The Process

It has been said that I don't record how I research into my blogs, or the general process of making them...This is no lie!

Therefore this post is to give a quick brief of the most recent posts and how they were made.

With the local elections scandal I discovered whilst mulling my way around Birmingham city centre, when I glided past a news counter selling the local newspaper 'The Birmingham Mail', I had a quick glance over the story, whilst avoiding to pay for the paper (the pennies count!) I then ventured back home to access the phenomenon known as the Internet on a mission to find out the history of the story.

After visiting many local blog sites and glancing around local official news sites and it became apparent that this occurred at last years election, which is why the story being repeated had cast so much doubt over the reliability of the local elections in Birmingham. From here i gathered the basic information from the Internet and leaflets that could be considered junk mail,but apparently when reporting on the local government who seem to be the main culprit of junk mail, became very useful in finding a general overview of the current election campaigns and the candidates.

This then allowed me to link to the election results, which I collected off of the Birmingham government website, which I have visited on numerous occasions to keep an eye on what those in power are up to and how they are spending the public's money.

The Jay Jay Pistolet review came about when Justin Hayward-Young, Jay Jay himself, a friend of mine from home, who has started to have interest in his career from the music industry bigwigs told me he was playing and invited me along to the show...but by chance i bumped into him in town earlier that day after finishing a shift selling my soul at GAP.

In my brief meeting we discussed the show and I was introduced to the other artists performing later that evening. From there it was pretty straight forward in attending the 'gig' and speaking to the artists.

I hope this little insight helps in looking at how my little mind works. All the best! Paul

Birmingham Bar Academy (6/5/07): Frank Turner, Captain Black, Jay Jay Pistolet.

Last night saw Birmingham's introduction to the acoustic delights of Jay Jay Pistolet.

The New Forest originated performer, now living in London has been touring all of this month with Ex-Million Dead front man Frank Turner, a cult hero in his own right.

Jay Jay performed a mellow, but very intense acoustic act, grabbing the audiences attention with his catchy hooks and personal lyrics that give an insight to the past couple of years of his musical career in both a band and as a solo performer.

Songs such as 'This Place Is Like A Maze' and 'Holly' were immediate attention grabbing sing alongs. "Birmingham's alright innit, I was surprised to see so many people watching me" were the words from the modest Jay Jay following his performance.

Jay Jay definitely held his own well in a night full of great acts including Captain Black, another former Hampshire based, now London based, act who have gained much industry attention for their catchy country/pop rock which sounds a bit like The Levellers - but cooler!

Not forgetting the phenomenal Frank Turner, who had a massive cult following and has been drawing enormous crowds since his Million Dead days. With his punk rock roots combined with the more traditional acoustic influence Frank definitely knows how to write a catchy tune - even political ones like 'Thatcher Fucked The Kids', and does moan about Blair, like a certain Mr Ashcroft loves to do!

All 3 acts are performing nationwide throughout the next couple of months, check the links for tour dates.