Read your issue here and look out for it in shops, bars, restaurants, hotels and visitor centres.

All the works in the exhibition derive from a set of illustrated picture-book stories by Easton, written about a group of fictional characters who inhabit a creative community. Each of The Four Tragic Tales is set in a mythical place where the main characters are blessed with youth, beauty and creativity, spending their days in the pursuit of music, theatre and the arts, until war descends upon them and brings a premature end to all.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOPS

Workshops are open to all although under-16s should be accompanied by an adult. Workshops cost £20 each which includes the lend of a camera, full tutorial in the use and techniques of the camera, a roll of film and the opportunity to go out shooting in a creative group around Birmingham.

Workshops meet at 1.30pm at the Lomography Pop up Store in Selfridges and will last 1 ½ – 2  hours max. Places must be booked and pre-paid to ensure a place. To book a workshop please phone the Lomography pop up store.
To see the full listings of workshops please go to the lomography.com website.

Workshops at Lomography pop Up Store Selfridges, Birmingham will run every Saturday in February and March:
04, 11, 18, 25 February
03, 10, 17, 24, 31 March

COMPETITION

Lomography is offering Area readers the chance to get a place on two of their workshops in April for free on the 07 April and 21 April, meeting at 1.30.

For a chance to win a place in one of these workshops please email competitionsuk [@] lomography.com with the subject ‘Birmingham workshop’ in the subject box and please remember to tell us which workshop date you would prefer.

Lomography will choose the first fifteen entries for each workshop date and let you know by return email…you won’t hear back from us if you haven’t won a place, sorry. However, never fear as everyone’s a winner! You can get 10 piggy points (£10) to spend in the lomography online shop when you sign up for your very own lomohome with this link.

By entering this competition you agree to be added to the lomography mailing list. We will not share your data with anyone, or send you any old rubbish, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

STORE DETAILS

Level 2
Selfridges & Co
The Bullring
Upper Mall East Birmingham
B5 4BP

0800123400  ext. 56772
Opening hours:
Monday – Wednesday 10.00 – 20.00
Thursday 10.00 – 21.00
Friday 10.00 – 20.00
Saturday – 9.00 – 20.00
Sunday – 11.00 – 17.30

Check out our sister publication Fused Magazine for a chance to win a different lomo camera each month over the next four months.

Mondays and Wednesdays in January will see the Selfridges salon transformed in to a tranquil pamper-only zone where Umberto Giannini clients can receive a complimentary luxurious Umberto Giannini Spa Rituals hair treatment and Spa Rituals indulgent hair therapy scalp massage specifically designed to relax partied out souls.

What’s more a variety of herbal teas to cleanse, detox and re-energise the body will be available and as an extra pampering treat, the experts at Clarins will be on hand to deliver complimentary luxury hand and arm massages to make sure you can fully unwind.

If you don’t have much time you can even have your lunch delivered to the salon whilst enjoying your hair service and after all the preening and pampering you’ll will go home with a bag of mini treats –  sounds perfect!

Call Umberto Giannini at Selfridges on 0121 633 3535 to make your appointment and remember to quote ‘Post Party Pamper’!

New Year’s Eve at Gatecrasher Birmingham
31 December, 10pm-late
182 Broad Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B15 1DA
gatecrasher.com
Prices from £45 per ticket
Thanks to top DJ’s Eric Prydz, 2ManyDJs, AN21 and Max Vangelli, Birmingham’s clubbing hotspot is all set to see in the New Year with style. Guests will be exposed to pyrotechnics, acrobatics, lasers, cannons and video walls along with the talents of numerous theatrical performers and dancers. Tickets can be purchased online.

Blast Off & Cheeky Monkey New Year’s Eve at Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Saturday 31st December, 9pm – 2.30am
North St, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV1 1RQ
wolvescivic.co.uk
£9.99 per ticket
With ‘Blast Off’ in the Civic Hall, ‘Cheeky Monkey’ in Wulfrun Hall and ‘Go Go’ in the Civic Bar, Wolverhampton’s entertainment hotspot is all set to be the life and soul of the party this New Year’s Eve. Tickets can be purchased either online or by calling 0870 320 7000.

Ec-lectricity NYE Extravaganza at HMV Institute Birmingham
31 December, 9pm – late
78 Digbeth High Street, Birmingham, B5 6DY
venues.meanfiddler.com/hmv-institute/home
£25 per ticket (online)
After the success of last year’s Ec-lectricity, Birmingham’s four-room HMV Institute is re-hosting the event this New Year’s Eve with plenty of new acts. The line-up includes Chase & Status, MC Rage, Annie Mac, Micky Slim and many more.

New Year’s Eve at The Vaults
31 December, 7pm-late
Newhall Place, Newhall Hill, Birmingham, West Midlands B1 3JH
vaultsbirmingham.com/
£5 per person (after 9pm)
In honour of seeing the New Year in The Vaults will be hosting a raffle and pricing selected cocktails at £5 before 9pm. Prizes include a Magnum of Belvedere Vodka and a Magnum of Dom Perignon and raffle tickets are priced at £5 each.

Godskitchen NYE: Past, Present & Future
31 December, 9.30pm – late
Air Warehouse, Custard Factory Complex, Digbeth, B9 4AL
godskitchen.com
£22.50 per ticket
Godskitchen’s Past, Present & Future party is all set to see in the New Year with a real bang. The main room is set to play modern tunes, whilst the Nitrogen Room will be dropping classics all night long. The line-up includes DJ’s such as Sam Mitcham, John 00 Fleming, Tall Paul, Steve Arnold and more.

Broadway Casino NYE party

Broadway Plaza, 220 Ladywood Middleway, Birmingham, B16 8LP
0121 456 5557
www.broadwaycasino.co.uk
Treating all their guests to a glass of bubbly on arrival and a delicious complimentary buffet between 8.30pm and 10.30pm the gaming floor will be open as normal while live entertainment from four piece band, The Kites will let you dance the night away in the lounge area if you lost all your money on Black.

New Year’s Eve Comedy at The Glee Club
Arcadian Centre, Hurst Street, Birmingham, B5 4TD
www.glee.co.uk
0871 472 0400
4 headline acts will help you finish off 2011 with a bang until the midnight countdown and after-show party until 2am. Your guaranteed to see out the final hours of the year laughing your head off and having a fine time.

NYE at Poppy Red
Arcadian Centre, Hurst Street, Birmingham, B5 4TD
http://www.facebook.com/events/195496577206944/
NYE everyone’s favorite party night of the year and after this years rocking saturday nights both the residents will be playing for the whole night… Lord Byron and Dj Pep will be seeing the new year in with you in style doors open and 9pm and they are partying all night long. Want something even more special then why not book a booth?

Nightingale Club New Year’s Eve Party
Essex House, Kent Street, B5 6RD
Advance £7 or £10 on the door
www.nightingaleclub.co.uk
The Nightingale goes X Factor crazy with a live set from finalist Marcus Collins. Expect serious fun and frolics and a New Years Eve to remember in Southside.

The bulk of the show centres around the work of prominent Birmingham architect John Madin. Born in 1925, Madin was prolific for more than 30 years within Birmingham, changing its landscape.

For Whipps’ exhibit he examines 487 boxes of archived paperwork from Madin’s architectural practices housed in Birmingham Central Library, one of only a few of Madin’s buildings still standing in Birmingham and which is scheduled for demolition in 2013, to explore his impact on the architectural scene in bygone years.

Through a multi-screen slide projection, Whipps combines the prominent three strands of subject matter to create a poignant reflection of Madin’s work. The focus of the show surrounds the archival boxes, their contents (printed materials relating to Madin’s projects and the construction industry between the 1950s and 1970s) and the buildings to which they refer.

The timing of the show coincides with an ongoing campaign by the 20th Century Society to re-classify some of Madin’s buildings as listed in order to preserve the history they represent (particularly the Birmingham Central Library) and retain, what is considered by some, as some of the best examples of post-war brutalist architecture in Britain.

Madin extensively researched American library architecture when planning the Birmingham Central Library design which led Whipps to retrace Madin’s footsteps to better understand the man himself. Having returned to Birmingham with a wider understanding, Whipps is able to present this powerful celebration of the influential architect whilst highlighting Birmingham’s inability or unwillingness to preserve a vital part of its heritage.

Until 5th February 2012

Words: Lee Hall
Image: Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, 001 (2011). Stuart Whipps. Medium Format Slide.

A deep-bedded sense of occasion is prevalent throughout the vast majority of Myer’s work making for remarkable results. With his most noteworthy collection produced while Myers was in tenure as the Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Stourbridge College in 1969, he received wide acclaim for his batch of work entitled Middle England, a series of portraits of people known to him and taken in locations near to his residence at the time. Middle England was noted for its presentation of the human specimen as self-conscious yet seemingly at home all at the same time.

Myers’ work moved on in the 70’s to the exploration of ‘boring’ landscapes within Stourbridge. Making a concerted effort to reject the prominent ‘value added’ approach to photography that was fashionable at the time, his work depicted landscapes devoid of humanity; an urban space with no narrative or hidden story making for a refreshingly simple yet poignant group of shots.

Through capturing the ordinary in flat light and the use of a deadpan style, Myer challenges the idea of what is considered ‘devoid’ and embraces the generic, creating stunning pictures that tell the story of mundane Britain in breathtaking silence.

Words: Lee Hall

The defining collective, – including members/ex-members from the likes of 80s indie band The Nervous Kind (Owen Comaskey), 90s retro-futurists Broadcast (Tim Felton) and 90s electro/house duo Bentley Rhythm Ace (Richard March), – held a stage presence that averted expressions of each member’s individual successes, and instead, focused on a homely, traditional enjoyment of music.

But it was UB40′s Brian Travers who unintentionally evoked the most history, breathing a warmth that reflected 1979, his first ever performance at the very same venue.

Yet The Major Toms sound is obviously not just about Birmingham’s history.

Their covers of Bowie and Roxy Music were brought to life by tongue-in-cheek lead vocalist Owen Comaskey, who’s overly stereotypical Black Country accent replicated a distinct rebellion against the usual tribute act.

Yet, Owen isn’t trying to be Brian Ferry or Bowie, he’s just adding his own spin to some sheer crowd-pleasing classics.

Roxy’s Do the Strand being a definite highlight, bouncing between the band and the sardine-packed Hare, as fans of UB40, Broadcast, Pop Will Eat itself, and of course Bowie and Ferry rejoiced in the retro reminiscent experience.

From old and new school goths to indie kids to golden oldies, The Major Toms welcomed anyone and everyone to bask in whimsical wonders, led by Owen’s witty stances.

While Travers’s jaw-dropping sax solos glued together the supergroup through intoxicating precision, devoting his emotion to a distinctive and highly iconic sound of Birmingham.

The Major Toms are much more than a tribute act. They’ll grasp hold of your music snobbery and bring back the light-hearted community feel, that is all too often forgotten in live performances.

Music doesn’t have to be serious, raise that stiff upper lip.

Words: Ross Cotton