Category archive for: Uncategorized

Turn the world on its head and get set to spin, and give the dance-floor an impromptu shine as well, with this latest from TruStreet Dance.

Reverse the ravages of the Evil Mince Pie and Plum Duff by joining one of the many dance classes being held in the Studio here at the CF. For bookings and general enquiries, call 0789 682 8794.

Fused launched their new website last week, intended to compliment their quarterly magazine and extend it’s mission. Looking good!

Gigbeth, the music festival that gathers together Birmingham promoters and venues in Digbeth, starts on Friday. The Custard Factory-specific events are as follows:

Friday

Space2: Guillemots with their Fishbone for a Drink show.

Factory Club: Fixed presents: Fabio, Hazard , Original Sin.. AKA Adam Gdub , Phase2 , Vytol, Dan B, Mcs Fun TBC Bassman , Manikular, Accapello Biggie

The Kitchen: Urban Jungli Project Presents: Raju Mali ft Kaz and the General, the Urban Jungli set, Waler, Sarah Sayeed, Mendi, the Shankojam, Unbound Beats DJs Deesh and Trew Selecta

Saturday Daytime

Space2: Friends of Moseley Road Swimming Baths presents: Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls (Wonderstuff), Miccoli and Phony with DJ Micronormous (Matt Eaton)

Saturday Evening

Space2: Gigbeth Presents: KANO With Bigger than Barry

Factory Club: Spectrum presents: Stanton Warriors, Subfocus, Pete Jordan and Joebot

Factory Club Pool: Heducation Presents : Sugarhill Gang + Dr Meaker, DJSwitch, Mylz , Cro, Cola + Barrowclough, Muz and Feva and Mr FX

Rooty Pool: Miss Moneypennys Presents: D:Ream + Jim Shaft Ryan, Al McKenzie, Jeff Jefferson, Steve Umbers & Dave Thatcher, Back to Back.

Events are also taking place at the Sanctury / Barfly, South Birmingham College and The Rainbow with a couple organised by Custard Factory tenants Birmingham Jazz and Consider It Done along with a stage curated by 4Talent (based at Maverick on Heath Mill Lane). Full listings are here.

Tickets are £15 for Friday, £18 for Saturday or £25 for the whole weekend which gives you access to all the venues. Buy them here.

Nicky from Digbeth is Good has video of Bill Drummond’s talk at Eastside Projects on Friday night, specifically the reading from his new book about The17.

The audio is a little quiet but it’s worth straining to hear what he says. Very inspirational. After the event he presented the gallery with a print of his instructions for a Birmingham-specific version of The17 based around a manhole cover and invited audience members to sign up to join him. Nicky writes more here about the event.

The launch of 4ip’s Who Needs The Sea social network for those looking to benefit from the fund has gotten me thinking. Where do Custard Factory tenants go online for the benefit of their businesses?

These can be social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace (in which case specific groups, etc would be handy), forums and blogs specific to your area, sites you check regularly for reference and information or just places you hang out online for the serendipity.

I’m not expecting all of them to be of interest to all Custard Factory tenants but a few general niches might bubble up and I’d like to build a list of them on the site.

So, where do you go when you go online? Answers in the comments please!

The start of November sees the launch of the BGSO - Birmingham Gay Symphony Orchestra. This is an exciting new initiative spearheaded by Dancing Bear Academy of Music - Birmingham’s very own own School of Music for the lgbt community and their friends & family.

The Orchestra, like our Classical Chamber Choir and Opera Group, will give lgbt people & their friends the chance to perform wonderful music, meet new people and socialise together in a welcoming and supportive environment. So far we have 26 players who have expressed an interest in joining.

Like its sister orchestra, the LGSO - London Gay Symphony Orchestra - the BGSO will play a diverse repertoire, ranging from well known classics to new compositions and orchestral arrangements of popular modern music.

The orchestra will perform on a regular basis and give professional concerts in venues across Birmingham and Central England. They will perform at important events in the LGBT Community Calendar, such as Birmingham Pride, Birmingham Arts Fest, Fierce Festival, World AIDS Day and, of course, at Christmas.

Members will have the chance to take part in frequent organized social events, and we welcome players of all ages and abilities, including young people who are seeking a supportive social and cultural group to which to belong.

The BGSO will meet on the first and third Sundays of the month from 3.00-6.00pm at The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Digbeth with the first rehearsal on Sunday 2nd November 2008. For more information, contact Paul by phone or text on 07882 530320, e-mail bgso@btinternet.com or via the website.

The deadline for entries for those wishing to exhibit, speak or run workshops at the Plus+ Design Expo is this Friday 17th. Full details here.

So far confirmed for the event (which, I’m informed, is definitely taking place at Fazeley Studios) are the following:

Airside
Jonathan Barnbrook
Steve Bell
Designers Republic
Studio Output
Jeff Willis
Another Limited Rebellion
Clusta
Feed
Fluid
Hurtwood Press
IE
Inkymole
Julia Lila
Periscope
Pixel-Lab
Raidy Printing Group
Karoline Rerrie
Sterographic
Type
We Make Art
4Talent
Fused
Illuminate Lighting Ltd
Baskerville Project
Birmingham City University
Coventry School of Art & Design
Wolverhampton University

Personally the name Steve Bell jumps out at me like a big scary beardy man, which is what he looks like but he’s lovely really.

You’ll have noticed the banner outside the corner shop unit on Gibb Terrace - The Ticket Sellers are moving in there in the next 4-6 weeks. Presumably they’ll be able to sell tickets for all events occuring at the Custard Factory which is great as an improbably number of organisations and promoters put on things here and, logically, reception tend to get a lot of inquiries for tickets despite them not being equipped to deal. This should fill an essential gap.

Here’s their current listings for Custard Factory events.

Photographer Steve Gerrard has revamped his website with a fully integrated blog. Looking good!