By Donna Cornelius Birmingham is home to quite a few beer breweries, and Joe Pilleteri thinks there’s not a bad one in the batch. So when he decided to open his own brewery, the Vestavia Hills native looked for a way to set it apart from others in the city, he said. That’s why he chose to make his Red Hills Brewing Co. the first business of its kind in Homewood. “I’ve always … [Read more...]
Bedside Manner: Arts Education Extends from the Alys Stephens Center to UAB Hospital
By Emily WilliamsThe arts community has been a home for Kimberly Kirklin, a place of comfort throughout much of her life. In her position as director of UAB’s Institute for Arts in Medicine, she is working to share that sense of comfort with patients at UAB Hospital. For nine years, Kirklin served as the director of education and outreach for UAB’s Alys Stephens … [Read more...]
A Whole New Ball Game: Vestavia Native Opens Cashio’s Meatball Market in Lakeview
By Donna Cornelius Mary Susan Cashio is having a ball. The Vestavia Hills native just opened her own restaurant in Birmingham’s Lakeview District. Its main attraction? Meatballs. Cashio’s Meatball Market, which opened Oct. 3, owes its existence to two very different experiences – family dinners in Birmingham and food expeditions in New York City. The young restaurateur … [Read more...]
An Unconventional Rabbi: Interim Rabbi at Temple Beth-El Was Called Back to the Faith
By Sarah Kuper Although he was born into a Jewish background, Barry Leff never had the desire to be a rabbi. “For some, becoming a rabbi is a lifelong dream – but it wasn’t that way for me,” Leff said. In fact, after his bar mitzvah as a young man, Leff said he didn’t enter a temple for more than two decades except for family celebrations. “To me, Judaism was an old man … [Read more...]
A Musical Life: Gloria Moody Still on a Lifelong Mission to Promote the Arts
By June MathewsEver since she can remember, music has played a pivotal role in Gloria Moody’s life. The Tuscaloosa native and Birmingham resident early on exhibited a natural flair for the piano that set her on a lifelong course of supporting and promoting the arts. As a 4-year-old, she’d sit at the keyboard and play by ear; as a 6-year-old, she started taking … [Read more...]