The Stirrer – Bodies of Protest – Dr David Nicholl is staging a protest outside the Bodies Revealed exhibition at The Custard Factory 12pm-1pm tomorrow (Saturday 9th Jan), and would like your support:
“It is decision day for this exhibition, we will turn up as paying customers and ask a simple question.
‘Can you guarantee that the bodies are not those of people executed in China?’
“If the organizers are unable to answer this simple question, then we think the authorities should be looking to close this exhibition.”
As you know, I pretty much missed out on the weekend, but thanks to the internet I get to see what happened all the same. I get to see pictures of pretty Irish dancers by Very Quiet via Created in Birmingham:
And I get to see the parade on YouTube.
The crowd awaits expectantly and here it comes! St Patrick on a bus:
St Patrick ditches his bus for a tractor:
How do the dancing girls curl their hair like that?:
Possibly the most bored looking carnival queens I’ve ever seen:
The idiot, bum-baring element, and probably the reason for the street drinking ban the Big Cat Group were so disappointed with. The Doyenne of Digbeth is not impressed with the King of Stourbridge:
These guys were probably some of the people who made Digbeth High street look like a zombie film set later that night. It was like 28 Days Later, with the infected blindly chasing after taxis.
Also check out Midge Diabolik’s Flickr set of the St PatROCKS stage on Bradford Street, which has some photos of The Destroyers in full force.
The Old Library at Birmingham’s Custard Factory being voted number 10 in a poll of the best event venues in the UK. The poll by Event magazine polled 2,000 readers on a total of 400 venues. The Old Library was the only venue in the top ten outside of London…The accolade supports the continuing reputation the Custard Factory and Birmingham overall attracts for being a centre of creativity with the Custard Factory itself being in the top 10 best outdoor dancefloors in the UK in an article by the Guardian in August 2008 together with fellow Digbeth venue The Rainbow.
A 1800 capacity venue like Space 2, put simply, will never be able to attract the chart topping acts simply because the venue can’t house the amount of people needed to cover the cost required to aquire such a band…So where from here for a venue that is reaching its terminal velocity in terms of ability to attract artists that consistently fill up the venue. Does it host developing bands at the risk of poor ticket sales or does it aim to in greater bands past their peak, cashing in on the onslaught of newly reformed legends (Stone Roses, Blur etc)? Can Space 2 open out into the North Yard, or open Gibb Street into an open air venue? Does it move away from music hosting? Basically how can the Custard Factory continue to grow despite its physical limitations.
YouTube – Trailer Part #9 – Bo Pilar and the Mountain Valley Boys at the Wagon and Horses in Digbeth. ‘Unfortunately the carmera person was pissed on cider and couldn’t figure out how to use the video camera, so this is the only footage that has anything like a complete song…’
Substrakt have moved to Fazeley Studios! – A very nice space it is too – I popped over to give them a neighbourly hello and found them office warming with Stella Artois, chocolate Eclairs and Sensations crisps. Most importantly, ‘We’ve gone and got ourselves a pool table, so a Digbeth creative pool league is definitely on the cards!’ Oh yes.
PUBLIC ENEMY MAKE FRIENDS IN BIRMINGHAM – Big Cat Kenny hypes up ‘Hip Hop giants’ Public Enemy playing at the Custard Factory on 3rd December. Simon Jones, creative director of Custard Factory Spaces, says: “The Custard Factory has hosted some major international artists in 2008 such as Fleet Foxes and Basement Jaxx, and hosting Public Enemy is a great way to finish another highly successful year. It is also a big step forward for the music scene in Birmingham; venues in the city are starting to regularly host world renowned acts, not just from the UK but from all over the globe.”
Birmingham It’s Not Shit’s Jon Bounds has blogged prolifically whilst I’ve nursed hangovers. He’s done a Gigbeth Links Round-up, saving me a job, including tweets, Flickr photos and the listen again option on Rhubarb Radio for those that couldn’t make it. On Friday he went to see the Young Knives and on Saturday he declared Thingamigoops can only get better after capturing Pete Ashton’s bleep-tastic performance on film and seeing the melodic Rich Batsford, obnoxious Iain Woods, enthusiastic Musical Youth, crap Kano and old Sugarhill Gang.
Bobbie Jane at the Gigbeth Conference – Bobbie went to the conference in a posh hotel and blogged about what she learnt before the ‘messy VIP party’, which I wish I’d been invited to!
Galvanized, or How to Embed a Picasa Slideshow into Wordpress – Melinda Schwakhofer does this using her fantastic photos of the derelict Arkinstall Galvanizing Factory in Digbeth. ‘I walked around all three floors, including the catwalk, the spooky boys’ locker room and a lovely skylit room at the very top. This was one of my favourite spaces on the ground floor – a high ceilinged, cathedral-like room with the sun shining through a skylight. So empty and peaceful.’
Memory 1 – Derrick May – Derrick May is playing The Factory 13th Birthday Party tonight, which reminds John Mostyn of ‘my old mate Neil Rushton released Derrick’s ground breaking records in the UK at the very start of Techno when Neil and only a couple of others from the UK saw what Derrick, Kevin Saunderson and Co were doing in Detroit.’
Outer Sight Hallowe’en Horrorshow – Created in Birmingham gives a timely reminder of the frightening films on at The Edge tonight, with an invitation for you to print off for reduced entry price.
