“All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream.”- Edgar Allan PoeTonight I'll be going to this:Dream Within a Dream is a special closing party in collaboration with Ikon Gallery to bid farewell to Ikon Eastside until 2008. Taking place on Halloween, Ikon and 7inch invite all restless spirits into the warehouse for a night of gothic thrills. Diversions for the evening include live scores by Broadcast and Black Galaxy, guest DJ Julian House from the Focus Group and a specially-created installation by filmficciones. Please feel free to dress appropriately…I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

For the uninitiated, Jeffrey Lewis is an anti-folk singer-songwriter from New York's Lower East Side who writes quirky, intelligent and painfully catchy songs delivered in a fast-talking, sotto voce style. His website says his material "mixes 60s acoustic psychedelia like Pearls Before Swine with the experimental art-punk of the Fall and the urban lyricism of Lou Reed, sounding a bit like if Woody Guthrie fronted Sonic Youth." I'd prefer to describe it as sunny nihilism, but that's just me trying to be succinct. It's my new hobby.He also moonlight's as a comic-book artist - and a rather gifted one at [...]

Go to a gig, read a book or watch a film it’s difficult to escape the conclusion that true Characters are few and far between. Where once there were performers, writers and actors who went to the trouble of living a little before they went to the trouble of becoming famous, we now live in a world that seems to impatiently skip that intermediate step. You only have to compare a 1970s Parkinson interview with its modern-day equivalent to see it in action. For actors like Robert Mitchum or Cary Grant, “Before They Were Famous” meant something more than an [...]

I went to see the mighty Jim White at the Birmingham Barfly last night and a mighty damn fine gig it was, too. I'll do a full write-up tomorrow. Promise.The support act was Jenny Owen Youngs. I'd never heard of her before and missed the beginning of her set due to a pizza oversight that involved my younger brother [AKA Brother Younger]. Well, that was my loss. A feisty angel from New Jersey, she performed a beautiful acoustic set and effortlessly charmed the pants off a large segment of the audience, mine included.Her MySpace profile says that "her songs straddle [...]

By way of a recap: last week, Birmingham’s Town Hall reopened it’s doors after more than a decade of sitting derelict at the top end of New Street looking like a jilted bride’s abandoned wedding cake. A week-long festival of events are currently being held to celebrate its reopening, which on Monday featured an evening dedicated to the city’s experimental music scene. The former home of the CBSO, Birmingham Town Hall dates back to 1834 and over the years has played host to legendary bands like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. It’s a fine example of neo-classical civic architecture [...]

In my last post I mentioned how eager I was to get involved with GDFAF - or 'Going Deaf For A Fortnight' - my friend Pete's hard-core gig-going initiative that seamlessly combines muso evangelism with the anti-lethargy ethos of the classic TV show 'Why Don't You'. That was on Wednesday, already midway through the first week of the fortnight. I haven't posted anything on here since then, so you might assume that I've spent the last few days doing it large and moshing like an eejit in a variety of salubrious sticky-floored local venues.Well, you'd be mistaken.Do you want to [...]