The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for Feb. 17, 2011

THREE YEARS AGO
FEB. 21, 2008

“Four points.
“That’s all that separated Sparta Academy’s varsity girls basketball team from a shot at the AISA Class 2A state title after a heart-wrenching 48-44 loss to Lowndes Academy last Thursday.
“Mallory Kendrick, a five-foot-nine junior, led Sparta with 15 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.”
Other standout Sparta players in that game included BreAnna Pate, Morgan Harden, Erica Palmer, Christin Booker, Susan Ann Cook, Camarena Godwin and Hayden Armuelles.

“Hillcrest High School’s varsity boys basketball team closed out its 2007-2008 season with a 61-59 loss against Jackson High School. The loss came during the subregional round of the Class 4A state playoffs Friday night in Evergreen.
“Freshman DeAundre Lyons and Taft Lark, a junior, led Hillcrest with 18 points each.”
Other standout Hillcrest players in that game included Lawrence Bennett, Aaron Dees, Clarence Jackson, Cleveland Knight and Antonio Lewis.

“About 70 children took part in a free baseball clinic at Evergreen Municipal Park on Saturday. Evergreen Little League sponsored the clinic.”

18 YEARS AGO
FEB. 18, 1993

“The Hillcrest High School Lady Jaguars finished the regular season with a 19-1 record. Despite having a record better than most ranked teams, the Lady’s have been ignored in the high school polls. Coach Calvin Fluker says the lack of attention could play in favor of the Lady Jags as tournament action begins. The team is comprised of Kenisha Nevlous, Shinetta Richardson, Phyllis Lindsey, Rhonda Byrd, Christy Maxwell, Tisha Thornton, Tracey Boykins and Tamila Lampley. Not pictured is Brenda Byrd.”

“Gennifer Meeks is called one of the ‘best players in the state’ by Coach Calvin Fluker… and he may be right. Gennifer averaged 18 points per game and 15 rebounds per game for the 19-0 Lady Aggies of Evergreen Junior High School.”

“The Evergreen Junior High School Lady Aggies finished the season with a perfect 19-0 record, winning the county title last week in a contest against Lyeffion. The boys team also took first place in the county with a 13-5 record. Shown representing the teams are Lewis Young, Cammie Roach, Shantel Scott, Gennifer Meeks and Brenda Turner.”

33 YEARS AGO
FEB. 16, 1978

“The Lyeffion Yellow Jackets upped their record to 15-5 last week by defeating Georgiana at home, 51-47.
“Adrian Woods led scoring with 19 points. Harold Kyser and Ricky Hall both reached double figures with 15 and 11, respectively. Willie Hunter added six for the Jackets.”

“The Evergreen High Aggies beat the Greenville Tigers on Friday night, 67-57.
“The Aggies top scorer was Michael Floyd who had 16 points and 12 rebounds.”
Other standout Evergreen players in that game included Tony Rogers, Earnest Williams, Joe Mitchell, Chris Askew, Terry Floyd and James Straughn.

“The Sparta Academy Warriors downed the Greenville Academy Tornadoes, 60-53, last week.
“Terry Peacock hit 13 points, Gray Stevens, 12, and Johnny Ralls, 10, to pace Sparta.”
Other standout Sparta players in that game included Tony Raines, John Hall, Steve Dubose, Bobby Padgett, Cook Morrison and Ronny McKenzie.

“The Warrior girls romped to an easy 43-22 win. Angie Driver led the scoring with 15 points.”
Other Lady Warriors in that game included Michelle Joyner, Missi Thacker, Mary Claire Robinson, Cathy Johnston, Sharon Johnson, Cathy Cope, Teresa Blackmon and Cheri Johnson.

“The Evergreen High Junior Basketball team, winners of the county, area and district tournament, will compete in the state tournament starting tomorrow at Carver Community Center in Montgomery. The Junior Aggies are Tracy Scott, James Crosby, Wayne Parker, Donald Grace and Terry Nettles; and Coach Harold Carter, David Floyd, Edward Straughn, John Allen, Horace Smith and Philander Rodgers.”

48 YEARS AGO
FEB. 21, 1963

“Frisco City avenged an earlier defeat Feb. 12 as they whipped the Evergreen Aggies, 63-43, in Evergreen.
“Evergreen was led by the 12 points of Ronnie Jackson and the 10 markers of Joe Sasser.”

“The Castleberry Blue Devils ended their first unbeaten season ever Saturday night as they downed the Evergreen Aggies, 63-39, in Evergreen. It was the season ender for both squads. Castleberry’s record is 24-0 while Evergreen had a 9-9 season slate.
“Larry Jane had 21 points while Donnie Kast followed with 16 and Henry George Foster pumped in 10. Jimmy Raines with 13 and Sid Lambert with 12 were the top Evergreen scorers.”

63 YEARS AGO
FEB. 19, 1948

“The Aggies of Evergreen High took two easy wins over the Castleberry Panthers during the past week for their 16th and 17th wins of the season and lost to Murphy for their third defeat of the year.
“Last Wednesday night, the Aggies whipped Castleberry on the Evergreen court Monday night of this week, the Aggies again defeated Castleberry, this time on the Castleberry court. Last Friday night, the Aggies were trimmed by Murphy High of Mobile in Mobile by a 52-45 score.”

“The Evergreen High Aggies will end a successful 1947-48 basketball season here next week with three games Saturday night, Feb. 28.
“Frisco City will furnish the opposition in Junior, B and varsity contests. The Aggies downed the Whippets in Frisco City several weeks ago, but expect plenty of trouble here next Saturday.
“Frisco City recently whipped Murphy High of Mobile by an 11-point margin and pose a strong threat to the Aggie hope of closing the season on a successful note.
“On Tuesday night, Feb. 24, the Butler County High School Tigers of Greenville are slated to appear on the local court for a three-game performance. The Aggies defeated all three of the Greenville teams early in the season, but the Tigers are vastly improved since that date.”

My movie picks this week are 'Unknown' and 'Unstoppable'

It’s Wednesday, so today I give you my weekly list of movies that will open in theatres this week as well as a list of movies that will be released this week on DVD.

I hope this will serve as a useful guide as to what’s going on this week if you happen to be near a movie theatre or if you’re looking for something to drop into your NetFlix queue.

Movies that are scheduled to hit theatres this Friday include:

Unknown (PG-13, Suspense, Drama, Thriller): Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, January Jones, Diane Kruger and Bruno Ganz.

Vanishing on 7th Street (R, Horror, Thriller): Directed by Brad Anderson and starring Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, John Leguizamo, Jacob Latimore and Taylor Groothius.

I Am Number Four (PG-13, Science Fiction, Action): Directed by D.J. Caruso and starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Durand, Teresa Palmer and Dianna Agron.

Brotherhood (R, Drama, Action, Suspense): Directed by Will Canon and starring Trevor Morgan, Jon Foster, Lou Taylor Pucci, Arlen Escarpeta and Jesse Steccato.

The Chaperone (PG-13, Comedy, Family): Directed by Stephen Herek and starring Paul Levesque, Kevin Corrigan, Annabeth Gish, Jose Zuniga and Ariel Winter.

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (PG-13, Comedy, Action): Directed by John Whitesell and starring Martin Lawrence, Brandon T. Jackson, Jessica Lucas, Faizon Love and Emily Rios.

Even the Rain (Not Yet Rated, Drama, Epic and Historical): Directed by Iciar Bollain and starring Luis Tosar, Gael Garcia Bernal, Juan Carlos Aduviri, Karra Elejaide and Raul Arevalo.

I Am (PG-13, Documentary, Special Interest): Directed by Tom Shadvac.

Immigration Tango (R, Comedy): Directed by David Burton Morris and starring Elika Portnoy, McCaleb Burnett, Carlos Leon, Ashley Wolfe and Avery Sommers.

The Last Lions (PG, Documentary, Special Interest): Directed by Dereck Joubert and starring Jeremy Irons.

Now & Later (Not Rated, Drama): Starring Luis Fernandez-Gil, Adrian Quinonez, Shari Solanis, Marcellina Walker and James Wortham.

Putty Hill (Not Rated, Drama): Directed by Matthew Porterfield and starring Sky Ferreira, Zoe Vance, Dustin Ray, Cody Ray and Charles “Spike” Sauers.

New DVD releases for the week of Feb. 15 include:

Unstoppable (PG-13, Action, Suspense): Directed by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Jessy Schram and Jeff Wincott.

The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu (Not Yet Rated, Horror, Thriller, Comedy): Starring Kyle Davis, Devin McGinn and Barak Hardley.

Stag Night (R, Horror, Drama, Thriller): Starring Scott Adkins, Kip Pardue, Vinessa Shaw, Breckin Meyer and Karl Geary.

National Lampoon’s Dirty Movie (R, Comedy): Directed by Jerry Daigle and Christopher Meloni and starring Christopher Meloni, Diane Neal, Adam Ferrara, Caitlin Fitzgerald and Cyndi Lauper.

Game of Death (R, Action): Directed by Giorgio Serafini and starring Wesley Snipes, Aunjanue Ellis, Gary Daniels, Zoe Bell and Robert Davi.

Glorious 39 (R, Drama, Suspense): Directed by Stephen Poliakoff and starring Bill Nighy, Romola Garai, David Tennant, Juno Temple and Eddie Redmayne.

Kites (Not Rated, Drama, Action, Romance): Directed by Anurag Basu and starring Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut and Nicholas Brown.

Love at First Kill (Not Rated, Drama, Thriller): Directed by John Daly and starring Noah Segan, Margot Kidder, Michael Bowen and Lyne Renee.

Waiting for Superman (PG, Documentary, Special Interest): Directed by Davis Guggenheim.

Williams S. Borroughs: A Man Within (Not Yet Rated, Documentary, Special Interest): Directed by Yony Leyser.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (R, Romance, Comedy): Directed by Woody Allen and starring Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Gemma Jones and Antonio Banderas.

If I could only watch one movie at the theatre this week, it would be “Unknown,” and if I had to pick just one DVD to rent this week, it would be “Unstoppable.”

In the end, let me know if you get a chance to watch any of the new movies in theatres this week or if you’ve already seen any of the movies that have just been released on DVD. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Which literary work will win this year's Warwick Prize for Writing?

Ever heard of the Warwick Prize for Writing?

Me neither, that is, until today when I ran across a press release saying that six works had been named to the short list of nominees for this year’s award.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Warwick Prize, it is given ever two years “for an excellent and substantial piece of writing in the English language, in any genre or form, on a theme that will change with every award.” The theme for the 2011 award is “colour.”

The prize, which was first awarded in 2009, is worth 50,000 English pounds, that is, about 80,000 dollars American. The award was launched and is sponsored by the University of Warwick, which is located in Coventry, England. Anyone at Warwick University, including professors, students, alumni and staff, can nominate a work for the prize.

According to the university’s website (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/prizeforwriting/), the Warwick Prize is the “only cross-disciplinary writing competition in existence, including things such as scientific research, novels, poems, websites, movies and plays.”

The short list for this year’s award was released on Friday, and six works made the cut. They include:
- “The Wasted Vigil” by Nadeem Aslam
- “Dazzled and Deceived: Mimicry and Camouflage” by Peter Forbes
- “The Memory of Love” by Aminatta Forna
- “The Literature Police: Apartheid Censorship and its Cultural Consequences” by Peter D. McDonald
- “What Color is the Sacred?!” by Michael Taussig
- “White Egrets” by Derek Walcott.

One of these works will receive the 2011 Warwick Prize, and the winner will be announced on March 22.

The above works and five others were named to the long list for this year’s award several months ago. Other works on the long list were:
- “Colour and Meaning in Ancient Rome” by Mark Bradley
- “Shades of Grey” by Jasper Fforde
- “Molotov’s Magic Lantern” by Rachel Polonsky
- “Lisa Robertson’s Magenta Soul Whip” by Lisa Robertson
- “Hackney, That Rose Red Empire” by Iain Sinclair

“The Shock of Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” by Naomi Klein won the first Warwick Prize in 2009. The theme for that year’s award was “complexity.”

Other works that made the short list for the inaugural award were:
- “Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800” by Lisa Appignanesi
- “The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed Bishop Gerardi?” by Francisco Goldman
- “Reinventing the Sacred” by Stuart A. Kauffman
- “The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century” by Alex Ross
- “Montano’s Malady” by Enrique Vila-Matas and translated by Jonathan Dunne

Works that made the long list in 2009 were:
- “The Tiger That Isn’t” by Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot
- “Torques: Drafts 58-76” by Rachel Blau DuPlessis
- “Glister” by John Burnside
- “Planet of Slums” by Mike Davies
- “Someone Else” by John Huges
- “The Burning” by Thomas Legendre
- “Adam’s Ancestors: Race Religion and the Politics of Human Origins” by David Livingstone
- “The Wild Places” by Robert Macfarlane
- “The Meaning of the 21st Century” by James Martin
- “Brasyl” by Ian McDonald
- “Netherland” by Joseph O’Neill
- “The Informers” by Juan Gabriel Vasquez and translated by Anne McLean
- “Portrait with Keys” by Ivan Vladislavic
- “The Trader, The Owner, The Slave” by James Walvin.

In the end, how many of you have ever heard of the Warwick Prize prior to tonight? Have any of you had a chance to read any of the above works? Which would you recommend? Which do you think has the best chance of winning this year’s prize? Let us know in the comments section below.

Do you think 'Inception' will win the Academy Award for Best Picture?

I finally watched the movie “Inception” the other night, and I have to say that this is one of the best movies of 2010 that I’ve seen.

To say that I enjoyed the movie would be putting it mildly. I’d call it a healthy mix of “The Matrix,” “Johnny Mnemonic” and Philip K. Dick with a dash of Stanley Kubrick thrown in.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of watching this science fiction film, it’s about a unique corporate spy who can enter the dreams of his targets and, unbeknownst to his victim, he can extract valuable information as well as their innermost secrets. Much of this movie centers on a high-powered Japanese businessman who hires a dream thief to pull off an “inception,” that is, to plant a destructive idea into the mind of one of his business rivals.

This movie, which was written and directed by Christopher Nolan, was released in theatres on July 16, 2010. Leonardo DiCaprio played the lead role of dream thief Dom Cobb, and Michael Caine plays Cobb’s father-in-law, Dr. Stephen Miles. Other cast members included Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao and Tom Berenger.

“Inception” has been wildly successful. After being nine years of development prior to its release, the movie was shot under a budget of $160 million. On its opening day, the movie grossed $21 million and grossed nearly $63 million in its opening weekend. To date, gross DVD sales have topped $68 million.

Fans of “Inception” will also have a lot to look forward during the upcoming Academy Awards, which will be held on Feb. 27 and aired on ABC. “Inception” has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Art Directing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects and Best Writing-Original Screenplay.

This movie was great, and I suspect that it won’t be long before it’ll be considered a sci-fi classic. However, if I had to say that there was one thing I didn’t like about it, it would be that the movie is too long. The film’s run-time was 142 minutes, and there towards the end, I caught myself glancing at my watch and wondering just how much more of the movie was left.

In the end, I loved this movie, and I suspect that it will do well at this year’s Academy Awards. In my book, it gets an A+.

How many of you have seen this movie? What did you think about it? What did you like or dislike about it? Let us know in the comments section below.

'Swimsuit' is this week's No. 1 paperback best-seller

It’s Sunday, so that means that it’s time for my weekly review of this week’s Publishers Weekly Best-Seller List. According to the list, we’ve got one new book at the top of the four major best-seller lists this week.

“Swimsuit” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro replaced “Marrying Daisy Bellamy” as the top book on the mass market paperback best-sellers list.

“Tick Tock” by James Patterson retained the No. 1 spot on the hardcover fiction best-sellers list.

"Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption" by Laura Hillenbrand retained the top spot on the hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list.

“Water for Elephants: A Novel” remained the top book on the trade paperbacks best-sellers list.

There are three books on this week’s hardcover fiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. Those books (and their place on the list) are "Fatal Error" by J.A. Jance (7), "Blackveil" by Kristen Britain (12) and "Left Neglected" by Lisa Genova (15).

There are five books on this week’s hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list that weren’t on the list last week. They include "The Pioneer Woman" by Ree Drummond (2), "Veganist" by Kathy Freston (8), "As One" by Mehrdad Baghai & James Quigley (11), "The Lean Belly Prescription" by Travis Stork, M.D., with Peter Moore (14) and "In the Blink of an Eye" by Michael Waltrip & Ellis Henican (15).

There are five books on this week’s mass market paperbacks best-sellers list that weren’t on that list last week. Those books include "Frankenstein: Lost Souls" by Dean Koontz (9), "The Lincoln Lawyer" by Michael Connelly (11), "This Body of Death" by Elizabeth George (12), "Tom Clancy's Endwar" by David Michaels (14) and "Blood Wyne" by Yasmine Galenorn (15).

There are four books on this week’s trade paperbacks list that weren’t on the list last week. They include “The Postmistress" by Sarah Blake (8), "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis (10), "Committed" by Elizabeth Gilbert (13) and "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho (15).

As a reminder, I’m posting these lists each Sunday because they, as a whole, represent a great, contemporary recommended reading list. They are initially released each week on Thursday, and if you’re interested in reading them then, visit Publishers Weekly’s Web site at www.publishersweekly.com. Below you’ll find all four of this week’s best-seller lists.

HARDCOVER FICTION
1. "Tick Tock" by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
2. "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larsson
3. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
4. "The Inner Circle" by Brad Meltzer
5. "Dead or Alive" by Tom Clancy and Grant Blackwood
6. "Strategic Moves" by Stuart Woods
7. "Fatal Error" by J.A. Jance
8. "Shadowfever" by Karen Marie Moning
9. "The Confession" by John Grisham
10. "The Sentry" by Robert Crais
11. "Room: A Novel" by Emma Donoghue
12. "Blackveil" by Kristen Britain
13. "What the Night Knows: A Novel" by Dean Koontz
14. "The Red Garden" by Alice Hoffman
15. "Left Neglected" by Lisa Genova

HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" by Laura Hillenbrand
2. "The Pioneer Woman" by Ree Drummond
3. "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by Amy Chua
4. "The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommom Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman" by Timothy Ferriss
5. "Decision Points" by George W. Bush
6. "Cleopatra: A Life" by Stacy Schiff
7. "The Investment Answer" by Daniel C. Goldie and Gordon S. Murray
8. "Veganist" by Kathy Freston
9. "Sexy Forever: How to Fight Fat after Forty" by Suzanne Somers and Michael Galitzer
10. "The Hidden Reality" by Brian Greene
11. "As One" by Mehrdad Baghai & James Quigley
12. "Autobiography of Mark Twain" by Ed. by Harriet Elinor Smith
13. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
14. "The Lean Belly Prescription" by Travis Stork, M.D., with Peter Moore
15. "In the Blink of an Eye" by Michael Waltrip & Ellis Henican

MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS
1. "Swimsuit" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
2. "Marrying Daisy Bellamy" by Susan Wiggs
3. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
4. "Wild Man Creek" by Robyn Carr
5. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
6. "Here to Stay" by Catherine Anderson
7. "Deliver Us From Evil" by David Baldacci
8. "Sizzle" by Julie Garwood
9. "Frankenstein: Lost Souls" by Dean Koontz
10. "Broken" by Karin Slaughter
11. "The Lincoln Lawyer" by Michael Connelly
12. "This Body of Death" by Elizabeth George
13. "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown
14. "Tom Clancy's Endwar" by David Michaels
15. "Blood Wyne" by Yasmine Galenorn

TRADE PAPERBACKS
1. "Water for Elephants: A Novel" by Sara Gruen
2. "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese
3. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson
4. "Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back" by Todd Burpo, Sonja Burpo, Colton Burpo and Lynn Vincent
5. "True Grit" by Charles Portis
6. "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave
7. "Inside of a Dog" by Alexandra Horowitz
8. The Postmistress" by Sarah Blake
9. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson
10. "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
11. "The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel" by Garth Stein
12. "Winter Garden" by Kristin Hannah
13. "Committed" by Elizabeth Gilbert
14. "The Imperfectionists: A Novel" by Tom Rachman
15. "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho

In the end, let me know if you’ve had a chance to read any of these books. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

119 runners take part in Gator Chase 5K in Spanish Fort

Yesterday, I found myself among the 119 runners that took part in the Gator Chase 5K and Fun Run in Spanish Fort, and it was a picture perfect day for a foot race.

The 5-K (3.1-mile) race began at 8 a.m. at Meaher State Park in Spanish Fort, and it was 36 degrees under clear and sunny skies at race start time. The one-mile fun run began at 9 a.m.

The 5-K course began near the park entrance, but mostly consisted of an out-and-back stretch on the Spanish Fort Causeway. The course was mostly a flat track on asphalt, except for a slight hill on the Causeway before the turn around for the final stretch back to the finish line inside the park.

Reece Stevens, 14, of Spanish Fort was the overall male winner. He ran the race in 18:43, an average of 6:01 per mile.

Joy Lueck, 30, of Spanish Fort was the overall female winner. She finished the race in 23:10, an average of 7:27 per mile.

I finished 27th overall and fifth in the 30-39 male division. I crossed the finish line in 25:01, an average of 8:04 per mile. For the complete race results, visit http://www.productionsbylittleredhen.com/resultsinfo4.asp?raceid=gatch10.

Runners in the race came from all over, but mostly from Baldwin and Mobile counties. Runners in the race represented Atmore, Bay Minette, Biloxi, Miss., Daphne, Excel, Flomaton, Foley, Grand Bay, Gulf Port, Miss., Loxley, Mobile, Moss Point, Miss., Ocean Springs, Miss., Pascagoula, Miss., Pelham, Pensacola, Fla., Saraland, Satsuma, Semmes, Silver Hill and Spanish Fort.

When it comes to races of this sort, they are often judged on the quality of their race t-shirts, and this race gets an A+ in that category. The Gator Chase 5K shirt was a high quality shirt with a stylish logo across the front. The back listed the race’s many sponsors. I meant to post a picture of the shirt, but just didn’t get around to it.

Another interesting thing about this race was that it began and ended inside of a state park, which appeared to have a number of guests camping in several dozen RVs near the park entrance. The race began early on a Saturday morning, and I wondered about how many folks didn’t get to sleep in because of all the race activity. Who knows? Maybe some of the folks in the RVs actually took part in the race.

The park, located at 5200 Battleship Parkway East, offered a nice setting for the race. The park consists of 1,327 acres and is located along the Mobile Bay’s wetlands. It features camping hook-ups, a picnic area, bathhouses, laundry facilities, a boat ramp, a fishing pier and two nature trails. The park is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to sunset. Entrance fees are 50 cents for children 6-11, $1 for visitors 12-61 and 50 cents for seniors age 62 and older.

The Gator Chase 5K and Fun Run benefited the Spanish Fort Education Enrichment Foundation, which provides educational enrichment opportunities for students in Spanish Fort schools.

Mobile Symphony wows sizeable Monroeville audience

My wife and I were among the sizeable crowd last night that attended - and thoroughly enjoyed - a Mobile Symphony Orchestra concert at Alabama Southern Community College in Monroeville.

The Mobile Symphony normally performs at the Saenger Theatre in Mobile, but they scheduled last night’s free performance in Monroeville thanks to funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. The event was also sponsored by Alabama Southern Community College, the City of Monroeville and the Monroe County Commission.

The theme of last night’s concert was “Love and Literature,” which fit nicely with Monroeville’s official nickname, “The Literary Capital of Alabama,” and the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday.

The concert, which began about 7:30 p.m. and ended just after 9 p.m., featured 16 musical selections, all of which were taken from or based on famous literary works.

Musical selections included two songs from “Carmen, Suite No. 1” by Georges Bizet, “Los Toreadors” and “Aragonaise;” the theme from the movie “Romeo and Juliet” by Nino Rota; two songs from “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein, “Somewhere” and “One Hand, One Heart;” “Dulcinea” from “Man of La Mancha” by Mitch Leigh; “Clarinet Candy” by Leroy Anderson; “All I Ask of You” from “Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber; “Moon River” by Henry Mancini; “I Could Have Danced All Night” from “My Fair Lady” by Frederick Loewe; “So in Love” from “Kiss Me Kate” by Cole Porter; the main title theme from “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Elmer Bernstein; “Bugler’s Holiday” by Leroy Anderson; “If Ever I Would Leave You” from “Camelot” by Frederick Loewe; and “People Will Say We’re in Love” from “Oklahoma” by Richard Rodgers.

Many of these songs featured the vocal talents of soprano Diane Penning and baritone Ken Weber. After the completion of the songs on the program (and a rousing standing ovation from the audience), the symphony closed out the night with a very entertaining final number, “Anything You Can Do” from “Annie Get Your Gun” by Irvin Berlin.

All of the above songs were artfully conducted by the symphony’s music director, Scott Speck. Speck, who introduced each piece with good-natured and often humorous remarks, is a native of Boston and is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Southern California. He is perhaps best known for being the co-author of “Classical Music for Dummies” and “Opera for Dummies.”

A number of my friends attended the event, and they all said that they enjoyed the concert. More than a few of them expressed interest in traveling to Mobile to watch the symphony perform at their home theatre. One upcoming performance described on last night’s program seemed to catch everyone’s eye, a May 7 performance of “The Music of Led Zeppelin,” featuring guest conductor Brent Havens and vocalist Randy Jackson. “A 50-piece orchestra and a full Rock band will perform Led Zeppelin’s classic songs in a brilliant combination of passion and power,” the program said.

In the end, last night’s concert was a hit for the hometown audience, and we may have more concerts to look forward to in the future. On the way out of the auditorium last night, I spoke briefly with Alabama Southern’s president, Dr. Reginald Sykes, who said that the college is looking into the possibility of hosting more events like this in the future.

For more information about the Mobile Symphony, visit its website at www.mobilesymphony.org.