Written by Nicky Getgood on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: About Brum, Carl Chinn, centre of our world, Chinese Community Centre, Custard Factory, Fort Dunlop, Irish Club, Jason Hemming, John Fitzgerald, Minstrel Music, Polish Centre, Radio 4, The Irish Quarter, Urban Splash
Thanks to Christopher on About Brum for flagging this up. Professor Carl Chinn’s series about immigrant communities in Birmingham is being repeated on Radio 4 this week, with the option to listen through iPlayer available over the following few days. He interviews old and newcomers to Birmingham from local cultural community centres.
Interviewees in the Chinese Community Centre on Bradford St remember finding Brummie accents ’scary’ (can’t say I blame them) and the report from the Polish Centre on Bordesley Street stiffened my resolve to eat dinner there at some point.
By far the most interesting was his piece about Birmingham Irish Club on Digbeth High St. ‘Old school’ Minstrel Music manager John Fitzgerald recalls the days when The Custard Factory made custard and worked in Fort Dunlop. He is nostalgic for the centre’s history as a haven the Irish community, whereas the young ‘new blood’ general manager Jason Hemming is keen to capitilise on other communities’ use of the centre. John and others have ‘reserved views’ about Jason’s management. Can the centre, soon to be rebuilt as part of the Irish Quarter’s regeneration, stay true to its roots whilst diversifying and keep the old customers happy whilst catering to new ones?
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Written by Nicky Getgood on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 ( 2 responses )
Tags: Angel Stripe, Capsule, Cheapside Show, Chinese Community Centre, Created in Birmingham, Flux-Fest, FluxFeast, Fluxfilms, Fluxfood, He An, Helen Grundy, Ikon Eastside, John Tighe, Maverick, Moat Lane Car Park, SharedTable, Spotted Dog, Strange Ways, Supersonic, Tercerunquinto, The Bond, Vivid
What a lot of arty cultural stuff there is going on in Digbeth this week:
The Ikon’s busy tomorrow on Wednesday
At 11am-12pm artist He An talks in Mandarin Chinese about his current Ikon installation at Moat Lane Carpark in the Chinese Community Centre on Bradford Street.
There’s a private view at the Ikon Eastside later at 7pm of Mexican collective Tercerunquinto’s I Am What I Am, a new work that reacts to the gallery’s shifting surroundings. Stick around until 9pm to catch the Ikon bus to He An’s artwork in the Moat Lane Car Park.
Last Week of Flux-Fest at VIVID
If you’re feeling creatively peckish go to FluxFeast 7.30pm at VIVID tomorrow, a Fluxfood event in seven acts by SharedTable. Tickets are £25, booking essential.
At 2pm on Saturday watch some FLUXFILMS: Anthologies at VIVID, featuring a compilation of 37 films produced 1963 to 1970. SharedTable are serving up again with afternoon tea and ‘subversive’ cakes.
The Flux-Fest art exhibition stays on display in VIVID’s gallery on Heath Mill Lane until Sunday.
Professor Tighe’s Excelsior Music Machine
The weekend starts with post-work drinks and scones at The Spotted Dog from 4.30pm on Friday with landlord John Tighe, who wants you to turn up in 20’s-50’s/burlesque garb. Let’s face it, if you work in The Bond, The Custard Factory or Maverick, it’s not as if you’re going to spend the day looking out of place.
Strange Ways Cheapside Show
On display at The Edge until their Landing Party this Saturday night from 6pm, when Helen Grundy and Angel Stripe’s sugar mice will finally be set free for eating. I went to see the exhibition earlier today and it’s a lovely reaction to the regeneration of Digbeth, reminding new locals like me that the area existed before our luxury flats were built by drawing on its colourful history and culture.
Capsule’s Supersonic Festival at The Custard Factory all weekend
I’ve only just started going to Capsule gigs. They didn’t appeal to me before because I never knew who any of the acts were. Having been to a couple, I now know that that’s the whole bloody point and am kind of kicking myself. So take a leap of faith with the Capsule girls and buy a weekend ticket before they sell out. Your trust in Jenny and Lisa will not be misplaced. Watch Frankie’s interview with them on Created in Birmingham if you need some persuading.
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