Best Believe ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

This is very exciting! On Thursday 4th March The Electric Cinema will be screening Beyond Biba a portrait of the life of 1960s fashion legend Barbara Hulanicki. All information can be found here with tickets available from The Electric.

Our first screening in Birmingham. We’re screening for one night at the Electric Cinema, Birmingham. The cinema is the oldest working cinema in the UK first opening on December 27th 1909. The building is now home to luxury sofa seating, waiter service and a full bar.

There will be a post screening Q&A with Director Louis price and Producer James Collie, which will be hosted by Tom Lawes, owner of the Electric Cinema.

Special edition DVDs signed by Barbara Hulanicki will be available after the screening.

6 February – 23 May / Waterhall Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Since the mid-1960s Bridget Riley has been celebrated for her distinctive, optically vibrant paintings that actively engage the viewer’s sensations and perceptions.

The exhibition is a first in a new series of solo artist’s exhibitions from the Arts Council Collection; it includes the iconic Movement in Squares (1962), which Riley credits as the beginning of her breakthrough into abstraction.

The exhibition also includes paintings and over 30 works on paper from the artist’s own collection that have never been exhibited before.

A Hayward Touring Exhibition from Southbank Centre

Admission Free

Calling all Birmingham beat makers – CDR Knowledge – Beat Innervisions Birmingham comes to the Ikon Gallery next week on
Thursday 21st January. Featuring production insights from:
Morgan Zarate (Spacek)
Soundspecies (burntprogress)
And a discussion with Burnt Progress/CDR big man Tony Nwachukwu and the producers on the bill; Spacek’s Morgan Zarate and Soundspecies.
Folks will be able to gain insights into how Logic Pro was used to craft and develop one of their standout tracks. Furthermore have a chance to get to grips with Logic Pro 9 supported by CWPro and CDR community members and observe CDR community members build a track from scratch on the night!

Running Order:
7.00pm   – Working Logic – Production demonstrations / Track productions (until 9.30pm)
8.00pm   – Introduction
8.15pm   – Soundspecies
9.00pm   – Morgan Zarate
9.40pm   – ‘Open CDR’ – Tracks produced during this session played – LOUD!
10.00pm – END

To register peep here.

The project is aimed at diverse young people aged 16 -19 from inner city Birmingham (some of whom are not in education, employment and training) but who have some interest/ability in the arts. The project will focus on ideas of guerrilla craft, DIY Craft and Craftivism – with a view to developing a young people led craft collective which will then organise a series of interventions throughout the city.

More info here.

Here is a collection of alternative Christmas gifts available from creative folks in and around Birmingham. Firstly a Christmas type mix of records from me. Feel free to wang this mix on whilst wrapping your presents or mulling your pies… enjoy!

At the top of the page we have the infamous Spinwell Bobble Beanie – which had almost sold out from this Birmingham based cycle blog, before the delivery had even arrived. Thankfully some are still available and now in stock ready for Christmas, very reasonably priced at £15 a pop. You will look hot when you are cold.

Spinwell Projects No.1 will be the Spinwell Bobble Beanie. Limited to 30 pieces and available in two colour options – Red/Grey/White and Grey/Red/White ( unfortunately not the colour pictured, this is my special sample! ).

Current State is the work of Birmingham based designer and illustrator Jane Anderson. Current State do lovely bold prints and are often feature in Fused Magazine. You can purchase postcards and Eco bags from Studio 4 Gallery aka The Framers along with a whole bunch of other stylish prints, postcards, bags and stickers from other artists and designers. Picture of Current State’s Eco Bag below - online shop and information here.

Mouldy Loaf is an independent company and brand which stocks the best in men’s and women’s wares. We have created an innovative and alternative brand which provides a great change to mainstream, high street fashion.

I say amen to that! Mouldy Loaf also run We Create* in Oasis Market. To go peep their wares just head down to the Custard Factory or look online here.

From mouldy bread to tasty and mouldy (if you so please) cheese! I love cheese and I love this shop! Newly opened in Kings Heath with a tasty collection of cheese, deli goodies and chutneys.

Capeling and Co is a specialist cheese shop and delicatessen on York Road, Kings Heath. We sell a large range of artisan cheeses, charcuterie, olives, antipasti, chutneys, vinegars, oils and lots more!

You can find out more here and become a fan on facebook. Support your local independent cheese retailer!

Merry Christmas!

Best Believe xx

For those unfamiliar with Louis Den Beat Battles it’s an online community of hiphop beatmakers and producers taking part in weekly beat making challenges run from our myspace, our Beat Cypher nights are an extension of this taking beat making to the live platform with invited producers coming to showcase their material and emcees / vocalists sharing the stage performing special versions of their tracks over the nights producers.

The next Louis Den features Budge, Chemo, Sleaze Da Don, Ghosttown, Wizard and Birmingham favorite Juice Aleem and will be hosted at their new home Sound Bar, 250 Corporation St on 10th December from 9pm and is only 4 pounds before 10pm.

The online beat community Louis Den Beat Battles returns with another installment of the “Beat Cypher” night; the aim of “Louis Den Beat Cypher” is to showcase the production element of hip-hop in a live setting, the main focus will be on the 4 profiled producers of the night as well as live PA’s from artists.

The closing party to Capsule’s 10th birthday celebrations is on Saturday 19th December at Vivid on Heath Mill Lane in Digbeth. This party will see a gathering of some of Birmingham’s most exciting experimental live acts including the fabulous Modified Toy Orchestra plus someone called Stinky Wizzleteat and others – all paying tribute to the ten years of exciting, genre pushing music that Capsule have produced and provided a stage for. You can get more info here and tickets from here. See you down the front.

Pioneering typographer, sleeve designer and artist Swifty will be setting up shop at the Sauce Gallery in Birmingham’s Custard Factory from Saturday 12th December. Everything from originals and one off prints to T-shirts, skateboards and stickers will be for sale in The Swifty Pop Shop.

The Pop Shop, which is being brought to Birmingham by Sauce Gallery and Punch Records, will feature Swifty’s Newsagents installation. This life size shop front was partly inspired by Peter Blake’s ‘Toy Shop’ and the artist’s fond memories of a local village newsagent in Lancashire. The Shop will also be home to the A-Z of Swifty Show, including pieces based around everything from Action Man to Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout.

The Pop Shop is the latest branch of Swifty’s expansive career. Having studied design at Manchester Polytechnic, at the age of 21 he trained under Neville Brody at The Face magazine. His work at The Face and later led him to be recognised as one of the top new talents in the specialist world of typography.

In 1989 he joined the team at Straight No Chaser, a publication aimed at the jazz, jive and soul community. As art editor he drove the creative style that went on to embody the magazine as a whole. At the same time he established his own font company, Swifty Typograpfix, and spread himself between the magazine and producing fonts, record sleeves, club flyer designs and many other sidelines. Swifty dominated the scene, being the designer of choice for nearly every acid jazz label.

Punch Director Ammo Talwar said:

“Swifty is a design legend whose work cuts across all typography boundaries. Bringing the Pop Shop to Birmingham is a real scoop for the city, and will give visitors a rare opportunity to see many of Swifty’s personal projects first hand.”

The Pop Shop will be open to the public at the Sauce Gallery, 5 The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Digbeth from 11th December to 10th January 2009. For more information visit www.punch-records.co.uk

Inclusion Inspires – music making a difference a free conference delivered by MusicLeader West Midlands, Youth Music and Symphony Hall on Monday 16th November.

For teachers and musicians leading music with young people who have special needs, physical and learning disabilities.

Learn about the best techniques and technologies, share skills and stories and try out the Patrick Music and Multimedia Studio and its equipment. For anyone working with music in school, mainstream or special, youth clubs, health settings, support groups.

This event is free to attend.

For further information contact 0121 236 7978 or west-midlands@musicleader.net

Visit this site for more information…