BMAG BUZZ Currents

Have you just finished a book you can’t stop talking about? Is there a CD you’ve been recommending to everyone you know? Want to share your recommendations with Birmingham magazine’s readers? Contact Carla Jean Whitley to learn how you can be included in Currents.”


listen
MatthewMayfield - The Fire EP
 Matthew Mayfield is a veteran of the local music scene. With years of experience as the front man for the Stewart Mayfield Project and then Moses Mayfield, he’s already built an admirable following. But Mayfield’s solo debut, The Fire EP, distinguishes his rock band career from his singer-songwriter persona. Yes, it’s an EP, but Mayfield’s smooth vocals and the stripped-down instrumentation create an intimate collection that’s fuller than many full-length albums. The home-grown eight song collection opens with Mayfield and his guitar on the cautiously optimistic “Seasons in Our Dreams,” before gradually bringing in a full band on “Dead to You,” the disc’s most upbeat song. Even “Element,” previously recorded with Moses Mayfield, finds new life as an acoustic gem. With this first effort, Mayfield shows that he is still a voice worth listening for. Keep an ear out as he continues to book shows around town, and visit bhammag.com for a web-only interview with Mayfield. —Carla Jean Whitley
MY tunes
Brad Neighbors
Attorney, Balch & Bingham LLP
I can’t stop listening to Cease to Begin, the latest album from Band of Horses. Ben Bridwell’s vocals are great and the songs are very dreamlike. It’s a great indie rock album that you can just sit back, relax and enjoy. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. Also be sure to check out Makers by Rocky Votolato and Reconstruction
MUSIC
makers
Ingrid Michaelson has played Birmingham so often in the past year that it’s easy to forget the New Yorknative isn’t from around here. Her latest, Be OK (Cabin 24), sounds even more like the Ingrid we expect live than does her previous album, Girls and Boys. And that’s a good thing, because with her quirky charm and delightful pop tunes, her shows are magical. Be OK features previously unreleased songs, live cuts and covers, including fan favorite “The Chain.”

Aptly-named, The Bittersweets return with another infectious popfolk collection, Goodnight, San Francisco (Compass). The title track epitomizes the band’s bittersweet tension as Hanna Prater’s vocal soars through the alternately wistful and hopeful ballad.

Erin McCarley’s songs are surprisingly upbeat for tunes that mine relational depths. But whether you pay lyrical content mind or simply settle into Love, Save the Empty (Universal Republic), this thoughtful pop collection demands repeat listens.

Lucinda Williams’ fans have grown accustomed to—appreciative of, really—her hard-scrabble songs for the broken heart. But as Little Honey (Lost Highway) opens with “Real Love,” they’ll also appreciate her contented outlook. The world isn’t suddenly populated by unicorns and rainbows, and she continues to delve into a variety of material, but Williams continues to unleash her sultry voice on optimistic, bluesy numbers like “Tears of Joy.”
learn
drive smart
 If you’re driving a standard vehicle, you’re sure to be feeling the pain at the pump these days. With better gas mileage, hybrids, scooters and other vehicles offer an earth- and wallet-friendly alternative. Another option, the smart fortwo, is easily available in Birmingham after the August debut of smart center Birmingham. The 8.84 footlong vehicle seats only two, but is surprisingly comfortable inside. It offers all the features of any other car, plus fuel efficiency that rivals hybrid vehicles. “You’re not giving up anything by going to this car. The only thing you’re giving up is a back seat,” says Brand Manager Mark Roberts.
read
The graphic novel becomes more popular each year thanks in largemeasure to the groundbreaking work of Art Spiegelman. His latest, Breakdowns (Pantheon, $27.50 is a collection of the influential work Spiegelman did in the 1970s, coupled with autobiographical vignettes. The boundless imagination of children is balanced by a bleak Scandinavian landscape and the impending horrors of World War II in To Siberia (Graywolf Press, $22) Per Petterson’s new novel about the bonds between siblings. The Wettest County in the World (Scribner, $25) is Matt Bondurant’s tale (taken from the pages of history) of moonshine, mayhem and misery in the backwoods of Virginia in the 1930s. The Boston Police Strike of 1919 provides the dramatic backdrop to a vivid world created by Dennis Lehane in his new novel, The Given Day (Morrow, $27.95), a world that finds parallel to our troubled times. John le Carré, now 76, has written a new novel that brings his patented skills as a spy novelist to our current age of terror in A Most Wanted Man (Scribner $27.95), a tale of a young Muslim refugee who turns up in Hamburg as either a terrorist or simply a man brioken by toture and torment, or maybe both. Since we are facing down the end of an endless election in the United States, perhaps it is time to take stock of ourselves. State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America (HarperCollins Publishers. $29.95) does just that with the help of some of our finest writers who contribute essays distilling the essence of the states they call home.
E D I T O R ' S
 CHOICE
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of LIfe by Alice Schroeder (Random House, $35) brings the wonder of Warren into full view with this unprecedented look into the world of the globe’s richest man and legendary investor. This wellwritten and researched biography brings a complex and extraordinarily successful man to life in ways that reach beyond the headlines and the myth.
WHAT THEY'RE READING
Hilary Perry
Director of Public Relations and Marketing, Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama.

Every Monday Matters by Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza
I found it to be extremely empowering. It lays out ways to make a difference every week ... and they truly are doable. It contains facts relevant to each week that open your eyes to the world around you. Every Monday Matters makes you feel you can have a positive impact on your world. Knowing you are going to have something refreshing waiting on you each week makes you actually look forward to Mondays!
Shannon Goff
Director of Public Relations, Behavioral Health Systems,Inc.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
The Last Lecture documents Randy’s journey of terminal cancer. It is a reflection of his love of knowledge and seizing each moment of every day. I find myself inspired by Randy’s love for life. Even though the cancer was terminal, he never gave up. He was committed to his family, his wife and his students and never let them down, no matter how bad he felt and how hopeless it became. Randy inspires me to live life to the fullest and share my gifts with others. Randy passed away a few months ago, but left a mark on all of us who have read his story.
November Birmingham, Alabama

  

 
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