Billy Kelly performing in Bootle, July 2016. Photograph By Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There is genius at work in the world, there is courage and there is simplicity wrapped up in so much talent that sometimes as you sit back and take the view of artistry in, it can leave you feeling a little scared, not worried, not anxious but scared that one day it might not be around to be held by.
Last Reserves performing in Bootle, July 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
You cannot help but feel that Charles Dickens missed a trick by being born a hundred odd years too early, for surely had the literary genius been around today, instead of getting Oliver Twist to ask for more gruel and thereby setting a tone on all that is be seen as insidious in the Victorian era, he instead would have had the young urchin say of the great Punk era that died in many ways too soon, “Please sir, can I have more of this terrific display of out and out rebellion and scintillating and controlled riot”.
Mia Wakefield performing in Bootle, July 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The art of putting on a festival, especially for the first time is one that is shrouded in mystery, known to so few it seems and yet when you come across one that knows instinctively how to keep a crowd entertained during a changeover of rock acts, then it is one to praise and make sure it doesn’t run away in the distance, like too many others in these days of arts cuts and some people using the genre as if it should be a free commodity.
Kadence performing in Bootle, July 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
‘Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Bootle rarely gets an alarm call in such an usual manner, the town founded on its proximity to the Mersey, older than Liverpool and in its day, several generations back, one of the most prosperous towns reduced in essence to one that doesn’t get the funding, nor the good vibes, that it so richly deserves. Sandwiched between the cosmopolitan serenity of its neighbours, Liverpool and Southport, the arts in the town doesn’t really get the exposure it needs, and yet like the introduction of a new memory into the world of beige, the first sound of a heavy guitar pounding against the buffeting world of past glories, the town was given its wake up call.
Dusky Grey in Bootle, August 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Up the road, just past the city centre of Liverpool and beyond the gates of expectation, the Liverpool International Music Festival, a noble cause, a social event in the ever increasing diary was gearing up for another year; established and full of flavour, it is a highlight for the music fan.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera, Howard Charles, Alexandra Dowling, Ryan Gage, Tamla Kari, Matthew McNulty, Luke Pasqualino, Hugo Speer, Maimie McCoy, Robert Glenister, Alvaro Ramos, Matt Stokoe, Andre Flynn, Tim McCall, Thalissa Teixeira, Leah Haile, Tom Morely.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
Neither in nor out, stuck on the sidelines but called upon because you might add something unexpected, never belonging to a group but also on the fringes of acceptances, to be on the periphery is to feel both isolated, alone but also feel the smallest bit of hope that, like all human beings, that you will come out of the shadows.
If you only whisper one word today,
let it breathe in the wind,
let it ferment in the mind
of fools and the dangerously absurd,
let it be heard and rejoiced
in silent thoughtful prayer
and let it be remembered
as it echoes across time,
across our lives,
let that word be the last thing
on our minds
from the moment we whisper
it with childlike hope in the
glare of a new born sun
and the roar of a daughter’s gift,
let the bells ring with joy
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella, Joe Taslim, Lydia Wilson, Deep Roy, Melissa Roxburgh, Anita Brown, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Greg Grunberg.
As the 50th anniversary of Star Trek looms closer on the horizon, it is fitting that the latest instalment of the rebooted storyline harks back to a day when the heroes of the piece were fighting not only an unknown enemy but also their own conscious and aspirations.
She was so special,
no woman on Earth has ever compared
to the serenity in autumn, winter
or in the spring, as ice flows fall,
smash into the water beneath
and sail, bobbing, stealthy jogging onwards,
partially melting as I hope
they were able to and in the end
finding open sea water to repeat the thousand year cycle,
of wear and tear and heartbreaking beauty
that flutters by in the whisper
of conversation by the floral clock
and finger licked clean Wendy Burger
when you have not looked at anything