In the week that The FACT Centre on Wood Street unveiled its latest exhibition, The Art of Pop video, I was able to meet up with Norwegian musician and photographer Grethe Borsum and spend time with her talking about her new musical venture and her inspired video for the song Apple Picking. The talented and charming woman from Baerum near Oslo came to Liverpool in 2003 and attended L.I.P.A and received a B.A. in Music and Performing Arts.
Sometimes talking to someone who has been on the other side of the music business for many years can be a little daunting. Someone whose pedigree of listening to music professionally for the best part of two decades stands before him and the knowledge that not only is he an entertainer but he is a man who adores music completely, in every shape and form.
Wild Flowers, Franny Conlin’s powerful play about a family torn apart due to their son crossing the picket line during the Dockers Strike of 1995, returns after a year away and will be spending two nights at the Epstein Theatre on the 29th and 30th March. This critically acclaimed play looks at the members of the Lavelle family whose son James turns away from the family and takes the path to personal destruction. It is a brutally honest play and one that deserves to be seen by a wide audience.
Due to the nature of music, it can be a while between catching up with people who have made an impression on the overall music conscious of a city. In Stephen Langstaff’s case it’s not hard to see why. Over the last few years he has worked steadily and diligently in building up his songbook and it looks as though the hard work has finally paid off as Stephen is now able to concentrate fully on his passion. It is this work ethic that makes being able to pin Stephen down for a talk about music a pleasure.
The Lomax has history, great bands have performed there, some iconic, others are part of the music heritage that Liverpool celebrates justifiably. It disappeared for a while and as other venues sprang up, it seemed that The Lomax, like many others up and down the country, was gone forever. Then like some phoenix arising out of the ashes, The Lomax returned and music has been playing on its stage once more. One of the young acts that has recently performed there is the band Chasing Infinity.
In a city dominated by musicians who were either born within reach of the lifeblood that feeds the city, The River Mersey, or those that came to Liverpool to study at L.I.P.A. or any other of the institutions that makes Liverpool the cultural hub of the country, too come across a man from Stechford in Birmingham who has become part of the music scene is a thrill.
Carrianne Hayden is one of the many musicians/actors that have made Liverpool their home after finishing at L.I.P.A. She has contributed to the ever burgeoning and diverse music scene in Liverpool and has a distinctive voice that has the ability to send appreciative shivers up and down the spine as each note she plays grabs the listener in ways they never thought of.
Hailing from the Worcestershire town of Bewdley, Carrianne spent time abroad recently in which to stock of what she had achieved and where she was going musically. Now back in Liverpool it seems there is no stopping this talented and friendly musician. I was able to catch up with her at the University of Liverpool radio station as she prepared to perform a number of songs including the incredible Run Rabbit Run.
Birkenhead playwright Brian McCann is a busy man. So busy in fact that I appreciate that I am fortunate to have time with him at the Leaf tea shop on Bold Street in which to chat to him about his play, Down Our Street, which is coming to the Royal Court Theatre in April. The story of Birkenhead and the Cammell Laird ship building company is intertwined with each other, with many generations of families being employed by the firm.
The play was well received when performed at the Unity Theatre and was one of the delights of the season when performed.
One of the huge delights of the Liverpool theatre calendar is the appearance of the Big Wow team at the Unity Theatre. Their physical comedy performances delight and astound audiences no matter what show they have put on and are firm favourites in Liverpool.
Big Wow consist of three incredible talents that are made up of performers Tim Lynskey and Matt Rutter and the writer Robert Farquhar. Sitting in the Unity theatre before one of their shows and talking to a team that not only thrill audiences but can make them question the world through the use of physical comedy is slightly nerve racking and completely inspiring.
In 1993, theatre-maker Mark Smith came to Liverpool to study Drama at John Moores University. A native of the Bedfordshire town of Luton; notably famous for its hats, Eric Morecambe’s football team Luton Town, of which Mark fondly talks about his trip to Wembley as a ball boy when they won the League Cup in the 1988 and two of the members of Jethro Tull, it seems that Mark was destined to stand out from the crowd.