Seen
through the afterglow
and embers
of your love for me,
my face is burnt,
my eyes streaked with pain
and my heart broken,
a final beat,
a minute later
one more sign of life,
clouds over, the sun which once
streamed through the window
and gave a mystery to the room
now has been replaced by the stillness
of thunderstorms, and in that flash
of weightless lightning, my face is illuminated
one final time, killed
by the love you had
for me.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
In a storm, any port will do, or so they will have you believe, a storm after all passes, it can be violent, it can be soul disturbing, but it is also Earth at its most beautiful, most tempting, to stand in amongst the rage, to find the sparks of illumination that carry lightning and thunder and to which we hope will be a sign, a portent of the mood to come. Any port in a storm, but perhaps it is more exciting to think of harnessing the energy that comes from using Parachutes In Hurricanes, from being swept along inside the ride of a wind that can throw you as high as you wish and still find the force to make you wish for more.
Liverpool Sound and Vision * * * *
Preservation is a noble pursuit, regardless of whether it is in art or in the fabric of society, the buildings that define a city’s heritage, London’s Westminster Palace, The Tower of London, Birmingham’s Town Hall, Liverpool’s St. George’s Hall, all should be preserved, be seen as equal to the Mona Lisa, the great works of Shakespeare, Dryden, Dickinson and Bronte, preservation for the future. However, preservation must not get in the way of revolution, of change, of building a better world or moving forward with ideas; the world doesn’t have to burn completely, but it should smoulder from time to time.
It is hard not to rate yourself,
compare your existence
to that of the smashed avocado
when wondering how you fit in
a world that gave you a voice,
you see that green filling
spread all over a piece of toast
and you wonder first
whatever happened to the black pudding,
when did the mug of builders’ tea
and the steam covering the waitress’s face
give way to a coffee that costs more
than you ever paid for your first piece of vinyl,
when did it become O.K. to have your name
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It would have undoubtedly pleased, intrigued, even fascinated the late, great Adrian Henri to have witnessed Horny Handed Tons Of Soil, not least for the acknowledgment of one of the three revered poets of the city of Liverpool but because of its absolute beauty. To be seen as beyond a performance, more of a living, breathing entity in which poetry becomes fine art, morphs into a moment of true artistic temperament which has been nursed and raised by more than just a tender loving of words, which has music, mood and movement sewn into its very fabric.
Emerging from the spotlight glare,
I watched, enraptured, spooked by the divine,
the whispering ghost of poetry, of words
teased out and song like, capturing the mood,
capturing the daylight pulse, sweetly tempered
by a trumpet which plays in the ether
and calls to the angels, they have to find room
somewhere, for here on Earth, it seems one
has escaped and sinks her blush free lips into
a mortal man’s vision, tasting it in her mouth,
tasting it go round and round, sideways
she chews it over, relishing the genius
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
They say live music is in trouble, that the venues are closing down and the ones that stay open are only there for the niche markets and the out and out cover bands. Yes, it is hard to disagree with the fact that more venues have shut their doors for the last time but live music is not dead, it is breathing healthily, what it requires is the care and duty bound honour of going in search of something new, a band or an artist starting out to whom might never see the inside of a mega sized arena, that what they are doing it for is the special bond of the acoustic set or the desire of Electric Love.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The idea of starting over is enough to fill some with dread, push them into the unexpected quarter of retreating from what they know and becoming a shadow of themselves, a spirit to whom their lives that they knew meant to much and now they cannot function in the cold light of further inspection, of performing solo when they once had a partnership in which to hold onto.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Vanessa Schofield, Perry Moore, Suzanne Ahmet, Andrew Price, Howard Chadwick, Victoria Brazier, Anthony Hunt, Darren Kuppan, Claire Storey, Paul Barnhill.
It is often the case to congratulate Northern Broadsides when they come to Liverpool, a much loved theatre company to who much has always been appreciated and taken to the audience’s hearts, they have always given themselves the hardest of challenges by producing theatre that has struck a chord with the times we find ourselves in.
On the day they line the streets,
I hope they remember to smile.
There should be no tears falling,
not in this place, only in the comfort
of a joke well told, the punch line
creating laughter
in the crowd, for on this day
as they line the streets for a son of Liverpool,
waving tatty-bye for now, tickle sticks
in hand, clutched tight, remember
the man brought joy,
one that cannot be replaced.
Ian D. Hall 2018