Brum Blog #9
Originally published 5/1/07 here.
The Grassroots Channel at Podnosh is currently running a series of short podcasts interviewing people involved with the Birmingham Community Empowerment Network about what they're passionate about.
The Redditch Standard has a surprisingly long list of What's On In And Around Redditch in January. Who'd've thunk it?
A rather alarmist article in Wolverhampton's Express & Star (C-charge 'will destroy jobs') alerts me to proposals to introduce a congestion charge in the West Midlands as a pilot scheme prior to a national roll out. A Guardian report from September is a little more even handed. Naturally the newspapers don't link to the actual government reports themselves but it would appear to be coming from the Commission for Integrated Transport who have a handy Road User Charging portal page should you want to investigate this further. Personally, as a non-driver, anything that reduces the stupid amount of traffic on Birmingham's roads can only be a good thing though I do have major qualms over the black box satellite monitoring. Still, expect to see giant red circled C's on the roads in a few years.
Andrew Dubber's The Wireless blog has transformed into an mp3 blog which also functions as a podcast if you drag this link into iTunes (or similar). One song a day is promised with extensive commentary. Also, Dubber and Spoons, of Buscast fame, are allegedly making a comeback. More news as it emerges...
It looks like local band The Twang are about to hit whatever counts for the Big Time these days judging by their reaching second place in the BBC's Sound of 2007 poll of 130 critics and broadcasters. While Phil &co might not be doing anything radically original they're doing it well with passion and humour and above all don't come over like a bunch of cunts, which counts for something in my book.
Birmingham Central Library holds all manner of curious stuff in its archives, some of which isn't related to Birmingham, just collected by local figures and donated over the years. Paul alerts me to Robert Welch's Ireland photographs from the late 19th century, 400 of which were collected by industrialist and politician Benjamin Stone whose own work comprises over 22,000 prints some of which have been integrated into the Digital Handsworth project. All this sort of thing can be found in the Local Studies and History deparment on the 6th floor of Central Library.
As ever, bloggers are doing the What's On thing well. The Gig Slut has gigs for this week lined up and RussL's Things to Do in January listing, while short, is always worth a perusal.
Over in Oldbury, starting this weekend, is the 31st Annual Smethwick International Exhibition of Photography which looks rather impressive. The launch is at 3pm Saturday and I might pop along (if I can figure out how to get to Oldbury...). Prints are on display and there are slideshows throughout the week at these times. (Thanks Mike)
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is one of those cultural organisations that takes a lot of public money to prop up and while it's well worth the investment it does mean they have a significant outreach remit. An impressive fascet of this is the CBSO Podcasts, very professionally produced half hour shows of a quality you'd expect to hear on Radio 3 or Classic FM which give an insight into the workings of the orchestra as well as educating you on specific aspects of classical music. They're monthly at the moment with four in the archives. (via)
B:INS link of the week: Nick Owen of Midlands Today has a blog on MySpace.
The Grassroots Channel at Podnosh is currently running a series of short podcasts interviewing people involved with the Birmingham Community Empowerment Network about what they're passionate about.
The Redditch Standard has a surprisingly long list of What's On In And Around Redditch in January. Who'd've thunk it?
A rather alarmist article in Wolverhampton's Express & Star (C-charge 'will destroy jobs') alerts me to proposals to introduce a congestion charge in the West Midlands as a pilot scheme prior to a national roll out. A Guardian report from September is a little more even handed. Naturally the newspapers don't link to the actual government reports themselves but it would appear to be coming from the Commission for Integrated Transport who have a handy Road User Charging portal page should you want to investigate this further. Personally, as a non-driver, anything that reduces the stupid amount of traffic on Birmingham's roads can only be a good thing though I do have major qualms over the black box satellite monitoring. Still, expect to see giant red circled C's on the roads in a few years.
Andrew Dubber's The Wireless blog has transformed into an mp3 blog which also functions as a podcast if you drag this link into iTunes (or similar). One song a day is promised with extensive commentary. Also, Dubber and Spoons, of Buscast fame, are allegedly making a comeback. More news as it emerges...
It looks like local band The Twang are about to hit whatever counts for the Big Time these days judging by their reaching second place in the BBC's Sound of 2007 poll of 130 critics and broadcasters. While Phil &co might not be doing anything radically original they're doing it well with passion and humour and above all don't come over like a bunch of cunts, which counts for something in my book.
Birmingham Central Library holds all manner of curious stuff in its archives, some of which isn't related to Birmingham, just collected by local figures and donated over the years. Paul alerts me to Robert Welch's Ireland photographs from the late 19th century, 400 of which were collected by industrialist and politician Benjamin Stone whose own work comprises over 22,000 prints some of which have been integrated into the Digital Handsworth project. All this sort of thing can be found in the Local Studies and History deparment on the 6th floor of Central Library.
As ever, bloggers are doing the What's On thing well. The Gig Slut has gigs for this week lined up and RussL's Things to Do in January listing, while short, is always worth a perusal.
Over in Oldbury, starting this weekend, is the 31st Annual Smethwick International Exhibition of Photography which looks rather impressive. The launch is at 3pm Saturday and I might pop along (if I can figure out how to get to Oldbury...). Prints are on display and there are slideshows throughout the week at these times. (Thanks Mike)
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is one of those cultural organisations that takes a lot of public money to prop up and while it's well worth the investment it does mean they have a significant outreach remit. An impressive fascet of this is the CBSO Podcasts, very professionally produced half hour shows of a quality you'd expect to hear on Radio 3 or Classic FM which give an insight into the workings of the orchestra as well as educating you on specific aspects of classical music. They're monthly at the moment with four in the archives. (via)
B:INS link of the week: Nick Owen of Midlands Today has a blog on MySpace.
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