Created in Birmingham

If you haven’t already, go download issue 4 of Bearded magazine as a free PDF.

Inside you’ll find a load of good stuff including a four page overview of Birmingham’s music scene.

Birmingham: Shaping the City is a new book published by RIBA about our fair city written by Ben Flatman after years of research. The photographic editor was Craig Holmes who took photos at the launch night. Here’s the blurb:

“Birmingham: Shaping the City” is an authoritative and objective assessment of the redevelopment and regeneration of Birmingham. It tells the story of how Joseph Chamberlain’s grand Victorian city was almost obliterated due to an infatuation with the car and how a belated but vital reassessment took place at his home, Highbury in 1988, leading to arguably the most dramatic transformation of any city in the country. It is also the story of hugely ambitious projects, often implemented in the face of great opposition, driven by a rediscovery of Chamberlain’s unique brand of city entrepreneurialism.The book seeks to identify the drivers for change in the renaissance of contemporary Birmingham following its evolution from Victorian times and explores the depth and complexity of the public-private partnerships involved in the delivery structures and their achievements. Using unique case studies that illustrate the processes involved in the major physical change of the city, it assesses their influence on planned future projects. The book articulates and stresses the importance of urban design for successful regeneration in this ever-changing city.

“Birmingham: Shaping the City” will make a lasting contribution to city’s collective consciousness and make available, for the first time, a coherent narrative of where the city has come from and where it may be going in both a written and visual form.

While the credentials of the contributors are impeccable I’d be interested to hear what others think of it. Available soon from Amazon and presumably in the RIBA bookshop on Margaret St.

The current issue (PDF link) of Bearded magazine, includes a feature on the West Midlands music scene, more specifically Birmingham and Coventry.

The feature is a handy round-up of the bands to watch as well as local promoters, venues, club nights and record shops.

via Rich Batsford

Brum-based eccentric publishers The Eccentric City are giving away a whole pound every month to the person who can put it to the best use. What’s more, it’s totally free to enter and you could even see your idea in print. So get yer thinking caps on and you could be in the money! The deadline for this month’s proposals is 15th March.

Craig Holmes’ book A New Birmingham which sold out of it’s initial run last year available from the publisher presumably on a print-on-demand basis. There’s a 16 page PDF preview too.

Simon Peplow has produced the 18th issue of Amok, “a series of zines produced purely to showcase the work of artists, illustrators and designers who’s work excites us.” Available here for £3.00.

Spotted on the Punch Records site - a new-ish book about Bhangra by Birmingham-born academic Dr Rajinder Dudrah, senior lecturer in Film and Media Studies at the University of Manchester.

Bhangra music is a genre that comes from the Indian subcontinent and sung in Punjabi. Bhangra: Birmingham and Beyond traces its birth in the UK to when migrant workers from the Indian subcontinent and East Africa arrived in the country in the 1960s, many settling in West Midlands areas such as Birmingham.

Along the way, we learn how stars such as Heera, Alaap, Premi and Malkit Singh stamped their influence on the scene, paving the way for fresh UK based talent such as Apache Indian, Bally Sagoo, Juggy D, Sukshinder Shinda amongst many others, to follow in their footsteps and become successes in their own right.

More…

Priced at £15 you can hopefully find it in the local bookshops or from Amazon. And if you’re in Manchester this weekend there’s a Q&A at the Deansgate Waterstone’s from 12-3pm.

I heard this a while ago but couldn’t remember if it was official yet or not, and going through my backlog of feed it turns out it is, and has been for a week or so. Ten4 Magazine is being renamed 4Talent Magazine. “The page count will double to 200 pages and we are going bi-annual, the next issue due out in May.” The mag is published by Maverick in Birmingham, hence the relevance.

TAK have published a magazine for use as a promo showcase thingy.

Do Want.

Download the PDF for free.

Issue two of The Eccentric City, “the worlds first eccentric newspaper”, is out. D’log investigates…

Bearded Magazine is recruiting, specifically for an Advertising Manager and Marketing Manager. All interested should follow that link.

Fused have posted some artwork from their current issue on their blog. Lovely stuff.

Change in the Midlands - Urban and Industrial Watercolours is a new book of paintings by Arthur Lockwood, a member of the Birmingham Society of Artists. From the publisher’s site:

Without making judgements, Arthur Lockwood has dedicated himself to recording the demolition of nineteenth-century buildings and the construction of new landmarks such as the Bull Ring Shopping Centre in Birmingham. Alongside this, he set out to document the decline of the region’s manufacturing, painting working factories and foundries before many were closed down and some of them demolished.

In Oldbury he recorded the last line of working drop hammers and in Wolverhampton the last manufacturer of tacks and cut nails. In Birmingham he painted the last drop forge in the city.

The book contains over 100 paintings selected from twenty years’ work.

Here’s a couple of examples of his work, nicked from this informative essay.

Coombs Wood Works from the Dudley Canal

The Core Shop, Sidney Smith Castings.

One would hope the book is available in our local bookshops but if not you can get it from Amazon (with a sourcing fee) or direct from the publisher.

via the invaluable D’log

Charlotte Dunckley is looking to turn her zine Things We Love into a more professional magazine called Things and is seeking feedback on what people would like to see in it, not to mention contributors both online and off. Full details at the link.

A bit of local web buzz for Careless Talk, the new novel by Michael Richardson published by Tindal Street. Birmingham Words gave notice of the launch (which I missed telling you about - sorry), BiNS has a review and The Stirrer has a video interview:

The second issue of locally produced magazine Bearded hits the streets on October 29th with a Misty’s Big Adventure interview and a cover by ZeroTen

You can download a PDF copy for free from the site or pick it up from these outlets.

Stef Grindley is rather pleased with how his design work on Blink issue 1 came out.

Blink, the new magazine from the creators of Fused, hits the streets today.

Like Fused it’s free and can be picked up from the following places in Birmingham:

The Mailbox restaurants
Harvey Nichols
Selfridges
Ikon
Fusion
House of Fraser
Brindley Place restaurants
The Cross, Moseley
The Fighting Cocks, Moseley
and “places like that”

The rational behind Blink is for readers of Fused who’ve grown up a bit but are still interested in interesting stuff with “design, interiors, architecture, and art with fashion at its core.” Currently distribution is limited to the West Midlands but, like Fused, they expect to go national in time.

They’re always interested in photographers, writers and illustrators for future issues so if you flick through a copy and think you could be in there get in touch with them.

The sale of the Post and Mail group has been called off by current owners Trinity Mirror, apparently because a suitable bid was not received. From my perspective this is annoying as it means they won’t be dragging themselves into the 21st century any time soon. Time to go it alone, hacks.

[Later: Discussion thread on The Stirrer.]