The 4th of July in Brookside, Alabama

BROOKSIDE, AL - Slovak Americans have always loved the Fourth of July, especially those who settled in Brookside, Alabama, a small mining hamlet nestled in the rolling hills of northwest Jefferson County. I’m sure it had something to do with years of suppression in the Old Country and the newfound freedom they earned from boat rides across the Atlantic, to the immigration minutiae of Ellis Island and menial jobs in coal mines and steel mills of America. To these early countrymen and their offspring, Independence Day was right up there with Christmas as their favorite day of celebration in their New World. The first July 4th celebrations I remember were in the late 1960s and these annual “events” lasted through the mid-1990s at my grandparents’ (Paw Paw and Mi Mi) home in Brookside. Aluminum cans were saved throughout the year and taken to the local recycling center for money to buy the meat, side items and beverages for the food fest. Enough meat was bought to feed the Czech Army and enough American beer was consumed from more aluminum cans to get a nice head start on the recycling efforts for the following year’s feast. The meat was smoked on an iron grill top over aged hickory wood in a built-in brick barbecue pit located in the lower portion of the backyard. Gallons of pasty homemade barbecue sauce was sopped continuously over the meat by the chief cooks throughout the tedious smoking process. The meat purchased from the Eagle Super Market in Graysville usually included kielbasa (smoked sausage), pork chops, pork shoulder, pork ribs, beef of some type, chicken, hamburger meat and hot dogs. The barbecue sauce was applied to everything including the hot dogs to keep the meat from “drying out”. You would eat both lunch and supper during the day-long gathering of family and friends. Traditionally, it was the hottest day of the entire year in Alabama and we were outside 90% of the day. To help with the heat, Uncle Phillip Slovensky, a military veteran from the Cold War conflict in Vietnam where he served for years as an officer in the Marines, would use an old army-green parachute to construct a “tarf” (tarp) over the lower backyard to help keep the sun and its brutal heat off the chefs during the day. Strick, regulation horseshoe tournaments ruled the athletic competition of the day with a clear ringer earning five points, a leaner getting three points and closest to the stake garnering a point, or two. The first team of two to 21 was the winner, but you had to win by two points to advance to the next round. These were hotly contested matches and required onsite officials (Uncles Donald and Jimmy Slovensky when not competing) with a ruling rod of some type to settle distance and ringer disputes during these matches. A ringer over a ringer was the ultimate 10-point swing which usually help determine the winning team during these highly-contested grudge matches. Uncle Ronnie Slovensky and his buddy/Livingston University teammate Dennis Conway along with Sam McCorkle and Donald Hand were always perennial contenders to win the horseshoe competition. These were technically Slovensky family events with plenty of uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, cousins and grandkids all running around, but these events also drew a steady stream of visitors from the greater Brookside community and celebrities alike. You could always count on Petey Meadows, Mark Burr and Michael Dumas to come by to visit and partake in the ceremonies, as well as the many cousins and neighbors in the area including a Bensko, Dudchock, Sikora, or two, each year. Ken Hutcherson who played in the NFL (1974-76) with the Cowboys, Chargers, Packers and Seahawks was a July 4th guest in the mid-70s. Long-time family friend and former BDFLer, Jeff Parks who also played in the NFL (1986-88) with the Oilers and Buccaneers was a frequent guest at these historic displays of liberty. By the way, Uncle Ronnie Slovensky who played in the World Football League (WFL) in 1975 with the Birmingham Vulcans, and later signed NFL contracts with the Bills and Saints, was always present at these legendary celebrations of freedom. If you never experienced a Fourth of July in Brookside, it is hard to explain. If you did experience a Fourth of July in Brookside, it is something you’ll never forget.

The Fightin' Side Of Me by Merle Haggard (Live 1970)

Birmingham's Heart of Rock 'n Roll

FIVE POINTS SOUTH - The building was built when cable cars roamed Birmingham’s Southside. It was the Cadillac Café in the 1970’s, but I’ll always remember it as the home of “Louie, Louie’s” as we liked to call it. In the old days it had a Buffalo Rock neon sign on the top of the building, but that changed to a Barber’s Milk sign I guess when the Barber Family acquired the building. My guess is that George Barber still owns the property. Located at the corner of Highland Avenue and 20th Street in the historic Shepherd-Sloss building constructed in 1928, Louie, Louie was in the heart of Five Points South on the city’s Southside. The club’s slogan was “The heart of rock and roll is in the heart of Five Points”. The club opened in 1982 and was co-owned by Jim and Sally Buford. The nightclub was named after The Kingmen’s classic 1963 song of the same name and was known for its live music in the 1980s and 90s. I remember it being “The Place To Be” after the Iron Bowl’s at Birmingham’s Legion Field. Most weekend nights, the lines to get into the venue wrapped around the building and once you were lucky enough to get in, you had to pick a place to stand since moving around was next to impossible. We liked to be near the steps to the balcony to the right as you entered the venue and we owned this area when we were there. Trips to the bar and to the bathroom had to be calculated and timed perfectly, or you’d be in trouble. Most of the bands who played Louie, Louie were cover bands and Birmingham’s own Telluride was considered by most as the club’s de facto house band. Other bands that I remember as favorites who frequented the club in the 1980s were Mel & The Party Hats out of Nashville and some Southern traveling bands like Bagdad, and local bands like Revolver, The Cast and The New Boys were the regulars. National acts such as The Dave Matthews Band, No Doubt and King’s X all played at the club in the 1990’s. I think I spent a decade of Friday and Saturday nights at Louie, Louie. It’s a shame it is closed these days, because I think it would still be a thriving venue for live music in Birmingham. Louie Louie's last night of operation was March 15, 1997. Local Birmingham band, Mother Mercy along with Humdinger played the final show. When it did close, all we were left with were the memories of those nights that have never gone away.  

Birmingham Tonight by Telluride (1980)