One can seer the Leer Tower from the loading dock at UAB. I always thought the tower was topped by an old radio antenna but found out recently in a John Archibald column in the Birmingham News that the short steel structure on top is actually a dirigible mooring mast.

It amuses me that a bygone builder had the foresight to envision a sky full of Zeppelins above Magic City queueing up to be docked.

That’s why it’s Magic City, I suppose.

We tried Rock ‘n’ Roll Quotes with my news writing class this week, an exercise in notetaking stolen from David Swartzlander at Doane College.

Played some tunes in class and asked students to write down the lyrics. Started fairly slowly with a ballad. The kids got a fair amount.

Shifted to mid-tempo. Notetaking was much slower.

When I hit Subterranean Home Sick Blues at the end of the exercise, I could hear the pens drop on the desks.

Bwahahaha.