I am an altered fact,
so are you,
we only exist in a state of comfortable
despair because the very rich,
the very stupid
and the unfathomably popular
allow us to be there to be struck off,
one by one, in a crowd, sniper guns
pounding coins
whilst they hoard pounds,
guarding the brain cells that give them power
but dementia like poise and dying cells
they release the ones that guide
compassion, hope and love
and they somehow infect us with promises
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There has always been so much to take in with pleasure when in the company of John Hall, (Herringbone John), an acoustic night here, a full band session there, this is what John Hall brings to the area, the sound of the Blues, much neglected in some quarters but one delivered with appreciation and enjoyment in Liverpool by the man who makes the guitar ache with beauty. This is not a man who shows off or lets the occasion spoil him, this is no grand master to whom people will part with extortionate amounts of money for, this is a man of honour and his music respectfully shows that.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There is a moment, a long and lengthy process in which it might take a music lover to fall for somebody, not the normal instant attraction in which club land offers with its steady rhythmic beat and fuelled by cheap alcohol, the smell of testosterone hanging in the air and mixing freely with the pungency of liberally dosed perfume, not in the circles of Folk or the acoustic nights offered throughout the city do those rules apply; here is the normality not energised by desire but by aural sensibility, to fall for one person and their guitar is to know love and in Christy Myers, it is one that gave with passion and joy immediately.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Life is too short, even if you take the care to go out as much as possible, to see the world, to throw yourself into the arena everyday and take Life out to spank every so often to show that it cannot dominate you, that it must not try to subject to its whim, you will still won’t be able to do all the things you believe are worthy of your time and effort. Time is cruel, there is so much to see, so much to listen too; however if you do one thing this year, of Time fights back and you can only make certain of doing one thing, then being in attendance at a gig involving Chris Callander is surely one to hang on.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Liverpool Acoustics’ new home of the Courtroom Café not only suits the requirements of the musicians who pass through the heavy wooden door and up past the six once grand steps befitting the buildings former occupants and Liverpool’s heritage, it sounds great as well, the fabric of the building, the history of the area in and around the older parts of the city somehow adding a weight of mystery and enthusiasm to the proceedings.
I feel old,
especially in the dark hours
when once I could go all night
talking to you, dreaming
of a time when my life was more
than just a scribble in a notepad.
My wife
sometimes says, with a smile
of course,
that I am a child,
in that case I cannot
wait
to have my mid life crisis
at 89.
Ian D. Hall 2017
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
It is not only the scars of our life that affect us in the dark, when we think nobody is looking that the pulse that runs through our blood and past the ridges, the mountains of blemishes, the small but memory enhancing wounds that parade our body as if they were still fresh, still able to mark out Time, it is the actions of others that see us bleed a year, a decade, a century on; we are the products of grandparents hopes and the mutilations that wracked their dreams.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Anton Lesser, James Bradshaw, Sean Rigby, Dakota Blue Richards, David Yelland, Glen Davies, Sarah Winter, Robert Wilfort, Morgan Jones, Celine Buckens, Ciara Charteris, Phoebe Nicholls, Edward MacLiam, Amy Marston, John Hopkins, Alex McSweeney, Caroline O’Neill, Shvorne Marks, Claire Lichie, Mark Phoenix, Sion Alun Davies, Sarah Vickers, Matthew Walker.
I miss her Nordic smile,
there was beauty
in that one defining movement,
a sweeping subtle gesture
of cool, of passion, of love
that was only betrayed by her eyes,
if they gleamed when spoke
it was as if the North Sea
had been tamed and your soul
could float between England,
Norway, Denmark and the Faroes,
adrift in that smile for eternity.
Ian D. Hall 2017
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There is a certain majesty in the way that Elfin Bow presents her self-titled new album, not one of false regal misfortune but instead the type that is more natural, more ethereal, the type in which Tatiana would look upon her fellow fairies with pride or Juno, the wife of Jupiter would tease and rack the conscious of Tiresias whilst being the mother of all strong women in the Roman Empire; it is the majesty of innocence, of sublime spirit and protection and one that Elfin Bow, the superb Elizabeth Jones, wears well.