The Midnight Citizen 296: “Good Luck in Your Future Endeavors”
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Join Mike outside on a Friday night.
This week, I’m sitting on the back porch of my folks’ house in suburban Birmingham, AL., gazing out into the serene channel of woods and darkness, wondering why my family chose to live here in the late summer of 1992. I guess I’ve never thought of it before, or, for that matter, why one of our neighbors, the heir to one of the state’s great Department Store fortunes, chose to build his dream house here back in the late 70’s — a dream house that was torn down a couple weeks back after Mr. Pizitz’s passing at 86.
Have a drink with me while I tell you what I know of my former neighbor, a mysterious guy who was kind of like the neighborhood Howard Hughes — aloof and reclusive, but who had a lot to do with the shape and character of Birmingham in the 70’s and 80’s.
Content Warning: It’s not my intention in this episode to misrepresent Merritt Pizitz; everything I say is constructed from my own memory, local myth and conjecture, and the record. You can read the Bham Wiki article on him here.
Later on in the night, I give you the latest on my never-ending quest for meaning (spoiler alert: I’m still searching…), and I break some important news about the future of The Midnight Citizen podcast…
Listen on Spotify and Apple Music: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast…
…and be sure to join the Facebook page and find me on Instagram! “Clearly, doctor, you’ve never been a 13 year old girl.”
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released August 2025 on mikesbonfire.substack.com and The Overnightscape Underground.
