The “Page 56″ Meme
(Idea yoinked from Culture And Anarchy).
1) Grab the nearest book;
2) Open it to page 56;
3) Find the fifth sentence; and,
4) Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.
The nearest book was Linsey Hanley’s “Estates” (borrowed from Our Louise and resting in the pocket of my coat on the back of my chair), which I’m glad indeed to have read (well… very very nearly finished. The bus tonight will do for it). It’s an exploration of the world of council housing in Britain: of the stigma now attached to what was once (briefly) one of this country’s prouder achievements, and of the ‘walls in the head’ that arise from shutting people off in an isolated and un-mantained area before going on to tell them that they’re some kind of failure for having to live there.
The definition of ‘sentence’ in the instructions is perhaps more ambiguous than one might have expected: I’d have assumed it meant ‘the fifth sentence on the page”, but the abovelinked post that I got this from appears to read it as the fifth line down the page (I say ‘appears’ – theirs is a Tolkein book, so who bleedin’ well knows). (EDIT: Woah there Nelly, it’s been all a-changed).
If, then, the former:
“The LCC’s actions would still have lasting significance in that it was the first example of the state, operating at a local level, stepping in to do what once only charities, The Church and philanthropists had been prepared to do.”
Although if the latter:
“…slum had been demolished, never to be replaced.”
These may not be the most spectacular excerpts (it’s not dryly written at all, nor is it a purely historical account. There’s a lot of personal material about her own experiences in Chelmsley Wood and Tower Hamlets) but it is nevertheless an amazing book that everyone should read.
Everyone should also do this meme. This is my idea of fun.
Virgin Media are doing you an enormous favour by fixing the fact that you’re not getting the broadband you pay a monthly bill for. They don’t have time to be phoning you to tell you the engineer isn’t coming
This has gone in the “Do Not Use These Companies” category as that’s probably the closest I have, although I wouldn’t really push it quite that far. I’m not suggesting this is worth anyone cancelling their subscription for (at least partly ‘cos I don’t seriously imagine any of the other providers would be all that much better), but it’s something that’s definitely worth knowing about if you’re a customer of Virgin Media. Forewarned is forearmed, and so forth.
Our internet went off on Tuesday morning (or was it Wednesday? One of the two), giving us nothing but “Page Cannot Be Displayed” messages in the customary fashion (even after the similarly customary turn-it-off-at-the-plug-and-see-what-happens-when-you-reboot technical wizardry). We rang up and were told that it was an area problem and would be alright within a few hours. This turned out to be true.
On Friday morning it was bost again. This time when we rang up we were told that it wasn’t an area problem, and that there must be something wrong with our modem or router or whatever. An engineer was booked to come to our house between 8am and 12 noon the following day.
I stayed in. Fortunately I didn’t have anything particularly important to do (although I did want to go down the shops). No-one had turned up by 12 (I somehow doubt you’re surprised to hear that) and so I tried ringing Virgin, but got fed up after sitting on hold for over 15 minutes.
There was still no-one by 3pm. I phoned again, waiting about 15 minutes but this time getting through. It seems that by this point they’d decided that it was in fact an area problem, and that the engineer’s trip to us had been cancelled so that they could send him to wherever they go to fix area problems. If you don’t leave a mobile number when the appointment is booked, however, it’s their policy not to contact you.
They had our landline number (it’s with them, for pity’s sake) but they don’t ring landlines and only send texts. They choose not to tell you that you don’t need to stay in for their representative if you don’t make it convenient for them. The process seems to run thusly: 1) You pay your bill; 2) you don’t get what you’re paying for; 3) they ask you to stay at home; 4) they change their mind but only tell you if you make life easy for them.
Astonishing. You know about it now though, anyway. I’m not sure how this information will help you if you don’t have a mobile or don’t like giving the number out or have whatever other reason not to obey their whims, but at least you know.
Massive Attademy
Ah, nuts. I was going to get right on top of this and post about it straight away. I suppose a month late isn’t tooooo bad by my present standards.
So, anyway…
The 02 née Carling Birmingham Academy has relocated itself (as most of the people likely to be reading this will already know) to the building that was formerly called “The Dome” and prior to that “The Big Night Out”. This is a measure that couldn’t possibly hurt – the old one was arguably the least likeable enclosed space in the Midlands, including prisons and such (although few will have noticed that I’ve been known to point that out before. Cough). Massive Attack were playing at the new effort on Wednesday the 23rd of September, and so that became my chance to experience the freshness. It’s very much a shame that this meant missing Theo playing in Kings Heath on the same night, but there we go. I didn’t come to earth to save you all without expecting some degree of necessary martyrdom.
Well then… it’s probably a bit better, although – as Ze Baron accurately pointed out – “a second hand septic tank would be a great improvement on the previous place”. I didn’t go up onto the balcony, so all of my observations are based on the ground floor of the main room, but if we take that as a given:
~ It looks marginally nicer, but it’s still ugly. It’s a big empty room with no endearing features.
~ There is a little bit more in the way of places to sit. Not a lot more, but definitely some (and I’m given to understand there’s loads of seats in the upstairs balcony bit that I didn’t visit).
~ It hadn’t even been open for a fortnight by this point and the floor (both the carpeted and dancefloor parts) was already even stickier than the (bad enough) one at the last place.
~ The bar staff seemed happier but the security blokes were still all a-screwface.
~ It’s wider than it is long, and this made it difficult to find a path across from one side of the room to another – the crowd in front of the stage stretched back far enough to meet the crowd of folks trying to get to the back wall bars.
~ With a change of premises and a previously unacknowledged change of owners, I decided to experiment to see if The Official Longstanding (And Very Important, Me Not Buying Drinks Will Bring Them To Their Knees, You Just Wait And See) Academy Drinks Boycott could be lifted. Well… it’s now £3.60 for Carlsberg, which is obviously ridiculously dear but (sadly) doesn’t seem excessive for a place like this. This should be taken as a condemnation of places-like-this in general rather than any kind of mitigation. It didn’t taste as clearly/obviously watered down as pints I’ve had from The Academy in the past have been, but new place is new and could still be making a special effort to impress. Maybe the official boycott is over (not sure yet) but I’m definitely not going to be buying a lot of drinks there.
I suppose I should probably say something about the bands while I’m here. Support came from Martina Topley-Bird (that’s the first time I’ve ever been able to avoid referring to her as “that Martina Topley bird” and will quite probably also be the last), who was suffering from not-so-great sound although I’ve heard plenty worse in my time. Some of her backing was really nice – mostly dreamy floaty sounds, sometimes more rhythmic and energetic. Her own singing, though, didn’t come across as well – she seemed to mostly be going for ‘sultry’ but ending up with ‘disinterested’. There were definitely some nice ideas in some of the beats, though, and she definitely built up some goodwill from me even if it rarely all came together and worked as well as it might have done.
If you’d asked me to make a list of the best bands of the last couple of decades then I might well have forgotten to include Massive Attack, which would have been very stupid of me. This would have been a stupid omission, though, and this fgig only confirmed that. Think about it for a minute: “Unfinished Sympathy”, “Safe From Harm” and “Angel” will do on their own, all of which we got to hear at this. You can then add “Protection” (which they didn’t do) and “Teardrop” (which That Martina Topley-Bird sang at this gig. I’m not saying she did a terrible job, but I know Liz Fraser and she’s no Liz Fraser) and I’m sure that’s enough for any band.
They sounded as you’d expect, anyway. That’s no bad thing.
I mentioned “Angel” back then, and yes: it was voiced by Horace Andy, as were a few other songs. I recall seeing him at The Custard Factory a few years ago and feeling really glad about it – not only was it great, but it also seemed like a chance to see a legendary artist that I probably wouldn’t get very many chances in my life to see. Here, naturally, he ambled onstage barely announced and even less heralded. The cognitive dissonance was soon drowned out by awesome basslines, but it was still strange.
Their backing (LED or LED-look) images were interesting – revolutionary/independence lovin’ quotes, prices of essentials compared to things found on MP expences claims, and (most disquietingly) commercial airline flights justaposed with flightpaths used to move extraordinary rendition prisoners.
Fantastic stuff as far as the gig went, anyway. In terms of the new Academy… well, not quite as bad, but we’ll see if it deteriorates. Or maybe it’ll even improve. Doesn’t seem likely, but you never know.
Lots Of Things To See And Do In The West Midlands: October 2009
It’d really make a lot more sense if October was the eight month rather than the tenth, wouldn’t it? Oh well.
Standard disclaimers: I can’t ensure that these events will go ahead, that they’ll be good, or that I will be going to them. This is just a list of things I found that looked like they might be interesting, so please do not contact me to ask for your event to be included. That’s not the way it works. (EDIT: This paragraph is not some obscure joke. It actually means what it says. By all means add me to your mailing list or whatever-have-you, but sending me a message that specifically asks for your function to be posted on here will not lead to it being posted on here).
Thursday the 1st – An Evening With Joan Baez @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham – The evening they drove ol’ Dixie down.
Friday the 2nd till Sunday the 11th – Birmingham Comedy Festival @ various venues in Brum – Part of the grand Birmingham tradition of grouping together a bunch of events that would most likely have happened anyway and calling it a festival. There are still, no doubt, many chuckles and guffaws to be had – checky here for the line-up.
Friday the 2nd – Zu @ The Rainbow, Digbeth, Birmingham – I-talian jazzy metally… I dunno, just bloody lunacy. They were ace at Supersonic.
Saturday the 3rd – Boxing (Warrior Promotions) @ The Holiday Inn, Birmingham – Presumably a dinner show (boo hiss etc). The latest chapter in the ongoing Birmingham vs Black Country derby takes place here, with Eddie McIntosh vs Quinton “Greatest Name Ever” Hillocks.
Sunday the 4th – Kickboxing and MMA (Eclipse) @ Oceana, Wolverhampton – FC kickboxing and amateur MMA, I believe.
Sunday the 4th – Frank Carson @ The Town Hall, Birmingham – It’s the way he tells ‘em.
Monday the 4th – Boxing (Pat Cowdell) @ The Holiday Inn, Birmingham – Another dinner show (boo hiss etc).
Tuesday the 6th till Thursday the 29th – The Birmingham Book Festival @ various venues in Birmingham – This one actually isn’t as per the description of the comedy festival as above. The line-up can be seen here; there are plenty of highlights, including a discussion with the Tindall Street Press Booker Prize nominees on the 8th, talks about David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest” (timely. More soon) and Will Self on the 17th, a thing about J.B. Priestley’s “English Journey” (with his son and, erm, Stuart Maconie. Isn’t he the fella from all of those Channel Four “I Love The Whatsit”/”Top One Hundred Whatsitcalled” programmes?) on the 23rd, and Karen Armstrong speaking about her new “The Case For God” on the 29th.
Wednesday the 7th till Sunday the 11th – Horse Of The Year Show @ The LG Arena, Marston Green, Birmingham – Neigh, neigh and thrice neigh.
Thursday the 8th – Lethal Bizzle @ The Academy 2, Birmingham – Bring some beef you lose some teef POW POW.
Friday the 9th – Boxing (First Team Promotions) @ The Venue, Dudley – I still have no idea where “The Venue” is.
Sunday the 11th – An Afternoon With Pam Ayres @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham – The afternoon they drove ol’ SouthofEngland down.
Sunday the 11th – The Destroyers / The Old Dance School / The Toy Hearts @ The Town Hall, Birmingham – Three of the finest local fun-folk/trad sorts, playing as part of The Town Hall’s 175th anniversary. The Destroyers are obviously the best band ever and you mustn’t say otherwise.
Monday the 12th – Echo & The Bunnymen @ The Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton – The band that actually could cut the mustard.
Friday the 16th and Saturday the 17th – “The Idiot Colony” (Red Cape Theatre) @ The Rep Door, Birmingham – A group of women are offered some respite from their confinement in a brutal asylum when they get to talk to each other in the hair salon. Based on true accounts.
Friday the 16th – “Revenger’s Tragedy” (Jadis Shadows theatre company) @ The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton – With murder and incest and scandal in general. Also on at The Old Rep in Brum the following night and Hall Green Little Theatre (new to me) on the 23rd and 24th.
Saturday the 17th – Dizzee Rascal @ The Academy, Birmingham – There really is very little that’s more fun than saying “bonkers” in a deep voice. Try it right now and you’ll see what I mean.
Tuesday the 20th till Saturday the 31st – “The Grapes Of Wrath” (English Touring Theatre/Chichester Festival Theatre) @ The Rep Theatre, Birmingham – Waitin’ on the ghost of Tom Joad.
Wednesday the 21st – Therapy? @ The Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton – I’m still no closer to figuring it out: how many question marks does one use if asking a question in which the last word is the band name Therapy??
Wednesday the 21st – The Tennessee Three @ The Jam House, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham – Not actually backing Johnny Cash here, for obvious reasons. Luther probably won’t be playing the boogie woogie here either, for similarly obvious reasons.
Friday the 23rd – Morrissey @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham – I don’t think he’s miserable at all, I reckon it’s all just a show.
Saturday the 24th and Sunday the 25th – Spandau Ballet @ The LG Arena, Marston Green, Birmingham – No, they are playing there. It’s (wait for it, wait for it) TRUE.
Sunday the 25th – Editors @ The Civic Hall, Wolverhampton – I still think “Snowfield” was a better name for them, but there you go.
Monday the 26th – The Proclaimers @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham – I don’t think they’re Scottish at all, I reckon it’s all just a show.
Tuesday the 27th – ZZ Top @ The Civic Hall, Wolverhampton – Ah come on now. You’re looking at me as though this needs explaining.
Tuesday the 27th – Billy Talent @ The Academy, Birmingham – Good quality Canadian melodic punk/emo types, and I just now see that apparently they were originally called “Pezz”. Do you remember those “Pez” sweeties, with their own little dispenser-type-things? They were ace. I recall having one with Goofy’s head on. So, anyway, Billy Talent.
Wednesday the 28th till Saturday the 31st – “Dreams Of Violence” (Out Of Joint/Soho Theatre) @ The Rep Door, Birmingham – Political activism (I can’t help but think of the “blowing up a panda” joke from ‘The Young Ones’ every time I hear that phrase) comes easier than a messy homelife for the main character of this play.
Thursday the 29th – Efterklang @ The Asylum, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham – A Danish band who make music that sounds more beautiful live than you can imagine, and I’m assuming you’re someone with a fantastic imagination. Go to this.
Thursday the 29th – Marc Almond @ The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham – Probably the best pop star named after a nut since Johnny Cashew. Or Slipknut.
Friday the 30th and Saturday the 31st – “The Houdini Exposure” (Little Earthquake theatre) @ The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton – Know what I mean, ‘Arry. A dramatised version of his mission to expose séance Daniel Home as a fraud.
Wildfowl, silver lamé and standing on one leg: Moseley Folk Festival 2009
Just the Sunday (the sixth of September) of Mizoke Fizolk for me this year. Things started badly when it occurred to me that I’d forgotten to borrow The Annual Folk Festival Hat, but got better soon enough.
Moseley Park was as lovely as ever, and perhaps even seemed a bit more so due to layout changes: this year the side stage was over on the left as you look at it (where it was the first year, although still the bigger one they’ve used the last couple of times), and so we got a better view of the lake and its wildfowl. And, erm, the great big scary white balloons that looked uncannily like Rover from “The Prisoner”. There were clearly and obviously more punters than in previous years, but things never seemed crowded.
I’ll just mention the highlights, I think. Given that I’ve hardly written about anything at all that I’ve been to in the last six months I doubt I need to feel guilty here.
~ Wizz Jones: A legendary legend-like legend who is a legend that I hadn’t heard of in my life prior to this. Festivals of this nature always have such sorts. Laid-back folk and acoustic blues with lots of your finger-pickin’-good guitar, and really enjoyable. I especially liked his rendition of “King Of Rome” and think that there should be more songs about pigeon racing.
~ Hunter Robertson: Married a voice like an Appalachian bear burping after eating Tom Waits with some of that really fast clawhammer banjo stuff that sounds like music from a chase scene. This is all a very good thing.
~ Laura Louise: I made a point of heading over to the Bohemian Jukebox stage (the “slopey tent”, as LL had it. Extensive use was made of silver Lamé for décor, and I approve of this) for Laura Louise, having seen and liked her before with Carina ages ago, but I really wasn’t expecting her to be as good as this. Very, very nice use was made of a loop pedal (she felt the need to explain what it was, bless her, almost as though they’re not used by six out of every five solo artists going nowadays), a voice that you really wouldn’t expect if you just glanced at her (unfair as that may be), beatboxing, guitar-tapping for percussion, and what sounded like some really good songs at first listen. I must pay closer attention henceforth.
~ Bad Shepherds: Ade “Eddie” Edmonson’s band, playing (mostly) punk covers in a folk idiom. No mere joke band, either – they’re actually really good. Good enough for me to want them to have a better singer than Eddie, in fact, hilarious though he is. I really liked some of their versions, anyway: I thought “Down The Tube Station At Midnight”, “Against The Wall” and “Once In A Lifetime” all worked particularly well, although the highlight of the entire day was probably their take on the first verse of “All Around My Hat” (with no instrumentation, they all solemnly sang as one: “All around my hat/I shall wear the green willow/And all around my hat/For a twelve month and a day/And if anyone should ask me/The reason why I’m wearing it/Mind your fucking business/It’s my fucking hat”.)
~ Errrrrmmm: I popped over to The Prince Of Wales for a bit (all the green was burning itself into my vision. Also I fancied a change from the Purity ales, nice as they were) and saw a girl with blonde dreadlocks singing and guitaring, backed by a Destroyer on banjo and someone I’m sure I recognised from some band or other on fiddle. So, anyway, quite nice fun’n’frothy songs but I have absolutely no idea what her name was.
~ Mama Matrix: Ooh, I’d wanted to see these for ages but not quite managed it until this point. It seems as though history may condemn them to be known as Birmingham’s Other Gypsy/Balkan Band, although that’s not to be taken as any slight. They’re a lot more straightforward/song-based than *cough*, but lots of energetic fun nevertheless. Admittedly I was completely plastered by this point in the night.
~ Jethro Tull: Jethro Tull, eh? Blimey. Ian Anderson’s voice isn’t as clear as it once was (he now sounds like he has an extra mouth singing “hhhhhhhnnnnnn” at the same time as every word), but he does still stand on one leg to play the flute at times and clearly this is what’s important. The ‘Tull were great fun, and every bit as gloriously silly as you’d want. I’ve always liked their older/blues-rockier stuff more, but the stuff I like less sounded better live too (I also had to chuckle to myself when Ando proclaimed “Back To The Family” as the worst song he’d ever written. Stealth-self-aggrandisement indeed). And, y’know, he does still stand on one leg at times.
Brutal psychedelia, semantic dissonance and pints of lovely apple beverage: Supersonic 2009
Supersonic 2009, 24th-26th of July (inclusive): I will recap this via three categories, I think.
The Good
~ Nisennenmondai (Saturday evening): Nisennenmondai did some sort of “Alice…” kinda thing where they’re tiny but start playing and it’s like they’ve eaten an “Eat Me” and grown by about four hundred miles. Either that or they just sounded really big. The best set of the festival, anyway, and they got the reception from the crowd to prove it. They live somewhere between Battles and Can with maybe a twist of Lightning Bolt too, creating a driving and constantly building instrumental sound. The nutty drummer makes a great contrast to the other two more demure types.
~ Theo (Sunday afternoon): Joint-second-best. Your man (on his Jack Jones) guitars for a bit, loops that, then slings the axe over his back and drums for a bit, before looping that etc etc. Eeeeeveryone is using loop pedals nowadays (I heard an ice-cream van layering it’s choons the other day. Or maybe I just wanted to, I forget) but it’s the quality that’s important, and this lad created a wonderfully intricate-and-detailed but still high-energy mathsrock business.
~ Earthless (Sunday evening): The other joint-second-best. They weren’t as Southern as I was expecting (I reckon I may have become confused between tracks on the Brumcast preview podcasts, although I’m not sure who that means I actually was thinking about. Someone I didn’t see, anyway). I’m hesitant to call them ‘stoner rock’ as others have, and will instead go with the “brutal psychedelia” appellation that a wise man suggested afterwards. Or something. Loooong songs with lots (and I really mean lots) of widdly-wah guitar, but all serving the purpose of taking you on an adventure into the heart of a rocking sun. Or something.
~ The catering situation: The food/drink provisions for the hungry/thirsty masses this year was better than one might ever have expected. The Hogan’s Organic Cider Crizzew were selling pints of their lovely apple beverage for £3 (dear, obviously, but not really all that obscene given that we’re at a festival-type-affair), and Purity (your young funky fresh real-ale that doesn’t market itself towards old men like other breweries who are all SQUARES anyway) had nearly-a-pint bottles available for £3.50. The generic kegged lager and cider from the main bars were £4 per pint, and thus only purchased by certain kinds of mor-ron, or perhaps those particularly and overwhelmingly committed to lager and lager alone (these probably aren’t the same thing, but may be). The Hogan’s was really nice though, you honestly should’ve tried it if you’re one of this lot who seem to be unhappy about having paid more for things that weren’t as good. The Thai food stall was nice if expensive (it doesn’t matter precisely what it is, if it’s served in a polystyrene tray then £5 is expensive for any kind of food. This was of course a lot nicer than practically anything else you’ll ever get in a polystyrene tray), and I can officially reveal to the world that a “100% Cornish BBQ” is in fact a burger/barbeque/etc stand that additionally-but-separately sells pasties and clotted cream. They don’t put them on the barbeque grill. They’re not certain kinds of mor-ron.
~ PCM (Friday night): UK drum’n’bass all in your face. A touch funkier and less head-wreckin’ than usual, I thought, with some squelchy rave-synth sounds that I don’t recall them using quite so much before. Great fun. I’m glad they didn’t use Bolt Throwerman again this time – that was fun at first but the novelty has run its course.
~ Tartufi (early Saturday evening): Hard indeed to describe, but worth the effort of checking out if you get the chance. Noisy pop, perhaps, marrying frequently-changing song structures to some really catchy hooks, and assortment of different instruments, loop pedals (yes, yes), and a ridiculously broad sound. Apparently they’re American. I thought someone had told me they were Belgian. They were probably on the verge of going into the ‘joint second best’ category with Earthless and Theo, but let down ever so slightly by occasionally trying a bit too tough to be ‘epic’ for their own good. Only occasionally, though.
~ Iron Lung (Saturday evening): I was amazed to learn that the band I saw supporting Municipal Waste in Dudley (“Doodley”, as they had it) last year are considered by many to be legends/really important. Quite good, anyway – fast shouty hardcore/grind (‘power violence’, if you will. Truly the most fantastic genre name this side of ‘krunk’), with inhumanly tight and precise stopping/starting/rhythm-changing. The singer-come-drummer is clearly a frustrated stand-up comedian, bless him.
~ Thorr’s Hammer (Saturday night): I wasn’t expecting a lot (oh, cynic), but I enjoyed them. Doomy huge riffs met a pleasingly happy onstage attitude, in contrast to the pomposity that so often attends this sort of thing. Runhild Gammelsæter (a dream of a name for a metal singer, it has to be said) was downright giggly, bless her heart. And also, yes: huge riffs.
~ Zu (Saturday night): I only saw the middle bit of their set, but it was bloody ace energetic jazz-rock sort of stuff, although that doesn’t really do them any justice at all as a description. Saxamophone, saxamaphone, with turbo-charged rhythms. I wished I’d stopped with them a bit longer, actually – in retrospect it would have been worth missing the start of Corrupted.
~ Corrupted (Saturday night): Dooooooom. Corrupted are one of those bands who are considered legends those who A) have heard of them, and B) are the sort of people likely to consider them legends. They sounded huge with a capital Hyoo. On the verge, perhaps, of overdoing it a touch with the post-rock style jangly guitar build-up bits (they never felt like anything more than a build-up, that was the trouble. If I’d been wearing a watch I would probably have checked it at times) but I suppose that when they kicked in the light & shade thing really did work. They did sound absolutely corruscating when hitting it, too. Bosting stuff and no doubt it’s an “Ah, yes, I saw Corrupted once…” tale to tell the doomster grandchildren.
~ Nancy Wallace (Sunday afternoon): I only arrived in time for her last song-and-a-half, but her voice & guitar and the (very attractive) violinist combined to make an absolutely lovely folksy sound.
~ Zzz (Sunday afternoon): A mix betwixt Depeche Mode, Suicide and Dead Or Alive. The chaos/noise bit they briefly had a stab at was absolutely and entirely unconvincing, but other than that they were great keyboardy fun.
~ Khyam Allami (early Sunday evening): Played traditionally-styled Syrian music on the oud (a bit like a lute? It makes that jruangly type of sound I associate with Middle Eastern music. “Jruangly” is a word I’ve just made up to describe that sound that sounds like “jruanglllle”). He seemed surprised but genuinely really happy to be well received, which was quite nice for all concerned. Then, he covered “Black Sabbath”. On the oud. Awesome.
~ The Memory Band (Sunday evening): Apparently they were playing “The Wicker Man” soundtrack, although I wouldn’t know since I’ve never seen it (yes, yes, we know, heresy and so on). Very effectively creepy nursery rhyme-ish folk, from my perspective.
~ Head Of David (Sunday night): Intriguing: their sound seemed to me to be closer to what would often be called noise-rock than what would often be called industrial, in spite of the fact that it was actually closer to the sort of panel-bashing rhythms that you’d associate with industry than it was to anything like free-form noise. Interesting semantic dissonance, ar kid – yow can tell they’m proppa folk from the Black Country like we.
~ Caribou (Sunday night): The last band, for me. They sounded absolutely nothing like the gentle psychedelia found on the recorded bits’n’bobs I heard, and were instead more like some energetic post-rock thing hopping up into big rhythmic drum freakouts. Good fun but I only saw a bit before needing to leave. A whole weekend o’tiredness was beginning to settle on me.
~ People: This is uncharacteristic for me, I realise, but I give shouts to the actual audience – firstly I didn’t have to negotiate too many unpleasantly dense crowds (no idea how many folk were there, but they were spread out a lot more nicely than they might have been) and secondly I bumped into a lot of lovely bredrins and sistrins who I hadn’t seen for ages/don’t see very often. Aaaw.
~ Boids: There was, of course, “There Are No Others…” (Or maybe there wasn’t. Weren’t. My head hurts. I suppose there was a titular absence of others, so “there was” is permissible) (see here, whichever way up) (anyway: BIRDS~!); there was also the bird-shaped-cushion I bought from one of the merchandise stalls to take back to Louise. I named him ‘Poultry’. He was later re-named ‘Percy’.
~ Bunny Bissoux’ “Petting Zoo” pictures: Really cute. I absolutely love the lion that you can see at the bottom-central-left here. I’m still claiming responsibility for giving Capsule the idea to have this made, too, whether or not the actual artist knows a thing about that (I suspect she probably doesn’t).
The Bad
~ Sunno))) (Friday night)))): When you can barely breathe for dry ice you know it’s time for Sunnoparenthesisification. Or a Sisters Of Mercy gig, perhaps. One of the two. I only watched a little bit before wondering off to see Scorn, admittedly, but after the intro tape had ended and their performance had started (figuring out the precise point at which this happens is not the easiest feat) they went “Buuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” for the ten minutes or so I bothered with. As, obviously, is their custom. I think they could be interesting as a kind of endurance test if they actually were as loud as popular legend claims that they’re supposed to be, but on neither of the time-and-a-bits that I’ve sent them has this been the case (at least a couple of folks whose stuff I’ve read from the Collective Memory seem to have been carrying portable decibel meters and reckon that this hit that 130db-ish plane-taking-off range. I am as deaf as a post, admittedly, but that really doesn’t sound even approximately close to right to me))).
~ Diagonal (early Saturday evening): Erm, I know that I definitely saw at least some of their set but I don’t remember the slightest thing. I don’t recall them as specifically bad, but not making any impact at all can’t be a good thing.
~ Trying to keep the rain from falling into my cider whilst walking between stages on Sunday: A pain in the arse. The weather was OK otherwise, though.
~ Tiredness and aching: Clearly I am a complete and total Jessie.
~ Travelling by taxi: This was necessary for the journeys home on the first two nights. It’s not a cheap hobby.
~ Missing some of the bands that were worth seeing: I signed off Venetian Snares (who I would particularly have liked to see) and Monotonix as being casualties of playing in the middle of the morning, and now everybody seems to be saying they were particular highlights. Bah. I didn’t get around to getting my name down for the list-only Pram performance beforehand, either. Bah.
The Middling
~ Scorn (Friday night): Not as good as I wanted, but I think that may mostly have been due to me having the wrong kind of expectations – this was more of a ‘minimal electronics’ sort of affair than the thick swamp of dub that I was looking forward to. I spent a fair bit of the set chatting to The Infamous John Matie (I hadn’t seen him for a year) in the other room of The Med Bar and Scorn’s set made ace background music for that, though.
~ Rose Kemp (Saturday afternoon): Whilst it seemed like a theme for quite a few acts over the weekend, Rose Kemp took “sounding very different live to on record” to a ludicrous degree. Her voice was a hell of a lot more shrill than I expected, and accompanied only by big dragged-out doomy chords. At some points this came together to create a hellish sound, whilst at others it sounded like half baked hit-the-guitar-and-howl improvisation. There was also some very extensive swearing and amp-fiddling between songs. Lots and lots of each. It’s nice to have hobbies.
~ “Home Of Metal” talk (Saturday evening): After a fun little documentary about the project, there was an on-stage interview Johnny Doom, Nic Bullen and a couple of Sunno))) blokes. With the mics helpfully turned down really quiet. I left halfway through – I would actually have liked to stay and strain to hear for a bit longer (not being sarcy) but I absolutely did not want to miss any of Nisennenmondai.
~ The Accused (Saturday night): They sounded really Poison Idea-esque on the recorded bits I’d heard, but more like a generic sloppy 80s thrash band live. They did have their moments though.
~ Esoteric (Sunday afternoon): I think I was probably all-doomed-out by this point. They had effective chunky riffs and a big sound, but just didn’t really get to me. The atmospheric sample bits (dripping taps sounds etc) probably would have worked a lot better in less massive venue. Your man’s Prince/Madonna stylee headset mic was a nice touch, though, although there were no dance routines to make the most of it.
~ Arbouretum (sic) (early Sunday evening): I only saw a little bit of their set – 70s folky prog sorta thing. Seemed OK-ish.
~ Jarboe (Sunday evening): Ooh, she’s an enigma, that Jarboe. Or wants to be, at the very least. Hippy-doom this time around, perhaps (ah, it makes sense in my mind), but the way that she appeared to have such great regard for the magical spiritual worth of what she was doing really did get irritating.
~ 65DaysOfStatic (Sunday night): Post-rock with d’n’b styled imitation breakbeats. I liked bits of the bit of their set I saw, but (as a tweet from I-don’t-know-whom that seems to have fallen off the internet said) every song seems trying so very hard to be all big and epic. Their stage manner was very different but somehow related to that of Jarboe – in their case they seemed supremely convinced of their own ability to Rock The Hizouse. Plenty about them to get on the ol’ nerves, all in all, but they did have some fun moments.
* * *
Not quite matching up to last year’s best Supersonic evaaarrr, but still plenty good enough. Next one please. Again again again.
Check out The Collective Memory for a whole bag o’ links to things other people have said.
Supervisual
Supersonic was over a month ago and so I suppose I really had better get on with posting something about it. A brief few words first, however, about what might be considered the Supersonic Fringe Art Festival. Or something. There are always a few exhibitions/installations dotted around that are connected-to but not-actually-part-of the festival; there are also always completely unrelated exhibitions/installations dotted around, as with every other week of the year. Johnny Supersonic Punter could, if he so wished, head out (with, perhaps, his mom and his rabbity friend) on the Saturday before the actual festival and have a look at some of them. Let me warn you, JSP – it’s interesting but it makes for a long day.
Larks started, then, with the Matthew Boulton exhibition at BMAG, which was quite interesting. The thought occurs that the fact he isn’t widely and nationally celebrated to the same degree as many of the other 19th century industrial figures we all know and love is possibly yet another result of the ridiculously Southern+Manchester-centric tendencies of the media in this country, but that’s a separate rant.
Travelling hence to Digbeth, we skipped Participation at Vivid (it was advertised as being free, but upon arriving there was a sign on the door with the price listed. This is very, very annoying) and I have no idea at all what the Tatham & O’ Sullivan at Eastside projects was trying to get across to me. Raqs Media Collective’s “When The Scales Fall From Your Eyes at Ikon eastside spoke a little bit more: the room was filled with busts that in place of heads had scales filled with sundry objects, attempting to lead one to wonder about the spurious significance (‘weight’) we afford to our prosaic everyday crapola. That link there suggests the artists wonder about the value of measurements and quantification in general, which I’m not sure I like. “Try doing without it, then watch the buildings collapse and the planes fall out of the sky” seems to be the obvious response. I know that’s a bit flip, but the emotional/psychic-wellbeing types of things that can’t/shouldn’t generally, y’know, aren’t. Having said all this, though, I do think that the validity of IQ tests (“I am ten more intelligent than you”) is quite possibly the stupidest meme to have gained common currency. And there are some pretty bloody stupid memes to have gained common currency.
The other one actually linked to Supersonic was There Are No Others, There Are Only Us by Marc Frost, at Moor Street Station. I really liked this. A little curtained-off enclave contained beanbags and a screen, onto which was projected a film of an enormous flock of birds, filmed in Denmark. It appeared more like a swarm than a flock – there was definitely something insectoid about the way they arranged into patterns before dissolving into chaos. The really spectacular and captivating images were married to various soundtracks, and played one after the other – we, happily, arrived during an Einstellung (I like them) one.
I nearly fell asleep between the comfy beanbags and darkness, though. I actually did briefly consider popping back in later for a nap.
After that it was time to head back out of the city centre, over to Perrot’s Folly in Edgbaston for Yukio Fujimoto’s “The Tower Of Time”. Yukio, as you may recall, was the chappy who played choooons on pocket calculaters at S’Sonic last year. This (aside from being a nice chance to see the inside of the tower, which I never have before. Is it open in normal circumstances? I don’t think so but I’m not sure) consisted of 1,111 clocks (well…little plastic boxes with one ticking rotating hand) arranged in the rooms adjoining to the spiral staircase as you ascend – one in the first, then ten, then 100, then a thousand. Collectively the sound of them ticking towards the top created an unusual hiss – an overall sound like white noise, but one in which you could make out each individual click. The sight of them all moving out of kilter was interesting, as well: for the second time in the day the adjective ‘insectoid’, came to mind, as the arms jerked forward before stopping like individual limbs in a huge swarm of locusts. I have no idea what big idea any of this was trying to convey, but it was a really fun combination of sights and sound.
So there we are. A post about the festival itself will follow soon-ish.
Lots Of Things To See And Do In The West Midlands: September 2009
There wasn’t an August, but it really doesn’t seem like there’s never much that’s particularly exciting in August. This particular list is even less exhaustive than usual, and also even more music-dominated than usual, but that’s what I’ve managed to come up with. Sorry. The comments box is as open as ever for the awesome stuff I’ve missed, if you feel like using it.
Standard disclaimers: I can’t ensure that these events will go ahead, that they’ll be good, or that I will be going to them. This is just a list of things I found that looked like they might be interesting, so please do not contact me to ask for your event to be included. That’s not the way it works.
Wednesday the 2nd until Saturday the 19th – ‘Cabaret’ (Birmingham Rep Theatre Company) @ The Rep Theatre, Birmingham – Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome, c’mon in. Or similar. We saw this production last year and it was quite good. Certainly less afraid of facing up to the nasty side of it all than a lot of big-budget touring musicals would probably be. I’m not sure about the extent to which the cast is the same as that one, but Wayne Sleep is definitely still playing The MC.
Wednesday the 2nd – Seasick Steve @ JB’s, Dudley – One of these occasions when the booking at JB’s really surprises you. Apparently it’s their 40th anniversary do and proceeds will be going to cancer charity ’The Proton Effect’. Scott Matthews is also on the bill, in proper Black Country fashion.
Thursday the 3rd – Maths @ The Flapper, Birmingham – Chaotic metally punk, or even screamo if you feel the need. They’re quite good from the bits and bobs I’ve heard, but more importantly than that they call themselves ‘Maths’ rather than ‘Math’. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that, in these times of everyone wanting to pretend to be an American.
Friday the 4th till Sunday the 6th – The Moseley Folk Festival @ Moseley Park, Moseley, Birmingham – Headlined by Saint Etienne (folk you say?), Beth Orton and Jethro Tull, whilst also featuring Swarbrick:Carthy, Ade Edmondson’s band, Keli Ali, Cara Dillon and a load of others. Bert Jansch won’t be there as originally advertised, due to ill-health.
Friday the 4th till Sunday the 6th – Birmingham Punks Picnic @ a few places in Brum – Cannon Hill Park on Saturday afternoon for cheap cider (no doubt), then gigs in the evening: The New Inn in Balsall Heath has Drongos For Europe and more on Friday then GBH, Runnin’ Riot and others on Saturday, whilst The Wagon & Horses in Digbeth has a line-up that includes Assert on Sunday.
Saturday the 5th and Sunday the 6th – “Off The Cuff” music event @ The Flapper, Birmingham – On the one hand it doesn’t look like Rolo Tomassi are doing this anymore (unfortunate) and their MySpace page doesn’t actually tell you which bands are playing on which day (stupid), but on the other hand some of the acts will be playing on a docked barge on the canal outside (brilliant).
Monday the 7th – Tori Amos @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham – She’s ace, although she wasn’t that good when I saw her live a few years ago. But she is ace.
Thursday the 10th – The Drifters @ The Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton – To repeat what I said in a previous LOTTSADITWM: “Or a version thereof, at least. No Ben E. King or Clyde McPhatter, for obvious reasons.”
Thursday the 10th till Sunday the 13th – the opening of the new version of the Birmingham Academy @ The, erm, new version of the Academy, Birmingham – The previous toss-hut has closed its doors to be demolished (well, good) and a new ‘un is due to open. Let’s be positive – while it’d be outright stupid to hope that most of the problems with the old place will be rectified, perhaps the new place will be a better building and so perhaps some of the structure-related stuff will be better. Any sort of improvement would be a blessing, really. The opening doings involve four days o’ gigs headlined by Birmingham bands who have achieved fame (relatively) recently: Editors on Thursday, The Twang on Friday (apparently with nine other bands, although obviously it’d make life far too easy if the Academy website were to tell us who they are), The Streets on Saturday, and Ocean Colour Scene (bless) on Sunday. Lovely to see ‘em showing their commitment to the full ethnic make-up of Birmingham’s music so early on.
Friday the 11th till Sunday the 13th – Artsfest @ all over Birmingham – Annual free-family-fun-weekend that everyone bar me seems to hate. Typically there’s no sign of a line-up/timetable yet, but there is a list of ‘themes’, including the anniversaries of the death of Matthew Boulton, the birth of Charles Darwin, and the creation of… Barbie. I’m not making this up. (EDIT: The leaflets are out now, got one through the door today. Still nothing on the website, though). (EDIT EDIT: The timetable is on the website now. See comments below, too).
Friday the 11th – Electric Wizard @ The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham – Dooooooooooom.
Sunday the 13th – The Men They Couldn’t Hang @ The Robin 2, Bilston – They really should get TMTCH on at the Moseley Folk Festival, now that I think about it.
Friday the 18th – Boxing (First Team) @ The Civic Hall, Wolverhampton – Steve Saville has a go at Scott Lawton for the English lightweight title, and if you’re into slebriteez then Angel McKenzie from ‘Big Brother’ faces our own local Lyndsey Scragg. I am completely confident that Lyndsey will absolutely wreck her, so let me know if you can find anyone running a book on it.
Sunday the 20th – The Digbeth O’Lympics @ various pubs in Digbeth – Although the website just shows you a flyer and doesn’t tell you what the events are (‘not wanting to let on about the line-up’ seems to be the theme this month, doesn’t it? Event promoters, you’re all rubbish. All of you), but in this case I don’t suppose it matters that much. Have a pint instead.
Tuesday the 22nd – Massive Attack @ The Academy, Birmingham – Currently running back at two members, I think. Possibly.
Tuesday the 22nd – Theo @ The Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham – Fantastic loop-pedallin’ maths-rock one-man-band who rocked both your socks and mine at Supersonic this year. He’s first on the bill, with Fook Boottons headlining.
Wednesday the 23rd – “Under Milk Wood” (Guy Masterson) @ The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton – Dylan ‘That’s lovely, you see, isn’t it’ Thomas. This claims to be “perhaps the ultimate rendition” of it, with a very strategically placed ‘perhaps’.
Thursday the 24th – The Wildhearts @ The Academy, Birmingham – Will my unbroken run of failing to attend any Wildhearts and/or Wildhearts-related gigs since June 2001 continue? The sensible money would say ‘yes’.
Saturday the 26th – AMMA @ Banks’ Stadium, Bescott, Walsall – The latest in the always-fantastic series of amateur MMA cards put on by Marc Goddard and co. The most recent bill I can find is here.
Monday the 28th till Saturday the 3rd of October – “Dinnerladies” (The Comedy Theatre Company) @ The Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton – The telly series was one of the greatest telly serieseseses ever, I think (by which I mean that it was really good, and not that I’m trying to damn it with faint praise). Obviously I don’t know how good this is.
Monday the 28th – the live version of “I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue” @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham – I was really quite overjoyed to walk past Mornington Crescent tube station when I went to London in February.
Wednesday the 30th – ‘Canal Music’ @ outside The Flapper, Birmingham – This is a lovely idea for a tour: Lisa Knapp and Leafcutter John are playing a series of gigs up the length of the Grand Union Canal. It ends in Birmingham (obviously), outside The Flapper. I don’t know if they’re actually playing from the barge or not. If they are that’ll take a bit of the novelty away from the “Off The Cuff” thingy mentioned above.
