I remember when the king fell.
I remember being told
of his passing and my world crumbling apart,
no final goodbye, no conclusion
to any conversation that we had
had before, no ultimate
declaration, no absolution
just something that became terminal.
Goodbye my King,
I think of you everyday
however on this unhappy day,
I always endeavour to be the squire
you imagined I would be, a knight
I am not yet worthy, a king
in your place I decline and pass
Your book is taunting me.
Bright blue cover, hidden meanings
inside a passage, inside a word,
an attic inside a loft, inside a castle
and I barely find my way out of the maze
in the garden, secret holes
in which wait to be uncovered, yet
I have neither knowledge nor clue
in how to peer through
the remains of the branches and leaves,
the web strewn across
from spine to leaf.
Your house, a treasure island
built on an estate,
no guards, all welcome
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
The auditorium inside the Capstone Theatre has been one which has opened its extensive arms to the world of Jazz beyond its normally perceived conceptions, it has enlightened in such a way that to think of an International Jazz Festival in Liverpool without the Capstone’s involvement is to commit an act of musical treachery.
It is in its offerings that the music has flowed, it has been greatly received and has been enhanced by the surprise packages that make up the early Saturday afternoon, the tantalising glimpses into a realm of fusion, of discovery, of Jazz but in not in a sense of the normal but in the glowing sphere of breathtaking blend and union.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Jazz might get its detractors, the sneering or the snide remarks in which it has taken with grace and humour over the decades, a medium which really does not get the support it fully deserves or the appreciation of the skill involved. It is perhaps easy to be critical of something which on the face of it offers only a sense of imagination, it is though in the very heart of that sincere vision that Jazz truly gets under the skin in such a way that it ripples with intellect and meaning.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, Glenn Powell, Kimberley Quinn, Olek Krupa, Dane Davenport.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Tom Hardy, David Hayman, Jonathan Pryce, Oona Chaplin, Jessie Buckley, Stephen Graham, Richard Dixon, Leo Bill, Edward Hogg, Ruby May-Martinwood, Franka Potente, James Greaves, Michael Kelly, Jefferson Hall, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Jason Watkins, Scroobius Pip, Nicholas Woodeson, Tom Hollander, Mark Gatiss, Christopher Fairbank, Lucian Msamati, Fiona Skinner, Marina Hands, Edward Fox.
I found you
silent. You had
destroyed your own selfless life
in bitter recrimination and in protest
of an unfair
and cruel world
which abused you
in your absence
and who could not
see, or would not open their eyes
to the possibility
that they could be happy,
more than a survivor.
I am to
be sure
the most
doomed of men
to have found you in such quiet repose
amongst your books,
as I am
the first to have to mourn you.
The fusion that is unexpected
is the most fun. Pineapple
slices on top of a crusty, well stacked pizza
for some is the height of decadence
or at least glittering fancy,
although myself,
I think it is an abomination,
I remove them with disdain if offered
in the same foul disregard as the errant olive,
bemoaning the fact that there should be more
slices of meat, rather than something yellow
or green, making the dish look like a breeding
ground for flavours I cannot abide.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
When a set of songs gets under your skin, you tend to try and find the connections, what draws you to the great unknown, to the new and exciting prospect that has opened up before you like a flower feeling for the first rays of spring sun; sometimes those connections are obvious, you like a particular genre, it only follows suit that you should perhaps arguably like this new offering, yet for the most part that is not always the case. For all of us it surely is the thought of what gets Under My Skin makes me love you. .
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The glances from strangers, the looks that you cannot decipher but hope perhaps they are of interest, a secret passion or at the very least not ones that are wondering who got you dressed that morning, who are trying to place you into the realms of those they would avoid at a party or some sort of cruel unseen jibe that is locked in their heads till they get to the office. It is in those fleeting glimpses that we are given an insight into how others view us; sometimes it can be the best feeling in the world, at others it can leave you lower than the water table in a Dead Sea spa and resort.