Written by Nicky Getgood on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 ( Start discussion )
Tags: AtsuhiroIto, Capsule, links, peteashton, toblog, Vivid
Atsuhiro Ito | Pete Ashton – A gorgeous set of photos from the Capsule gig at VIVID.
Written by Nicky Getgood on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 ( Start discussion )
Tags: custardfactory, links, peteashton, toblog, ttv
Flyposted on Flickr – Photo Sharing! – Some people get annoyed by flyposting and see it as an eyesore. Pete Ashton has managed to make it look rather beautiful:
TTV photos of a wall alongside the Custard Factory where posters for club nights are repeatedly stuck.
You can buy a limited edition print of this montage at Pete’s new Through the Viewfinder photography website.
Written by Nicky Getgood on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: argyleworks, birminghamoperacompany, greatbarrstreet, links, othello, peteashton, toblog
Birmingham Opera Company - The African Othello thinks he’s made it – Venice’s most famous general, a hero, sent out to lead the forces whenever terror threatens. Praised by politicians and people alike – who could ask for more? And then he takes a young white wife….
Poor Desdemona, she didn’t exactly strike gold when she met him. Although according to chorus member Pete Ashton (one of many who answered the public call to action and now going through full training), there may be hope for her yet in the form A Rescue:
Pete Ashton is documenting the rehearsal process in his Flickr set Birmingham Opera’s Othello. Watch Verdi’s Othello in the gritty, industrial setting that is the Argyle Works on Great Barr Street, Birmingham B9 4EX on 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17, 19 December at 7.15pm.
Written by Nicky Getgood on Monday, November 16th, 2009 ( 2 responses )
Tags: birminghamcitycouncil, millenniumpoint, peteashton, sunday mercury
Big Envy – Birmingham Council’s obsession with big and inability to deal with it > Pete Ashton – Oh dear, the Xmas lights switch-on at Millennium Point didn’t go to plan, did it? Pete blames the council being too big for its boots, and sparks an interesting debate in the post’s comments.
Written by Nicky Getgood on Monday, November 16th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: edmoore, links, peteashton, toblog
Canon 5D Mk II Tests – a set on Flickr – Thank to Pete Ashton for making me aware of these photos taken around Digbeth by Ed Moore: “Some super quick test (stills) shots from the new 5DmkII”
Written by Nicky Getgood on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: ikoneastside, links, peteashton, ryojiikeda, toblog
Ikon Eastside: exhibition opening invitation – Pete’s posterous – There’s an exhibition opening at Ikon Eastside this Thursday 15 October, 7-8.30pm
Japan’s leading electronic composer/artist Ryoji Ikeda presents the large-scale audiovisual installation data.tron (2007-2009) which immerses the viewer in a projection of row upon row of numbers, a sea of ever-changing streams of numerical data.
Exhibition continues to 8 November (open Thursday-Sunday, 1-5pm, free entry).
Written by Nicky Getgood on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 ( 2 responses )
Tags: alexhughes, Big Bull's Head, Custard Factory, digbetholympics, fionacullinan, John Tighe, johnmostyn, karenstrunks, michaelgrimes, peteashton, rhubarbradio, shonamcquillan, spotteddog, sundaysocial, the crown, the fountain, TheRainbow, wagonandhorses
The last post about my uber-busy Digbeth weekend. I started Sunday off in the Rhubarb Radio studio presenting Sunday Local with Michael Grimes. It’s a weekly show we do at 12-2pm every Sunday about all things local, be it news, events, music or whatever takes our fancy. John Mostyn popped by to fill us in on the imminent Digbeth O’Lympics, which cartoonist Alex Hughes, who likes to come in and document the proceedings, captured nicely.
Digbeth O'Lympics by Alex Hughes
Karen Strunks and Shona McQuillan also joined us in the studio. After the show we filled up on a nice big dinner at The Big Bulls Head before facing the games. The slideshow of Pete Ashton’s photos above documents our day, which was gloriously anarchic.
We missed the Opening Ceremony, so joined the fun at the Cardboard Coracle Race in the Custard Factory pool. Unfortunately, paint had been spilled into the water the day before so it looked like chemical waste, but at least it hid the fag butts, beer bottles and Christ knows what else was floating around in there.
From there we moved onto The Old Crown, where John Tighe was placed in the stocks for Noise Crimes, and pelted with water balloons.
We moved onto the Spotted Dog, where rumour reached us that someone had thrown an egg 60 feet in The Anchor’s Egg-a-thon and caught it without it breaking. In other news, children were seen running around in custard-filled wellies outside The Wagon and Horses. The Tug-of-War at The Fountain was sadly cancelled due to lack of rope.
Next came the Soapbox Race, which seriously surpassed itself this year for having the sheer gall to take place on Bradford Street, traffic be damned (to listen to their beeping, you’d have thought they were). There were some brilliant creations, such as the Penguin Carrier and a weird Grandad Armchair-Trike hybrid.
After that the children went off to enjoy a Snail Race at The Spotted Dog, whilst the more rebellious amongst us headed to The Rainbow for the Rock ‘n’ Roll triathlon of Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll. I couldn’t resist taking part in this one, which included necking sambucca, blowing up a sex doll and snorting a (legal) line before downing a pint. Unsurprisingly, I was crap. But the humiliation was worth it for the sheer satisfaction that is chucking a telly out of the window.
'Nicky Getgood Housekeeping' says Katchooo
It must of been even more satisfying for those who hit the bullseye target that was Martin Mullaney’s face.
The games ended back at The Spotted Dog with a bizarre Awards Ceremony (I haven’t a clue who won, or why John Tighe drunkenly beat up a penguin) and an extra-special announcement from John Mostyn:
The Free State of Digbeth has no constitution. It has no geographical boundaries. It is the most powerful of all states – a stare of mind.
Oh yes. The Free State of Digbeth is born. We are independent. These streets are ours. We are free. Free to use our roads to race sopaboxes down and throw tellies upon. Free to use our paint-filled pools to sail in boats that sink like lead balloons. Free to wang wellies. Free to lob eggs.
Be proud, comrades.
Written by Nicky Getgood on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: custardfactory, digbetholympics, fionacullinan, inkygoodness, peteashton, thebench, thedestroyers, vaadgallery, wonderland
After a long Saturday lie-in listening to The Big Paws on Rhubarb Radio, I got to join Pete Ashton and Fiona Cullinan on a photoshoot of The Destroyers – first at their rehearsal space on Lombard Street before moving to a car park on Liverpool Street, where Pete effectively herded cats with a megaphone to take some great shots of Paul Murphy running away from a truck-full of Destroyers.
The substandard pics I took are in the slideshow above. It was so much fun, especially when we thought up the idea for a Destroyers calendar – tasteful yet sexy shots of the Destroyers boys with strategically placed instruments. Fiona got started with shooting Mr September:
Destroyers Mr September by Katchooo
Lovely. Then we made our way to The Custard Factory, where art supplies shop The Bench were celebrating their 7th birthday with some sort of graffiti-athon thing.
Unfortunately some paint ended up in the pool, which meant murky waters for the cardboard coracle race in Sunday’s Digbeth O’Lympics. The Bench are recent additions to The Custard Factory, where they’ve been for a couple of months after moving from Quinton.
Before heading home I had a another look around Inkygoodness’ Wonderland exhibition in the Vaad Gallery.
Written by Nicky Getgood on Monday, September 21st, 2009 ( 2 responses )
Tags: adamandeve, Cheapside, chicksdigjerks, Digbeth food wastage, glenn anderson, peteashton, phdshow, richard coldicott, theedge, volt, warp&woof
Well, it’s been a mad busy Digbeth-based weekend. So I’ll take blogging about it day by day. On Friday, I went to the PhD Show exhibition launch at The Edge, which I’ve mentioned. Would thoroughly recommend you pay it a visit this week. On our way there, me and Pete Ashton found this strange kennel box thing on Cheapside. Anyone know what on earth this is for?
I also found a slice of pizza on Floodgate Street.
Funnily enough, pizza is exactly what me and Carl had for dinner before heading to the Adam and Eve for a pint and some music from Chicks Dig Jerks. Whilst there we got wind of another exhibition launch – of street art at Volt warehouse space, 22 Green Street, Birmingham B12 0NB, which Carl has already written a great post about with some lovely photos. Warp & Woof is an exhibition by Glenn Anderson and Richard Coldicott and is on display until 26th September.
Written by Nicky Getgood on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: digbeth, Flickr, links, peteashton, toblog
ASSINDER Bham LTD (via H4NUM4N)
bethdig – A tumblr site created by Pete Ashton, here he ‘tracks the Digbeth tag on Flickr for the good stuff so you don’t have to’. So basically a site of lovely pics of Digbeth.
Birmingham Post: Digbeth articles We Are Eastside – arts and culture
