Created in Birmingham

• Gamer Camp
  Free iPhone games from Gamer Camp: Nano Trainees. Fill thy boots
• You will never look at them in the same way again: A Return To Blogging
  Lots of stuff from John Garghan
• Sound Engineering Courses at Hare & Hounds
  “For anyone who is interested in sound engineering, we are now running live sound courses in the main room of the Hare & Hounds”
• How a musician and a Sikh TV channel dominated coverage of the Birmingham riots | Online Journalism Blog
  Paul Bradshaw looks at the coverage of the Birmingham riots.
• Birmingham’s IMAX cinema to close and reopen as independent
  “Birmingham’s IMAX cinema is to close down and reopen under a new name as an independent venue offering new state-of-the-art digital technology”
• Knowledge++ (some advice for graduates) | 383 Project
  “This post is aimed towards graduates that are looking to pursue a career as a web developer, with a few pointers to help you along your way.”
• RBSA Raffle 2011 – Win original artworks by RBSA artists!
  “Tickets cost just £1 each and will help to support the 2011 programme of exhibitions, demonstrations, adult and family friendly workshops and our school activities”
• My kind of town: Birmingham
  “Who better than an underground club promoter to sniff out the best shopping, food, bars and parties in Birmingham?”
• Photobook Month comes to Birmingham
  “Respected photographer Steve Gerrard will head up The Birmingham leg at his studio in the Custard Factory on September 14, from 7pm.”
• Young Rogues Auditions
  “the Young Rogues are a group of young people from a variety of backgrounds, who perform on stage and in film and TV. Ages 8-18 years.”
• Opportunity to write for Best Believe
  Amy’s looking for contributors to help turn Best Believe into a group blog on art/style/culture/creativity and all that good stuff. Give her a shout if you’re interested
• Joan shows love and affection for local singer-songwriters
  “Joan Armatrading is offering local musicians the opportunity of a life-time to perform as the opening act for her Symphony Hall gig on October 26 2012″ Cool. Click for entry info
• Second Light Producers Labs at First Light
  “First Light and The Producers’ Forum, who provide tailored training for Film Producers at all levels, have teamed up to offer this free 4-day course.” For 16-25 year olds at the mac in Sept

On 26 March, Home of Metal are hosting their forth and final open day at The Public, “Think Antiques Roadshow for metal fans”.

Metal fans of all ages are being invited to share their memorabilia and stories with the digital archive , further cementing West Midlands as the birthplace of Metal.

Home of Metal celebrates the music that was created in the West Midlands, its legacy and influence across the world and how the social history of the region was a fundamental ingredient in providing the backdrop against which Heavy Metal was created, defined and reshaped over the past decades.

They’ll have activities going on throughout the day, hosted by Kerrang! Radio DJ Johnny Doom who’ll be talking to former ‘Raw Power’ presenter, Ozzfest compere and all round Metal expert Krusher (he’s the jolly looking chap below).

Artist duo Juneau Project, will also be on hand with family activities including creating your own D.I.Y guitar, plus rock photographer Steve Gerrard will be dishing out advice during his photography masterclass.

The masterclass is limited to 15 places – to guarantee a spot on the day, call The Public on 0121 533 7161.

Big congrats to Kerry and Dave from Fused! Steve’s put some crackin photos on his blog.

• Culture Guide September Issue « Area Culture Guide
  “The September edition of the Culture Guide is awaiting your perusal”
• Job going at Bright Space
  They’re after a new new Creative Programmer for Primary, Early Years and Special Schools
• Creative Networks: Interactive Music & Sound Design
  “Creative Networks welcomes Matt Black, Audio Manager at Blitz Games Studios, whose talk will focus on interactive music used in production of the company’s games title”
• Committee launches a new inquiry into The Funding of the Arts and Heritage – UK Parliament
  Bit slow in this, but here’s your chance to have your say. Deadline is 2 Sept
• artsfunding – Arts Funding Information
  Have I mentioned the artsfunding network that’s been set up? Well, I have now. Get involved to contribute to the ongoing debate/discussion
• My First Seminar – Music Photography — — Steve Gerrard Photography
  “November 10th 2010 will be the date of my very first seminar, taking place at Calumet in Birmingham. The subject is Music Photography”. Steve knows his stuff
• Heritage Open Days 2010 | Birmingham Conservation Trust
  “The HODs this year will run from 9-12 September and the event directory for this year’s events is now live”
• Heritage Open Days – West Midlands
  …and here’s the list
• Breakfast Meeting 1st Oct
  “Creative Alliance would like to invite you to an Employers Breakfast Meeting on Friday 1st October from 9am until 11am”
• The International Queer Video Open 2010
  Call for submissions – deadline is 2 October
• Midlands Best Dance Crew 2010 « Dancegeek’s Blog
  “Register now and Step Up for the chance of your crew to go head to head and claim the title of Midlands Best Dance Crew 2010″. To be held at the Town Hall on 12 November
• UK Sound Map
  “Join the British Library in creating the first nationwide sound map”. Or don’t. Your call

• West Midlands Cultural Sector Economic Survey
  “The aim of this survey is to find out how the West Midlands cultural sector is performing during the recession”. Courtesy of the West Midlands Regional Observatory. Please help out by filling it in
• Images 33 « More Canals than Venice
  “The prestigious Association of Illustrators (AOI) Images 33 touring exhibition showcases the best British work in illustration, advertising, literature, children’s books, new media and editorial and is now coming to Birmingham”. 11 Jan to 4 Feb at BIAD
• Facebook | alternative night clubs in birmingham-1980′s and 1990′s
  In turn, Midge has pointed out the discussion in this Facebook group
• Birmingham History Forum
  Not come across this forum before. Ta to Fiona Cullinan for the link. She spotted the ‘Birmingham Nightclubs of the Past – Memories’ thread
• Birmingham Repertory Theatre: In The Dark
  “Imagine waking up in a prison cell with absolutely no recollection of how you got there?”
• A Decade At The REP In Pictures
  “Having enjoyed various reviews of the decade in the media over the festive season, we’ve ventured into our archives to pick out a selection of photographs from the last ten years to share with you”
• Commercially Inviable Records » World of Fox has 2010 covered
  “throughout 2010, i will be releasing one new song a month. each one will be a cover of a song from the 1980s which has a special significance for me, so it will be quite a personal selection. some of them will be recognisable, some less so, but they’ll all be pure fox…”
• Best of 2009 — Steve Gerrard Photography
  Steve’s made a slideshow of his fave pics from last year and there’s some absolute belters
• 2010 Workshops Programme – Creative Open Workshops
  Fun with paper craft, textiles and crochet. Workshops cost £15 which gets you materials, equipment, warm drinks and cake

It’s actually a little tricky to find out about local music around the city, I find. This is the stuff I know about, feel free to add other stuff in the comments.

News

Brum Notes is the website for the free, monthly music and lifestyle magazine (Nov issue out now, Oct one online here).

The Birmingham Post have news and reviews here and the Birmingham Mail do rock/pop news.

Fused Magazine‘s site does the odd bit of music news, as does the website for sister magazine Area.

Surge Music takes a wider, Midlands-wide view of things, with articles and lists of gigs, bands and venues.

Cul-de-Sac turned out to be a false dawn for this sort of thing, but may come back one day.

@birminghamlive and @brumpunks are good sources for concert info too.

Reviews

Birmingham Live is the obvious choice here – someone from their ranks of volunteer reviewers and photographers will be at a gig in Birmingham pretty much every evening. Steve Gerrard organises this one (Lee Allen and I have also chipped in occasionally).

The Hearing Aid is a blog by someone called The Baron who goes to an impressive number of local gigs.

The Birmingham Mail do gig reviews too.

Get-togethers

The Birmingham Music Network meets monthly at the Department of Technology, Engineering and the Environment (T.E.E.) at Millennium Point. Their website has a good range of resources too.

Audio

I’m on shakier ground here – which radio shows promote local talent There’s Brumcast on Rhubarb Radio and Introducing on BBC WM. I don’t know enough about the shows on New Style Radio, Aston FM or any others.

Are there any Birmingham-based mp3 blogs worth talking about?

Anything else?

Let me know in the comments. Just to be clear, we’re not looking for bands/venues/promoters to plug themselves but if that’s you, where do you look to get featured?

Oh, and see also Birmingham listings.

(pic – The Editors by Steve Gerrard from the opening night of the new Academy)

Normally I’d avoid mentioning (or thinking about) the desperate cry-for-attention that is Broad Street’s Walk of Stars, but the Capsule ladies have managed to find a pretty compelling angle to the latest addition.

Tony Iommi – guitarist for Black Sabbath – is the next person to be honoured, which ties in nicely with the Home of Metal project:

Home of Metal encourages fans of Black Sabbath to be photographed wearing their prized band t-shirts.  Images will be taken by the Birmingham photographer Steve Gerrard. The photographs will then go on display on the Home Of Metal website and in future exhibitions.

That’s all happening on 23 Nov at 6.30pm, with Kerrang hosting live bands in Centenary Square earlier in the afternoon.  More info on the Home of Metal blog.

Capsule are hosting Racebannon + Trencher + Dream Dreams The Dreamer at the Hare & Hounds later that evening. They’ve also got Clinic at the Factory Club tomorrow (Thurs) night.

Last word goes to Tony (from the Walk of Stars website):

It’s great – it’s really an honour – I’m really proud of it … I was shocked!  It’s so nice to have things like that! I’ve got one out in LA but I’m not from LA – It’s so nice being recognised in your home town”

Wedding/rock photographer (as well as ex-international DJ, Birmingham Live! creator, etc…) Steve Gerrard has relaunched his website and, put together by Chris Garrett (who also did The Big Picture‘s website), very nice it is too.

Steve’s blogging is sometimes used as an example of how a creative type can use use regular updates to showcase their work effectively. But then why would anyone not want to read a blog that turns out images like this:

Birmingham Live, for most, is a website that posts up reviews and some excellent photographs of bands playing in Birmingham.  There are people out there covering gigs almost every night of the week.

However, for the up and coming music photographers and reviewers involved, it’s a platform where they can learn their craft and get some much-needed exposure, while gaining access to photo pits that would otherwise have been off-limits.  Here I should probably disclose that I’m one of those reviewers.

Anyway, Birmingham Live, as an entity has been progressing quite a bit recently and the website has just been overhauled to make it prettier and nicer to use.

Frankie went and interviewed Steve Gerrard, the site’s head honcho, who talked about the idea and ethos behind the site, how it’s helped contributors and how he sees the site developing:

• Digbeth is Good – Sunday Xpress open mic and dangling
  Quoting the organisers – “open mic session this Sunday at the Adam & Eve, Bradford Street, Digbeth. Free entry, free roast potatoes, free arts & crafts, free junk stall, free entertainment, we’ll even give you some free advice if you ask for it. We are great. Kicks off at 3pm, goes on however long we want but definitely til 7pm”. I’m not sure what the dangling involves, mind
• mama feel good this October!
  Ah, my musical bias is showing.  I like me some funk/soul/northern soul/afrobeat and latin so on Sat 25 Oct the Bulls Head will be the place to be
• Rosie Kay kicks off the DanceXchange autumn season
  On 24 Sept “DanceXchange Associate Artist Rosie Kay presents the premiere of new piece Supernova, plus the welcome return of her International Dance Festival Birmingham hit Double Points: K”
• About this blog…. « Jamie Perry
  Jamie Perry, Comms Manager at Audiences Central has started his own personal blog
• Craig Holmes Photographer – Journal
  Craig Holmes has moved his Crowded Gallery blog here
• Capsule Blog » Have your portrait taken for Home Of Metal archive
  An “opportunity for fans of Judas Priest, Napalm Death, Godflesh, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to be photographed wearing their prized band t-shirts” At Scruffy Murphys in Birmingham on Friday 26 Sept 9pm – 11pm. Steve Gerrard will be doing the snapping
• D’log – Mac call for artists
  “There’s a call out for five new commissions for the new mac arts centre in Birmingham, which is currently being rebuilt”

As part of the (ongoing) site redesign I thought it’d be nice to have some more visible contributor profiles so you know who’s writing this stuff. I asked Steve Gerrard if he’d take some snaps of us and the results are in.

So from left to right that’s Danny Smith, Chris Unitt (me), Frankie Ward and Pete Ashton. Hi there. If you see us out at something arty then please come and say hello.

If you’ve not come across him before, Steve is known for his photography (rock gigs, weddings and sometimes both) and has recently opened a studio in the Custard Factory. He’s also the man behind Birmingham Live which gives aspiring music reviewers/photographers a platform and a place to develop.