Tag: Features

Houston Project

Helping area veterans and honoring a military son’s memory

Story Paul South
Photos by Graham Hadley
Submitted photos

Even as a kid, Houston Lee Tumlin “lit up a room” when he entered. The moviegoing public saw his light in the movie, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, where Tumlin played Walker Bobby, the oldest son of Ricky, played by Will Ferrell.

He played the part to the hilt, his mom, Michelle, remembered. But when the cameras stopped rolling, the then-13-year-old went back to his St. Clair County raising.

“They would be filming, and he would just be cussing people out. But when they would go to break, he would say, ‘May I have a bag of chips?’”

The astonished cast and crew wondered where the on-camera kid with potty mouth had gone. “They were all wondering where those manners came from,” Michelle says.

But that was Houston, a class clown and sometimes “hot mess” who loved to make people laugh, who would defend bullied classmates, and competed in sports at Victory Christian Academy, especially football.

Competition began for him as a toddler — baseball, soccer, wrestling, even dabbling in mixed martial arts.

After high school, he joined the Army, earning medals and commendations and numerous training certifications, serving stateside and in South Korea in the storied 101^st Airborne, based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

Among his honors: the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal and the Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Medal and many others.

“He was a badass,” his mom says with a laugh.

But in his last military posting, life took a tragic turn for Houston Tumlin.

“The year in Korea was not good for him,” Michelle Tumlin says. “There was a lot of bad stuff that happened. “

But on March 23, 2021, the light turned to the deepest darkness. Suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and what researchers at Boston University later determined was CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), Houston took his own life. For Michelle Tumlin, “It was the worst day of my life. The thing that I hold onto is that the doctors said to me that the CTE took away his impulse control. He had an on-off switch, and his flipped that day.

“You add the brain damage and some personal stuff and then you add the bad stuff that happened in Korea, and it was literally the reason he got out of the military.”

Daily, 22 past or present American service personnel commit suicide, their brains shaken by the blasts of battlefields, souls shredded by nightmarish memories, or concussions caused in competition. In Tumlin’s case, between sports and military service and two car accidents, he suffered an estimated 22 concussions between the ages of 14 and 28, Michelle Tumlin says. Those injuries triggered personality changes, alcoholism and changed Houston. His light was gradually fading to black. Depression, alcoholism, multiple head trauma: the recipe for CTE.

“He suffered the last four years of his life,” she says. “It was confirmed after a brain study at Boston University that he had CTE.” Among other contributing factors, “That’s the reason he committed suicide.”

CTE triggered his symptoms – headaches, happy one minute, sad the next, anger from out of nowhere and a descent into becoming what his mom called, “a straight-up alcoholic.”

“When he was drinking beer with a group of friends, he was fine. When he drank liquor, he would turn into the saddest, most depressed person who never thought he was good. He became a completely different person. That had a huge impact on him doing what he did. It was his kryptonite.”

The Tumlins are one of a growing number of military and NFL families that have donated their loved one’s brain for research at BU. CTE can only be determined after death.

While the Tumlin family’s grief will never die, a year to the day after Houston’s death, Michelle opened the nonprofit Houston Project. Proceeds from the sale of patriotic hats, T-shirts, popcorn, candles and “a little bit of everything” at the store go to help vets and their families. Every cent goes to veterans and their families.

In the Cogswell Avenue storefront, Michelle Tumlin fights a quiet battle. Armed with smiles and encouragement, she wants to give veterans hope.

“I started Houston Project because I needed something in my life that felt good, but to also raise awareness for mental problems, PTSD, alcoholism, CTE – all of the above – mental health, period. Raising awareness was important to me.”

She adds, “I wanted to do both of those things and honor my son.”

While the focus of the project is on veterans, the Houston Project is working with other area organizations to help in the fight against mental illness.

“Mental health is important, whether you are a veteran or not,” Tumlin says. “My platform is to be my son’s voice here on this earth. I’m here to tell his story and to try to keep others from doing what Houston did and help give them awareness before it gets to that. That’s why I exist.”

In other times in other wars, PTSD went by other names: shell shock, soldier’s complaint, combat fatigue or war neurosis. The historical record dates such illness as early as 2,600 years ago. And while researchers and medical professionals know more about PTSD, Tumlin believes veterans aren’t receiving adequate help.

“When (service personnel) get out of the military, they need a way to get back to who they were before they joined the military,” Tumlin says. “The military teaches them to be strong and to be tough and to be soldiers. It was hard for Houston to feel normal again. Not being in the military, he just didn’t feel right, if that makes sense.He couldn’t find his way.”

Houston missed the camaraderie of the military.

“He struggled with depression, nonstop. He was a happy person and a funny person. But he couldn’t find his right place.”

While Army Specialist E-4 Houston Lee Tumlin is gone, he is far from forgotten. While at the time of his death, sordid celebrity news outlets centered on the “Child Actor Commits Suicide” angle, so many others – in Pell City, in the Army and elsewhere – remembered him as so much more – son, brother, fiancé, a soldier who served his country with honor.

Houston Tumlin packed a lot of living into 28 years.

“He walked into a room and took it over. He had the most beautiful smile. He could make people laugh. I mean, the people that started reaching out to us after he passed – from all of these soldiers from all over the map – messaging us, calling us, telling us it was his goal to make people happy,” Michelle says.

There is another story that the Tumlins heard about their son, from a girl recounting the story of a date she had with Houston in the cold of winter.

“She said they were driving in downtown Birmingham,” Michelle recalls. “Houston stopped the car and told her he’d be right back. He got a coat from the back of the car, locked the car, and took the coat to a homeless man across the street. Hearing these stories just filled my heart. I could not be a prouder Mom.”

The Houston Project, created by a grieving family to help veterans and to honor their fallen son, not only helps vets with things like household repairs and moving expenses. It recently helped a veteran’s family in a poignant, particular way, a fitting tribute to the kid who lit up a room.

It paid the family’s utility bill and kept the lights glowing.

Editor’s Note: The nonprofit Houston Project is open Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. The store is located at 1916 Cogswell Ave. in Pell City. Find the store on Facebook. Every cent of sales goes to help local veterans and their families.

Features

Kayaking Big Canoe

Big Canoe Creek becoming a top draw for paddle enthusiasts

Story by Loyd McIntosh
Submitted Photos

We’re standing on the bank looking out onto the Big Canoe Creek checking out the water levels. It’s Saturday, shortly after noon, right around the time the morning Yak Tha Creek tour of Big Canoe Creek would be ending for the day.

Today, however, they had to cancel due to the water levels being too low, an issue the small Ashville-based company has faced all summer long. Today is one of those days. The water at its lowest point is only a foot and a half, too low to safely get the kayaks in the water.

“We don’t like to run under two feet,” explains Madison Vann, the daughter of Yak The Creek’s owner and founder, Randall Vann. She instituted that rule recently after eight of Yak Tha Creek’s Perception sit-on-top kayaks were damaged one weekend after putting in water below two feet in depth. It’s a shame because this five-mile stretch of Big Canoe Creek is spectacular in its scenic beauty, is home to some amazing wildlife best experienced on a kayak. In total, Big Canoe Creek is a 246-mile watershed spanning the northern edge of St. Clair County. Originating in northeast Jefferson County near Zamora Park Lake, Big Canoe Creek flows into the Coosa River in southwest Etowah County ending its run in Neely Henry Lake.

According to the website, The Friends Of The Big Canoe Creek (bigcanoecreek.org), Big Canoe Creek is home to more than 50 species of fish, including the trispot darter, a species that was found in the waters near Springville in 2008.

Prior to its rediscovery, the trispot darter was thought to have disappeared from Alabama waterways as early as the 1950s. It’s surprises like these that kayakers are treated to barely a stone’s throw away from the busyness of the area’s highways and interstates.

“There’s all different kinds of fish. We even got some alligator gar out there. If you kayak real slow, they’ll rise to the top. It’s so cool,” Vann says. “We’ve got groundhogs, raccoons and lots of lots of turtles. Oh, my goodness, we have an insane amount of turtles. And there’s a ton of mussels.”

In fact, there are eight federally listed freshwater mussel species known to be living in Big Canoe Creek. Additionally, a section of the creek stretching for 18 miles was designated “critical habitat” under the Endangered Species Act in 2004 and a new species, known as the Canoe Creek clubshell, was recently identified living in one of the Big Canoe Creek watershed tributaries.

Yak Tha Creek

For the past seven years, Yak Tha Creek has been taking people on kayak tours on a five-mile portion of Big Canoe Creek. Originally launched by Randall Vann, the director of Maintenance at Spartan Invest in Birmingham, the business has been turned over to the next generation of Vanns. “It’s me, my dad, and my brother Mason. Dad kind of lets me and Mason run a lot of it since we’ve been doing it so long,” says Madison Vann. “Every once in a while, we’ll hire some high school kids to help out because hauling those kayaks can be kind of rough.”

Yak Tha Creek uses nine-and-a-half foot, sit-on-top kayaks, which Vann says don’t hold water like the more traditional sit-inside kayaks. It has other benefits, too. One doesn’t typically find wildlife hiding on sit-on-top kayaks. “I’d rather not stick my leg in there and find a snake in there,” Vann says before erupting into laughter. “Someone the other day told me he had left a fish in there all summer long; I don’t know what I would have done. Probably thrown the kayak away!”

Yak Tha Creek operates weekends, typically between Memorial Day to Labor Day but may extend the season depending on demand. They put in on Doss Lane just off Pinedale Road with the exit point five miles away on state property in the shadow of the U.S. Highway 231 bridge less than a mile from downtown Ashville.

Each Friday, the Vanns work their stretch of the creek, clearing trees and other debris. The route typically takes three to four hours to complete and is suitable for the beginner learning the ropes and the expert looking for a more relaxing, low-key day on the water.

“It’s a good, easy beginner’s creek, though. There’s nothing rough about it unless the water is high,” Vann adds. “It’s a super easy kayak for beginners. I have seven year olds come out here and do it.”

Even though she says maintaining the creek is hard work, she never grows tired of kayaking Big Canoe. “There’s so much stuff out there to find. I’m a treasure hunter. There’s crazy stuff out there,” Vann says.

Among the items she’s uncovered over the years include cellphones, teacups, and a complete set of Mason jars buried in the dirt, most likely holding some forgotten-about moonshine from an old still hidden in the bank along the stretch of the creek. “There was a guy out here one day sifting for gold up the stream a little farther,” Vann says. “I don’t know if he ever found any.”

Big Canoe Creek Outfitters

Approximately 30 minutes southwest in Springville is another family-owned kayak business – Big Canoe Creek Outfitters. Owned and operated by the Shaffers, a family originally from Mountain Brook with a short stop in Trussville in between, they bought the property earlier this spring, accidentally becoming business owners in the process.

“The kayak business came with the purchase of the house,” says Robert Shaffer, the patriarch of the family. “Honestly, we didn’t know there was this kayak business when we first looked at the property in April.”

Much like Yak Tha Creek, the Shaffers turned the business over to their teenage sons, Thomas and Lyons. Essentially a summer job for the Shaffer brothers, Big Canoe Creek Outfitters opened for the 2022 season on Memorial Day weekend.

Lyons, a student at Auburn University, says the previous owners left the kayaks and other equipment in good shape, so all that was necessary was some cleaning and general maintenance – as well as learning how to run the business. “We were learning as we were going in the beginning because we did not know a lot,” says Lyons.

For example, Lyons says he was surprised at the biodiversity of Big Canoe Creek. “I did not realize how much wildlife there would actually be in just a simple creek, but there are so many different types of fish,” he notes. According to the Big Canoe Creek website, the 3.85-mile section on which the Shaffers offer tours is home to many interesting species of birds, including great egrets, barred owls and bald eagles.

With the first summer under their belts, Lyons says he believes they can expand Big Canoe Creek Outfitters’ offerings in the summers to come. “We definitely would like to expand and get some boats so we can accommodate bigger parties,” Lyons says. “We just needed to learn what we were doing first so now we can actually grow.”

Meanwhile, back in Ashville

As the conversation with Madison Vann started to wind down, a pair of kayakers row to the exit point having just completed a long morning on Big Canoe Creek. Van Lyvers, a resident of Pinson, and Bart Albritton, from Odenville, are friends who have kayaked many waterways throughout Alabama but had never kayaked Big Canoe Creek until today.

They’re all smiles as they pull their boats onto the bank and load them into the bed of Albritton’s pickup truck. The guys say they enjoyed the creek even if the water was quite low in some places. “We’ve seen worse, but it was kind of low,” says Livers. “If it had just a little more water it would have made all the difference in the world.”

“What you see is what it is. There are no rapids, and it’s just leisurely and fun,” says Albritton. “We saw some high-legged woodpeckers, some kingfishers, but unfortunately no snakes.

“I highly recommend it,” adds Albritton. “It was beautiful, scenic and just awesome.”

Features

Knitted Knockers

Trudy Mayoros’ knitting gives breast cancer survivors a lift

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Meghan Frondorf

Mentioning “knitted knockers” usually elicits raised eyebrows, sly grins or outright snickers from people who haven’t heard the term before. Among breast cancer survivors who are familiar with the term, it elicits smiles and sighs of relief.

Knitted knockers are soft, comfortable, handmade breast prosthetics for women who have undergone mastectomies or other breast procedures. Unlike traditional prosthetics, knitted versions are lightweight and gentle on scarred or sensitive skin.

Trudy Mayoros has never had breast cancer. But she has been knitting since she was five years old. So, when she learned about the volunteer organization that provides knitted and crocheted alternatives to expensive, heavy breast prosthetics, free of charge, she was touched. She jumped on the bandwagon immediately.

Trudy makes several knitted knockers each week.

“I’ve been doing this since 2016, when Lee Ann Clark, county extension coordinator for Alabama Cooperative Extension Services for St. Clair, held a big Pink & Teal Awareness luncheon that October and introduced people in this area to Knitted Knockers,” Trudy says. “October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and pink is its color. Teal is for ovarian cancer, and Lee Ann’s sister died of ovarian cancer. After the luncheon, some of us formed a Knitted Knockers group.”

Initially, several women met to knit and crochet the knockers, and their inventory grew well beyond the requests received. So, they sent their inventory to Knitted Knockers headquarters in Washington state. “Currently, we knit as we receive orders and usually specifically for the size and color requested,” Trudy says.

Since its inception in 2011, Knitted Knockers has provided 1,876 handmade knockers to registered medical providers (to give to their patients), 447,871 knitted knockers total and has 4,756 groups involved in the knitting, all on a worldwide basis.

Although her monthly numbers vary now because she makes them upon request, Trudy has knitted at least five dozen pairs, as well as singles, over the past five years.She also knits and crochets about half a dozen blankets and 10-15 hats each month for other charity organizations. Topping her list are the Warm Up America Foundation, a Texas-based organization that supplies blankets, hats and scarves to the homeless; Ann’s New Life Center for Women, located in Cropwell and Leeds, which supplies blankets, booties and caps to new mothers; a couple of Native American charities and the Jimmie Hale Mission in downtown Birmingham.

“I love doing this,” she says. “It’s my thing, my mission.”

She has been a knitter since she was five, when she made a pair of socks for her father. “He was thrilled, but I can imagine what they were like,” she says, in a voice as soft as the pima cotton with which she knits the knockers, and that retains a hint of her Swiss accent.

Born in Switzerland, it makes sense that she knits European or continental fashion. In this style, the yarn is held in the left hand and a subtle movement of the left index finger is used to help the needle pick up the yarn and form a new stitch. “American style involves holding the yarn in your right hand and ‘throwing’ it over the needle to form the stitch,” she says. She uses four needles for the knockers, knitting with two, dropping one, then picking up another as she forms the triangular shape. It takes about an hour and a half to knit one knocker.

Most of her orders come from individuals who learn of her service by word of mouth or from their oncologist. When she gets an order, she tries to turn it around in one to two days. “I let them pick the color,” she says. “Beige is the most popular choice, but pink is popular, too. It’s the only time they can pick their size! Believe it or not, most of the time they go smaller (than before surgery).”

Women to whom she has given knockers often send thank-you notes, and sometimes they include a donation. In keeping with the tenets of Knitted Knockers Foundation, she doesn’t charge a cent for her work. If she gets a donation from a grateful wearer, she turns it back into more yarn.

Knitted Knockers can be colorful or simply beige.

Commercial breast prostheses usually are made of rubber and can weigh 1.5 pounds. They cost more than $100 and make women sweaty, so some just stop wearing them. Knitted knockers, on the other hand, are made from exceptionally soft cotton stuffed with PolyFiberFil,which is non-allergenic. They can be hand or machine washed and hung to dry.

“I order the yarn from a place out West, and they get the cotton from Peru,” Trudy says. “Lion Brand now has a soft yarn called Coboo approved by the Knitted Knockers organization as soft enough for the knockers. It’s a #3 weight, and Walmart is carrying it, so it is a lot less expensive than the yarn I’ve been ordering – about a third of the price.”

She has a dedicated craft room over her garage, where she keeps several WIPs (works in progress). Baby blankets and caps are stacked next to her sewing machine, finished except for weaving in the yarn ends – a dreaded task for most knitters and crocheters.

Along one wall, a stack of plastic, see-through drawers keep her yarn organized by color and weight while also storing magazines and knitting tools. A clear bag houses large foam blocks that fit together like a puzzle. She uses those for wet blocking many of her finished pieces.

Two recliners face a small television that she often watches while knitting. The crocheted antimacassars on the backs of the recliners are her own pattern. She makes up most of her patterns as she knits or crochets, and only learned to read printed ones a few years ago.

“I probably spend two to three hours a day minimum knitting, more if I’m working on special projects,” she says. “I may go up to my craft room around 1 p.m., and work until Emery (her husband) reminds me it’s time for dinner. Then after dinner, I’ll knit while we watch TV together in our family room downstairs.”

Like the dozens of hummingbirds at the feeders on her patio, Trudy can’t sit still and do nothing. Apparently, she can’t walk and do nothing, either, as evidenced by the treadmill in her craft room. She tries to walk half an hour a day at the No. 2 speed setting and works while she walks. She knits items that involve a lot of repetition and don’t require her to count stitches.

“I feel I have a gift in serving other people,” Trudy says. “When God blesses you with so much, you don’t sit on your gifts.”

Editor’s Note: For more information on the free Knitted Knockers program, including a prosthesis pattern and list of accepted yarns, see knittedknockers.org. Trudy is on their knitter list, and you can contact her through their website.

Features

Rock ‘n’ roll fantasy

American Idol’s Gressett returns to Pell City, prepares for next act

Story by Loyd McIntosh
Photos by Richard Rybka

Backstage at the Pell City Center for Education and Performing Arts building on the campus of Pell City High School, Tristen Gressett is just 20 minutes away from taking the stage. In his first appearance since his meteoric rise and frankly, stunning elimination from American Idol, the 17-year-old is launching his solo career.

And he’s doing it from the very stage he has performed on dozens of times in high school theatre productions, choral presentations and events where he was part of an ensemble. On this night, not only is Gressett the featured performer, he’s the only performer – no band, no side musicians, no background singers. Just him, an acoustic guitar (augmented with a few electric effects) and a collection of classic rock songs and some original tunes. All eyes and ears will be focused on him this evening, a reality that is only just beginning to sink in.

“It really kind of hit me today when I was getting set up that I finally have my own show where I’m getting to perform for all these people,” says Gressett. Under the management of his mother, Gressett has been performing in restaurants and bars for much of his teenage years. He comes across like a grizzled vet of honky-tonks and smoke-filled juke joints, building a dedicated group of 10-12 fans who have followed him from gig to gig. “But the rest,” Gressett says, “they’re there to drink, they’re there to eat. They couldn’t care less about the entertainment. Know what I mean?”

In the dressing room, Gressett is wired – an absolute bundle of kinetic energy. Practically unable to sit down for more than five seconds, Gressett spends the last 15 minutes before the show laughing with his girlfriend Leah Love, joking with friends and well-wishers, and even cutting up and snapping a selfie or two with yours truly.

On display is Gressett’s ants-in-the-pants exuberance that practically exploded onto the screen and had the American Idol judges – Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie – a little unnerved. “We might have to sit on top of you, man,” Richie famously said following Gressett’s rendition of Billy Joel’s Piano Man.

One could easily interpret Gressett’s animation as nervousness, and who could blame them? He has a lot riding on this homecoming. Gressett, however, says “no way!” He’s more than ready to take this next step, launching his post-American Idol career from his hometown. “All my life, I’ve always wanted to be able to perform with everybody there watching for me,” he says. “So yeah, I feel like I’m one step closer to making that dream come true.”

It may be a cliché to say someone is “born” for something. Gressett’s mother and biggest fan, Missie Gressett, says, in her son’s case, it’s pretty much the truth. “He kind of came out performing,” she says. “He has always loved being on the stage. Always.” She played music constantly for Tristen in utero, playing Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven through listening devices placed on her stomach, which, at least in part, may account for Tristen’s abilities but also his wide range of musical interests. “He still listens to classical music all these years later, and he plays it on the piano,” his mother says.

“When we were out in Hollywood, we actually went to the Hollywood Bowl and saw Two Cellos, so that was an amazing experience,” adds Ms. Gressett, who has become quite famous in her own right having been featured often during her son’s run on American Idol.

A single mother with a vibrant, creative mind of her own – the homemade Halloween costumes she used to send Tristen to school at Eden Elementary, for instance, are legendary. She has poured much of her energy and passion into helping her only child achieve his dreams. “I am the proudest mama in the world,” she says as she works the merchandise table selling T-shirts and CDs. “We just have a special bond because it’s always just been us, and I’ve always been mama and daddy.”

The American Idol Experience

Gressett auditioned for American Idol along with more than 120,000 hopefuls, all vying for a coveted golden ticket to Los Angeles. Auditioning in Nashville, Gressett’s time in front of the judges is well documented – his aforementioned hyperactivity, the tearing up while chatting with fellow Alabamian Lionel Richie, his rendition of Piano Man and his thoughtful promotions of Pell City, just to name a few of the highlights.

Gressett seemed to devour the screen during his audition, but, he says, so much more goes into those moments than what viewers see months later. “What you’re seeing on television is what an editor sat down and was like, ‘OK, how can we turn this three-hour moment into two minutes?’ My audition on television, was about, what, 15 minutes? It actually happened over a span of three days.”

Despite some initial hesitancy among the judges, Gressett earned his golden ticket and was whisked off to La La Land – Hollywood. There, he experienced the intensity of the show’s weekly production schedule of “a ton of interviews,” walking around Los Angeles shooting b-roll footage, practicing and generally trying to survive the insanity week to week.

Despite the show’s competition format, Gressett says he never viewed the other contestants as rivals. “These were all people with the same goals, and it was awesome being around all those people who have such a strong connection because they’re all fighting for the same thing,” Gressett says. “It just never felt like a competition to me.”

For much of Gressett’s American Idol run, he appeared to be the lead dog, leaving the pack behind. But Gressett was eliminated after the Top 11 show in late April after performing a rousing rendition of the Rolling Stones’ classic, You Can’t Always Get What You Want.

His ouster was not without controversy. Many viewers on streaming services such as Hulu and Xfinity claim technical issues caused Gressett’s performance to go missing from the broadcast. In the days that followed, several online petitions were begun to get Gressett back on the show due to the error. In the end, the results stood, and Gressett’s run came to an early end – fairly or unfairly.

American Idol tends to reward screechy divas and clean-cut young men rather than long-haired, bearded, bluesy rockers like Gressett – Alabamian Bo Bice being a notable exception – a viewpoint shared by none other than Katy Perry. “He’s a rock ‘n’ roller, and it’s really challenging for that genre sometimes to get really far because it’s not about who’s the best singer – you have to check a little bit of a lot of boxes,” said Perry in a press statement following Gressett’s final episode. “But I think that he definitely poured a lot of sauce on his performance tonight and you got to strike a balance. I wish him the best. I’m gonna be seeing him on stage. I’m gonna go to his concerts for sure.”

“Somebody like me is going to have to fight a little harder,” adds Gressett, “and I fought as hard as I could. But I’m happy to make it as far as I did because over 122,000 people auditioned to be on the show. Just to be able to say ‘hey I placed 11th’ makes me feel a lot better about my journey ending when it did. I’m just happy to be able to pursue music on my own now with a stronger head on my shoulders and with the knowledge that I learned from the show.”

It’s Show Time!

With the crowd at near capacity, Gressett hits the stage shortly after 7 p.m. and immediately launches into his version of Piano Man followed by an eclectic mix of well-known classics, Neil Young’s Heart of Gold, Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Good – showing off his considerable guitar soloing skills in the process – and a version of the Beatles’ With A Little Help From My Friends.

The fifth song of the set was an original, titled The Road. Throughout the night, Gressett included a handful of accomplished original songs included on a six-song EP released in 2021 titled Act I: The Poet.

Gressett’s songwriting isn’t nearly celebrated as much as his skills as a singer and performer, although it’s clear that he puts much time and effort into his writing. “Sometimes it starts with the guitar and sometimes it starts with a phrase, and then I think, ‘How do I turn this into a song?’ I also use a lot of my personal experiences that I go through and stories of people that I know and love,” he explains.

A standout tune is one simply titled, Tiffany. It tells the story of a young and awkwardly inexperienced young man who finds himself attracted to a girl named Tiffany, who, though only a few years older, has a few more cynical miles under her belt than her would-be suitor. After finishing the song, Gressett said that it was one of his more humorous, jokey songs.

On the contrary,Tiffany displays a maturity in its wordsmithing.

In all, Gressett performed for around two hours, the crowd seemingly in the palm of his hand the entire night, even during a few moments that didn’t go as planned. For instance, Gressett managed his way around a pesky guitar cable that shorted out a handful of times during the night and handled a few of the rowdier fans with the humor and finesse of a seasoned pro.

One moment that particularly showed Gressett’s grace under fire occurred when he realized he left his capo (guitar geeks will know what this is) in the dressing room, leaving him unable to play his next song in the right key. Gressett walked backstage while mumbling in a high-pitch, faux-female voice, “You mean to tell me I paid $20 just so I can watch this kid look for his stuff?” to wild laughter before returning on stage to start the next song.

The show was a triumphant homecoming for Gressett, who waves his Pell City flag high and proud. While much of his talent and stage presence is natural, he says there have many people along the way who have helped him to become the person he is today.

“In eighth grade, my drama teacher, Mrs. Nixon, really encouraged me to hone in on my performance in theater. I’ve always been kind of crazy, but she got me to hone in and use it as a way of expressing myself,” says Gressett. “Mrs. Kaler at the high school has been one of my biggest supporters. She’s such a great person in general, but she has done so much when it came to getting people to vote for me. She’s been such a huge part of this for me.

“And, of course, Eden Elementary. That’s my home place over there. I love Eden. I went and sang for the kids over there recently and, man, that was such a full-circle moment for me,” Gressett add. “That was so awesome.”

What’s Up Next?

With his American Idol experience and high school graduation behind him, Gressett is focused on kick-starting his music career in a big way. Eventually, he plans to relocate to Los Angeles, but, until then, his schedule is full of appearances throughout the summer.

He performed at the Creek Bank Festival in Leeds, the Block Party in Pell City, and he opened for American Idol winner and Birmingham native Taylor Hicks at the Jazz Fest in Alexander City.

Later in June, he opened for Jefferson Starship at the Helen Keller Festival in Tuscumbia, and on July 1, Gressett performed in Canada, his first time traveling outside the U.S., at the Grand Falls Potato Festival in Grand Falls, New Brunswick. l

Features

Hen Party

Chickens rule the roost for one Ashville woman

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Mackenzie Free

Some people walk their dogs. A few even walk their cats. Brenda Myers walks her chickens.

“I used to take them on free-range walks, where I’d be the rooster watching for the hawks,” Brenda says. “I only had two hens then, but I have 10 now, and while you can control one or two, you can’t herd 10.”

Now she walks them in chicken “tractors,” the coops-on-wheels that her husband, Dennis, built so the chickens can go for walks without fear of predators. Brenda puts her chickens in one and pulls it with a rope to a grassy spot and lets the flock scratch for bugs and worms. “When they are tired of one place, which is about 30 to 40 minutes, they’ll look at me, and I know it’s time to move them to another spot,” she says.

She treats them more like pets than egg layers. She coos to them, picks them up and strokes them, talks to them as if they were toddlers. She regales her friends with descriptions of their antics. When one was partially eaten by a predator during the night, she cried for weeks. She’s constantly perusing chicken websites for tips and picks up toddler toys for them at thrift stores. To say she’s obsessed might be an understatement.

“Chickens are awesome creatures,” she says. “God just made a good thing when he made chickens.”

Brenda got her first chickens, two six-year-old hens, in January 2021 for the fresh eggs and fun. She had wanted some since first moving to Ashville in 2002, but Dennis kept saying no, they’re smelly. Getting the first two gave her a chance to see whether she liked chickens. She kept them a year before a raccoon got into their coop and ate part of one. The other died of an apparent heart attack just seeing the animal chomp away on her sister. Brenda buried them together.

On her birthday in March of 2021, she got six chicks from the St. Clair County Co-Op in Ashville: two Buff Orpringtons, two Black Orpringtons and two Barred Rocks. They were a day old, shipped from the hatchery at birth. “Of that first six, one was a rooster, and I re-homed him,” she says. “I did not want the drama.” Then she got five more: two Lavender Orpringtons, two Cinnamon Queens and a Black Sex Link. She raised all of them in her basement until they reached laying age, which is five to six months, depending upon the breed.

“I had to separate one, Sandy, because she got picked on,” Brenda says. “But all of them get along fine now.” The flock consists of Verna (named after a friend), Sandy, Bertha, Baby (the runt who rules the roost), Silk, Satin, Cinnamon, Honey, Lacy and Buffy.

Dennis designed the latest coop and tractors. The first coop came with the first two hens, then he built a larger one last fall. The new one measures 9 feet by 31 feet. At one end is the door, while a 4-by-6-foot chicken house is at the other end. The chicken house has beams for the hens to roost on at night, with doors that close automatically behind them to prevent predators from getting to them should they manage to get inside the screened coop. A nesting box with three compartments has its own outside doors so Brenda can gather eggs without going into the coop. The entire setup includes a 27-foot run, which gives the hens some freedom of movement.

Inside the run are wooden perches, a swing, traditional chicken feeders hanging from the rafters and a plastic cat-litter bucket turned into a hanging water bucket with the insertion of “chicken nipples.” The latter are handy little devices that screw into the bucket and release a small amount of water when pecked. There are two old wooden chairs tied together, back to back in the center of the run, and the hens use the combined backs as a perch.

And then there are the toys. There’s a toddler learning box attached to the side of the coop that plays “Old McDonald” and makes farm-animal noises when poked or pecked and two xylophones. She puts peanut butter on the toys to make the chickens peck them. She has taught Sandy to “play” the xylophone using a clicker. She also has a plastic toy caterpillar that plays, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.” Brenda substitutes “wings” in place of “hands” as she sings along with the toy.

The newest addition to the collection is a child’s bicycle. Dennis removed the handlebars, laid it on its side, and propped it up with a concrete block under each wheel. The idea is for the chickens to hop on the wheels and use them as merry-go-rounds or treadmills. “So far, no luck,” Brenda says, sighing.

She likes to pick up her chickens and pet them, but there’s a trick to that. “If you scratch their backs, they’ll lie down, as if submitting to a rooster’s amorous advances. You can pick them up then,” she says, demonstrating the technique with Sandy.

Their main diet consists of dried mealworms and laying pellets. But she showers them with snacks, too. So, when she approaches their coop, they gather at the door, clucking and pacing in anticipation. They’re carnivores that love bugs, especially ticks, and will eat worms, lizards and mice, too.

They also like milkweed, clover and other grasses, and once ate the burrs off Brenda’s pants after her trek through the woods. She bought some sage plants for them, along with lemon mint leaves. Lots of plants are poisonous to them, though, so she checks the internet before giving them something new. “I check several sources, not just one,” she says. “I’m growing cabbage and collards for them, too. I cut cabbage heads in half and hang them in their coop.” They also like apples, pears, cucumbers, squash, watermelon and cantaloupe. Fresh corn on the cob is their favorite, though. “I didn’t know anything about chickens when I got the first ones,” Brenda says. “I had to learn from scratch (no pun intended).”

She says chickens are a hoot, and they help her relax. She often takes a lawn chair and just sits by the coop, watching them and listening to their coos. “When they’re happy, they purr like a female turkey,” she says, as if everyone knows how a female turkey sounds. “When they’re angry, it’s almost like a honk.” She coos back at them, as if they were human babies. Ask Dennis how he feels about the “smelly” chickens, and he replies, “I built the chicken things, didn’t I?” He likes watching them, too.

Brenda says they’re quite amusing when taking dirt baths. They will lie down and use first one leg and then the other to toss dirt onto their backs and sides. Then they’ll roll over on their sides and spread the dirt and get up and shake like a dog or horse. A certain amount of dirt stays under their feathers, keeping out mites and lice.

Back in early June, Verna, one of the Black Orpringtons, became “broody.” That’s what you call a hen who wants to be a mom so bad she will sit on a nest for days trying to hatch a non-existent egg. “Verna would ruffle up her feathers when touched,” Brenda says. “A lot of people get pecked when they try to handle a broody hen.” A broody one will sit on a nest up to three weeks, even though there is no rooster around to fertilize and no eggs under her. “Sometimes they will die because they don’t eat or drink all that time,” Brenda says.

The best thing she has found to get a broody hen off the nest is to give her “time out.” She yanks her out of the nesting box and puts her into a large dog cage within the coop. She puts food and water in the cage and leaves her there most of the day, returning her to the roost at night. “If you do this about three days, she’ll get the message,” Brenda says.

It’s a challenge keeping the chickens hydrated in the summer. She hoses down a space in their run so they can wallow in it and puts ice in their water bucket. She also gives them cool treats like frozen blueberries.

She gets eight to 10 eggs per day in spring and early summer. “They’ll slow down on hot days, and they molt in the fall and don’t lay as much,” Brenda says. “They don’t lay during the winter.” Ten eggs per day are more than she and Dennis can eat. She gives away some, but she’s also learning to preserve them. Who knew you can keep them up to a year in a jar with pickling lime and distilled water?

“You need the freshest eggs possible,” she says. “They can’t be older than three days. You don’t wash them but leave the bloom on. It’s an antibiotic.” (The bloom is a foamy layer of protein that surrounds the egg and is the last thing formed on the shell before it is laid, according to Chicken Whisperer magazine).

Brenda preserves them in a gallon glass jar that holds 30 eggs. She stores the jars in her basement. “If you don’t want to preserve them, you can leave fresh eggs on your countertop for five weeks unwashed or you can wash them and place them in the refrigerator for three months,” she says. “Store-bought eggs won’t keep that long.”

While other people are pulling up photos of their grandchildren on their cellphones or posting them on Facebook, Brenda is pulling up photos of her chickens. “They’re my grandchildren,” she says.

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Magic City Chefs

Using talent to cook up something special & serve others

Story by Paul South
Photos by Mackenzie Free
Submitted Photos

On a sweltering June day, Jason Mullenix is at work in a steaming kitchen. While most, if not all of us, may only hear the clatter of pots and pans, Mullenix, the owner of St. Clair County-based The Magic City Chefs, choreographs a sweet and savory dance.

After just three years in business, The Magic City Chefs has a client base stretching from Atlanta to Birmingham to Smith Lake as he prepares gourmet lunches and dinners in the homes of his clients. Some want a daily lunch. Others may crave a gourmet dinner party for eight.

And Mullenix wants more than just pleased palates and stuffed tummies. He wants to turn back the clock and give back by bringing families back to the dinner table to talk, not text, make eye contact with each other instead of fixed stares at a smartphone screen.

“I noticed it in my own family, being a chef and working from sunup to sundown and most holidays,” he says. “I mean when families have Mother’s Day or something like that, they want to take them out to eat, you know, so that they don’t have to cook. It all falls back on the chef.”

For the culinary professional, which means missed family holidays, missed little league games, even lost chances to tell bedtime stories and give goodnight hugs. “It really dawned on me. We were all sitting around a table at a restaurant when I had a day off, and I looked across the table, and they were all on their phones, including my wife,” he says. And I’m like, there’s nothing to see on your phone. We all should be talking … I looked around the restaurant, and pretty much the same thing was going on at every table.”

He flashed back to the days when his mom cooked dinner, served at the dining room table, when families talked about their day’s triumphs and trials, laughed and kidded and became a family. Going out to eat was a rarity.

“It was more than just sitting there eating,” Mullenix says.

A 17-year culinary veteran, he was supervising a large institutional kitchen when the vision for The Magic City Chefs hit. For him, the joy of cooking had become nothing more than a book title.

“I was burned out,” he says. “The passion was gone. I was making great money, but I couldn’t enjoy it, and I couldn’t enjoy my family with it. I realized there were people out there who don’t have time to come home to cook a decent meal.”

He adds, “I wanted to do something different and find that passion again. If I can help somebody through the gifts that God has given me … If I can help people, I feel like I served my purpose.”

Genesis of a chef

Serving others and purpose are key ingredients in the The Magic City Chefs’ recipe, a process that began when Mullenix was in the Navy, serving first in the base store, then as a barber, then a launderer and three years as a chaplain’s assistant at the Singing River Island Naval Station in Pascagoula, Miss. His cooking interest flamed up when he ran the local observance of the National Prayer Breakfast.

While in the Navy, he took night courses in business administration, then went to culinary school. His first stop was as a baker at Panera Bread, working the night-owl shift. Then came restaurants, the University of Alabama (serving ESPN, the skyboxes at Bryant-Denny Stadium and Crimson Tide alumni) and other Capstone kitchens. He crafted not only pastries, but he learned the savory side of the culinary art.

Then came stops in Birmingham and Pell City. In the Magic City, he catered and cooked for events at the historic antebellum Arlington House. He cooked for dignitaries ranging from mayors to the Red Hat Ladies to Nicky Minaj, where the music superstar wanted everything from food to furniture in pink for a pre-concert party. The Real Housewives of Atlanta were also served during his six years at Arlington.

Of Minaj, Mullenix says, “She probably came in for like five seconds. We got stuck in an elevator for about an hour trying to leave because of security.”

He also worked for the firm that provided food service and vending for Honda in Lincoln. Then came another restaurant stop, followed by Birmingham-Southern College and a nursing home stint before the birth of The Magic City Chefs.

Chef Jason Mullenix puts his cooking skills to work.

The service business cooks prepared meals in-house for clients – one a day – that takes six or seven hours, depending on their choices. Every week, clients get a new menu. A family of four can go six months without eating the same entrée twice, with a wide-ranging menu.

Weekends are reserved for dinner parties, from formal sit down to informal family-style or plated meals of four courses. Mullenix also supplies glassware, tableware, linens and menu cards. Everything is catered to the client. Prices vary depending on the menu, generally from $100-200 per person. A romantic four-course meal costs $300. Diners must provide any alcoholic beverages.

“The majority of anything local I’ve done is around Logan Martin Lake,” Mullenix says. “I haven’t had any prepared meal clients. Most of the clients I have during the week are in the Mountain Brook-Vestavia Hills area.”

One of his first clients, a nonagenarian in North Birmingham, gets meals delivered daily. Mullenix tries to use ingredients the clients have in-house.

There’s also a creative cake arm of the business – for weddings, birthdays, etc., – that sees brisk business from March to October. Among the most unusual wedding cake requests: a “Nightmare Before Christmas” wedding cake.

“It turned out pretty good,” Mullenix says.

While cooking for any number of diners – from a romantic dinner for two to a wedding reception for hundreds – is a pressure cooker, there is a silver lining.

“There’s a good stress about being in the kitchen; it’s not always bad,” Mullenix says. “When everything is going as it should, and you’re creating wonderful food, there’s a ballet about it that’s hard to describe unless you’ve been there.”

That dance includes shopping for the client’s dinner, setting the table, preparing the meal which features locally produced, farm-to-table ingredients.

And there’s still a dance, albeit alone, as he works in a client’s kitchen. It’s a pots-and-pans version of Billy Idol’s Dancing With Myself.

“I just put in my earbuds and do what I need to do,” Mullenix says.

Business is bubbling for The Magic City Chefs. And what’s more, Mullenix’s culinary passion has reignited, and he’s learning with every creation.

And, in keeping with his calling to help others, he’s cooked for temporary clients who need meals while going through physical therapy.

“It’s a lot more rewarding than cooking (in a restaurant) for a bunch of foodies.”

And Mullenix sees his calling and his vision – both that would make June Cleaver smile – families at the dinner table talking like the Mullenix family did long ago. Mullenix even does the dishes.

“That’s the most rewarding part,” he says, “actually seeing families able to do that.”

And at the end of the evening, Mullenix hasn’t only served great gourmet food. He’s given something even more precious.

“I don’t just sell great food,” he says. “I give back time.”

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