Mike Zito, First Class Life. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The lifestyles of the rich and famous, the glitz and the sparkling glamour, it is, in the eyes of many, the way to be remembered, to have a good time, it is born perhaps out of jealousy, out of desperation even, it is the longing that sits buried in the heart of the human sea and one that grows with speed and unfulfilled desire; to have a First Class Life, they believe involves a greater degree of hedonism, perhaps bordering on the selfish and the unrepentant.

Mike Zito, First Class Life. Album Review. full post

(473 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Sam Llanas, Return Of The Goya Part 1. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

You can paint words onto a canvas and take the chance that you will, artistically, be recognised and that your sentence is long and fruitful, that even the deaf value your voice and the blind seek out comfortably your vision, that in an age where the artist can no longer rely on being heard or their story told in later years, that the allusion to the greats such as Goya, Rubens or Constable, are not in vein when thinking of the art held aloft.

Sam Llanas, Return Of The Goya Part 1. Album Review. full post

(402 words, 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

In The Shadow Of Nuclear Burn.

 

We grew tall in the shadow of nuclear burn

but inside, as we made these Bicester country

lanes our buffeted fortresses,

our escapes

from those that lied to us from

the outlook of swinging sixties leaflets

and paraphernalia of a golden age

in which they now stood as kings,

taking apart, bit by bit…nothing,

only adding to our insecurities and rage

and swipe back fear

of the errant cuffed ear,

inside we withered, fed on difficult calories

that added little to the nourishment

In The Shadow Of Nuclear Burn. full post

(445 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Bob The Russian, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Adam Leyland, Laura Connelly, Adam Nicholls, Liam-Powell-Berry, Callum Forbes, Daniel Hubbard, Thomas Galashan, Warren Kettle, Faye Caddick, Megan Bond, Thomas Heyes, Sam Brown, Mike Manning, George Wills, Aaron Cork, Jacob Simpson.

Genius is not a word to bandy round like a bag of sweets that has been pinched from the local shop and sucked to death by a gang of young tearaways determined to have something on their resume to take onto adult hood, the moment of defiance was born, when being the daring mastermind behind such a great plan was the moment the intellect was sealed.

Bob The Russian, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(487 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

The Fear Of Ridicule (Anti Sonnet).

 

The fear of ridicule,

of hate disguised as passive aggressive

jealousy, of mockery, of animosity,

should I dare to expose the feeling

that Roger described as naked,

that I see as part of my soul unguarded

and alone in the exposed light

of bitterness; or should I stop,

just stop, for a moment and understand

that by the pronouncement of this bound

birth, I am only fulfilling an obligation

to myself, nobody else, just me,

the fear of ridicule and sneering mosquito

is there to keep me sane.

The Fear Of Ridicule (Anti Sonnet). full post

(96 words, estimated 23 secs reading time)

The Happy Prince. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Colin Morgan, Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson, Anna Chancellor, Edwin Thomas, Beatrice Dalle, Julian Wadham, John Standing, Andre Penvern, Tom Colley, Stephen M. Gilbert, Alister Cameron, Benjamin Voisin, Antonio Spagnuolo, Franca Abategiovanni, Joshua McGuire, Ronald Pickup.

It takes a fearless and heroic person to bring a legend to the screen, to attempt, to undoubtedly crack, the enigma that lay behind their story, be it in the fascinating, gruesome, indecorous or the beautiful; or in the case of one of the more celebrated writers of the time, Oscar Wilde. It could be argued that all four states of human feeling and postured masks can be seen than in perhaps anybody else who strode across the world’s stage in an era which was harsh, unforgiving, brutal and by today’s standards ruthlessly riddled with toxic masculinity.

The Happy Prince. Film Review. full post

(502 words, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)

Calypso Rose, So Calypso!. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When you are a Queen, a public proclaimed member of musical royalty, almost anything is possible, no song is out of touch, no struggle in the search for a tune that is deemed brave, beautiful or positively full of bounce, is never going to be cast aside and dismissed as out of bounds, for a Queen, especially one who has done so much to bring Calypso to an even greater audience, a woman who broke the domination of the genre and gave it a distinctly female voice.

Calypso Rose, So Calypso!. Album Review. full post

(405 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

When Outcasts Mourn.

 

Can you imagine that outcasts may mourn?

That the tears of ill-judged outsider

and the lonely

Ghost only flow when they return

to the fold, to be greeted

by the sermon forever ringing

in their ears, this leper,

no more than 33, untouchable pariah

making jokes and revelled, frightened wit,

would have often cried,

I would not blame the outcast and the exiled

for screaming damnation

at the society who shun them,

33, prisoners all, regardless of crime,

perceived offence, to mourn

When Outcasts Mourn. full post

(136 words, estimated 33 secs reading time)

The Muckers!, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Adam Nicholls, Callum Forbes.

We are tied by fortune, fate and quite often the feeling of the replacement family in the act of choosing friends, a random moment shared that leads to decades of hanging around together, perhaps. Be it pals, friends, buddies, chum or even as comrades or companion, time is there to remind us that the friendship is not just about the good times, but looking out for each other when the days verge on the edge of darkness, that we all need to look out for The Muckers!

The Muckers!, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(399 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Emily Lee, Dance My Demon Away. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Acknowledging the demons and angels that drive you is one thing, to actively seek them out, to knock on their own door in the dead of night and ask them to dance, is quite another. By taking this course of action, being proactive and seeing them smile after an exhausting session in which you are in control, somehow the demon is diminished, not quite eradicated but made too drained to care about upsetting the creative process; the demon may dance, the angelic voice may soar, but it is too the artist that all ends well for.

Emily Lee, Dance My Demon Away. E.P. Review. full post

(344 words, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)