Digbeth is Good
Culture, pubs and a whole lot more…

fizzPOP’s Theremin Day at The Edge on Sat 24th April

Written by Nicky Getgood on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 ( One response )
Tags: 8bit pete, antonio roberts, catnip, doctor who, fizzpop, genzaichi, hellocatfood, julia gilbert, links, lombard method, mr underwood, Ms Hypnotique, nikkipugh, Pendulum Music, Pete Ashton, samunderwood, simon cowell, theedge, theremin, toblog

Here’s a little film of Mr Underwood at the end of a very busy Theremin Day at The Edge last Saturday, looking tired but happy.  He’d teamed up with the fizzPOP crew to help people build their own optical theremins during the day, a selection of which are here:

The star of the day was most definitely Julia Gilbert’s big apple:

I didn’t make the theremin-making workshop but there’s a great write-up by  genzai·chi (Nikki Pugh), who also talks about the concert later that evening, which I did go along to.  As Nikki says, it started off with ‘a selection of short films exploring the historical, technical and fun sides of the theremin’ including this brilliant one of Super Mario Bros. theme tune.

Then we got a set from from 8bit Pete and his Thingamagoops, of which Antonio Roberts took some nice photos:

8bit Pete by hellocatfood

I particularly liked the fact that it was as much a light show as a music set of bleepy-bloppiness.  Pete managed to capture on film the performance that followed his – what Nikki describes as ‘Mr Underwood’s performance of Steve Reich’s Pendulum Music for optical theremin’ actually seemed to be a giant Newton’s Cradle office toy made out of torches, that emitted an increasingly intense hum which reverberated inside your ears.  It was pretty amazing.

Last but by no means least was Ms Hypnotique playing her live theremin set, giving us nice informative introductions to the instrument, its history and the pieces she performed.  It was great when she told us how Simon Cowell described her theremin playing as, “Who would buy this shit?…He kind of missed the point of what makes the theremin special.”  I’ll bet he did.

Nikki Pugh has a video of her playing the Doctor Who theme tune, for the sci-fi fans amongst you.  As for now, there’s no rest for the busy fizzPOP crew – they’ve barely time to pause for breath before their 2-week residency at The Lombard Method begins this Saturday 1st May.  Everyone is welcome to join them at the launch event this Saturday at 12-6pm, as long as you muck in and help them build an improbable machine:

Entry is free, but we really need you to bring some random stuff to help make the contraption truly great….Whatever evolves out of this crazy idea, the end results will be highly influenced by your contributions. Bring random stuff and a willingness to tinker with things until they work.  All are welcome.  We might also try and sell you cake.

Bomb scare in Digbeth, explosion on Twitter

Written by Nicky Getgood on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: andymabbett, antoniogould, big city plan, birminghamitsnotshit, birminghammail, catnip, duck bath, dykepools, editorialgirl, emmajones, faunography, graphiquillan, jonbounds, julia gilbert, peteashton, pigsonthewing, shonamcquillan, simon gray, twitter, winterval

‘Digbeth police station evacuated,’ reads the Birmingham Mail, ‘after suspicious package was discovered inside…A cordon was placed around the station and a number of roads were closed off.’

However to Twitter addicts such as myself this news was, like, so last hour. We’d been discussing the road blocks, traffic jams, suspicious package and bomb squad for hours. So much so that, after viewing the search results, Pete Ashton went and wondered aloud if Digbeth could become top-rating, trending Twitter topic for the day.

It was like a red rag to a bull. If you tweeted, you simply had to mention Digbeth. Even if, like Antonio Gould, it was to say you weren’t sure what to say about Digbeth.

Pete Ashton’s blogged about the internetty aspects of today’s little exercise, so let’s get on with the important stuff:

• If you spoonerise Digbeth you get BIG DEATH says Emma Jones.
• But if you’re sticking to strict anagramming like Shona McQuillan you get THE BIG D, which is still pretty cool.
• There are Killer Badgers in Digbeth according to Emma Jones. In the Police Station, apparently. Part of the Anti-Terrorism Act, I think. They’re better at extracting intelligence than bog-standard dogs. I shall be risking life and limb David Attenborough-style to get pictures of them for the Faunography trail.
• Me and that bloke down the pub aren’t the only ones who think Digbeth is derived from DUCK BATH. Andy Mabbett says so too, so it must be true.
• Or perhaps it’s not. Jon Bounds says it means Dyke Pools after finding this great site that says so. It seems slightly better informed than my bloke down the pub, and has some fantastic photos.
• Mind you, what does Jon Bounds know? He’s not that fussed on Digbeth because it’s not near enough to Moseley or town. Shame on you Jon, it’s well worth the short ride on the 50/five minute walk from the Bullring.
• Shona McQuillan turned it all on its head and stated: Digbeth in suspicious package. Yes, that’s right. It’s called the Big City Plan.
• Daniel Davies lost his sandwiches in Digbeth. Rest assured, if I find them I will be photographing them for you all to enjoy in the new Digbeth Food Wastage category. Yummy.
• Prize for top Digbeth tweet goes to Julia Gilbert for saying, “You can read more about Digbeth at digbeth.org.” I pay her well. In shoes.

As you can see, our efforts weren’t in vain and it all left me rather distracted and excited this afternoon. Oh yeah, there was some stuff on Winterval as well, which made Simon Gray wonder if that could be a trending topic too. Go on, Tweethearts: you know what to do.