Dave Piper is a Birmingham based photographer, who works mainly in fashion and portraiture photography. Though they may have been given a glamorous finish, you might recognise something familiar about these two photos, they’re taken from a shoot he did at the Hare & Hounds pub in Kings Heath.

Having also recently shot his first cover for FACE ON magazine (image below), he’s now branching out into hosting nationwide photography workshops.

The Birmingham dates are set for 29 and 30 September, at the Calumet Store, so plenty of time to get a bit of practice in if you’re interested. The two day course ‘What is Digital Light?  – A Theoretical and Practical Digital editing course’, will cover the following;

This workshop will challenge and inspire. There are no rule books, there are no wrong answers – nor right ones. However, there are other theories and other ideas.

This course is not only about Photoshop, it’s about how to pull apart and re-bild your photos using a post-production style designed to really enhance your work.

For this workshop, the confident use of a DSLR and some experience of Photoshop is neccessary. The course will push and explore the ideas to enhance and finish your photography, including a study on the importance of self-critique.

Prices are TBC, and there’s also a beginners course to follow – any questions can go to Dave@davepiper.org.uk

SOUNDkitchen launches with an Opening Banquet tomorrow (17 February), at the Hare & Hounds, as the first in a series of monthly events bringing new and experimental sounds to Birmingham.

The night will bring together emerging Birmingham based composers with established organisations Modulate and Mama Feel Good! along with guest performers from Bristol, Leicester and London. Their aim is to provide professional development with an open environment for sound artists to experiment, collaborate and build networks.

Thursday’s set menu looks to be a tasty affair, with all of this to look forward to;

…incidental DJing from Two Left Ears; a theremin and wii mote performance from Eric Bumstead; live laptop performance by Norah Lorway; Audio-visuals from Martin Clarke (oem records); soundscapes from Simon Whetham; Experimental audio trio performance from Modulate; and an afrobeat and electronica DJ set from Bobbaliní Hot (Mama Feel Good!)

SOUNDkitchen will be serving from 8pm-1am, at £6 entry. For more info and the full menu, visit the SOUNDkitchen website.

First is BIAD’s Christmas p-Arty on 9 December, which is £5 in with live music from Black Heart Generator and the Juneau Brothers, plus sets from dj Cassie- Philomena and a portion of poetry from Jodi Ann Bickley and the Mongrel S.Mutt.

They have only one request…

Dress code is no biggy but please leave your pikey mates at home. I’m sure no-one wants to be Santa skanking it out next to a Lacoste cladded pisstramp.

Too true.

On 11 December, Chicks Dig Jerks are hosting their Xmas bash with a few local bands including The Velvet Texas Cannonball, Ignoramuss & Tim Lowe, Filthy Habits and Stinky Wizzleteat. Tickets are £5/£3 before 11pm and all night if you make the effort with your Christmas themed attire.

On 20 November, The Hare & Hounds and Birmingham Jazz will be welcoming the Grammy nominated Christen Scott Quintet to Birmingham.

Considered somewhat jazz pedigree, as the nephew of saxophonist Donald Harrison, Scott has become one of the great innovators of his generation as part of an achingly cool new wave of contemporary jazz artists. He arrives at the Hare & Hounds in support of his new album ‘Yesterday You Said Tomorrow’.

Tickets are £13 (£10) and are available online via theticketsellers, by calling 0844 870 0000 or in person at Polar Bear Records, Kings Heath.

]]> http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2010/10/19/halloween-festivities/ Tue, 19 Oct 2010 07:59:34 +0000 http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/?p=7545 [Read more...]]]> The generally stress free holiday of Halloween presents an excuse for some thrilling fun for all ages. Here’s a run down of a few things going on in Birmingham;

• Invisible City‘s final event, Media Circus, takes place on 29 Oct at Fazeley Studios. With entertainment, music, drinks, performances and digital displays, along with the winners of the Invisible City categories to be announced. Fancy dress is along the lines of Victorian Circus.
• CBSO’s Friday Night Classics: Nightmare on Broad Street takes place on 29 Oct, 7.30pm at Symphony Hall, with a pre-concert talk at 6.15.
• Town Hall host a Halloween Silent Movie Special with the 1923 classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame on 31 Oct at 7.30pm.
• Black Country Living Museum are holding Halloween at the Museum on 30 & 31 Oct from 6.30pm – 10pm, with opportunities for psychic reading and trick or treating along the cobbled streets.
• Take a guided tour of Aston Hall, exploring the ghosts and legends on 31 Oct at 7.30pm. Full of spooky surprises, this is not suitable for children of a ‘nervous disposition’.
• Halloween Night at the Museum Collections Centre invites you on a spine tingling trail for a chance to see some of the scariest objects not on general display, join the tour on 29 Oct from 6.30pm – 9pm.

Since Halloween falls on a weekend, it would be a crime to let an opportunity to get dressed up go unmentioned. Most weekend club nights will be welcoming heavy eyeliner and fake blood, on the only occasion where you can get away with wearing a bin liner, here’s a few that stand out;

• Jocko Homo will be hosting The Victoria’s Halloween festivities from 9pm with free entry.
• Face present their Halloween Bash at Cellar Door, the Rainbow, with house legend Emerson Todd.
• Hare & Hounds are holding House of God Halloween Party with horror makeup available on the night.
• Eddie’s Rock Club will be dishing out a free shot for the first 100 people through the door, and a £50 prize to the best dressed.
• The fourth Electric City event at HMV Institute is Spectrum’s Halloween Fancy Dress Special, with Sub Focus and Stanton Warriors live.
• The Curates Egg presents a Halloween special at The Old Wharf on 31 Oct, with live music from Nightingales, The Courtesy Group and Black Carrot.

Plus outfit inspiration is provided by this month’s issue of Area for how to pull off a creepy-but-cool costume, with just the right amount of effort to keep your street cred.

UK garage scene legend, MJ Cole, will be dishing out inspiration by hosting a free interactive workshop on the art of the remix at the Hare & Hounds from 4 – 6pm.

Along with that, the Mystery Jets, plus Simian Mobile Disco, Friendly Fires, MJ Cole and Le Corps Mince de Francoise, will be performing and DJing live at the Rainbow Warehouse from 9.30pm – 5am. Tickets can be bought online or at Swordfish Records, Polar Bear Records and Zen.

The closing date for Rizla Re-crafted is 20 December, and will be judged by a panel including the Mystery Jets, and will win a Hercules RMX professional MP3 DJ mixer.

Registration for the workshop is supposedly at www.rizlarecrafted.co.uk – which doesn’t actually seem to exist, so if anyone can give an update on that, that would be much appreciated!

• Scratch Club, hosted by Sonny Jim, is at The Yardbird on 17 June (free)
• My Love For Hip Hop is a hip hop poetry event at The Drum on 19 June (£5)
• Jazzanova and Eska Mtungwazi are at Concrete on Saturday 21st (£10)
• My Bum Is Genetic – Deal With It is a theatre/spoken word event at The Drum on 26 June (£7)
• Also on the Thrurs 26th there’s a BASS Film Night at The Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath (free)
• On 30 June Artistic Souls presents The Journey at The Yardbird with poetry and live jazz (£3)

There are a few more workshops running too, and events over in Derby, Nottingham and Leicester to boot.  See the what’s on page on the BASS Festival website for more.