soundboard de cheevo

Last week I drove down to Jekyll Island with my best friend Clare to get in some beach time at the lower Atlantic. My family vacationed at St. Simon's, across the sound, for most of childhood and into my early adult life so it's a place full of great memories. The lower Atlantic beaches have their own smell, completely different than the Gulf -- a mixture of salt and sea plant life -- one of the best smells in the world to me, like baby's hair or homemade bread baking. - The second night we were there we ventured down to the public pier, across the street from the Jekyll Island campground were we were staying. Our friends Paul and Carrie McGrann and their two kids had just gotten there and the kids, never having seen the Atlantic before, were pretty amazed with the nighttime sea life. Dylan, 14, and Codi Jane, 11, were the first to see the small sharks coming in to feed in very shallow waters below the pier and I thought why not drop a line down in their swarming circle.

So much for the summertime blahs. The past two weeks have been a whirl of activity, so much so that it makes time feel like it's flying, hence the lack of blog posts. On Saturday, July 14 the second annual unofficial University of Montevallo reunion happened in Orr Park. I organized the event, mostly through my myspace group, Orr Park Hoodlums . Despite some Amazon-type electric weather at the beginning, the event was a total success and included one long-lost friend who was home from Korea, two from NYC and one who drove 10 hours the day of the reunion from Ohio. There were babies, kids, dogs, former students, retired faculty and plenty of food and drink for everyone, even if they didn't bring their own. Like a friend and fellow former art major said, "I didn't want the day to end." My band from college, Every Alice on Earth , played a long set while sweating profusely in wigs and without. Other Montevallo live music favorites entertained the crowd with a mini

The Fourth of July and Thanksgiving are my favorite holidays. No pressure and no gifts -- just cook, drink and be merry. Since I live so close to Vulcan now, (big ironman statue atop Red Mountain in Southside Birmingham) my neighbors and some other folk took the long 30 second walk to the parking deck next door and saw the best fireworks show I have ever seen. Vulcan can be seen at the bottom right corner of my photo as a mere blur. More photos I took that evening are here. Fellow Birmingham News employee and photographer Michelle Williams got some great shots from last night . The close up she got of Vulcan is absolutely awesome.

This is a song that was written around 1993 about Peter and Paul's eccentric, but nice landlady Mary Hall. That's me in the gorilla mask. I was sweatin.