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.
Digbeth O’Lympics – Sunday 20th September 2009 – Oh yes, the local sporting mayhem is back. So put Sun 20th Sept in your diaries for the Digbeth O’Lympics. It seems to have grown quite sizably in scale this year, with a long list of pubs playing host to the madness:
Another Byte Of Banality: Country Punkins – The Digbeth Slacker is heading down to the Wagon and Horses on Saturday night ‘for my regular fix of noise and attitude but the real diamond here is lurking at the bottom of the bill , Bo Pilar and the Mountain Valley Boys. Alt-Country shenanighans well worth the £2:00 door tax alone.’
nikki pugh » signage – Coming accross the above ‘Ouch’ on today’s Digbeth tour by Ben Waddington reminds Nikki Pugh of other strange signage she’s found on her travels. You’ll have to bear with me for the footage of Ben and Richard Trengrouse’s tours, I’m hoping to have time to get through it over the Christmas break.
An old style boozer with ~100 capacity upstairs function room complemented by a decent sized beer garden (covered in a stroke of genius by a large army surplus tent), staffed by efficient friendly bar staff and stocking some half decent beer. With a regular roster of faces and some great gigs…Hopefully it can survive the upcoming redevelopments which are threatening to put the kybosh on other (well established) Digbeth music venues…
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…’
Eastside Gallery Launches One-Day Comic – The BIrmingham Mail announces a trat for the comic book fans: ‘FRIDAY 5th December sees the launch of a One-Day Comic at the newly opened Eastside Projects, a new artist-run space as public art gallery for the city of Birmingham. Conceived by Berlin based artist Henrik Schrat…has collaborated with twelve artists to create twelve comic books over the past six months. The original pages and completed comics will be presented in the main gallery at Eastisde Projects as part of an installation crossing genres from Schrat’s comic world into the wild west film sets of Shezad Dawood’s solo exhibition taking place in the gallery. Schrat will present large-scale drawings in the space and arrange the gallery as a whole into a reading room.’
WIN TICKETS – STARLIGHT – If you’re not old like me and the very idea of going to this doesn’t make your head hurt, take part in the competition for free Starlight tickets at the Custard Factory on Sat 20 Dec.
STEVE GERRARD’S BLOG: Pre-wed Shoots & Fast Cars – Steve’s doing his pre-wedding shoots of couples soon to tie the knot in Digbeth. Hopefully one day I’ll be this loved-up. Until then these photos, gorgeous though they are, will make me feel slightly sick.
tornado alley: Wagon and Horses – Favourable review of the old school Digbeth pub. Egg, sausage, beans and chips for £3! That’s well good.
