Five urgently needed blog topics for Birmingham

I had a nice conversation with Birmingham magazine’s associate editor Carla Jean Whitley about blogging in Birmingham. During our talk, we brainstormed five blogs that could be successful right now in Birmingham:

1. history;
2. transportation;
3. barbecue;
4. classical music and opera;
5. hip hop.

(Note: The article says “golf,” but my notes say hip hop. Sheesh, just how white do you want this list of ideas??)

“Successful” could mean passionate readers, good discussion and coverage of a topic deserving of a bigger showcase.

Why these five?

History is a strong unshakable part of Birmingham. We’ve built the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute around it, but we need more. Someone with a deep background in history could make this blog compelling and timely. We need not fear our past; we must embrace it and tell the story on our terms.

Transportation should be a no-brainer. Ginny MacDonald writes the popular Driver’s Side column for the Birmingham News, but it clearly focuses on drivers only. Birmingham has great need for better transportation planning and execution, from bike lanes to mass transit to carpooling to city planning. So far, Bike Skirt and Bicicoop have talked about the needs and advantages of cyclists, but that leaves a great chasm of needed discussion on how to solve the region’s transportation woes.

I could argue about barbecue all day (chopped pork, not sliced, regular red sauce). So could most folks in Birmingham, which has a messy melange of styles and sauces and techniques. Heck, I just judged a charity barbecue competition last week, and we saw so many approaches to chicken, ribs and sauce … some good, some not so good. A Birmingham barbecue blog would not only draw a big following, but big potential advertisers, too.

We came up with two music blog ideas, because Carla Jean and I love concerts and bands and CDs and music talk. (Carla Jean writes the popular Birmingham magazine music blog, Birmingham Box Set.) Many local music blogs focus on popular music, usually toward the rock/pop/indie side.

Except for Michael Huebner’s column in the News, we have very little coverage of the classical music and opera scene in Birmingham. And with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Opera, chamber groups, choral groups and terrific shows at the Alys Stephens Center, a wide opportunity exists for someone — a fan, an expert, a professor, a journalist — to cover this side of the arts to a devoted fan base.

And what about hip hop? Come on! Birmingham’s local music scene isn’t just about rock bands like Wild Sweet Orange and Within Reason. What about ShoNuff and Birmingham J, both winners of the Birmingham Area Music Awards? Or R-Tist or Red Light District? Hip hop deserves better coverage, and the right blogger could give artists and concerts the best spotlight.

My thanks to Carla Jean and the good folks at Birmingham magazine. Read more from the article, or better yet, run (don’t walk) to the newsstand and pick up your copy today.

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What blog ideas could succeed in Birmingham today? Tell us in the comments!

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Want to get started on a blog idea listed above? Sign up for our beginner’s class in June …