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Satin Beige, Gig Review. L.I.P.A., Liverpool.

Satin Beige, LIPA, Liverpool. April 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Relaxed, composed and only the barest hint of the immensity that resides in her fingers showing as they strain at the leash wanting to fly with the same feeling of majestic endeavour that she showed ahead of supporting Tommy Scott’s acoustic evening at Leaf in March, Satin Beige looks as if she doesn’t just want to give a performance to remember, she wants to show exactly why she is so highly regarded and so admired.

Satin Beige, Gig Review. L.I.P.A., Liverpool. full post

(396 words, 1 image, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Novacrow, Gig Review. L.I.P.A., Liverpool.

Kitty Staunton of Novacrow, LIPA, Liverpool, 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

If every song needs a hook in which to guide it to the listener’s emotions then does it follow that every live performance needs something other than the music to really make it memorable? It either depends on how the sound is appreciated, a folk band for example certainly don’t need the extra polish attached their gig, neither does a solo performer serenading with almost perfect ease, and yet in some quarters, what is already rather enjoyable, even tremendous in some places has that little something extra with the visual memento mori attached.

Novacrow, Gig Review. L.I.P.A., Liverpool. full post

(438 words, 1 image, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Medea, Theatre Review. St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Mairi-Claire Kennedy, Nathon Bibby, Faye Caddick, Rebecca Howard, Maria Hutchinson, Vicky Lodge, Natalie J. Romero, Mikyla Jane Durkan, Samantha Walton, Gillian Paterson-Fox, Alan Bowyer, Callum Wright, Gary Watson, Iffan Wyn James, Yahya Baggash.

It is a story that still resonates, still has the power to send tremor like Earthquakes through any who see it and simply turns established thought upside down and inverts the power of femininity and the female form. Euripides’ Medea is a tale so huge that in modern day thought, it still provokes the question that surely a woman cannot take the life of a child, especially her own child and yet as the news shows, Medea is not alone in the most brutal of acts.

Medea, Theatre Review. St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool. full post

(566 words, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

Breathless In The End.

…in the end, exasperated by non-compliance on my part,

my refusal to bend to the torrent of abuse that her indignity

demanded, the strength sapping empty gale

that I would pray to whatever deity

that shrunk in the back ground,

My deity’s peace sign held above Her head and on the reverse

the phrase, “Don’t shoot the messenger” emblazoned in bright colours

with the quirkiness of capital letters like punishment

thrown in here and there to make Her look as if she was hip, happening,

and a groovy chick in which to side along…but I knew

Breathless In The End. full post

(448 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

A Song For Laura In Twenty-Four Seven.

You’re charming

because you have no idea

how much you are loved,

even now,

people look at your picture and remember

how much light you bought into their lives,

how respected

you were, and just how much you meant to them.

I know,

as only one

perhaps who has slept in your bed

when you were out all day,

placed there by considerate hands

as my life become mean and meaningless,

placed there

with kindness by hands

that knows much pain

A Song For Laura In Twenty-Four Seven. full post

(256 words, estimated 1:01 mins reading time)

A Little Chaos, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kate Winslet, Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Ehle, Alan Rickman, Helen McCrory, Matthias Schoenaerts, Steven Waddington, Danny Webb, Adrian Schiller, Adrian Scarborough, Pauline Moran, Phyllida Law, Morgan Watkins, Henry Garrett, Alistair Petrie, Adam James.

There are films in which the abundance of talent on offer simply overwhelms the story line, the procession of acting nobility so engulfing, so crushing, that the film dies a thousand scripted deaths; it never truly lives up to the dignity envisioned off screen and the grace offered in the initial stages of casting. Thankfully this is not the issue when it comes to A Little Chaos.

A Little Chaos, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(606 words, estimated 2:25 mins reading time)

Gem Andrews, Vancouver. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision * * * *

To constantly evolve and move forward is a must. When an artist stagnates and starts to drift, not just away from their core audience, but also in respects of becoming machine like, delving towards the beige, then the spark begins to fade, the initial burst of excitement that was first felt can dribble away like flat lemonade down a drain. This thankfully is not the case for Liverpool born Gem Andrews as she releases her second album Vancouver, beige is not to be seen, the well oiled lyrical value of one associated with the city of Liverpool is of great quality, the songs run smoothly with bristling agitation and the urge to be seen fully; beige is not an option.

Gem Andrews, Vancouver. Album Review. full post

(415 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

In Response To A Howl In St. Julian’s Bay.

I saw your words etched down in spray paint,

BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS, on a rising pavement

in St. Julian’s Bay as the sun would start to glisten

on the Valetta streets

and the isle of Comino would soon begin to heave

to the sound of vendors selling deckchairs and the sea would spoil

for a fight.

I saw your words and was puzzled by them, not by the words

for even the damaged can understand pain,

but by their placement, their specific duty in time by unknown hand

In Response To A Howl In St. Julian’s Bay. full post

(322 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

The 69 Watts, Gig Review. L.I.P.A, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Raw, un-mitigating power, the abilty to drive a musical note so far down the ear canal that it pops out the other side as if hurtling round the Higgs Boson Hadron Collider, power but with controlled aggression, not to see where the origins of the Universe may lay, not to marvel at the prospect of where the place of birth is in the cosmic soup but to introduce a the great sound at the disposal of The 69 Watts.

The 69 Watts, Gig Review. L.I.P.A, Liverpool. full post

(370 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

The Hazel Empire, Gig Review. L.I.P.A, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is a natural tendency to see a band perform in one setting and immediately wonder how they would sound somewhere else, how they would grab the attention in a smaller venue, one on a larger, perhaps more acoustically challenging and accustomed to the rigours that come the way of a young band making inroads in the career. That natural tendency is born out wanting to see the band do well and hearing songs that made your heart flutter initially, but also the dreadful spectre of betting against yourself that surely without reasonable doubt, they cannot be as good as the first initial contact made with them.

The Hazel Empire, Gig Review. L.I.P.A, Liverpool. full post

(405 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)