Whittingham Asylum, 1918 ~ Who is ‘mad’ and who is ‘sane’ when war comes to call?
Whittingham Lives Association presents the story of the Whittingham Asylum, near Preston, which received over 1,000 shell-shocked soldiers returning from World War I, as well conscientious objectors and those already resident there, deemed ‘insane’ and how it was left to women of the area to deal with a hospital system at breaking point with men now dying not from gunfire but disease….
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The art of melancholy is sadly underrated, it finds itself being treated as a state of unhappiness, to the cynical it is a passion for the miserable, a self-indulgent exercise which the unfounded optimistic cannot fathom and finds suspicious; like those who strive for years to have the Holiday of their dreams, the jealous will always sneer and beat their heads with regarded sage thought.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
In the depths of a cello’s heart lives a sound that is arguably unique across the members of the string musical family. The double bass might be stout, resolute, never wavering in its texture, the violin may be more beautiful, the sound of the siren as she entices sailors to fall at her feet as the waves crash into rocks and the heart breaks with the sound of handsome, ethereal taste.
Occasionally in life you may find yourself in conversation with a person who leaves you feeling so utterly at peace with yourself that you cannot but help relax, intrigued with what they have to say, and finding that despite your phone doing its upmost to scupper the connection made between two human beings, that the interviewee is calm, collected and kind enough to understand that these things happen, that at the end of the day the Cavalier approach is quite often the best policy to adopt.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Brandon McCaffery, Alice Merivale, Emma Vaudrey, John Schumacher.
It is the sins of the past that we inherit, perhaps shame gets sprinkled into the D.N.A., a dash of wickedness and a whole load of emotional turmoil, if we are fortunate it skips us, loses its power with each generation, and eventually the gene which causes us to contemplate such vile acts and misdeeds is eradicated.
The deleted scenes
hidden away, far
in the recess
of the compartment marked
as pain, of abuse, of the neglectful reel
of shame, red-faced and embarrassment
caused, we skip over those moments
and turn our heads when
the obituary notice
at the end of the night of Oscar
winning performances
is revealed; the deleted scenes
erased, erased
erased,
but never on every machine
that recorded the moment…
somewhere your deleted scene
is still being viewed.
Ian D. Hall 2018
Still buzzing from their one-year birthday party, SisBis announce Mr Bongo at 24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool on Friday 23rd November.
Record label, record store, film label and DJs since 1989; Mr Bongo’s work is massively influential far and wide. The duo’s selections will include unexpected Brazilian, Latin, Soul, Hip Hop and Psychedelic sounds.
NTS resident and Manchester-based Sofie Ka’s wacky sound is distinctly nostalgic, blending dreamy psychedelic guitars with pumping italo and disco numbers. Over the past few years she has appeared alongside Jayda G, Powder, Donna Leake, Nosedrip, Jon K and more.
Julian Littman, musician, actor and member of Folk Rock pioneers Steeleye Span, is coming to the St. Helens on Saturday 10th of November to share his songs and tales, music and drama From times spent in the company of Gerry Rafferty, Steeleye Span, David Bowie, Brian May & Madonna to name but a few.
A member of folk-rock pioneers Steeleye Span for the past six years, Julian Littman has been part of one of the band’s most productive periods – not only revisiting the classic Now We Are Six record live but also helping shape the Wintersmith project with the late Terry Pratchett.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
No matter how inflamed the candle of desire rises, it cannot compete in strength to the virtue and the pull of the Lighthouse. The candle though remains undaunted by the size of the man-made structure at the edge of the cliffs and often nestled in amongst the crags and rocks, for what would anyone rather do when it comes to kissing a love tenderly for the first time, within the half glow of the candle, the flickering flame throwing of silhouettes that dance in time to the soul’s own beating heart, or be struck by the full glare of light as it warns of danger in icy, unforgiving seas.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There will always be those that find ways to say nothing whilst all the time profiting from someone else’s drive, for in their habit lays not strength, but a kind of washed-out serving, a weakness of expression that implies growth but in actual fact is nothing more than the withering spectacle of a cactus which once supported a beautiful flower, but now creeps towards mulch as it finds no gardener to help it bloom.