Mr Elephant Presents

We are very excited to be working with the inspiring John Mostyn and his new Consider it Done agency on their gigbeth fringe gig @ the Rainbow pub next friday (7th November 2008) as part of this years Gigbeth Fringe festival.

Not only is it free all night (from 9 - 2), but the line up is full of really talented musicians and legendary bands! (Updated on November 6th - News just in - Capital Letters are unfortunately not able to play :()

Here’s some links if you want to have a listen for yourself :

9pm - Laura Louise (Beautiful Acoustic with footpedal and flute)- http://www.myspace.com/lauralouiseowen

9.45pm - Mama Matrix (Energetic Balkan Gypsy Jazz) - http://www.myspace.com/mamamatrix

11pm - Smiley Mic (Incredible One Man Band avec footpedal) - http://www.smileymic.co.uk/

12.15pm - Dj Marc Reck (Dancefloor Action)- http://www.marcreck.com

And if you’re on facebook and feel like telling anyone about it, the event page is - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=47795435235

Should be a great night of music, so hope you can be there.

One love

Mr E

The ‘Digbeth 2008’ reports are part of the ongoing study ‘An Account of Profit & Loss’- research of regeneration in the midlands. This work has been carried out independently without the aid of mainstream funding a mission I undertook under the guise of the ‘MISC.ellaneous organization’. This experience has not only advanced my research project, but also provided a starting point for the evolution of Eastside. The findings contribute to an ongoing public conversation in the local area and hopefully will lead to a negotiation with developers and the hierarchy that they represent.

The adaptation of the artistic role can construct and reinforce community ties therefore building strategies that might lead to ‘communicative action’- an important principal of Habermasian theory. I hope that the space that I have occupied might now be handed to ordinary working people, having established a site for text that allows open and opinionated discussion. I am proud to have been part of other similar protests that unite our community, enforce change and allow for common debate.

Communication leads the way, but an extent of control is required in order for this to become effective. Chaos alone will not change anything in an area of regeneration- a balance is needed between compliance, understanding and respect for difference. Resistance to blogging and text splurge of a hedonistic nature, if well constructed and contextualised, will focus our recognition on how free space can cause change and effect in society.

Reprise
This exploration began on the sixteenth of January at the Digbeth Business Association’s ‘What they are planning for Digbeth’ event. Having spent 12 months looking at the changes in the area I am now hoping to share the data I have collected and utilise the findings of this research study. RHR2008.

You can find me at: http://miscorg.blogspot.com

Last saturday was the first elephant call to the local party rockin mammals, when we inhabited the Bulls Head in Moseley. With our resident vj Blendstate at the helm of his multi screen visuals, and our resident sock rocker Marc Reck at the sonic controls, we expected it to go off elephant style…Quite how much though we really didnt expect!

There was so much great stuff on last week, we weren’t sure how many party rockin mammals there would be around, and with a capacity of around 100 upstairs at the bulls head, we weren’t expecting any more than that, so we were pretty astounded that around 200 people came out to rock the party!

To be fair we did also have special guest and leftfoot resident Sam Redmore playing for the first 3 hours, who warmed up the room (on a particularly cold october eve) with a very soulful selection, playing classic and re-edited funk, soul and reggae cuts.

While it got many asses in motion, and was the perfect diverse build up, Party Rockin was the calling of the night, and as the name implied was what many of the guests were shouting for. Straight into the breaks with the classic Higher State of Consciousness, our resident dj Marc Reck took to the decks, and with his first solid outing of scratching, he built up the energy with every track, dropping tech house, party breaks, techno and nu school breaks, alongside Liam Blendstate multi screen visuals, until unleashing the last 45 minutes of drum and bass to a very responsive crowd.

It was a great atmosphere and paved the way nicely for the 2nd Party Rockin Mammal Sessions to be held on Saturday 6th December 2008, with a very special old school guest joining our dj and vj residents.

Heres a few video clips of Vj Blendstate & Dj Marc Reck courtesy of Liam D’authreau (and stuck together in quicktime).

Next Saturday we’ll be taking a new residency at another local venue. This one has another animal in the title, and will see Mr Elephant host a smaller yet equally party rocking stance on the second saturday of every two months starting next week on Saturday 11th October 2008.

It promises to start chilled and end frantic, and alongside our own resident Marc Reck, we’ve also got one of the hottest djs in south brum, Leftfoot and Freestyle Resident Sam Redmore.

He rocked the beach party a few weeks ago, so we cant wait to hear what he pulls out the bag next week.

In elephant style it’s free in, until 10pm, and a couple of quid after. Here’s the poster, and hope you can make it.