An unusual and informal reunion takes place on Birmingham’s Southside on October 19 as writers, artists, photographers, musicians and others gather to recall a period of artistic ferment in the city’s recent history, according to organizer Steven Ford Brown.

The free event will include brief remarks and readings, with special tributes to Birminghamian's Joe Simpson, Gene Crutcher, John Beecher, Spider Martin, and Fred Bonnie, all now deceased but who were vital presences of the time. There will be a filmed interview of Gene Crutcher by Ned Mudd. Music will be provided by Lolly Lee and Marian McKay and her Magic City Sounds.

The main event of the evening, however, will be conversation between and reminiscing by people who were a part of Birmingham’s alternative music, art, and literary scene in the sixties and seventies into the early eighties. Birmingham at that time was just emerging from the racial conflicts of the 1960s and was in transition from its coal and steel industry past to an uncertain future. The city, like the nation, had been and was still experiencing a cultural revolution which was reflected in art, music, literature, politics and social institutions.

San Francisco had its Haight-Asbury district, New York had its Greenwich Village, and Birmingham had Southside, where a large number of creative and cantankerous booksellers, musicians, poets, photographers, writers and troublemakers chose to gather.

People gravitated to a few focal points such as Crutcher’s Bookstore, Cobb Lane artists studios, local cafes and bars, writing workshops at UAB, and the office of the alternative newspaper The Paperman, to name just a few.

Few of us back then would have thought of it as cohesive, as people drifted in and out depending on which way the wind blew, the direction of their lives, or even just more interesting things over the mountain or down Highway 65. But it was an active community, with a remarkable number of talented artists, dancers, musicians, photographers and writers who in later years would achieve success both locally and nationally, even internationally. Some would stay close to home while others dispersed, but the influences of Birmingham were and are usually evident in their work.

The event will be held at the 22nd Street Jazz and Blues Cafe on Wednesday October 19 at 6 p.m. The address is 710 22nd Street South.

The event will open with remarks about Southside by Marvin Whiting, retired archivist of the City of Birmingham, Rev. Gates Shaw and James R. Nelson, art critic for the Birmingham News, followed by remarks about John Beecher, Fred Bonnie, Gene Crutcher, Spider Martin and Joe Simpson. Music will be provided by Lolly Lee and Marian McKay and her Magic City Sounds. Additional comments and readings will follow. The evening will close with an informal unplugged jam session of musicians (or to go electric bring a PA).

More information can be found on the Website http://www.stevenfordbrown.com/Southside.htm

For more information, contact Steven Ford Brown at: sfbrown@wellington.com.