Saturday the 16^th, we’re opening up the outside to benefit Bama Bully Rescue. Homewood has declared that our property inhabits an “entertainment zone.” That means – and forgive my rudimentary understanding of the designation – that we can do certain things within in the zone that we cannot do outside of the zone. What are those fantastical newly allowed experiences we can suddenly avail ourselves of, you might ask?

Not really sure. I’m assuming there’s a list somewhere if you want to get into the nuts and bolts of it, but we are sure that we can now have a band outside. So, we’re gonna. A really good one.

What She Said, will play from 3-7, serving up “raw soulful sounds of Blues, Americana and Southern Rock.” Come spend the first Saturday of 2024 that can claim an extra hour before the sun goes down with pizza, great music, and if you want, a beer, some wine, or a cocktail. We’re setting up an outdoor bar to make the occasion that much more luxurious.

And! And, it’s for a cause. Bama Bully Rescue does laudable things. From their website: “We work with animal shelters to rescue pit bull type dogs who are overlooked for adoption and therefore at risk for euthanasia, and pull them for placement in foster care.” They’re a volunteer-run organization and they rely on your help to carry out the mission.

I mentioned cocktails. A quick note about that. We came up with a special drink for the occasion. It’s made with Apple Sangria, Elderflower Liquor, Lime, and Vodka. We have a problem with the drink.

Someone reading this has noted that with lime and apple sangria the drink is going to be green. “Hey!” that astute but soon to turn pedantic reader might say. “You said you were having this thing on a Saturday and St. Patrick’s Day isn’t until Sunday.” That’s true. Don’t worry about it. I have it on authority that celebrating St. Patrick’s Day a day early is no crime, and certainly not in a newly approved “City of Homewood Entertainment District.” Day early green drinking is not the problem.

The problem is that we don’t have a name for it, yet. We thought about something pastoral. Green and elderflowers bring up images of pretty gardens and rolling hills. I started flipping through the Romantic poets looking for a line or turn of phrase that might lend itself to a cocktail name, but one of our regulars pointed out that Romantics worshipped a knowingly false nature; that they accepted the ramifications of Newton’s mechanized universe but cleaved to a “noble lie” to console themselves. Wordsworth made that clear in “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” with the eyes and ears “half-created” line. We can’t have a cocktail name derived from self-delusion, no matter the intent.

So what should the name be? I’m taking suggestions through Friday afternoon at @DeVincisPizza.

St. Paddy’s allusions are great, even if some might get hung up on them being a day premature. A UAB tie in would be well received (Go Blazers!). We plan on keeping it clean, so please don’t expect your clever sexual double entendre to get the nod. Send it. Absolutely send the dirty ones. We’ll enjoy those more than the one we eventually decide on. We just won’t use them. Oh, and nothing referring to Kermit. I don’t know why, but that doesn’t sit well with me.

Come see us Saturday. Grab some pizza, listen to some music, and if you’re old enough, try a whatever we end up calling it. Bama Bully Rescue, DeVinci’s, and What She Said.