Art: Crit Club with Sian Macfarlane at Vivid
The first Crit Club of the year features Black Hole Club member Sian Macfarlane presenting pieces from her extraordinary canon of work and discussing the rationale behind them. Using film, photography and performance Macfarlane ‘seeks to unlock archival histories, and latent information in spaces, and activate it in the present, weaving biographical narratives, to form multi-layered perspectives on experiences of place’.
Tue 10 Jul 6pm at Vivid Projects, Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley St, Birmingham B5 5RT www.eventbrite.co.uk

Comedy: Glenn Wool at Patrick Kavanagh
The affable award winning Canadian comic is a glorious joy live, veering between politics and popular culture, his leisurely bonhomie belies a laser guided dissection of the absurd and ridiculous. There’s a distinct whiff of eighties rock star about the fabulously hirsute Vancouver funnyman, delightful company and effortlessly hilarious.
Thu 12 Jul 8pm at Patrick Kavanagh, 142 Trafalgar Rd, Birmingham B13 8BX weebly.com/

Music: NYO Inspire Orchestra at the mac
The National Youth Inspire Orchestra aims to give teenagers the opportunity to have a breakthrough experience in the professional orchestra sector as musicians and audience members. Luckily for us we can share in that joyous musical journey too as the NYO Inspire will be performing some well known classics on the mac terrace including Holst’s Jupiter and Elgar’s Nimrod.
Fri 13 Jul 6pm at the mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH macbirmingham.co.uk

Gig: Catwalk Villains at The Blue Piano
Moseley’s finest exponents of big dirty blues land at The Blue Piano for a riotous night of mile high riffs and powerhouse noise. The Piano will become a swamp of deep south rumbling as The Villains career through a set of covers and original material. Fantastic live band with an energy that ignites any venue.
Fri 13 Jul 7.30pm at The Blue Piano, 26 Harborne Rd, Birmingham B15 3AA www.facebook.com

Gig: The Mother’s Earth Experiment at The Dark Horse
Prog-rock six-piece the Mother Earth Experiment are Zappa to the core, from their geeky funk-rock grooves, to their dense psychedelic atmospheres and their unabashed ecological proselytising. ‘Cool Down Mama’ is a case in point, clean licks, bellbottom-tight grooves, bongo jams and straight-up freaky breakdowns. Nothing’s off-limits in the Mother Earth Experiment’s handbook, and the band’s pure earnestness is what carries the whole thing off. (CD)
Fri 13 Jul 9pm, at The Dark Horse, 145 Alcester Rd, Moseley, Birmingham B13 8JP www.facebook.com