My good friend and erstwhile gig pimp Pete Ashton is on the shortlist for 2007’s much coveted Brummie of the Year award. He is, by his own admission, “dead chuffed about it”; I am, by my own admission, dead chuffed for him. For those who don’t know Pete, he’s worked tirelessly towards encouraging, urging and sometimes forcibly coercing the city’s artistic community to use the Internet to their best advantage. His Created in Birmingham site has – in a remarkably short space of time – become an invaluable resource for writers, artists, designers, popular beat combos and all-round creative types whose postcode starts with the letter ‘B’, while his own personal blog has saved me countless hours of sorting out the web-based wheat from the online chaff.
On a personal note, this blog itself probably wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Pete’s patient but relentless campaign of harassment, but don’t hold that against him.
The Brummie of the Year award is organised by the rather excellent Birmingham: It’s Not Shit website, and – courtesy of the site and in the interests of impartiality – here’s a full rundown of the nominees:
Pete Ashton – blogging evangelist to the creative community, good friend and erstwhile gig pimp to Tom Lennon.
Lisa Meyer & Jenny Moore of Capsule – bringing much needed gigs (and cake!) to Brum.
Carl Chinn – larger than life local historian.
Condori : Big Chief Busks With Recorder – on behalf of all our buskers and street entertainers.
Soweto Kinch – Mobo award winner and Town Hall associate artist.
Martin Mullaney – Camcorder Councillor, trying every which way to involve people in local politics.
Catherine O’Flynn – First time novelist who’s wowed the literary world this year.
Richard Pawley – Wants to build a 600 foot tower – and jump off it.
John Tighe of The Spotted Dog – Keeping Digbeth noisy, or so we hope.
Voting closes on December 1st, so go here now and engage in the democratic process.
I think by now you already know who I think you should vote for…
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