Originally published by L.S. Media. August 31st 2012.
Wheelchair Basketball has been part of the Paralympic Games since Rome in 1960 but as the national anthems of both Great Britain and Germany rang round the North Greenwich Arena, there couldn’t have been a set of prouder players on the court, of either nationality, since those halcyon days of the initial Paralympics.
The year has perhaps been one of diverse feelings across the board in Liverpool, one in which reflection, triumphant returns, masterpieces and some sadness has been experienced. The Playhouse Theatre has undergone work for a while and yet held inside its doors one of the most magnificent scenes caught on camera as Annette Bening and Jamie Bell recreated one of the last days of the film star Gloria Graham for the cinematic love letter, Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool. The much loved Unity Theatre closed its doors for a time and reopened with a flourish as it too underwent a change in its decor and look and yet still retains the welcome that makes it one of the places to visit in the city.
From where Sting sat on his chair on the top floor of the Maritime Museum he could have looked out and witnessed a dock that was now home to small boat owners and had all the furnishings of renewal, a product of change, of one that was required to save an important link to the city of Liverpool’s past.
To be alive in interesting times is to be seen as a curse, the strung out meted response by those who wish you ill; yet in many ways it should be seen as a blessing, that you were there in that specific time to see History unfold, to tell perhaps in your words, be it recorded or just to friends and loved ones, just what your take on the situation was. 2016 may go down in history as one that was cursed in terms of the amount of stars, beloved icons and unbelievable talent lost forever to us; the only consolations being that we saw them when they were magnificent and the abiding work that they have left behind for us to enjoy over and over again.
Bicester was always a quiet town, somehow bordering on genteel despite the nature of calm rebellion installed by the teenagers of the area, the hush of anarchy that was forever blowing in their veins but somehow never getting beyond the point where the small population was ever worried that life was not somehow a picturesque version of some Famous Five novel. Sure there was a riot in the town but comparing that to the big cities, judging against history is like weighing up the difference between an oak and a sapling.
With Glory’ first shot under way, the sunshine that beats down onto the Augusta greens looks on enviously as every piece of grass looks as though it has been cut individually with a pair of scissors. On the opening day of the Masters 2016, it might come down to planning, fortitude and will that will prevail for glory’s first shot.
With the patrons, guests and fancy free golfers coming from beyond the gates of Augusta National, each one of the many thousands coming to see glory’s first shot, the battle is already taking place between the horns of the hopefuls that are looking to put on the green jacket and win the Masters at the special place of American golf.
The annual music festival takes place on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th March 2016 at Unity Theatre and Liverpool Philharmonic Music Room and a ‘free fringe festival’ programme sprawls out to venues all along Hope Street for what will be a captivating and inspiring event to kick off the festival calendar.
Now in its third year, the festival has grown out of Unity and onto the historic and unique street in Liverpool’s cultural quarter, and boasts intimate live performances from some of the most highly regarded U.K. acoustic acts, including the award-winning and acclaimed Scott Matthews, British blues/rock heavyweight Marcus Bonfanti, Liverpool legends Ian Prowse, Ian McNabb, Tommy Scott and Paul Hemmings along with rising stars Robert Vincent, Gary Edward Jones, Stephen Langstaff, LIMF Academy award winner Eleanor Nelly in addition to over 50 up-and-coming Liverpool artists.
The city by The Mersey, a place known for its art, for its culture and perhaps most importantly of all, its individuality in the face of adversity, a personality trait it holds onto dearly as it finds itself increasingly having more in common with the likes of Glasgow, Dublin and New York than it does with Southampton, Dover and London. Liverpool is a place like no other in England and once more the art it chooses to see, the music it offers the country to listen to and the acts it welcomes into venues such as Zanzibar, Leaf, The Philharmonic Hall and The Echo Arena stands apart in its appreciation for many a wandering act.
In the week that Liverpool was bestowed the title of City of Music, in a quiet Sunday afternoon corner in Parr Street’s Studio 2, the music was all that mattered.
Once a month Liverpool’s once Lord Mayor and hard working councillor and Consort, Gary Millar and Steve Macfarlane host the type of show that would be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the country, the type of homely appreciation of music that brings a Sunday to a natural end and filled with voices that are beyond the expectation of delivery. It is an afternoon where the day is given a sense of togetherness, where that appreciation can be set free under the piano commands of Billy Hoi and the vocal strength and haunting timbre of Mr. Steve Macfarlane and guests.