Posts Tagged ‘Melonz’
First of all, apologies for the lack of blogging on my part. Been busy interviewing and writing exclusive features for our first issue due out beginning of May.
If you have no plans for this evening, Birmingham’s Secret Wars FINAL is taking place at The Rainbow Warehouse in Digbeth. I’m going, you should too.
The battle is between Bevlak and Phill Blake for the right to be crowned Secret Wars Champion of Birmingham 2008/2009. I attended the second semi-final last month and it was a thoroughly enjoyable night which you won’t be able to experience for another year!
Melonz’ editor and designer – Katherine Higgs will also be playing drums for her band The Epics in The Rainbow pub supporting Isolated Atoms. Why not check out both?
Be there for 8pm to catch all of the music, 9pm for the art.
See you later
x
Bevlak’s winning piece
Bevlak knocked out reigning champion Newso lastnight in Birmingham’s Secret Wars semi-final at The Rainbow in Digbeth.
As decribed in a previous post Secret Wars is a street art competition spread only by word of mouth.
Having never been to one of these events before, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I have to admit the combination of art, music and good company made it a throughly enjoyable night!
The old Victorian pub already home to numerous pieces of modern art and graffiti laden walls provided an inspirational setting for the battle.
What happened
In the courtyard of The Rainbow, the artists were given an hour and a half to complete their masterpieces on a huge plain white canvas using just black Edding pens and paint.
They set to work bopping to some good tunes played by the resident DJs and Rhubarb Radio.
Bevlak’s style at Secret Wars is to make fun of his opponent. Hence the imagery used and the words ‘OLD NEWS’ and ‘NEWSO SCHMEWSO’ as shown above.
From the start it could be sensed that alot of the crowd were rooting for the underdog Bevlak, AKA Sam Bevington, a freelance illustrator from Bristol.
I stood and watched both artists through the cigerette smoke for the majority of the night and was amazed to see what they could produce in so little time.
Newso from Birmingham seemed to have more friends in the crowd who he looked to for support throughout the 90 minutes.
But they just didn’t shout loud enough.
Result
When it came to the final vote (which artist recieved the loudest cheers from the crowd) there was no need for the decibel reader – Bevlak was the clear winner.
Before the winner was announced, special guest Reeps One – an incredible beat boxer from London stunned the crowd. This guy put on a jaw-dropping performance and was unsurprisingly described as the best beat boxer in the world!
Bevlak will draw alongside Phil Blake for the right to be Secret Wars Champion of Birmingham 2008/2009 at the final on April 11th, be sure not to miss it!
Photo Gallery (click to enlarge)
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- Before
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- Newso
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- Bevlak
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- Newso
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- Bevlak
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- Close-up of Newso’s piece
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- Bevlak’s winning piece
Recycle your old bling
Posted on: February 28, 2009
Image from Flickr taken by Napalm
If you want to revitalise your jewellery box after seeing all the gorgeous collections Laura has reviewed, don’t throw your old stuff out!
Friends of the Earth‘s tip of the day is to send your broken/unwanted earrings, bracelets, necklaces etc to The Alzheimer’s Society who can recycle it to raise funds to help fight dementia.
Where to send your jewellery:
Freepost RRUL-HZKT-YHKG
Alzheimer’s Society
Devon House
58 St Katharine’s Way
London
E1W 1LB
For more info go to: http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/oldgold
Secret Wars in Birmingham
Posted on: February 26, 2009
Secret Wars 2007
Image from Flickr taken by Pete Ashton
Secret Wars is completely new to me, I only came across it today. From what I gather, it’s a street art competition spread only by word of mouth hence the secret part. Well I hope they don’t mind me blogging about it!
Birmingham’s Secret Wars have been taking place in Digbeth at the Rainbow pub. On each night there are usually two battles and there is a prize of £1000 for the overall winner.
The final of Birmingham’s Secret Wars will be on 11th april at Rainbow Warehouse and will be between the winner of the first semi-final, Phill Blake and the winner of the second still yet to take place.
Seeds and Slobodan of Rhubarb Radio are the organisers of Birmingham’s rounds and covered the last battle on 21st February live online. The second semi-final is on 7th march and will be Newso v’s Sam Bevlak.
The rules are as follows:
- 90 minutes on the clock
- black paint only, on white walls
- no sketches, no pencils
- invisible middle line with an artist either side
Each round is judged using a 3 point system – 2 guest judges and 1 crowd vote using a decibel reader.
All sounds very intriguing, Melonz will be there on 7th March to see what all the fuss is about – we’ll keep you updated.
Lazy Oaf!
Posted on: February 26, 2009
Ever wondered what it would be like to have your own tash? Well my dears I have found the perfect substitute, a man tash hoodie for you to parade:
Moustache Man Girls Hoodie By Lazy Oaf
Enjoy a Big Mac so much that you would proudly wear one upon your head? You can do just that with your very own burger hat:
Burger Hat By Lazy Oaf
Struggle with your five a day fruits? Pin this ripe banana brooch to your top as a reminder to eat your apples and pears:
Banana Brooch By Lazy Oaf
Believe your never fully dressed without a smile? Wear a perma-grin with this smile on a chain:
Grin Necklace By Lazy Oaf
I could go on and on and on. Lazy Oaf is a pure joy, its a little bit nutty, a little bit mad but all in all a pure joy.
I’m not going to go into great detail about Lazy Oaf in this post, I’ll let you check out their website for yourselves.
The lovely Lazy Oaf team will shortly be providing us with images of their brand new, unseen collection. But surely, could anything top the burger hat? I cant wait to see, I’ll keep you (blog) posted.
Ooo also… check out the Lazy Oaf Blog, its funny, I’m a fan.
Max Starki Productions has some exciting acts from both Coventry and Birmingham lined up for the launch party on Friday, including Takunda Garwe (winner of Coventry’s Got Talent) and Synikall, a hip-hop/R&B artist from Erdington.
The show will end with LP45, one of the most popular bands in Coventry at the moment. The gig is a fundraiser event and will be the official launch of Max Starki Productions – a new and exciting production company put together by music tech student Chris Dickins and dance/theatre student, Grace Brodie.
In brief, it is “An innovative performance company that is focussed on enhancing newly discovered spaces, and transforming them in to our stage, our place of diversity, for the audience to experience.”
The production company’s main performance this year will be in Coventry city centre on 1st may and will take the form of a sound and dance installation.
Although currently a university project, Chris hopes to continue Max Starki and eventually put performances on all over the country.
The launch party is taking place at Dogma in Priory Place, Coventry this Friday. Doors open at 8pm and entry is only £2!
Please make the effort to come along and support this new local production company.
Hope to see you there!
