Blog
In Los Angeles by the time you're 35 you're older than most of the buildings! (Delia Ephron)
So I’ve now arrived back from Los Angeles and am penning my final thoughts and as promised in my last posting telling you about my time at the Getty Museum.
The Getty first: it’s a truly amazing institution. Not just because of its collections, its stunning architecture, its undeniable wealth and its beautiful location high above the City. But mainly because of a great team of people, who despite the perceived elitism of the organisation have some really progressive ideas about the role of cultural institutions and about the need to share the Getty's cultural treasures with the widest possible audience. One great example is an event they produced around an exhibition by the classical French painter Jean Honore Fragonard. I don’t know if you might know Fragonard’s work – I didn’t – but think rococo chocolate box representations of virgins, young maidens, lusty farmhands and cherubs. His paintings explore love in a deeply classical and romantic sense. Not the sort of thing that would attract an audience of 800 young, mainly Latino Los Angelinos on a Thursday night you’d think.
Well, think again!
Because they did with a truly inspired piece of programming.
The massively popular daytime television love and family therapist Dr Drew broadcasts his hit show daily on cable TV in LA. It’s the usual daytime TV fodder of broken relationships, thwarted and unrequited love. Well for one night only Dr Drew was in conversation with the curator of the Fragonard exhibition at the Getty Museum talking about love and the representations of love within classical art. And because Dr Drew was speaking 800 – yes 800 – mainly first time arts attenders rolled up excitedly to the Getty to listen and participate. What made the event really work was the knowledge of Dr Drew himself (he was both well briefed and seemed to genuinely love the work of Fragonard), the interest of the audience and the associated activity laid on by the Getty. So after a few initial questions of the ‘My partner won’t put out’ type, the talk quickly focussed on why Fragonard's paintings expressed feelings about love that are as relevant today as they have been through the ages. Using examples of the paintings blown up as giant slides the paintings were brought to life and made relevant by a figure rooted in today’s popular culture. And after an hour and a half of great debate, small groups were taken on guided tours of the exhibition whilst the rest of us listened to local DJs, ate the free quesadillas and nachos and gulped Tequila al fresco at the Getty. It all went on till 11.00pm when people left happy, with new insights and new friends.
So here’s a challenge to our own cultural institutions – what might you do to enliven your work for new audiences? As I said in my last blog we often think we’re the leaders in audience development internationally. Well I’m afraid we need to get out more!
Sadly my time in LA came to an end. One final weekend hanging out with the internationally acclaimed and controversial US artist Ron Athey. He was with this very quiet and self effacing artist from Idaho called Matthew. It took me a day to figure out it was Matthew Barney, contemporary artist extraordinaire and husband of Bjork. One last mad dash around the shopping malls of LA (including to Abercrombie and Fitch which seems to mix the shopping and clubbing experience into one) and to a fair few bars and clubs. Oddly LA nightlife is pretty tame – as everyone has to drive to get anywhere, no one drinks and all the clubs close at 2am. I was left with that feeling that somewhere, just a round the corner was a real party scene I was just missing.
So now back in Birmingham. It’s been a great two week with loads learned about the US cultural sector and some ideas I’m eager to implement here. Bob Warmley discusses Cezanne at BMAG? Maybe not…!
"Los Angeles is just New York lying down"
TALES FROM TINSEL TOWN
"Los Angeles is just New York lying down" Quentin Crisp
I'm now well into my second week in Los Angeles. I've moved from the grandeur of The Biltmore Hotel in Downtown LA to the rolling hills of Bel Air. The reason: this week I'm interviewing folks at the Getty Centre (that comprises the J. Paul Getty Museum, The Getty Trust and the Getty Research Institute).
Wow! Many things about the Getty have left me struggling to find the right words. The beautiful location that gives 360% views of Los Angeles - from East LA backed by snow capped mountains all the way to Santa Monica, Malibu and the Pacific. The architecture of Richard Meier is just breathtaking - a modernist masterpiece. And the wealth of the institution - the Getty is an organisation that lives off the interest from the J. Paul Getty endowment valued at six billion dollars - the thought of never having to fundraise is in itself a mind-boggling concept.
I've been thinking about some of the similarities and differences between British and US art organisations and inevitably trying to compare Birmingham's and LA's arts and general cultural scene. Well I guess we are after all both second cities (though Birmingham is of course twinned with Chicago).
First things first: American's in the arts are smart people - well certainly the ones I've met. For all the influences of American culture (including the best shows on TV) we Brits do think Americans don't quite cut it culturally - and it's an attitude I've encountered regularly on the UK arts scene. We also tend to think - partly because of the conservative nature of much of US political society - that we must be ahead of the game when it comes to audience development and diversity issues.
We are of course wrong on both parts. My experience of both the Music Center and the Getty - and bear in mind that they're both institutions presenting classical and conventional works - is that they're led by people with really sophisticated thinking about audiences, diversity, the role of cultural organisations as agents for change in civic society, philanthropy and the relationship between amateur and professional. And that they're led by people with a really strong values base. Getty aside - it doesn't need to raise cash - the people at the Music Center and in other organisations I met are also enormously accomplished fundraisers. Obviously that's pretty important where little state subsidy is applied but skills here in lobbying and cultivating individual donors, corporates and foundations are mightily impressive. Skills honed over endless dinners no doubt.
I'm off tonight to an event that involves a well know TV sex therapist Dr Drew Pinsky (from TV's Celebrity Rehab) talking about art and sexuality in relation to the Getty's current classical exhibition of romantic paintings - Consuming Passion: Fragonard's Allegories of Love. It's generated so much interest that the Museum is putting members of the public in an overflow auditorium with a live feed. It's really ingenious programming - I'll let you know what it's like tomorrow whwere I'll be hanging out at the Getty Villa - Joh Paul's former home and now a Museum housing their antiquities collection.
By the way, everyone's convinced Hillary's dead in the water here and that the US will son have its firts African American President. Pretty amazing really.
Tales from Tinsel Town....
"Los Angeles is 72 suburbs looking for a city" - Dorothy Parker
I’m here in Los Angeles on a study tour as part of my Clore Leadership fellowship, a UK arts leadership programme established run by the former Culture Secretary (Lord) Chris Smith.
For the last week I’ve been at the LA Music Center – a collection of institutions encompassing the amazing Frank Gehry designed Walt Disney Concert Hall – another great example of what iconic architecture can do for the fortunes of an area - the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Mark Taper Forums that between them house the LA Phil, the LA Opera (led by Placido Domingo) and the Center Theater Group. An extraordinary collection of cultural institutions that reminds me a little of South Bank in the heart of downtown LA. Though on the up its still a rather soulless area of the city that’s sterile business district by day and a hinterland for the LA homeless at night. It actually borders Skid Row – yes it does actually exist!
This week I change tack and head off to shadow the senior team at the Getty Museum – the jewel in the crown of LA’s cultural life displaying hordes of classical arts and antiquities and European masterpieces – and surely the wealthiest arts organisation in the world with an endowment that would make the eyes of most British arts organisations water. It’s high in the hills physically and metaphorically.
Well, where to start? LA is a city with an almost unreal quality about it. It’s partly the familiarity: with iconic names and places that have seeped into our own popular culture; partly that fact that despite that it’s a city with little history – constantly rebuilding itself; the size, it takes an age to get anywhere in this city driving on 6 lanes freeways, and partly the shadow of the stars of Hollywood – its Oscar weekend coming up and you really can’t escape it.
Actually take away the stars and the pure size some of the issues facing the city: transportation, authenticity, inner city development are very familiar.
It’s taken me 6 days but I think I’m just about getting used to it and I’m even enjoying the driving. The adjustment is helped by staying in the Biltmore Hotel, the old grand dame of LA and the original home of the Oscars. The marble filled lobby is that size of a football field and the rococo lounges serve the most extravagant high tea I’ve ever had. Mine alone included a mountain of sandwiches and 7 different cakes, which goes some way to explain the size of many of our American cousins. So having gorged myself there I’m off to health conscious Hollywood to start at Getty.
The city’s musical truths…
I was not only surprised, but very heartened when seeing the advertisement for the visitbirmingham.com/arts in the Independent. It stated that Birmingham has thirteen million people annually visiting the city to experience live music. A statistic that surprised me but certainly worthy of applauds. Despite such a large amount of people visiting our city to experience music, I have always felt that Birmingham is yet to be recognized internationally as a city respected for its musical creativity. As a result of discovering such an incredible statistic I delved further and decided to do a little research to discover some of the positive musical entities that come from Birmingham and make it such an attraction. I will start by pointing out some of my own recent experiences.
Earlier this month, I had an invite to visit the recently refurbished Birmingham Town Hall to experience an evening with Giles Petterson, the influential Radio One DJ. What an incredible venue and what a perfect location for music lovers. The event went off brilliantly with the crowd visibly enjoying the live music from ‘The Sugar Beats’ and ‘Summary’ with DJ sets from Giles Petterson, Bruce Q and Adam Reagan. Birmingham Town Hall was, and is sure to be again, an internationally recognised venue for music. It was the home to The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1926 to 1991.The venue has showcased many premieres and reverberated to every type of music from Elgar to the Rolling Stones, Mendelssohn to the Beatles and Count Basie to Duran Duran. With such an incredible legacy and the marvellous refurbishment, it should not take long for the Town Hall to reestablish itself as a venue for the international music visitor market.
Symphony Hall is an internationally recognized venue. As well as being the home of the renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra it presents many of the worlds prestigious orchestras. Complementing the classical programme is the best in jazz, world music, folk, rock and pop. The venue is also recognized for its superb acoustics.
My first experience of Symphony Hall was my graduation back in 1994; I was overawed with its facilitities. However it wasn’t until last year when I went to see my children singing for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Choir that I realized how incredible acoustically the room was. It was such a pleasure to experience a sound quality that was as close to perfection as I have ever come across. With a cross section of forth coming events ranging from Rufus Wainwright, Christie Moore and Nitin Sawhney, The Symphony Hall is the musical connisseurs venue of choice.
We can’t mention the Symphony Hall without highlighting our magnificent orchestra. On the night of my previously mentioned visit they were accompanying the CBSO choir. Even though my knowledge and experience of classical performances is very limited I couldn’t but be overawed by such musical excellence. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is the resident orchestra at The Symphony Hall. The CBSO plays to over 300,000 people each year. It is one of the world’s leading symphonic ensembles, having worked with many leading international conductors since its inaugural concert in 1920, conducted by Sir Edward Elgar. The Orchestra established itself as a major force during its 18-year association with Sir Simon Rattle, and has continued to prosper under the Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo.
Less high brow, but in my humble opinion equally as relevant is the Birmingham’s club tradition. From 1968 to 1971 Mothers in Erdington carved a niche in the history of rock music, being voted number one venue in the world by America’s Billboard magazine! The list of artists and bands who played there included Pink Floyd, Canned Heat, Deep Purple, The Who, Free, Led Zepplin, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac to name but a few. John Peel regularly DJed at Mothers and cited it to be one of the best nightclubs in Britain. Mothers certainly contributed to Birmingham being regarded as the birthplace of heavy metal music with Black Sabbath and their ‘frontman’ Ozzy Osborne, one of the resident bands playing Mothers regularly.
Barbarella's Night Club, Birmingham's most famous punk venue. Every up and coming band from the emerging new wave punk scene ascended on this three room venue in the mid to late seventies. Notorious bands such as The Clash, Blondie, The Boom Town Rats, The Damn, The Vibrators, David Johansen of the New York Dolls, X-Ray Spex, and Generation X. The performances of these acts engaged sold out audiences with their uncompromising lyrics. Sadly Barbarellas shut its doors many years ago. It became a distant memory to those who visited the venue, but despite the cobwebs there is no denying that it was certainly pivotal in the development of the New Wave Scene of the late seventies.
The Rum Runner Club was opened in the 60s. The club was relaunched with an eclectic power playlist borrowed from Studio 54 in New York. Roxy Music and David Bowie nights were accompanied by jazz funk nights. The club was very much part of The New Romantic phenomina of the early eighties due to Duran Duran being the resident band and managed by the clubs owners. In developing the club's musical identity they also gave free rehearsal space to bands like Dexys Midnight Runners and UB40. The Beat filmed a video for their song 'Mirror In The Bathroom' at the venue. As time went by they opened more and more different evenings and one of the residents, DJ Dick, later went on to form Rockers Hi-Fi. He was a DJ force in the early house scene. Notable denizens of the club included Boy George, Kevin Rowlands of Dexy Midnight Runners, De Harriss, Mulligan, and Martin Recchi of Fashion, Martin Degville and other members of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. In terms of popular music history the club was a very significant land mark, but its hedonistic image is buried deep with the demolishion of Broad Street.
Birmingham was also very instrumental in the development of dance culture and has embraced house music since the late 1980s. Acid House nights such as Spectrum took place at the Digbeth Institute (now the Sanctuary) and the Hummingbird (now the Carling Academy). Some of the UK's most influential dance nights including Gods Kitchen, Chuff Chuff, Wobble, Miss Moneypenny's, Gatecrasher, Sundissential, Atomic Jam and House of God evolved from Birmingham. The city's cultural diversity also contributed to the blend of bhangra and ragga pioneered by Apache Indian in Handsworth. Electronic and dance music has continued to amplify with acts such as Bentley Rhythm Ace, The Streets, Rockers Hi-Fi, The Editors, Surgeon, Mistys Big Adventure, and Broadcast. Large alternative electronic nights still take place throughout the city on a weekly basis in venues such as the Custard Factory, Air and the recently reopened Q Club, with many pioneering new Dj's captivating hundreds of revelers.
Birmingham is going through a live music renaissance with high profile acts such as The Twang, The Editors and The Streets capturing the nation’s imagination. There is also, in the wings, a multitude of up and coming acts awaiting their opportunity. Since 1984 we have held the biggest UK Jazz festival. Annually in September, the Council holds a 3 day free festival called 'ArtsFest'. Many of the city’s cultural aspects are celebrated, from lo-fi electronic music to fringe theatre and Kathakali Indian Dance.
Why therefore do so many people come to our city to experience music? Quite simply because we have got some fantastic facilities and a rich musical heritage. Birmingham has got some of the best venues for live music in the country and this should be celebrated. Every massive act passes through Brum and every musical genre is supported from pop to classical, from dance music to jazz, as well as many internationally recognized events, promotions and festivals.
I have merely scratched the surface of Birmingham’s contribution to the musical world. As Brummies we love our music and we are proud of the rich tapestry of music available in our city. Yet we find it very uncomfortable flying the flag of our creative achievements. We have possibly found it difficult to brush aside our dower image as the industrial heartland. We now need to focus on our numerous world recognized musical attractions. These attractions have often come about as a result of the ethnic diversity of the city. Only when we recognize our importance in the development of music as a cultural force will the world truly applaud and fully recognize our achievements and bestow upon us the positive cultural identity we truly deserve.
The city’s musical truths…
I was not only surprised, but very heartened when seeing the advertisement for the visitbirmingham.com/artsin the Independent. It stated that Birmingham has thirteen million people annually visiting the city to experience live music. A statistic that surprised me but certainly worthy of applauds. Despite such a large amount of people visiting our city to experience music, I have always felt that Birmingham is yet to be recognized internationally as a city respected for its musical creativity. As a result of discovering such an incredible statistic I delved further and decided to do a little research to discover some of the positive musical entities that come from Birmingham and make it such an attraction. I will start by pointing out some of my own recent experiences.
Earlier this month, I had an invite to visit the recently refurbished Birmingham Town Hall to experience an evening with Giles Petterson, the influential Radio One DJ. What an incredible venue and what a perfect location for music lovers. The event went off brilliantly with the crowd visibly enjoying the live music from ‘The Sugar Beats’ and ‘Summary’ with DJ sets from Giles Petterson, Bruce Q and Adam Reagan. Birmingham Town Hall was, and is sure to be again, an internationally recognised venue for music. It was the home to The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1926 to 1991.The venue has showcased many premieres and reverberated to every type of music from Elgar to the Rolling Stones, Mendelssohn to the Beatles and Count Basie to Duran Duran. With such an incredible legacy and the marvellous refurbishment, it should not take long for the Town Hall to reestablish itself as a venue for the international music visitor market.
Symphony Hall is an internationally recognized venue. As well as being the home of the renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra it presents many of the worlds prestigious orchestras. Complementing the classical programme is the best in jazz, world music, folk, rock and pop. The venue is also recognized for its superb acoustics.
My first experience of Symphony Hall was my graduation back in 1994; I was overawed with its facilitities. However it wasn’t until last year when I went to see my children singing for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Choir that I realized how incredible acoustically the room was. It was such a pleasure to experience a sound quality that was as close to perfection as I have ever come across. With a cross section of forth coming events ranging from Rufus Wainwright, Christie Moore and Nitin Sawhney, The Symphony Hall is the musical connisseurs venue of choice.
We can’t mention the Symphony Hall without highlighting our magnificent orchestra. On the night of my previously mentioned visit they were accompanying the CBSO choir. Even though my knowledge and experience of classical performances is very limited I couldn’t but be overawed by such musical excellence. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is the resident orchestra at The Symphony Hall. The CBSO plays to over 300,000 people each year. It is one of the world’s leading symphonic ensembles, having worked with many leading international conductors since its inaugural concert in 1920, conducted by Sir Edward Elgar. The Orchestra established itself as a major force during its 18-year association with Sir Simon Rattle, and has continued to prosper under the Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo.
Less high brow, but in my humble opinion equally as relevant is the Birmingham’s club tradition. From 1968 to 1971 Mothers in Erdington carved a niche in the history of rock music, being voted number one venue in the world by America’s Billboard magazine! The list of artists and bands who played there included Pink Floyd, Canned Heat, Deep Purple, The Who, Free, Led Zepplin, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac to name but a few. John Peel regularly DJed at Mothers and cited it to be one of the best nightclubs in Britain. Mothers certainly contributed to Birmingham being regarded as the birthplace of heavy metal music with Black Sabbath and their ‘frontman’ Ozzy Osborne, one of the resident bands playing Mothers regularly.
Barbarella's Night Club, Birmingham's most famous punk venue. Every up and coming band from the emerging new wave punk scene ascended on this three room venue in the mid to late seventies. Notorious bands such as The Clash, Blondie, The Boom Town Rats, The Damn, The Vibrators, David Johansen of the New York Dolls, X-Ray Spex, and Generation X. The performances of these acts engaged sold out audiences with their uncompromising lyrics. Sadly Barbarellas shut its doors many years ago. It became a distant memory to those who visited the venue, but despite the cobwebs there is no denying that it was certainly pivotal in the development of the New Wave Scene of the late seventies.
The Rum Runner Club was opened in the 60s. The club was relaunched with an eclectic power playlist borrowed from Studio 54 in New York. Roxy Music and David Bowie nights were accompanied by jazz funk nights. The club was very much part of The New Romantic phenomina of the early eighties due to Duran Duran being the resident band and managed by the clubs owners. In developing the club's musical identity they also gave free rehearsal space to bands like Dexys Midnight Runners and UB40. The Beat filmed a video for their song 'Mirror In The Bathroom' at the venue. As time went by they opened more and more different evenings and one of the residents, DJ Dick, later went on to form Rockers Hi-Fi. He was a DJ force in the early house scene. Notable denizens of the club included Boy George, Kevin Rowlands of Dexy Midnight Runners, De Harriss, Mulligan, and Martin Recchi of Fashion, Martin Degville and other members of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. In terms of popular music history the club was a very significant land mark, but its hedonistic image is buried deep with the demolishion of Broad Street.
Birmingham was also very instrumental in the development of dance culture and has embraced house music since the late 1980s. Acid House nights such as Spectrum took place at the Digbeth Institute (now the Sanctuary) and the Hummingbird (now the Carling Academy). Some of the UK's most influential dance nights including Gods Kitchen, Chuff Chuff, Wobble, Miss Moneypenny's, Gatecrasher, Sundissential, Atomic Jam and House of God evolved from Birmingham. The city's cultural diversity also contributed to the blend of bhangra and ragga pioneered by Apache Indian in Handsworth. Electronic and dance music has continued to amplify with acts such as Bentley Rhythm Ace, The Streets, Rockers Hi-Fi, The Editors, Surgeon, Mistys Big Adventure, and Broadcast. Large alternative electronic nights still take place throughout the city on a weekly basis in venues such as the Custard Factory, Air and the recently reopened Q Club, with many pioneering new Dj's captivating hundreds of revelers.
Birmingham is going through a live music renaissance with high profile acts such as The Twang, The Editors and The Streets capturing the nation’s imagination. There is also, in the wings, a multitude of up and coming acts awaiting their opportunity. Since 1984 we have held the biggest UK Jazz festival. Annually in September, the Council holds a 3 day free festival called 'ArtsFest'. Many of the city’s cultural aspects are celebrated, from lo-fi electronic music to fringe theatre and Kathakali Indian Dance.
Why therefore do so many people come to our city to experience music? Quite simply because we have got some fantastic facilities and a rich musical heritage. Birmingham has got some of the best venues for live music in the country and this should be celebrated. Every massive act passes through Brum and every musical genre is supported from pop to classical, from dance music to jazz, as well as many internationally recognized events, promotions and festivals.
I have merely scratched the surface of Birmingham’s contribution to the musical world. As Brummies we love our music and we are proud of the rich tapestry of music available in our city. Yet we find it very uncomfortable flying the flag of our creative achievements. We have possibly found it difficult to brush aside our dower image as the industrial heartland. We now need to focus on our numerous world recognized musical attractions. These attractions have often come about as a result of the ethnic diversity of the city. Only when we recognize our importance in the development of music as a cultural force will the world truly applaud and fully recognize our achievements and bestow upon us the positive cultural identity we truly deserve.
The city’s musical truths…
I was not only surprised, but very heartened when seeing the advertisement for the visitbirmingham.com/artsin the Independent. It stated that Birmingham has thirteen million people annually visiting the city to experience live music. A statistic that surprised me but certainly worthy of applauds. Despite such a large amount of people visiting our city to experience music, I have always felt that Birmingham is yet to be recognized internationally as a city respected for its musical creativity. As a result of discovering such an incredible statistic I delved further and decided to do a little research to discover some of the positive musical entities that come from Birmingham and make it such an attraction. I will start by pointing out some of my own recent experiences.
Earlier this month, I had an invite to visit the recently refurbished Birmingham Town Hall to experience an evening with Giles Petterson, the influential Radio One DJ. What an incredible venue and what a perfect location for music lovers. The event went off brilliantly with the crowd visibly enjoying the live music from ‘The Sugar Beats’ and ‘Summary’ with DJ sets from Giles Petterson, Bruce Q and Adam Reagan. Birmingham Town Hall was, and is sure to be again, an internationally recognised venue for music. It was the home to The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1926 to 1991.The venue has showcased many premieres and reverberated to every type of music from Elgar to the Rolling Stones, Mendelssohn to the Beatles and Count Basie to Duran Duran. With such an incredible legacy and the marvellous refurbishment, it should not take long for the Town Hall to reestablish itself as a venue for the international music visitor market.
Symphony Hall is an internationally recognized venue. As well as being the home of the renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra it presents many of the worlds prestigious orchestras. Complementing the classical programme is the best in jazz, world music, folk, rock and pop. The venue is also recognized for its superb acoustics.
My first experience of Symphony Hall was my graduation back in 1994; I was overawed with its facilitities. However it wasn’t until last year when I went to see my children singing for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Choir that I realized how incredible acoustically the room was. It was such a pleasure to experience a sound quality that was as close to perfection as I have ever come across. With a cross section of forth coming events ranging from Rufus Wainwright, Christie Moore and Nitin Sawhney, The Symphony Hall is the musical connisseurs venue of choice.
We can’t mention the Symphony Hall without highlighting our magnificent orchestra. On the night of my previously mentioned visit they were accompanying the CBSO choir. Even though my knowledge and experience of classical performances is very limited I couldn’t but be overawed by such musical excellence. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is the resident orchestra at The Symphony Hall. The CBSO plays to over 300,000 people each year. It is one of the world’s leading symphonic ensembles, having worked with many leading international conductors since its inaugural concert in 1920, conducted by Sir Edward Elgar. The Orchestra established itself as a major force during its 18-year association with Sir Simon Rattle, and has continued to prosper under the Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo.
Less high brow, but in my humble opinion equally as relevant is the Birmingham’s club tradition. From 1968 to 1971 Mothers in Erdington carved a niche in the history of rock music, being voted number one venue in the world by America’s Billboard magazine! The list of artists and bands who played there included Pink Floyd, Canned Heat, Deep Purple, The Who, Free, Led Zepplin, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac to name but a few. John Peel regularly DJed at Mothers and cited it to be one of the best nightclubs in Britain. Mothers certainly contributed to Birmingham being regarded as the birthplace of heavy metal music with Black Sabbath and their ‘frontman’ Ozzy Osborne, one of the resident bands playing Mothers regularly.
Barbarella's Night Club, Birmingham's most famous punk venue. Every up and coming band from the emerging new wave punk scene ascended on this three room venue in the mid to late seventies. Notorious bands such as The Clash, Blondie, The Boom Town Rats, The Damn, The Vibrators, David Johansen of the New York Dolls, X-Ray Spex, and Generation X. The performances of these acts engaged sold out audiences with their uncompromising lyrics. Sadly Barbarellas shut its doors many years ago. It became a distant memory to those who visited the venue, but despite the cobwebs there is no denying that it was certainly pivotal in the development of the New Wave Scene of the late seventies.
The Rum Runner Club was opened in the 60s. The club was relaunched with an eclectic power playlist borrowed from Studio 54 in New York. Roxy Music and David Bowie nights were accompanied by jazz funk nights. The club was very much part of The New Romantic phenomina of the early eighties due to Duran Duran being the resident band and managed by the clubs owners. In developing the club's musical identity they also gave free rehearsal space to bands like Dexys Midnight Runners and UB40. The Beat filmed a video for their song 'Mirror In The Bathroom' at the venue. As time went by they opened more and more different evenings and one of the residents, DJ Dick, later went on to form Rockers Hi-Fi. He was a DJ force in the early house scene. Notable denizens of the club included Boy George, Kevin Rowlands of Dexy Midnight Runners, De Harriss, Mulligan, and Martin Recchi of Fashion, Martin Degville and other members of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. In terms of popular music history the club was a very significant land mark, but its hedonistic image is buried deep with the demolishion of Broad Street.
Birmingham was also very instrumental in the development of dance culture and has embraced house music since the late 1980s. Acid House nights such as Spectrum took place at the Digbeth Institute (now the Sanctuary) and the Hummingbird (now the Carling Academy). Some of the UK's most influential dance nights including Gods Kitchen, Chuff Chuff, Wobble, Miss Moneypenny's, Gatecrasher, Sundissential, Atomic Jam and House of God evolved from Birmingham. The city's cultural diversity also contributed to the blend of bhangra and ragga pioneered by Apache Indian in Handsworth. Electronic and dance music has continued to amplify with acts such as Bentley Rhythm Ace, The Streets, Rockers Hi-Fi, The Editors, Surgeon, Mistys Big Adventure, and Broadcast. Large alternative electronic nights still take place throughout the city on a weekly basis in venues such as the Custard Factory, Air and the recently reopened Q Club, with many pioneering new Dj's captivating hundreds of revelers.
Birmingham is going through a live music renaissance with high profile acts such as The Twang, The Editors and The Streets capturing the nation’s imagination. There is also, in the wings, a multitude of up and coming acts awaiting their opportunity. Since 1984 we have held the biggest UK Jazz festival. Annually in September, the Council holds a 3 day free festival called 'ArtsFest'. Many of the city’s cultural aspects are celebrated, from lo-fi electronic music to fringe theatre and Kathakali Indian Dance.
Why therefore do so many people come to our city to experience music? Quite simply because we have got some fantastic facilities and a rich musical heritage. Birmingham has got some of the best venues for live music in the country and this should be celebrated. Every massive act passes through Brum and every musical genre is supported from pop to classical, from dance music to jazz, as well as many internationally recognized events, promotions and festivals.
I have merely scratched the surface of Birmingham’s contribution to the musical world. As Brummies we love our music and we are proud of the rich tapestry of music available in our city. Yet we find it very uncomfortable flying the flag of our creative achievements. We have possibly found it difficult to brush aside our dower image as the industrial heartland. We now need to focus on our numerous world recognized musical attractions. These attractions have often come about as a result of the ethnic diversity of the city. Only when we recognize our importance in the development of music as a cultural force will the world truly applaud and fully recognize our achievements and bestow upon us the positive cultural identity we truly deserve.
The International Stage – how Moneypenny’s put Birmingham on the map
Welcome to the blog of Jim ‘Shaft’ Ryan.
I have toured the world over the last 14 years as the International Resident DJ and one of the owners of International Club Brand Miss Moneypenny’s which has been given the unofficial accolade as ‘The Most Glamorous Club in The World by clubbers the world over. Despite being synonymous with dance music I have been involved in music for many years, I played bass guitar, in a fashion, in my own bands in the early 80s and been a keen collector of music. I bought music for many years prior to becoming a DJ and as a result my collection of music is very varied sampling a vast variety of music from pop to jazz, Classical to various countries folk music, chill out to heavy metal etc etc etc. I have moved been moved by music it has always been the marker for significant times in my life and I have been very fortunate to have made a living from my passion.
Over the next few months I will be giving my views on music related topics across the board, so expect some thought provoking opportunities for discussion on the passion we all have for music.
The 80s will be remembered for over the top haircuts, shoulder pads, pop stars saving the world and a little bit assistance from the government for people out of work who had a business idea, The Enterprise Allowance. The aim of the enterprise allowance scheme was to make it possible for unemployed people to set up their own business. To apply one needed to have access to £1000, a viable business idea, you were given assistance with a business plan and offered £40 per week for one year, which incidentally was slightly more than the amount received from unemployment benefit. This was the very humble beginnings of how I got into business, as a result I was allowed to open a menswear boutique in Birmingham city centre called The Depot in 1986.
1988 / 89 was referred to as The Second Summer Of Love, it was a time of the euphoric explosion of unlicensed parties known as raves, the feeling of the time evoked parallels to the freedom and hedonism of 1968 The Summer Of Love in San Francisco. The Depot became one of the UK’s epicenters of this scene, we would have flyers for all the events, selling tickets and the music. It was a very exciting time, young people had a scene, a voice through a new music that had been banned by mainstream radio stations like Radio 1.
I was inspired by the scene and as a result started promoting parties along the River Severn in Worcester for friends and customers. I Djed, I had been a keen record collector for many years. The music at these events was a cross section of acid house, rare groove and the odd reggae track. As these parties became more popular the music became more focused and fully embraced the house music scene. We decided to take the parties to London doing a couple of boat trips along the River Thames our crowd now included people from -London, Coventry, Northampton and Nottingham which made the vibe more interesting. I was joined on the decks by DJs such as DJ Dick, Lee Fisher Nieill Masey, Phil Gifford and Tony Clarke. As well as taking parties out of town we endeavored to put on a couple of club events in Birmingham. Thursday night in the dance Factory, which was the back room of the Institute, now known as The Sanctuary, called The Blob. A Monday night in a club called Melody’s called Totally New, which brought to the city big named DJs for the first time such as Andy Weatherall, Justin Robertson and Greg Fenton. These were very exciting times in Birmingham.
The momentum gathered the boat trips became known as Chuff Chuff as a result of a flyer that was produced depicting a kids drawing of a boat with the words ‘Chuff Chuff’ coming out of the funnels.
The Chuff Chuff events were now becoming more established as a result of doing regular events at the infamous Venus club in Nottingham and Nicky Holloway’s Milk Bar in London. The need for more extravagant events was called for so Chuff Chuff became more excessive using marquees on the lawns of stately homes and country hotels raising the production stakes by dressing the venues and adding visuals such as exotic dancers, drag acts and interesting side shows such as harp players, string quartets and live musicians creating a very unique vibe and thus capturing the psyche of the dance music movement.
I was joined on the decks at these events with big DJ such as Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, David Morales, Eric Morillo, Roger Sanchez, the late great Tony De Vit, Mark Moore, Jeremy Healy, Graeme Park to name but a few as a result of our endeavors we became The Face Magazine promoters of the year in 1992.
We needed a weekly club, Bonds just off Constitution Hill became available Miss Moneypenny’s was born, the weekly version of the extravagant Chuff Chuff parties. To ensure a national audience came to our Birmingham weekly home we regularly advertised in Mix Mag, we were aware the party was a lot more interesting as a result of a crowd that was prepared to travel and as a result put Birmingham became the biggest party destination in the UK. The weekly parties grew in popularity practically every big name international DJ joined me on the decks.
The international perspective to Miss Moneypenny’s came as a result of being offered a weekly residency in Ibiza 1995. We resided for a couple of years at Pacha and then over to El Divino where we have been putting weekly parties throughout the Summer for ten years. Ibiza brought Miss Moneypenny’s to an international clubbing audience and opened up touring opportunities world wide allowing album opportunities, we have released our 12th compilation this summer, merchandising deals and putting out high profile dance music singles. As a business we focus on touring Miss Moneypenny’s throughout the UK and the World and a syndicated radio show in seven countries.
I have been very fortunate to have spread the positive message of dance music throughout the world as a DJ for over 20 years. I am very proud of my Birmingham roots and more significantly proud of the fact that we put Birmingham firmly on the International Clubbing map. All this starting from very humble beginnings with a pipe dream and an enterprise allowance, who said dreams cannot come true !!!!
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