Tuscaloosa Amphitheater's Reputation TBD

In case you didn't know, there's a brand new, $14.9 million amphitheater located minutes from the University, nestled right off of downtown Tuscaloosa and it's opening this spring. With any common sense, one would believe that the opening act to this new amphitheater would cater to a majority of the 29,000 college students that live right down the road. Sorry, guys. It's Kenny Chesney. Granted, Chesney is a huge name in country music, but if you've lived in town for a while, you would know that he was going to come whether we spent $14.9 million or not.

Unfortunately for most of us, country music seems like it is going to be the norm at the new amphitheater. The only other show booked for the new venue is the country-pop duo Sugarland, who, according to their website, will play a show in Tuscaloosa on April 15.

In a town once played to by Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Jimmy Hendrix, the only names we seem to be getting are Eric Church, Luke Bryan and Randy Rogers. Oxford, Mississippi, home to Ole Miss, hosted MGMT, Glitch Mob, Matt & Kim, Jimmy Eat World and Of Montreal this year. Oxford is one-forth the size of Tuscaloosa and has 11,000 less college students. And they don't have an amphitheater.

The new theater is managed by Red Mountain Entertainment, which also oversees the Schaeffer Eyecenter Crawfish Boil and the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis. This sounds hopeful, but I still think fans of everything but country music are sending up a collective prayer that Red Mountain will set its sights in a direction other mainstream country stars that are happy to play a show “down home.”

The matter of fact is that this is a college town. I hope someone at Red Mountain Entertainment is listening to 90.7 the Capstone, the college radio station. I am aware that there are university students that love country music, but I'm willing to bet the majority have a different preference.

The Tuscaloosa Amphitheater’s Facebook pages boasts that it will bring in country, R&B, alternative, blues and jazz acts, but it seems like it will be a waiting game for this to be proven.  

Brothers & Sisters

I want a really huge family with a weird, eclectic mix of siblings and siblings-in-laws.

Like in Dan In Real Life..

Or The Family Stone..

Who can forget Christmas Vacation..

And Home Alone

One. One. One. One.

This year, I'm taking a different approach to New Years Resolutions. 

I've never taken them too seriously, but I believe that maybe if I look at it backwards this year I will be more successful. I suppose it's the American "self-help" and living-a-life-of-constant-change mentalities that fuel our need to beat ourselves up during this milestone, but instead of examining myself throughout the past year and looking at all of the things I could have done better, all of the things I shouldn't have done and adding it all up into one big pile of things to be changed- I should look at the the things done well. The things worth carrying over into this new year. Maybe in the next year those abilities, traits and actions will shine truer because I acknowledged them. Doesn't it make sense to become a fuller, more satisfied version of yourself rather than forcing yourself to view all the skeletons in the closet again? 

So here's to getting things right once in a while and sweeping the insignificant under the rug.