Big Roundup

After saying there was bugger all news there’s been a flood of it this last week, and I’m stupid busy right now with work and a house move. But it’s still great to see all this stuff going on. Keep throwing the info my way!

This roundup is supermassive so do come back to it when you have a minute. It’s all good stuff I promise. And there’s still more to come.

• After much prompting 7 Inch Cinema have a blog. Yay! Who’s next? Fierce? Capsule? Rhubarb?
• Here are the Silver Footed Gig Slut gig listings for the forthcoming week with MySpace links for every band.
• The debate over the Spotted Dog noise complaints rages on The Stirrer although there appears to be only one voice arguing against the right for the pub to host loud music events outdoors – Moseley councillor Martin Mullaney. It’s a bit messy but worth a read.
• Richard McComb lays into Broad Street’s Walk of Stars but with a twist. “The superbly naff Walk of Stars is the perfect antidote to all this fluff, mocking the designer boutiques, those over-priced (and too often mediocre) restaurants, the identikit modern office buildings and ubiquitous “lifestyle” apartments decked out in red and black and bonsai. What a refreshing change then to remind people of Birmingham’s gritty past, featuring the good, the bad and the ugly – otherwise known as the nominations list for the Walk of Stars.”
• B:INS reviews Mick Scully’s Little Moscow and finds it good.
• CoCoMAD, the small but perfectly formed festival in Cotteridge Park, is this Saturday and The Destroyers are playing. Not to be missed, and it’s free.
• The CLUB is a blog / listings / community site that I’m still trying to get my head around. It’s already pretty invaluable though.
• Creative Wolverhampton has details of I Am Brand, a PDF yearbook produced by graduating students in BA(Hons) Graphic Communication and Design for Multimedia from the University of Wolverhampton. There’s some top work in there.
• Tunnel Vision continues to get a lot of coverage. Here’s a Guardian review. Who says they’re just Londo-Manc centric? Oh, everyone…
• Speaking of which, Dan Jones’ “Why can’t Birmingham do it like Manchester” post is getting a lot of thoughtful and interesting comments. They’re all good but Rhonda Wilson’s pithy piece of sense bears reprinting. “Its that sharing thing. Here everyone wants to own things so they prevent other people doing their thing. There people got it – one thing that everyone has a share of and some trust in the directors. And look at what’s happened. Let’s leave this antiquated idea about power and control behind us and work on some things together. Then we all might benefit.”
• The Community Musician is anxious about the Autumn.
• I love how Steve Gerrard is documenting his life as a professional photographer diving from rock gigs to wedding shoots. He and his wife are having a baby in four weeks – best of luck!
• Walsall-born supermodel Erin O’Connor reportedly commissioned designer Amy Lappin based on her show at New Generation Arts. “Talking about the catwalk show Erin told students that the standard was high enough to rival London showcase events.”
• The Nightingales are on tour with a Birmingham gig at the Actress on July 28th.
• Birminghamusic.com reports that local band Templeton Pek have been selected for a national tour of Academy venues.
• Jim Morton writes: “We’ve got a shonky web site called paper-jam and although we live in Leamington and Coventry we are often in Birmingham. Noticed that you were after some reviews, tend to get to quite a few gigs around brum and some of them make it up onto the site.” That’s not a shonky website. That’s a perfectly good blog that you can be well proud of. Welcome to the pool.
• Here’s the Arts Council West Midlands information bulletin for July (PDF) that’s has a nice summary of news, opportunties and events for the region. Be better as a blog though.
• Jazz Thrash Assassins, the “Metal-Flavoured Funked-up Jazz-Spazical Eclectics”, inform me they’ve made it through to the national final of the Surface Unsigned Festival which partly based on audience reaction. The final is at the Custard Factory on Sunday July 15th (the day after Supersonic) where 12 bands will perform, making it pretty much a festival. There’s a nice review of their qualifying gig here where they’re described as a cross between Metallica and the Go! Team. I think I need to see this.
• Photographer Craig Holmes has started a blog and I really like his relaxed, unpretentious style. “Went along to a restaurant in the centre of Birmingham today, and I spotted one of my large prints framed in the private dining area. No matter how long I do this for, it still feels nice to see a print on display.”
• Finally, I blogged some thoughts on the blogging event I attended at Light House on Monday.