Nautical Flags on Bama Breeze Stage

[conched]

Nice photo of the stage in Pittsburg with the PA flag, FunkHouse!

Here is one in Frisco, TEXAS taken by browneyedgrltx

[conched]

Another excellent view of the TEXAS flag at Frisco from pojo's photos.

[PJ]

so Alabama chose the nautical "I need assistance" flag for their state flag? Interesting...

More than "I need assistance" it is the cross of St. Andrew which is also seen on the Confederate Battle Flag with a different color scheme.

A true cross of St. Andrew is a blue background with the x (or cross) done in white. When the Civil War broke out, the cross was adopted due to the large number of Scots/Scotch Irish descendants in the southern US. The design was chosen due to the fact that the Stars and Bars (Confederate first national flag) was easy to confuse with a Federal Stars and Stripes on the battlefield.

Many of the former Confederate states have remnants of a Confederate flag used on their state flag. Alabama and Florida have crosses of St. Andrew, Mississippi (and at one time Georgia) flags contain a true Southern Cross battle flag. North Carolina and the current Georgia flag are representative of the Stars and Bars.

I don't know why Alabama and Florida chose white backgrounds with red crosses. Well, I do know a little about Florida - Florida's flag was initially white with the state seal, and the cross was added about 1900 so it didn't look as much like a surrender flag. Alabama's flag was decreed by the legislature in the 1890s.

The "Bama Breeze bar" contained the two flags because the song was written about the FloraBama, a bar that was said to straddle the state line, although I think the majority of it really was in Florida. They did, if I remember right, have both state flags hanging in the place, so that is the reason for the use of the flags in the video and subsequent stage sets.

[jonesbeach10]

And of course the Florida and Alabama state flags are parts of the bar set regardless of where they are playing because the "bar" is supposed to be the Florabama Bar which Bama Breeze, the song, is based on.