#Brum

The snow has melted leaving behind huge potholes on many of Birmingham’s roads. So what can we do about it?

The council has set up two numbers to help. You can report a pothole on 0121 303 6644 (daytime) or 0121 303 4149 (evening / weekends). We also recommend that you contact FixMyStreet who will pester the council on your behalf. This way you have a record of the complaint and can see its progress.

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I decided it was about time to get out there and start tracking my own cycle routes. On the map below you can see my latest track. Click on the Recent Tracks tab and you can scroll through all my journeys as I wheel about, gathering cycle interviews and other usual daily Hashbrum business. The Play button on this widget is the most fun.

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Here’s a short slideshow about Birmingham’s Frankfurt Market.

It really needs sound, ideally plug some headphones in…

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This month Capsule celebrate 10 years of bringing the most awe inspiring, ear drum pounding and heart string plucking music to Birmingham and the West Midlands.

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I know Friday 13th isn’t usually associated with good luck but today was a big win for Juliet Spare. Read the rest of this entry »

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On November 11th every year, a group of people meet, and ride on the number 11 bus in Birmingham. It’s the circular route, and the man behind the project, Jon Bounds, claims its a great introduction to the “real city”.

Hashbrum reporter Caroline Beavon caught up with Jon at the start of today’s journey:

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For this second part of my journey through the wonders of Birmingham’s football clubs, I have decided to ditch most of the text and concentrate on colour. This is what has come out of it, I hope you enjoy it.

Villa Park beckons. To understand what Aston Villa is really about, I thought a looking out on Villa Park’s hallowed turf would be a good starting point. On Friday morning I joined the Stadium Tour after paying the moderate amount of ten pounds. As I was waiting in the player’s lounge I was fortunate enough to make some acquaintances among my fellow tour-mates. Now, take a look by yourselves at “the famous ground that boasts traditional heritage with state-of-the-art facilities”. Well, at least that’s what the advert on the website says.

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The Event is a contemporary arts event happening in Digbeth in Birmingham 5th-8th November.

We caught up with Director of one of the venues involved, Eastside Projects, Gavin Wade

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I didn’t receive the most encouraging response when I announced that I was going to attempt Twitter based audience participation when reviewing the Efterklang gig.

Chris Unitt was the first to tweet with
‘Interesting that. Not planning to review this one though – thinking too much (incl afterwards) often detracts from enjoyment.’

This was swiftly followed by Pete Ashton
‘Reviewing gigs via Twitter is so 18 months ago, darling! http://j.mp/1FSUjV (I’ll be photographing but you go for it).’

I fired back with
‘@ChrisUnitt Fair point, especially as [Efterklang are] immersive. Guess I’m more interested in experience than analysis. And @peteashton pix=1,000,000 tweets’.

Twitter isn’t particularly original or interesting way to review a gig. In fact if you present it in similar way to Giles Coren’s recent food review, it’s funny but ends up being more about the technology than the subject. Chris Unitt (who also kindly passed me that link) had a point, how much of a gig would you enjoy tapping away at a phone?

Find out here!

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Let’s face it. We all loved the ’80s. Big hair, wide shoulders, tights & jean jackets. It was all about having fun. But nowadays, when you decide to go to a an ’80s band gig, you don’t really expect much. Even pop stars grow old, and a 50 year old dude with a weird haircut, jumping up and down the stage while singing tunes like Take On Me doesn’t really seem like a great picture.

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