We were very happy to hear that Ian and Alex of Project Pigeon had managed to get the new loft up and ready for the Pigeons to move in to. They have been moved just over the road from The Rea Garden to Boxxed on Floodgate Street in Digbeth and sound like they are mostly (apart from a few escapees) getting along very well. Fingers crossed that Sly and Robbie (the Fused pigeons) are behaving themselves.
HMV Institute, 9 December, £10
Taking their name from a Charles Bukowski poem, The Crazy Truth started up in 2005 when Steve Conte – of the New York Dolls among many, many others – bumped into old school-friend and bassist Lee “Leeko” Kostrinsky on the streets of New York. Joined by Phil Stewart – of Scarborough! – on drums, they played their first gig within a few months at a T-Rex memorial concert. Continue reading
New Art Gallery Walsall
Sunday 5 and 12, and Tuesday 14 December
Sessions at 12pm and 2pm
We spend a third of our lives asleep and a lot of that time is spent dreaming of things like business reports or getting eaten by the dishwasher. Most of us have little control over what our minds conjure up between the waking hours, but if you want to claim that time back and master your dreams then a lucid dreaming workshop in Walsall might just be for you. Continue reading
We often associate Christmas with quaint home comforts: turkey sarnies, chestnuts roasting on open fires, ‘horrid’ jumpers from Nan that we’d probably splash £40 on if they were hanging off a rack in Urban Outfitters. But what to do if we want to hit the town, yet can’t stomach the thought of yet another mulled wine at the famous Xmas market? Continue reading
O2 Academy
7 December
£18.50
There was a time not so many years ago when it seemed that rock might be in a state of terminal decline, in the days of wall-to-wall Coldplay, Keane, and Cowell and co’s manufactured X-Factor pop. Continue reading
Various venues throughout Birmingham
Until 9 January 2011
Don’t be fooled into thinking that Birmingham’s metal industries died in the Black Country Museum. Rusty coal shafts and enamelled roasting trays may be the prime features of our forgotten industries, but this ugly duckling saw many swans emerge from its tinkering in iron and steel. Continue reading
Symphony Hall
6 December
£25
After a two-year hiatus, Belle and Sebastian, the typically low-key purveyors of twee indie music, return to promote new album Write about Love, backed by a 40-piece orchestra. Continue reading
Metro Area, The Bull’s Head, 3 December, £5
Bonobo, HMV Institute, 12 December, £15 adv
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, The Library HMV Institute, 17 December, £18.50 adv
January 2000 saw Adam Regan and Richard Whittingham start up Leftfoot at the Medicine Bar. It quickly became a haven for fans of leftfield, soulful music. Continue reading
Area Culture Guide 