There should be a general arrangement, an agreement that not one single world leader could dare deny without fear of ridicule or the sound of derision coming from their vocal cynics, that Liverpool really is the home to the female musicians and female rock gods to who could also do a damn sight better job of running the ideologies of all countries. You can find them in every bar, venue and stage sending the guitar into long periods of apoplectic rage and long sequences of beauty that even the masters of the arched pessimist warmonger would have to concede, that they are more powerful, more engaging than all of the rank and file suits put together.
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Vonda Shepard, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Television may have brought the name of Vonda Shepard to the vast majority of British music lovers but the genuine appeal of her touching song writing and piano playing is the truth of why she has retained that adoration from her audiences and the abundance of spirit in her recording career. Vonda Shepard is remarkable, a woman of clear and precise musical beauty and to whom the smile never seems to fade.
Their Place (Is At The Front Of It All).
Of course,
Women
should know their place,
it is surely to be expected
that they should be at the front
leading the way,
fighting harder, fighting all the way,
that they should be heard as equals,
that they should not take misogyny
in any form
and that they should not live in fear
of the fist,
of the male,
of the world’s
preconceived ideas
handed down by male privilege,
surely they should know their place
and revel in being
leaders,
innovators
Green Day, Revolution Radio. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
For Icarus, the fall from grace was too much to survive, the hubris shown in the face of the gods a damning streak of complacency, self righteousness that smacks the face of those that display it. Icarus had no return, falling from the height that no human could withstand the impact from. Icarus had no way back but for Green Day, the almost smug delivery that preceded the trilogy of releases in 2012 over a four week period; thankfully has been washed clean, there is a taste for redemption, salvation and it is o ne that they plainly had to extradite themselves from before it became too late.
The Girl On The Train, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Édgar Ramírez, Laura Prepon, Allison Janney, Darren Goldstein, Lisa Kudrow, Cleta E. Ellington, Lana Young, Rachel Christopher, Fernando Medina, Gregory Morley, Mac Tavares, John Norris, Nathan Shapiro, Tamiel Paynes, Peter Mayer-Klepchick.
When you reach the bottom of the glass, perception is everything, it can define who you are because of what you see or what you fail to register; the comfort of the glass might be the great pain killer and momentary healer but it does nothing for your eyesight or your ability to think through a situation clearly.
The Big Picture.
I
would love
to see
the big picture,
however
I
am afraid
the
result, the scene,
would leave me so breathless
that they wouldn’t be able
to hang me.
Ian D. Hall 2016
The Rivals, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Desmond Barrit, Nicholas Bishop, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Lily Donovan, Keith Dunphy, Henry Everett, Jessica Hardwick, Julia Legrand, Lee Mango, Shaun Miller, Rhys Rusbatch.
One of 18th Centuries Europe’s finest wits and tamer of words never truly gets the praise he deserves in modern society, it is to be enemy of Time when figures such as Richard Sheridan are venerated and applauded by 21st Century audiences and readers of his work but to whom never seem to see the plays due to the length of the production and the fear of producers to take them beyond the boundaries of London.
You Were Not My Great Love…
You were not my great love
of teenage years, she
was unobtainable,
not the girl I could have kissed
till years had passed and our mutual
sorrow and despair drove us together
for one sweet night
of dope fuelled devotion;
you were not my great love
but you were my first real date,
a Banbury day, a film
and a burger,
I loved you deeply for that day
and the beauty you seared,
hot glowing metal
billowing against my lungs,
I love you for the memory
Happy Hour, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Ian Cook, Adam Davies, Eleni Edupidi, Jennifer Essex.
Like convenience food, happiness is pre-packaged, put on a shelf and marketed, it is what everybody desires, everybody grasps for, fights over and goes out of their way to show to the world that they have seen a fleeting glimpse of it as the show an endless parade of pictures of their life on social media; happiness is no longer a cigar, it is an emotion that becomes more flawed and cracked the higher life takes you, for like money, the more you have, the more you need to keep the thrill going.
Lew Thomas, Walks, Talks & Fallouts. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
Music will always set you free. It is the key to the prison that many find that they have made themselves, that they have shrunk into without warning or cautionary forewarning; the key is to believe in what you write, that the music you find in your soul is enough to disturb the lock so you can walk free, head held high and with a finger or two raised in admonishment to those who never trusted your instincts.