Anyone visiting the gift shop at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh museum before 9th January 2010 will find an inspiring range of jewellery made by Birmingham jewellery designer maker Sara Preisler to commemorate the museum’s current exhibition of previously unseen letters from Vincent to his brother Theo shortly before he died.  Having previously worked with prestigious clients such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sara was approached by the Van Gogh museum’s curators and buyer earlier this year to design and manufacture a range of work to complement the exhibition.

Across the channel in Birmingham at Sara Preisler’s own eponymously named Gallery/Workshop at the Custard Factory in Digbeth, from 1st December you will not only be able to buy one of the items in the collection – including cufflinks and rings for men, beautifully inscribed with Van Gogh’s own hand-writing  – you will also be able to get a glimpse behind the scenes at the commission and design process that Sara undertook including photographs and sketches of work in progress.

Sara’s exhibition ‘Scenes from a commission – an exclusive insight at a Van Gogh Museum’ has been coordinated to coincide with this year’s Brilliantly Birmingham jewellery festival and will run at the Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B9 4AA from 1st December 2009.

Jewellery prices begin at £70   Further information about Brilliantly Birmingham go to http://www.brilliantlybirmingham.com

Capsule the brains behind Supersonic Festival are curators, promoters and fans of the finest music, revealing the otherwise indescribable connections between contemporary music and art, crafting extraordinary events for adventurous audiences. Now in it’s 7th year, the event will once again take place at the Custard Factory in the heart of Digbeth utilising a number of spaces for music, art, film and cake.

The festival is shaping up to boast their best line up yet, with unique performances from such influential artists as Italian legends, GOBLIN -  their first show in the UK in 20 years. The reformation of the original line up of Black Country industrialists HEAD OF DAVID, who bring their driving bombast to proceedings for the first time in 23 years. The notorious Japanese band CORRUPTED who have yet to play on UK soil as well the reawakening of Greg Anderson & Stephen O’Malley of Sunn 0))) maiden voyage into darkeness: the cult  black doom act THORR’S HAMMER.

Not to forget splatter rock band THE ACCUSED, unruly trio MONOTONIX, the expansive drone-noise of GROWING; Brighton’s prog adventure, DIAGONAL; the wild avant futuristic jazz of ZU; the stoned pysch of EARTHLESS, the Virginian sludge rock of PONTIAK, the industrial experiments of 65 DAYS OF STATIC, the immense duo that is FLOWER/CORSANO DUO, occult noise act SKULLFLOWER, also joining the line up is SCORN aka Mick Harris (king of the blast beat)  and the new project combining Russell McEwan of Black Sun &  the electronic-vocal attack of Lea Cummings (Kylie Minoise) in the form of ATOMIZED, added to this are the power violence duo IRON LUNG  and one of the finest folk vocalists NANCY WALLACE will be featured in the line-up, once again highlighting the highly eclectic booking policy of the festival.

Tickets for Supersonic 2009 are on sale NOW via http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Available via Rough Trade East in London
Polar Bear & Swordfish in Birmingham + Plugd Records in Cork

CONFIRMED LINE UP
Friday: Army Of Flying Robots / Atomized / Drum Eyes / Kylie Minoise / PCM / Scorn / Taint / Venetian Snares

Saturday: Bobby Previte / Corrupted / Diaganol / Flower/Corsano Duo / Growing / Iron Lung / Kim Hiorthoy / Light Trap / Marnie Stern / Master Musicians Of Bukkake / Monotonix / Nisenenmondai / Remember Remember / Rose Kemp / Skullflower / Tartufi / The Accused / Thought Forms / Thorr’s Hammer / Tweak Bird / Zu

Sunday: 65 Days Of Static / Arbouretum / Caribou / Chris Herbert / Earthless / Goblin / Head Of David / Jarboe / Khyam Allami  / Nancy Wallace / Pontiak / Pram / Pre / Theo / The Memory Band / ZzZ

Further info: http://www.supersonicfestival.com

For the first time in its Illustrious History MAD DECENT is coming to Birmingham on Saturday the 23rd May. The hands and minds behind some of the freshest sounds around including BLAQSTARR, RYE RYE, CROOKERS, RUSKO, FAKE BLOOD and so many more, are taking over THE CUSTARD FACTORY for a night and BIGGER THAN BARRY are their hosts.

Over the last few years Diplo has become a household name amongst the musically savvy. His remixes have donned every dancefloor worth donning. He picks up acclaim from everyone: Annie Mac loves him, Switch is creating a new sound with him (Hold tight Major Laser). Them 2 are also teaming up with Rusko to bring you something brand spankers in `09. On top of all that he more or less created M.I.A and SANTOGOLD. So if you like all that you`ll love him.

FAKE BLOOD – THE man behind the mystery. FAKE BLLOD is easy the producer to watch at the moment in the world of fidgetty/bassy house. His tune `MARS` is the one that if a dj`s set isn`t going down too well he pulls out this reord and everything is right again!! On top of that his own sets are blowing people away. This is only his second time in Brum, catch it before he disappears again.

RUSKO’s spectacular DJ sets at Bigger Than Barry seen him absolutely smashed the granny off it and send the crowd wild – listen to his mix here to get you in the party mood.

BOY 8 BIT has won respect of all producers & dj`s alike with his inch perfect set of blips, squeaks and bass. His sets are incredibly tight, and he can get the crowd doing whatever he wants including handstands.

A friendly face to the barry heads is MUMDANCE. He has smashed Barry shows all over the country, now he is back with his surrogate family MAD DECENT. Remixes and productions have been flying out from Jack all causing quite a stir. Get on him now, he`s gonna blow!

THERE WILL BE PLENTY MORE ALSO INCLUDING:
Live music from SCARLET HARLOTS
Reggae & Hip-Hop vibes from Whomanity & Way back when
Hog Roast & Jamaican BBQ
Live Art & Graffiti
Skate Ramp supplied by Ideal.
Plus a steel band to keep the carnival feel.
5 INTERNATIONAL HEADLINERS // 27 DJ’S // 5 ARENAS

Tickets are £12 and available from here.
Doors 10pm – 5am.
Last entry 2am.

Hip Hop giants Public Enemy, will make their first ever appearance in Birmingham at Digbeth’s Custard Factory on 3 December.

The performance at The Custard Factory is Public Enemy’s first gig in Birmingham and their appearance is testament to the growing musical culture in the country’s second city.  With Public Enemy following The Sugarhill Gang’s appearance at Gigbeth in November, Birmingham will have hosted two of the most influential black artists of the last 25 years, in the space of one month.

For tickets visit www.theticketsellers.co.uk or call 0844 870 0000. Doors open at 7pm and last entry is at 11:30pm. Tickets are on sale for £20, and are selling fast.