Bottle Tree

On Saturday night, I got a call from my friend asking if I wanted to join her and a couple others on a trip to Birmingham. At first this seemed like a not so great idea, then she explained that her and her band mates had gotten free tickets to a music festival at Bottle Tree and there were supposed to be some really great bands playing. Of course, this led me to question, “Well that’s great for you, how much is it going to cost me to get it in.” The answer was $20. Obviously I still wasn’t sold on this adventure despite the fact that I had heard a lot about this new venue in Birmingham and what a cool place it was. I, of course, gave in and we set off to Birmingham for the night.

If I was 21, the $20 would have been more than reasonable. That $20 not only got you in but also a nice glass, t-shirt and free beer for the night. Sadly, I feel like much of my money went to things I wasn’t allowed to enjoy; however, I did get a cool t-shirt and a glass. Anyway, this little music festival was called the Raindrop Festival and turned out it supported the Hulsey Little River Trust. It was more than worth the trip and anyone who gets a chance to go to Bottle Tree should. It’s an artsy little restaurant/bar and sports a menu with limited meat and lots of vegan options. What really makes it special is that the people who work there are really nice and don’t present you with the snooty side of the artsy world. Finally, anyone who goes there has to talk to the guy, named Chris, at the front door. He is this awesome old many with great stories and an eye tattooed in his bald spot amongst his long gray curly hair. Possibly one of this nicest, coolest guys I’ve ever met.

Convenience

Recently I went home and looked around at how many things had changed in the small amount of time I’d been away. A couple of years ago they put in a new strip mall that was supposed to be just like the Summit. In theory this sounded great and everyone anticipated its opening. Now, as both neighborhoods and generally all business has traveled to the side of town where this mall is located, businesses in the rest of town are slowly shutting down and relocating.

One side of town is completely empty with a mall and soon to be shopping center that are abandoned. In addition, the shops in another shopping center just down the way have now begun building in this amazing all in one center. It seems like it today’s fast, ever convenient society, people seem to forget the consequences of their buying actions. If you place every shop that you might need into one convenient location, how is the business in the rest of town supposed to function.

This idea of super convenience dominates so much of our society and its consequences are slowly being seen. Fast food, the ultimate in convenience, is just now being renounced as its health effects culminate. Town businesses are dying as Wal-marts pop up everywhere. It makes me wonder to what extent convenience will come to control and alter our lives as time goes on.

4-20 on the Quad

In case anyone didn’t know, Tuesday was earth day, and last Sunday the University had an earth fest wonderfully advertised as 4/20 on the quad. It was possibly the most beautiful day I have experienced yet in Tuscaloosa and lying on the quad for hours was the perfect action to take in response to such a magnificent day. They had bands play from around 12 until 8, many of which were good if not very entertaining. Also, the sierra club was there giving out free grocery bags that you keep. You know like Publix and Target have been selling lately except with sierra club on the outside. But anyway, the outside wasn’t the exciting part, it was what lied within.

What was this you ask?...

I’m sure your enthralled right now.

Energy efficient light bulbs and press on tattoos with earth friendly slogans. Basically, since I don’t really change the light bulbs in my door, I was ecstatic about the tattoos. I sadly don’t have them or I would post some of their awesomeness up on the blog.

Anyways, the whole event was really successful and I don’t know the exact details of it but there was an article I noticed in the CW but I have yet to read it. Here However is the link where you can find the article and some of the pictures that they took. There was an excellent turn out and seemed to be a lot of support which resulted in people becoming more informed about helping the environment with all the little information tables they had set up.

Whoooooooo FOOTBALL TICKETS

As many of you know, this morning student tickets went on sale. I, like many others I’m sure, got up at the crack of dawn and signed on to the ticket site. I was told by many to get on early to ensure my ticket purchase. I woke up to hear that my whole dorm suit was awake and getting online. We were online at 6:30, only to be greeted with a virtual waiting room. While initially this made me panic because I thought, “Oh no I’m too late,” I soon realized that everyone was put into this waiting room until tickets went on sale. Once seven o’clock dawned I was quickly let in and had my tickets within the next 5 min. As far as I can tell, everything went smoothly with this system. I applaud the university in getting this large event organized, since in past years servers have been known to crash under the pressure of all of Alabama signing on to one internet site at once. Also, I’m pretty sure, this officially kicks off the next football system. WHOOO!!!!!!!!!

Sky Gazing

A few weeks ago, I ventured out to the Bama Theater. First, if you’ve never been here, find something going on and just go in and see the inside of the theater. Not only does it look like an old timey theater but the ceiling is painted like a sky with little twinkle lights to look like stars.

But anyway, Capstone radio was sponsoring a local music festival from 3pm to 3am called Tuscapalooza. It featured many different local bands, many of which I sadly did not see, but I did venture out to see the last 4 or 5 bands. The first couple were the usual jam bands expected from a college town, then the last 3 groups or so had a little more of an original twist, playing mostly their own songs. It was a blast. I had some friends in that I went to high school with that now go to Auburn or Oberlin. They are the ones joining me in the sky gazing in the picture below. Now, in explanation of the picture, this was at 2:30 in the morning and the band called the Bonky Bonks had thrown big balloons into the audience for us to bounce around. Obviously this was a little more entertaining than it should have been. However, their show along with the others I saw were entertaining and worth seeing. Again I say, go out and support your local music, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Spring has Sprung

Above are the beautiful objects that greeted me when I returned from spring break. By now I’m sure many of you have noticed these carefully chosen flowers around campus. Not only are they a reminder of the new amazing weather and closing of spring semester, they proudly show our school colors. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a college campus before where the choice of flowers was dependent on school colors and really I think in many ways it exemplifies the school pride on campus.


But anyway, the real reason I was writing this was because while I thought they were nice and well worth it because they defiantly made me smile when I returned to campus, I heard many negative comments in relation to how expensive they probably were. Generally the comments included “Oh so that is what my tuition is going too” or more often “It’s nice to see why my out-of-state tuition is going up.” While I see where these comments originate and the definite frustration in rising tuition prices, the campus does have to keep up appearances and landscaping is one of those costs. In addition, chances are, them putting in tulips is not the only or largest reason that tuition is rising. So I say, enjoy the brightness they bring to the campus and look at the positive side, not how much they cost.