Illegal Lauderdale Racing/Byron Wilkes

Is there illegal drag racing in parts of Lauderdale County? According to one reader there is. We have edited to remove the name of a Muscle Shoals police officer:

...XXX II, the Muscle Shoals cop. He said that he goes street racing with them on the weekends on some county rd in the Oakland community. He also said that there was a Florence cop, a deputy or 2 and a wayne county deputy that participates in these illegal street races. He said they would carry there radio's with them and that's how they would avoid getting caught. These races still go on because I saw a comment on the Lauderale county sheriff's dept Facebook page a couple of months ago complaining about it.

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There will be an exhibition of our late friend Byron Wilkes' works:

If you're not familiar with Byron, we use one of his paintings in the sidebar of our blog. Byron was always a fan of our blog and expressed how delighted he was with our using his work. We miss him...

Byron Wilkes

Shoalanda

Drive-By Truckers in Huntsville Tomorrow Night

For all you DBT fans out there, the band will perform in Huntsville tomorrow night. For details, you can visit Crossroads Cafe.

Since most of us engage in that bourgeois institution of work, that necessary evil may prevent many from being present tomorrow night. For those who fall into that category, we offer you an excellent video by Florence's Matt Osborne. Visit our link to Osborne Ink or view his insightful works at The Huffington Post. (The Three Great Alabama Icons is also the title of one of the late Byron Wilkes' most famous works, pictured at right.)





Shoalanda

The OWL - Part I

It's fitting while remembering Florence artist Bryon Wilkes that we also remember an element of his most famous creation. Beginning in 1957, WOWL radio station brought television broadcasting to the Shoals area. With the call letters of WOWL, an owl was certainly an obvious and appropriate mascot.

Richard (Dick) Biddle owned the small broadcasting company and was known for his sense of civic responsibility. In an era before seat belts and airbags, traffic fatalities were a huge problem. In order to remind Shoals citizens to drive safely, Biddle created what became a local icon for decades.

WOWL Broadcasting placed a metal Owl at each end of O'Neal Bridge. If there had been no traffic fatalities within the past 24 hours, one eye of the Owl glowed green; a red eye indicated that someone had lost his or her life during the past day. After remodeling to the bridge in the 1980s, the twin Owls were removed, with one being installed on South Court Street adjacent to what was then the Holiday Inn.

Dick Biddle died in 1995, his television station sold, and his broadcasting company moved to Mississippi. There are conflicting accounts as to the disposition of the famous Owl(s). If any of our readers have information, please forward it to us.

Tomorrow: Richard Biddle, a concerned American


What's up with this: Be sure to check out a new local blog: DOGed PURRsuit. A nation is judged by its treatment of animals and the infirm elderly. We would shudder to think how Alabama rates in either category.

Shoalanda

Byron Wilkes, Alien Autist, Has Passed Away

Byron Wilkes, a Florence-based artist and poet, has passed away. Sometimes known professionally as Alien Autist, Wilkes is responsible for much of the artwork adorning the music of the Fiddle Worms and Drive-By Truckers.

Some months before we began this blog, we discovered Wilkes' painting Hot-Rod Politique on an eBay auction. After debuting our effort in Blogger, we knew we wanted to use this wonderful work of satire in our theme, but had no idea who had created this iconoclastic masterpiece. After some months, a reader filled us in on Byron, and we became an avid fan, featuring him in our May 9, 2009, column. We understand that Byron was especially pleased that we chose his artwork to epitomize the Shoals area.

Byron was known to feature pyramids prominently in his work. Pictured is perhaps his second best-known work, The Three Great Alabama Icons. You can see more of Byron's art at his MySpace page.

We're sure that many of our readers will want to memorialize Byron in some manner. We will publish any information concerning arrangements as they become available, as well as any information on purchasing his artwork. All our sympathies to his family and friends.


Shoalanda

Byron Wilkes - Artist & Poet

Some weeks ago we asked readers to help us in finding the artist responsible for our "Shoals" artwork, an incredible melange of iconic state and local figures mixed with humor. Two readers responded that the brilliant mind behind the image belongs to Bryon Wilkes.

Wilkes lives in Florence and is noted for not only his artwork, but also his poetry. Besides Drive-By Truckers, Wilkes has done album covers for Sleepy Hollow and Patterson Hood.

Byron has a store on e-Bay that I insist everyone check out. Aptly called Make Room for dA dA, it's sure to have that certain something you've been searching for. Don't forget to tell him Shoalanda sent you.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Make-Room-For-dAdA__W0QQ_armrsZ1


Note: Today's Morris Lentz Day in Rogersville has been postponed due to inclement weather. We'll post the new date as soon as it's scheduled.