Bobby Denton & the Alabama Music Hall of Fame

The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, officially opened on July 26, 1990, was visualized as one of the stars in the crown of Shoals tourism. Instead, it became an underfunded and under attended drain on state tax dollars. Even the welcoming signage is forced to display advertising as a means of financing its illumination.

State Senator Bobby Denton intends to change that--a fact that highly irks current board members. If Denton's bill passes the House and is signed into law by Gov. Bob Riley, the Hall of Fame will have a new board of directors composed of appointees by the governor, the Alabama Tourist Association, and the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association (more on this great organization later). Detractors of the bill stress that such appointees would not have the background in music that is the hallmark of the current board.

That may be true, but a career in music or music education does not a marketer make. At this point the Alabama Music Hall of Fame needs some strong state, regional, and national marketing in order to survive. Who realized that the "Singing Senator" had such vision?

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Are you offended?: We at Shoalanda feel that we can easily put a point across, as well as put a ne'er-do-well in his place, without taking the name of God, Jesus Christ, Paul Bryant, or Atticus Finch in vain. With the exception of our satirical "guest commentary" by Bubba Leroy Smuckpucker II, we don't recall a single instance in which even mildly offensive language has been included in our blog. We also realize that other bloggers do use such language in an attempt at humor, satire, or to express great perturbation.

Even though we are of a conservative/moderate political bent, we have great admiration for fellow Shoals blogger Matt Osborne, author of Osborne Ink and frequently featured columnist in the Huffington Post. Last week we added a link to King Cockfight's eponymous blog. King is a brilliant satirist from that alien region slightly to the south of the Shoals, otherwise known as the home turf of Roger Bedford.

We have received complaints about Matt's blog in the past, choosing simply not to address them publicly. Now, we have received some similar complaints concerning the content of King Cockfight. Censorship is a slippery slope--first words, then ideas. Therefore, in an attempt to strike a happy medium, we are placing an "Adult Content" label by the link to each.

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Need a good read?: Visit the Spring Sale at K's Cove in Elgin. Hundreds of paperbacks have been reduced to only twenty-five cents. K has also marked downs dozens of NOW vitamins to $1.00 a bottle. Tanning beds available Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00-6:00. See you at the Cross Roads!


Shoalanda