Pimp It Up!

After a 12 month hiatus Bearwood’s Gucci Pimp are back!  With a new fresh rockier sound, the band are playing The Actress and Bishop (Ludgate Hill, Birmingham) this Saturday night (1st June).   

Photo Credit: Keith Bloomfield

Gucci Pimp were the headliners of the first ever Bearwood Shuffle. Their distinctly raw garage sound with a flavour of late 60s psych put them on the local music scene map.

If you fancy listening to one rifftastic track after the other, there’s only place to be this Saturday night!

P.S. Don't forget the next Bearwood Shuffle is on Sunday 9th June!  Everybody's shuffling!

Blooming Bearwood

Entries are already coming in for the Let's Get Bearwood Blooming Front Garden competition.

Here are some photos of our favourites - blooming beautiful!

If you're proud of your front garden and would like to have the chance to win £500 (wow!) please either pick up a competition entry form from Thimblemill Library or visit our Bearwood Blooms page. 

Get your entry in quick!  We'll be rooting for you!

Thimblemill Library's June 2013 Calendar

So.... next month not only do we have Alice on an extraordinary adventure in Warley Woods courtesy of Heartbreak Productions (16th June) but Alan in Wonderland and the Three Goats will be visiting Thimblemill Library on Saturday 8th June. 

We've heard via The Bearwood Grapevine that this Black Country Touring play is one not to be missed and at the last count they were only 10 tickets (yes..that's all) left.  Must be good! 

To find out if there are any tickets left please call Thimblemill Library on 0121 429 2039.  Tell them the Billy Goats Gruff want you!

Don't lose your head!

On behalf of Warley Woods and Heartbreak Productions Bearwood is invited to join Alice in an extraordinary adventure on on Sunday June 16th at 3 pm.

Along the way you'll get to meet The Mad Hatter, The Queen of Hearts and hopefully The White Hare too.

Based on Lewis Carroll's classic, Alice - an Extraordinary Adventure promises to take you into a dreamlike world full of colour, song, rhyme, dance and magical adventure. Suitable for children and adults alike you may even get a chance to be involved in the play too!

Tickets are selling fast..don't be late and don't lose your head! Get your tickets straightaway online or by visiting the shop at Warley Woods Pavillions.

Warley Woods' Trust Manager, Viv Cole, has already got her outfit ready...

Photo courtesy of Express and Star

You have the need...the need to bead!

Bead Savvy are back with a vengeance with more workshops coming our way! 

You can learn how to make your own beaded dragon (so cute!), design your own summer hair accesories and peruvian weave bracelet (how on trend!).

Bead Savvy have even got designer extraordinaire Claudia O'Grady to teach you how to make beautiful tiaras.  Perfect for the wedding season!  We've heard that there's such a demand for Claudia's work that there are only a few places left on this workshop. 

The workshops cost between £10- £12 per person (Bearwood bargain!), take approximately 1.5 hours and can be booked by phoning Bead Savvy on 07506721908 or dropping into their shop in Bearwood Indoor Market.   You know you'll want to!

For more details please visit the Bead Savvy website.

Kind Hearts and Fish and Chips

Not only do Chamberlains Fish and Chips Restaurant make the largest and tastiest onion rings for miles around (they were the same size as our plate last weekend!) they have a very big heart as well.

They're holding a Charity Day on Sunday 26th May with money raised going to Heart Research UK. We fancy having a go at the peas in a bottle and the limbo - what a giggle!

And they're sponsoring the next Bearwood Shuffle on Sunday 9th June too. Watch out for the flyer for the live music event coming through your letter box very soon!

If you visit Chamberlains between 2nd - 10th June and eat in or have a takeaway you'll be able to claim 20% off your bill.

We keep saying this but Chamberlains has to be our favourite plaice!

Bearwood's Big Thursday Nights!

This coming Thursday evening there's a great event that's caught welovebearwood's eye.

Blue Note pianist Tim Amann brings his own trio to the Silvershine Jazz Club (558 Bearwood Road). They will be evoking the spirit of the great Bill Evans trios of 1966 to 1975 in their seminal recordings at the Village Vanguard in New York City.

Bill Evans

Tim’s son Aidan is fast developing into a talented drummer. He has sat in on Blue Notes appearances at the Symphony Hall and Bearwood Corks in the past, but this will be his first scheduled performance at the Silvershine Club.

Tickets are only £4 per person and with a pint of real ale from only £2.10 (we know...we couldn't believe it!) you know it makes sense!

The other event we wanted to share with you is on NEXT Thursday night (May 23rd), it's the The Abbey Psychic Fair at the Abbey Pub on Abbey Road. No wonder the Beatles played Bearwood! We must have inspired their album titles!

The fair already has local stalls including Charlie's Moms chocolate factory (yummy!) and Unicorn Gifts on board as well as stalls selling Bodyshop, Ann Summers, jewellery and handbags, perfume and cosmetics galore. You can even have a one to one reading with a mediums. It definitely all happens in Bearwood, you know! The fun starts at 7pm.

Food For Thought!

Love food or hate food?  We all have a strong bond with food.  One minute we're overeating the next we're telling everyone we're on a diet.  Eat! Feasting, Fasting, Famine and Food for Thought is a fresh look at our relationship with food which has been cooked up by the Birmingham REP and Black Country Touring. 

The Birmingham REP contacted welovebearwood to tell us about their new project which is taking place on Wednesday 22 May to Saturday 1 June 2013 at Lighthouse Media Centre, The Chubb Buildings, Fryer Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1HT. It's being staged in 4 caravans no less!


"Touring bring their intimate, unique and tasty play to Wolverhampton in May. Eat!, inspired by personal stories of war and poverty, feasts and famines takes place in the unusual setting of four caravans situated in the courtyard adjacent to the Lighthouse Media Centre, The Chubb Buildings, Wolverhampton from 22 May to 1 June.



Eat! actor Sharanjit Bansal
photo by Robert Day

Eat! delves into stories and memories about food - it weaves together theatre, live music, installation, beatbox and spoken word in a production that takes audiences on a unique journey inspired by many stories that have been collected from people across the West Midlands.
The tasty site specific production using four caravans is based on personal accounts of what, when and how we eat and why it matters. The stories span the globe and tell of how people have discovered new worlds through food - from famine to hunger strike, persecution to celebration, anorexia to obesity.

Eat! actor Graeme Rose

photo by Robert Day

Steve Johnstone, the Director of Eat! has also said...

“The stories may have come from across the Midlands but in fact they could have originated anywhere in the world. We've talked and listened to people from a huge variety of backgrounds hearing about war, poverty, family celebrations and some quite unusual meals that would repulse even the hardest foodie. We've given a voice to some of these memories bringing to life some moving, charming and honest stories.

“We wanted the setting for Eat! to be more authentic and real than walking into a theatre. The caravans help to partition the stories into themes and locations and for audiences they’re not just on the front row of the audience they are right there in the middle of the story.”

Each performance of Eat! is restricted to 60 people, who when they arrive are divided into four groups of 15. Each group takes a seat in a caravan to watch the stories come to life, and then join together for more shared performances in the central courtyard before venturing into the next caravan. Each caravan has a very different feel to it – celebratory, a library lined with books, a gothic Victorian variety hall and one that is half garden potting shed, half food bank.

Eat! actor Nia Davies

photo by Robert Day

The performances times are 7.30pm Mon to Sat with matinees at 5.00pm on Thu 23, Sat 25, Thu 30 May and Sat 1 Jun and tickets are only £9 per person.


There are still a few remaining tickets... so phone the Birmingham REP Box Office on 0121 236 4455 or book them on the REP's website to get yours!

Bearwood Shuffle V Exclusive!

Oooh...this is so exciting!  We've got a welovebearwood exclusive for you! 

Bearwood Promoters have just confirmed 3 of the bands that will be playing at the Bearwood Shuffle Lightwoods Park Bandstand extravaganza and OMG Bearwood it's looking good!

There's Moseley's no 1 ukuele band....Moselele - we just love their cover of Come On Feel The Noize

Singer songwriter Paul Murphy - Prog Rock Magazine recently described him as "a frontman he occupies the role of surreal ringmaster. Like Captain Beefheart calling out the steps at a ceilidh”.  Genius!

Watching Tempting Rosie always make us smile. Their love of performing will make sure everyone's in the party mood, a definite must see!

Shiny Happy People!

Morris Men showing Bearwood how it's done!

Wow!  What a glorious day Lightwoods Park May Day Festival was!  The sun shone, people picnicked in the park, the real ale flowed, morris men danced, the B Cups played their ukeles, strongmen flexed their muscles and everybody had a fantastic afternoon. 

We would like to say a very big thank you to everyone who was involved.....it's good in Bearwood!

Ken Harrison's wonderful photos show what a great time we had....for more great shots please visit Ken's website.

The real ale flowed

El Funko

Morris Men with a well deserved pint



Sandwell Strong Man



Nicely chilled at the main stage

Colin Hall's Gypsy Blood

 

Esther Turner

Dennis Seaton

 

Soldier

Del from 360

It's good in Bearwood!

Swingtime in Bearwood!

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Amure

We had heard that tickets are selling fast so we caught up with The Silvershine Jazz Club to find out why they can't wait for this Thursday night.

Reuben James is back in town and this time he's bringing a red hot band to the Silvershine Jazz Club, featuring New Yorker Giacomo Smith on Clarinet and Alto, plus “Tomorrow’s Warriors” Ruben Fox and Mark Kavuma.

Band members have been making quite a name for themselves in venues like Ronnie Scott’s, while Reuben himself is coming to you direct from headlining at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Wynton Marsalis is quoted as saying “We haven't had anything like this in New York for over twenty years" of Giacomo Smith on the Ronnie Scott’s website.

Reuben started his Jazz career at a very young age in The Notebenders Big Band, a community project started by Andy Hamilton. He went through Birmingham Youth Jazz and touring with Abram Wilson and onto study Jazz in London. Now he’s able to bring the very best musicians back to gig in Bearwood and we’re very excited.

The full line up is:

Giacomo Smith - Clarinet/Alto (New York) (state)

Ruben Fox - Tenor (Brixton)

Mark Kavuma - Trumpet (Africa)

Rosie Turton - Trombone (Countryside)

Moses 'Big beat' Boyd - Drums (Catford)

James Banner - (Dudley)

Reuben James - Piano (Bromford)

Reuben James presents the era of jazz that saw the likes of Lester Young, Count Basie, Ben Webster and Charlie Parker taking risks, expressing themselves and getting people on their feet into the wee hours of the morning.

Kansas Smitty’s brings that vibe to you LIVE. Don’t be fooled though, this is no vintage hang. This is swing. Here. Now.”   As Reuben says “Jazz ain’t no background music"

If we'd known earlier what Reuben had planed we'd certainly have charged more on the door. However, from the punter’s point of view this is a wonderful opportunity to see a great act at a price you’re not likely to see again. Be there!

The evening at Corks Club (558 Bearwood Road) starts 9pm and admission is only £4 per person (£3 concs). 

Take Note!

What are you doing this Saturday night? Nothing planned? Well how does this grab you...the brainchild of the late great Andy Hamilton, The Notebenders, are performing at Thimblemill Library.


Tickets are only £3 per person in advance! Sweet!

If you can't make Saturday evening though don't despair as the big jazz band will be performing on the main stage at Lightwoods Park May Day Festival between 2.35pm – 3.15pm.

Next stop.....Beerwood!

With less than a week to go now until Lightwoods Park May Day Festival we thought we would tantalise your taste buds with news of the two beers which have been specially brewed for Bank Holiday Monday's big real ale event.

Coming in at 6% the full bodied Kinver Brewery's Sandwell Strongman Ale deserves great respect. Not to be drunk lightly!





If you prefer something lighter to trip the Lightwoods fantastic, Enville Brewery's specially crafted Lightwoods Park ale (4%) is the one for you. It gets a big thumbs from us too as the design incorporates one of Simon Lea's fantastic photos of the Lightwoods Park bandstand

Also available will be a wide range of other beers and ciders (yeah!) including Holden's Golden Glow, Purity Mad Goose, Enville Kasitra, Thundering Molly, Black Rat, Hazy Daisy and Farmhouse Scrumpy.

 

The real ale festival is going to be in a separate fenced-off area of the park so if you look under 25 (we wish!) remember to bring your proof of ID to show that you can legally drink! Hic!

Have Your Say!

Want to voice your concerns about policing in the Bearwood area....you've got another opportunity to do so tomorrow evening. Inspector Ian Massey will be hosting a live web chat from 6.30pm - 10pm.  For more details visit the West Midlands Police website and facebook page.