My conversation with John T. Edge on his new memoir, “House of Smoke,” as well as all things Southern and food.

Matt Labash, celebrated by many as one of the best magazine writers in America and author of "Slack Tide" on Substack, spoke to me about going down to New Orleans to cover the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I've been a fan of his work a long time and felt honored to hear his perspective.

In 2018, the late Ozzy Osbourne went to Alabama and, well, did what he does best: was his charming, mumbling self.

New haircut, who dis?

My piece on Brother Jude Johnston, a monk at St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama whose artwork was itself a kind of spiritual meditation. Johnston, who died last week at the age of 92, served St. Bernard for over 70 years.

Really sad to hear about Rubin E. Grant’s death. He was a longtime sports writer for the Birmingham Post-Herald who never gave up the ghost, contributing to Over the Mountain Journal and other outlets. Sad to see that generation of journalists go.

This weekend, an estate sale will be held at the longtime home of one of Birmingham's most esteemed family dynasties. Everything inside this sprawling six-room house will be up for grabs.

I hope that I make it home by Wednesday And this Magic City let's me go

A new $499 smartphone from the Trump Organization could possibly be made in Alabama, but experts say that with most phones being manufactured in China, and the billions of dollars it would take to build that industry in the US, it would be a long way off.

NYT's Rick Rojas on Buc-ee's, which is quickly becoming its own religious movement across the South, second only to the Southern Baptist Convention. It reminds me of Alan Blinder's portrait of Waffle House back in 2018.

Happy Father’s Day to my dad, Chuck. Here he is in front of his favorite store in Savannah, Georgia.

CBS Sunday Morning did a piece on an age-old arcane tradition called “worm grunting,” where people use the vibrations of rubbing a stake to draw worms out of the ground. In Geneva, Alabama, it’s called “worm fiddling” and there’s a whole competition around it at the county fair.

A grand jury is asking that e-cigarettes not be sold to inmates at the Walker County Jail anymore. Despite generating an estimated $20,000 per month for the Walker County Sheriff's Office, they've caused a few problems over the years.

Michael Anderson, whose lifelong attention to both detail and aesthetic lent themselves well to careers as a florist, a decorator and, most notably, a photographer who became a common sight along the streets of Birmingham over the years, died last week. He was 74.

Alireza Doroudi, a student from Iran who was studying mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama before being detained by ICE on March 25, left the United States Sunday, according to his attorney.

“He drove all over Texas, goading, questioning, preaching, writing ‘red hot’ stories and smash-mouth editorials, trying to sell Texas Observer subscriptions ... and hoping to awaken the masses to how shoddily they were being served by most of their alleged representatives.”

Bob Carlton is retiring today. I love his work, from a profile on Terry Saban to a series on a man dying from AIDS. However, his piece on Bright Star’s snapper throats belongs up there with Calvin Trillin’s history of the Buffalo chicken wing. Stellar.

Jason Hamric, a multi-hyphenate creative who ran Substrate Radio for over a decade and was a champion of the Birmingham art scene, has died. He was 53.

It’s amazing that in my lifetime, Birmingham had not one but two alt-weeklies: Birmingham Weekly and Black & White. I miss them both and would pitch in the revive them both in a heartbeat.

In a special appearance on Fox News where host Will Cain initially mispronounced his name, Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced he was running for governor of Alabama.

My profile of Jerry Williams Jr., aka Swamp Dogg, an outsider artist whose music has been described as “a post-apocalyptic take on the Muscle Shoals sound.” His new documentary, “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted,” is playing this weekend at Sidewalk.

It didn't matter if he won, if he lived, or if he'd run. They changed the way his job was done. Labor costs were high. That new machine was cheap as hell and only John would work as well. So they left him laying where he fell, the day John Henry died. -Drive-By Truckers

To celebrate Sun Ra Day, I compiled a list of 10 of my favorite performances by the singular jazz artist, who would've turned 111 today. Excited for the Sun Ra Festival kick off in Birmingham this weekend.

To me, Bob Carlton is the best feature writer in Alabama whose masterful pieces on food and culture have been a major influence on me and my own work. On May 30, he will retire from AL(dot)com after 45 years in Birmingham journalism.

Scott Adams, who parlayed his success as the creator of the long-running comic strip "Dilbert" into a second chapter as a controversial political commentator, has announced he has prostate cancer and would likely be "checking out" sometime this summer.

Biting column by @brianlyman.bsky.social on the University of Alabama, Alireza Doroudi and future international students who come to the Capstone.

As the Trump administration aims to gut federal funding for NPR and PBS, people from Alabama involved in public media, from WBHM to APTV, met in Washington, D.C. to convince lawmakers about the crucial component they serve in the community.

Morning started with a cold call by the courtroom sketch artist who covered the Menendez Brothers case. How's yours going?

Studio by the Tracks, a nonprofit art group that has celebrated the autism community in Alabama since 1989, is asking the community for help after losing over $50,000 in grants due to the Trump administration's cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts.

pathetic that writers now toil under the precarious sword of their/our electronic devices malfunctioning, unlike writers of previous generations who could rely upon the relative crudity of typewriters, for instance, to secure their work in three dimensions--"typed copy."

Mark Warren was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for a piece in Esquire about Smiths Station Mayor "Bubba" Copeland, who killed himself after he was outed by a conservative news outlet for his secret online life.

With the new trailer out for the upcoming “The Smashing Machine” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, I did a piece on Mark Kerr and how his journey to the top of the UFC began in Birmingham, Alabama in 1997.

Brooklyn 7:47 A.M.

Hard to believe it’s been 14 years since the tornado tore through Tuscaloosa.

I always admired Francis Davis’ writing from afar. I know @rxgau.bsky.social recently did a tribute to the celebrated jazz critic and now, @dgraham.bsky.social has a stellar piece on him in The Atlantic.

Spoke with Rick Bragg, best-selling author and my former professor, about covering the Oklahoma City bombing during his stint at The New York Times 30 years ago. It was one of several stories he did that garnered him the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.

News of Sewell Chan’s ouster from Columbia Journalism Review reminds me of Gabriel Sherman’s 2006 profile of Chan, then at NYT, who had filed 422 bylined stories that year. This one anecdote about his tenure at WaPo continues to floor me.

In an exclusive interview, Alireza Doroudi's soon-to-be-wife spoke about their life together and what his ICE detainment has meant for them and the "American Dream" they both sought as students at the University of Alabama.

Wrote about The Brothers, the last vestige of what remains of the Allman Brothers Band, who played two critically lauded shows at Madison Square Garden this week. Holding down the low end was none other than bassist and former Birmingham resident Oteil Burbridge.

Alireza Doroudi, a student from Iran who had been studying mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama before being picked up by immigration officers last month, will remain in custody a little while longer after a judge denied bond for him.

In a lengthy turn of events, animal cruelty charges against former Alabama lineman Isaiah Buggs have been dropped after a man came forward claiming he was responsible for not taking care of two dogs that were found starving and malnourished on his property.

A judge is requesting more information before deciding whether or not to grant bond to Alireza Doroudi, an Alabama student from Iran who could potentially face deportation after being picked up by immigration officials in Tuscaloosa last month.

Birmingham native Lois Wilson was 31 years old when she was hired to play Daisy Buchanan in the first film adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” in 1926. Today, nothing but a minute-long trailer exists for the film, which has been considered lost for decades.

In his time, F. Scott Fitzgerald was thought to be a drunken naïf who occasionally stumbled on beauty; now he is considered an enduring legend.

Look, Roland Barthes’ “The World of Wrestling” went through a process and came through the port of entry legally in 1954. Why should Martha Nussbaum’s capability approach be any different?

Fiancé of Alireza Doroudi says days since his arrest by ICE outside the University of Alabama's campus have "pushed us past our limits." www.cbs42.com/news/local/f...

With the season finale of #WhiteLotus, Sarah Catherine Hook has gotten a sizable profile from her time on the show. Funny enough, she grew up in Montgomery, Alabama.

In her new book on “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels, author Susan Morrison briefly touches on the time he sent Chris Farley to a rehab in Alabama to get him sober. It’s a story I reported on a couple of years ago, where I spoke with Farley’s drug counselor.

New from CBS 42's Avery Boyce and I: new footage shows ICE officers arresting Alireza Doroudi outside his apartment near the University of Alabama last week.