Handmade Music Clubhouse

I just joined the Handmade Music Clubhouse. It’s a Ning.com community founded by Ted Crocker. Ted is the luthier who built the guitar used in the John Sayles film, “Honeydripper” and he’s been making amazing musical instruments for years. He also served as a content consultant for my documentary, “Songs Inside The Box.”

Handmade Music Clubhouse is an offshoot of Cigar Box Nation, the cigar box guitar online community founded by Shane Speal, but it has a broader scope to include any sort of fun handmade instrument.

Ted has been a friend of mine for many years now and I wish him well with this new project. I also look forward to hanging out with the folks in this community.

For more, visit: Handmade Music Clubhouse.

Max Connections - Random Writings by Max Shores.

The University of Alabama Crimson Tide won their 13th National Championship football title last night at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California by defeating the University of Texas Longhorns. I know why they won.

The University of Alabama has an excellent football program. Coach Nick Saban is intelligent, experienced, a good recruiter, and a good motivator. The team includes some of the best players in college football, many of whom will go on to play professional football after college. There are numerous stars among them as well as players that haven’t received the credit they might have if folks weren’t talking about the stars so much.

The University of Texas also has an excellent football program. They have a good coach and some very good players. Their star quarterback suffered an injury early in the game and a freshman quarterback was called upon to replace him. After a period of nervousness, he rose to the occasion and played very well.

It ended up being a very close game, a real nail-biter. So why did the Crimson Tide win?

Chocolate doughnuts, that’s why.

My wife and I are fans of the Tide. We don’t attend many games, but we’re always tuned in to the games on TV. We arrange for tasty snacks to accompany our TV viewing, and it has become our tradition to eat chocolate doughnuts during the games.

Some people have lucky shirts they wear or other things they do to bring luck during games. Cindy and I eat doughnuts. We’ve been doing it for a couple of years now. We joke about how the team needs a little help, so we must eat another doughnut. I really thought it was just a handy excuse to enjoy a beloved food until recently.

As we were making our preparations for the game Cindy said, “We’ve got to have doughnuts. You know we didn’t have doughnuts for the last two games of the season last year and look what happened.”

That’s when it hit me. That’s when I understood the power we held. The Crimson Tide lost their last two games last year.

Needless to say, I stocked up on doughnuts and we ate them dutifully during the game.

We’re glad to do our part for the Crimson Tide. Roll Tide!!!

Max Connections - Random Writings by Max Shores.

Today’s the big day we’ve been waiting for. The battle for the national football championship will take place tonight!

Until you’ve experienced it, you can’t fully understand how important football is in Alabama. The rivalry between the state’s two largest universities, the University of Alabama and Auburn University literally divides the population of the state. You can’t be neutral. You’re either a Bama fan or an Auburn fan.

I’m a Bama fan, but that’s no surprise. I’ve been an employee of the University of Alabama for most of my life.

Here in Tuscaloosa, home of UA, the city is like a ghost town today. University students were scheduled to return from Christmas break on January 4th, but when Alabama defeated Florida and won its place in the BCS championship game scheduled for January 7th, the University delayed the start of classes for one week to January 11th. The students have not returned to campus. How could we expect them to concentrate on anything other than football during this week anyway?

Many students, faculty, and citizens of Alabama have traveled to Pasadena, California for the game, increasing the ghost town effect. Several Alabama TV stations have reporters covering the invasion of Alabama fans in Pasadena. A TV report I saw last night made it look like Disneyland had been taken over by Alabama fans as the Million Dollar Band paraded through the streets.

With snow in the forecast for today, the University closed out of concern for travel safety. Folks here don’t know how to drive in the snow because we have so little experience. This just gives those of us who are left behind here in Alabama a chance to prepare. The state of Alabama will be closed tonight. Everybody will be at home watching the game on TV.

The Shores household will be tuned in too. Roll Tide!!!

Max Connections - Random Writings by Max Shores.

At that time I had already developed a few websites. The web pages I had created to promote broadcast of my documentary about the kudzu vine had been picked up by the Yahoo directory and listed as a cool site. They had little sunglasses by the directory listing. Along with a work associate, I had created a website for my department at the University of Alabama. I had also created a couple of small web directories of my own, an outgrowth of my obsessive-compulsive leanings. And I was involved in the development of an early web community or social network for a client.

My how times change. Not too long after that interview, the University of Alabama deleted my kudzu web pages and they were removed from the Yahoo directory. (I have since moved them to my personal website at http://www.maxshores.com/kudzu.) My department head hired a web development professional to do our department website. He added some stuff, then left, and the site has been left dormant for years. The client with which I was working to create an early social network died and the project died with him.

My little web directories remain but I don’t have much time to devote to them anymore. I got married to a wonderful lady who already had two beautiful daughters. I got a life, and had a lot less time to obsess about web projects.

Oh well. Life has been good. I used to be an Internet guru. I’m a lot happier now.

Max Connections - Random Writings by Max Shores.