Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.
Formed in 1995 by Makoto Kawabata at the same time as the Acid Mothers Temple Soul Collective. The group released its debut album in 1997 on PSF Records (Japan), and it was selected as one of the year's best albums in the The Wire magazine (UK). In 1998 the group played their first tours of the US and Europe. Since then the group has released a huge number of albums on labels from many different countries. As of 2017, the group has released around 80 albums. Every year since 1998, they have toured extensively in the US and Europe, and more recently have started performing around Asia and in Japan too. The group has performed in collaboration with many musicians including psychedelic originators Gong and Guru Guru, Simeon (Silver Apples), Nik Turner (Hawkwind), and the Occitanian trad singer Rosina de Peira. Japanese collaborators have included Afrirampo, Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins), Maso Yamazaki (Masonna), Seiichi Yamamoto (Boredoms), Jun Kuriyama (The Ox),
and many others.

To begin with the group had a floating line-up with contributions from many members of the AMT Soul Collective. But as tours became more frequent, the group began to coalesce around a core touring line-up. Other bands were created with Acid Mothers Temple as part of their name (AMT & The Cosmic Inferno, AMT SWR, AMT & The Space Paranoid, AMT & Infinity Rising Zero, Acid Mothers Gong, Acid Mothers Guru Guru, Acid Moon Temple, etc.), but AMT & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. has continued to function as the mothership and main lineage for all our activities.

In 2016, twenty one years since the group's founding, there was a major shift in the line-up and "Next Generation" was added to the name. We now view the first twenty years as chapter one in our story, and we are now turning the page to start chapter two. The group played more than 100 shows in each year, toured in Europe, North America, South America, Oceania and Asia, also Japan. They also played many festivals (Glastonbury Festival in UK, Levitation in US and France, Rock In Opposition in France, Standon Calling in UK, Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video & Music Festival in Malaysia, LUC fest 貴人散步音樂節 in
Taiwan, etc).

During pandemic, they launched their official Bandcamp, have released more than 60 albums (including many unreleased materials), and have toured in Japan in each year. And they played the streaming festival “Levitation Sessions”. They organized “Acid Mothers Olympic 2021” against “Tokyo Olympics 2021”, they originated and played a new style of “music sports”. Finally the group went to the first European tour in Autumn 2022 and North American tour in Spring and Autumn 2023, after pandemic. 2024, the group will tour in Europe in Spring and
North America in Autumn.

The current touring line-up is: Kawabata Makoto, Higashi Hiroshi, Satoshima Nani,
Sawano Shozo and Jyonson Tsu since 2022.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. :
Kawabata Makoto : guitar, speed guru
Higashi Hiroshi : synthesizer, fishin’god
Jyonson Tsu : vocal, guitar, bouzouki, midnight whistler
Satoshima Nani : drums, another dimension
Sawano Shozo : bass, hex man

Mark your calendars 10/25 for the 2nd Annual Cucuy Ball at the Woodlawn Theatre! The Cucuy Ball is a community based event founded by the Birmingham-based band La Memoria, celebrating the diversity of artists who live in the South. We are ecstatic to have Love Moor headline the Cucuy Ball this year! https://linktr.ee/lovemoor_ La Memoria will be releasing newly recorded music. https://linktr.ee/lamemoriaband Saygo! will be returning this year to bring a super-saiyan level high energy set. https://linktr.ee/donnysaygo Opening the night, Laughingthrush will perform an ethereal, hypnotic electric set. https://laughingthrush.bandcamp.com/album/laughingthrush Making a return from hyperspace after many years, Sitori Sonics will be making their official comeback at the 2nd Annual Cucuy Ball! Save the date, more info to come, but be sure to not miss out on this year’s Cucuy Ball 10/25! PS: This year we are offering a custom screen-printed concert poster for the Cucuy Ball. They will not be available for sale the night of the event, so if you want to ensure you grab this dope print, spend $5 more and secure one today with that ticket option! Posters will be available for pickup on 10/25 at the Woodlawn Theatre.

It’s been one hell of a wild ride for Wine Lips. Originally formed in Toronto back in 2015 as a part-time project between Cam Hilborn (vox, songwriter, guitar) and drummer extraordinaire Aurora Evans, Wine Lips quickly escalated into a full-blown, full-time, full-on international phenomenon. Their debut album took them across North America followed immediately by an intensive and unexpected tour of Hong Kong and China in 2018. They released their massive “Stressor” album the very next year (2019) to rave reviews and massive critical acclaim. Multiple tracks from Stressor charted across North America and Europe radio, while several songs ended up being featured in broadcast and Netflix series. Endless touring ensued.

Then 2020 happened. The band used their mandatory downtime to fully dedicate themselves to crafting their groundbreaking third full-length “Mushroom Death Sex Bummer Party” (recorded by Simon Larochette at Sugar Shack). The record was released in October 2021 and then shit really hit the fan. The international music press lost their collective minds, penning over 250 glowing features and super positive reviews spanning 35+ countries. At the time of writing, the album is rapidly approaching 20 Million spins on Spotify alone. The vinyl release of MDSBP is currently in its 7th pressing with 9 different colour variants. The lead track “Eyes” has been licensed to a metric ton of films, series and video games including ABC’s The Rookie, Hockey Night In Canada and VR Skater. Even more endless touring ensued, except this time the venues were huge and mostly sold-out.

Which brings us to the new record… “Super Mega Ultra” is an absolute beast. Recorded by Simon Larochette at The Sugar Shack in Ontario, the album is jam-packed with 12 ramped-up supersonic ear-scorching auditor delicacies. SMU is probably Wine Lips’ most ambitious undertaking to date, exploring new thematic territory while firmly maintaining their signature psych garage punk rock panache. You truly need to hear the album to believe it… And if you haven’t already guessed, more endless touring is booked for 2024. The wild ride continues!

"It's tough writing a new record when you're always on tour. The previous album seemed to be doing really well and at times I felt like I was hitting a wall creatively. Long story short, I think this album turned out great. Simon always brings a good vibe at the Sugar Shack and we were able to try some new ideas and capture the energy without straying too far from our roots. Excited to see where these songs take us in the future." – Cam Hilborn 

“It's pure adrenaline, it's noise, it's intense, it's refreshing, and it feels life-giving. The garage-psych band's new album is, for all intents and purposes, pretty fucking crazy.” – Exclaim!

“There’s a sensuality and strong sense of controlled chaos that these Canadians bring to life on the record.” – New Noise Magazine

Artists Katie Hargrave and Meredith Laura Lynn frequently collaborate to unpack the complex narratives that unfold around so-called public land. This exhibition, Bad Outdoorsmen (Episode 3), presents site-responsive sculpture and video art that engage the Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve and its surrounding Birmingham communities. (More info below)

___

THE RECEPTION IS HELD SIMULTANEOUSLY AT TWO VENUES:

Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve (directions here)

The Old Bailey Gallery (directions here)

The artists and curator will be at Ruffner until 3:30, then at The Old Bailey Gallery for the second half of the reception. Both venues will be open for the full 2–5pm reception duration.

Carpooling recommended.

___

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:

Vinegar presents this exhibition with our collaborators: the Ruffner Mountain Nature Coalition and The Old Bailey Gallery, both of whom are hosting distinct but connected elements of the project.

In an outdoor display at Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve, Hargrave and Lynn have placed a ghillie-textured photographic panel featuring landscape stills from the tv show “Alone.” The panel is camouflaged in Ruffner’s habitat, away from important vistas that might normally be captured through selfies and Instagram-able imagery while also sticking out like a sore thumb through imagery and color. The humble placement emphasizes that connections to nature can happen anywhere, for anyone, not just in the more dramatic locations often captured by famous, white male photographers. In the visitor center, Hargrave and Lynn share photos of themselves in ghillie suits and videos created with footage that the artists shot at the nature preserve.

Meanwhile, at The Old Bailey Gallery, Hargrave and Lynn present an indoor installation that references Ruffner Mountain. This work features more ghillie-textured photographic panels alongside television screens displaying the video from Ruffner Mountain.

The exhibition is part of Hargrave and Lynn's ongoing series Bad Outdoorsmen, in which the artists analyze the History Channel reality TV show “Alone” in the context of the history of mainstream conservation efforts in the US. Through video and sculptural installation, they attempt (and fail) to camouflage themselves into the landscape. While outdoorsmen believe they can become one with nature, often claiming they are able to have mastery over wilderness, they also fail. This failure is highlighted in this body of work, questioning why the myth of the outdoorsmen survives in contemporary culture. As a result, Hargrave and Lynn hope to create space for other identities (such as women, youth, and people of color) to feel capable and comfortable in the outdoors. Read more about this project here.

Bad Outdoorsmen (Episode 3) is curated by Vinegar’s Melissa Yes.

Join Create Birmingham on Friday November 8th at East Village Arts for another Coffee with Creatives!

Our in-person morning meet-up with Birmingham’s creative community will take place from 8:30 AM – 10 AM and is free to the public. During this meet-up, attendees brew new ideas, forge collaborations, and hear insight from artists, entrepreneurs, and community leaders.

In anticipation of December's Big Huge Sanderson Release, and in honor of the final Fantasy Book Club meeting of 2024, Davis is throwing it all the way back to 2005 with the book that started it all: Sanderson's epic debut Elantris. Whether this is an old favorite or your first foray into the Brandy Sandy multiverse, join us for what's certain to be a rollicking discussion!

As always, free and open to all!

Beep Beep! Join Vocabby’s World and your ArtPlay friends to learn new vocabulary words! We will explore new words through song, movement and creativity. (Children Ages: 0-5 years)

Vocabby’s World is a community vocabulary program in partnership with ArtPlay and sponsored by PNC Foundation. The adventures of Vocabby take pre-K children on travels around the world as they learn vocabulary words through science and arts concepts. Through this partnership, ArtPlay is providing hands-on activities that reach families in our communities and across the country. Free books, curriculum and art materials reinforce the new vocabulary learned.

If you have any questions about this event, please contact Dylan Ferniany, dhfernia@uab.edu.

All Ages Event

Breaded and battered in the southern spices of Alabama, LeAlan Carter grew up around the sounds of his granddad’s pedal steel guitar and his Dad’s country and classic rock cassettes. At 15 he and several of the other kids in the youth group picked up various instruments to start a praise band and LeAlan chose guitar. That started a journey of 23 years playing guitar in churches and various other bands around the Birmingham area.

For most of his adult life LeAlan suffered from extreme hearing loss and required hearing aids and lip reading to be able to get by in most conversations. In 2022 LeAlan found out his hearing loss was due to a hereditary bone disease and underwent several surgical procedures that restored his hearing. In that restoration, LeAlan discovered a new passion for music in writing and singing Americana, Country, Blues, and Soul and formed The LeAlan Carter band.
--
Louisville, Kentucky based, country-blues artist Andy Branton cut his teeth playing guitar in country and rock & roll bands around the West Alabama bar scene. After years of collecting stories and songs while driving up and down Alabama’s highways and dirt roads, he released his debut EP 47 Minutes Away. Now you can find Andy making his way around the country - ever writing, ever singing, ever playing, and ever moving.