I just stumbled across an interview that Stan’s Cafe did with Neil Rami a few weeks back. Neil’s the Chief Exec of Marketing Birmingham.
Topics include the role of the arts (esp independent art) in marketing the city, who Marketing Birmingham markets Birmingham to, what the challenges are and which cities are doing it well.
I’d pull out a quote but I can’t choose one and, besides, going all soundbitey just isn’t becoming of an august publication such as this one.
Lago de Mamori: An Aural Environment by Annie Mahtani is described thusly:
Following her recent participation in the Mamori Sound Project (directed by Francisco Lopez), Annie will present field recordings from the Brazilian Amazon in the form of a 16-channel sound installation. She will also speak about her experience in residence at Mamori Art Lab and engage the audience in an open discussion around the recordings and possibilities for future development of this work-in-progress.
This is part of Modulate‘s Sonic Culture Salons and will be at The Gallery in the Custard Factory on Saturday 9 January from 1-5pm. The work lasts an hour, so turn up on the hour to hear the whole thing through. Entry’s free.
Also, it’s nice to see that Annie Mahtani has jumped on Soundcloud where she’s putting full, high-quality versions of her work.
Here’s what fashion and portrait photographer Alis Pelleschi has to say about herself:
Alis Pelleschi is a self-confessed chip buttie lover. A proud Bradford gal, currently based in Birmingham. Taking photographs of those she deems curious and intriguing characters; becoming the people in her dreams; and drawing the icons of tomorrow.
Check out a photo from her series called ‘Rabbit‘.
There’s been a spate of Birmingham sightings on primetime TV recently. Partly this is due to some efforts by Screen WM (and others, I imagine) to get some more filming done up here, partly it’s due to the fact that there are some darn fine restaurants in the city these days.
The new series of Hustle started on Monday and featured a bunch of local sights from around the Colmore BID – Metro, Hotel du Vin and One Victoria Square (according to the BPo).
Next week the same area will be sporting a slightly different look for the new series of Survivors.
Over on Channel 4, Lasan is doing rather well having reached the final of Gordon Ramsey’s The F Word. Unfortunately the consensus on Twitter last night seemed to be that their chef was a bit of a pillock. Incidentally, Warwick Uni have a Lasan cookbook featuring healthy versions of various South Asian dishes which you can download for free.
The latest episode of Hustle is on the iPlayer here for the next few days and is on every Tues for the next little while. Survivors is on BBC 1 on 12 January and the big final of the F Word is on Channel 4 on Thurs at 9pm.
Congrats to Raphael Selbourne (and publishers Tindal Street Press) for winning the 2009 Costa First Novel Award as announced last night.
A quote from the judges said:
Captures the raw humanity of inner city life with extraordinary authenticity
You can snaffle a copy here.
Thanks very much to the following who chipped in to help keep Created in Birmingham trundling along in December 09.
New (in fact the first) CiB Supporters:
Thanks too, to ladyandsmall for designing/making our special Christmas cards.
Knowing Me, Knowing You
Big thanks to Capsule for co-hosting with us, Jon Bounds for compering, VIVID for the space and everyone who took part for, well, taking part.
Kings Heath Big Party
Thanks to the Kings Heath Centre Partnership for having us and Sarah Allen for her excellent organisational skills. Also, ta to VIVID and Fazeley Studios for lending tea urns.
Studio Kinglux was established in 2002 by Tony Hill after graduating from Central Saint Martins.
Initially providing graphic design and illustration to youth based lifestyle brands including Urban Outfitters and Coca-Cola, the company has grown to encompass knowledge, commentary and forecast services relating to consumer tastes and trends.
Previous clients include Channel 4, MTV, The Future Laboratory, Weber Shandwick, 02, Viewpoint magazine, Inspire magazine and Monotonik records
The photo above was taken at the now defunct Omega Sektor and is from Studio Kinglux’s first book ‘One Thousand Words Per Second‘ (link is to a pdf). The book also features pics from Supersonic, a silent rave in the Tescos on New Street and a Barry Gibb lookalike from Birmingham.
Their other books – Cosplay, Smile. You’re Nightclubbing and Gameface (also featuring the above photo) – can be seen on Issuu. They have a FB page too.
Neil Farrington, Drummer with Warlord, Damn Dirty Apes, Lokey, Sensa Yuma and many others including Last Under The Sun from 2003 to 2006 passed away on 20/12/09. His music lives on. He left an 8yr old son behind and many people who loved him. He was 38 years old
Mark Badger, who played with Neil in the band Last Under The Sun, has paid tribute here.
Neil’s girlfriend has also set up a Facebook page for people to leave their memories.
Luke Halliley‘s ‘About’ page says:
I am a photographer living and working in Birmingham, England. A recent graduate from BA (Hons) Photography at University College Falmouth, I now lecture photography at Solihull College. I am available for editorial, freelance and commissioned work
This is from his series of photos called ‘There’s a lot of dads called Steve‘
I’ve got a few things in the pipeline for Created in Birmingham:
The CiB Supporters thing has got off to a good start and I’ll be looking for even more ways to thank/reward folks who sign up for that.
Other things under consideration – I’m thinking about launching the mailing list but am looking for the best way of doing it. A shop’s looking likely too. I’d like to start doing interviews but haven’t really had the time so far. I really like the idea of doing a one-off (for starters) magazine – I’ve got my eye on what the folks at Newspaper Club are building.
Is there anything you’d like to see us do?
