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From February 1, 2007...

• A novel by an Alabama writer takes us back to the beginning of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
• The Alabama Symphony Orchestra takes on Verdi's Requiem
• Do you have a hard time seeing the appeal of video games? One group of gamers wants to convince you that they are, in fact, a form of art.
• Community Calendar
• Plus, counting down to new music from Birmingham's T-minus Band

The film Lawrence of Arabia tells the story of a young British officer's efforts to enlist the help of the Arabs to defeat the Ottoman Turks, allies of Germany, during Worl War I. Filmed in the middle east and Spain, the movie won seven Academy Awards and is considered a classic. As a young man fresh out of UCLA film school, Abe Fawal worked with the director David Lean on Lawrence of Arabia as first assistant director. It's a part of the world Fawal knows well because he was born in Ramallah, on the West Bank of the Jordan River. Over the years, Abe Fawal has taught film and literature at Birmingham-Southern College and at UAB and in 1998, he wrote an award-winning novel on the struggle between the Palestinian people and the state of Israel. On the Hills of God tells the story of the origin of that conflict from the point of view of an 18 year old Palestinian Christian. On the Hills of God has just been reissued by New South Books. When he came by our studios this week, I asked Fawal about the origin of the title.

Abe Fawal Interview

Dr. Abe Fawal is the author of On the Hills of God, recently reissued by New South Books. Dr. Fawal speaks on the origins of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict next Thursday at 7 p.m. at UAB.

Giuseppe Verdi is best remembered for his operas -- he wrote 28 of them. But along the way, Verdi also wrote some orchestral music... most notably, a requiem. This weekend, Justin Brown conducts the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, four soloists and six combined choruses in a performance of the Verdi Requiem. Brown spoke with WBHM's Michael Krall about the Requiem and the detour that brought Verdi to write it...

Jutstin Brown interview

Conductor Justin Brown leads the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Verdi Requiem Friday and Saturday night at the Alys Stephens Center.

For decades videogames have gotten a bad rap; seen as little more than a waste of time by many. But hardcore gamers - who are often stereotyped as anti-social geeks - think society's got the wrong idea. In fact they say games are a form of modern art. WBHM's Rosemary Pennington is a skeptic, but she's married to a *huge* gaming fan and every so often, his gamer friends invade their home - spending hours doing nothing but playing, and talking about, games. Rosemary crashed one such evening recently to try to understand the attraction. She offers this audiopostcard.

Meet some hardcore gamers...

Reporter Rosemary Pennington confesses she's occasionally becomes enraptured by a beautiful videogame. Her current favorites are "Phoenix Wright" and "Wii Sports" -- she beats her husband at bowling almost every time.

To hear the audio portion of the Community Calendar from Tapestry, click here.

Want to know more? Activeculture.info is a one-stop source for finding out what's going on in the Birmingham metro area.

According to them, the T-minus Band is a mix of Todd Rundgren, Syd Barrett, Paul McCartney and others. Yeah, you get the picture; they pretty much run the rock and roll gamut. Band mates Troy Thompson and Ken Moore came by the Tapestry studio to talk about what they've been up to over the recent hectic months. Here's T-minus Band with "If It Ever Was At All," from the new CD The Morning After. (AUDIO MONTAGE)

Tapestry is produced by Tanya Ott, Michael Krall and Hunter Bell. Francesca Rosko compiles the community calendar. Additional reporting this week from Rosemary Pennington and production assistance from Steve Chiotakis and Islara Vazquez. I'm Greg Bass, and we'll see you next week.

Support for Tapestry comes from the Jefferson County Commission through the Jefferson County Community Arts Funds administered by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham.