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.

myshelf … what people are reading

Dusti Worley Chuang Substitute teacher, scouting volunteer and Civitan Club secretary

Fight Club By Chuck Palahniuk

“Having spent time as both a cubicle-bound clock-watcher and a stay-athome parent, I sympathize with the human need for escape. Palahniuk takes this need and runs with it, creating a brutal, terrifying and exhilarating world that turns his protagonist’s life upside down. The writer’s plot twists keep me engaged, while his minimalistic style emphasizes the absurdity of his characters’ actions.”

Joel Williams President,Williams Partnership: Architecture, Inc.

A Million Miles In A Thousand Years By Donald Miller

“This book pulls you in, and the words meld and fly by like the pixels of a beautiful movie, stirring both laughter and tears. Miller’s voice and storytelling skills have matured significantly since the writing of Blue Like Jazz, delivering an insightful, inspiring and challenging story about his journey from boredom and disillusionment to ‘living a great story.’

TOPSHELF

Like so many clichés, we frequently utter the words “no man is an island” because they still ring true. The four women in Patricia Sprinkle’s latest novel, Hold Up the Sky (NAL Accent Trade, $15) find their need for each other intensified and fulfilled when hard times hit. One loses her home.

Another is abandoned by her husband, left to care her for disabled daughter alone. One woman’s retirement is delayed by her poor choices, and the fourth has emigrated to the American South from Mexico. Sprinkle brings these women’s lives together in a portrait of friendship, love and Southern gumption as they help each other face their challenges.

To a passerby, a roadside cross is a sad reminder of a life lost. And to the family of those who died at the site, it can be a place to grieve and remember. In The Cross Gardner (Berkeley Hardcover, $22.95), it’s also the place where a widower is pulled out of isolation. John returns daily to the site of his wife’s fatal car wreck, and pushes away others as he mourns. But then he encounters the cross gardener, an otherwise anonymous man who tends to roadside memorials. The man provides John a listening ear and helps him move past the pain. Fans of author Jason F. Wright’s previous inspirational novels, The Wednesday Letters and Christmas Jars, will delight in this uplifting tale.

In Even the Dogs (Bloomsbury, $14), Jon McGregor writes of human connection. As Robert’s life fell into the cracks of society, he continued to gather friends . But when Robert is found dead in his apartment, they’re gone—really gone, dead from heroin overdoses. McGregor takes the reader on a ghostly journey, mingling the scene in which Robert is found with reflections of happier times of his life. McGregor’s stylized writing pulls the reader in, guiding them through Robert’s life on the fringes of society and portraying a man who, in spite of everything, was cared for.

LISTEN

Mumford & Sons,
Sigh No More

It’s an old trick, but let’s draw a comparison here. Take the raw energy of North Carolina’s the Avett Brothers. Pair it with the very pretty sounds of Canada’s Great Lake Swimmers. Pull the lyricism of each, and crank up the spiritual undertones. Add a British accent. That’s Mumford & Sons. The London-based quartet debuts stateside with Sigh No More (Glassnote Records), a collection of bluegrass and folk songs that remind listeners we can all learn from our mistakes—and with this as our soundtrack, have fun doing it. The title track will make you want to jump, cry and sing at the top of your lungs, simultaneously. Turn it up and let your emotions run free.

myTunes

Monique Wilson
Risk analyst, Sterne Agee

“Solange Knowles, the feisty yet talented sister of Beyonce Knowles-Carter, caught my attention about a year ago when I was looking on amazon.com for new music to purchase. I had previously heard her single that was released at the time, ‘I Decided,’and instantly fell in love with the soulful sounds of the younger Knowles. The album, Sol- Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams, reminded me of music from the ’60s and ’70s but with a modern day touch. If some of your favorite artists range from Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Minnie Riperton, to the modern day sounds of Cee-Lo Green, Raphael Saadiq and Mos Def then this album is definitely a must-have.”

 

music makers

“This is only a song, it can’t change the world.”

On Dear Companion (Sub Pop), Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore set out to use their music to do just that. The Kentuckians share not only a talent for creating thought-provoking music, they’re also both passionately against mountaintop removal, a form of coal mining. Through the album, which includes “Only a Song,” the songwriters use their gifts to encourage action.

Citizen Cope comes into his own with the release of his fifth album, The Rainwater LP (Rainwater Recordings). Citizen Cope’s writing has always been sharp, but The Rainwater LP brings marked musical maturation, backing his smart lyrics with equally thoughtful, groovy compositions.

A Nebraskan singing Brazilian songs, largely in Spanish. You haven’t heard a note, but already Josh Rouse has grabbed your attention, right? He’ll hold it after you hit play on El Turista (Bedroom Classics). Rouse blends his easy vocal style with South American sounds that will make you swing your hips and sing along—whether you speak Spanish or not. Jamie Cullum again injects youthful enthusiasm into jazz with The Pursuit (Verve Records). As his subject matter reflects increased maturity, Cullum’s songs also reflect his diverse influences, from jazz standards to Broadway to dance music.

EXTENDED INTERVIEW: The locals have it …

Myriad Gospel Music

Though it’s a nationally syndicated program, Myriad Gospel Music Countdown originates each week from a studio in Birmingham. The 14-year-old program is the creation of Ron Marshall and Bob Dickerson. It now airs on about 40 stations nationwide, and is also archived at gospelcountdown.com. Myriad Gospel Music Countdown airs locally at 98.7 KISS FM on Sundays at 11 a.m., and 610 WAGG AM Sundays at 5 a.m.

Birmingham magazine: How did the show begin?

Ron Marshall: Back in 1994, I along with my partner, Bob Dickerson, had an idea about developing, creating a gospel music program for radio that was unique. The uniqueness of it was that it was to be a countdown type program.

The program is not just gospel music, but it also includes some features that are meant to be inspirational as well as informative. My partner Bob Dickerson does a couple of features. One is called inspirational moment and the other is called In the Black. Inspirational moment is designed to be an inspirational vignette. In the Black is meant to give information on businesses, health issues and community issues that confront us as African-Americans.

BHAM: You’ve just hit the show’s 14-year anniversary. What has changed over the years?

RM: Over the years we’ve seen a lot of changes in gospel music. The record labels do a better job of producing and promoting the gospel artists. What you might hear on our show any week is Marvin Sapp, Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, Smokie Norful, Donnie McClurkin, Yolanda Adams. Those type of artists are going to be, probably in most cases, some of the hottest in the country.

When Bob and I were putting this whole concept together, our idea was to make it sound bigger than Birmingham, to make it sound like a national show. We’ve accomplished that.

BHAM: What are you listening to these days?

RM: Marvin Sapp has got my attention right now. He’s doing quite well. He had a great showing about a year ago. As a matter of fact, the song was “Never Would’ve Made It,” which was really a smash. He actually came to Birmingham and did his video at the Alabama Theatre for that song.

BHAM: I saw that you have an amateur talent search running right now. Is this something you do regularly?

RM: What we try to do through our program is solicit independent artists from around the country. Then those that we’re able to play, we’ll try to integrate them into the show to give exposure to artists around the country as we can.

We feel certainly the uniqueness of the program not only in terms of it being a gospel countdown program, but the uniqueness is also a show that originates right here in Birmingham. Nobody else in Birmingham does anything, to our knowledge, in the way of syndicated gospel show.

When Bob and I were putting this whole concept together, our idea was to make it sound bigger than Birmingham, to make it sound like a national show. We’ve accomplished that.