Sloss Fest and More.

When I think of Sloss Furnace I remember the sky making the most beautiful sunset imaginable. Still in high school, 1971 when the particulate pollution was second to LA, the cost for fines and compliance made the old blast furnace close it doors.  I remember college in North Carolina looking at the sky and actually seeing stars that bright, never in Birmingham, where the sky had a blanket on. My very first roll of film I shot was at Sloss furnace. Winter of 1972 I squeezed through a locked gate to go in and shoot and found a giant vice.  I took that shot and told everyone it was my only vice.  Fast forward to 1981, left a really bad marriage and returned home.  Needing something to do I saw where Sloss had a organization meeting to Save Sloss Furnace. Curious, I went to the meeting and we rolled up our sleeves and started work.  The people at the meeting were all about 50 years older than I was and were having to fight the current ideas of tearing it down, or building an amusement park. Our little group wanted to make an industrial museum.  The brunt of tearing down the beautiful train station still smarted so we were listened to. 

During that time I got my job as a Lab Tech for Southern Living.  Very overweight I started swimming at UAB and trimming down.  I remember those long sexy men passing me as I huffed and puffed to make the lap but soon I could make it back and forth without that much effort.  Southern Living wouldn't give me health insurance until I weighed 180 so I would have to go in every week to weigh. Anne Moore who weighed 103 pounds would be sitting at her desk eating a danish.  Finally I got to 180 and got my health insurance provided by the company.  I did get to 129.

One thing we were doing was interviewing past employees of Sloss.  I got my gentleman to talk to and he said, why do you care about that old place? He died the next day and I quit interviewing. That booklet of all the interviews is in the Sloss visitor center.  From the highest to the lowest paid we found them.  They became the the leaders of the tours and it all came so real for the visitors.  I loved when they would blush when talking about the bustle on the furnace that resembled the bustle ladies of the that day would wear.  The pig iron was called that because it looked like baby pigs sucking their mamma's tits.We got enough support and money to hire a director, Randy Lawrence.  He let me climb on the top of the furnace to shoot the city with the furnace in front.  I can remember how scared I was because I used to be afraid of heights.

Fast fast fast forward to the Sloss Fest I just attended.  I went on Sunday and called an Uber to take me over.  They would not allow cameras so I shot everything with my cell.  I went by myself and was the only person over 50 as Mimi said. She went on Saturday and was somewhat abused by the conditions.  The rain held off and I talked to all the children and found out what they were up too. New York, Natchez, Tuscaloosa, they were from all over as well as local.  They loved their cell phones and their looks were well hysterical.  I was there from 2 o'clock till 10:30 but I paced myself.  The mud was very thick but they had Bobcats clearing and the cleaning crew was right there to make sure everything was very nice. While waiting for the last show of the night, Alabama Shakes to preform I was helping the cleaning crew by kicking cans toward them when I slipped and fell into a big mud puddle.  Everybody around me gently helped me up making sure I was okay.  I looked like Pig Pen from Charlie Brown. I could not stop taking pictures when the phone started squawking, saying you are running out of power.  I still couldn't resist.  After the second song Alabama Shakes preformed I started going up stream like a salmon and headed to call my Uber.  When I got home I pulled off my very muddy Tevas and plugged in my phone with 1% left.  I made it back, thank heavens.  Wonder what the people of Save Sloss would think? I bet they would be jump up and down happy but nobody could have imagined back then, Sloss Furnace could be the home of such an extraordinary experience.