larry kubin

We get into Alabama a little after 10, but then we get stuck in Tuscaloosa traffic because the University of Alabama has just finished playing their first football game of the season. There are college football fans everywhere, and they all have huge BAMA stickers and flags all over their vehicles. There are also an absurd number of fans sporting vanity license plates with Alabama football related letters such as “ROLL TD” and “GO BAMA”. This seriously hinders our progress and is pretty annoying, but we finally make it to Birmingham.

We book a suite at the Drury Inn, where Kevin meets us. We hang out for a bit before we decide to go out. It’s getting pretty late, so there aren’t many places open, except for a really sleazy 80’s place called BellBottoms. It turns out you have to fill out a form to go in. Once you do that, they ask for your ID, and they scan it into their computer before you realize what they are doing. I mean, I’m just trying to get a beer here, not applying for a job. So the place is extremely cheesy and people are dancing around to 80’s hits such as “100% Pure Love”, “Take On Me”, and “Hungry Like the Wolf”. The guys there are like cavemen and start fighting over girls, which makes for great entertainment. I looked it up later, and it turns out they even have a “Fight Night”. It’s not our typical type of place to hang out, but we had a good time nonetheless.

The next day we go to a place called the Cajun Steamer to grab some seafood. Afterwards, we stop at a place called Cambridge Coffee, where we meet a girl in line named Jenny, who also happened to graduate from UT-Austin. It turns out you can meet a lot of people on a trip by simply wearing a UT shirt. Either you will run into someone from Austin who is happy to see you or locals will give you advice on where to go and what to do. Jenny just graduated and is living in Birmingham where she teaches the fiddle. She gives cards to a couple of us and is on her way. Be sure to check out her MySpace page and take some fiddle lessons. After coffee, we do a bit of shopping. Yeah, I said it. After coffee, us four guys went shopping. I got some socks.

We head back to Kevin’s and decide to go hiking around the area behind his place. There are a bunch of trees and rocks and water back there. And any time there are rocks, trees, and water, you have to have a rock throwing contest.

Later we chill and listen to some music, including the new Spoon album and the National (a band that everyone loves, but Mike and I happen to find extremely boring). Then Mindy, Kevin’s roommate, and his girlfriend come over for a cookout. We have some food and chat, then head out.

We went to Dave’s Pub to grab a few beers and hang out. They had a band inside that played some original songs and some covers. The only thing I remember is they played “Wish You Were Here” while we were at the table inside. We thought this was pretty fun to sing along to, but then when we went outside and hung out for a while longer, we heard them playing it again. I think there’s a rule where you can’t play the same song twice, but I’ve seen this happen once before. Wang Chung was playing a free show at Waterloo Park, and of course they had to play “Everybody Wang Chung Tonight” twice, since it was voted the third worst song of all time by Blender Magazine.

Dave’s Pub has a patio that almost forces people to talk to each other. We end up talking to a woman who keeps showing off about the fact that she has her doctorate from University of Kentucky. I mean, it’s okay to mention you have a doctorate, but when it comes up in the conversation the fifth time, it starts to get annoying. Plus, it was from Kentucky, come on. The guy she’s with is equally pretentious and they continue talking about themselves and how they are “on business” doing “important stuff”, while we sit there and nod.

Our last day was pretty laid back. All I seem to remember about it was that we had some really tasty sushi and I have this picture of it. We’ll leave it at that.