Robin Valk

Choirs are the thing this year, with new groups forming every month. Birmingham's got dozens of them, all over town, at all levels - and more and more people are signing up to sing and socialise. Why? Well. it's damn good fun, it feels great to sing, and there's nothing like being part of a team who, together, nail something complicated and musically challenging. Some of Birmingham's choirs go back over a hundred years; others are brand spanking new. And a veritable host of local choirs will merrily tread the boards as part of special Christmas shows this year. There's actually hundreds of seasonal choral gigs in the city this year. Here's just a small selection, in no particular order, either of style or skill:   Doing the modern thing Skylarks is a south Brum pop-up choir. It has no demands for experience, just a love of music. Pobably the most diverse crew in the city, rooted in South Brum muso circles, Skylarks will be doing a benefit gig in York Rd, King's Heath on Saturday December 12 at 5pm, to raise aware for the Off The Scale store. On the subject of benefit gigs, Birmingham Festival Chorus – which lays claim to being the oldest chorus in Birmingham – has one show this year, Candlelit Carols, in aid of SIFA Fireside, at ARC in Ladywood on December 12.   Doing the big showbiz thing You want big scale stuff? Really big? Birmingham Community Gospel Choir is one of several stonkingly good Gospel outfits in town, coming from the very sharp (and extremely competitive) Ha

Who can resist a pun? True, a playfully-named shop may not always evoke sophistication but it sure can grab your attention and, as any independent business will vouch, there is no harm in that. If you plan to find any of these shops in Birmingham and its outskirts, you'll need a sharp eye. They're scarce in the city centre, where national brands abound. But, look around town and you'll find them, manned by entrepreneurial types from Sutton to King's Heath, Halesowen and beyond...   <img id="aa4946c6-bbed-a14e-d737-b00268118dba" class="photo lazy inline" src="http://media.timeout.com/images/102349695/image.jpg" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit="Robin Valk" data-width-class="100" data-mce-src="http://media.timeout.com/images/102349695/image.jpg"> Robin Valk   A killer name – literally. You can find a Curl Up and Dye everywhere from Sheffield to San Jose but you'll spot these particular pun-loving hairdressers on the south side of town, in between Lifford and Kings Heath.    <img id="d7c6dbc8-5b4c-3f1f-b270-5d7d8acdcbce" class="photo lazy inline" src="http://media.timeout.com/images/102349701/image.jpg" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit="Robin Valk" data-width-class="100" data-mce-src="http://media.timeout.com/images/102349701/image.jpg"> Robin Valk   King Heath foodies looking for a taste of the Caribbean visit the Soupera Tast

The footy season is underway and for the avid fan, this means a whole load of train journeys to catch a match. Still, that also means the opportunity to squeeze in a pint or two and perhaps something to eat before and after the game.  So, here's a handy-dandy guide for your on-foot journey from station to ground: not just the best nearby boozers, but the some of the sights, streets and exceptional eats...   Aston Villa <img id="ed607bb1-cd5c-878f-91f1-c0d95b64d206" class="photo lazy inline" src="http://media.timeout.com/images/102837180/image.jpg" alt="" data-caption="Top Victoriana, quality beer and Thai food... " data-credit="Tony Hisgett, flickr" data-width-class="100" data-mce-src="http://media.timeout.com/images/102837180/image.jpg" image_id="102837180"> Top Victoriana, quality beer and Thai food... Tony Hisgett, flickr The Villa offers fans two station choices. Home fans are expected to get out at Aston; away fans will get to their end quicker from Witton, the next stop down the line heading for Walsall. From Aston station, go right and right again and follow the claret and blue shirts through a cityscape of industrial estates and housing, until you slip under the Aston expressway. Thereafter it gets nicer, with the Aston parish church on your right, and Aston Hall above you on the left in a pretty park, with Villa's ground looming in front of you. The best boozers: If you're walking up from town, the best place by a country mile is The Barton Arms in Ne

What goes on in your local community? Chances are it's a curious mix of quirky characters, frustrations and hidden gems that you're glad you don't have to share with other parts of the city. For the first of what will hopefully be a series, we head to a leafy suburb of Birmingham that some are adamant isn't even Birmingham at all. That's right, you know you live in Sutton Coldfield when...    Robin Valk ...somebody has painted over the Birmingham City Coat of Arms on all the road signs. This has lead to speculation that Sutton has the highest proportion of middle-aged vandals in the West Midlands, who are still sensitive that the Royal Town was incorporated into Birmingham in 1974.       <img id="451e1830-97a4-071f-b30a-ac41fb2ff795" class="photo lazy inline" src="http://media.timeout.com/images/102817050/image.jpg" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit="Flickr - Elliott Brown" data-width-class="100" data-mce-src="http://media.timeout.com/images/102817050/image.jpg" image_id="102817050"> Flickr - Elliott Brown   ...you head for platform 8 at New Street without even checking. Once there, you find you picked the right platform. But then they send you over to platform 7. Or 12. Or 6.     <img id="652077dd-0ac8-72ea-5f83-fbe781881dbd" class="photo lazy inline" src="http://media.timeout.com/images/102817058/image.jpg" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit="Flicker - Paul Reynolds"

As summer gets closer, the idea of grabbing your lunch in the sunshine becomes increasingly appealing. While there are loads of brilliant spaces on the outskirts of town – and some great parks closer in, like Cannon Hill and King's Heath Park (celebrated by artist Laura Mvula in her single 'Green Garden') – a visitor may struggle to find the perfect spot in the city centre. As the city changes, we've now got a few more open and welcoming spaces. If you seek, you shall find plenty of pleasant places to enjoy your snacks and some sunshine...    St Philip's Square <img id="758e76e2-0173-321f-03b8-f6daaeb1b9f7" data-caption="St Phillip's Square" data-credit="Robin Valk" data-width-class="" type="image/jpeg" total="150228" loaded="150228" src="http://media.timeout.com/images/102594536/image.jpg" align="left" class="photo lazy inline"> St Phillip's SquareRobin Valk                                             Starting in the city centre, St Philip's Square has green spaces, lawns, shade and benches aplenty. But they're tearing bits of the paving up right now, so it could be noisy and dusty. Foodie rating: Acceptable – city centre supermarket chains and food outlets in every direction.    Church Street <img id="62e82b85-2c5c-4381-53a2-4e2e42c6ea96" data-caption="Church Street garden" data-credit="Robin Valk" data-width-class=""

The past few years have seen a positive explosion of open mic and participation nights across Birmingham. This all started in folk clubs, but it's now spread to cover some seriously intense jazz, reggae, rock and blues sessions in pubs and venues across town. Side by side with music sessions, open story-telling and poetry sessions are also winning new audiences. There are dozens of weekly or monthly open music and spoken word nights, mostly at the start of the week. Usually, they're free, so you get your music or poetry fix for the price of a drink. All you need to bring is a sense of experimentation and an open mind. You won't know who's playing until you get there; sometimes, not even then. The guys who organise the nights are just as interesting: working musicians and superfans who draw on their extensive address books to put their nights together. They'll usually open up proceedings; whether they wind up jamming later on with their guests depends on the night and the vibe. Here's just a few of the nights that are set up by some of the amazing musicians around town... Andy Bennett's nights   <img id="72ac5d95-1392-6e7b-203c-602daa3474cd" data-caption="" data-credit="Flickr: Elliott Brown" data-width-class="" type="image/jpeg" total="141930" loaded="141930" src="http://media.timeout.com/images/102537578/image.jpg" class="photo lazy inline"&a

Every region produces its share of hits which really could not have come from anywhere but there. Here's just a few that come from round our way, with some unexpected tales behind these pieces of Midlands music history...     Food For Thought / King – UB40 This was the first UB40 hit, released on a tiny Dudley-based record label, Graduate Records, run by David Virr. It was recorded in a bedsit in Moseley, on a borrowed four-track tape machine, by Steve Gibbons Band drummer Bob Lamb, who had also played with the Locomotive. UB40 were masters of viral marketing before viral marketing was invented, loudly talking themselves up in all the right boozers and creating a serious buzz.   Move Over India – Apache Indian  Apache's breakout hit and this one's a great story. Apache's cousins are Simon and Diamond, the veteran and well established producers. In 1990, they were all teenagers in Handsworth and Apache wanted a track to MC over. Simon and Diamond grudgingly spent a day with him, and the result was this song. Apache then got it pressed up, but had to pay for a minimum run of 500 white label copies. In the end, his producer cousins got it some airplay on the local pirate station, and placed one box on a sale or return basis with Don Christie's, the leading Birmingham reggae store. It became a total runaway underground smash, launching three careers in the process.       Heartache Avenue – Maisonettes Lol Mason used to be in City Boy, who also scored a single hit after six or

How much do you know about Birmingham? Check out these 12 facts about the city, including some golden pub-quiz trivia about Thomas the Tank Engine, Aston Villa and the FA Cup, and a game-changing musical instrument…  1) Birmingham is much, much older than you think. Flickr: Dermot Keller The original Brummies were an Anglian tribe, called the Beormingas, who settled in the area in the 6th or 7th century. 2) Audio sampling started in Birmingham. Robin Valk                                             The Mellotron was invented in Streetly, north Birmingham. It was used by The Beatles ('Strawberry Fields'), The Move ('Blackberry Way'), The Moody Blues ('Nights In White Satin'), and King Crimson ('Court of the Crimson King'). The first string samples were recorded in Aldridge, five miles to the north. Mellotrons are still being made (and restored) just outside the city by the same family business, Bradley's. 3) Birmingham takes St Patrick's Day very seriously indeed. Flickr: Elliott Brown Birmingham's St Patrick's Day Parade is the third biggest in the world after New York and Dublin.     4) The Football League started here. Flickr: Marion O'Sullivan The original forerunner of the Premier League was founded in Birmingham by William McGregor, who was involved with founding members and this year's FA Cup Finalists Aston Villa. Of the 12 founding members, three were from the West Midlands – and none from London. 5) Villa won the FA Cup – and then lost it. Forever. Oops. Fli

Birmingham has some terrific street art. But paint on walls is not new. The city's industrial legacy also means you can still spot century-old paintwork, weathered and battered, adorning the walls of buildings that have completely changed or which now lie derelict, awaiting redevelopment. In one case, in Digbeth (above), that ancient paintwork has been lovingly restored. In fact, Digbeth is just about the perfect place to spot street art, both old and new, co-existing in harmony. Here's some of what you can see if you take a stroll around the cultural quarter. Under the arches outside the Custard Factory, by Gibb Street. Robin Valk  Still under the arches, on the path to Floodgate Street. Robin Valk Strolling up Floodgate to Fazeley. Robin Valk Heading up Fazeley, back to town.      Robin Valk This is one side of the Mission Print building… Robin Valk ... And this is another. Robin Valk Hang a left on New Bartholomew Street and look up. Robin Valk What are your favourite old signs around town? And your favourite modern-day street art? Check out the Birmingham music venues that made history.                  

Birmingham's constantly changing, like every great city. That means that places come and go. Some of our most storied music venues have disappeared or been re-purposed. Some live on, of course, and there are fresh new venues all over town, but Birmingham's music heritage weighs heavy on the city. Here are just some of the unlikely places in Brum that music history was made. Where Pink Floyd recorded half of Ummagumma…Converted from the Carlton Ballroom, Mothers in Erdington was the ultimate hippie venue. It only ran from 1968 to 1971, but in that time Pink Floyd recorded half of Ummagumma at the venue; Soft Machine laid down tracks there; John Peel DJed regularly; and Traffic made their live debut at the place. It even got voted the top rock venue in the world by Billboard (how did that happen?!). On a sad note, it was while returning from a Mothers gig that Fairport Convention suffered a fatal road accident, losing their drummer and injuring the rest of the band. The building still exists. Andy Mabbett The venue that turned Birmingham onto punk…The ultimate classic rock venue – Barbarella's. When Mothers shut its doors, the baton passed to this city-centre joint, which had been a nightclub and disco. You stuck to the floor, but the place had two bars, both with excellent sight lines. Not only was the place, like Mothers, a who's-who for a new generation of rock bands, but they ran a decent local night on Sundays, and opened up a punk room where everyone played – from the P

Considering the tidal wave of money generated by The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings film franchises, it's surprising how little the city of Birmingham has done to cash in on J.R.R. Tolkien's legacy. Birmingham and the wider West Midlands provided much inspiration for Tolkien, as you'll discover if you walk the Tolkien Trail or hop on the Tolkien / Hobbit Bus Tour during the Middle Earth Weekend on Sunday May 10. Here's a taste of what you'll discover… Tolkien grew up here, living at 5 Gracewell (now 64 Wake Green Road) and then in King's Heath, and spent a lot of time in Hall Green, where Moseley Bog – believed to be Fangorn and the Old Forest in The Lord of the Rings – and Sarehole Mill captured his imagination. Moseley BogRobin Valk Both are now part of what has been named the Shire Country Park. Sarehole Mill, which was the inspiration for The Old Mill at Hobbiton, even has a blue plaque. Sarehole MillRobin Valk South of here, his aunt had a farm called Bag End, which any self-respecting Tolkien fan will be familiar with. A couple of miles north on Waterworks Road, just beyond the Birmingham Oratory, where Father Francis Xavier Morgan was appointed Tolkien's guardian after his mother's death, you'll find Perrott's Folly and the chimney of Edgbaston Pumping Station. Speculation is rife that they inspired Tolkien's Two Towers of Gondor. Perrott's FollyFlickr: Antonio Roberts     Edgbaston Pumping StationFlickr: Tony Hisgett And what of Mordor? The Black Country is

There is a station, close to the centre of Brum, that has... nothing. Really, absolutely, nothing. No posters, no timetable, no ticket machine, no ticket booth. Vending machines? Not a chance. Signs on the platform? Nope. An entrance on the street? If it's open, the gate's unlocked; you wouldn't know otherwise. On the single platform, there's one unlit breeze-block shelter, thickly coated in marine paint. No glass in the window openings. No bench. This is Bordesley. A hundred years ago it was a large, bustling, pompous station with livestock yards, a goods yard, staff with big moustaches in a thriving inner-city quarter. But the cows come by truck now, and the place is all dual carriageways and factory units. Robin Valk       Look it up on the timetable and you'll find exactly one train advertised, in one direction, city-centre bound: a parliamentary train stop. They keep it technically open to avoid the costs of closing it. So it's a ghost. Once a week, someone opens up the station and switches the lights on... and comes back an hour later to close it down again. When Birmingham City Football Club have a home game, perhaps 30 times a year, a handful of trains stop there. Fans troop through before the game, and troop back afterwards. But most weeks, if you miss that single train, you must wait a whole week for the next one. The platforms remain empty and the trains whistle through, disturbing only the ghosts of Victorian railwaymen. And the graffiti artists.