One of the best blogs by a Birmingham arty-type is Prime Objective by Chris Keenan covering a whole gamut of things he’s doing and stuff he’s interested in. I’d love to feature it in these roundups more often but unfortunately his blog doesn’t have links to individual posts so I can’t . But it’s well worth subscribing to.
Just a reminder that the rescheduled Eid Mela festival takes place next weekend on Sunday 19th August in Cannon Hill Park
The Producers Forum has an interesting looking event at the Electric Cinema for budding film types.
On Wednesday 5th September 2007, Alan Greenspan will be hosting an afternoon of case studies and anecdotes about the films he has produced over his long spanning career. From development through to distribution, Alan will offer an insight into how his films were produced and offer advice on how he would do things differently if starting over again.
Emoción is a Flamenco festival taking place at the Town Hall in November.
The searing emotion of living Spanish culture is showcased in one of the UK’s finest cultural venues – a festival of authentic flamenco dance and music at Birmingham’s stunning Town Hall.
Emoción Birmingham is set to become an annual celebration of great contemporary flamenco performance in Birmingham.
Showcasing some of Spain’s most exciting artists, Emoción will present work that is set to dazzle and inspire audiences with its passion and sheer physical energy.
Lead by Ana Garcia (pictured) who runs regular classes at the Custard Factory and Moseley Dance Workshop, the festival runs for three days.
Pepa Molina and Company (9th Nov)
Joy, pain, and pulsing energy, Pepa Molina produces that heart-racing rush you yearn for in any great flamenco performance.
Los Arrieritos in ‘13 Rosas’ (10th)
Spectacular dance, live music and a recorded soundtrack create an emotionally searing performance that has scooped top awards in Spain and throughout Europe.
Último Tango Fusión (11th)
A unique artistic event, Ultimo Tango Fusión is a dance of joy and liberation, yearning and hope, menace and suppressed violence. Featuring El Último Tango – the UK’s acclaimed tango ensemble – plus voice, flamenco and tango dance, lovers of all things Latin are promised a fiery evening of pure passion.
There will also be workshops in dancing and flamenco guitar playing.
A blog, Flamenco Birmingham, has been set up but hasn’t been written in yet.
Either I’m missing something or there’s naff-all going on at the moment. I guess people really do go on holiday in August after all. I’ll do a more concerted dig tomorrow but do take this opportunity to let me know what you’re up to.
Rich Batsford outlines his plans to become a “independent self releasing musician”. “I think as a society we are starting to get over the idea that to be a successful musician, you must have a record deal with a known record label, and ideally have registered in the charts. We are starting to accept that the “record industry†that sprung up around the sale of physical units (records and cd’s) actually promoted an awful lot of bad, average or at least, lowest common denominator music, and more or less suppressed a great deal of good stuff.”
Whenever I pass it it seems to be showing sport or polluting the mental environment with some tedious BBC programming but the Big Screen in Chamberlain Square does put on locally produced original content. This month it’s animation with a whole gamut of shorts. I can’t see any schedules but if you’re desperate I’m sure most of them will be on YouTube or similar. At least you’d hope so.
Crypic email time. Make of this what you will: “NB. to be confirmed. this is a Royal Society of Arts/Starbucks Coffeehouse Challenge debate — west midlands. resource full. creatively challenged. or what? date: 29th august time: start 6.30-7.00pm venue: Starbucks, New St, Birmingham”
Congratulation to Tindal Street Press and Catherine O’Flynn who’s novel, What Was Lost, has made it to the Booker Prize longlist. Her odds on winning are apparently 8:1. The shortlist is announced on September 6th.
Reality Estate is a delightfully ambitious performance project taking place in October at the Five Ways Estate.
The project will communicate the realities and stories of life in Five Ways Estate and its surrounding area of intense development against a backdrop of spectacular projections and lighting.
A unique score for the event will be created by Dutch artist and composer, Merlijn Twaalfhoven, drawing inspiration from a diverse range of musical traditions. Twaalfhoven is renowned for his large scale participatory projects, often working with divided communities.
Pioneering digital and video artist, George Saxon, will create a stunning visual backdrop to the performances through projected video artworks created to work in synchrony with the local architectural skyline.
Mark Storor, artist and director will work with local residents to create performance based work to link the journeys of the audience and the choirs.
The project, which involves 3 professional, 3 community and 3 estate-led choirs in 3 venues with 300 participants, will be documented on their website and culminates in a series of live performances on 28 October 2007.
Live music from 9pm in the courtyard provided by COLOUR, who will be showcasing some of the best and most exciting live music acts in the West Midlands:
Epic45 (Make Mine Music) Epic45 is : Ben Holton and Rob Glover.
COLOUR will also be DJing leftfield indie, electronica and folk until late in the evening.
Artist Valley Records Visuals for the evening will be supplied in the form of a Super8 footage showreel from Artist Valley Records
Out of Hours is a monthly networking and socialising event for people in the cultural sector based in Wolverhampton and the West Midlands where you can make new contacts, re-establish old ones and find out what’s happening in the region. For more information contact plot@light-house.co.uk.
Last month’s Blogging event was really good so this comes recommended.
BLINK is a new West Mids-centric magazine launching in October.
WHAT IS BLINK
BLINK is a new title brought to you by the publishers of Fused Magazine that focuses on design, interiors, architecture, and art with fashion at its core. BLINK will be a fresh take on the current trend in city lifestyle publications using original photography and informative articles all wrapped in high quality editorial, design and print.
With a national feel but regional distribution, BLINK will set itself apart from the rest with a unique voice and contemporary edge.
WHO IS BLINK FOR
BLINK is for male and female professionals who have a keen interest in fashion, art, interiors and design. Individuals that want to know more about stylish new products and be kept informed on current trends in lifestyle living.
DISTRIBUTION
BLINK will be distributed throughout the West Midlands using carefully considered and specifically targeted channels. We will only go to the best bars, shops and galleries.
The Birmimgham Mail reports on planning permission being granted for a new venue in Digbeth. Sui Generis will be situated in a converted warehouse on Adderley St in Digbeth, east of the Custard Factory and along from The Rainbow. With a capacity of 600 it will have live music and, given the opening hours are 10am – 4am daily, club nights. The bloke in charge, Lee McDonald, has three years to convert it, though one hopes it won’t take that long.
Interesting to note that this is being pushed by Coun Peter Douglas Osborn of the planning committee as “a cultural asset for the city centre which is essential at the moment” given that the Spotted Dog over the road is suffering from the effects of decisions made by said committee. Perhaps we’re seeing some zoning coming into effect where the northside of the High St is for the clubs. Who knows.
If you’re wondering, “Sui generis is a (post) Latin expression, literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics. The expression was effectively created by scholastic philosophy to indicate an idea, an entity or a reality that cannot be included in a wider concept. The word is pronounced SOO-eye JEN-er-ihs or SOO-ee JEN-er-ihs.”
Kamikazi are running a new music night at the Rainbow starting on August 10th and running every Friday. Interestingly they have slightly bigger plans than just putting on gigs for the sake of it.
Kamikaze Promoters are currently looking for the best signed and un-signed acts Birmingham has to offer… We’re looking for high performance levels combined with strong local fanbases of 50+ to take through with us into 2008. Bands that continually prove they are well supported and established at local level will be given the opportunity to build up their profile by playing with signed and touring acts that play throughout the year.
The implication is these Rainbow gigs are the feeder stream that will support their expansion into promoting bigger gigs next year. If you think this sounds like something you’d want to be involved with contact details are here.
