There are miles of abandoned buildings and old, classic, walkable neighborhoods are everywhere, just waiting to be renovated. Rents are extremely cheap, competition is limited, and few are trying to offer services new to the area. The conditions for success are ripe in Montgomery and failure in Montgomery won’t cost you anything close to failure somewhere else. As I said in my speech, “you don’t have to wait for your turn in Montgomery, because no

one is in line ahead of you.” You move to Nashville to become part of something, but in Montgomery you can create anything.

But in recognizing Montgomery as a land of opportunity, as maybe the ultimate, “buy low -- sell high” city in the Southeast, I ignored something important. That opportunity is not for everyone. That opportunity is not for many of the people who never graduate from Montgomery’s Public Schools. That opportunity is not for the people who can’t find jobs because they don’t have the skills to compete in a global economy. That opportunity is not off Maxwell Blvd. and it isn’t in Chisholm.

There is another individual in this story that cannot take advantage of the opportunities I so proudly spoke of at TEDx: the person who stole my debit card. Instead, that person saw a different sort of opportunity - my debit card lying in the Wendy’s parking lot - and took advantage of it until my card’s fraud protections limited any further purchases. We live in the Capital of Dreams, but the biggest that person could dream was Assassin’s Creed and cheeseburgers.

Unequal distribution of opportunity is not a problem unique to Montgomery. In fact, The Atlantic recently published an article titled “Why Is the American Dream Dead in the South?” explaining that a Southerner born to parents in the bottom income quintile has less than a 5% chance of reaching the top income quintile in his lifetime. For comparison’s sake, in San Jose, California, there is a 12.9% chance of moving into the top quintile. The South is not just America’s least socially mobile region; social mobility in the South is more limited than in any other country in the developed world. “Why” is tangled up in all of our thorniest issues - race, class, segregation by income, family structure but just because it’s hard doesn’t mean the problem should be ignored.

And I ignored it. In my zeal to present the best of Montgomery, in my wish to provide the TEDx audience “an idea worth spreading,” I ended up failing to acknowledge that there are two Montgomery’s, and only one of them is a pleasant place of seemingly endless opportunity. Hopefully, the continued revitalization of Montgomery will help to close, not widen, the opportunity gap. Hopefully, this period in Montgomery’s history will be remembered fondly by more than just developers, entrepreneurs, and city officials who’ve received credit for “turning Montgomery around.”

Hopefully, as Montgomery continues to gentrify, we won’t forget about the people who were here first.

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WORDS BRENT ROSEN Photos HARVI SAHOTA

My favorite scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark is the end, when Indiana Jones is assured that “top men” are looking into the Ark of the Covenant, but in reality, the artifact joins thousands of other generic crates in a massive secret warehouse.

What other treasures, the viewer is left to wonder, are similarly warehoused and what would it look like if all were displayed for public consumption?

While that question is impossible to answer because Indiana Jones is a work of fiction, the Alabama Department of History and Archives has done its best to provide one answer with its new Alabama Voices exhibit. Over 800 artifacts have been emptied from the Archive’s warehouses, providing an unbelievably immersive tour of Alabama from the 1700s to the present.

The exhibit begins with the Native Americans, demonstrating small-town life in Alabama before European colonization. After the Native American exhibits comes the Cotton Economy, followed by a most necessary gallery of 19th-century-weapons

porn from the Civil War. The complicated period of Reconstruction leads directly to Jim Crow -- just like in history -- before the entire exhibit wraps up with the “Space Race” and the transition of Alabama’s economy from largely agrarian to manufacturing.

The Archives hired the same people who designed the 9-11 Memorial, the George Bush Library, and many Smithsonian exhibits for Alabama Voices, and it shows. There are mini-movie theaters, interactive computer exhibits, ambient sounds from the various eras, and a wealth of photographs and other ephemera from the archives that bring the exhibition to life. Kids will love the many lifesized dioramas of life in the past, while adults can get a sense of how the major social and cultural events of the past 300 years played out across North, Central, and South Alabama.

Most Alabamians haven’t been in the Alabama Department of History and Archives building since their last school field trip in the Fourth Grade. You

probably remember nothing but the many steps and the millions of pounds of marble. If that sounds familiar, it’s time for you to go back to the Archives. Alabama Voices is that good.

Grand Opening Schedule: February 15, 2014 9-9:30am - Music 9:30am - Ribbon Cutting Ceremony (Ribbon will be cut by Governor and Mrs. Robert J. Bentley) 9:50-11am - Bay City Brass Band 11-12pm - Poarch Creek Indian Dancers 12-1pm - Mariachi Garibaldi 1-2pm - The Recreators 2-3pm - Flying Jenny 3-4pm - Birmingham Sunlights

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For more information about The Alabama Department of Archives & History visit www.archives.state.al.us or call 334.242.4435

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Photos JON KOHN

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STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S INTO THE WOODS TAKES STAGE AT THE CLOVERDALE PLAYHOUSE WORDS KATIE VEGA

Cloverdale Playhouse director Randy Foster puts it perfectly—theatre happens in the space between the audience and the actors.

There is something about theatre. Maybe it’s the fact that you are watching a story happen right before your eyes, acted out by real, live people. Or it may be the fact that you know you are experiencing something beautiful that you will never see again, except in your memories. Whatever the reason, the art of theatre is something to be experienced and our city has many opportunities to live out this artistic fantasy—whether for viewer or actor. I’ve recently found the perfect place to experience this connection.

Cloverdale Playhouse, housed in a 1930s church, is the location of something spectacular—something that has disappeared into the abyss.

The Playhouse serves as a gathering place for a community of locals, working (and playing) together to create something magical. This big, happy family, disguised as teachers, shop owners, massage therapists, and restaurateurs, gathers with one goal in mind—to create a creative outlet for ordinary locals—just like themselves—to be something more. It is the place at the forefront for the redevelopment of our creative community.

As I sat with the actors of Cloverdale Playhouse, they didn’t even need to talk for me to experience the passion that was dripping from their cells. Whether they had been acting for 60 years or 6 months, the commonality shared by this group of people—who actually highly differ in age, profession, and every other regard—is something to be seen, and you’ll see this unspeakable bond in the magic that happens on stage.

The group of actors I had the pleasure of talking with—including Eleanor Davis, Jonathan Conner, Emily Lowder Wooten, and Sarah Thornton—were so passionate about expressing the importance of a community theater in Montgomery. Our city is bursting with creative beings that have a burning desire to act without necessarily making a life out of it. Cloverdale Playhouse gives these citizens the opportunity to act while still leading their already established lives. And the Playhouse truly is a community effort, with every single person being a volunteer—from the sound guy to the set designers. Everyone.

The Playhouse believes in using the resources available to them. They don’t go out searching the world for the perfect actor to play the part— they use people who have ties to Montgomery and a passion to do what they love. This simple mantra forces them to stick to the basics, to the true meaning of theater—telling a story that is both satisfying to an audience and gratifying to the actors. This also allows everyone involved to try new things without having the hierarchy usually seen in the theatre world lingering above their heads.

And don’t be disheartened that these actors aren’t “professionals” (by “professional” standards). Their unveiling passion trumps over a silly, little title. And not only do they have passion, but every single actor involved with the Playhouse is extremely talented (the proof is in their sold out shows). All are surprised at the level of goodness the actors possess. Hey, you know they’re talented when 13 people are playing 24 parts…

ILLUSTRATION MELISSA TUBBS

Jonathan Conner, who plays multiple parts in the upcoming production, Into the Woods, explained his reasons for getting into theatre—all of which are intangible. He believes that testing his own boundaries constantly keeps him on the edge of his own seat and getting into character forces him to understand his fellow man. Eleanor Davis, who has been acting for SIXTY YEARS, was thrown into the spotlight at an early age, as her parents made her perform at dinner parties held at their home. She swears if her father didn’t pass at a young age that he would have pushed his blonde-haired baby all the way to Broadway. She has been at the forefront for community theatre in Montgomery for years.

Emily Lowder Wooten, a UGA theater graduate and former actress on the Chicago theater circuit, quickly learned that she didn’t like being told no, and this outlet allows her to continue living her passion without encountering the harshness of the theater world. Sarah Flowers, who is the assistant director for Into the Woods, has been surrounded by theatre her entire life. She grew up in the hallways of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where her father acted as artist director. This forced her to fall in love with the beauty of a story. Currently, Sarah lives in New York City where she is involved with Bama Theatre Company—a place where alumni from ASF perform entire plays out of a single trunk.

The Playhouse is currently in their third season and their upcoming production of Into the Woods begins February 13th and runs through the 23rd. The musical, written by Stephen Sondheim, combines stories from the Brother Grimm into an epic fairy tale where worlds collide. It is the story of what happens after happily ever after. And although these fairy tales were written centuries ago, this particular musical merges them with real people and real problems, exposing daily issues we all face. It makes the characters human, as they must make real choices about real things, things that have consequences. The story is both hilarious and touching. The actors of the Playhouse even admit to crying randomly during rehearsals because their hearts were touched by the story.

Everyone should jump at the opportunities available to become involved with Cloverdale Playhouse. They are always looking for volunteers.

And don’t be scared—they didn’t make me recite every Tony award winner from the beginning of time or list every play written by Shakespeare. The pretentiousness is left at the door, and these fine people will bring you into their family and make you feel right at home.

As Randy said, everyone has a sense of being, a sense of being a part of something larger than just a play.

So come hang out with us. We’ll find something for you. And whatever you’ll be doing, you will be helping to provide our community with the fostering of artistic opportunities. And that, my friend, is something to be cherished.

For more information about classes, productions, and volunteer opportunities, visit www.cloverdaleplayhouse.org and join the Cloverdale Playhouse group on Facebook.

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Photos JON KOHN

Photo GRACE PHOTOGRAPHY

For more information about classes, productions, and volunteer opportunities, visit www.cloverdaleplayhouse.org and join the Cloverdale Playhouse group on Facebook.

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Photos JON KOHN

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Words KATIE VEGA Photos MAMA MOCHA’S

When I walked into Mama Mocha’s on Gay Street in Auburn, I was instantly captured by the coffee shop aura, as I usually am. But there were forces that could not be found at a typical Starbucks that made that pull even stronger: the screen printer at the front desk, the list of events on the chalkboard (everything from church to drag shows), and the sheer amount of bodies inside the emporium at 4:45 (it closes at 5:00). I fell in love. Well, I thought I fell in love. Then I had the coffee. And that’s when my affection and excitement kind of spun out of control. And my love affair began…

awesome—a lot of them are old hippies.

Mama’s and founder Sarah Gill are real jewels for our state—providing fresh, real coffee—right outside our front doors. Sarah’s first memory of coffee was the smell of her grandmother’s house. But her real love affair for coffee began as a teenager, when her church youth group acquired a donated espresso machine. She began making coffee for the homeless, and not only did she fall in love with the art of coffee making, but also with the connection it birthed between her and other humans.

I went and told my parents about it and told them I wanted to open a roasting company and coffee shops. I didn’t know how, but I wanted to do it. I know how to make drinks and I can talk to them about how the coffee should taste. And my mom was like…let’s do it.

Here is Sarah’s story in her own words…

“I decided that I wanted to work with coffee for the rest of my life. I worked at Starbucks in Oxford for the health insurance. I got divorced and had a little break down.

When I went back to work, I shot up the corporate ladder.

I poured myself into it. I learned a lot about finances and high volume, but I absolutely was not cut out for the corporate world.

I moved to Auburn and managed a shop called Cambridge downtown. I really fell in love with Auburn.

It’s a really progressive town in Alabama that is constantly generating new ideas because of the student body coming in and out. The townies that live here are 12

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I went to the SCAA conference in Atlanta in 2009 and for the first fifteen minutes, I cried. There were so many people there that loved what I loved. I met people who made roasters, people who imported green coffee, and people who supplied packaging. I learned about heat transfer, communication efficiencies with customers who are used to ordering a Caramel Macchiato Starbucks, and how to tell them what to order instead without sounding pretentious.

The first location was a used bookstore that served French Press coffee and simple Italian drinks. I was talking to the bookstore owner about getting some business planning books, and she offered me the back room, which was full of 5,000 books. All I had to do was help her move the books out and renovate the space and I would rent it. And we did it.

I opened a roasting company. Cambridge eventually closed and I brought the baristas with me. I started selling to regulars immediately and getting contracts right off the bat. I read as much as I could and went to as many seminars as I could on heat transfer and chemical compositions. Eventually, the bookstore owner sold me the store. It’s one of the oldest buildings in Auburn.

About six months later, we had so much business and I

really wanted a presence elsewhere in Auburn. We opened a store a couple of blocks away, sort of as a test store. I want to open shops all around the Southeast.”

Tell me something about yourself most people don’t know.

One of my biggest dreams is to buy a bunch of land and live off the grid. I want to be the matriarch of my own family holler.

What do you love about Alabama?

It would be really hard to imagine living anywhere else.

The food and the culture of people. The fact that I can be a tough country Southern women, and it’s okay.

Sometimes as a woman business owner it’s hard playing with the men. I’m really glad I’m so tall (she’s 6 foot 3)!

I can hold my ground and be who I need to be. Also, shopping local is enormous in Auburn, and people in the community see my efforts and they have responded really well.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Bourbon. All day long.

And Miley Cyrus Radio on Pandora.

What are four things you can’t live without?

The Bible, conversations with my mom, bourbon, and my husband.

Go visit Sarah and the baristas at Mama Mocha’s in Auburn. I suggest the Italian-style Vanilla Cappuccino. Choose from two locations: Gay Street and Tichenor Ave. Like Mama Mocha’s Coffee Roastery and Mama Mocha’s II on Facebook, and make sure you follow them on Instagram: @mama_ mocha_coffee_emporium

FEATURE FILM Through February 16 The Great Gatsby

Alabama Shakespeare Festival

The breathtaking glamour and decadent excess of the Jazz Age from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel come to the stage in Simon Levy’s adaptation, approved by the Fitzgerald Estate. Tickets start at $30. For tickets, call the Box Office at 800.841.4273 or visit asf.net.

February 13-23 Into the Woods

Cloverdale Playhouse PHOTO JON KOHN

The kickoff to the Playhouse’s second season, this show combines your favorite fairytales in a provocative musical performance directed by Randy Foster. Tickets start at $18. Visit cloverdaleplayhouse.org

February 6-9 3rd Annual Religious Arts Festival

First United Methodist Church

Join First United Methodist Church for their annual festival celebrating religious arts in Montgomery, including tours of local churches, art exhibits, and more.

Visit fumcmontgomery.org for info.

February 14-16 Love is in the Air

Montgomery Ballet/Blackbox Theatre

WORDS EVANS BAILEY

Celebrate Valentine’s with cocktails and a gala performance at the Montgomery Ballet. Showtimes at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 & 6:30 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m.

Sunday. Call 334.409.0522 or visit Montgomery Ballet box office for tickets.

February 14 – March 2 Twenty Seven

Alabama Shakespeare Festival

When Harry Met Sally. Simple plot: Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) have a chance meeting on their way to New York after graduating college. From there, the film moves in and out of their lives through chance encounters and first starts of a relationship which culminate in (*SPOILER ALERT*) marriage. Central thought, spoken out loud by the characters and made abundantly obvious throughout: sex ruins male/female friendships.

Lock a few ADHD-riddled lemurs in a room with typewriters for a long enough time and you could probably get a 30 minute sitcom episode that resembles When Harry Met Sally. But that sitcom would not be close to as loved, revered, and feted as When Harry Met Sally, which is playing on Valentine’s Day at the Capri.

One of the reasons is the setting. This is a movie made by New Yorkers who love New York City - Rob Reiner (director), Nora Ephron (writer), and Billy Crystal (Harry) are all natives, and Meg Ryan (Sally) might as well be, she’s from Fairfield, CT. Think of a typical New York film setting, and chances are you’ll see it in When Harry Met Sally. New York is really just background though - the characters barely seem to notice where they are. The real star here is the back and forth between high-maintenance Sally and depressed Harry.

Harry and Sally talk. They talk about relationships, they talk about themselves, they talk about other people. They talk, and talk, and talk and finally, after they have almost literally run out of breath, they finally decide to act on their feelings more than a decade after their fateful car ride to New York.

You probably know a Harry or Sally (if you don’t you just might be the Harry or Sally in your group). They’re smart, they’re clever, they read books, they are dramatic, they have opinions about art and film and every thing they say they think is interesting (“pot?” “kettle?”). This is not a bad thing. In certain doses, a little bit of Harry or Sally every now and again is good for you. But, over the long term it becomes grating. Always trying to be the most interesting, the most depressed, the most provocative, the best fake orgasm-haver. There’s no room for you at the top, just them.

That’s the only problem I have with this movie. It’s a good romantic comedy that’s not traditional and by the book, but by the end, you are kind of happy that these annoying people found each other. At least they won’t be terrorizing other people with their observations about their sex lives, and their quirky restaurant orders (everything “on the side”). I also have a personal aversion to Billy Crystal, but that has more to do with his later work and his corny Oscar hosting than When Harry Met Sally. He’s not bad here, and that’s a good thing.

Adapted from “Old Man” by William Faulkner. For tickets, call the Box Office at 800.841.4273 or visit asf.net.

February 15 Alabama Voices Grand Opening Museum of Alabama

9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Visit the Museum of Alabama’s new centerpiece exhibition, Alabama Voices, for its grand opening. Activites are scheduled from 9 am to 5 pm, and the museum is located downtown at the Department of Archives and History.

Free admission. Visit archives.alabama. gov for more info.

February 20 & 22 Art Auction 2014

Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts The Museum’s Art Auction 2014 benefits acquisition, exhibition and education programs. Visit the Silent Auction featuring cocktails and hors d’oeuvres Thursday, February 20 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. or the Live Auction featuring cocktails and dinner Saturday, February 22 from 6 p.m. For tickets call 334.240.4333 or visit mmfa.org.

February 25 Ethan Kaplan Lecture

Cloverdale Playhouse 7 p.m.

Ethan Kaplan, co-founder of Live Nation Labs, will speak on how the Internet has impacted music and its dissemination.

Kaplan has also worked for Warner Bros. Records and holds an MFA from University of California. Turn to page X to hear more from Kaplan.

Support your local movie theater and support Billy Crystal, his career needs the help (Hi, Parental Guidance), and go see When Harry Met Sally.

Catch this film at The Capri, Friday February 14 at 7:30pm. The Capri is located at Fairview Avenue. Visit www.capritheatre.org for info.

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Love’s Labour’s Lost: No Effort Valentine’s Day Ideas WORDS ANNA LOWDER

Love it or leave it, there’s almost no getting away from Valentine’s Day. Yes, it is a clichéd convention used to promote lackluster chocolate and the international cut flower industry. But unless you want the cold shoulder from your significant one, you’d better make some plans for Friday the Fourteenth.

All is not lost, however, as we present a shortlist of good options for your Valentine’s plans. These spots range from local character (dives) to fine dining (expect to spend many hours here), with some irreverence for good measure.

Fine & Wine These local gems turn out top-notch cuisine day-inday-out. Pair that with beautiful settings and polished service, and you’ve got the recipe for a worry-free night. Book well in advance and take advantage of smart wine lists and craft cocktails.

TRUE Chef Wesley True and his team turn out fine dining fare as consistent as it is unexpected. Think snails that sell alongside fiery fried chicken skins and you’ve got a glimpse into Wesley’s creative efforts. A sneak peek at TRUE’s Valentine’s Menu features hand-made silky gnocchi, gulf fish, and chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.

503 Cloverdale Road, 334.356.3814, www.truemontgomery.com CENTRAL It’s easy to woo your loved one amid the kind, warm light of gas lanterns and plush banquettes.

Central’s interior is to impressive as Chef Leo is to upbeat and energetic. Dig into Leo’s flavorful take on hearty meats and seafood featuring fresh produce straight from EAT South’s Downtown Farm just down the street. 129 Coosa Street, 334.517.1155, www.central129coosa.com

CITY GRILL Fans of this beautiful spot have a hard time deciding whether they spend so much time here for the food or the spot-on service. Either way, City Grill is packed. John and Terri welcome guests with the always popular Tuna Napolean, or splurge with Surf & Turf with Lobster.

5251 Hampstead High Street, 334.244.0960

Red Hearts & White Paper Napkins Ditch the tablecloths and get stuck in with some serious grub. What else says love like getting dirty with the one you love?

THE MARINA Take advantage of sunset river views and the glorious oyster season - what could be better than an aphrodisiac dinner on Valentine’s? Order crisp, cold Gulf oysters for two and slurp down by the dozen.

Cold beer, a couple stabs of Crystal hot sauce, and you’ve got a love potion on that Saltine.

617 Shady Street, 334.239.8958

Who Needs Food SOUS LA TERRE It’s Valentine’s after all - ditch the heavy meal and dive underground to this Downtown institution. All plush red and dimly lit, Sous La Terre feels otherworldly in the best sense. Music to light you up and drinks to match. You’re welcome.

82 Commerce Street, 334.265.2069

LEROY Looking for early or late cocktails? Leroy is the lounge you’ve been searching for. Intense cocktail and beer lists set the stage, and the liquor varieties are second to none. No matter what your tastes, Leroy delivers something for everyone. Great lighting and music are the icing on your cake.

2752 Boultier Street, 334.356.7132, www.leroylounge.com

CHRIS’ HOT DOGS Grab a seat at the counter and make a memory in one of Montgomery’s oldest food spots. With its cool melamine aqua plates and glass bottle Coca-Colas, order a couple of dogs each, making sure to drench in Chris’ special sauce. Crinkle fries are a must. Learn about problem solving and compromise if your significant other insists on ordering a cheeseburger instead of the usual dog.

138 Dexter Avenue, 334.265.6850 WAFFLE HOUSE What else would love taste like if not a waffle bathed in syrup? After a night on the town, drop by your local WH and order a tabletop full of waffles, fluffy omelets, and crispy S-C-S-D hash browns.

Apparently you can even order non-breakfast food here. Who knew?

Numerous Locations, www.wafflehouse.com

FOOD & DRINK EVENTS February 11 Trivia Night

Leroy 7 p.m.

Monthly trivia night is back again at Leroy.

Come join us, but don’t expect to win.

Leroylounge.com

Februry 12 Drinkin’ with Lincoln The Tipping Point

5:30 p.m. until Drink specials at The Tipping Point in celebration of Honest Abe’s birthday. Some legends never die.

February 16 Wine Dinner

SpringHouse Restaurant

Starting at 6 p.m.

Head to SpringHouse restaurant for a wine dinner with chefs from True, Acre, and Central and Tahmiene Momtazi of Oregon’s Maysara winery. 4 course dinner at $100 per person. Call SpringHouse at 256.215.7080 for reservations. Space is limited.

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Words & PHOTOS NATILEE MCGRUDER

February is Black History Month and I went into my most recent interview thinking about what that meant to me. As a young black female raised in Montgomery by a father who grew up in West Montgomery during the Civil Rights Movement, I have always had a strong sense of pride in what people of all colors were able to accomplish with blood, sweat, tears and prayers in our fair city. For me, the significance of any history month is the opportunity to look at our collective history, the history of humanity, colored by a particular lens, which lends us new perspective and nuance.

I have always been a reader and history lover, because early on I understood that history is simply the story of a group of people, during a certain time, that we can learn from today.

Unfortunately, the weighty gift of creating the historical narrative falls to the “victor” which generally has meant: the “winner” of the war, the person who survived to tell about it or the person(s) with the access to the resources and the political power to do so. Many stories are left out and many more left virtually unexplored, as they are deemed “less” important because of the main characters, the end result, or the message it would send to the comfortable masses.

Lerone Bennetts, Jr.’s, Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America should be a required text for all American students, while Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States is an excellent example of history told with the dominant narrative turned on its head (available for you to read, free online!).

The connection between the story of India and that of Montgomery may seem to be a stretch on the surface, but, as with any history, they are connected. One such connection is Martin Luther King’s deep inspiration from Mohandas K. Ghandi and his nonviolent teachings. King traveled to India in April 1959 after devouring Ghandi’s writings. Before he left the country he said,“[s]ince being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method

of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.” He then brought back strategies for nonviolent resistance to the marginalized poor in the Deep South and all over the US via the Civil Rights Movement.

A more recent Montgomery-India connection is that of the recently returned restaurant, India Palace. Surat Singh, Amandeep Singh and Dr. Sandeep Virk all hail from the northwest region of India called Punjab, which is home to the world’s largest population of Sikhs. Together the men bring an incredible value to Montgomery through their commitment to quality Indian “slow food” and their adherence to the Sikh faith. Sikhs believe in equality of humankind, universal brotherhood, and one God. In the words of the founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak, the “Realization of Truth is higher than all else. Higher still is truthful living.”

Truthful living is what allowed the re-opening of India Palace in Vaughn Road Plaza to be met with crowds the very first week, who, when given apologies from Sandeep regarding their wait replied, “Don’t worry. We know your food is worth the wait!” India Palace is run in partnership by Amandeep and Sandeep (who during the day is an internal medicine doctor at Jackson Hospital). The real heart of the operation, however, is in the kitchen: Amandeep’s father, Surat Singh. Surat came to the United States from India in 2001 and proceeded to cook and train as a chef in Atlanta and Tuscaloosa until he was able to open India Palace in its original location off McGhee Rd. His son, Amandeep came from India to run the restaurant with his father in 2007 and then moved again with his father when they decided to try for the greener pastures of Pensacola, Florida. After closing their Montgomery doors in 2012, they opened a successful restaurant there of the same name that still exists, but soon found themselves gravitating back to Montgomery.

In the very brief moment I was able to steal Surat away from his beloved kitchen, he explained via Sandeep that he loves the Montgomery people and that everyone is so happy they have returned. Amandeep echoes this sentiment: “people here love the food and we could have chosen to go anywhere after Pensacola, but we chose to come back to Montgomery because of the people.” The father and son team returned from Pensacola, partnered with Sandeep, and moved to a bigger and better location to start their new chapter in a city that has shown them so much love. Sandeep also noted that overhead costs and the cost of living in Florida made returning to Montgomery an easy decision to make.

The biggest challenge for India Palace is that many people in Montgomery have never tried Indian food and have a limited perspective on the cuisine. In his practice at Jackson, Sandeep always encourages the Indian food uninitiated to come try the lunch buffet and after some hesitation they usually do. When I asked Sandeep about his thoughts on Black History Month and whether it had any personal value to him, he said “it does matter. Everyone has their stereotypes and we need to be more involved with each other.” One thing he would change about Montgomery is the lack of opportunities to meet different kinds of people. He says that here, “people don’t mix much” and that should be changed through education at an early age and opportunities throughout the city to meet and interact with one another. These are sentiments that were true in King’s day and remain an issue for us to tackle together as one United Montgomery.

Visit Amandeep, Surat and Sandeep at India Palace located at 2801 Vaughn Plaza Road, Suite E in the Vaughn Road Plaza near the Vaughn Rd and Eastern Boulevard intersection.

Phone: 334-245-9340. Closed Mondays, open every other day of the week from 11:00am to 2:30pm and 5:00pm9:30pm, 10:00 pm on Friday and Saturday. Weekend buffet includes goat meat and gulab jamun.

FEBRUARY 2014 • MADEPAPER.COM

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February has always seemed a bit awkward to me. I’m coming down off the highs of the holidays, digging into the last part of winter and anxiously awaiting the approaching spring. To keep ourselves occupied in the early 1700s, Americans took up the tradition of exchanging handwritten notes, and in the blink of an eye Valentine’s Day has become the second most card-centric holiday. Hallmark is printing gold.

It’s a wonderful sentiment, and there’s truly nothing better than receiving a heartfelt note from a companion (maybe a secret admirer or two), but honestly, Valentine’s Day preparations can be pretty stressful. So let’s kick back with a cocktail to get us in the mood while we get creative with those Valentine’s plans.

A little vodka to get us started - we use Cathead here at SpringHouse. Add a little French raspberry liquor called Chambord to get in that sweetheart spirit, a dash of honey, a squeeze of lime, and top it off with some rosemary leaves for balance. Follow that with some bites of good chocolate and I’d bet even the coldest of hearts will be ready to hop on the Valentine’s Day wagon.

Here’s the exact recipe: 2.5 oz Cathead vodka 1 oz Chambord .5 oz honey syrup* .5 oz lime juice 2 tiny rosemary sprigs Shake all the ingredients lightly and strain into a martini glass. Top with the remaining rosemary and enjoy.

Photo JON KOHN WORDS WILL ABNER

Closet Invasion Words CHANDLER HINES

It’s a new year and there are resolutions to work on.

Let me guess: You want to start fresh, lose weight, find a new job, keep that job, find a man, dump him and find a better man, maintain goals, and be your most fabulous. Well, I’ve got an idea, but it may scare some of you.

Dig deep into that closet of yours and be honest about what you see! You probably have a couple of shirts or pants that haven’t been worn in a while. Take a closer look and ask yourself why you’re still holding on to them. Maybe they’re your “skinny” pants and this is the year they make a comeback. Or, maybe they are just out of style and you need someone like me to help you get rid of them. Whatever the reason, it’s time to do a little pre-spring cleaning!

I helped a friend out recently and the results were quite refreshing! You may even realize that some of the old stuff you’re hoarding can be used in new and multiple ways. So roll up your sleeves and get busy because this is the time to donate the items you don’t need anymore or dust off those shoes you keep saying you’re gonna wear.

Don’t be afraid to get honest opinions from your friends.....or from me! I’m not saying this won’t hurt a little, but the worst that can happen is parting with a few items and helping someone else out that might need them more than you.

Now that you’ve gotten my lecture, I want to show you something I like to call “Closet Invasions.” A few brave ladies have agreed to let me come in and shake things up! Not only do I show them what to part with, but we “play” in the clothes and figure out a few ways they can be worn. For example, that cute mini dress you’ve been holding on to can be tucked into some skinny jeans as a fab new blouse! Or, that blouse you can’t figure out what to wear with can simply be unbuttoned and voila!...You have a new cardi to wear over a strapless dress for work or play.

As an incentive to get those closets in order, Elizabeth Mazyck agreed to let me in her fabulous closet, so I can show you what an organized closet can look like. Once I asked her if I could move in, we decided the invasion was over…

For more on Chandler’s Closet Invasion including a full photo gallery, visit www.daretowearcsh.blogspot.com 16

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E.A.T. South encourages healthy lifestyles through education and sustainable food production in urban areas throughout the Southeast. www.eatsouth.org

Words EDWIN MARTY

Creating a community where everyone has access to fresh, healthy, delicious food takes a lot more than just planting seeds and harvesting fruit. EAT South strives to build a network of organizations and individuals that can help revitalize our amazing history of food production here in the River Region.

We aspire to teach the next generation how to grow their own food and why it’s so important for their health to eat locally-produced fresh foods. While our work focuses primarily on food and farms, we see our future expanding beyond the farms to include making our entire community healthy, safe, and just. Our organization reaches out to any organization willing to make Montgomery a better place for all of its residence to live no matter the issues. This work falls into a couple of categories of collaboration.

Working in local and state-wide schools provides EAT South with the perfect opportunity to impact the next generation. With every fourth grade class in Alabama visiting the State Capital, we have developed a way to tap into this flow of youth into our city and make a lasting impression. Our Good Food Day fieldtrip provides the perfect opportunity for schools visiting the Capital to swing into our downtown farm for an experiential education program centered around eating good fresh healthy food. In addition to on-farm fieldtrips, EAT South has also developed relationships with local elementary schools to ensure every child has the chance to grow their own food. Our Garden In Every School program currently works with E.D. Nixon, Wares Ferry, Montessori School at Hampstead, and the Montgomery Area Homeschoolers to provide weekly education programs that connect children directly with their food.

But working in and with schools is only the first steps in transforming our food system.

EAT South also works closely with a wide range of community groups to ensure our impact is felt as deep as it is wide. We are working with Common Ground Montgomery to build a community farm that provides youth on the west-side of town a place to connect with their food. We also work with the Full of Life Farm and Montgomery Mental Health to provide technical expertise for increasing local food production and horticultural therapy. We work with Bridge Builders to engage the next generation of local leaders in how to improve our food system. Our efforts to develop the River Region Food Policy Council, cut across a broad section of the community, and examine how our food system could better connect everyone to fresh healthy food.

EAT South also works with local and regional government to leverage resources for the expansion of our vision. The City of Montgomery is assisting EAT South to complete

Phase 2 and 3 of our Downtown Farm. With this expansion, Montgomery will have one of the most complete and unique urban farms in the country, providing the perfect landing pad for youth and adults alike to connect to their food.

And our collaborations don’t end with the municipality, schools and non-profits. We work closely with a number of businesses around the River Region to improve our education programs and leverage our assets. Restaurants such as Central, True, Cool Beans, the Tipping Point, Jim and Nicks, and Railyard Brewery regularly purchase our produce as well as provide culinary talent for our events and programs. Local corporations such as The Colonial Company, Max Credit Union, ALFA, and Blue Cross Blue Shield contribute time and money to help us achieve our vision. Others, such as Matter and Bell Media, help us communicate our work.

And lastly, we are looking forward to the opportunity to expand our collaboration with new organizations that share our vision of a healthy future for all children in the Alabama. Projects like Quest Plex (the Children’s Museum slated to be built 8 blocks from our farm) could provide incredible opportunities for collaboration by expanding our reach and increasing the depth of our programs. The proposed Montgomery Botanical Gardens at Oak Park can enhance our reach into communities throughout the region by collaborating on horticultural education.

EAT South’s objective is a healthier Montgomery. We are just a piece in the puzzle that can improve the lives of folks from across the community. We understand it truly takes a village to feed a child and ensure the child develops healthy dietary habits. We can’t do this work alone and we recognize that the work is more fun and effective when we reach out to others. Individuals from the Jr League, the Montgomery Master Gardeners, and Hands on River Region help us run our urban farms and education programs.

Our recent event partnering with Architecture for Humanity, entitled “Fowl Play,” intentionally called for the community’s input on how we develop our new chicken coop for the downtown farm and is a perfect example of our collaborative visions.

Success happens when we bring together the amazing talents of young professionals across the area with our community to help design and build what we expect to be the greatest home for chickens in America. And we can’t do this alone. Our community, government, corporate and non-profit partners are what remind us every day that it truly takes a village to make the changes we must make in our community.

To learn more about EAT South, please visit www.eatsouth.org and friend us on Facebook!

FEBRUARY 2014 • MADEPAPER.COM

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Words BRIAN CARROLL

This month in MADE, Brian Carroll gets an opportunity to talk with Ethan Kaplan, Senior Vice President of Live Nation and co-founder of Live Nation Labs. Ethan worked his way up from running the most popular fan site for rock band R.E.M. (becoming close friends with that band) to the position of record executive at the band’s label, Warner Bros., before making the move to Live Nation, the world’s largest music promotion and ticketing company. He joins us in advance of an upcoming lecture and talk at the Cloverdale Playhouse on February 25th about the current state and future of the music industry.

So, tell me, just how screwed ARE bands that don’t have an internet presence?

Uh, you’re not a band, basically. I know zero bands that don’t have an internet presence.

You can’t really be a functioning, performing entity known as a band without one at this point. It is kind of the only outlet left, besides just playing in front of people. So, there may be bands of convenience that just play in front of people, but if you’re serious about making money from your art, its kind of a prerequisite.

Can you tell us a little bit about Live Nation Labs and their mission in a nutshell?

Live Nation Labs is basically an internal startup to Live Nation. Live Nation is the largest concert promoter in the world. We also own Ticketmaster, making us one of the ten biggest e-commerce sites in the world, and we have an artist management company. We’re a division that sits alongside all those. We’re responsible for Livenation.com and Live Nation Mobile in the US and Canada. Our aim when we started was to really take a technology-focused approach to solving business problems, so we’re very engineeringfocused. We operate like a startup with the support of a big company. We tackle problems in the way a startup would: we try to learn from our customers, hypothesize, testingwise, built fast, build fast, and keep extremely nimble. So, we’re entering our third year of existence, I have twenty five people on my team, which is a mixture of mostly engineers, some designers, and some product leads, and we have a lot of stuff to do, but we’ve accomplished a lot since we started it.

Bands with several members may have no problem getting someone in the band to run promotion, but solo artists can often find themselves too busy recording and practicing to give it much thought. Do you think as music promotion becomes easier through apps that we will see a rise in independent solo artists, or is the day of the lone wolf over?

I always say, “Water finds it way.” Solo acts have existed since music has existed, and it’s always been tough to be a singer-songwriter on your own. You’re playing open mics, you’re trying to get shows, you’re hauling your own equipment; It hasn’t changed much. Certainly there’s tools that make it easier.

I have a lot of friends that are well-known (and some not well-known) acts, and they always have a network of people that may not be in a band, but certainly support them. Their wives, their brothers, their sisters, sometimes their parents, and you know, where there’s a will, there is always a way.

If someone is really serious about what they do, they’ll definitely find a way to make it happen. Technology (in terms of apps, sites with different services, and software) has made certain aspects of it easier to do on your own and from the road; certainly outreach is easier with Twitter and things like that, but I don’t think it really makes much of a difference if you’re solo or if you’re in a band. There’s more 18

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work being in a band than being alone, just trying to keep a band together, for instance.

If a band or artist had to pick just one currently available app to use for music promotion, which would do you think would be the most effective in reaching an audience that actually cares?

I’d say Twitter at this point. I mean, it’s between Twitter and Facebook, but I always lean towards Twitter because I like their products better.

If music artists had the same access to collated metadata (such as tags and descriptions) as webmasters and marketing departments do behind the scenes, they could easily determine the least-often-used characteristics of music to generate work unlike anything the world has ever heard. What resources, if any, do you think an artist can currently use to hack music history like this?

Every music service tries to tackle music discovery in metadata. Beats Music just launched today, and they try to do the “curated playlist” thing, Spotify tries to do it, ARIA tries to do it, ECHOnet is an entire service that a lot of these use to do it. I think being a student of musical history is not predicated on having a service that gets you access to what genres there are. You can easily rabbit-hole yourself into genre explorations in any of the services. You can start tracing the history of punk music from Spotify, for instance, and you can spend all day going through every aspect of punk and new wave music from today back into the Velvet Underground - if you wanted to. It’s not going make you any better of a musician than going to a local record store and asking the clerk, you know, “What record should I buy besides the Velvet Underground’s ‘Loaded’ or ‘...and Nico’?” There’s always ways to explore the history of what you make, but everybody is always informed by whatever sources of history they wanted to be, whether it’s a data service and tool telling you that, your older brother, the record store clerk, or Wikipedia. There’s no real good answer there on how you make and form your influences.

Does devoting one’s career to digital media like apps, as opposed to physical media ever feel risky? Do you ever imagine a time when the screens just won’t turn on anymore?

I’ve been in digital as a career career since I was fifteen.

The screens have never got turned off, there’s just more of them. I’m surrounded by [screens.] It used to be there was one computer on my desk, and now I have an iPad, a computer, an iPhone, four computers on various desks, screens everywhere. In my car and when I fly in airplanes there’s a screen, so I tell you, I can’t get away from them at this point. They’re just multiplying. I think that they’re going to just disappear in certain ways, I think technology moves towards zero, or towards transparency, and we’ve seen that happening in the past couple years, with screens getting smaller and more ubiquitous, or screens getting bigger and more ubiquitous. I think technology always is on a path to the infinite in that way, and that’s definitely transpired.

In 2007, an infamous study was conducted by the Spanish National Research council, in which pop music for the past fifty years was mathematically analyzed and scientifically proven to be increasingly less complex and dynamically interesting of late, validating a common complaint of older generations. Does it ever feel like artists are being unfairly rewarded for setting the bar too low?

Umm, no. If you ask any pop music act if they set the bar too low, they would point to their producer or record company for the reason they did so. Attention spans are less, because there’s more options for how to consume stuff, so getting attention above the band is harder. What you’re seeing is just normal organization and optimization, given [the] increasing amounts of output. So, radio starts normalizing because there’s less attention given to it; it has to find the path toward getting attention. It’s like genetic algorithms: the fittest survive. Sadly, in pop music, which is radio-driven for the most part, the fittest is crap, but that’s not a slight

on pop music, that’s just what pop music is. Pop has never really changed.

If you trace the history of Top 40 pop, you know, the old Dick Clark kind-of-stuff, the structures are the same, chord progressions are the same, methodologies are the same, nothing’s really changed. Radio is still the primary outlet for pop. Now what constitutes pop has adapted, right? It used to be that Urban music was more of a heavy influence on Top 40, now it’s EDM, Country is bigger than ever right now, but the fundamentals of what makes a good pop song? You can go back to Stax, and Sun Records, and any of the older record labels that did that and it’s not much different. The production for us is less adventurous, certainly, than, you know, Phil Spector, but Dr. Luke and Phil Spector are cut from the same cloth.

In a related question, if we have the technology to analyze the content of music, meaning it is not entirely subjective, is it ever automatically sorted by quality or complexity on these apps, for the benefit of listeners who might feel, like you said, that ninety percent of the music on these apps is not good enough to justify the download, or is that sort of generic judgment best left to the fans rather than algorithms?

I think that’s the human factor of music. There’s no predicting what people are going to react to in music. Your taste is always formed a lot younger than people expect it to be and people are a lot less adventurous than app developers and manufacturers want them to be. Taste is so highly subjective, everyone has a guilty pleasure, and everybody has a fanatical drive towards certain artists, but it’s so individualized that no algorithms can really parse that. I can say, somewhat, that if you like this band, you may like that band, but that’s an informed decision based on me being somewhat of a tastemaker and knowing musical history and knowing why this band sounds so similar. And that’s more me knowing, personally, “Oh, this band listened to that band, so I know they have similarities and since they are similar to each other, fans of these might be similar to each other,” but no algorithm’s going to tell me that; it’s all based on the human factor.

Did you have any mentors in college, and what was it about them that inspired you?

In college, I was in the newspaper industry and I had a lot of mentors in that industry. Sadly, a couple of them are now unemployed, when that industry died, a couple of them just lost their job recently. I worked with newspapers since I was fifteen. On the music side of things, during college I was working with R.E.M. and their manager, Bertis Downs, was one of my big mentors as I worked through college and grad school, and eventually landed at Warner Bros. Records.

That entire band is definitely people I look up to, and gave me very good advice along the way in terms of the direction music was taking. There’s no better education in getting into the music business than being friends with one of the biggest acts of the last forty years. That didn’t work if I just favor it, it helped a lot.

If the foundation of a hipster ethic is avoiding the mainstream, does it make it harder for artists to hide in the shadows as a “coveted secret of the hipster elite” when everyone’s music becomes more accessible across the board? What steps have you seen artists resort to to try and reclaim that shrinking underground real estate?

I look at Jack White as an example of an artist that does this very well. Jack White is one of the most successful indie artists, but he’s retained the indie cred by not ever subscribing to one specific label or one specific method of doing anything. He’s unpredictable, and by being unpredictable, he is by nature more indie than any of the hipster bands, the Owl Citys and the Mountain Goats, and the whatevers of the world, even though he’s sold more records by far than any of them. So I think that is what I look at, or the David Byrnes, the Patti Smiths, and the Michael Stipes of the world. They defy a label by refusing to be

labeled as hipster. Hipster is mainstream at this point, it’s just like flannel was in the post-Grunge era, and the Seattle sound, when that became co-opted by MTV. So, you know, hipster doesn’t mean anything. There’s artists that live outside of that by just not being defined by it, and that’s always going to be the most inky and individualistic thing that artists can do.

One always tends to feel a little repressed on the internet when a music review or blog post does not allow user comments. Do you feel that the reason that a website like Pitchfork Media disallows comments is that their audience will publicly reject, and therefore socially inspire rejection of their tastemaker status?

I think it’s important that a review stands on the review, and if you’re going to be a curator of records, as Pitchfork tries to be, or Rolling Stone, or NME, or Vox, or Selector, or MOJO, or Q, or any of the other magazines and curators, you have to stand on your own as a critic. Critics shouldn’t necessarily engage like that. I think the act of criticism is, by nature, a solitary act of judgment. It has to stand on its own. I think comments, to a degree, devalue a lot of what criticism has done. And, you know, I’m an advocate of community, and online community, and online identity; I just think there’s a time and a place. It doesn’t mean I like Pitchfork, and certainly as a curator and a critic they fall flat a lot, but I admire the ethos that stands on its own. It doesn’t have to rely on engagement with their audience or acknowledgment of that audience to be.

Two common methods of music promotion employed by record companies is to pay journalists directly to review their releases, and even more subversive, to pay interns disguised as peers to post loads of positive feedback about their new releases on music forums and blogs under multiple accounts. But if you were to inform the average music listener of this, they may not understand why these tactics are unfair, or, more likely, they may just not care.

So my question is, if social media pressure to digest buzz wholeheartedly, especially among young people, already topples the sensation of being mislead by an entire industry, is there really any reason for record companies to resort to what is basically dishonesty in the first place?

I don’t even think they do anymore, at this point. It’s so much easier to get the entire fanbase to mobilize around an act than to try to be subversive.You don’t have to. Mainly in the Sixteen-Indigo days, interns were “astroturfing,” and certainly you did favors for journalists, that’s just good PR. You don’t even need to do that now. You can activate a fanbase, as an army, really easily at this point if you have a good Twitter following or Facebook following, to a dangerous extent. I haven’t been at the label in three years, keep in mind, but when I left we were able to mobilize street teams very easily as authentic promotions.

What was the first ticketed concert you attended?

Oh god, when I was four, it was Sheena Easton at the Concord Pavilion. After that, it was R.E.M., October 31st, 1995 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim.

What was the last concert you attended?

Devotchka? I think it was Devotcka, band from Boulder.

Oh, it was Peter Buck’s wedding; it was “Edwardian Chair.”

A bunch of R.E.M. guys, the Decemberists, and a bunch of people played.

It was a rock star wedding, so it counts.

Americans pay four-hundred percent more for internet speed only a third as fast as what is standard in Japan and South Korea, and we currently rate sixteenth worldwide in terms of internet speed. If everything we do now is connected to the internet, why do you think more corporate pressure isn’t being placed on ISP’s to lay the fiber optic networks they were ordered and paid to do by the U.S. Government? Why can’t some large corporation with a vested interest in the infrastructure just sue the

pants off of the lazy bastards?

We’re a big, loosely federated nation of states, very large, with no economic incentive to do that. They have much more economic incentive to tariffs than to drive the local stuff, because that’s where the money is. There’s not a lot of money in home Ethernet, unfortunately, and the fiber activation has been a money loser for so long. They don’t have an incentive, one, and also they don’t want net neutrality upheld, two. So, [we have] the ISP’s because we’re a private enterprise state -- we’re not a BBC, or in the UK, where they actually provide that. They want net neutrality struck down, and they’re going to be holding out to a huge degree, as it’s just not in their economic interest. I think a lot of that is going to fall down as the cable model disintegrates.

As everything goes IT-based, it’s going to be more incentivized to increase the speeds because they’re going to need it. In most cases it’s the upstream that’s limited, not the downstream.

What once-common genre do you seriously feel is most overdue for a comeback, given today’s music trends?

I’d say Rock music. There’s not a lot of good Rock, sadly.

Describe the penultimate music app of the future, “one app to rule them all,” and why it isn’t here now.

I don’t think there is one, that’s a loaded question. It could be an app that dis-intermediates all the streaming [music] providers and helps you match that, and there are apps like that, but these are all to various degrees of success. It’s a tough one, because I can’t think of any that are universal music apps. It’s an area that remains to be discovered, basically.

Could you let our readers know what apps Live Nation Labs has taken under their wing or developed, and how these apps differ from one another?

So far, the only big production app we have is the Live Nation app. It’s basically a content discovery app, and it’s the first version of it that we relaunched. We have more features added to it, coming soon. And we have other apps pending, for Android, iPad, and potentially some other small apps that we’ll be working on.

Internally, does your company ruffle feathers or scratch heads at Live Nation, or does everyone seem to “get it”?

Well...our approach is definitely sometimes controversial, but for the most part, people seem to get what we’re trying to do. We are disruptive in the sense that we approach things in a way that’s unique, more similar to how a startup would than a fourteen-thousand-person company.

On your company’s blog, one is just as apt to find personal business philosophy as they are marketed information, making it a veritable treasure trove of seemingly UNcorporate wisdom, guided by a genuine desire to show rather than tell. Given the common view on success in business, that it involves selling ideas to solve real problems, how much do you think altruism factors into the success of one startup over another?

I think goodwill with the user base, certainly, is an aspect of the success of a startup, but the reality is that however altruistic a startup is in respecting their users, and respecting their base, it does fail. The main aspect of being a startup is trying to develop a product market. You have to respect your investors, you have to respect your users, and you have to respect yourself, in terms of what you’re doing, and I think honesty on our site – you know, we’re a big company, and where we have to focus is being honest with our users, respecting our users, and not being a big, corporate identity and hiding behind that. So we try to take that same approach of being authentic, of being real, and apply it to how we deal with fans. It’s tough, because we’re a big company and people see us as a big company, but we have to apply that and check ourselves often and not rely on whether we’re the biggest; we have to listen.

In talking to music fans in Alabama, there is a general feeling that we are overlooked, excluded, or given a inferior selection of concerts compared to the rest of the country.

Does the music industry know that we use the internet in Alabama, or should we just be glad to have a choice between, say, Jeff Dunham and Toby Keith?

Well, you know, people wrap tours based upon where they can sell tickets, sadly. Auburn is a college town, so you certainly do get people touring through there, I’m sure.

Maybe not the biggest acts, but I’m not even sure what the venue picture looks like down there. But, you know, the whole indie music scene has its roots in the American South between Athens and Charlotte, so it’s not like you guys are forgotten about.

What music have you guys been listening to in office lately, and how have you been listening to it?

When I control it, I always put it on Sirius XM’s Classic Alternative station, which is essentially music, basically, by all the people I know or admire, like the Replacements, R.E.M., Television, Patti Smith, stuff like that. It drives everybody crazy because it’s like “old guy” music, and I’m not old, but it’s considered old guy music because it even predates me. Actually, the best record of the year for me was Joseph Arthur’s new record, ‘The Ballad of Boogie Christ,’ and a caveat: he’s a friend of mine, but the record’s amazing, it’s a double album - concept album - it’s really good. So that’s the new new record I’ve been listening to a lot.

You’ve given talks at SXSW on the future of the music industry. It seems like people in the industry, musicians and label owners, might especially benefit from your inside information in order to stay abreast of what is happening. Can you tell us a little bit about what topics we can expect at the upcoming talk at the Cloverdale Playhouse, and what impact or benefit checking it out might have on the music listener?

The title of the talk is “Nothing Can Save the Music Business But A Musician,” and it’s based upon a post I wrote, actually. The whole point is: there’s a lot of people that talk about how to save the music business, and how to solve music, and a lot of startups try that are often making products they think will fix the music business, or labels think they’re going to fix the music business, but the reality is that it’s a musician that’s going to fix the music business by being a musician.

They’ve made music way before people even called it a business. People have been making music since they banged rocks together. Music may even predate human history and civilization. So in the end, startups will come and go, labels will come and go - labels have come and gone – artists will come and go...Music always survives. Music is very resilient and the business around music is actually very resilient; it’s just not resilient in the ways that people want it to be. So, a lot of what I want to talk about is not, just, you know, “I work in the music business,” but I’ve been friends and worked with musicians since I was fifteen, and in front of the biggest musicians in the world [R.E.M.]. I had to live through the latter half of their career arcs and a lot of what I think about music stems from my whole worldview revolving around that one band and all of their friends and the people associated with them. I saw this whole arc play out between 1996 and today, in terms of the “future of music” conversation. It’s been a conversation for fifteen, sixteen years, but in the end nothing much has changed.

People still make music, people sell music, and people still like to go to concerts. People are still fans and are willing to lay down in front of a train for their favorite artists. I’m really passionate not about the future of the music business, but what music means and why music means what it means.

Ethan Kaplan will be speaking and taking questions from the audience at the Cloverdale Playhouse on Tuesday, February 25th at 7pm. The event is free, but donations are encouraged.

FEBRUARY 2014 • MADEPAPER.COM

19

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Words RACHEL FISHER My husband and I were in downtown Greenville, SC when we saw it: The way the trees leaned lovingly over Main Street. How the night sky was visible through their limbs.. no power lines to crowd the view. The way hundreds of people were walking through the picturesque park on the river or making their way to one of the several delicious restaurants that line Main Street.

And for a moment that lasted several months, we wanted out of Montgomery. We had enough of longing for, “a better quality of life”. We wanted more parks, more restaurants. A food truck for crying out loud. So we did what most people would do: we began to plot our escape.

As it would go, things didn’t quite turn out as expected.

With our own efforts exhausted, we decided to try this city we’ve called home for 20 plus years on in new ways and learned there’s nothing worse than being here without really “being here.” So, if you’re humming the Gump Town blues or a Montgomery native in need of a refreshing, here’s a few ideas to help to turn that beat around.

Learn: Hang around Montgomery long enough and you might think you know all there is to know about the city known for starting the Civil War, fueling the bus boycotts and raising Zelda. But after a trip to the archives on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I was enchanted all over again. But if the Archives doesn’t suit your fancy, there are plenty of ways to let Montgomery speak for itself. Join local historian Mary Ann Neely on one of her walking tours, visit the Rosa Parks Museum, walk the center aisle at Dr. Kings Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, or take a jog down Dexter and

stand on the Capitol steps. It’s small things like this that help us reconnect with city we call home.

Explore: There are parts of Montgomery I never knew existed until I stopped asking Siri and just found my own darn way. If you’ve got the time to get lost make sure you do it with your eyes open. You never know what you might find. A favorite food discovery has been G&S Donuts. They open at 5:00 am and close when they sell out. Go early and don’t leave without trying their cinnamon roll. For a more hands-on approach, Rescued Relics, run by the Landmarks Foundation, is a treasure trove of historic architectural elements and materials for all your DIY projects.

Create: Montgomery, unlike other cities, presents the perfect opportunity for people to dream up something and actually pull it off. There’s the ability to meet with city leaders, get involved with what’s already going on and do that the thing you do without getting lost in the crowd.

Montgomery provides a place for people to collaborate and innovate in ways other big cities can’t. If you have an idea, chances are you can make it happen. Our city has plenty of blank slates ready for your dreams to become reality.

LOVE MGM

Give Back: It feels good to invest in our city in a way that helps everyone. There are a handful of initiatives, organizations and people working to make Montgomery a better place. E.A.T. South, House to House in West Montgomery, and organizations caring for the poor like Mary Ellen’s Hearth, One Church Mission and the Nehemiah Center are just a few making a difference.

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For 38 parades and 16 days, we Mobilians put our differences, work, school, and sanity aside to partake in the madness that is Mardi Gras. At a very young age, we learn the Mardi Gras rules of thumb: you can never catch too many beads, and more importantly, Mobile is home to the first Mardi Gras in the U.S. While that “claim to fame” might be disputed in some circles (read New Orleans circles), there’s no denying Mobile has the closest Mardi Gras to Montgomery. In less time than it takes to watch “Wolf of Wall Street,” you can drive to downtown Mobile, possibly with time to spare to check in to a hotel, grab a drink and a front row spot at a parade. Bring the kids (optional), your MADE guide to Mobile Mardi Gras, and come see where it all started…we think.

Where to Stay:

Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel & Spa You can’t get any closer to the parades than the Battle House. Parades run right in front of the historic hotel, making it super easy to enjoy the Mardi Gras mayhem before settling in to Four Diamond luxury.

Where to Get the King of King Cakes:

Pollman’s Bakery Open since 1918 and known for its bakery treats, Pollman’s is home to Mobile’s first king cake. The Mobile staple developed their own king cake recipe and have been making the Mardi Gras treat every season since 1959.

When to Go: Friday, February 14

Saturday, February 15

6:30 PM Conde Cavaliers Parade

Thursday, February 20

Friday, February 21

Saturday, February 22

6:30 PM Order of Polka Dots Parade

Sunday, February 23

Monday, February 24

Tuesday, February 25

Thursday, February 27

Friday, February 28

Saturday, March 1

6:30 PM Neptune’s Daughters Parade 7:00 PM Order of Isis Parade

Sunday, March 2

Monday, March 3

Tuesday, March 4 – FAT TUESDAY

2:30 PM Joe Cain Parade 5:00 PM Le Krewe de Bienville Parade

12:00 PM Bayport Parading Society Parade 7:00 PM Pharaohs’ Mystic Society Parade 7:30 PM Conde Explorers Parade

6:30 PM Order of Inca Parade 2:00 PM Mobile Mystics Parade 2:30 PM Mobile Mystical Revelers Parade 6:30 PM Maids of Mirth Parade 7:00 PM Order of Butterfly Maidens Parade 7:30 PM Krewe of Marry Mates Parade

6:30 PM Mobile Mystical Ladies Parade 7:00 PM Order of Venus Parade 6:30 PM Order of LaShe’s Parade 6:30 PM Mystic Stripers Society Parade 6:30 PM Crewe of Columbus Parade 12:00 PM Floral Parade 12:30 PM Knights of Mobile Parade 1:00 PM Order of Angels Parade 6:00 PM Mystics of Time Parade

11:00 AM King Felix, III Parade at Noon 12:00 PM Floral Parade 3:00 PM MLK Business and Civic Organization Parade 3:30 PM MLK Monday Nighter Mystics Parade 4:00 PM Northside Merchants 6:30 PM Infant Mystics Parade 10:30 AM Order of Athena Parade 12:30 PM Knights of Revelry Parade 1:00 PM King Felix Parade 1:30 PM Comic Cowboys Parade 2:00 PM Mobile Area Mardi Gras Asso.

6:30 PM Order of Myths Parade

MADE Favorites: Chef Wesley True’s Recommendations Best parade: Krewe de Bienville on Joe Cain Day Favorite catch: Oversized beads Best bites: TRUE Midtown Kitchen or Bistro Escoffier Grab a drink: Haberdasher, Bike Shop, The Garage Photo COURTESY HABERDASHER

22

MADEPAPER.COM • FEBRUARY 2014

Tips: Eat before you go to the parades and carpool with friends if you’re not staying downtown (parking is insane)

Photo ELISE POCHE

Photo ELISE POCHE

Photo TAD DENSON

Photo COURTESY BATTLE HOUSE Photo TAD DENSON

Photo JOAH NORRIS

FEBRUARY 2014 • MADEPAPER.COM

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Russell Lands On Lake Martin is an idyllic place on the shores of Lake Martin, Alabama’s largest lake. With 44,000 acres of

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pristine water and 750 miles of

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Throughout our country’s history,

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