Baby's on Album Covers

Came accross this when looking into Drummers from Birmingham and thought it was amazing so made me think of other album covers with babies on them...got to be some of the most awesome covers ever.

ORE - IKON - BIRMINGHAM

When a gig is advertised as a evening of sound performance delving into the region's musical heritage featuring a drone doom tuba group called ORE you just know its going to be good, and it didn't disapoint. This latest offering from Capsule showed how they continue to operate outside of the normal sphere of music promotion, even by their own standards. Whilst I have had a gripe at the time Six Organs of Admittance were put on at the Town Hall because of the stuffy nature and "ego massaging lets give ourselves a pat on the back vibe" it was cool to be in that environment with potentially a slightly broader audience demographic than normal, certainly a larger audience in terms of number. It was Tunng that went and spoiled it for everyone. The venue of the Ikon was brilliant for the event, it turned what called have been a really ominous, dark, dirge into an almost transcendent mantra performance of drones, particularly in the "circle-pit" immersion of Lash Frenzy's performance. Whilst these videos can do almost nothing to recreate what it was to be at that gig they still show the coolest musical event in Birmingham on that night. As Lash Frenzy said, musical performance should be without focus, representation but about the here and now, the present, performances become immersive, participatory events....SWEET!

Diagram for Student Induction

This was a rough mock up a presentational diagram to explain student inductions...the yellow leaves to the right fold out to revel text explaining the various stages of the induction process.

Finished Posters for NWMS-BCU visit

Exciting times for Brum

Lots of new expensive transport ideas for Brum: and lots of far out house music video visualisations of them and all!

The tram seems a slightly odd one...I think it’s a fairly decent idea, I'm not just against it because of the short distance covered argument put forward by the news report. It will probably help people move out of the city centre towards places like the jewellery quarter because whilst that is only a short distance it still remains a bit intimidating crossing the barrier posed by the ring road, especially to people who might not know the area. So it offers a decent link for that...but it seems a trick has been missed in not linking it up as far as the cultural centre of the library, the town hall, the symphony hall and the museums etc. which would also be handy access to broad street. At the least it could join up with the Mailbox. And, I don't know what will happen to the current buses of Bull Street and Corporation Street...I'm sure something will be sorted for them but it would be interesting to see what. Before I saw this route but heard about the development I presumed that it would be going along Colmore Row to Victoria Square and then either down to New Street or onwards to Centenary Square but that would have cut out all of the shops which would be a travesty!

Next up, the new New Street Station

I'm not sure what to make of this, without wanting to sound like a grumpy old twat. Whilst New Street definitely needs to be redeveloped to create a more alluring gateway to the city and generally a more enjoyable and efficient traveling experience I'm not sure this is the answer. Yes the main hall looks a lot more dramatic with its high roof and natural light and the addition of extra seats will be a massive improvement but it still seems that the actual platforms are low and dingy. The old booming tannoy system and dirty trains belching out their exhaust will remain. The wider stairs will be a great improvement and hopefully they have sorted the lifts which are just stupid/terrifying at the moment but it looks like once you get up off the platform a long trek through pokey, low ceiling, narrow corridors lined with shops is what awaits you. I would go potholing or to a bondage club if I wanted to scrawpe around tight fitting orifices, I’d probably rather not do it on my commute…although having said that it might add a bit of excitement to the daily routine.

I guess the main emphasis of it is probably about making a nice entrance for John Lewis which it probably achieves so that’s fine. It would be well cool if the reflective façade treatment was designed in such a way that it would concentrate the sun’s rays on a massive tank of water so that it boiled and then the steam could be used to generate electricity and power something…like the tannoy system. Nevermind.

Last but not least is the Hs2 development to be designed for old Curzon Street site...the information on this is pretty vague at the moment, probably as a concequence of all the "not in my back yard" campagins of the little englanders...have seen quite a funny visual which suggests that it would't be happening until...

Also found this really exciting video:

Long House - Living Architecture - Progress

Driving around the lanes of Norfolk we came accross the site for the Living Architecture project by Hopkins architects. The site was looking a bit deserted, apparently one of the contractors went bust,,,? It was looking pretty cool though, quite similar to their Norwich Cathedral Refectory project which is ace. Will be a sweet place to spend a weekend when it is done.

http://www.hopkins.co.uk/s/projects/7/156/

Thunder Dome

Driving along the lanes of Norfolk this weekend we came across this intense looking building...a world war 2 training dome used by the RAF. There were around 40 built around the country but only 6 are believed to remain. They were constructed as concrete hemispheres that used then state of the art technology to project footage of enemy bombers in a 180 degree sphere and could be shot at using simulator guns. All that remains of the base here is the training dome...a stark left over object of war in a landscape that has since reverted to its pastoral routes.here is a pathe film showing one in action.

DOME TRAINER

I've always been quite interested in old buildings being reflected in new ones. It demonstrates an urban continuity and allows us to perceive the buildings through a different lens. Probably should get a bit of good old JP in here, maybe I'll get my notes and actually do a proper blog at some point. On a more basic level I think it makes quite a nice photo opportunity...but maybe now I'm just flattering myself. Any which way here are a few photos I took in Kansas City and St. Louis this summer.

One pleasent little anecdote, after taking the top photo two business men stopped and saw the reflection, it was as though it was the first time they'd seen it and concequently they took out their phones and photographed it, as I walked off I turned behind and saw another pedestrian notice the business men and get out their camera...sometimes it takes an outsider to get a different perception on your city, sometimes it just takes a reflective modern building.

A Couple of Posters

First bit of fun at my new job, had to make a couple of posters for the Northwest Missouri State contigent that are on there way over to us in a couple of weeks...still a work in progress but here we are: