Author Archives: admin

We Mocked The Devil. Prologue. Ian D. Hall.

“What is past is prologue.”

Prologue

The ticking of the aged Grandfather clock had been going almost unheard for a full year. Nobody but her ever paid any attention to the constant gentle swinging of the pendulum and soft whirring of the mechanism. The moving parts in perpetual motion that had been kept alive in much the same way that the man in the bed on the other side of the room had been, by the careful hands of one the two attendant nurses.  She had kept the man topped up with the pain killers prescribed by the doctor; she had cleaned him every day and shaved the greying stubble that poked out through his death coloured skin diligently every day. She kept up his appearance in much the same way she kept up the appearance of normality, the rigid straight lines on her nurse’s uniform were creased perfectly and she looked respectable, even if she was hungrier and mentally exhausted than she ever thought she could be.

We Mocked The Devil. Prologue. Ian D. Hall. full post

(1595 words, estimated 6:23 mins reading time)

Steve Thompson & The Incidents. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is always heartening when you hear a band or artist bemoan the way that television and certain people making money from it has come to define music to a certain percentage of the population, so much so that you want to grab the musicians by the hand, shake it with vigour and a smile on your face and wish them all the luck in the world as they take on the televised corporation.

Steve Thompson & The Incidents. E.P. Review. full post

(389 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Richard Durrant, Christmas Guitars. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is a consensus amongst many that Christmas has become too dominated by the idea of want, of commercialism bathing in some sort heavenly glow answering all the problems of the world with just a little help from a couple of double A batteries. It could be argued that is why so many have turned away from whichever deity or religion they were bought up to observe and openly state so in the national census. The often repeated music that gets released and played ad infinitum over many high street shops plays a hand in the apathy that is felt, come spend your money on gifts people don’t particularly need whilst you grow ever more weary of hearing the soundtrack to the season, shop after shop.

Richard Durrant, Christmas Guitars. Album Review. full post

(453 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Leaves’ Eyes, Symphonies Of The Night. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The profusion of great music that has come out of Scandinavia this last year, especially from its Metal genres is almost an embarrassment of riches. It has been relentless, a Metal take over from the traditional homes of the field in which for the vast majority of groups from the U.K. and America, with some very obvious exceptions, have been left floundering in their wake.

Leaves’ Eyes, Symphonies Of The Night. Album Review. full post

(355 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Des Liminanas, Costa Blanca. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The easiest thing in the world is to dismiss somebody’s music just because they are singing or performing in a different language, it is something that at times and no matter whom you are that we are guilty of. So much easier to fall into the trap of playing a track that you are so comfortable with that every note and nuance has been heard a million times before. Occasionally a song, a group or even an album might cross over into the subconscious and gets mass approval; however it seems to be as rare as hen’s teeth unless you live in a country where the population are so adept at understanding more than their own mother tongue.

Des Liminanas, Costa Blanca. Album Review. full post

(392 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Gemma Bodinetz And Deborah Aydon Reveal New Season Of Shows And The Opening Dates Of The New Everyman Theatre.

It seems that time in some respects has gone by so slowly. The age between the final performance of Macbeth and the heralding of a new era of the Everyman Theatre has been two long years. However, as the highly respected theatre duo of Gemma Bodinetz and Deborah Aydon beamed around the room, the light, metaphorically and in reality is almost ready to be switched on and the welcome back to The Everyman Theatre will be long and cheerful.

Gemma Bodinetz And Deborah Aydon Reveal New Season Of Shows And The Opening Dates Of The New Everyman Theatre. full post

(671 words, estimated 2:41 mins reading time)

Alice In Wonderland, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Jenny Runacre, Reaya Sealey, Ashleigh Pacham, Holly Rivers, Mairi Phillips.

There have been so many theories and speculated conjectures surrounding the many possible veiled references to Alice In Wonderland that it enough to make the poor girl’s head spin. Never mind falling down the rabbit hole, occasionally being shoved with the full force of a 1970s Welsh Rugby Union side with no sight anywhere of a very wide cat and it’s cheesy grin leaping forward to break your fall is more akin to anyone who takes on the utterly charming but completely surreal book by Lewis Carroll.

Alice In Wonderland, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(360 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Ripper Street, Dynamite And A Woman. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, Clive Russell, David Wilmot, Damien Molony, James Wilby, Leanne Best, Stanley Townsend, Charley Murphy, Martin McCann, Michael Marcus, Guy Williams, Steve Gunn, Frank Melia.

Dynamite and a Woman arguably the two most explosive elements in Victorian London, one in which caused devastation, the other which broke hearts and in which both figured predominantly in the latest case to fall to Detective Inspector Reid to solve; both being surrounded by the new instrument in London, electricity.

Ripper Street, Dynamite And A Woman. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(493 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Solitaire, Companion Chronicles. Audio Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: India Fisher, David Ballie.

Of all the companions to have stepped foot inside the Tardis, arguably one of the most much loved is Charlotte Elspeth Pollard. Having travelled with Paul McGann’s eighth Doctor incarnation from their first meeting in the excellent Storm Warning, through adventures such as Invaders From Mars, the sublime The Chimes of Midnight and to the fitting finale with her time with eighth Doctor The Girl Who Never Was, fans of Big Finish recognised something in her make-up, the way she handled herself when times were grave that placed her with the likes of Jamie, Tegan and Sarah Jane in terms of most admired and valued companions.

Solitaire, Companion Chronicles. Audio Review. Big Finish. full post

(575 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Brian Wharton’s New Play, For Emily, To Be Performed At The Lantern Theatre.

For Emily is a new play from Liverpool born actor, writer and director Brian Wharton. It tells the story of a little girl who escapes into a fantasy world whilst watching her mother subjected to domestic abuse and it is being performed at the Lantern Theatre on November 29th and November 30th.

Child and mother take shelter in a women’s refuge where they meet the mysterious Sue who acts as a friend and mother to them both. The play draws to a gripping climax as both mother and father battle for custody of Emily with Sue in-between as a supportive but hostile witness! Who will win?  The certainty is that everyone’s life is changed forever!

Brian Wharton’s New Play, For Emily, To Be Performed At The Lantern Theatre. full post

(320 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)