WeldCast Weld for Birmingham

Conversing with Gary Bourgeois and Jimmy Griffin is like listening to a comedy team of long standing. They speak in a kind of code, in which one always knows exactly what the other is about to say, which story is about to be told of their four-decade friendship. For most of that time, they've also had a business relationship, first at the legendary Charlemagne Records at Five Points South, and for the past 14 years at Renaissance Records, also at Five Points.

Standing in the well-packed confines of Renaissance on a recent Friday afternoon — surrounded by vinyl, CDs, DVDs and books — Bourgeois and Griffin spool out an idiosyncratically comprehensive catalogue of their musical knowledge, stories of their interactions with customers over the years, and their thoughts on how it is that one little corner of Birmingham, Alabama, supports two gloriously independent music stores.

Enjoy the latest WeldCast.

Dr. Zac Henson is a Birmingham-based social activist and scholar who proudly refers to himself as a "redneck" — a white, working-class Southerner, albeit one who received his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley, and whose politics, in contrast to the general view of "rednecks," are decidedly not right-wing.

Along with other local activists, Henson is a founder of the Cooperative New School for Urban Studies and Environmental Justice, which he describes as "a next-generation institution of higher education for activist scholars, community leaders, and transformation." The founding vision of the Web-based school is to "democratize knowledge and prepare students to survive in a world with decreasing opportunity."

In the latest episode of WeldCast, Henson talks with Weld publisher Mark Kelly about the Cooperative New School, the role of activists in local and global issues, and how that applies to Birmingham politics and other matters of local importance. The conversation is wide-ranging, provocative, and well worth your time.

If you don't know what's happened with indigent health care in Jefferson County since the closing of Cooper Green Hospital on December 31, 2012, you'll want to listen to Weld publisher Mark Kelly's conversation with Dr. Raegan Durant.

A professor of preventive medicine at UAB, Durant is also Medical Director for Cooper Green Mercy Health Services, the successor to the hospital for providing indigent health services. Durant talks frankly about the challenges of serving a critical and long-term community need with limited resources. He also discusses Cooper Green's strategy for meeting those needs, now and in the future — including some immediate term successes.

On the latest WeldCast, REV Birmingham CEO David Fleming talks about his organization's successes, its challenges and the critical balance between "big" projects and initiatives and promoting growth and development at the neighborhood level.