Month: November 2008

You are cordially invited…

Today there was a letter to me stuffed in my mailbox. It was my 4Talent awards invite! I’m very much looking forward to seeing Iain Woods again, especially after I missed his set at Gigbeth. What I really would like to do however, is do vox pop interviews on the red carpet so on my to do list is emailing the organisers. It’s like festivals- I won’t feel right unless I’m working. It’s not like I won!

Yesterday saw the screening of Bryony Makes a Zombie Movie on BBC Three. In my opinion the documentary did not show the full extent of the project. I guess its main focus was Bryony, aka Paperlilies and therefore it was never going to show much of the other contributors however I felt it took the mickey out of members of the forum with constant talk of ‘flame wars’ and the like. Rather than ask the members of the forum about arguments and such, Hat Trick instead spoke to some bloke from The Sun! Comments from the forum were read in silly accents and don’t even get me started on the voiceover guy….

I, thankfully, was spared ridicule, but at the end of the film a few people were thanked in the credits…about five people. Many people from the forums as well as myself and the other actors made films and allowed ourselves to be filmed for the documentary. We signed release forums, filmed video blogs to deadlines and took up time to help Hat Trick get a bigger picture (that they chose, in the final documentary) to ignore. I felt that certainly more people deserved credit than was given. At the end of the film also there is the impression that the film will carry on being made. Currently on the forums it seems this is not the case, hence my ‘public facebook status disappointment.’

Basically everyone I met on set, particularly Bryony, were lovely and it seems a shame that things won’t be the same now.

Frank.

Blue cheese

I’m trying to get back to get back into the swing of things (my drugs are great!) and have begun writing for my degree (yes I do do one!) My weekend was spent researching Restoration stage rape which was enlightening to say the least.

Orange Unsigned Act came to the Custard Factory on thursday so I popped down and finally met my idol of 13 years, Alex James. I got a bit starstruck but managed to hold down a brief conversation with him about cheese. I also met Myspace radio co presenter Alex Zane again and thankfully he remembered me!

Its unfortunate that I can’t talk much about the finalists but to be honest, no one except a certain Birmingham band stood out to me- that and a singer songwriter who went asked whether he could form a band with his friends he quickly responded “I haven’t got any!” He was charming in an awkward way!

The other day I received a press release about a mobile phone competition to find new talent. The Motorokr competiton featured a couple of recording booths in the Bullring this weekend. Wannabe recording stars could record an except from nine songs. I took a couple of guys from Burnfm.com down to have a go. Not realising that the songs were set, the boys (Dan and Dan who go by the name Mac and Cheese and Pitta Bread…) brought along a guitar and a self penned christmas song! Noticing their efforts, the Motorola staff got the boys to perform their song in the Bullring infront of the wandering crowds.

Hopefully Christmas Number One This Year will be available soon!

Frank.

By the Book

I’ve totally rinsed BBC Iplayer recently (no suprises there!) Really I should have been reading whilst indisposed in bed but I tended to just fish my way through the deepest, darkest corners of the weekly iplayer archive.

Today I’m having a go with BBC Four’s The Book Quiz and yes, it has totally washed over me. Kirsty Wark is a greatly factual presenter who often comes out with some great quips. Like Paxman with good dress sense and a pleasant demeanour. However, it just feels like University Challenge! (They even have a gong.)

I used to read all the time but the quiz makes me feel quite naive and silly foolish. There just isn’t a great deal of humour; infact It’s taken very seriously. As a first time viewer I’m not overly familiar with the ways the rounds work and perhaps that is why…..

….however asked for the seven titles written by the Bronte sisters and one of the contestants missed out Agnes Grey! (as well as two Charlotte Bronte titles.) Suddenly I feel a bit better,

Also today I walked down my road to the Burnfm.com studio at 8.30am with a piece of toast in hand.

I haven’t been able to eat/walk properly for days! Now I’m doing both at the same time! Result!

Frank x

Oh and I wrote a new song for the first time in ages. It’s called Just Like Jenny. It’s not like most of my older stuff so it’s kind of odd to watch/listen/play personally. Should be popping to an open mic night in selly tomorrow.

Surfin’ USA

Hey,

Popped to hospital yesterday and it turns out my illness from three weeks ago was a chest infection and it has now spread to my kidneys. But its okay as I now have antibiotics! I couldn’t get any yesterday as there wasn’t a pharmacy open near me and walking about 50 yards would cause me to retch. Hmmm.

ANYWAY after that pleasant explanation of what must seem like lazyness/obsessive moaning…

I checked out Nylon magazine‘s site this morning as I wanted to see examples of Peaches Geldof’s work (yes I clearly am obsessing here!) and checked out their blog which directed me to this interesting site. 

300 Colours is a project which involves the artist who I believe to be called Alex, writing different sorts of love letters to various people such as friends, family, lovers, strangers and anybody. It’s visually great. The main page is filled with small coloured squares. The colours show who the letters were written too and also provide a kind of colour code…

Well I found it cool!

Frank.

Lazy

I’ve got this recurring illness that keeps coming back so I’m off to the doctors asap… I’ve even had to miss most of Gigbeth, which as the blogger, totally doesn’t make sense. I’m absolutely gutted. If I dwell on it I know the stress will make me feel worse so I’m going to sweat/shiver it out for as long as I can bear…

Anyway, back to more bloggy stuff.

I’m shocked today at the cheek of the media. Cadbury’s have reintroduced their two ‘joy’ adverts (i.e that crazy expensive Gorilla one and the wierd large lego truck one which didn’t work as well) and just changed the music! Huh?

Also the NME have compiled a ‘non-rocker’ Cool List which had laughable ‘thrown together at the last minute’ cracks. Richard Ayodae of Garth Marenghi and The IT Crowd I totally understand…but Wall-E???

I also believe that NME are no longer cool or respected enough to make judgements such as putting Heath Ledger on the list with this description…

There was something about the actor’s drug-induced death at 28 – coupled with the manner in which his posthumous turn as The Joker in ‘The Dark Knight’ held up a mirror to troubled times – that was more reminiscent of Kurt Cobain than, say, James Dean.

This horribly misjudged statement implies that Ledger was some kind of Class A drug addict rather than a celebrated actor and father. Kurt Cobain killed himself, this comparison also implies the same of Ledger. Accidental death is not cool. And nothing NME can say will change that.

Working on the side

I have done less work recently, uni wise and writing wise recently. I’ve had more time to do what I want to do I guess. I like to be busy, but recently I had someone to make time for… Now I don’t again so I’m wondering whether to keep things at the same pace or to pick more stuff back up again. Something tells me to stay at the same pace but at the same time I know I’ll dwell on stuff and be worse off. I don’t know what to do. So much for having a ‘strategic mind’!

Rhubarb Radio Press Release

Press Release

3rd November 2008.

 

Gigbeth Goes Interactive

 

On Friday 7th and Saturday 8th November, Birmingham’s live music festival, Gigbeth, has announced that many of the performances will be broadcast live on Rhubarb Radio.

 

Available at www.rhubarbradio.com , the live performances will be broadcast live with direct feeds coming from the stages, featuring interviews with all the artists performing, keeping visitors in touch with this exciting festival.

 

A first for Birmingham, Rhubarb Radio is based at Digbeth’s Custard Factory, and is run entirely by Birmingham-based volunteers, all of which have backgrounds in the arts and multimedia.

 

All performances will be recorded and made available via the website through the ‘Listen Again’ feature.

 

Visitors to the website will also be able to interact with performers and audiences throughout the weekend, via email and Twitter, the social networking website.

 

Paul Hadley, Station Manager said “This is truly a first for Birmingham. We’ll be taking feeds from all the major events, so listeners can hear their favourite bands for free via their computers and mobile phones, even if they can’t get to the gigs in person.”

 

Also running on Saturday 8th November is Drop Beats Not Bombs at The Rainbow Pub in Digbeth. Rhubarb Radio will also be broadcasting live from 2 of the stages at this regular dance music event, and Boogie Dave is a regular presenter on the station.

 

To see the full Gigbeth schedule, visit www.gigbeth.co.uk .

 

Tickets are available via the website.

 

Sian the superstar and halloween eve…

One of my best friends, Sian, was in a play last night. Along with a few members of UoB charity drama society Infinity, she helped put on and star in a performance of John Godber’s Shakers, a multi rolling one-act play about four hard working cocktail waitresses. It was a high energy, well directed show and I enjoyed it immensely. They even set it in Beorma Bar (upstairs bar in the Birmingham Guild of Students) which meant we could feel more ‘there’. The proceeds from Infinity throughout the year will go to Banardos Birmingham.

The day before I casually got the train down to london and a couple of tubes in a not so casual dress (well not too over the top but very pink and in my opinion, very cute) to see the edited footage and vlogs for Internet Zombie Movie. Unlike everyone else there I didn’t have any guests, my sister and eternally busy boyfriend couldn’t make it and I didn’t ask anyone from Birmingham (ridiculous cost of train fare.)

The work itself was amazing. Directors Tim Keeling and Pete Curran and of course, project originator Bryony Matthewman stood up to introduce the film and following a couple of video ‘Hi we couldn’t be there’ clips (including the lovely October Road Film boys) The film started. 

The film we saw was brilliantly begun with clips of different vlogs contrasting with each other and building up tension. All the vlogs were unscripted and filmed by IZM contributors from around the world. A low synth pedal note accompanied these and just worked beneath the surface, building up tension. The film then cut to the footage we filmed in Shoreditch which was awesome. I couldn’t help laughing at some of the memories though…..swinging haha!

Hat Trick, the company making a BBC Three documentary about the film wanted to film us entering the cinema with everyone clapping but I felt a bit silly as I felt I hadn’t done that much! I’ve been fairly active on the forums however I felt like my image being used might give people the wrong idea, or cause irritation. However I think the actor who played Ethan, Joseph Ripley had his head in front of mine in the shot anyway so I think I’ll just be a flash of pink anyway. 

Frank.