Let the horns
blow gently in the background
as the instrumental choice
breaks their hearts, the soft
lament of winter’s approach
and spring’s forgotten haze
is only a melody of memory
played out down the years
with summer an extension
of the orchestra’s belief
and autumn the tumbling farewell;
let the horns blow gently
for you are a King
with compassion in your heart
as the instrumental break
shows only too well.
Dedicated to John Jenkins.
Ian D. Hall 2016
I expect nothing less
in a world where Donald Trump
can somehow become number 1,
than to see my festive only Toblerone
become a stranger to me,
the weird spacing now employed
now means I cannot look upon it
as if staring down the Valley of the Kings,
the heat haze and the curse,
an adventure in Christmas chocolate;
instead it is now the echo
of a drizzly Stockport day, menace
in the Lancashire mists and rain,
where is the adventure, the romance
of almost taking out the roof
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
This year will be remembered for many things, so many events that it might actually overshadow the surrounding years around it when people turn their mind to writing the annals of the century; so many distinctive voices lost, so many people who have given enormous pleasure and the arsenal of self respect to others taken from us, that it leaves a darkness, a gloomy shade of pale bitterness in the lives of those left behind.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The spectre of the fairy tale lives in all us, arguably we like nothing more than being thrilled by the chase of the wolf as its bristling hair is ruffled by the wind and the scent in its nostrils in enhanced by the perfume of Red Riding Hood and the opportunity to save the fable from those who only live to play games, those who seek solace in the pixel and the rising of the console.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Nathan Benjamin, Bow Towers, Yahya Baggash, P.J. Murray, Michael Cavanagh, Helen Lanceley, Peter Durr, Pam Campbell, Laura Connolly.
There is a stark and simple truth, an element of wholesomeness and direct appeal that Burjesta Theatre bring to the stage; the stripped back but achingly beautiful way of producing their adaptive productions, be it dealing with great weighty historical novels such as War and Peace or the huge wonderful explorations of Greek tragedy theatre, all is given the reverence of the magisterial, the subtle timings of players performing for the enjoyment of the words and the greatness of the play.
Get to the first hour of December,
that new born minute
and somewhere in the world
you will stop breathing,
your chest will stop
and people will grieve;
the year has been the perfect assassin
with stealthy fleet foot,
yet there is still more time to play,
celebrity is always in vogue.
The thirty one days, counting
down because that is what we do,
we cross off the days in our heads
and with marker pen
on the free
and easy calendars that we received
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There is a reason we fall in love with someone and it normally has a lot to do with their actions, their demeanour, their faith and hopefully most importantly the way they capture and echo your thoughts in art and their voice resonates how you feel, about yourself, the world and every heartbeat in between.
Roxanne de Bastion, a much loved figure on the Liverpool acoustic scene, understands this, she simply plays the guitar and allows a series of truths to unfold in the audience’s presence, she plays with the notes, she offers the lyrics but it is the listener, the crowd member that finds out how to Run with their imagination unhindered.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There are not many bands that have the special relationship with their fans that Madness have enjoyed and continue to revel in. Even after almost 40 years, the rapport between the members of the group, their cool glance at life during the endearing decades in which they have placed their bowler hats and well manicured smiles and sometimes sarcastic roll of the eyes, and the audience, has never once wavered, so much so that as the decades have fallen away, as age has withered us, it can be suggested that to Madness, Can’t Touch Us Now, is the cherry on life’s nutty cake.
Changes,
the world has been
through the wringer, the pulping
machine this last year, 2016
the year of the dreaded day
and the mincing machine
where reality has been reality,
in that everybody
eventually dies
or gets to play politics; changes
everyone, the shroud envelopes all
and in the grey black mist,
a crooked bony finger cocks slows
and asks you to join the dance.
Ian D. Hall 2016
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: David Acton, Matthew Spencer.
A good ghost story never flinches in the face of modern day scepticism, if anything it can grow with stature, it can take on almost a life of its own, of becoming a haunting reminder of the world in between realities that shape and bend our perceptions of what is clear and unsullied and what is blurred, distorted and afraid to step out of the shadows. A good ghost story is one which you can feel the person next to you wanting to jump out of their skin, their creeping flesh tingle with nervousness and anticipation; there are many that have this effect but few capture the pure sense of emotion that is inherent as The Woman In Black.