Author Archives: admin

Carousel, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Julie Evans, Phil Birss, Franki Burke, Camille Machin, Jamie Barfield, Jak Malone, Ruth Dalton, Charlotte Dawson, Sarah Hale, Rosemary Barfield, Trev Fleming, Ady Thompson, James Hill, Andy Godden, Carrie Cushman, Edward Feery, Andrew Abrahamson, Clare Fozard, Andy Walker, Tom Lox, Lorna Foley, Eugene Chong Hon Zhen, Sara Barnes, Jayne Strahan, Ellie Gray, Steph Minshall, Zoe Thirsk, Danielle Fernando.

There are times, not often, but on the wonderfully rare occasion, where you think you know how a play or a musical can play out because it is of the immense stature that surrounds its very core that it can only be played out in a particular, perhaps reliable fashion.

Carousel, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(613 words, estimated 2:27 mins reading time)

Jack Taylor, Shot Down. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Iain Glen, Hazel Doupe, Michael Collins, Nora-Jane Noone, David O’Meara, Killian Scott, Garrett Keogh, Barbara Bergin, Martin Ward, Karl Shiels, Emmet Kirwin, Eamonn Hunt, Stephen Cromwell, Mark Butler, Ruth Magill, Rúaidhrí Conroy.  

 

Running away is easy, especially when the alternative is facing up to those that have taken a bullet for you and watch them sink further into a coma. Such is the life of ex-Garda turned Private Detective Jack Taylor, but even he could not have foreseen the life he would find in perhaps the final ever case of the fine Irish thriller, Shot Down.

Jack Taylor, Shot Down. Television Review. full post

(524 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Justice League, Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

All it takes is one person to turn everything you thought you understood about the world of comic art and graphic novels upside down, shake the stupidity of pre-conception out of your head and spank you with your rolled up, tattered copy of reasons why company is better than the other.

Justice League, Graphic Novel Review. full post

(673 words, estimated 2:42 mins reading time)

Terrific Tuesday.

 

A time to talk.

A time to tell.

A time to think.

And, a time to dwell.

 

A time to learn.

A time to listen.

A time to laugh.

And, a time to glisten!

 

A time to sight.

A time to seek.

A time to stay.

And, a time to keep!

 

John C Heldt 2014

Permanent link to this post (61 words, estimated 15 secs reading time)

Eagles, Gig Review. History Of The Eagles. Hydro Arena, Glasgow.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating 9/10

You can wait years for an Eagles tour to come round; however no matter what, it is something that at least once in your life you need to be able to say you did. There would be no regrets, no thought of feeling as if the motions were being underplayed, what you get is one of the most entertaining, thoughtful and considered nights out you are likely to witness.  The quality of Don Henley and Glen Frey’s song-writing, the amazing spectacle of Joe Walsh, arguably one of the true greats of American Rock, the appearance of Bernie Leadon causing a ripple of welcoming gasps throughout  the auditorium and the perfect voice of Timothy B. Schmit all rolled up in to a perfect wrecking ball of a band.

Eagles, Gig Review. History Of The Eagles. Hydro Arena, Glasgow. full post

(542 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Twisted Trees, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool.

Claire Sanders of Twisted Trees. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Claire Sanders of Twisted Trees. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There will always be a place for your favourite music, the heart, nor brain ever lets go of any of the lyrics that you spent most of your life memorising to the point that if pushed you could recite them word for word under exam conditions whilst sinking in quick sand and rescue only possible if you even get the obscure releases pitch perfect.

Twisted Trees, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool. full post

(392 words, 1 image, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Inge Bremnes, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool.

Inge Bremnes at Studio 2 in Liverpool. June 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Inge Bremnes at Studio 2 in Liverpool. June 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating 7/10

There is a well beaten path that has emerged once more between the fiords of Norway and the port of Liverpool. It has come back to life in recent years as the city opens its arms with anticipation at the thought of more good music finding its way to the venues of the undoubted capital of music culture in the U.K.

Inge Bremnes, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool. full post

(420 words, 1 image, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

The Indecisives, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool.

Isobel Lim from The Indecisives. Studio 2, Parr Street. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Isobel Lim from The Indecisives. Studio 2, Parr Street. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating 7/10

To sit in a venue and watch any number of bands or seasoned solo musicians ply their trade, thrill a crowd and look pristine throughout is something that any of us can take for granted. Sometimes though we forget where the musicians start out from, the nerves of debut or even 50th gig still thundering round their instruments and still fresh as the hour after a storm abates.

The Indecisives, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool. full post

(570 words, 1 image, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

Risa Hall, New York Nights. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Some album names just give off the aura of invincibility, of the passion of the place or city they are emulating or trying to evoke. American cities pretty much have the upper hand in this compared much of Europe in terms of 20th and 21st Century Western culture. Scarborough in England certainly captures a state of mind with a certain generation and various places in London can tickle the imagination but American cities jump down the throat of the listener and New York City perhaps arguably jumps further and lands harder than any other city on Earth.

Risa Hall, New York Nights. E.P. Review. full post

(518 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Locke & Key: Keys To The Kingdom. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

You don’t need to look any further for a magnificent read when it comes to a series of graphic novels than Joe Hill’s and Gabriel Rodriguez’s Locke & Key.

It is a series built upon the very fundamentals of great story telling that art can only ever enhance.  The premise of a unique story, the realisation that you care about the way each character is drawn from the writer’s imagination and lovingly captured by the artist, the pace of the narrative, whether it is fast or slow doesn’t matter and the action and thoughts drawing you ever deeper into their own world, blurring the lines between narrative symbolism and the representation of Humanity’s great assets, that of the overwhelming power of vision, inspiration and creativity.

Locke & Key: Keys To The Kingdom. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(700 words, estimated 2:48 mins reading time)