Between Mardi Gras balls, a packed festival calendar and a steady stream of celebrities passing through downtown, 2014 gave Mobile plenty to talk about outside the headlines. Here’s a look back at the year’s social scene, month by month.
The year kicked off, as it always does in Mobile, with Senior Bowl week bringing NFL coaches and staff into downtown bars and restaurants. Jets coach Rex Ryan and his brother, Saints assistant Rob Ryan, made the rounds at Wintzell’s, Callaghan’s, The Bike Shop and Veet’s, with word going around that Rex picked up the tab for the whole room at The Bike Shop. Cowboys coach Jason Garrett had dinner with Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, while Mobile City Council President Gina Gregory, a University of Florida alumna, celebrated alongside fellow Gator and NFL prospect Solomon Patton. New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton and Auburn coach Gus Malzahn also stopped by Callaghan’s during the week.
Mardi Gras season brought its usual spectacle. The Krewe of Phoenix ball at Fort Whiting featured King Carl’s train descending from the ceiling and costumes elaborate enough to draw comparisons to a Broadway production, including a standout “Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett” pairing. The Order of Osiris transported guests to “Magical Mythical Places” with a ball themed around Xanadu, Wonderland, Cloud 9, Neverland and Asgard. The Dragons held their ball at the Cruise Terminal under a “Cruising Around” theme, with the Prancing Elites dance team performing before unveiling the Mobile Carnival Association’s Mardi Gras queen, Madeleine Maury Downing, behind a wall of giant fans.
As always, the Comic Cowboys used their satirical parade floats to skewer the year’s local scandals, taking aim at former Mobile County Commissioner Freeman Jockisch, who was arrested on charges of electronic solicitation of a child for sex, with one sign referencing his own defense that he could not be guilty because he was impotent. The group also poked fun at a string of sex scandals within the Mobile Police Department.
Once Mardi Gras beads gave way to shamrocks, the crowds moved to Callaghan’s in the Old Government Street district for St. Paul and the Broken Bones and to O’Daly’s for the Mulligan Brothers, Sister Hazel and the annual Green Dress Run.
April opened with a citywide prank when local talk radio host Sean Sullivan read a fake press release on FMTalk 106.5 announcing that Mobile police would set up roadblocks to check vehicles for excessive litter as part of a new anti-littering campaign. His delivery was convincing enough that a number of listeners fell for it. Later that week, the paper you’re reading now shifted to a weekly publication schedule, marking the change with a launch party aboard the USS Alabama. Away from the news, former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron proposed to girlfriend and former Miss Alabama USA Katherine Webb, and the Prancing Elites made a national television appearance on “Tosh.O.” April’s packed events calendar also included the Ronald McDonald House’s Little Black Dress fundraiser, SouthSounds, Arts Alive, Temporal City and the Erin Go Paw festival. Amid it all, a wave of “is he dead?” phone calls hit Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson after news of the death of another, unrelated man named Fred Richardson spread around town; the councilman fielded roughly 30 calls confirming he was very much alive.
Early May brought street parties, Kentucky Derby watch parties and St. Mary’s Casino Night, while the Alabama Shakes made a stop at Callaghan’s on their way to a Jazz Fest performance in New Orleans. Mobile also had a moment on the big screen when the Nicolas Cage film “Tokarev,” shot in the Port City, leaked online ahead of its release; the movie was eventually retitled “Rage” and drew mixed reviews from critics, even as Mobile itself got some flattering screen time.
Mid-May’s Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores drew its usual mix of A-list performers and eccentric beachwear, with actor Elijah Wood among the celebrity attendees. Amos Lee performed with a gospel choir from Mobile, and Diarrhea Planet brought a fleet of inflatable donut rafts onto the crowd, with the band’s lead singer crowdsurfing solo inside one during a guitar solo. During the Queens of the Stone Age set, frontman Josh Homme stopped the show after witnessing a man strike a woman in the crowd, having security remove the man before leading the audience in a pointed chant. Later that month, “The Great Food Truck Race” brought its three remaining competitors to downtown Mobile, with the Food Network crew reporting some of the largest crowds of the entire season.
June brought the inaugural Dragon Boat Festival to Five Rivers, where teams from area schools, businesses, churches and community organizations raced traditional Chinese-style rowing boats down the Mobile River Delta, each crew paced by a drummer setting the stroke — reportedly the most coveted seat in the boat. Rumors also circulated that Martha Stewart was in town for a local couple’s wedding, and Mobile got a moment of World Cup glory when U.S. national team striker Aron Jóhannsson, born in Mobile to Icelandic parents, saw playing time in the match against Ghana, prompting broadcasters to note his hometown on air. AJ McCarron and Katherine Webb tied the knot later that month at Orange Beach United Methodist Church.
Late July brought a local awards celebration at the Saenger Theatre, where the evening’s video segment featured area restaurant owners and professionals reading unkind social media comments about themselves aloud, followed by an after-party at Moe’s BBQ that ran into the early morning. Down at Fort Morgan, the annual reenactment of the Battle of Mobile Bay tested the patience of Confederate reenactors, who stood in heavy wool uniforms under the blazing summer sun waiting for their Union counterparts to formally accept their surrender. One frustrated reenactor was overheard shouting for organizers to “find someone for us to surrender to,” prompting organizers to send over a few off-duty Union sailors, who — despite being unarmed — improvised by taking the Confederate reenactors “hostage” with nearby driftwood.
Late summer brought more national attention to Mobile natives: Scarlett Coggin Simmons, a Mobile native, appeared on Bravo’s “Jersey Belle,” a show following a New Jersey publicist adjusting to life in the South after marrying a Mountain Brook man. An estimated 40,000 people packed the Flora-Bama on Aug. 16 for a Kenny Chesney concert, and by the end of the month, Mobile joined the rest of the country in flooding social media with Ice Bucket Challenge videos raising money and awareness for ALS research.
Fall brought its own share of drama and celebration. BayFest organizers canceled CeeLo Green’s scheduled October performance after the singer posted insensitive comments about a woman who had accused him of sexual assault. South Alabama’s football team played to a sold-out, tailgate-heavy crowd against Mississippi State, and “The Great Food Truck Race” episode featuring Mobile — including footage of the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion and the USS Alabama — aired on the Food Network on Sept. 21. BayFest itself drew crowds downtown, with Jane’s Addiction’s suspended burlesque performance among the most talked-about moments of the festival; the band reportedly had their shoes shined by longtime Mobile Regional Airport shoe-shiner Nelson Easterling before flying out the next day.
Hollywood kept returning to Mobile that fall as well. Robert De Niro filmed the movie “Bus 657” in town, with sightings reported at NoJa and Ruth’s Chris Steak House, while co-star Kate Bosworth was spotted at The Bike Shop and The Royal Scam. Actor Luke Perry, known for playing Dylan McKay on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” was also in town with his Mobile-native girlfriend for a wedding. Halloween brought its usual mix of costumed chaos, including a Circus to Hell party in the Old Government Street district, a memorable “Hot Crazy Matrix Guy” costume at The Garage, and a good-natured dance-off between a Princess Buttercup and a Snow White at Callaghan’s.
On Nov. 6, the Mobile Museum of Art marked its 50th anniversary with a gala celebrating the opening of its “The Art and Design of Mardi Gras” exhibit, complete with champagne, oysters, a towering birthday cake and fire dancers performing for guests. Down the coast, The Hangout in Gulf Shores hosted its annual Oyster Cook-off, drawing celebrity chefs including the Food Network’s Martie Duncan alongside chefs from as far away as New Orleans and New York. Later that month, Mobile-born documentarian Margaret Brown returned to the Saenger Theatre to present her latest film, “The Great Invisible,” which examines the Deepwater Horizon disaster and its lingering effect on the Gulf Coast; the screening moved many in the audience to tears as survivors and family members of the 11 workers killed in the 2010 explosion shared their stories. Brown’s 2008 documentary, “The Order of Myths,” previously examined the racial divide within Mobile’s historic Mardi Gras societies.
Also in November, the Investigation Discovery network revisited one of the year’s most talked-about local true-crime stories, airing an episode on former Mobile County Commissioner Stephen Nodine and the death of his mistress, Angel Downs, as part of its series “Love the Way You Lie.”
December brought its share of local color, including a sighting of a man in a skin-tight Santa suit and short pink shorts rollerblading through Midtown and the Old Government Street district with a boom box blasting Christmas music. Mobile also made a less flattering national list when WalletHub ranked it the 10th-worst city for singles, based on factors including the share of single residents, nightlife opportunities per capita and access to mobile dating options. The year wrapped up as it always does, with the MoonPie Over Mobile New Year’s Eve celebration downtown, headlined this year by The Village People and Evelyn “Champagne” King.