BR Content Archives - Page 28 of 191 -

July 9, 2018February 27, 2019

OPINION: NOT NORMAL – NOT OK

Words by Ed King

Ed’s note…

I first wrote this back in March, a few days after Shrove Tuesday, in response to stories of sexual assault and misconduct that I had heard about that week. It was born out of frustration – I write to clear my head.

Then more stories came my way, and more, until there were so many that these words weren’t enough. Something needed to happen. So we talked to each other at Birmingham Review, we talked to local musicians and promoters. Then we talked to West Midlands Police, the Rape & Sexual Violence project (RSVP), and some local venues that could help us formulate a plan of action.

NOT NORMAL – NOT OK is our joint response, ‘a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.’

To join the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, click here.

To learn more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK sticker campaign, click here.

N.B. If you have been affected by sexual assault, misconduct, or any of the issues raised in this article, you can find details for West Midlands Police and RSVP – a regional support agency trained to deal with sexual violence – by clicking here.

The ‘message from West Midlands Police’ mentioned towards the end of this article can now be found on the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK website, click here.

___________

“Yeah, they’re alright… just be careful if you’re alone with them.”

I was told this in passing, at the tail end of a conversation with a local band about local band stuff. It wasn’t prompted, they weren’t in distress; we weren’t talking about #MeToo, Operation Yewtree or institutionalised abuse in Westminster. We were just talking. And this chilling seed fell into the conversation with an almost as frightening acceptance that it was just ‘one of those things’. That it was normal. Or even worse, that it was OK.

Incredulous, then angry, then curious, I begin to pick at the scab. The story unfolds. It had been at a gig, and after the show the person in question had groped one of the band members – which falls under sexual assault in a court of law. And the feelings left by this situation, to group of friends who just wanted to perform their music on stage, are clear. They felt mistreated, angry and threatened.

This all came at the end of a troubling week too, where a promoter of a popular music venue had posted an absurdly misogynistic comment about the girls that attend their events and pancakes. You can imagine the metaphor. Or hopefully you can’t, because you really don’t want to. But it’s childish, aggressive, potentially incendiary, and beyond sexist at all points on the social spectrum. And now it’s in the public domain as a badge of what this promoter (and this club) feels is either funny or acceptable. Again, of what is normal or OK.

The silver lining from this poorly chosen ‘joke’ was the immediate outcry from many other people via the drum banging platforms of social media. I saw it because someone had reposted it in disgust, asking for some solidarity and shaming of the original author – a backlash that was far more erudite than the disturbed playground rhetoric that spurned it. The promoter in question claimed it was “a joke” that had been “taken out of context”. The public domain told them this wasn’t good enough and everything fell silent.

Then by the end of the week I am hearing about a case of sexual assault. And the more I asked around the more stories came back from our live music scene, in a frightening deluge of stories about sexual harassment, coercion, abuse, and assault happening in venues across Birmingham – from dressing room to dance floor, immediate and widespread.

I know many venue operators and promoters that are committed to the care of everyone in their building – whether they are performing, attending, or working there. And I’d be happier to see support networks in place than a campaign of naming and shaming. But the rules of engagement are quite simple and perhaps some people need a reminder:

No one, of any gender, should ever be objectified, coerced or abused. And no one in a position of power should ever use that power as a bargaining chip for sexual conduct. No one. Ever. At all. Told you it was simple.

So, what do we do? Firstly, I believe we all need to recognise our roles in this – overt and aggressive, or silent and tacit. The fact this problem exists means that none of us are without blame. And that includes me. I don’t want to believe this is a side of people I know, work alongside, or share common interests with. From the fact that it turns my stomach to think it’s happening in Birmingham venues to the cold reality that I need some of these people to support my own endeavours – put quite simply, it would be both personally and professionally easier for me to say nothing at all. I’m not proud of that last sentence but it’s a brutal truth I must own.

I’m not a huge fan of campaigning either, with self-aggrandising so often masquerading as a good cause these days. But maybe here, though, there’s a place for something we can all get behind – a vehicle to promulgate a message and provide support to those who need it, emotional, legal and otherwise. And to educate; to remind people of what is acceptable and what isn’t. A campaign of compassion and care, but also one to redefine what is ‘normal’ or ‘OK’ for those who seem to have forgotten their meanings.

So, this is what we’re doing. Birmingham Review has joined up with West Midlands Police and some key figures in our local entertainment industry to see how we can help shake a little sense into some, and support some others. We will keep you fully updated with this campaign through the Birmingham Review website and social media, and there is a message from West Midlands Police at the bottom of this editorial (this message can now be found on the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK website).

Because after all the bile that’s been seeping into my system after a week of words I never thought I’d be hearing – about a scene and city I love, and the people I love within both – I can land on at least one thing with absolute certainly. I never want to hear them again. Perhaps three things.

This is NOT NORMAL. This is NOT OK.

Ed King is Editor-in-Chief of Review Publishing, which publishes Birmingham Review and other titles.

________

NOT NORMAL – NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.

To sign up to NOT NORMAL – NOT OK, click here. To know more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK sticker campaign, click here.

To find out more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, visit www.notnormalnotok.com

July 6, 2018July 6, 2018

BREVIEW: Valley of the Kings @ Quantum Exhibition Centre 29.06.18

Words & pics by Eleanor Sutcliffe

“One sock, or two?”

Nursing a pint of cider, I have found myself advising a drag king on the appropriate amount of stuffing for their underwear. I am no longer a writer, nor a photographer – I am now, in the words of performer Phillip Phallus, a Codpiece Consultant. It’s a title I neither expected to have nor feel that I deserve, but I’m flattered nevertheless. After debating the size different between trainer and football socks, we agree on a single sock. Two seems like overkill.

The venue for Valley of the Kings is the Quantum Exhibition Centre in the middle of Digbeth – a trek, but worth it regardless (and if you lose your way, just keep an eye out for the ‘Thigh Kingdom Comes’ signs that are dotted along Lower Trinity Street). Advertised by a jaunty geometric sign handcrafted by Kali who runs KUCHE at the Ort Café, the small doors lead you into a towering warehouse ran by the charity Nightlife Outreach, who deal with issues from mental health to homelessness to substance abuse. It’s great knowing that tonight not only are you supporting the performers present, but your well-earned money that you spend on the bar is going towards a great cause too.

I’m ushered into a small room off the main warehouse, in which the crowd are dotted across numerous sofas. Soon, the night is in full swing. First up is Abel Valentine, who struts on to a redubbed version of the Shrek fairy tale narrative, depicting their parent’s horror at giving birth to a “f***ing drag king” before launching into a lip sync to the very apt ‘Gay Bar’ by Electric Six. Capering across the room, they sing into the faces of the audience with glee, grabbing their hands and forcing them to dance.

Following Abel is Uffa Fox and Great Britain, who perform a rather bizarre yet hilarious dance and lip sync to ‘Tight Little Island’. Although everyone’s performances are short, it’s still enough to capture their joy and enthusiasm at having a stage on which to perform. Lucius Blac is amazing, performing ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ before dragging a blow up doll clad in lingerie on stage and slow dancing with it to finish.

Wavy Davy drops to their knees while strumming a pink electric guitar along to a Prince track, and I can’t help but marvel at the confidence all the performers seem to have tonight. Phillip Phallus (or One Sock Phillip as they are now known) performs a Clockwork Orange inspired piece, sauntering on stage cloaked in a flasher mac before casting it aside in favour of a pair of comically large white Y-Fronts. No details are spared for the performers, right down to the glass of ‘milk’ which Phillip chugs down at the end of their performance.

Eager for some crowd participation, Valentine takes to the stage again to announce a ‘Manliest Man’ competition. The ensuing chaos is hilarious – participants are forced to dance their ‘manliest’ dance before being told to grab ‘manly’ items from members of the crowd. These include watches, a beer (not a cider as one unlucky competitor learnt mind) and a pair of trainers. After five rounds, Phillip Phallus is crowned the winner and presented with a rather garish tiara which stays glued to their head for the rest of the night.

Johnny Gash wanders on stage to strum along to ‘Personal Jesus’, clad in a black leather jacket and dark sunglasses. Lucius Blac then returns to the stage to perform my favourite act of the night, singing along to Panic at the Disco’s ‘Don’t Threaten Me with a Good Time’. In the final chorus, they produce a bottle of Moët champagne and empty it over their head, dousing themselves in gold glitter. It’s simple, but effective – or maybe I’m just a sucker for theatrics. Who knows. By now, it’s almost 11pm and I start to gather my things. The party is still in full swing however, and the Britalo Kings emerge on stage to perform a 40-minute dance set.

In the dressing room, I strike up a conversation with one of the performers. We begin to discuss the impact of Valley of the Kings on their life, and the night takes a slightly harrowing turn. I’m told how their family views their lifestyle with disgust, and how their sister attempted to force them into a gay conversion therapy. We discuss how they’ve travelled for miles to perform tonight, and how their family are totally unaware of where they are.

It’s heartbreaking – they’re not much older than me, and the thought of them having to travel so far from home in order to explore their gender expression angers me. It serves as a constant, albeit sad, reminder that despite the fun and games, events such as Valley of the Kings serve as key safe spaces for individuals to express themselves with no boundaries.

For more on Valley of the Kings, visit www.facebook.com/ValleyOfTheKingsBirmingham

For from the Quantum Exhibition Centre, visit www.quantumexhibitioncentre.com

July 3, 2018

BPREVIEW: Cocktails & Cabaret @ Bohemian Cocktail Bar & Kitchen 04.07.18

Words by Emily Doyle

The issue with Wednesdays is that they don’t tend to be remotely saucy enough. This week, Bohemian Cocktail Bar & Kitchen in Moseley are laying on an evening of Cocktails & Cabaret to remedy this.

Bohemian Cocktail Bar & Kitchen is open from 11am to 12midnight, with the Cocktails & Cabaret event running from 7pm until kicking out time. Entry is free, the cocktails are not – for more info, visit the Cocktails & Cabaret Facebook Event Page by clicking here.

Cocktails & Cabaret will feature burlesque, comedy, music, and of course the odd libation. Pole Sports UK winner Kirstie Ryan will be leaving the pole at home to perform a rare floor routine. Self-described ‘part-time poet and full-time philanderer’ Armitage Spode will be bringing his ribald rhymes to the proceedings. May Pole will be treating the crowd to a neo-burlesque routine, and of course the line up culminates in the ever present promise of ‘many more…’

The organiser and compère for the evening is named Rosie, so when she told me that ‘Miss Rosie Rouge’ would be performing I assumed she was speaking in the third person. When I went to clarify this, it turned out that Miss Rosie Rouge is actually the partner and co-star of our host, who prefers to be known just as Rosie. The pair will be performing together on the night in a truly serendipitous double act.

“The Bohemian actually approached us a couple of months ago about putting on an event.” Rosie (the organiser) told me. “A cabaret was the winning choice because of our connections with a range of performers and our love for burlesque”

Of course, cabaret is only part of the offering here; I asked the burning question – which cocktail should one be sipping while the evening unfolds?

“An Old Fashioned, to get you in the mood for an evening of debauchery…”

Cocktails & Cabaret comes to Bohemian Cocktail Bar & Kitchen in Moseley on Wednesday 4^th July, with free entry all night. For more on Cocktails & Cabaret, visit www.facebook.com/cocktailsandcabaretbohemian

For more from Bohemian Cocktail Bar & Kitchen, including full event listings and venue details, visit www.bohemianbar.co.uk

July 2, 2018July 2, 2018

BPREVIEW: BE FESTIVAL @ Birmingham REP 03-09.07.17

Words by Helen Knott / Pics courtesy of BE FESTIVAL

Running from 2^nd to 9^th July, Birmingham’s annual BE FESTIVAL showcases theatre, dance and circus artists from across Europe – presenting a week-long programme of performances and workshops, hosted by the Birmingham REP.

And in a chance for the public attending to meet the artists performing, BE FESTIVAL invites patrons to join them for a special Interval Dinner, ‘served on the REP’s main stage after the first half of the evening performances’. To see the Interval Dinner’s changing menu from Marmalade, the REP’s onsite restaurant, click here.

A weekly pass to BE FESTIVAL will cost £100 with dinner, or £60 without dinner. Individual day tickets are also available, costing £24 with dinner and £16 without dinner. Tickets can be bought thorugh the Birmingham REP Box Office, or for online sales click here.

It’s hard to believe that 2018 is the ninth year of BE FESTIVAL – it still seems like a fresh, young pretender on the Birmingham theatre scene. Perhaps it’s because the line-up always presents interesting new talent and some of the latest movements in the arts, or maybe it’s down to the event’s open-minded sense of fun, but BE FESTIVAL is a decidedly cool place to spend a few hours.

For those of you who don’t know (where have you been for the past nine years?) each evening at BE FESTIVAL tends to follow roughly the same format – typically, there are four 30 minute performances from companies or artists from across Europe, with a communal Interval Dinner where you get the chance to rub shoulders with the performers. The REP’s backstage area is transformed into the festival HUB, where you can chill out, grab a drink, and debate just what on earth was going on in that piece of contemporary dance you just saw. The audience is then invited to party on into the night to the sounds of a live band or DJ set.

That’s where any sense of predictability ends, however; the performances take in a range of different genres – including dance, puppetry, physical theatre, circus – and typically cover a full gamut of emotions and themes.

BE FESTIVAL co-director, Miguel Oyarzun, says on this year’s line-up: “We invite audiences to reflect on the borders we unknowingly create as individuals and groups. Our 2018 programme features work that tests physical limitations, bodily boundaries, social preconceptions and draws on multiple disciplines.” A fitting theme indeed, for a time when the UK is in the midst of literally bordering itself off from the rest of Europe.

So, what’s on the 2018 programme at BE FESTIVAL? With a veritable smorgasbord on stage each night (and I’m not just talking about the Interval Dinner) you can check out the full programme by clicking here, but here is something from each day that got our mouths watering .

On Tuesday 3^rd July, the Bulgaria/UK based Ivo Dimchev will be inviting audience members on stage to perform increasingly extreme acts for cash, in P-Project. The ‘internationally ‘renowned choreographer, performing artist and singer songwriter’ has based his solo performance ‘on several words beginning with ‘P’ such as Piano, Pray, Pussy, Poetry, Poppers’ and further invites the audience ‘to Play with the complex Pussy catalogue’ where they can ‘construct their own Pussy and Print it on a Postcard.’ Presented in collaboration with Fierce Festival, P-Project is for over 18’s only.

On Wednesday 4^th July, Sister Sylvester’s Three Rooms (Syria/ UK/ Turkey) use Skype to present a digital performance that will take place simultaneously in Paris, Istanbul and Birmingham – in a play that ‘was conceived as a response to Europe’s continuing border crisis, which prevented the actors from traveling to either the rehearsals or performances of the original commission in 2016’ and seeks to ‘ to question the possibilities and limitations of technology to mediate absence.’

Then on Thursday 5^th July, BE FESTIVAL opens with Someone Loves You Drive With Care from the UK’s self professed ‘performance artist and a liar.’ Tom Cassani’s circus sideshow-inspired piece will ‘challenge the borders of his own body using blunt and scary looking objects’ (yikes!) as the artist ‘questions our collective construction of truth and lies’ using cabaret trickery and slight-of-hand in an impressive sounding solo performance. There is no official age restriction for Someone Loves You Drive With Care, although the faint of heart (or under 16’s) might want to take a hand to hold or something to hide behind.

Friday 6th July presents Poliana Lima‘s Aqui Siempre (Here Always), as the award winning Brazilian choreographer combines styles ‘from Argentinian popular dance to the European ballet tradition’ in a narrative that explores ‘women from four different countries beaming with individual diversity, experiences and traditions’. Now a ‘long term resident of Madrid’, Poliana Lima‘s Aqui Siempre uses the individuality of each person’s physical expression, or ‘movement systems’, in a dance performance piece that explores the ‘ relationships between memory, the present and the future.’

Then as part of the final day at BE FESTIVAL, on Saturday 7th July, the Greece based ODC Ensemble present The Cave – ‘a digital recalibration of the symbolic potency of Plato’s Cave allegory’ that uses opera, cinema, digital and visual technology ‘to reflect on the walls and shadows we build around us.’ ODC Ensemble were the first prize award winners at BE FESTIVAL 2017, led by the Athens based Elli Papakonstantinou, and ‘their work embraces the bewilderment of the audience in the face of persistent dislocation.’

It can be off-putting to invest an entire evening (and ticket cost) into a programme that you’re not sure that you will like, but BE FESTIVAL takes that risk away – you may not enjoy all of the performances, but with up to four artists on show each evening there’s bound to be something that makes you think.

Above all, BE FESTIVAL, with its communal dining and feedback cafes, is an ego-free place of openness and playfulness. You may even find that you have some of your own boundaries and preconceptions challenged along the way.

BE FESTIVAL 2018 – official trailer

BE FESTIVAL runs at Birmingham REP from Tuesday 3rd to Saturday 7th July – with a special matinee programme on the final day. For more on BE FESTIVAL, including the full festival programme and links to online ticket sales, visit www.befestival.org/festival

For more from Birmingham REP, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

June 29, 2018

BPREVIEW: Kings Heath Dining Club @ Highbury Hall 01.07.18

Words by Ed King / Pics by Wayne Fox – courtesy of Digbeth Dining Club

On Sunday 1^st July, Kings Heath Dining Club returns to Highbury Hall for another afternoon/evening of food, drink, music, events… and probably a bit more food. Clue’s in the title.

Situated on the grounds of this Grade 2 listed building, which was once the Birmingham home of Joseph Chamberlain, Kings Heath Dining Club will be open from 11am to 7pm. Tickets are £6 (adv) and £8 – available online through Skiddle, click here. To visit the Facebook Event Page, for direct event information and further links to tickets, click here.

Fundamentally a celebration of street food, King Heath Dining Club will bring an array of traders to the B13 based Highbury Hall this weekend – currently advertising Original Patty Men, Low N Slow, Bournville Waffle Company, Cake Doctor, Leave it to Esmie, Buddha Belly, Homeboys, Chef Shack, Manila Munchies and The Middle Feast.

There will also be live music from The Original Players, The Equators, and Aphrodite Strings – alongside Digbeth Arts Markets, comedy, wellness therapies, and retro gaming from Dead Pixels. And whilst you can only eat and drink as much as you your wallet will allow, all the day’s entertainment is included in the ticket price, with no age restrictions.

Held in collaboration with the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath Dining Club is the suburban split from the Digbeth based mothership – usually taking place on York Road, outside the venue that partners their Kings Heath events. Holding their first event at Highbury Hall back in April this year, Sunday 1st July marks the start of three further street food summer showcases at the Highbury Park based mansion.

How things change; it seems a long time ago that Digbeth Dining Club’s founder, Jack Brabant, gave up filming raves from across the globe to bring street food to the back streets of Birmingham – a culture of cuisine he had seen mushroom (pun intended) in London and further afield. Six years, in fact. But believe it or not, all this pop-up, avant garde, street/festival food malarkey started in our city from pretty much one box of bright sparks. And now the inferno is so rampant it’s hard to imagine Birmingham without it. Like Motorways or the Internet. Ah the youth of today, I remember when this were all Toys R Us and Woolworths…

Partnering with the Hare & Hounds seems like a shrewd move into the suburbs too, with the prolific entertainment venue having done more to shape the cultural cache of Kings Heath than a million plant pots or local councillors.

And with a bevy of tried and tested foodies coming to Highbury Hall, it’s difficult to see where this could go wrong. Just don’t look up, I guess. Although Sunday 1^st July is set to be the hottest day of an already pretty scorching week, so I’d only worry about the weather is you’re made of ice cream.

All that’s left to do is cherry pick (again, pun intended) a menu to put to the taste test, and after some grueling investigative journalism (eating) we’ve gone for The Middle Feast – the Lucy Rhodes run Persian pop up that has some of the best Kebabs, shawarmas, mezze, and flatbread that you can get your mits on this side of the Mediterranean.

And on Sunday 1^st July, The Middle Feast will be presenting a new dish: Persian Spiced Buttermilk Fried Chicken, which comes with fries, slaw and harrisa mayo. Also available from The Middle Feast will be Cooked Whole Cauliflower Shawarma, Diced Lamb Kebab with Charcoal Hummus – plus a range of salads, smoked yogurt, sweet pickled radish, gluten free and vegan options.

And whilst we couldn’t 100% confirm it, if you see the Halloumi Fries on the menu then we strongly suggest grabbing some before they sell out. In fact, get us some whilst you’re there too.

Kings Heath Dining Club comes to Highbury Hall on Sunday 1^st July. For direct event information, and links to online ticket sales, visit www.facebook.com/events/775347119336101

For more from Digbeth Dining Club, including further event listings, visit www.digbethdiningclub.com

For more on the Hare & Hounds, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk

For more on Highbury Hall, visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/highbury_hall