ClarkCast Chapter 11: Micah Green is Awesome!

When I met Micah Green, he was a young journalist fresh out of Mississippi State. We worked together in the newsroom of the Commercial Dispatch in Columbus, Mississippi, under the tutelage of the legendary Birney Imes III.

Today, Micah is a well-accomplished journalist who, along with his wife, Kayla,  manages Gulf Coast Media in Baldwin County, Alabama, and The Sumter Item in Sumter, South Carolina. He has often been published in the New York Times and is a team member of  The Raw Society.

The Greens live in Gulf Shores with their dog -- I think its name is Patches. Or maybe it's Kevin? I don't know. It's a cute dog, though. Micah was raised in Laurel, Mississippi -- there's another fact about him. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Clark cast is on the air.

SPEAKER_04 0:01

Micah Green, you're uh you're about to do something cool, which you you do a lot of things that are cool, but you're walking up to bat, you're playing kickball. Wha what what's what's your walk-up music? What's playing in your head when you're about to do something? Walk into a room, light it up.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Oh well, um I don't have to think about this too hard because we had walkout songs in high school, right? So I played baseball in high school, and um, you know, this it's gonna date me and maybe um you know give away a bit of my personality there, but um, it's TI's bring them out.

SPEAKER_04 0:33

There you go. Classic. That now that that that's a walkout song, man. I was at a at a game the other night covering a softball game, and I heard like sweet home Alabama and some country jams and stuff. And I was like, all right, you know, whatever, but but bring them out. Yeah, I I I get that.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

We we grew up in the in the cronk era, and this, even though I don't know that that would be classified as crunk, it everything was uh was definitely elevated at the time.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

So um, welcome to Parkcast, conversations about life, love, music, and the pursuit of being awesome. Here's your host, Jeff Clark.

SPEAKER_04 1:40

My guest today needs no introduction, but he deserves an introduction. Uh Micah Green. Micah is one of the publishers and editors, editors of Gulf Coast Media. Um also, and you which is a bigger part of a bigger media company, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Right. Yeah. So Gulf Coast Media is owned by this family called the Osteens. Um, they're based originally in in Sumter, South Carolina, where they ran, uh, where they still run, along um with with our help a little bit, uh, the Sumter Item, which is a 132-year-old daily newspaper.

SPEAKER_04 2:15

Right on. So Micah's involved with that. He's still going up to uh to North Carolina, a good thing. Yeah, South Carolina Pierre was just there this past week.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

He's based here on the on the Alabama Gulf Coast.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

Yeah, you know, he uh he's down in living right outside of Orange Beach in that area. He's got a great house, great life down there. Um, you know, Micah's one of my one of my closest friends, but he's also and he hates when I'm gonna say this, but I only say it about a few people. He's a generational talent. He's uh he's an amazing photojournalist. He's shot for the New York Times, uh, all kinds of publications. He's done some very important work uh in in his during his you know young career, and uh we'll we'll talk about that. And Mike and I actually were on a journalism team together at the commercial dispatch in Columbus, Mississippi, where we got to work under the legendary Bernie Ives.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

My my my first real uh real job out of school was at the commercial dispatch. I would not still I probably wouldn't be here today had I not gotten that job pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_04 3:16

So and you're like you're you're being honest. Like you were living in Starkville, had just graduated Mississippi State, and at the time uh the commercial dispatch had a Columbus property and a Starkville property. And right you and uh Slim Smith were were running the uh Starkville property.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Yeah, I mean, another like incredible lucky turn of events to get to work with Slim straight out of school. Um he had just gotten back into the industry, but um was a stalwart, had been doing it for decades and legend at some of the highest levels, yeah. And so um to get that, I mean, I'm sure he wasn't super stoked to get a you know 22-year-old fresh out of school coming in the newsroom in the in the two-person newsroom every day, but um, but it meant a lot to me to to get to spend some time with him. It was super cool.

SPEAKER_04 4:01

And then they uh Peter Rimes, who was the the editor, publisher at the time, decided to make the move and brought you and Slim over to the Columbus newsroom where I was working. And uh Slim ended up being our being our editor, like um one of the best bosses I've ever had in my life, just a great dude. Uh, you and I became super tight. We wanted a covered a lot of things together, wild boar hunting, sports, like all the stuff for like a small town newspaper. Uh, you know, we hung out with Bernie, Bernie Imes, who's just you know such a well-accomplished legendary photographer, and we'll we'll we'll share some some Bernie stories. I'll I'll I'll tell you some of your favorites that of my time with him. Um, you know, Micah grew up in Laurel, Mississippi, like right down the road on the other side of Hattiesburg. Um, we were talking about this before we we started, like Laurel's really going through like a renaissance, like it it's on the map now.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, I I was just talking to somebody about this yesterday. Like I used to tell people when they asked where I'm from, I would just, especially if they weren't from the state, I would I would immediately defer to Hattiesburg because that's I've been from Tupelo, Mississippi all of my life, right?

SPEAKER_04 5:11

Where are you from? Uh, you know, Memphis. Oh, I'm from well, really Tupelo. I know Tupelo. No, I'm sorry, it's Aberdeen. Aberdeen, Mississippi. That's my home.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Yeah, you kind of go down the list there. Yeah. Um, and so now it's kind of cool. Like, I don't, I don't have to I can say Laurel, and um, you know, sometimes people don't know, but majority of the time you get like a oh, really? Which is um, which is just funny, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

They had some sort of, you know, I I don't watch the HG TV or anything, but they had like, you know, some some some heavy hitters there in the renovation world or something, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Yeah, I mean it's and it's still going. That's the impressive thing. I'll I'll be honest, I don't I don't watch it week in, week out, but I do keep up with the show. And um, yeah, they've I mean I they've done well over a hundred houses, I'm pretty sure. And in a town the size of Laurel, that's you know, that's pretty significant. So um I think from what I hear from people that are kind of like HGTV experts, is that um it is kind of it is still the heavy hitter. And I don't know if it's the genuineness or or what it is, but they've they've still got a good rap after all these years, and I think that's you know, that says a lot about um a show.

SPEAKER_04 6:13

What are what what are some of your core memories, like some of the first things you remember about Laurel?

SPEAKER_02 6:18

I had a man, I had a very awesome upgrade upbringing in downtown Laurel, which is where a lot of this renaissance has kind of happened. Um, I grew up on Seventh Avenue, which was just down the street from First Baptist, which is the church that my dad was the minister of music. And that's kind of the reason that we moved there um from Texas early on. And um, and you know, the the mall was right down the road as well. And um, we had all these, you know, cool alleyways behind the houses. It was even though it's you know, Laurel is a rural area, the downtown center, you know, central area has got you know relatively close houses, beautiful neighborhood, old historic homes. Um, and so to kind of get to just get free rain to run around there as a kid was incredible. Um you know, I'd uh with the downtown was pretty empty um when we were growing up, the actual like proper, you know, retail downtown. Um and so we kind of got free reign of that place as well. And you know, my brother and I would um kind of use it as our own, you know, playground in some ways, doing secret missions or trying to get on top of roofs and um all this kind of stuff. So yeah, man, I I mean I feel like that I was very fortunate to grow up in a in rural Mississippi, right? But still it felt like we had our own little, you know, urban, you know, tribal paradise in some ways. Um, so so yeah, it was cool.

SPEAKER_04 7:42

Tell me, let's talk about uh growing up and uh with with your dad being a uh music minister at the first Baptist Church. Yeah, were there times when he's like, hey Micah, come in. I need you to help me sing Rise Again by Dallas Home. Like, let's work on the course together while I play the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

She definitely didn't want my help for the most part growing up. My brother is definitely the more musically inclined, so he helped out a decent amount, but it was we definitely got drugged along on a lot of things. Um we and you know, we'd have to sit through practices and stuff, so we'd roam the halls, and it was this was a pretty big church, as most first Baptists are in in small town Mississippi. So um, you know, kind of ran around and hid in the pews and those kind of things during that time. But there is a kind of funny story that um my dad, after being the minister of music at First Baptist, kind of um did this for hire stuff. Gun for hire is probably not the right word, but he would do, he would sit in, he would do interim gigs for churches that were in need of somebody. So there was one that we did. I mean, I feel like it was uh it was in between Waynesboro and uh and Mississippi and uh Laurel and um and small church, uh, you know, they're rehearsing on a Saturday afternoon, I'm sure. And Zach and I are there, and my sister too, I think. Um and uh oh no, there was, it was a some small service. And anyways, their their um baptistry in the back was blocked, you know, by they'd a lot some churches would put up like you know, paintings or something in front of it, and then it would open up so that on baptism Sundays they could do it and it wouldn't be a distraction. So, anyways, back in the back, um my little brother decides to go for a quick swim um in the baptistry during the service. Um, and it was not as quiet as he thought it was. Um, my sister ended up ratting on him during the middle of the service. We had to sit there with Zach soaking wet in the front row. It was um, yeah, that was it was that was pretty indicative of the the kind of trouble we'd get in while he was doing his thing.

SPEAKER_04 9:44

You definitely need to put that in your book. You're gonna write about Laurel. You know, I say that because we're, you know, you've been to been to my house in the past. Like we're trying to encourage Charlie to uh to write about his life growing up in downtown past Christiane, you know. Um, I will say this, like I grew up a Baptist too. I don't know if you've uh I've ever discussed that, although I'm Catholic and do all that stuff. But like that that brown Southern Baptist Hymnal, man, that's the best that's got the Baptist church that's the best songs, hands down, period. I'll die on that hill. I I'm fine with that. I agree.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

I mean, I still I mean to this day, I'm I'm so I mean, I'm I'm really influenced or you know, get this incredible nostalgic feeling when I hear gospel music. Um, you know, and it's and and so yeah, it's it's definitely something that's like it's ingrained itself um in me. So yeah, it's that you're right, that thing's got a lot of bangers in it.

SPEAKER_04 10:38

Bangers, post show. Um after that went to Mississippi State University, and that you know, we met shortly after graduation. How'd you like living in Starkville?

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Yeah, so um for what it's worth, and because I hopefully a couple of friends will listen to this, I feel in and uh I need to put this in there. I did start at Ole Miss. They had a journalism school. I did a semester there, didn't work out, we'll say, and um and switchly quickly switched gears. Um and after like a quick uh junior college soccer thing, went to Mississippi State. But so um miss, but it was super important for me to go there because that first day that I walked in to meet my advisor and I told her that I wanted to do journalism of some kind, uh, even though they only had a communication degree, she said, well, if you really want to do this, you need to go to the student paper tomorrow and apply for a job. And even though I was at Ole Miss, which had the journalism school, I did the 101 thing. Um nobody ever told me to go work at the Daily Mississippian, or I think that's what it's called.

SPEAKER_05 11:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Um and so I never, even though I probably could have, and you know, that was maybe on a flyer somewhere. I for um Frances McDavid, who is such an incredible woman, she was also the advisor for the newspaper, for her to say that to me that first day, I mean that that really changed the direction of what I was doing at the time, not that I had much, but um, but yeah, so it was super important.

SPEAKER_04 12:05

How uh did did you like living in Starport? And I asked because you know, I I'm from that area. I mean, I know I used to hang out at Dave's and do the things, you know.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

I I really did. I mean, it um, you know, I think coming in the middle, not going there first semester freshman year, like that may that put me a little behind the eight ball with like, you know, meeting folks and stuff. But luckily a lot of my friends that I grew up with were there. So I could kind of force myself into some friend groups and whatnot. But yeah, I mean, I loved I lived in the cotton district for a little while. So like being able to kind of walk around to those places and not really leave that like you know, 20 block radius if you didn't need to was pretty was pretty awesome. I'd never you know lived in a like walkable area like that.

SPEAKER_04 12:47

What about what was it like when you got that first thing published when you were it's the reflector or yeah, the reflector. Okay, so you're in the reflector, you see your first photo or byline. How was that?

SPEAKER_02 12:59

You know, I don't remember the first time. I'm sure I had like one or two maybe photos in it before, but I became the news editor there my second year, maybe. And uh so the news editor designed the news section as well. So you read the you read the stories, but you also designed the section, which I I still like doing to this day. Um, but they uh we had we were doing some story about uh some abortion law had come up in the state legislature, and so we were doing something on it. I'm sure it was riveting stuff. Um, but the uh so there was a a word on the front page. I guess it must have been abortion. I can't remember. There were we had it was like a three-word headline, and anyways, I was super super excited about this. It told everybody go pick up a paper the next day, and I misspelled a word in the headline, and um and it was yeah, it was pretty devastating. I was like, I guess that might be my last time as well writing a headline, but luckily I got a couple more chances.

SPEAKER_04 14:03

We've all been there.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

That's the really the one I remember more than uh than any of them.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

Sure. Uh, and that that makes total sense. I I remember things I had miss, you know, misprinted things I didn't check 15 times and relied on someone else when it's you know, it's me. I should have, you know, I get that, man.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

In some ways, like those are the I mean, they're obviously the best learning tools because you're so embarrassed and you're so, you know, you know, it's no one no one else's fault. You know, you you there's a good chance you're not gonna make those mistakes again, at least not in the same way.

SPEAKER_04 14:36

You know, one of the things that uh that you and I were doing like in the early early days of our friendships, we were podcasting. We had a uh had an SEC uh football podcast. It was me and you, just like a whole cast of characters. Uh this was back when Nick Saban was reigning terror. Dak Prescott was at MSU, you'd always give our MSU stuff, and uh that that was a lot of fun. And Mississippi State had a really good team back at that time, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

It was a ton of fun, yeah. And it was leading up to getting better too. That was the best part about it. Like we were early Dan years, and like each year got a incrementally better, you know, and so that yeah, it really was. Um, I definitely had to do as much as I love um our as much as I love Mississippi State football and football in general. I do remember like those hours before that that phone call, which we were doing podcasting too when not a ton of people were. I mean, this is like kind of early these days podcasts, right?

SPEAKER_04 15:33

Like we had to do it over dial up, you know, like like this whole phone thing that we figured out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

But but yeah, those um, I just remember doing all like trying to cram research in before those, so you had like you know, numbers and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 15:45

So I remember Todd Bean, he was uh he was our Vols guy, you know, he's in the band glossary, and like you know, he would come on there. It was fun. We'd do that every Sunday and and did that uh for a while. You know, I we we've talked about this before, but I want to go on record saying it. Like, I think that the news team of which we were part in uh at the commercial dispatch, probably one of the best news teams I've ever been on in my life. Now, and I and that's not to discount, like I've had the pleasure of working with legends like Anita Lee, Margaret Baker, Paul Hampton, like some legit heavy hitters, but just that that news team, man, I feel like we gelled and we we we kept Columbus, we covered Columbus well, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Yeah, yeah. And I mean, you talk about the like now, it's like it's hard to find, or you know, I see this with our young journalists, like even the best ones, it's hard for them to stick in the industry for very long for you know various reasons, right? But um, all of those or the majority of those people that I know from there, you know, are either still in the industry or or doing something pretty close to it at a high level. You know, I mean, you talk about Sarah Fowler, I mean, she was a Times fellow. Um, you know, I mean, Carmen Sisson, one of the best writers that I've ever, you know, had the pleasure of working with in terms of like, you know, narrative stuff. Um, yeah, I mean, you can't do that.

SPEAKER_04 17:06

That guy Matt that laid the paper out, he was a rock star, like everybody, yeah. You know, it was good.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Yeah, and I think that says I'm I think that uh has so much to do with obviously the IMS and them being very selective with like who they were picking. I you know, I was always so even leading up to having that position, they would bring in a photographer from the University of Missouri. I think it was always in the University of Missouri, almost every year as like an intern for the summer, and they would just produce insane, you know, uh photo stories over that over that three-month period and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 17:40

I can't remember that kid's name that we worked with, but like I love that kid. I I took him to concerts, get to shoot concerts with me and stuff all the time. Yeah. And he's like a great photographer, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

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SPEAKER_03 18:21

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SPEAKER_04 18:50

Even back then, and I I don't know, you can tell me if you still do it in your newsroom or not. We didn't do it as much at the Sun Herald when I was there, but like every day at 10 o'clock, we were having a meeting with Bernie, with Peter, with everybody in the newsroom. What do you got? You pitch your stories, Bernie'd give you the thumbs up, the thumbs down, or tell you what he wanted out of the story. And like, man, that that stuff helped me tremendously.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

Yeah. Yeah, we we don't do them as often anymore. And of course, like the like this after the pandemic, you know, the the way that we work kind of changed as well. Um, you know, we definitely have a much more hybrid model than we've ever had. Um, and down here on in Baldwin County, it's pretty necessary because we've got four people covering a state the size or a county the size of Rhode Island. So we kind of, you know, we let people be where they are. And but we we do have we have two budget meetings a month, uh or excuse me, a week. Um we have one on Monday and one on Thursdays for our prop for the Gulf Coast properties. And so that's when we kind of are going over what's scheduled for the week, where people are pitching ideas, you know, enterprise stories, those kind of things. Um, I think that that has been our biggest challenge is finding because we work with young journalists so much, like finding the balance between knowing that we have to, you know, find that remote balance, but also giving them like that newsroom experience, you know, because that was so formative, I think, for everybody that was in the industry early on. Um and so still trying to find a balance with doing that. Because I do think that whether it's a budget meeting or just like, you know, bullshitting back and forth with people in the newsroom, um, I think that all that stuff is helpful, you know, to grow as as a journalist.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

And for those of you, you know, both of you who are listening in South Mississippi, uh, Charlie, who whoever the other listener is going to be. So when we're talking about Bernie, we're talking about Bernie Imes, and you can Google him very easily. Uh Bernie Bernie, he he did the the book Juke Joints, which is critically acclaimed, a very popular coffee table book of his photography of the subject matter, juke joints. Uh his ph photograph is on the cover of the Lucinda Williams album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. I mean, he he he he's a legend. He's he's a you know, uh just a very legit photographer, respected newsman, you know. So it was a real it was a real honor. It was a real honor and pleasure to work under him. I'm not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Yeah. I agree. I mean, he's I didn't even, I mean, I guess I obviously knew that that um taking photographs for a living was a thing, but he really opened up the idea that you know that it's more than that to me. I did not study any of this in school. Like I took one film photography class that was totally technical and about development in the dark dark room and those kind of things. But I until I kind of learned about Bernie, I you know, I didn't understand that crossover too between like documentary work and the art. world and how those two things can kind of intermingle. Um and uh yeah I mean he's he said so many like small little profound things to me that he probably would never think twice about um but that just kind of stuck with me and you know that I was trying to figure out like five years later, you know what that meant kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

So yeah he was uh he he's an interesting guy for sure you know like I I I've told you this but like when I was at the dispatch and you and I got to do this together and then you ended up doing it like quite a bit. You know we covered Alabama football together you know back when Alabama like during the peak of the Saban era you know like wartime those those press conferences like all that stuff some of my my favorite memories uh uh of my you know journalism career but like Bernie you know came to me and Bernie's just like you know he's he's a very wealthy guy I don't have any I mean that's that you could probably Google that that's not a lie that's a fact that it's nothing to do with anything but he's also very humble like that stuff doesn't affect him at all at all. You know so he he comes to me in the newsroom one day and he's like Jeff how about I I'd really like to go with you to an Alabama game and and sit in the press box and eat some hot dogs and blah blah blah and I'm like I'm kind of stunned by that because the backstory is Bernie's brother-in-law is Johnny Musso who's married to his sister Tanner Himes and Johnny Muso up until like Derrick Henry I think was the number one running back ever in Alabama Crimson Tide so Bernie could literally sit in the good seats in a suite with you know Ken Stabler because Ken Stabler is still alive man with like people like that but like nah man he wanted to come hang out with me and eat hot dogs in the press box you know yeah yeah I mean stuff like that all the time there was so much about him that kind of exuded those things too I mean even I didn't get to do at a time but there were a couple really fun and like impactful shoots that I got to go out with him.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

I think at the time he was doing these um really slow shoots and I don't mean that in any way like I appreciated it so much you know tripod medium format um uh shoots at uh and you'll I I would assume it was in one of the magazines that we did but of beautiful homes in the area um I can't remember what it was but anyways so we did that a couple times and um just watching him work and um the way that he presents himself to people and you're right I mean there there is something a lot more salt of the earth than you know he lets on what was that magazine we got to do was it called catfish or something it's like one of those Catfish Alley was one of the catfish alley yeah that's it yeah but that color I feel you know we did Kevin it was such a you know and I've learned a little bit more about um that from um the editor from the New York Times that I was talking about that interned after we left um she turned me on to this book from O N Pruitt who took photos in the area you know through the 20s um early early on he's kind of the town's unofficial documentary and there's a ton about catfish alley in there it's just fascinating stuff yeah burn and and Bernie always got the covers Bernie did the cover story like that that's it man like he did this great piece on Paul Thorne one time which is still like one of my favorite things that that he's ever written you know I I hopefully I've told you this you know he uh when Neil Young came to the amphitheater so when I was at the Sun Herald I would cover entertainment or or even at the dispatch I'd cover the shows at the uh you and I'd go over to the amphitheater in Tuscaloosa and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 25:42

And uh so Neil Young was coming to the amphitheater in Tuscaloosa and Alabama shakes are opening for them and Bernie's like hey can I go with you to this I'm like yeah absolutely of course you can like so I got to spend an hour in the car with Bernie you know and then we like he's like well let's go eat you know and he takes me to eat and he's like where do you want to go and I'm like I don't know Chipotle because it was close to the thing and like he's so anti like that sort of stuff you know he's like really Jeff we can eat barbecue out of a dirty shoe in the back of this house you know like they have great Alabama barbecue with white sauce and he's like you want to go to Chipotle I'm like yeah come on man let's just go there quick and easy and we we were walking in to the thing or getting ready to go like walk into the thing and he had like all this stuff with him like recording equipment like you know you know like like tape deck and all the stuff and I was like he's gonna bootleg the show yeah like for real I was like what are you doing dude and he's like oh yeah I just I'm gonna record this I'm like no no no no no put that stuff up man they're gonna make us they're either not gonna let us in at all or we're gonna have to walk all this stuff back to the car dude this is we're not going to Woodstock man we're going this is like a controlled environment you know but uh I see I told me that story before and I I've never I don't know that I've ever asked this follow-up but I wonder if he was if I wonder if he did that throughout his life like would go to shows and record them like that. I'll I'll say this like I had two sets of tickets I had like I had two tickets some some agent or somebody had given me and then like I had a one floor ticket right that was like for the photography or stuff like that. Like right Bernie took that ticket like I never saw him it's not like we were singing Harvest Moon together and reminiscing like he was down as close to the stage shooting it enjoying the whole thing you know so it was uh oh so oh yeah so you gave him the photo yeah I gave him the photo ticket man and he was like peace out dude I'm going to watch Neil Young and Alabama Shakespeare and I remember the ride home like he thought new it was Neil Young a crazy horse and he thought Neil Young was like great but man he loved Alabama Shakespeare he'd never seen them didn't know much about them and was really really blown away by them you know yeah yeah as was all like so much of the country at that point.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Sure yeah she's a she's powerhouse man I hope I and I feel this way already because sometimes I find myself like doing that like ditching friends to go down and photograph stuff like I hope that I'm still feeling that way about photography when I you know when I was when I'm his age that that you told that story.

SPEAKER_04 28:18

Right. And I'll tell that story about you. So my my son Charlie who considers you one of his best friends he'll tell that story about also I want to mention real quick it's pretty rude that you had me follow up Charlie Clark in the episode listings here man that that that's heavy hitter dude he's a banger you know it was like he he said some he dropped some wisdom I don't know if you listened to it but I did like that sticks quote I was like where did you get like that about made me cry you know it's like holy man I know exactly where he got it from the the the apple doesn't fall as I hear the rotten apple. You know one one more thing about Bernie and and his book I noticed so you were at our house for Mardi Gras which which we do every year for the Pasparade it's like one of my literally one of my favorite times of the year. You were here this year we and it man I had the best time like it I'm still you know just it it was the hat one of the happiest days ever I have that cop Bernie just one day out of the blue called me in his office at the at the dispatch he's like Jeff I got I would give this to you and it was an autograph like copy of juke joints with like this really nice very thoughtful inscription and anyway I have it like on my coffee table in my house and I noticed you picked that book up probably 10 times and looked at it while you were here. And I and I thought that was really really cool.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

I was like yeah my dude still loves photography you know absolutely man yeah I mean he again his uh I wish I would have been more conscious of like this career that I'm kind of in now because I would have definitely begged and pleaded for you know some kind of a book because I mean they're they're difficult to find now from what I remember. Um yeah I mean they're not as they're obviously you know I don't know that they're doing as many reprints or anything so um anyways I I may do a I may reinvigorate that search and you you've had your own book right you you had a show and and and law like yeah yeah it was super cool like I um it was just a self-published thing um and I I I can't believe I haven't really followed up on it but um but yeah uh not long after Kayla and I got married who I I work with my wife she's a writer and generational talent I throw that title out on her as well she is she is she she certainly is um anyways we had gone we kind of like last minute we weren't gonna go on a honeymoon and then last minute we did and we ended up going to Amsterdam um because flights were open and we fly standby um so so we ended up going to Amsterdam and and spent a few days there and we went to the Rijks museum um and uh we spent a whole day there and I photographed I brought my camera of course and I photographed a lot of the art and ended up realizing kind of towards the end that I was focusing on the hands a lot um you know the the attention that a lot of these painters and sculptors would pay to you know the emotion and stuff that that is carried in the hands and and how little a piece of the of the painting it was but how how much attention it would get a lot. Because that's an easy thing to mess up. And if you mess those up kind of like eyes or you know certain features it kind of throws the whole thing off. So anyways I uh kind of thought about that for a while afterwards and um started working on this like actively working on it but also going back through my archive from the past couple of years and finding photos of hands um just from different assignments and sometimes personal stuff and those kind of things. And I realized that I had been kind of focusing on them as well. So yeah put together a book called um hands on the south and um and that project uh also was shown at uh the Laurel um I'm excuse me the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel um which was uh like incredible for me it's one of it's an incredible museum first of all it's uh I think it's somebody's gonna get mad at me here but I'm 98% sure it's it certainly was the first it may be the only accredited museum in the state of Mississippi um which I am not going to be able to explain exactly what that means. I know it's important um and both personally and I think like on a on um a museum level but uh but I grew up going there and like that was a place it was downtown as well and um oftentimes like on the weekends my parents would like send me and my brother there um because it's free and you know it could kill some time. And so yeah I got to show some photos there along with some other really talented artists and um it was yeah it was incredible. I felt a little out of my depth um and looking back on it uh there's so much I would change about it but uh but yeah it was it was a lot of fun to do and um just kind of again opened up a different realm as well um in terms of like that fine art crossover um with documentary work.

SPEAKER_04 33:21

Now I I kind of I want I want to shift gears to talk about something like very you know profound, serious I think because you mentioned traveling you mentioned going to Amsterdam and stuff. Yeah let's talk about the Alliance for smiles and how you got involved with that and how that's changed your life like what that's been like for you.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

Yeah I'd love to I mean there uh so yeah I I got involved with them when I was still living in Atlanta um there was uh the paper that I was working for um in for Scythe County Georgia I'd been there for maybe two years um someone involved with the organization an older gentleman um who was a photographer for them lived in the area had seen my work he was unable to go his doctor would not allow him to go on this trip to Nigeria and um so kind of last minute I think I had a month to prepare um they asked me if I wanted to go if I would you know want to replace him essentially and um yeah it it uh it worked out um I went on that first trip um you know it's all it's all volunteer based so as long as I could get the time off they paid for everything after that which was great um in terms of like travel and stuff and uh yeah it was my first experience doing something like that. They do cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries all over the world. They're similar you may have heard of like Smile Train or Operation Smiles. Those are two larger organizations that do that type of work. But they're they're a small outfit based out of San Francisco. They were started by some Rotarians um in the in the mid-90s I believe maybe late 90s um and yeah they uh they still I think only have like four or five full-time employees and everybody else which we have teams of 20 um you know or more sometimes uh is volunteer um all their medical staff everything so um it's a great great organization I've uh and they've again you know I've gotten to kind of travel the world with them I've done Nigeria Ethiopia um Ghana uh Myanmar Bangladesh um so it's just you know the the doors that they've opened for me in terms of just like understanding the world and those kind of things um are are one thing but then also to see the impact that they have um on these children's and these families um is yeah it really has been life changing and there's no really other way to put it um yeah and it's just one of those you know you come back um invigorated and thankful and grateful for all the stuff that you know that we take for granted on a on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

Sure. So and what about uh the the Raw Society magazine? Tell tell me about that. You and your wife are very involved in that.

SPEAKER_02 36:21

Yep so um so the Raw Society is a a group of um photographers uh from all over the world um started by Christelle inquist and Jorge Delgado Yoreña um they're based uh in menorca Spain I think uh yeah so they're based in Menorca and um we got involved with them uh probably six years ago at this point during yeah during the pandemic um they've offered uh workshops all over the world for a number of years and even a couple before the pandemic um uh that I was not able to go on I couldn't figure that out financially but during the pandemic they started to offer some workshops online and so I got involved with those um you know little hour two hour things um and got a lot of got a lot of uh you know information out of those um it kind of opened my eye again just to a a broader world it does feel like that throughout like the photo side of what I've been doing is like every couple years a door opens and it gets wider and broader and um and that's been yeah the the Ross Society has been a huge part of that too. So um I went and met them uh when they came to New York at some point and um we kind of hit it off and they traveled down to Mississippi to host a workshop and afterwards I invited them to Gulf Shores to stay with us for a week. It's hard to turn down the white sandy beaches of um of coastal Alabama. So they came and spent a week with us met my wife obviously and um that was that was big and we kind of they had I think been mulling this over a little bit but we kind of put together this idea for the Raw Society magazine which has just finished its fourth issue. It's a uh we release it annually it's a 200 plus page magazine but it's really almost a book um with stories from all over the world um unique takes from personal stories from photographers um that they crowdsource and um that we distribute for them. So um it's been it's been really cool and I'm actually this weekend I've kind of been doing some um some one-on-one stuff some mentoring sessions online but this weekend I'm hosting my first um workshop in person in New Orleans um we call them four by four so they're four days and four participants and so uh we're going to do that uh this weekend for the first time which I'm really excited about so just like that that teaching and you know mentoring side um has been the next door that's kind of open for me and and something that I've really found a lot of value and joy in over the last year and a half two years.

SPEAKER_04 39:17

Awesome man I want to talk about uh Gulf Coast media like my experience with Gulf Coast media so I'm you know I remember when I was the communications director at the aquarium you called me one day and I'll say this man like you living in LA lower Alabama me living here has like been the best thing for our friendship right like we're you know we we hang out we legit like get to hang out and you do a lot of work in Mississippi so you know we we see each other quite regularly but uh you call me and you're like hey um we're we're we're covering we're gonna do this whole like group coverage of hangout fest you know we want you to be a part of the team I'm like me like dude I'm a hundred years old now you're like no man come on let's you stay with us for the weekend we're gonna we're gonna go do this together so when we started having our meetings through zoom you know with your team I met you know Melanie was working there then and uh there was that photographer what was his name Bernard or something he was from something yeah that's Vince's dad yeah yeah publisher's dad yeah yeah and then there was that other guy he was like a sports guy or something what was his name Kevin yeah Cole Cole McNana Samuel Cole so anyway yeah so we had like this whole team you know we everybody had their stuff and like I just like man what a weekend that was like I I have some great memories of that weekend it was the hottest like I mean it's ungodly hot um you know Emily Diamond who you know she's a PR leader she's a rock star and I can't wait to have her on this podcast but like she is you definitely should yeah yeah that was back in the day when like P the the the the journalism media room was like a tent remember that like and you know we had like uh all we got water and all the armor hall or under armor rather armor hall is like a car product but like all the under armor like protein body armor yeah yeah body armor is that yeah whatever it is yeah we got something with electrolytes that was it there's like a cooler a body armor like protein drinks and some water and that and that was it but like Emily would set up all these uh interviews for us and stuff um man I remember like watching post Malone with you and both of us just being like wow man this guy he was legit like such a great performer absolutely doing all the interviewed Neil Francis we interviewed Neil Francis off photograph yeah that was yeah we interviewed Neil Francis we did a thing with moon taxi yeah um you know we watched we watched Marin Morris and Leon Bridges I think like one of my favorite memories just kind of by surprise was when we went to the second stage to see Fallout Boy and just like how many people were at that show dude that was insane which I can't remember but I would assume that that had been the first time they had really toured like that in a while if I had to guess yeah and I I mean like Pete Wentz was blowing fire out of his face like Nikki six and stuff it was it was incredible.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

Um I will say that was that that was probably I've had like one of the surprise shows I feel like it's it each hangout we've covered down here but that one was that was definitely that one that year.

SPEAKER_04 42:25

I liked Mary Morris too because I know her bass player and you and I had hung out with her and did a thing with her and like I I remember like we were in that VIP area and she like waved at me from the stage and I was like oh why wow that was that was cool and she had just released a song too that was crushing it in the city.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

Yeah with that she came out with Zed like Zed did a set later on and we're like she coming is she coming and boom there was Mary Morris and we're like yeah it was awesome what was the demise of that dude like how why did that community decide that they didn't want to keep that going yeah well so they it's not I I don't think that it's the community well there's certainly people that did not want to keep it going but I think largely and they and it was evidenced by all these public meetings they had last year um the community largely wanted it to keep going there was a vocal minority I think but they went through all these public uh public public uh you know uh hearings I guess uh town hall type things um several in a row not long after the previous hangout and um which I guess was technically sand in my boots which did really well last year it was the Morgan Wallen version a little more country five but still with Morgan Wallen you know curating the lineup there was definitely um there was a mix good genre mix I mean I felt it was huge I mean it was very like the record setting attendance that year right yeah yeah yeah and sold out in a record amount of time all those Things. So they had public hearings right afterwards because the contract was up. And they tried to were gonna try and figure out renewal. And so all of it, you know, the the I went to, I think I went to all of those public hearings of positive support for it for the most part. There was a couple of people that would get up and against it, but largely supportive. And I think that the um, and then you know, we had a sent they passed not long after that, that they would extend the contract. Well, a few not long, I don't know, a couple months down the road, um, we start to find out that there are some scheduling issues. Um, and kind of out of the blue, uh, at a city council meeting, the mayor announces that there will be no version of it at all this year. And I think part of that was that they they had essentially said that we're gonna go forward with it, but we do want it to be more like sand in my boots every year.

SPEAKER_04 44:56

But of course, you know, most of these major, especially somebody like Morgan, they're booking that stuff out a more than like he's doing stadiums right now, like right now, so I think it was known, I think it was known up front that he was not gonna be available this summer, and so, but they were still wanting to do something similar.

SPEAKER_02 45:15

So I I just think that there was not enough time to get everything together, and so um, while it is frustrating to have all those to make a big deal about these public hearings and you know, essentially get a go-ahead from the people and from the city council, and then for it to fall through, it just looked really bad for everybody, I think. Um, and uh, you know, I I think there was also a little bit of back and forth, like it well, it's their fault, and you know, no, it's the city's fault. So I, you know, I think that it'll be back eventually. It does, I think it's it's gonna hurt a lot local businesses down here um this year for sure. It's gonna, it's gonna make them dead. I don't I don't want to say any numbers because I can't, I don't remember those things off the top of my head, but right um, you know, it's got it's had a significant uh economic impact, obviously.

SPEAKER_04 46:09

So well, when it comes back, I'm I'm in I'm in like the best shape of my life now. Like I've lost I've lost like a pro 125 pounds since the last one. I want to be on the coverage team again. I can do it. Absolutely. You got it. I'm down.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

It was a no-brainer of the first when the first go-around, man. You've you've written about and had a um you have this incredible taste in music and this incredible, you know, um understanding of its history and those kind of things. No brainer.

SPEAKER_04 46:36

It was it was amazing. And I made a lifelong friend out of Melanie. You know, she's here with us from Mardi Gras. She's a rock.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

Melanie's fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 46:43

Does the uh Fair Hope Film Festival now?

SPEAKER_02 46:45

Yeah, I was about to say they're they're doing great, great stuff over at that. That's a cool festival, the Fair Hope Film Festival, if if anybody gets a chance to check it out.

SPEAKER_04 46:53

You know, out out outside of work, man. Like tell me tell me about your life with Kayla and your dog. Just you you got you got that great, like that sweet house, so awesome, you know, it's like so close to everything down there. And you know, did are are you enjoying your your life in Gulf Shores?

SPEAKER_02 47:12

We are, man. We we really um we really lucked up with you know the timing of moving here and and the place that we found. And um we're in a a neighborhood that's um that's changing uh, you know, pretty rapidly, but um look I think for for good for the good, um, we've got uh we're right down here on the island, as they say, which some people give me a hard time about that, but it is by definition an island, um, even though it's the intracostal that disconnects us. Um so so yeah, I mean, I feel like that um yeah, it's only gonna kind of get better from uh from where we're at physically standpoint. And then yeah, we Kayla and I have been working together now for probably almost 10 years, maybe a little more. And um yeah, it's just been awesome. You know, I think people give you a hard time and they, you know, they bring, oh, I can't, I could never work with my wife, you know, could never work with my husband kind of thing. But I've never I've just never had that feeling in my, you know, in our in our life up to this point. So I can't, I can't, I don't understand that part. You know, we maybe it's because we do work in such opposite ways, um, and we kind of fill in each other's gaps in that way. Um, but but yeah, we we love what we do. I mean, even you know, we we love it so much that we you know, we don't often take the time that we do take vacations from our day jobs, we take it to do like other work in some ways, which probably maybe not the healthiest thing, but um, you know, we'll do we'll take a a week to go work on a story um you know for the Royal Society or um, you know, something like that. So um yeah, or teach a workshop or whatever it is. So um yeah, man, we I just feel so fortunate to have uh yeah, found Kayla and found this line of work. We talked, you know, the longer that I'm doing it too, the more I'm realizing that we've really got to make it work because I don't know what else I would do at this point. So um I uh yeah, man, we it's it's fantastic. We just got to as a little bit of a a brag here, we just got back from South Carolina yesterday, and it was such one of the most fulfilling trips. We still help out, obviously, with the Sumter item there. And a girl we hired, Aisha Maple. Um, she was a Sumter native, went to the college of Charleston, came back home. Um, we hired her fresh out of school. Um, she's been there five years, and just yesterday was named South Carolina uh journalist of the year for all categories. Congrats. Um, and that was being there for that, sitting next to Kayla, sitting next to Alisha and getting to getting to um be a part of that and to see her, see what it meant to her. That was those are the types of you know moments that remind you like why we're doing this, and like it's just encouraging for you know, because local news can be mundane, it can be an uphill battle, like you know, it's it's a slog from a day-to-day thing. And then, but I think it also gives you the opportunity to have those moments where you're like, oh right. That's why like more often than maybe some careers. So um so yeah, we're we're I think we're in a good spot down here in Gulf Shores. Um, it was tough to have to leave Sumter five years ago, four years ago. Um, but this has been a good move. And now seeing how well Sumter's doing, um, I think it was the right move, you know, the whole time.

SPEAKER_04 50:50

So you know, one more question about that area about Orange Beach specifically. Why is the Wharf amphitheater the hottest place on earth? I mean, literally.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

It's brutally hot, yeah. Um, I think because even though it's right there on the intercoastal and like should get a breeze, it's in the woods, like it's everything. It is wooded right there, which you know, they're definitely. I mean, the pine trees don't help, but uh, I just think the way that that um that it's built, you know, it's pretty it's a pretty high amphitheater on one side, and then the other side is trees. So I just I think it's tough for the for the breeze to get to get down there.

SPEAKER_04 51:33

I mean, it's like the best, man. You gotta walk like an old janky bridge to get in there, you're like in the woods, you're like, yes. And I I I went and saw Journey there, like I'll never forget on July 6th, and I two days after the fourth, and I thought I was gonna die. Like I thought I was gonna have to take my pants off and like tie them around my neck or something. It was just too ungodly hot, you know.

SPEAKER_02 51:54

I think they, you know, I mean, there's I think they're doing pretty well. I've heard some people complain a little bit about the la like maybe they don't have as many um dates this year or something, but they have Dave Matthews band.

SPEAKER_04 52:06

Do I think the Dave Matthews? They have uh what's his name? Uh Jack Jack Johnson.

SPEAKER_02 52:12

I mean, like which I'm really excited about Jack Johnson. That one's close to home uh for me. But then I mean jelly roll. So you've got your you've got your you know, today's talent, you've got your you know, yesterday's talent. I they do they do a good job at spreading the talk.

SPEAKER_04 52:26

I mean, I I think Toto's playing there this summer, correct? Yes, I think you might be right about that. I'll be there for some. I should know all these, but I don't know. Singing Africa, the top of my lungs, because I love it.

SPEAKER_02 52:35

They are definitely coming. Yes, yeah, yeah, yes. Right on. Um, yeah, I mean, we should we should pick out one or two and try to try to get to one coming up.

SPEAKER_04 52:44

Yeah, definitely. You know, the last thing I'm gonna ask you, man, and I ask everyone on the podcast this, so it shouldn't be a surprise. How do you stay awesome? What's the your method to your madness, your secret to your success? Uh, how do you do it? Like what what keeps you going?

SPEAKER_02 52:57

Um I I love Legos and in honor of Legos, to me, everything is awesome. And so when everything is awesome, it's it's I I I do I really that is such a lame answer, but is this kind of true? I I do feel like that one of the the uh things that kind of keeps me going is I am interested, I'm like genuinely interested in a lot of stuff, very broad range of things. And like if you can explain something to me and why it means something to you, um, I think I you can you can get me on board with it. And so um I think just that that idea of you know, the uh the this ever the what's the student, you know, you want to be a lifelong learner kind of thing. I think that that that's kind of part of it. Um is that I I get excited about you know mundane things sometimes. And I I think that having that perspective keeps you on your toes and keeps you uh excited about life.

SPEAKER_04 54:03

Right on, Micah, my man. Thank you. Thank you for letting me put my journalist hat on for a while and ask you the tough questions. And uh it was awesome. It was great.

SPEAKER_02 54:12

Jeff, I just want to say, I mean, man, I so much appreciate you doing this. Um, I won't forgive you for making me follow up Charlie Clark, but um, yeah, man, you've been such a good friend over all these years. Yes, we are definitely closer now than we have been, but the fact that um, you know, especially in my mid-20s when I was running around and not um maybe thinking about uh maintaining friendships, you always reached out and um on a regular basis to let me know you were thinking about me or saw something I did. And um that all always meant a lot to me. And um yeah, the fact that we've we've gotten a little bit closer as as the years have gone on, uh, you know, miles wise has has been, yeah, it's been a special thing. So I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 54:58

Yeah, man. Love you. You know that.

SPEAKER_02 54:59

Yeah, love you too.