Created in Birmingham

Jahmai ‘Jam Fu’ Jones blogs at The Inner Sanctum, dances with Smash Bro’z and MDK and is involved in Down By Law (a night at The Victoria.

He’s also one of the dancers who jumped on stage with KRS-One at the HMV Institute recently:

Speaking of Down By Law, they’re running the second room at Mama Feel Good’s Christmas Get Down at that new place called PST on Saturday 11 December. Facebook event here.

Speaking of musical Christmas bashes, I’ve just spotted the line-up for the Brum Notes/Speech Fewapy Christmas do on the Victoria’s website:

FRI 17th BRUM NOTES & SPEECH FEWAPY RECORDS CHRISTMAS PARTY – The Traps, Calories, Cajole Cajole, Tom Peel, Greg Bird, plus DJ sets from Malpas, Tantrums, Victories at Sea, Speech Fewapy and This is Tomorrow – 7.30pm, FREE
On Facebook: BRUM NOTES

Just had word of a hip hop and b-boy dance double bill  at mac on Friday. It’s part of BASS Festival and features UK hip hop dance champions Smash Bro’z and Miami’s Rudi Goblen. Here’s some blurb about the performers and performances:

Smash Bro’z new dance piece Fresh Genes depicts the journey and discovery of a young scientist who is on a mission to find a cure for the misrepresentation of Hip Hop in the UK. The scientists then discover a new gene – the ‘Hip Hop’ gene. West Midlands based Hip Hop dance collective Smash Bro’z recently won first prize in the 2010 UK Hip Hop Dance Championships.

Insanity Isn’t, written & Performed by US based Rudi Goblen tells the story of Acey who, whilst trying to sleep through the American dream instead wakes to an American nightmare. He finds himself plagued by financial burdens, media propaganda, religious beliefs, keeping up with the Jones’, and apocalyptic prophecies. B-Boy movements, rhyme, beat box and live music weave together his journey back to insane sanity.

Tickets are £10 (£7 concessions) and are available from the mac website here or by calling 0121 446 3232.

• Smash Bro’z win at UK Hip Hop championships
  Next stop, Las Vegas for the World Finals
• CAN <UK>
  Based in Ladywood – “We are a design, media and communication company working with people of all ages and abilities to devise engaging cross media projects that enable participants to express ideas about themselves, their communities and environment”
• Arlene Burnett
  Birmingham based artist and curator. Currently to be found at the Rea garden on Floodgate Street in Digbeth
• Eat My Shorts: Haiti Fundraiser Saturday 13th March
  Over at The Edge on 13 March from 8pm. The plan is – “two hours of all sorts of shorts followed by a disco”
• Birmingham based 104 films score a double whammy at the BAFTAs
  They did Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
• An Endless Supply « More Canals than Venice
  Interview with the zine folks
• Digbeth is Good » Boxxed opens its doors
  Excited about this
• Creative Networks: Women’s Short Film Festival
  “Screening a selection of films from the ‘A Corto di Donne’ Film Festival held in Naples Italy 2009 with the organisers and some of the filmmakers as our Guest Speakers” 25 Feb
• The Highlight
  Looks like this has replaced Jongleurs on Broad St. It’s a comedy club. I didn’t recognise many of the upcoming acts, but then I don’t know comedy that well so fair enough. Actually, Roger Monkhouse (no relation) makes me laugh and he’ll be there in the next month or so
• Facebook | Secret Birmingham
  After the kerfuffle around the Secret London Facebook group there’s been a rash of others set up in other places around the country. Here’s the Birmingham one – some good stuff in there
• Jewellery Quarter Lobby launches | Birmingham Conservation Trust
  What happens when an Initiative, a Forum, an Association and a Group get angry? They get start a Lobby, natch.

• Guest Blog: The Pharaoh of Film – Khaled El Hagar – profiled by Professor Roger Shannon
  “Acknowledged in his home country Egypt as the most controversial movie maker of his generation, Khaled lives quietly for half of the year in Kings Heath, in Birmingham, where he has established himself as the city’s leading auteur”
• Rhubarb and Apple — two new ways to listen « Rhubarb Radio in progress
  Rhubarb Radio is now listed in Apple’s Internet Radio directory
• 4am Project at the Bodies Revealed Exhibition | Karen Strunks Photographer
  I’m a bit late on this, but Karen’s organising another 4am Project – this one will be this weekend and the focus of the Birmingham activity will be at the Bodies Revealed exhibition. As I type this there are just 22 free tickets left
• Digbeth is Good » The funeral of The Site
  I had an invite to this but couldn’t make it (and, in a fortunate sense now that I think of it, lacked the mourning attire). Nice little write-up by Nicky and there’s still time to go see this before it closes on 13 Dec
• The Endless Descent « More Canals than Venice
  “The Endless Descent brings together artists from Birmingham, Bristol and London to exhibit in the distinctive 1930’s Modernist stairwell, lobby, lift and entrance area of Rea Studios”. Ah, this launched last night – I walked past and wondered what was going on
• Birmingham-based female performers wanted for site-specific show
  “Mem Morrison Company and The REP are looking for up to thirty female volunteers to perform in their current production, Ringside”
• D’log :: blogging since 2000 » Arts attendance has not increased since 2005
  Not only that but… “It now looks as though the same trend is continuing into 2008/9.”
• 100 years of The Electric Cinema – Birmingham: It’s Not Shit
  From the other night – “A cosy evening at The Electric with a ‘This Is Your Life’ of Britain’s oldest working picture house in the company of owner Tom Lawes to celebrate its 100th birthday” Happy birthday Electric Cinema!
• Middlemash
  “This blog, in conjunction with the Mashed Library wiki & Mashed Library Ning, will be used to provide information on the 3rd mashed library event, Middlemash at Birmingham City University on Monday 30th November”. Missed this, but there’s plenty to go rooting through
• Smash Bro’z In San Francisco! Part1 :) « Dancegeek’s Blog
  “we are proud to announce that we have just returned back from the prestigious San Francisco HipHop Dancefest event in San Francisco and successful in repping the UNITED KINGDOM and BIRMINGHAM with honours!!!!”

It’s taken me a while to mention this one although it’s been on my radar for ages.

Birmingham Opera Company are doing Othello on 7 dates between 5-19 December. It’s going to be amazing and epic because, by and large, amazing and epic are what Birmingham Opera Company do.

Like last year’s King Idomeneo, this will be a walkabout performance in a massive industrial building – specifically Argyle Works on Great Barr Street. However, BOC manager Jean Nicholson has suggested that the days of the company putting on shows in this way may be limited.

The performance will incorporate professional opera singers, an amateur chorus (to include Pete Ashton, who’s occasionally seen around these parts and who has been taking photos during rehearsals, including the one below), a new children’s chorus and a dance company of 200 young people as part of the People Dancing programme (read about Smash Bro’z involvement in that).

Here are some bonus bulletpoints:

• In this production, Ronald Samm will be the first black man to play Othello for a professional opera company in the UK
• Pete Ashton’s done a good analysis of the poster and what lies behind it
• Shoes may not be worn in the performance space – socks will be available
• The Saturday shows (5, 12 and 19 Dec) have already sold out
• You really should buy yourself a ticket. Worst case scenario – you won’t know what you missed