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February 6, 2015

BPREVIEW: Sid Peacock & Surge Orchestra @ mac, Feb 7th ‘15

Sid Peacock comes to mac Theatre on Sat 7^th Feb, bringing with him a twenty strong big band – Surge. In addition to adding further string players, Sid Peacock & Surge Orchestra will feature two musicians as soloists: pianist Steve Tromans and drummer Mark Sanders.

Doors open at 8pm. Tickets are £12 (£10), available through mac box office.

Supported by Jazzlines, Sid Peacock & Surge Orchestra will be playing original compositions inspired by Sid’s recent experiences working with Ulster marching bands, traditional Irish musicians and as a British Council musician in Chongqing, China, in 2014. The concert also marks the culmination of Sid Peacock’s year as associate artist at mac.

Sid borrows the phrase ‘Bog Gothic’ from novelist Patrick McCabe to describe his new compositions. “McCabe’s books Butcher Boy and The Dead School dig deeply into the farcical and macabre side of everyday small town life,” says Sid.

Surge was formed in 2003 with a commission from Paul Murphy to mark the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Birmingham. Since then the ensemble has released two CDs, Live in Birmingham 04 and La Fete, alongside performing live at Belfast, Cheltenham & London jazz festivals.

La Fete was recorded live for BBC Radio 3, with the track Hallucinogenic Garden nominated for a British Composers Award. The CD launch of La Fete, also at mac, featured Django Bates as special guest.

Reviewing Surge’s La Fete concert, thejazzbreakfast blog’s Peter Bacon said: “This band and this music has a clear musical lineage – that tussle of order and chaos, and riding the balancing line between them, was a crucial feature of the Charles Mingus band, is there in Hermeto Pascoal’s music, and fed the exhilaration in Loose Tubes.”

Cheltenham Jazz Festival programme advisor Tony Dudley-Evans further calls Sid Peacock “one of the most exciting composers in that difficult-to-define area between jazz, contemporary music and improv” and refers to his ”truly original voice”.

Sid Peacock & Surge Orchestra come to mac Theatre on Sat 7^th Feb ’15. For further information & tickets visit http://macbirmingham.co.uk/event/sid-peacock-and-surge-orchestra/ or phone (0121) 446 3232.

For more on Sid Peacock, visit http://www.sidpeacock.com/

For more from mac, including a full events & exhibition programme, visit http://macbirmingham.co.uk/

February 5, 2015February 5, 2015

BPREVIEW: Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe @ Spotted Dog (Digbeth), Fri 6th ’15

In celebration of his birthday (albeit a couple of weeks late), Tell-Tale Heart is an evening dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe.

Held at the Spotted Dog (Digbeth) on Friday 6^th Feb, the one off event will consist of readings, films and the occasional cupcake to honor the literary figurehead. Doors open at 7:30pm with free entry all night.

Widely known for his gothic short stories (alongside an occasional accreditation for the defining the fiction detective genre) Edgar Allan Poe also contributed a significant portfolio of poems, literary criticism and satire in his relatively short life as a writer.

Indeed Poe’s first published short story, Metzengerstein, is an ambiguous prod at the then popular gothic genre – prompting questions around the original MO behind much of the author’s more recognised works. Poe was also prominent in the burgeoning periodical and newspaper industry of the nineteenth century, both in the UK and USA, and published much of his work though publications he contributed to or edited.

But it is Edgar Allan Poe’s dark tales that stand as the man’s legacy, with works such as The Raven (Poe’s first published success – albeit not a ‘tale’), The Fall of the House of Usher , The Masque of the Red Death, The Pit & the Pendulum and the Tell-Tale Heart still cited as influences with the kings of horror today.

And whilst the Cravens and Cronenbergs can respectfully pastiche the sound of skin against metal or muffled screams behind brick, many of Poe’s prominent and recurring themes, such as death, torture, isolation, insanity and being buried alive, are often attributed to the chaotic and self destructive life the author led. Orphaned at an early age, and consistent in his struggle with alcohol abuse (which directly claimed the life of his older brother and arguably claimed his own), Poe’s personal life was far from a happy one.

Later estranged from his foster family and ‘abandoned’ by the prominent women he knew, through death or desertion, Poe manifested a conflict with the world around him – falling out with many of his literary peers and accumulating a history of professional misconduct.

And despite laudable aims to live solely off his writings, Poe’s professional pretentions to start his own literary journal were never realised. His family and love live were perpetually unstable, in many cases due to his alcohol abuse, and the man now immortalized as the ‘master of macabre’ was found dead in suspicious circumstances at the age of forty.

But Edgar Allan Poe’s work lives on – influencing each cultural generation after the man himself passed away.

So sandwiched between his actual birthday (Jan 19^th) and the auspicious Friday the 13^th, what better way to celebrate the dark side of both literature and humanity than with The Tell Tale Heart: Edgar Allen Poe at the Spotted Dog (Digbeth) on Fri 6^th Feb.

Just watch out for a muffled du, dumm… du, dumm… du, dumm as you walk alone to the bathroom.

For more information on Tell-Tale Heart: Edgar Allen Poe, at the Spotted Dog (Digbeth) an Fri 6^th visit, http://www.spotteddog.co.uk/events/1119/the-tell-tale-heart-edgar-allan-poe/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/341593309358984/

For more about the Spotted Dog, including a full programme of events, visit http://www.spotteddog.co.uk/

February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

PREVIEW: Rae Morris @ Institute, Feb 5th ’15

Rae Morris comes back to Birmingham on Thursday Feb 5^th, playing the upstairs Temple room at the Institute – with support from Fryars. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets were £11advance, but at the time of writing this gig has been billed as Sold Out. Kudos.

(We last covered Rae Morris, playing back in the Institute’s Temple room, on April 29^th 2014 – read Jay Airey’s Birmingham Review here)

Rae Morris has been bubbling around the live circuits for several years, cutting her ivory teeth in the working men’s clubs of red & white roses – with Blackpool as her hallowed home ground. Mentored in music (and possibly hair) by another formidable voice from the autonomous city of bright lights, Karima Francis, Ms Morris found her force behind keys not string.

With a powerful voice, twisted pen, and a gift for delivering low lament melodies, the shouts of the precocity that followed Rae Morris were increasingly well deserved. This was indeed an artist worth some attention; another pat on the back from the label that brought us The Staves, Alt-J, Clean Bandit & Vance Joy.

Morris’s debut major label single, Don’t Go, was released through Atlantic (UK) in March 2012 – preceding a short flurry of piano led EPs on the same imprint: For You (2012), Grow (2012), From Above (2013).

And not one to be stuck in doors for too long Rae Morris continued a fairly rigorous touring schedule – playing her own headline dates, whilst also supporting the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club, Tom Odell and Lianne La Havas.

Then in autumn (I think) 2013 the debut album was announced, originally set for release in summer 2014. Having been slightly overwhelmed by some of Morris’s previous EP tracks, Way Back When & Grounded in particular, the thought of twelve tracks in a row was… well, let’s just say the Birmingham Review expenses card was put on DEFCON 4.

‘The first glimpse of her new material’ came in the guise of Skin, released as a free download in Feb 2014; slick, polished, subtle, sadly clandestine keys – read the Birmingham Review of Skin here.

Talk of LA producers flowed, of fruitful collaborations, a surge of excitable industry seemed to step up in support; and as momentum gathered for Ms Morris more sentiments of ‘things to come’ and ‘new direction’ seemed to pepper the promotional Rae rhetoric. All we needed now was the album. Unguarded, the fabled debut, eventually came out in January 2015 – followed by somewhat fawning support from some of the more questionable pundits of the day.

But a lot to look out for, and Rae Morris is not to be underestimated or sold off as cheap – as some of the more garrulous junk bond traders circling around her have been known to do before. Unguarded could be the next rising move of someone clever enough to stick around for a good few years yet.

But the proof is often live, so we’ll just have to smuggle our way into the Institute (and up all them naffing stairs) to find out first hand. Let the ghosts of fallen egos and fashionable addictions be cleansed from the halls – there’s some serious potential playing around here somewhere. TBC.

Rae Morris’s comes back to the Institute on February 5^th – with support from Fryars, playing her first Birmingham gig since the release of Unguarded. Ed King will be there for a Birmingham Review.

For more gig info, visit http://theinstitutebirmingham.com/listings/upcoming-events/17279/rae-morris/

N.B. And in case you missed it, at the time of writing the Rae Morris gig on Feb 5^th is billed as Sold Out – please check your local ticket sellers (the official ones, not Cortina Bob) for further details.

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For more on Rae Morris, visit http://www.raemorris.co.uk/

For more from Atlantic Records, visit http://www.atlanticrecords.com/

For further listings from the Institute, visit http://theinstitutebirmingham.com/listings

January 8, 2015January 8, 2015

BPREVIEW: Big Eyes @ mac Cinema, 9th – 15th Jan

Director: Tim Burton
Writing Credits: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski

Cast: Amy Adams, Christopher Waltz, Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman, Danny Huston, Terrence Stamp

UK rating: 12A Certificate
UK release date: 26^th December 2014
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Tim Burton’s latest biopic, Big Eyes, comes to mac Cinema from 9^th to 15^th January. For show times & online bookings, click here

Big Eyes is based on the real life story of Walter and Margaret Keane, the husband and wife behind a series of portraits in the 50’s and 60’s of woeful faced children and ‘waifs’ – recognised for their aforementioned big eyes.

Walter Keane claimed public credit for the portraits, whilst Big Eyes cites the actual painting done solely by Margaret Keane – Walter first exhibiting his wife’s work at a 1957 outdoor show in Washington Square Park, New York.

After success compounded the lie, the mass production and sale of low cost prints compounded the success; prominent celebrities of the time bought the Walter signed Margaret originals, whilst bovine America could pick up a cheap reproduction poster or postcard in their local gas station.

By the mid 60’s Walter Keane had become a recognised media machine whilst Margaret continued to produce work for her husband to sign, in arguable secret and distress. The whistle was finally blown in 1970 after Margaret Keane went on public radio to claim her creative rights, with a high profile court case between the now estranged couple eventually unfolding in the mid 80’s.

Big Eyes tells the story of Walter and Margaret, from their first meeting (both as painters and divorcees), through to their subsequent marriage, fraud, success, and courtroom finale.

Big Eyes is the first collaboration between Tim Burton and scriptwriters Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski since their initial project together, Ed Wood (1994).

Originally casting Kate Hudson and Thomas Haden Church in the lead roles, the initially Alexander and Karaszewski directed project was stop/started from 2008, until Burton joined the production team in 2010 – later becoming the film’s director in 2012.

Tim Burton first met Margaret Keane in the 1990’s, when he commissioned the artist to paint a portrait of his partner at the time.

Burton began collecting Keane’s work, citing the “disturbing” and ubiquitous pictures as “practically the only art I ever saw as a child”.

Walter Keane died in 2000. His daughter from his first marriage, Susan Keane, still defends her father’s claims and condemns the Big Eyes as “myths perpetuated by the media.” Despite several requests, and a court room invitation to paint an original for a jury, Walter Keane never produced an original ‘big eyed’ portrait outside of his marriage to Margaret.

Watch the official Big Eyes trailer – click here or below:

Big Eyes runs at mac Cinema from 9^th to 15^th January. For further info and tickets, visit http://macbirmingham.co.uk/event/big-eyes/

For more on Big Eyes, visit http://bigeyesfilm.com/

For more from mac Birmingham, visit http://macbirmingham.co.uk/

November 28, 2014November 28, 2014

THE GALLERY: Jim Noir @ Sunflower Lounge, Sat 22nd Nov

Ed’s note…

Last weekend saw Jim Noir play at The Sunflower Lounge; Manchester’s psychedelic Indie-Popster came to Birmingham’s best little basement venue. A gig not to be missed.

So I missed it. But luckily for Birmingham Review Paul Reynolds had his weekend in better order and covered the gig for The Gallery, leaving me duty bound to be front-row-centre the next time Noir is in town. And I owe Paul a beer.

Touring the UK with his new album, Finnish Line, Jim Noir was in Birmingham halfway through a North-to-South-to-North eight date tour – which can be a cobweb free blessing or hotel apathy curse.

Finnish Line is much more polished and lacking the retro zaniness (a word that actually appears in my spell check) of Noir’s earlier stuff. Plus it’s very… erm… reminiscent of a band I’m compelled not to mention, due to most reviews of Finnish Line citing them somewhere. I’ll just say walrus, make a sort of sneezing noise and leave it at that.

But I reckon The Sunflower Lounge, with its crowded anarchy and subterranean approach to health & safety, would have been a cracking way to rough this new work up a bit. Or it would suck tired mid tour balls and you’d feel awkward with a man you’d never met, in a very intimate setting. Either way worth a tenner. Plus there’s a bar.

I was having a mini melt down on Saturday night (started about 12noon, finished about Wednesday) so didn’t go. And by the time you read this Jim Noir will be safely ticked up in whatever he safely tucks himself up in, having finished his Finnish Line tour yesterday (Nov 27th). So that’s it, for me. Over. Done. Fin. My only friend…

But don’t fret, Paul Reynolds has done a sterling job for The Gallery and Finnish Line is out on general release now.

YOU MISSED NOTHING.

For more on Jim Noir, visit http://www.jimnoir.com/

For more from The Sunflower Lounge, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com

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BPREVIEW: Jim Noir @ Sunflower Lounge, Sat 22nd Nov