Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 81/2/10
Go Fiasco, Zanzibar Club, Liverpool. July 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Go Fiasco, Gig Review. Zanzibar Club, Liverpool.
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Reva, Gig Review. Zanzibar Club, Liverpool.
Reva at the Zanzibar Club, Liverpool. July 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
If only the so called Brit Pop phenomenon of the 1990s had been founded in the heartland of pop, the public houses, the bars and clubs that cosy alongside the River Mersey it would have arguably been as colourful as the Mersey Beat era of the 1960s. It would have also arguably been more substantial and lasted with more ferocity than what eventually fizzled out between a few bands, sometimes with the British press over egging it to the point where there was a farm somewhere in Lancashire on 24 hour production schedule to meet the near selfish demand.
The Akalites, Gig Review. Zanzibar Club, Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 71/2/10
The Zanzibar Club has had so many bands and musicians pass through its large metallic doors that if there was to be a roll of honour made up, carved out of the same wood that adorns the walls at Lords Cricket ground when a player takes five or ten wickets in an innings then amongst the names of Alan O’ Hare, the legendary Pete Wylie and the sensational Mersey Wylie and a thousand fold others, the one that might catch the eye is the exciting The Akalites.
Richard Durrant, Cycling Music. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Imagine the days when a bike ride meant disappearing into the country for a while, round to nearest largest natural expanse of nature you could find or even when you could ride on the road unhindered by the feel of ever increasing technology dogging every turn of the wheel. Many have tried, and in some cases notably succeeded, to recapture what that feeling is like, to have the click of the milometer go up in stages before your eyes whilst taking in the surroundings without an engine interfering with the natural order of the world. Many have tried but Richard Durrant goes one stage further with his album Cycling Music, he captures the peace of the journey rather than the frenetic discombobulated three minute rage, the sunny day through winding roads and the taste of local food tempting the palate rather than the steam inducing affair of the Tour de France or of thousands of fans lining a route just to see a flash of sweat pass them by.
Seve, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: José Luis Gutiérrez, José Navar, Maria Molins, Alvar Gordejuela, Adrián Salzedo, Quim Àvila Conde, Nil Cardoner, Manuel Menárguez, Luis Carlos de la Lombana, Peter Alliss, Severiano Ballesteros, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, José María Olazábal.
Titans will always have time allotted to them in the end; some are so blessed that a film about them or a biopic will come out not long after they have passed on, lest the public mind every have the misfortune to forget about them. In the case of legendary Spanish golfer Severiano Ballesteros, it is highly unlikely that the world will ever forget this genuine talent, the matador of the fairway. However, it does no harm to take a stroll down memory lane and shake hands once more with arguably the most charismatic golfer of all time in the film Seve.
Midge Ure, Fragile. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Midge Ure is arguably a man who has seen it all and lived it all, certainly when it comes to music. A member of one of the finest bands to come out of the U.K., the rich tapestry of working with the legendary Phil Lynot and Thin Lizzy, writing several hit songs including the superb Visage track Fade To Grey, Love’s Great Adventure, If I Was and been a founding member alongside The Boomtown Rats outspoken frontman Bob Geldof of Band Aid; and somehow in amongst it all somehow finding the precious time to keep going on the road and performing with absolute elegance to audiences up and down the country, he cannot be accused of being delicate.
F.I.F.A. World Cup 2014, Holland V Mexico, Match Report.
Originally published by Ace Magazine online. June 2014.
Holland playing against Mexico, perhaps one in which the purist and the hopeful could both savour the football that was surely to be placed before an awaiting world, or at least that cared about such matters and who weren’t enthralled by the arrival of Dolly Parton at Glastonbury or the more serious topics surrounding the battlegrounds that used to resemble Iraq and Syria and the tension that grumbles on between the European Union, Russia and the Ukraine.
F.I.F.A. World Cup 2014. Costa Rica V Greece, Match Report.
First published by Ace Magazine, Liverpool online. June 2014.
The land of fantasy is at times such an intriguing place to let your mind wander off to. In the world of fantasy anybody can become a hero; the least likely person can walk into the sunset with their head held high having saved another’s life or the hopes of a nation. Whilst nobody on the pitch in Recife surely thought for a single minute they would be the one to take on the might of established convention, the potency of F.I.F.A.’s tight grip on the game, fantasy became reality as Costa Rica, destroyers of football establishment in the likes of Italy, Uruguay, by then unfancied and England, made the quarter finals of the 2014 World Cup by beating the equally surprised last 16 cohorts Greece.
Gaffer, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Simon Hedger.
Life’s a pitch for a good manager, in the testosterone filled world of football, there is the hard work but also the banter, the great times of winning a trophy or two, of the desperate times in which a club can come so close to extinction that it threatens a whole community, it can destabilise it to the point where it may never recover. A club’s fortunes doesn’t just depend on what happens on the pitch, with the supporters or indeed with the person who bank rolls it all, it depends on the everyday making headway and for supposed social stigma’s to be recognised as just life. There is no wrong in being different; if you can do the job then you are good enough, no matter who you are.
Friday Can’t Come Too Soon.
Ninety-six hours I’m away from your smile.
A delicate touch displayed on an unspoiled face,
I count down the hours, fingers marking time
and try to keep myself amused
through this horrendous trial.
Each week we go through the same ritual dance,
a tear hidden behind a fond farewell.
A promise that whatever happens to us
we will call at the same hour, each separate day.
Wherever I am staying and wherever my thoughts dwell.
By Tuesday night I’m climbing the walls.