Mr Pete Ashton

As you may know I maintain a Twitter account called @grumpypete which I use when I know I’m being irrational and indefensible but really need to get it out there. Since my usual tweetage is so consistently erudite and thoughtful it can confuse people when I get my Id on so I hive it off to its own little area. It also means I can be a selfish dick in public and everyone laughs it off, which is handy.

Anyway, Grumpypete was spotted out and about at the last Flickrmeet. I didn’t think he was going to be there as Flickrmeets are a generally positive environment but Tim Ellis captured this:

Any other sightings, do let us know.

The Rainbow pub in Digbeth, Birmingham has been issued with a noise abatement order. Like many pubs in the area it’s not simply a drinking establishment - it’s also a music venue and one of the key ones in the city.

Digbeth was an industrial area. The industry is moving out and it’s suffering an acute case of the regenerations (symptoms include a rash of artists and, oh, did I make this joke already? Sorry.) meaning flats have been built where once there were factories and warehouses. Factories and warehouses didn’t mind when music was played of an evening no matter how loud. People in flats, especially those where the developer may well have skimped on the required soundproofing, are more apt to notice.

Fortunately only one person appears to be that bothered by the beats and blares emanating from the various music venues around the place. Unfortunately only one complaint is needed to trigger a noise abatement order. One of those orders was just issued against The Rainbow.

This shit has been dragging on for years now and to be honest it’s way more complicated than my summary. If you want the facts I’d advise you to dig the Internets for them. But the fact remains that one of the better music venues in the city will probably have to close now, setting a precedent for the other music venues in the area.

It seems there’s to be a gathering at the Rainbow on Friday at 6.30pm. I have no idea what this will involve or how effective it’ll be but I imagine there’ll be music and noise and general rousing of rabbles. If you care and can make it then please do. It’s on the corner of Adderley Street and High Street Deritend. Here’s a map.

My mum is visiting for a few days. She brought with a photo of my sister and I about to go to a fancy dress party in the early 80s. We’re dressed as “The Weather”. I’m the one on the right.

There’s speculation on Twitter currently that I’m blacked up for this. I would like to assure everyone that it’s a stocking.

When I moved back to Birmingham in 2003 I was keen to start going to gigs. I’d done a fair bit of gigging here in the late 90s but hadn’t found the London live music scene to my liking. Too many posers, too many wanabes and I never found a hook into the really interesting stuff. So I trawled around the Internet, picked up some flyers and subscribed to a bunch of mailing lists. One of the promoters that caught my eye was Capsule. In a 2005 review of my first Capsule gig I said “their emails would come through like something from a delicious alien world full of wonder and confusion” which, while fantastic, was just a little too scary for someone like myself to attend let alone convince someone else to go with me to. And back then I wasn’t in the habit, as I am now, of gigging alone.

But then, at that 2005 gig, a door opened in the form of Melt-Banana, a band I knew from John Peel’s radio show and who I’d wanted to see for years. Here’s my review, notable because it also introduced me to Brian Duffy’s Modified Toy Orchestra (who I now run a fan blog for) and an early incarnation of Beestung Lips (then trading as Noise Noise Alore), two quite distinct bands who we would now consider key players on the more interesting wing of the Birmingham music scene.

From then on I was hooked and have been to loads of Capsule-run gigs and events in the last four years, taking photos at most of them (there are 438 photos in my Flickr stream). If one can be a fan of a promoter I would certainly consider myself a fan.

Capsule were also one of (the many) motivations for starting Created in Birmingham. I wanted to know who Capsule were. Along with outfits like Fierce and 7 Inch Cinema I was intrigued as to the personalities behind these events. Where did they come from? Why did they do what they do? Typical fan behaviour I guess.

Through CiB and other things (not least attending so many of their gigs and consistently posting photos online) I got to know Jenny and Lisa, the duo who to all extents and purposes are Capsule and, to cut what could well be a long story short, the other month they asked me if I’d like to be on their board. Which was quickly changed to asking me if I’d like to be on their steering committee as having a “board” involves all sorts of legal obligations, aparently. I said yes and the first meeting was tonight.

Being on a board of a company, even one as close to my interests and way of thinking as Capsule, is not a position I’d have dreamed I’d be in a year or so ago and, to be honest, I don’t think I’d jump at being on one for any other company. There’s something about Capsule that makes sense to me - I like what they do but also why they do it. They obviously think I can bring something to them (I’m currently pondering ways to promote the Supersonic Festival online using stuff I’d seen Dubber and CraigFOTS) and I know I can learn a lot from seeing how they work. Not to mention learning from my fellow board members who are far more qualified in this sort of thing than I am. And above all it’s nice to be involved with something tangible with a history and a future where I don’t actually have to, well, do anything.

So, yeah, Pete’s on the board of a company. First rung on the establishment ladder. Felt it worth noting.