Big Eye Network | Blog on the Tyne

April and it’s sweltering weather:)

bigeyenetwork — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:39:12 +0000

Howdy strangers. Things have been so so here at BEN towers. We’ve faced some delays on getting various parts of the site up due to other commitments but mark my words you will see new bits in the next couple of weeks. The literature and visual arts sections are nearing completion along with the cracking ‘Somebody to love’ page. First to be featured on STL are a trio of recording maestros who call themselves Blank studios. Every month we aim to dedicate the page to the wonderful folk of our region and welcome suggestions from the public. This should be made easier once our forum gets up and running hurray.

Blog on the Tyne awards update… The newly named B.O.T.T. awards are currently making waves across the region. We have decided to definitely organise an event in 2010, where the public can cast their vote on the overall winner of 2009 for their contributions to the arts. We’re still looking for a suitable venue but have already nailed some peeps in with presenting, performing and afterparty duties. A proper 3D award you can touch is in ze planning stages plus we have designed a certificate for the monthly winners. That will be uploaded here soon. Now onwards and upwards here’s who got this months award… ra ta ta ta… This months award goes to the Belta. Why I hear you cry??? Anyone who has the Benny Hill theme tune as their myspace profile song is mint in our books, but really Belta is just fabulously talented artist who floated our boat. They were brought to our attention a few months back and their unique hand painted belts/other art products have made us smile with glee. We happen to know Belta is a male graffiti artist, hmm those graffiti types are notoriously hard to identify so let’s hope he will reveal himself for our event. Maybe he’ll send a blacked out killer voice dubbed video link to claim an award should he get one. Let us ponder that for a while and you go check Belta out and remember to “laugh at normal people”.

Before you go here’s some internet finds that may tickle your fancy. Download free promo mixes and other music from North East collective Audiodictum’s site. Also worth another mention since it featured on our news page is this fantastic blog Psychotic leisure music which exists as a means to share challenging, but difficult to find, music. Until next time smooch x

Marching on with awards, literature and surreal art…

bigeyenetwork — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:06:46 +0000

Ladies, gentlemen and the undecided BEN has been updated for March with listings and news aplenty. Also now being serialised from the site are illustrated chapters from TOAD Danby’s autobiographical trilogy ‘Course Through a Northern Collage’. First up is chapter 1 from ‘Gargoyle’ (book 1) and ‘Prelude’ to ‘Roma’ (book 2). The books are as of yet unpublished so we hope to raise some awareness in a bid to get them on the shelves… Hope you enjoy reading them and if you feel the need do let us know what you think. We welcome unpublished written works from other writers based in the region, which we intend to feature on our soon to appear literature pages HURRAH!

The blog on the Tyne awards have been launched! Especially for this blog we will award peeps on a monthly basis with the ‘North East artist/band/writer of the month award’ (catchy it’s not but hey we’re making this up as we go along). This month’s award goes to melodramatic popular Songstress Lady Caroline Mary (pictured below). After witnessing her performance, at the Star and Shadow on Valentines fright erm… I mean night (oh the hilarity prevails again!), leave many in the audience a bit hot under the collar. Every month we will be awarding someone new from the region all in preparation for the grand finalé, where the public cast their vote on the overall winner for 2009! We may even organise an event to celebrate it all…

Big Eye Network has been getting around a bit lately. Firstly Newcastle’s experimental music specialists Canopy New music have mentioned us on their home page. Secondly the Journal did an article on us recently so need to get a copy of that for our press page. In the meantime read it here. Thirdly Wotartist, Out Northast, Malice in Sunderland and Myslexia have all added links to us from their sites. Wow a huge NOSTROVIA goes out to the lot of you.

Finally a non-North-East artiste worth a mention is Arizona’s Oliver Hibert who has become a BEN HQ favourite. Go peruse his wonderfully surreal and colourful works at oliverhibert.com

Hello world!

bigeyenetwork — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:30:58 +0000

Welcome to our blog. We’re new to this but will add bits ‘n’ pieces once we get the hang of it. In the meantime head over to our main site; home of North East England’s independent art, music and literature…