Those Crazy Moselians!

MOZFEST 2008 I have a real Love/Hate relationship with Moseley.



I love it for its bizarre village mentality, Bohemiam atmosphere, great pubs and independent shops (Jibbering Records, a record shop with hardly any records!) which Birmingham city centre is sadly lacking.

I hate it for its bizarre village mentality, Guardian reading patched elbow pseudo greens with their ethnic pappooses and wholefood crystal hugging attitudes.

Truth is though it's Birminghams best tourist trail that can be had from the No.50 bus.

(i've seen this guy play a few times and boy can he sing!)

Then it's all back to The Costermongers, Birminghams second best rock pub but first worst B1 toilet!.

Midge vs. 21st Century

I've got a camera phone at last!!, no big deal you thinks but anyone who knows me knew i was quite attached to my trusty old 3310. Many a happy hour was spent trawling phone shops, Flea markets for cases, keypads, replacement batteries and i'll really miss the DIY Punk ethos of respraying the case and fixing it with duct tape. My new one is a fraction of the size/weight ( wouldn't last one round in the Pub car park with my Nokia!!) and has twice the tech' but the bizarre thing is actually feel like i'm being unfaithful to an inanimate object!!? .

Green man Fatigue

How i feel for the poor Photography lecturers at South Birmingham college!. Not ONE day goes by (Sun, Rain or Snow) without a gaggle of 'Media' students (collective noun anyone?) going by and snapping away at the hapless hippy icon. It's not even as if he can be taken from various angles (oooer missus), just stand at his feet and shoot upwards.
(and don't even get me started on the Dragon)

Rainbow Beached

Find!!... an ambient beach bar in the industrious confines of Digbeth. Forty tonnes of Sand, Bamboo, n' Kent makes for an eclectic piece of Brum which desperately needs the weather to sort itself out (i had Raynaud's in my fingers in ten minutes).
(I would have stayed longer but these chairs started to get a bit gaudy!.)

V Tenuous C.F/Big Brother Connection

One of these freaks is wearing a Ripps 'I Love Cov' T shirt as dreamt up by manager Frankie 'Urban Village' Johns (had the shop that used to be by the gallery, then on the front, then under the Dragon, then in Hurst st, then in Coventry, etc..., etc...).

"I just hope that people watching don't think everyone from Cov is a retarded mutant!" Raul Ripp

Custard Factory On Sea

Yesterday maintenance were draining the 'fountain' by the Old Library and for a while it had this incredible 'briney' smell of the seaside. However Satan had better plans and the little river flowin' past the shop ended up with an aroma like the Glastonbury 'toilets' come Sunday!. Sorted in the end but i give The 4a.m Factory clubbers one Month before it's returned to year zero' !.

The Return Of The Evil Dead

I find it hard to fathom the recent effort of the BBC to reinvent Mary Whitehouse (a bit like Enoch Powells 'comeback' or is that a bit strong :))?. If anyone is old enough to remember the 'Video Nasties Debate' they'll also remember the dubious tactics the N.V.L.A used to censor ANYTHING that didn't fit into their view of what constituted 'suitable viewing' (halfbaked statstics, misquoted 'experts' and out of context viewings of gore laden showreels to influential politicians).
The most worrying aspect is the overlooking of the fact that they (and the MEDIAWATCH reincarnation) are in all but name a Christian 'watchdog' group whose main aim would be to return the media to a pre 60's 'we know best' moralistic ideal.
Granted there is a lot of cynically made 'sex n' violence sells' crap on TV and Cinema but this DOES NOT mean that 'sex n' violence' cannot be used with some artistic merit (ok, Porno has NO artistic merit but we don't buy it for social commentary).
I just hope that John Beyer (who thankfully has 10th of the charisma of Mrs Whitehouse) and his bland of few won't now be the people looked to to draw the line!.