The town of Modbury has banned plastic bags for 6 months. What's interesting to me is how residents are being supplied with cotton shopping bags, presumably for free. This strikes me as the best way to get people to stop using plastic. Give them the alternative and disincentivise the plastic, either through taxing them or an outright ban. Taxation could fund the initial supply of bags, thinking about it, meaning the council could supply every household with, say, ten bags without significant investment.

One to mull over...

I just posted about these folk on CiB where I don't allow myself to make comments but if I did the comment would be "where the fuck did that come from?" I particularly like the lounge / thrash / ska epic The Beast With A Zillion Eyes. One to check out at the nearest opportunity.

Blogroll: Profondo Blogger, with a penchant for HD DVD technology and B-movies, is by UCE lecturer Oliver Carter. (What is it with UCE lecturers and blogging? Where are the Aston and Bham Uni bloggers?) tnx to Dubber, another UCE lecturer...

The Birmingham Blogoverse continues to expand.

About Brum is a new blog by Christopher Woods. Very early days but it appears to be in the vein of B:INS and this site. One to watch develop with interest.

Up Yer Brum is a Birmingham-specific Digg where people can submit stories and vote them up or down the list. You can also tag your photos and blog posts with "upyerbrum" and have they appear automagically on the site. Created by Nick Booth of Podnosh and Jon Bounds of B:INS this has some weight and thought behind it and with be worth watching. Be warned, though, it's still early days.

The Chamberlain Forum has a blog. What's the Chamberlain Forum?

The Chamberlain Forum exists to promote vigorous debate on new practices, ideas and policy to refresh our neighbourhoods. We believe that local people can be the engine room for neighbourhood improvement, and that they should have the support, advice, and resources to help their community flourish.

It has grown from the Chamberlain Lectures, which bring some of Britain’s key thinkers and policy makers into the heart of Birmingham’s neighbourhoods.

Now we are beginning a series of varied events which will tap into the energy and expertise within the city, bringing together local politicians, practitioners and residents to learn from each other and seek solutions to the problem of how we develop thriving places to live.

I see Nick Booth is involved with this one too. He gets around a bit, eh?

Blogroll: Silver-footed Kitchen. Where ever does she find the time?

I've often thought that the BBC program Inside Out should have their reports archived online as they often have a use outside that of mere broadcasting. It appears that they do, albeit not consistently and not linked from that archive page.

This feature on Soweto Kinch's investigation into Birmingham's links with slavery has, at the bottom, a link to the broadcasted report itself, albeit in crappy RealPlayer format and split into two chunks. Ideally it'd be uploaded to something like Google Video so it can be embedded and downloaded, but this is a start.

Go watch it. It's very good.

via Podnosh

Jibbering Records
Antibalas

I note with interest that "the inaugural AfrikaJam was held in 1996, at Birmingham University's Guild of Students. The motivation was to provide something fresh in the form of an exciting club night; a place where people could let go of image and inhibition and just dance to inspiring music." I think I was at that, or if not the year after, and it really was quite wonderful!

Birmingham Jazz
The Yardbird on MySpace

From this week's Slutty Silver Gig Feet gig guide I'd recommend the following:

Wed: Bar Academy for The Stills, Destroy Cowboy
I think I said I'd go to this.
Fri: Academy 2 for Bill Callahan.
That's Bill Callahan of Smog. £12. Hmm... Anyone interested?
Fri: Jug of Ale for Electric Animals, Mr Bones & the Dreamers, The Riptides.
Saw Mr Bones a while back and they were very good indeed.
Mon: Bar Academy for Acoustic Ladyland.
These guys are fucking amazing!

via Tak

More blogs...

Early days for the Birmingham Conservation Trust blog but I'm dead impressed with it so far. Lots of meaty content and a confident style. One to subscribe to. They're looking for volunteers to help with the archiving of the Newman Bros Coffin Works. I've applied. via Bins.

Also noted: photographer Steve Gerrard's blog. I profiled Steve over on Created in Birmingham recently. He's very good.

Whoa, didn't see that coming.



On the one hand, as Laura says, new toilets! On the other hand, is the Flapper allowed to change? Doesn't it have listed building status by now?

And has the "Firkin" finally been dropped?

Whatever, it'll be interesting to see how this develops venue-wise.

With the distant rumble of election noise becoming less distant I was wondering where all the posters and placards were. It seems the council have banned them this year as part of a general crack down on flyposting (leading by example and all that). How odd!

This news comes to us from Deirdre Alden's blog who is the "Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency, which consists of Bartley Green, Edgbaston, Harborne and Quinton wards." Welcome to the blogroll Deirdre.

(A "parliamentary spokesman" is the same as a prospective parliamentary candidate for those, like me, who aren't up on the lingo. In other words she isn't the MP but wants to be.)

Slightly late notice. This is tomorrow night (Saturday 21st) at The Cross in Moseley from 8.30. Tickets are £4 until 9.30 when they're a fiver.

The Destroyers are fucking amazing.

Jon Bounds went to the opening of the refurbished Town Hall and reports that the acoustics are triffic. Apparently we're to call it Town Hall, not The Town Hall. Yeah, right.

Bluebell season is upon us, as evidenced by this photo by Paul. But where's the best place to find them?

Flickr to the rescue!

Paul Dale on the Birmingham Post blog has an update on the efforts to get rid of the stupid big telly in Chamberlain Square. Apparently the Birmingham Civic Society are the prime movers in getting the council to move it away from the Town Hall. Their suggestion of installing it at the BullRing is eminently sensible, if it has to go somewhere. The chap in charge is one Stephen Hughes should you want to suggest to him they just get rid of the darned thing. His email is stephen.hughes@birmingham.gov.uk

On the Moseley_Free mailing list there's a couple of great reports from the recent election hustings from Daz and Simon Keel. Even if you're not in Moseley (and I'm not in Moseley, for the record) this is worth checking out. I think the current buzz phrase is "citizen journalism".

Question: what other forums exist online where this sort of thing might be found? It can't all be Moseley based. That'd be far too tedious.

Something interesting from the Connecting Histories people related to Charles Parker:

Charles Parker Volunteer Programme

Monday 23rd April 2007
Saturday 28th April 2007
Birmingham Central Library, 10.00-4.30

Connecting Histories is proud to present the upcoming Charles Parker Volunteer Programme. This volunteer programme is designed to provide an enjoyable hands-on opportunity to get involved with archives sector, to develop knowledge about oral history, and to learn more about different communities.

For those interested in developing careers in the heritage sector the programme will enable you to acquire some basic hands-on experience of the archives sector; for others who might be interested in history and heritage more generally (for personal interest or studies) it is an excellent opportunity to find out about how archives work, how to use them, and how they may be relevant to yourself.

There are a limited number of places, so if you are interested please do get in touch to reserve yourself a place. Crucially, FOOD and REFRESHMENT provided...

You may wish to visit our website if you want to familiarise yourself with Connecting Histories.

Izzy Mohammed
Community Access Officer
Connecting Histories
Tel: 0121 464 1607

Nothing's really jumping out at me from this week's Gig Slut Gig Guide except maybe the Actress and Bishop on Monday to check out A Pars Defect and perhaps the It's Just Noise night at the King Edward on Sunday.

No idea what this'll be like but I dig the typography.



via Laura

New blog: Converjed. Based in Moseley and Second Life.

New blog on the list: Gareth Western. Also on Flickr as g4z.

D'log reports, with commentary, that Brass Goggles, a blog about all things Steampunk, is based in Birmingham.

Some flyers that caught mine eyes.






DJ Medhi, Nightmoves, Shakes

I've been meaning to write something about the notion of walking maps for Birmingham that's been discussed on D'log and Nunovo but haven't gotten around to it yet. So here're the links in case I never do.

The Martin Mullaney YouTube saga has taken a new twist. Not content with confronting the teenage tagging community he's now taking on the men-who-have-sex-in-parks community, and they're not taking it lying down. As it were.

As The Stirrer puts it, CAMCORDER COUNCILLOR TARGETTED OVER GAY ORGY VIDEO. How exciting! Has Martin really done a video about gay orgies? Um, no. What he's done is made a video about how the council will be tacking the issue of public sex in Highbury park by cutting back some bushes. Now, I might be rusty on my definitions but I have a feeling it requires slightly more than a chair in a bush to have an orgy, but we should never let the facts get in the way of a good headline. Here's the video in question:



From an internet point of view the interesting thing is how this video has apparently sparked a campaign against Martin with this sign being hung outside his house...



... which he's apparently leaving there to show he won't be intimidated.

The whole thing is rather unfortunate. For good or ill public sex is illegal in the UK and the council were responding to complaints from the public, so there's nothing wrong with the action taken. Regarding the video it's slightly disturbing how horrified Martin is by the sign of condom wrappers and you could infer some homophobia at a push, but he isn't a natural presenter by any means. In fact it's his naivety in front of the camera that makes his stuff work for me. I'm pretty sure this wasn't his intention.

The big issue, I guess, is that by highlighting the goings on in the park he's essentially encouraging gay bashing by identifying exactly where gay sex is occurring. I think this is unfair as Martin has repeatedly identified where illegal activities take place in his ward from graffiti to drug taking. And it's not unreasonable to assume that anyone who uses the park on a regular basis knows what's going on. What's more disturbing is how Martin's video has been reported elsewhere. I'm pretty sure he doesn't use the word "orgy" in the piece but there it is on The Stirrer. Similarly the Mail reported the video under the headline " Park exposed as gay haunt". Typically the Mail doesn't keep its archive online but I found the opening paragraph: "A Birmingham councillor has launched an online battle against a group of gay men who gather in a family park for illicit sex."

This is the sort of thing that's homophobic. This sensational, salacious style of reporting that put the facts through a filter of horrified fascination and marks out The Other as a danger. When Martin makes a video about dealing with mugging and drug dealing there's nary a peep, but once you mention the fags it's pile-on time.

If Martin's guilty of anything it's that he gave those parts of the local media that thrive on spreading fear and distrust (and I'm sorry to have to put Adrian Goldberg of The Stirrer into the category as he seems a nice chap) some ammunition for their nasty games. In return he's gotten himself on the end of a hate campaign.

(And yes, I know I made an oo-er joke in the opening paragraph. So sue me.)

From this week's Silver Footed Gig Guide, where you'll find links for all the bands, I'd recommend the following:

Wed: King Edward for Crippled Black Phoenix, Thought Forms, Einstellung [Post-rock-ish Capsule gig. I'm 99% sure I'll be at this to check out Einstellung. Update: Einstellung have pulled out due to injury. Shame. Still worth going though.]

Fri: Sunflower Lounge for No Age, Munch Munch, Look Look (Dancing Boys) [Based on Laura's recommendation and the fact the Chicks Dig Jerks do quality shit.]

Sat: Barfly for YOURCODENAMEIS:MILO, The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club, Mother Vulpine [Saw YCNI:M a couple of years back and they were great. Heard good things about VEGC.]

Sun: Barfly for Pelican, These Arms Are Snakes, Beestung Lips. [Pelican are okay but I'd go to this for the support. No idea what they're like but the support at Capsule gigs is always worth a punt.]

Sun: Sunflower Lounge for Danananaykroyd, Johnny Foreigner [Danananaykroyd better live up to the wonder of that name.]

Suzanne and Nick must go. Richard McComb of the Birmingham Post blog speaks the righteous truth. Get rid of that darned telly in Chamberlain Square. Or at least turn it off when there isn't an event on. Apparently it costs the council £75,000 a year to run, which surprised me. I thought the non-sponsorship money came from the BBC. Not on.

Camellotment - a blog detailing the recent acqusition Plot Number 171 in the Moor Green Allotments.

The blog will document our progress as we turn an unworked plot into a fully functioning allotment. We plan to grow vegetables, herbs and flowers of many varieties.

In past gardening experiments we’ve been accused of spending too much time drinking rum, building primitive weapons and putting the world to rights rather than digging and tending our plots. Only time will tell if things will be different this time around.

via Dubber.

Rowland Emett

D'log has uncovered a cartoonist and kinetic sculptor from Birmingham that I'd never heard of, but then I'm not that hot on my Punch cartoonists, to my shame. I always figured that was something I'd catch up on in my later years. Rowland Emett is worth noting though because his style looks so darned familiar.



Something about the decoration on the chimney and the general curves and detail in his work rings a bell, not to mention the characters. That said there is a genera style to the Punch cartoonists, the most famous example being Ronald Searle but even so.

Of course I'm mainly interested in the cartoons but he also made models, often based on his drawings which were realistic enough to be recreated in reality. There's even a subculture of people who make their own. And then he did the kinetic sculptures, some of which go on display in Ontario each year as show in this video:



Reminds me a bit of Tim Hunkin's work.

I like finding out about Brummies like him. It's another example of that whole "Art and Industry" thing from the coat of arms and that pleases me.

I think we should make more of a fuss about Rowland Emett. At the very least an exhibition of his work should be a lot of fun.

Links:
Wikipedia
Some images
More at D'log

Like the rest of you¹ I was terribly excited to hear that Alejandro Jodorowsky's El Topo was finally getting re-released this week. Sadly it doesn't look like it's getting a screening in Birmingham, at least not for the foreseeable future at the MAC or the Electric, our ostensibly "Art House" cinemas. Which is, perversely, kind of a good thing as they've both been refurbished very nicely recently and you really want to see El Topo in a flea-bitten, stinking pit of an establishment. Here's hoping it comes on at the Odeon then.

In the meanwhile, David Lynch's Inland Empire is getting another showing at the Electric over the weekend of April 21-22. At 1.45pm. Is it me or is that timing just wrong? Truly we are living in a different age.

¹ If you weren't then you should have been. So there.

This is one of those When Worlds Collide things that actually makes perfect sense.



Some links for you. Pram, Poppy and the Jezebels and Paperweight Industry for whom this will be their final gig.

Moseley Road Pool has a MySpace which has more information on what this is all about. You can also watch the BBC Inside Out piece on Birmingham's baths along with Martin Mullaney's 7 part tour.

Note this is an all ages afternoon gig and takes place at the Medicine Bar in the Custard Factory, not at the baths themselves (though that would be super cool...)

Thanks to Russ for the heads up.

Since January the Birmingham Post and Mail group have been running a couple of blogs, one for the Post and one for the Mail. To be honest I kinda missed them until now though in my defense the page on icBirmingham isn't particularly enticing.

So, are they any good? The Birmingham Post one is not bad at all. A manageable roster of seven bloggers means you get regular postings across a wide range of subjects and the posts themselves tend to be fairly high quality and in depth. It's still early days but I can see this developing into a neat little group blog for Birmingham that isn't too dependent on the parent newspaper. One to watch.

The Birmingham Mail one, on the other hand, is pretty dire. It appears to reproduce the opinion columns from the paper and so has that really annoying one-sentence-per-paragraph preaching tabloid style where there's no room for debate or discussion. (At least I hope it's just reprinting - I'd hate to think someone would blog in that style willingly.) It's almost interesting how it grates with the rest of the internet, but not interesting enough to justify the blogs existence. One to avoid.

They both use Movable Type which is nice to see but for some reason they've stuck with the default template which, frankly, is awful. I appreciate this is probably a trial and they don't have the budget for a designer but some better colours would be nice. Good that they have full RSS feeds though.

Over on the Moseley Free mailing list Jez writes:

Because I should be working, I did something else instead. Here's a map of Moseley & Kings Heath, Acocks Green, Springfield, Sparkhill wards. I've plotted where each election candidate lives. Each ward has one candidate who lives way out of the ward. Can you guess which party's candidate?

ITAGI, previously is this a good idea? is a blog that's based in the West Midlands, according to Ben. Looks good. Apparently this podcast show is related.

From the choices on offer in the Silver Footed Gig Guide this week I'd go for Wednesday at the Barfly (The Blood Arm, Untitled Musical Project, The Gravity Crisis, Captain Dangerous) and Friday at the Jug (Betty & the Id). I probably won't make the former but the latter is a distinct possibility as I've been wanting to see Betty and the Id for a long while now.