ALABAMA BASS TRAIL ANNOUNCES NEW TOURNAMENT SERIES FOR AMATEUR ANGLERS

The Alabama Bass Trail is excited to announce the launch of a new tournament series beginning in February, 2014. The 10 lake team-style tournament series will be held on ten of the lakes of the Alabama Bass Trail with the championship tournament taking place on the 11^th lake. Attracting amateur anglers from across the southeastern United States, each tournament is expected to generate an approximate $500,000 economic impact for host cities.

“Alabama is a great state for fishing,” Governor Robert Bentley said. “We have professional tournaments here on a regular basis. The goal of this amateur tournament is simple. We want to encourage more people to fish where the pros fish. The Alabama Bass Trail was established to help us share our lakes and rivers with more people. When more people come to our lakes and rivers that increases tourism. And when tourism increases, that benefits our local and state economies.”

Sanctioned by BASS (Bass Anglers Sportsman Society), the Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series gets underway February 1, 2014. The tournament trail will feature two divisions: Northern and Southern. Each division is made up of five tournaments on five different lakes. Each tournament will have a $10,000 guaranteed first place prize and will pay 20 places. Maximum number of boats is 200.

Northern Division:

Lake Guntersville                    February 1, 2014 hosted by Marshall County CVB

Pickwick Lake                         March 22, 2014 hosted by Florence-Lauderdale Tourism

Neely Henry Lake                  April 5, 2014 hosted by City of Gadsden Parks & Recreation

Wheeler Lake                          May 31, 2014 hosted by Decatur-Morgan County CVB

Logan Martin Lake                 June 21, 2014

Southern Division:

Mobile-Tensaw Delta                March 1, 2014 hosted by North Baldwin Chamber of Commerce

Lake Eufaula                              March 15, 2014 hosted by Eufaula-Barbour County Chamber of Commerce

Lake Jordan                                April 19, 2014 hosted by Wetumpka Chamber of Commerce

Alabama River (Millers Ferry)  May 10, 2014 hosted by Wilcox County Chamber and the City of Monroeville

Lay Lake                                    June 7 hosted by Shelby County Commission

The championship is a 125 boat, two-day event. The 125 boats are comprised of the top 50 teams in points from both divisions that fished all five events in their respective divisions, along with the top 25 student boats collectively from both divisions that fished all five events in their respective division. Hosted by Chamber of Commerce of Walker County, the championship tournament is set for October 10-11, 2014 on Lewis Smith Lake.

The championship is a no entry tournament and the first place prize is a fully-rigged 2015 Phoenix 619 Pro with a Mercury 150, trolling motor and electronics valued at $37,495 with an additional $40,000 in cash and prizes. The official bass boat of the Alabama Bass Trail, Phoenix Bass boats will also offer the tier one First Flight incentive plan to tournament winners in a qualifying Phoenix boat.

“The Alabama Bass Trail is excited to announce this new tournament for amateur anglers. Since the launch of the Alabama Bass Trail in 2012, we have received numerous requests for the development of a tournament series. We are challenged with creating more fishing opportunities in the state of Alabama, and we believe this gives anglers in the southeast an opportunity to fish a highly competitive trail on the best lakes in Alabama,” said Alabama Bass Trail Program Director Kay Donaldson.

A few select tournaments including the February 1 launch tournament will be filmed and aired at a later broadcast on Anglers Channel reaching a viewership of over 10 million households.

“We are all grateful for Governor Bentley’s vision and will work together to make the Tournament Series a success,” said Lee Sentell, director of the Alabama Tourism Department. Just two years ago, Sentell, Governor Bentley, and the staff of the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association began laying the groundwork for the Alabama Bass Trail. After its launch in the spring of 2012, its popularity quickly grew and Donaldson look for another opportunity to reach out to anglers.   

Alabama Bass Trail Tournament sponsors include Bill Penney Toyota, the Alabama Tourism Department, Phoenix Bass Boats, Inc., McDonalds of Alabama, and Pradco-FISHING representing BOOYAH and YUM, Dobyns Rods, Randy Jones Agency – Nationwide, T & H Marine Supplies, Inc., Alabama Power Company, Buffalo Rock, Inc., Jet-Pep, Inc., Tennessee Valley Authority, Rigid Industries, Inc., and Frogg Toggs, Inc., Go Pro and Gander Mountain. Fishlife will be the official tournament directors and Elite Outdoors Media will be the live-streaming company.

Registration will be available online beginning at noon on September 30^th at www.alabamabasstrail.org. Entry fee per tournament is $250 per team or from September 30-October 30 2013, teams can register for all five tournaments for $1150. 

According to Donaldson, each tournament is expected to pump an estimated $500,000 into the local economy of the host city. “Anglers typically pre-fish, or scout a location, three or four days prior to a tournament, and during this time, they patronize restaurants, gas stations, and tackle shops. During a tournament, approximately $300 is spent each day on accommodations, gasoline, food and other supplies,” stated Donaldson.

For more information, call Donaldson at 855.934.7425 or visit www.alabamabasstrail.org. 

About Alabama Bass Trail

The Alabama Bass Trail is a program of the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association. Its mission is to promote Alabama as a year round fishing destination, to preserve natural resources for generations to come, and to educate high school and college aged students to be good stewards of natural resources. The 11 bass fishing lakes consist of Lake Guntersville, Wheeler Lake, Pickwick Lake, Lewis Smith Lake, Neely Henry Lake, Lay Lake, Logan Martin Lake, Lake Jordan, Alabama River (Millers Ferry), Lake Eufaula, and the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta.  For more information, visit www.alabamabasstrail.org. 

Kentucky Headhunters to Headline 2013 Falkville Fall Festival

Country rock band Kentucky Headhunters will be the headlining act at the Falkville Fall Festival set for October 12, 2013. Sponsored by the Falkville Volunteer Fire Department and the Town of Falkville, the annual celebration features an antique tractor show, car show, and other family-friendly activities in addition to live music. All activities take place in the town’s downtown area.

A pancake breakfast at the Fire Department kicks things off at 7 a.m. where plenty of the fluffy hot cakes will be served until 11 a.m. Donations to the Fire Department will be accepted at the door. The car show and tractor show follow at 8 a.m. with arts and crafts vendors, bingo, inflatable fun for children, and food vendors set up throughout the day. The Fire Department will host a cake auction at noon where an assortment of yummy desserts will be up for grabs.

Music fills the air beginning at 9 a.m. At 11 a.m., local artist Jeff Whitlow and the Old Barn Band will open for headliner act The Kentucky Headhunters. With his strong, baritone country voice, Jeff Whitlow performs traditional country music, and whether he is singing a Merle Haggard ballad, or a lightning fast tune from George Jones, the crowd can’t keep from clapping their hands or tapping their toes to the country beat.

At 1 p.m., three-time CMA, ACM and Grammy Award winning band, The Kentucky Headhunters will take the stage. The country and southern rock band will be performing some of their great hits such as “Oh Lonesome Me,” “Dumas Walker,” “Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine” and many more songs from their seven studio albums.

The event wraps up around 3 p.m. Admission is free. Falkville is located between Huntsville and Birmingham off of exit 322 on Interstate 65. For more information, contact the Falkville Town Hall at 256.784.5922.

Princess Theatre Presents America's Favorite Cowboys

RIDERS IN THE SKY ON OCTOBER 11         

The Princess Theatre Center for the Performing Arts continues

its 30^th Anniversary Season for 2013-2014 with the Riders in the Sky on Friday, October 11, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.  The Grammy-winning artists will be the centerpiece of the 30^th Birthday Block Party for the Princess with a variety of activities planned including a Round Up at the Kids Corral event for children and families at 4:30 p.m. and a western theme Block Party on 2^nd Avenue in front of the Princess Theatre from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.  Everyone is invited to wear western attire!  The Decatur Daily is the event sponsor with additional support from the Decatur Morgan County Convention & Visitors Bureau and AlphaPet Indorama.

Riders In The Sky are truly exceptional.  By definition, empirical data, and critical acclaim, they stand “hats & shoulders” above the rest of the purveyors of C & W – “Comedy & Western!”  For thirty years Riders In The Sky have been keepers of the flame passed on by the Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, reviving and revitalizing the genre.  And while remaining true to the integrity of Western music, they have themselves become modern-day icons by branding the genre with their own legendary wacky humor and way-out Western wit, and all along encouraging buckaroos and buckarettes to live life “The Cowboy Way!”

Riders In The Sky are exceptional not just in the sense that their music is of superlative standards (they are the ONLY exclusively Western artist to have won a Grammy, and Riders have won two), but by the fact that their accomplishments are an exception to the rule as well.

That Riders In The Sky was even formed is a feat of improbable likelihood.  What are the odds that a theoretical plasma physicist, a wildlife manager - galvanizer - Life Scout, an English major – shot putter – Bluegrass Boy, and a Polka Hall of Fame member would collectively become “America’s Favorite Cowboys?”  And even more unlikely is that 30 years later, the original members are still “bringing good beef to hungry people” while putting up Ripken-like numbers!  The Rolling Stones only made it a few years before replacing Brian Jones; the Sons of the Pioneers constantly changed personnel; even the Ringo-era Beatles only lasted 8 years.  (Perhaps Too Slim, as a sophomore writer for the University of Michigan Daily, had an ulterior motive in 1969 by propagating the rumor that Paul McCartney was dead!  It’s true… go ahead and Google “Paul is dead rumor”…)  But the key to keeping the same founding members intact for three decades on the road is more easily explained: “Separate hotel rooms,” cracks Ranger Doug!

Riders In The Sky’s first official public performance was Nov. 11, 1977, at the erstwhile Nashville nightspot “Phranks & Steins.”  Taking the stage that night for a crowd of eight or nine (counting Herr Harry behind the bar) were Ranger Doug (Idol of American Youth) on arch-top guitar and baritone vocals, and Too Slim (A Man Aging Like Fine Cheese) on bunkhouse bass, face, and tenor vocals.  A chain saw may have been in the mix somewhere that night, but was soon retired.  Replacing the chain saw was Woody Paul (King of the Cowboy Fiddlers) on fiddle, tenor vocals and rope tricks, and the launch was successful! They subsequently added the “Stomach Steinway” stylings of Joey the Cowpolka King on accordion and baritone vocals, much to the delight of ‘Polkaholics’ everywhere.

As a classic cowboy quartet, the trail has led them to heights they could have never predicted.  Riders have chalked up over 5400 concert appearances in all 50 states and 10 countries, appearing in venues everywhere from the Nashville National Guard Armory to Carnegie Hall, and from county fairs to the Hollywood Bowl.  Their cowboy charisma and comedic flair made them naturals for TV, and landed them their own weekly show on TNN, as well as a Saturday morning series on CBS.  They have been guests on countless TV specials, documentaries and variety shows, appearing with everyone from Barney to Penn & Teller.  And their animated likenesses have shared the screen with Daffy Duck on the Cartoon Network, and the Disney Channel’s Stanley.  If you consider their compositional credits, one might call them “Writers In The Sky!”  In addition to penning award winning songs for their own albums, they wrote the score for Pixar Animation’s 2002 Academy Award-winning short “For the Birds.”  They composed the theme song for the internet cartoon show “Thomas Timberwolf” by renowned Bugs Bunny creator Chuck Jones.  But the animated character that history will most certainly link to Riders In The Sky is the loveable cowboy Woody, as Riders performed “Woody’s Round Up” in “Toy Story 2,” with the album of the same name garnering Riders their first Grammy Award in 2001 for “Best Musical Album for Children.”  Two years later, Riders roped their second Grammy in the same category, for “Monsters Inc. – Scream Factory Favorites,” the companion CD to Pixar’s award-winning movie.

Equally as exceptional, but of greater significance, is that in 1982, Riders In The Sky became the first, and to date only, exclusively Western music artist to join the Grand Ole Opry, the longest running radio show in history, and thus began a love affair with radio as well.  In 1988, they recorded comedy skits for the album “Riders Radio Theatre” and launched the long-running international weekly radio show of the same name on public radio.  And keeping pace with the ever-changing technological landscape, in 2006 “Ranger Doug’s Classic Cowboy Corral” debuted on XM Satellite Radio, heard weekly on Channel 10.

Exceptional artists also appeal to a diverse and broad-based cross section of their adoring public.  Riders In The Sky’s music and comedy delights cowboys and cowgirls of all ages, and from all walks of life.  Riders are equally at ease amusing a theatre full of children as they are enthralling a symphony audience accompanied by 50 or 60 classically trained instrumentalists, or even an NCO club full of servicemen during a USO Tour.  Riders have performed at the White House for both Democratic and Republican administrations, and at Major League Baseball’s winter meetings for both American and National Leagues (although with an admitted bias for the Detroit Tigers).  With their ability to persuade cowpokes on both sides of the fence to set aside their differences for a brief escape from day-to-day tribulations, is it any wonder that Riders have a virtual home called “Harmony Ranch?”

Ultimately, exceptional careers do not go unnoticed, and throughout theirs, Riders In The Sky have been honored regularly.  In addition to being inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, Riders are in the Western Music Association’s Hall of Fame, the Country Music Foundation’s Walkway of Stars, and the Walk of Western Stars (in Newhall, CA near Melody Ranch Studios) along with Gene, Roy, John Wayne and other cowboy legends.  No less important than their two Grammies, Riders have been the Western Music Association’s “Entertainers Of the Year” six times, and won “Traditional Group of the Year” and “Traditional Album of the Year” multiple times.  The Academy of Western Artists has named them “Western Music Group of the Year” twice in 5 years, and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum has bestowed Riders with their Wrangler Award statuette three times.  It comes as no surprise then that Billboard magazine’s Jim Bessman counts them as one of “the most historically significant acts in the history of American music.”

Yes, it would be “The Easy Way” to call it a career after 30 years, but it wouldn’t be…“The Cowboy Way!”  And so, the never-ending trail drive continues. The ponies are rested and watered, and America’s Favorite Cowboys are ready to saddle up and ride, bringing good beef to hungry people wherever they may be.  Yes, Riders In The Sky are truly an exception to the rule.

          A week-long celebration of events has been planned during October 7-11 to celebrate 30 years at the Princess Theatre.  For a full schedule, visit: www.PrincessAnniversary.com.   The Princess Theatre 2013-2014 Season is made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

          Single tickets are available at the Princess Theatre box office for the “Round Up at the Kids Corral” event ($10.00 general admission all tickets) at 4:30 p.m.  Reserved tickets range from $30-$20 for the evening show on Friday at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call 256-340-1778 or visit the Princess Web site at:

www.princesstheatre.org     www.ridersinthesky.com

15th Annual Jesse Owens Cross Country Classic Set for October 5

Approximately 5,000 high school athletes are expected to compete in the 15^th annual Jesse Owens Cross Country Classic Invitational set for Saturday, October 5, 2013. Hosted by the Jesse Owens Runners’ Club, the race begins at 8:20 a.m. and is held on the championship course located on the grounds of the Oakville Indian Mounds Education Center.   

The Jesse Owens Cross Country Classic brings junior high and high school students from all over the United States for a competitive race honoring one of Alabama’s greatest athletes. Born in 1913 in Oakville, Alabama, Jesse Owens captured four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin overcoming racial and socioeconomic barriers. In 1955, he was named Ambassador of Sports by President Eisenhower and toured the world promoting the virtues of amateur programs. 

According to Race Director Stanley Johnson, nearly 5,000 high school runners from Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi competed in the 2012 event, setting a new record for entries. The race began in 1999 with approximately 450 participants. 

The competition offers 14 divisions for boys and girls. The top 10 finishers in each division receive a special award with the overall winner in each division winning a trophy. Registration deadline is October 1, 2013. To register online, go to www.alabamarunners.com. For more information including race times and a schedule of events, visit http://alabamahighschoolrunner.com or call Coach Stanley Johnson at 256.566.4410.

 

The championship course is also great for spectators who want to witness competitive racing from the sidelines. Oakville Indian Mounds Education Center is located approximately 8 miles south of Moulton on Alabama Highway 157 and 1/2 mile from the Jesse Owens Memorial Park. Admission is free. A parking donation of $2 per car is suggested to help support the Education Center.