MADE March Issue 11 by MADE Paper

A Free Independent Newspaper

Issue 11 MARCH 2014

News, Makers & Trends of the New South

A Man, A Myth, and the Unraveling of A Legend

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MONTGOMERY

PUBLISHER MADE Paper

Issue 11 MARCH 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

Made is a free, independent newspaper published monthly. Modern design, authentic voices, smart articles and curated events. ISSUE 11 MARCH 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. All letters, messages, and emails sent to Made will be treated as intended for publication unless otherwise noted by the author. Letters and emails may be edited for space and content. Made celebrates the rich history of a free press and is proud to continue to strengthen this tradition.

CONTENTS © 2014 by Made Paper. Reproduction in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the publisher’s express written approval is prohibited. The publication is free, limit two per reader. Removal of more than two papers from any distribution point constitutes theft. Violators are subject to prosecution under city ordinances.

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COVER PHOTO: Jon Kohn

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Column feature: The Infamous Coat feature: An Artist’s studio Makers Food & DRINK STYLE EAT SOUTH Music feature: LOVE MGM

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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.

So, How About this Market District? WORDS BRENT ROSEN

The Market District is an opportunity to do something transformative. Foshee, the Development Department, the Mayor’s Office, everybody else, let’s make Dexter Avenue the best street in Alabama.

small enough to feel intimate. A band on the road going from Atlanta to New Orleans has to drive through Montgomery. Same goes for a band traveling South from Nashville. We could capture so much, if only we had the proper venue.

Let’s recruit the sort of restaurants that can build a loyal lunch following, but can also pull people back downtown for dinner at night. Aim for Midtown Atlanta, don’t settle for Mama Goldberg’s. A successful model for a downtown restaurant/bar can be seen only 90 miles away in Birmingham. See what’s happening at El Barrio and Collins Bar, visit Carrington’s Public House -- there is nothing like those places in Montgomery. That model will work. If you bring nothing but generic to the Market District, it will fail. Let’s take advantage of Montgomery’s existing offerings. See if the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art will open a satellite gallery on Dexter Ave that can feature young, up-and-coming regional artists. It will help the museum develop a younger following and will bring young people with money to shop the Market District. See if the Shakespeare Festival wants to hold the entire residential section of a building for its visiting performers. Many of the visiting performers don’t have cars, but if they all lived in the same place, easy shuttle service to and from work. And where do you think they’ll spend their downtime? That’s right, the Market District.

Let’s build something kind of creepy, preferably underground, something like Sous-La-Terre, but that opens earlier. A place that feels out of its place in time. Maybe Elvis impersonators perform, maybe there is an occasional burlesque show. Maybe it has ripped, red-leather banquettes along the walls, and tables whose legs are so out of balance any movement threatens to topple your drink. You can’t smoke in there -- actually, no one’s ever smoked in there -- but somehow, it still feels nicotine stained. I want to go there during happy hour and drink 30 oz Miller High Life’s from a giant frosty mug, and some nights, I want happy hour to turn into karaoke hour, and karaoke hour to turn into “loud conversations with anyone in the room who will listen hour,” and I want all of that to happen before 9:00 p.m. On Tuesday. I want a combination of all of my favorite bars ever and I want it in downtown Montgomery.

Let’s go a bit crazy. Build an upscale bowling alley. Create rooftop terraces with rooftop bars so the lobbyists and legislators can gaze at the Capitol while they booze and schmooze. Talk to the gents who run the Overall Company in Auburn, maybe they want to bring their unique business to town. An ice cream shop seems like a no-brainer: it’s hot 9 months out of the year, and government employees need somewhere to go on their breaks. Let’s find someone to operate a men’s clothing store with a bar in it. What about a real music venue? A place with a good bar up front and a mid-sized room in back. Big enough for touring bands, but

That’s what I’d like to see in the Market District. Let’s have a conversation about what you want in the Market District. Once we post this online, use the comment section to make your own suggestions. Ladies, want a blow dry bar? Comment. Gents, want a classic barbershop, the kind where they’ll give you a hot shave and keep girlie magazines in a binder marked “New England Journal of Medicine?” Comment. Exotic pet shop? Comment. Record store that sells Pet Shop Boys? Comment. This conversation is important because if people in Montgomery don’t clue the folks in charge of the Market District into what would make them come, see, shop, and do, then who knows what we’ll get down there. Someone may own Dexter Avenue, but it belongs to us all. I’ll make sure your suggestions make it to the right place. So please, comment.

MARCH 2014 • MADEPAPER.COM

A Man, A Myth, and the Unraveling of A Legend

MADEPAPER.COM â&#x20AC;˘ MARCH 2014

WORDS BRENT ROSEN PHOTOS JON KOHN

Sam Davis, boy hero of the South, was executed as a spy by Union Forces just after Thanksgiving in 1863. He’d been captured a few days before, well behind Union lines in Minor Hill, Tennessee, carrying papers and information on Union troop movements near Nashville. Had Sam Davis been nothing more than a soldier carrying out orders, his life would have been spared; he would have sat out the remainder of the war in any of a number of prisoner of war camps. But spies were different. The laws of war did not apply to spies; if a spy was caught, the spy was killed. When Union troops caught Davis, he carried letters and other effects that Union General Grenville Dodge believed could have only come from his personal desk. Fearing a mole in his organization, General Grenville decided to press Davis on the source of his information. Davis was given a choice: he would be freed immediately in exchange for the names of his superior officers and the names of any turncoats in the Union ranks. Davis admitted to being a Confederate courier, but refused to name names and denied any involvement in any sort of Confederate espionage. When Davis refused to assist the Union investigation, he was court martialed on charges of spying against the Union. The coat Davis wore at the time of his capture became an important piece of evidence against him during the trial. While the modern imagination often envisions the Civil War fought between the South in gray and the North in blue, the reality at that time was not so clear cut. Many soldiers wore irregular uniforms and often took clothing from fallen soldiers regardless of affiliation. In addition, soldiers fighting during the Civil War had limited ability to wash their uniforms, and after a few weeks of marching, fighting, sleeping out in the elements and marching some more, Union and Confederate uniforms would become filthy to the point of indistinguishability. When Davis was caught, the fact it looked like he was wearing a Union greatcoat was used to support the charges against him. If Davis had tried to conceal his identity as a Confederate by wearing the uniform of his enemy, the thinking went, then the likelihood of him being a spy increased greatly. Davis protested during the court martial that his mother had dyed a found Union coat Confederate gray, but that the color didn’t hold. The failure of the color to hold, coupled with the jacket’s filthy condition, Davis argued, made the jacket appear Union blue. Unfortunately for Davis, his protestations fell on deaf ears, and the military court convicted him of espionage. His sentence: death. The next day Davis stood, on the gallows, noose around his neck, the skies presumably overcast, maybe even a bit rainy, grimly ready to face his fate. The Union officer overseeing the execution gave Davis a final chance — he offered imprisonment instead of hanging if Davis would

reveal his Union source. In response, Davis uttered the words that would make him a Southern hero: “I would die a thousand deaths before I would betray a friend.” Shortly thereafter, 21-year-old Sam Davis was hung until death. Just before ascending the gallows, Davis gave his coat to a soldier in the Union camp, asking only that someone return the coat to his family and inform them of his fate. The coat eventually ended up back in Smyrna, Tennessee, where the Davis family had a 160-acre cotton farm. Immediately, there was speculation that Davis’ execution was unwarranted, based mainly on the coat -- to Davis’ friends and family, the coat appeared standard Confederate issue. As the story of Davis’ honor in the face of death spread, the boy wrongly executed as a spy became a mythical figure. The legend spread across Tennessee - the Davis family farm was turned into a museum in 1930 and the state of Tennessee erected a statue commemorating Davis on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol. But the mystery remained: was Davis wrongly executed, or was he a spy?

Howard Sutcliffe took the long way to Montgomery, Alabama. Born in Manchester, England, he attended design school at the University of Dundee, in Scotland. When he enrolled in design school in 1993, his initial intention was to design cars. But when Howard learned that car design is not “sitting in a farmhouse in Tuscany sketching Ferrari’s all day,” he decided to follow his other passion: textiles. So he received a B.A. in tapestry weaving, a degree that would have been extremely useful 500 years ago. But Howard understood the avenues that opened up for a textile expert, especially in the world of historic preservation. Think about a museum, or a historic home, or the contents of an old wealthy family’s attic. While all of those places are likely filled with paintings, books, and papers, they are equally likely to be full of textiles: rugs, tapestries, blankets, quilts, clothing. Textiles, just as paintings, books, and papers, need to be restored if worn from age or otherwise damaged. Howard learned the textile conservation trade at Hampton Court, a royal palace in Southeast London. An old palace makes the perfect training center for a textile conservator -- it’s full of old tapestries, rugs, and other artifacts of daily life that need frequent restoration. For three years, Howard trained by working on royal artifacts from the palace, but eventually moved on to museum work in Liverpool. In Liverpool, Howard would restore the museum’s fabric-based pieces before they were exhibited and would repair those pieces damaged while on display. In early 2000, Howard came to America, where he worked in Lowell, Massachusetts. During the Industrial Revolution, Lowell served as the

epicenter of textile production in the United States. In 1860, the city of Lowell housed more cotton spindles than all 11 of the Confederate states combined. Lowell reached its peak in the 1920’s, but the combination of cotton production’s movement to the South and the Great Depression crushed the city’s economic base. Between the 1930’s and the late 1990’s, Lowell could charitably be described as unpleasant. But the city’s historic status as the former center of the textile industry in the United States gave reason to build the American Textile History Museum in Lowell. The museum established a textile conservation program in the late 1970’s, and Howard worked in that program for a few years, preserving and curating the remnants of the New England textile trade. Following his work in Lowell, Howard moved on, first to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and then to the Detroit Institute of the Arts, where he conserved that museum’s massive collection of Native American and African textiles. While in Detroit, Howard started coming to Montgomery, Alabama, the family home of his partner Rusty, and during his time in Montgomery, Howard came to a realization: textile conservatorship barely existed in the South. Approximately 200 textile conservators work in the United States, but they are clustered mainly in between Washington, DC and Boston, in LA and San Francisco, and in the major mid-western cities of Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis. Howard saw the dearth of conservatorship across the South, and recognized the opportunity. “I sent information to pretty much every museum and historic house in the Southeast, certainly all of them in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, because there really was no one working in textile conservation in the region,” Howard said. The South generally holds its history in high esteem, but when it came to textiles, things were in a very raw state. Historic MARCH 2014 • MADEPAPER.COM

houses in Boston knew where to send their textiles for cleaning and servicing and had taken advantage of the service of conservators for years. In the South, not so much. Howard went part time with the Detroit Museum and started spending more and more time in Montgomery. Private commissions make up a good portion of Howard’s work in the South. For instance, in December 2013, a descendant of President Andrew Jackson living in Atlanta contacted Howard about the restoration of a fan that had belonged to Jackson’s wife, Rachel. The jubilant citizens of New Orleans gave Rachel Jackson the fan after the battle of New Orleans in 1815, one of many gifts showered upon Andrew Jackson, his family, and his troops after the successful repelling of the British invaders. The fan remained in the Jackson family, but for years no one paid the fan much attention. Over time, the structure of the fan had degraded to a state of catastrophic fragility or as Howard explained, “I’d worked on mummies that were in better condition.” Howard did structural support work with polyesther crepoline (fake silk fabric (I think)) and slowly worked the fan back into shape. When Howard returned the fan to the descendants of our seventh president, they were thrilled with the result. So much so, in fact, they gave Howard another project: the repair of a family wedding veil first worn by President Jackson’s granddaughter. While private commissions from the families of prominent historical figures are nice, what’s really kept Howard busy for the last few years has been the various 150th anniversaries surrounding the Civil War. The Civil War began in 1861; therefore, starting in 2011, every day a battle, a death, a turning point, or a hero reaches the commemorative milestone of 150 years. These anniversaries created a bonanza for textile conservators, as the Sons and Daughters of the

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Confederacy supported the conservation and restoration of flags, hats, and uniforms for use in 150th commemorations across the South. One such project supported by the Sons of the Confederacy involved the restoration of Sam Davis’ coat. The Sons wanted the coat for the festivities surrounding the 150th Anniversary of Davis’ execution.

The coat remained in the Davis family for some years before it found its way into the collection of the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville. And there it sat, until 2013. The Sons contacted the museum, expressing interest in using the coat during a series of events commemorating the 150th anniversary of Davis’s execution and the museum agreed to loan the coat to the Sons for the commemoration. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just Sam Davis who had a rough go of it after he and the coat parted ways. The coat needed significant restoration. The Sons contacted Howard, and soon after, the coat was in Howard’s Montgomery studio on Ridge Avenue. When he received the coat, Howard thought it was a mess. “It was in very rough shape, it had been souvenired, was missing chunks, and had lived a tough life at the museum,” he said. Most museums kept atrocious records before the 1970s because no one outside of the museum was paying attention. Things that should have been well-preserved and taken care of simply weren’t. The coat had been in the Nashville Museum since at least 1942, when the director of the museum wrote a letter to someone explaining that the coat was falling to pieces, and that the museum was willing to pay $5.00 to a tailor to stitch it back together. Modern textile conservators work a bit differently (and for more money). A tenant of textile conservatorship: one should do nothing that

cannot be undone. You don’t want to do anything irrevocable as a conservator, because in 10 years, a new process could be available that could restore the work more effectively and authentically. The field is constantly evolving, with new treatments being developed every year. One of those new innovations in textile conservatorship recently occurred in dye analysis. In the past, in order to analyze the dye in a garment to determine its age — or its color — a sample of the garment had to be taken, and through the process that sample was destroyed. This precluded dye analysis for a number of pieces because of the “nothing irrevocable” tenant of textile conservatorship. Removing a portion of a garment and destroying it = irrevocable. But within the last few years, a new method of dye analysis was invented, and this new method was nondestructive. Suddenly, a whole new class of textiles became eligible for dye analysis. Within that class was Sam Davis’ coat. As Howard conducted the dye analysis, he realized a 150-year-old mystery was about to be solved. The dye analysis revealed the coat had originally been gray, and that it had been dyed a dark blue sometime after its creation. Sam Davis had lied, his mother had not dyed a blue coat gray — she died a gray coat blue. Although it was a bit more CSI than Da Vinci Code, Howard had solved the 150 year old mystery. Sam Davis was a spy — the condition of his coat, an alibi. Thanks to Howard, we now know the execution of Sam Davis was not the travesty claimed by Davis partisans. But Howard’s work also confirmed Davis’ incredible bravery. Davis was a spy; he did have names to name. All Davis needed to do was identify his co-conspirators and his life would have been saved. Howard’s work proved Davis made the ultimate war-time sacrifice: he kept his honor, but he lost his life.

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Photos JON KOHN 08

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PAINTER TIM VAUGHT WORDS CAROLINE ROSEN Photos JON KOHN

Tim Vaught lives like a late 19th century English professor. Books are stacked on books, frames and unfinished paintings jut from every nook and cranny, mementos of a life lived fully spread themselves out across any flat surface. Cluttered, but not messy. On at least three occasions when I met Tim at his home, he would start talking about a book, and then miraculously reach into one pile or another, pull the book out, and then turn to the exact page that would illustrate his point. It felt like my favorite teacher had invited me over for tea. Tim grew up a military brat, bouncing between El Paso, Texas and Montgomery, Alabama. Even as child, he knew he loved the woods more than the desert. Tim graduated high school in Troy, Alabama, then walked across the street and enrolled at Troy State as an undergrad. At Troy he decided to become an architect, but that required a move to another institution. His transfer to the University of Florida culminated in a life changing trip to Italy. “The architecture program was based in a small town about 40 miles inland from Venice,” Vaught said, “we could get out of class, run like hell to the train station, spend all night in Venice with a $5 pizza slice and a bottle of wine, and then take the slow train back in. That was our Friday night out.” When he visits Venice today, he misses the mystique, the allure of a city at night when you are 23 and anything is possible. The study of architecture eventually brought Tim to the Auburn Rural Studio, where he was one of the first students. His first professor was Samuel “Sambo” Mockbee. At the time, Tim commuted a few times a week from a house in Montgomery to the school in Greensboro. He would drive West in the morning, with the morning light, and he became fascinated with the color of the light on the landscape. He kept talking to Mockbee about the colors, and Sambo finally told him “you keep talking about the color on the landscape. Do something about it. Paint it.” A librarian with the program gave Tim a few tubes of paint, and he got started. He painted his first painting, and sold it in a matter of days.

But for the next two years, Tim tried to paint, and couldn’t. Looking for help, he took a class at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, and even though it was a beginning class, it was his launch point. His architecture background gave him a strong sense of composition, but he had no formal painting technique. The class provided him a primer on the fundamentals, and from there he just painted, and painted, and painted. Tim got serious about painting in 2006, and in the back of his mind, he wondered if he could possibly paint for a living. It’s the siren song all artists who’ve yet to go pro hear, the internal whisper that maybe, just maybe, you could quit your real job and dedicate yourself to art. When the economy crashed a few years later, Tim didn’t have a choice. The architecture work he’d been doing dried up, and his architecture firm laid him off. Tim rolled with that punch, moving to Idaho to hone his craft with a major western landscaper. In Idaho, Tim learned how to be an artist. He explained that it was not necessarily painting, “but the mindset, the approach, how to think about your art. You might have talent, but so many talented people don’t know how to push themselves, to market themselves. to think like an artist.” The artists out west taught Tim to practice, to practice something, anything. It doesn’t mean you’ll do anything with it, and you may spend five weeks painting the same thing, but it takes that dedication and craft before you know how to paint. Tim’s passion is the shapes of trees, bare branches, branch structure, and how the organic nature of trees contrasts the rigidity and unforgiving nature of his prior architectural training. Look closely at Tim’s tree paintings and you will see his fascination with tree’s organic structure. Then, take a step back, look at the painting again, and realize that all of Tim’s tree paintings share another characteristic: the study of light in the trees. Since childhood, Tim has loved the woods more than the desert and you can see it in his paintings. Tim’s initial inspiration, the light in the trees, it is there in everything that he paints. Tim Vaught is showing his work on March 13, 2014 at Stonehenge Gallery in Cloverdale.

MARCH 2014 • MADEPAPER.COM

Photos JON KOHN

MADEPAPER.COM • MARCH 2014

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CHRIS BENNETT Photo MICHELLE MARIE PHOTOGRAPHY Words KATIE VEGA A simple definition with a simple purpose. The last time you probably heard the word “forager” was in ninth grade U.S. history when your teacher was giving a lecture on hunter-gatherers. But a small group of foragers remain in our population, using what we already have, given to us by the soil we walk on, to feed themselves, their family, and the patrons in their restaurants. Chris Bennett, a native of Pell City, grew up with the constant urge to explore on his family’s 84-acre farm. College didn’t feed his need to wander, and after dropping out, he fell in love with cooking. Chris has fed mouths all over the country, including Richmond and Chicago, but found his way back home in 2005. This guy may have a narrow goal - connecting people to the land’s unknown or overlooked edibles - but his interests are as expansive as the list of herbs that grow in Alabama. He is an extreme lover of fried eggs, the Stones’ Exile on Main Street, and Bottletree in Birmingham. So that’s about all we need to know, right?! Fiiine, here’s some more…

Chris Bennett: “As a kid, I really wanted to be an archeologist. I love history and finding things. I guess you could say even though I’m not mapping out a burial ground or uncovering ancient ruins, I’m digging up everything the South grows in the wild and is edible.” MADE Paper: How did you get into foraging? CB: “I got into foraging while cooking in restaurants all over the country. While working in Chicago, I picked up

MADEPAPER.COM • MARCH 2014

Essential Cuisine by Michel Bras. He’s a French chef who forages all around his restaurant in Lagioule. He talked a lot about time and place, and about how what grows wild should reflect in our food. Nothing says more about where you are than what is growing wild. He really made me want to find out everything that was growing around the farm that was edible.” MP: Is there anyone that inspires you in the field or foraging, someone who you look up to? And tell me why. CB: “I do. I look up to my friend Hank Shaw. He is a forager, writer, and cook who writes the Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook blog. He knows just about everything there is to know about hunting, fishing, gardening, cooking, and foraging. He has also been really supportive with the book I have been working on.” MP: What’s the most interesting thing you’ve ever found on a hunt? CB: “After years and years of looking for stinging nettles and being convinced that they do not grow in Central Alabama, I stumbled upon some. I was picking the leaves of oxeye daisies and all of a sudden my hand felt like it was on fire. I looked around for bees or ants and could not find any. I looked around and sure enough, scattered among the oxeye daisies, were stinging nettles.” MP: What do you use your findings for? CB: “Right now, I love putting chickweed in salads for the crunchy texture and its raw green pea flavor, and making pine needle tea for its citrusy, pine flavor.”

MP: What excites you and keeps you in the field? CB: “I’m constantly amazed at the new things I find here in Alabama. It seems like I find something new every year. I am constantly blown away by how many wild edibles we have here in the South.” MP: What are three things you can’t live without? CB: “Woods, animals, books.” MP: What do you love about our state? What keeps you here? CB: “I think the thing I love the most is how green the state is. It’s called Alabama the beautiful for a reason! I also love how ecologically diverse the state is. I think what keeps me here is how much more there is to discover. There’s more to explore. There’s more people to teach. There’s also a burgeoning food and drink scene in Birmingham that I have had the pleasure to be a part of and to see grow.” MP: Tell me one thing most people don’t know about you. CB: “I used to weigh 250 pounds. Most people don’t believe me when I tell them. I went vegan and immediately lost 50 pounds, eventually became vegetarian, and I’m now a proud omnivore.”

To see Chris’s adventures and findings, follow him on Instagram (@foragerman) and visit his website at hollowspringfarm.blogspot.com. Oh, and you better be at Southern Makers to meet this guy and so many other amazing Alabama makers.

FEATURE FILM From March 3 “TOHOKU -Through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers” Rosa Parks Museum

Through March 31, Japanese Foundation Traveling Exhibits will be on display at this downtown venue. Don’t miss the Gallery Talk, March 19 at 11am with Kotaro Iizawa, Japanese photography critic and historian, in the Museum Gallery. For info call 334.241.8615.

March 6 In the Heat of the Night Capri Theater

This tale of a vacation gone wrong centers around the racial issues of the south in the 1960’s. Only on the screen for one night, you don’t want to regret missing out on this film. Tickets are $7 for members and $9 for non-members. capritheatre.org

March 10 Lecture/Book Signing: “The Bright Light of Ours” Rosa Parks Library & Museum Auditorium

WORDS EVANS BAILEY

Alexander Payne’s latest film, Nebraska, finds him returning to the familiar Middle America of his previous works Citizen Ruth, About Schmidt, and Election. Starring Bruce Dern, Will Forte (of Saturday Night Live fame), and the delightful June Squibb, Nebraska also finds Payne returning to familiar thematic devices, road trips and self-realization.

Nebraska has also gotten a Best Picture nomination, but it has no hopes (absent a Crash-like coup) of taking home the statue in a loaded field which also has American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street, Gravity, and Dallas Buyers Club. Two other nominees, Philomena and Her, will also be at the Capri in March.

The film starts in Montana, where Dern’s aging Woody has found a late purpose in life — to travel to Lincoln, Nebraska and collect his “winnings” from a mail insert sweepstakes. His son, Forte’s David, has nothing better to do, so he decides to accompany his father on the trip to keep Woody in line and spend some quality time with his mystery of a father.

Nebraska is worth a view, but don’t expect to be blown away. Catch this film at The Capri, March 21-27. The Capri is located on Fairview Avenue. Visit www.capritheatre.org for info.

The film, and the road trip, get sidetracked in Woody’s hometown of Hawthorne. Woody, his family members, and his supposed friends in Hawthorne have plenty of debts to settle. Once the rumor of Woody’s windfall spreads around town, the stakes inevitably get raised. All the cantankerous Woody wants is a new truck and a replacement air compressor. But the quiet and prideful citizens of Hawthorne aren’t above stooping to petty theft in an effort to get at Woody’s winnings.

March 14th- March 30th Taming of the Shrew

Alabama Shakespeare Festival

A William Shakespeare classic comedy, this tales display’s a normal courtship with comedic obstacles. For tickets, call the Box Office at 800.841.4273 or visit asf.net

March 15 Irish Voices

Cloverdale Playhouse

7:30p.m.- 9p.m. What’s better than an evening stuffed full of Irish culture? Nothing! Head to the Cloverdale Playhouse to hear readings from writing of Ireland. Tickets $15. Call 334.262.1530 or visit cloverdaleplayhouse.org.

March 20 Dr. No

Capri Theater

7:30 p.m. The first James Bond film made, Dr. No features Sean Connery as he takes on another agent’s disappearance in Jamaica. How does the famous film series begin? Now is your chance to see it on screen. capritheatre.org

Starting March 1 MAD CAP at Hue

There’s redemption for Woody and David in the end, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that Payne has a strange contempt for Middle America. The characters are funny (especially Squibb, who plays Woody’s no-nonsense wife), but sometimes the humor is so biting and reveals such ugliness that one can’t help but wonder if Payne would like to see the place wiped off the map. While trying to ride a fine line between respect and contempt for these characters, the film too often veers towards the negative. Payne also chose to shoot in black and white, which he admitted on a recent visit to the Colbert Report was to portray the bleakness of the wintry Nebraska landscape. Dern’s portrayal of Woody has earned him an Oscar nomination. While the character of Woody is certainly unique, the accolades Dern has received seem to owe themselves more towards a lifetime of achievement than his particular portrayal here.

6 p.m. Featuring Maria Gitin and Dr. Larry Baldwin, sponsored by The University of Alabama Press. For info call 334.241.8615.

Premiering in March, MAD CAP hand knitted products are made for the spring and summer. From cotton scarves to chunky bandanas, MAD CAP is made right in Montgomery. A portion of each purchase goes to EAT South. For info check out the hue studio inc. facebook page.

March 29 Heart of Waverly Bluegrass Festival Standard Deluxe

11a.m.-8p.m. Including bands like Blackbird Pickers and Packway handle band, this festival is guaranteed to please the whole family. You can’t go wrong spending a Saturday in Waverly, Alabama enjoying food, art, music, and exhibits. Tickets $25 in advance and $30 at the gate. Buy online at standarddeluxe.com.

PHOTOS MERIE WALLACE. (C) MMXIII PARAMOUNT VANTAGE, A DIVISION OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION. ALL

MARCH 2014 • MADEPAPER.COM

ON VODKA...

WORDS WILL ABNER

For some reason people have been asking me about vodka lately. I can talk all day about bourbon, beer, and even wine, but not so much about vodka. Honestly, I’m not much of a vodka fan, but in my bar tending career I’ve poured more of that than anything else. Why is that? Maybe it’s because of vodka’s neutrality; it is by definition a neutral distilled spirit, after all. It can be made from practically anything, but rarely reflects its ingredients in the final product. I hear people say that filtration is the most important aspect in vodka making, but I’m not convinced. There’s the ol’ “turn Aristocrat into Grey Goose with a few simple passes through a Brita filter” trick, which you are welcome to try, but those Brita filters cost more than a gallon of bottom shelf vodka (not worth it, in my opinion). Recently I had a conversation with a Master Sommelier about different spirits and it was interesting to say the least. His opinion was that practically all vodkas are the same, only a few gimmicky processes and packaging separate bottom from top shelf brands. That’s a pretty bold statement, but that came from a man who travels the world exploring the entire beverage spectrum, so I’ll go with it. If you aren’t familiar with what a Master Sommelier is, take a minute to look it up. His words are worth considering. I use Cathead vodka as my “well” at SpringHouse. Hailing from Mississippi, it is made from corn, an interesting nod to our Southern heritage of moonshine making. Cathead leaves a unique sweetness on the palate, followed by the typical ethanol burn of vodka. Not to fall behind in the flavored vodka market, Cathead also offers a few interesting flavors. Often inspired by their surroundings, they have created genuinely Southern flavors such as Pecan and Honeysuckle, which are actually pretty darn good. In the end, everyone has their own thoughts and loyalties when it comes to vodka. I choose to use one that is made closest to my doorstep. There are other brands out there that are outstanding, some smooth, some others strong. I guess like everything else in Liquor Land; it just comes down to what you prefer and how you want to use it. All of that said, you can find me in the bourbon aisle.

Photo JON KOHN

March 2 El Rey 15th Anniversary Brunch Elrey 11a.m. - 2p.m.

Brunch commemorating the 15th Anniversary of El Rey. Celebrate this gem of Old Cloverdale with one of their unique cocktails.

March 4 Leroy Mardi Gras

Not only does this date commemorate the 2nd year anniversary of Leroy, but also provides the perfect opportunity for a Mardi Gras celebration. This two-in-one is a can’t miss.

Here’s the recipe:

2oz Cathead Pecan Vodka Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale

Stir over ice - you won’t know it’s not bourbon. We made some SMOKED pecan brittle to garnish... freaking perfect.

March 11 Trivia Night

Leroy 7 p.m. Monthly trivia night comes around once again. Bring your crew and give it a try. Leroylounge.com

March 15 TRUE Spring Fling TRUE 6 p.m.

Ring in the spring with BBQ, Crawfish, and Drink specials. This event wouldn’t be complete without live music to top it off. Tickets $35. Call 334.356.3814.

March 17 5th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Shindig

The Tipping Point 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Live music from Michael Thornton, Irish Beer, Irish Whiskey, Irish inspired Pub Fare. For info call 334.260.9110. 14

MADEPAPER.COM • MARCH 2014

Words & PHOTOS NATILEE MCGRUDER

From Smuteye to Montgomery Hobson Cox is a southern character the likes of which great novels are made. I was brought to this charming and charismatic gentleman’s attention by a friend who had shared with me Hobson’s newest endeavor: peanut butter. Hobson has a story for every story and another story after that, but they all have a point: and if you listen well you can learn something. The first lesson is: don’t be afraid to be yourself or reinvent yourself. An army veteran who served in Vietnam, Hobson is also an optician and owner of Affordable Eyewear on Madison Avenue since 1987 (with another location run by his brother in Governor’s Square), Hobson runs a unique special: “We give an extra 10% off any of our sale items when you bring us a bag of CHICKEN FEED.” Hobson ran for mayor against Todd Strange in 2011 on a campaign of that promised “openness, honesty, and transparency.” He is technologically savvy, being one of the first to stream in Montgomery with his Central Alabama Radio Talk/TV Network (CARTN) and he engages in webhosting and cybersquatting: acquiring and maintaining popular or useful domain names that people will be willing to pay for in the future. He also owned the former Capitol Gifts on Madison Avenue where Affordable Eyewear is located, which sold Civil War and Civil Rights memorabilia. He is a consummate business man that does not let emotion get in the way of a profitable idea: “In my world, I can sell more confederate flags on the street than anyone else.” Hobson’s father was a peanut farmer who moved away from the family land because he could not make enough money in Alabama to take care of his family, including his six children. They followed the path of the Great Migration, a movement during which 6 million black Americans were compelled to flee the Deep South in search for better job opportunities and more social freedom in Northern and Midwest cities like Detroit and Chicago. It was in the fourth grade in Cincinnati, Ohio that Hobson learned about Dr. George Washington Carver. A resourceful man who was known

to search trash heaps with his students for items to use in his lab at Tuskegee University, Dr. Carver went on to use his keen knowledge of chemistry and physics and his resourceful spirit to research the humble peanut. He eventually came up with more than 300 new uses for the peanut including chili sauce, caramel, peanut sausage, mayonnaise and coffee, shampoo, hand lotion, insecticides, glue, charcoal rubber and axle grease. Hobson is following in the footsteps of his father and Dr. Carver as he works towards production of his very own “Tuskegee” and “Skegee” Peanut Butters: minimally processed and sweetened with local honey from Joe Barnett and Angel and Tim Faulkner out of Fitzpatrick, AL. He found additional inspiration from Dr. Carver’s legacy while working in Tuskegee for three years under ophthalmologist Dr. S.H. Settler, who is a strong part of the local community. Not too long ago, Hobson heard from one of his customers about someone making peanut butter out at East Chase and it immediately occurred to him to try his hand at it. He searched online and found out that there was no “Tuskegee Peanut Butter” and so he snapped up the name, bought five pounds of Valencia fresh peanuts, shelled them while watching Cam Newton beat New Orleans, roasted them, and then promptly burnt out his first food processor. After several batches and meticulously tracking his successes and failures, his final product is left smooth, but a bit gritty; just how Hobson imagines Dr. Carver’s original butter might have been with the technology of the time, a historical fact he is currently researching. Lightly sweetened with honey and made savory with a pinch of kosher salt, Hobson’s original Tuskegee Peanut Butter and his “special secret” blend of Skegee Peanut Butter are instant Alabama classics. The generous samples he gave me didn’t make it to Ann Street. The second lesson I learned from Hobson is to support local. The movement of eating and producing local is

not a new one to Hobson or his kin. The Cox family has been living on family land in Smuteye, an unincorporated town in Bullock County, about an hour outside of Montgomery since 1837. Hobson lives in a renovated home built in 1870, which sits across the street from the house where he was born, in which his brother Major Cox currently resides. The Cox family is known for hosting a Hog Killing Time Barbeque every year in the fall that brings together annually a crowd of friends and family to the Cox Plantation. Through this local heritage comes another business inspiration: Hobson hopes to bring the first grocery store to downtown Montgomery, Smuteye Grocery, to be located in his building at 10 Perry Street near the Irish Bread Pub. Smuteye Grocery’s facade would be that of a rural general store in homage to the original Smuteye country store (pictured) and it would specialize in locally produced food like breads, cakes, smoked meats. and peanut butters as well as outside products. Hobson loves Montgomery because of the challenge and opportunity we face to elevate the city into its rightful spot in United States and world culture. He says that we must stop throwing rocks at each other and move forward capitalizing on our significant location as the birthplace of the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. He believes that we should take pride in what we have to offer and charge those who can pay for the use of our bridges, our capitol steps, and our churches, which become hotbeds of activity around election and anniversary times. At the end of the day, the last lesson I learned from Hobson Cox and Dr. George Washington Carver is that Montgomery needs more entrepreneurs in addition to free and creative thought with a little bit of peanut butter on the side. Look out for Tuskegee Peanut Butter from Smuteye Foods coming to a store near you as well as Smuteye Grocery. Hobson Cox can be reached at Affordable Eyewear, 324 Madison Avenue, (334) 834-2020. MARCH 2014 • MADEPAPER.COM

Words ANDREA JEAN

PANTONE, the mecca of all things color, announced that Orchid is the 2014 color of the year. Get your orchid on - choose from shades of violet, wine, aubergine, lilac, lavender, purple, or anything in between. Here are MADE’s orchid inspired picks:

1 2

A.P.C Jean Moulant in violet – C’est Manifique! Crafted from crisp Japanese denim, they just get better over time. http://uscheckout.apc.fr PANTONE Radiant Orchid Ice-watch - inspires confidence, exudes joy and it tells time…. pantone.com

Prince – Purple Rain – “otherwise known as” music that stimulates purple passion!

WATG Peruvian Crazy Sexy Wool in Ultra Violet - soft, chunky and super–easy to knit with… Knit your own purple accessory. The London based gang confirms that knitting is not just for nanas …. Order now on: woolandthegang.com

Oh go on… you deserve it! Hermes – Festival Des Amazones scarf in purple usa.hermes.com

Alabama Chanin NEW glorious fabric color in Wine - Make it yourself and experience the AC Factory in Florence: Weekend and Week-long Workshops Studio Week from May 26 – 31 and a Weekend Workshop April 4 – 6. alabamachanin.com

Hunter Bell at HUE. Don’t miss the groovy patterns with orchid HUEs at the Hunter Bell trunk show at HUE studio on April 10th. For more information visit facebook.com/huestudioinc The ISIS Pendant in Radiant Orchid by Anchor & Daisy Eco-friendly wood necklace by artist Andrea Marty hand crafted from locally found Montgomery branches. EXTRA incentive for orchid fans - Receive 15% off online with coupon code MADEPAPER through April 1st. anchoranddaisy.etsy.com

MADEPAPER.COM • MARCH 2014

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

Words SKYE BORDEN

MONTESSORI SCHOOL AT HAMPSTEAD & EATSOUTH PRESENT:

The

At the same time, more than half of the land area in our five-county River Region is classified by the USDA as a food desert. And, according to Feeding America, roughly 20% of the region’s residents - nearly 80,000 people – struggle to afford enough food to feed their families.

VAGANZA

EGGSTRA

National studies provide a helpful starting point in our conversation, but they don’t provide enough detailed information on our specific area. For example, the USDA classifies all of West Montgomery as a food desert, but we don’t know why. Is it a lack of transportation? Maybe there aren’t enough healthy food retailers or maybe the demand for fresh produce isn’t as high as it should be. Without more data, we can’t know for sure. The food policy council is working now to fill this critical data gap. This year, we’re creating a food system assessment. This report will provide accurate, neighborhood-specific data on the entire life cycle of our region’s food, from local agricultural production to consumption, and even food waste. Unlike broad, nationwide studies, this assessment will drill down into the specific data that matters most to our community. We’ll analyze every aspect of our local food system and then put all the individual pieces of data together to tell the story of our food. The assessment should help us to identify our region’s most significant food problems, as well as our best opportunities for meaningful change. We hope that it will arm our local policymakers, food activists, and entrepreneurs with the tools they need to make our region’s food more delicious and nutritious. It takes a lot of work to capture our entire food system in a single document and we really need your help. We’re hosting a planning session on Wednesday, March 12 from 4 – 5:30 pm at our downtown office on 723 N. Perry Street in Montgomery. We’d love to see you there! If you’d like to learn more about our work, or if you’d like to contribute to the discussion online, please visit our website at riverregionfood.org.

Food, Music, Auction, Games &

CHICKENS! Welcome the SPRING CHICKENS

SILENT AUCTION

Begins & Baked

Goods for Sale

montessori

SCHOOL FARM Parade & Theatrical PERFORMANCES

kids field games Arts, Crafts AND

MUSIC

organic chicken

CARE 101 WITH Edwin Marty

Silent Auction

Lunch prepared by:

SUPER

ENDS!

SUPPERS

$10

Adult

A monumental effort is needed to reverse our region’s cycle of poverty, obesity and illness. Before we can enact meaningful changes, however, we need to learn more about our region’s food.

3rd

ANNUAL

We all know that the River Region doesn’t have the best track-record when it comes to healthful eating. In 2010, according to Gallup polling, Montgomery received the dubious distinction of being the fattest city in the nation. The Center for Disease Control also estimates that we have relatively high rates of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other diet-related illnesses.

Kids

Help us design our new chicken coop!

Children’s craft table available for aspiring young designers to contribute.

If you’d like to learn more about our work, or you’d like to contribute to the discussion online, please visit our website at riverregionfood.org.

E.A.T. South is a trade name of The Hampstead Institute 501c3 non-profit organization.

MARCH 2014 • MADEPAPER.COM

Words BRIAN CARROLL

Rock-and-Roll-Audrey-Hepburn Annie Clark’s fourth album as St. Vincent is a colorful wall of interlocking fuzz guitar bits and analog synths that pays tribute to a diverse number of classic rock performers, but never feels quite like an homage. As a huge Beatles fan newly smitten with David Byrne (work on this album was begun a mere thirty-six hours after returning giddy and recharged from her tour with the ex-Talking Head / Luaka Bop founder), it should surprise no one that Clark highlights a New Wave Funk via ‘Let It Be Naked’ vibe all over this record. However, in what may seem like a cop-out to those just getting warmed up to that idea, Clark then unexpectedly balances the heat these influences put off by frequently dipping them in the demure blue tones of Kate Bush, creating a steamy song-by-song clash of sexuality that makes the otherwise constrained record somewhat difficult to pin down at first. That she dabbles in tightly-wound badassery here was apparent from the moment she released single “Birth In Reverse” two months ago – that song’s sweet breakdown in the bridge remains a cranked-up highlight of the album -- but the alternating back and forth between aggressive house-cleaning music and sensual bath-taking music creates such a chemically volatile atmosphere of grownup “me time” that a new version of the St. Vincent archetype now emerges: the unapproachable mother. Indeed, by including another round of light moral guiding of the sort that appear on all St. Vincent’s albums coupled with the reality that she is getting older and wiser, it is getting harder and harder to avoid feeling like we’re all Clark’s lost children. Not a bad gig, really. When squeaky clean Clark tries to get naughty through verses like “Oh, what an ordinary day / take out the garbage, masturbate,” it’s easy to feel some sense of embarrassment at the attempt, like the scene in ‘Fargo’ where a furious but hopelessly gentle midwestern couple struggles with all their might to openly curse at William H. Macy’s swindling used car dealer. These frequent bursts of very mild shock seem so passe compared to crass rap lyrics floating around the mind of an adult listener that he/she is left with no choice but to compartmentalize them as immature “teenager bait” in the same way a Green Day or Taylor Swift record may seem rebellious to a naive set of virgin ears. But it’s still difficult to say if the album is any better or worse for including them than if it had taken either a more or less severe tone. Another juvenile wildcard thrown in the mix is the near-reliance on kitschy synthesizers – mostly from late Beatles standbys the Moog and Mellotron -- to

MADEPAPER.COM • MARCH 2014

make subtle backdrops for the songs. While perusing this month’s music releases, it is painfully obvious that the music war between anthemic Synthesizer Pop and bewildered Folk revivalism has ended cruelly with the entire music landscape drenched in sawtooth bass leads (and Dubstep in Pop Tart commercials). The public’s desire to accept further iterations of this grimy, simplistic commercialism is at a breaking point, and smart artists like Clark are sitting wisely between worlds with their inclusion of neutral vintage synthesizers until the next big thing (demonstrations of sobering tightness from Jazz, Punk, Bossa Nova, Vintage Country, and Rockabilly that allow for more complex melodies and rhythms yet can still “opt in” for closed, short, synthesizer syncopation like the organ work of Walt Wanderley) takes hold.

prevents any light missteps on this record from spoiling the presentation overall. Her guitar playing, ever approaching outright ferocity, is an absolute joy to listen to as it continues to gain momentum and through her fuzz and octave pedals, it’s difficult to know where the synths begin and the guitars end, often giving the proceedings a wonderful “Mother Popcorn” bass and drum pocket. The record sounds better after each listen, especially on a warm, loud household stereo, and while not the “party record” it was intended to be, it’s perfect for a private, household, “inner-world” party of one. It’s a beefy, voyueristic snapshot through the mind of an enormously talented pop star caught between the tickled excitement of youth, love, sexual fantasy, and impending full-on, world-nurturing adulthood.

But, the one thing that will decide whether or not you’ll fully embrace St. Vincent’s new album is how comfortable you are listening to her worship David Byrne. Dyeing her hair grey to match his is one thing, but the lyrical content of these songs definitely revolves around a harmless, girlish infatuation with someone. In the wake of her recent tour, the impact it had on her, and the steady inclusion of signature Byrne elements that pop up on the record, it is hard not to think while listening that the two were/are romantically involved, with all the attached curiosity and sympathy that follow the exposure of celebrity couples throughout history playing in the listener’s head alongside the music. Though not perfect, you’d be hard pressed (as I was) to find a better record out this month. Clark may be a goddess trying to dork out a little here, but she’s still a goddess and her love of record crafting

David Byrne is pretty awesome, goofy keyboards are kind of fun, and electric guitars do kick ass, so while not entirely indefensable, the album makes Annie Clark more human and understandable than ever. It’s easier to point out cracks in the seams of the S.S. St. Vincent than it is to do the right thing and wholeheartedly praise her hard work and revere her talent. The album’s strongest suit is its drumming, by Homer Steinweiss of Sharon Jones & The DapKings and McKenzie Smith of Midlake, as they can be thanked for providing the album with a solid, cohesive caption despite Clark’s dueling ambitions of sound. It’s a tad frontloaded, but the songs on the B-Side at least retain sheer musicality and provide elaboration on earlier themes. To give this record a negative review over trifles – especially considering the killer bottom end and solidity it has going on would be truly criminal, so I won’t do it. She shoots, she scores! It’s good!

Move-In Ready Homes and 8 New Homes Under Construction! Ask About Our 2014 New Buyer Incentives Custom Lake View Lots Release March 15 - Email lake@hampsteadliving.com!

The Mercer

The Murray B

The Helena

The Frey

3 BEDROOM 2.5 BATH 1,915 sq.ft conditioned approx

3 OR 4 BEDROOM 2.5 BATH 2,100 sq.ft conditioned approx

4 BEDROOM 2.5 BATH 2,381 sq.ft conditioned approx 533 sq.ft conditioned approx

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The Abbey

The Adele

The Sanderson

The Maggie

3 BEDROOM 2.5 BATH 1651 sq.ft conditioned approx

4 BEDROOM 2.5 BATH 2,268 sq.ft conditioned approx 735 sq.ft porch / garage approx

1 BEDROOM 1.5 BATH 1,085 sq.ft conditioned approx

4 BEDROOM 3 BATH 2,372 sq.ft conditioned approx

$169,900

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Coming Soon

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Town building, design, & construction are an evolving process. The Hampstead master plan, features, floor plans, & pricing may change without notice due to a variety of considerations. Any illustrations are artist’s depictions only & may differ from completed improvements. This is not an offer to sell real estate property. Information is correct but not warranted. Void where prohibited by law. Equal Housing Opportunity. © 2014

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

the southeast. Russell Lands On Lake Martin lies at the heart of Lake Martin and includes 25,000 acres of pristine forests with

pristine water and 750 miles of

more than 80 miles of hiking, bik-

shoreline, Lake Martin is a recre-

ing and equestrian trails, four flag-

ation destination unparalleled in

ship marinas, an outstanding, private golf course and country club, and a town center - Russell Crossroads - that harkens back to a simpler time, yet provides charming shopping and fine dining opportunities.

Throughout our country’s history,

the town center has served as a community gathering spot – a common meeting ground to shop, to dine and if luck had it, to leave with a few friendships formed. Located in the heart of Russell Lands On Lake Martin, Russell Crossroads perfectly blends these storied traditions with today’s conveniences. For more information, call 256-215-7011 or visit RussellLandsOnLakeMartin.com