Midsomer Murders: Death By Persuassion. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Samuel West, Susie Blake, Abigail Cruttenden, Claire Skinner, Nicholas Gleaves, Georgie Glen, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, John Macmillan, Anamaria Marinca, Paul Shelley, Thalissa Teixera, Karl Theobald, Jodie Tyack, Lotte Rice.

You can arguably do no wrong by having the name Jane Austen come to lips of those you are indebted to performing in front of; a sure-fire winner, only the Brontes could lead the television or cinema audience to sit up and take notice more readily, even the most tenuous link will do, and it is that the scriptwriters have a moral duty to not let the work descend into a screenplay anarchy, dependent upon creating a pastiche which is below gratitude and honour to the much-loved writer, which sparks of desperation and folly.

Midsomer Murders: Death By Persuassion. Television Review. full post

(484 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Ladies, Sometimes You’ve Got To Lose. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Flick the coin in the air and watch as it either comes down heads or tails, whether it comes down in your favour or against you, either way the only thing you can do is watch, be patient and hope that, should the smile of the gods not look your way then perhaps next time, or the time after that, you might call correctly and see the side of the coin you wish to see. It is an aspect of life that many don’t quite understand the philosophy of, that the world owes you nothing and that Sometimes You’ve Got To Lose.

Ladies, Sometimes You’ve Got To Lose. Single Review. full post

(394 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

The Replaced Ballerina.

 

…and the old ballerina tune,

wound up clock and short of breath,

is replaced, the tacky and old

manufactured plastic, her skirt dead,

faded grey to the point of translucent poison

now gone, displaced, placed in a sack

and given away, not bearing to suggest

that the tip be the final resting place

for the entertainment and love shown.

 

In its place, the song remains,

or of something similar,

up to date and strong on its spring

heels now encased in wood, polished

The Replaced Ballerina. full post

(140 words, estimated 34 secs reading time)

Danny Bryant, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens. (2018).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Danny Bryant and band, with special guest Steve Hill, at The Citadel in St. Helens. Photograph taken and used with kind permission by Kirby Bryant.

They say, even in the brightest of days, in the most serene and beautiful of times, that someday, the rain will come; it is how you deal with the odd shower, the deluge, the emotions of seeing the water rise and threaten, and then the utter relief, the liberation in being able to able to reinforce the desire but at the same time holding onto the thoughts of honour before the days of rain.

Danny Bryant, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens. (2018). full post

(496 words, 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Steve Hill, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Steve Hill on stage. Photograph by Eric Duvet.

It is one thing to listen to Canada’s Steve Hill via the medium in which he strides, to be thrilled by the sound that comes across as you sit down with headphones in place, the senses tingling at the image in the mind of a musician taking the mantle of the one-man band to its absolute height of sincerity and fascination. It is quite another to witness it in action, to see the Blues played with deftness and spirit, the smile and the stare in your mind as the notes ring out in the praise of the genre.

Steve Hill, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens. full post

(521 words, 1 image, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Bin Laden: The One Man Show, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Sam Redway.

It is only the words of Government that define what constitutes a terrorist, the label placed down upon anybody’s head who happens to be on the wrong side, in the authorities’ mind, of the argument and uses force or the threat of violence in which to achieve their aims. Sometimes it seems these forces are cut and dried, they have taken lives with no provocation, but their own idealism or religious fervour has insisted upon bloodshed and the will to make people bend to their way of thinking by the rule of bullet, bomb, and death.

Bin Laden: The One Man Show, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(512 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

The Seven Acts Of Mercy, Theatre Review. Blue Coat Performance Room, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Joe McGhee, Kate Bricknal, Amy Dalton, Thomas Dalton, Anthony Devine, John Dixon, Harvey Fitzpatrick, Olivia Grace, Christopher Hird, Kayleigh Anne Meredith, Josh O’Grady, Georgia Rooney, Joseph head, Marni Stanley, Samantha Westwell, Georgia Wills.

The Seven Acts Of Mercy, Theatre Review. Blue Coat Performance Room, Liverpool. full post

(494 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Entebbe. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Rosamund Pike, Daniel Brühl, Eddie Marsan, Kamil Lemieszewski, Ben Schnetzer, Nonso Anozie, Mark Ivanir, Juan Pablo Raba, Denis Ménochet,   Andrea Deck, Brontis Jodorowsky, Lior Ashkenazi, Peter Sullivan, Angel Bonanni,  Natalie Stone, Vincent Riotta,      Laurel Lefkow, Yiftach Klein,  Flynn Allen, Gabriel Constantin, Uriel Emil, Laurence Bouvard.

The trouble with history is that it is only in retrospect do you begin to understand how the series of connections fell into place, that the burden we carry for finding that one moment which defines the whole historical fact in an nutshell and the cry of desperation when we find it would be easier to wipe everything away, dismiss all that went before and start again, to wipe away all the accounts and narration away, over and over again.

Entebbe. Film Review. full post

(522 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

A Man Of Such Stature.

Many names I have carried,

sometimes in burden, often

in indifference, hatred, spoken

in anger and the eye soaked

in blood, a few times my name

has, surprisingly, carried warmth, pride,

the feeling of recognition and despite

it all, one in which I cling to,

finger nails clawing at the driven old by time rocks

and smashed by heaving water,

I retain my name, e, simple, easy to remember,

My promise to myself

when I hear it that I shall live-up

to all honour I believe, I hope, I possess,

A Man Of Such Stature. full post

(318 words, estimated 1:16 mins reading time)

Joe Bonamassa, British Blues Explosion Live. Album/ D.V.D Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

In the meeting of majesty, one must always surely pay homage and reflect the dignity with honour, when that majestic is two-fold, when it is the sublime and stately holding the imposing and grand, then that forbearance of respect is duty bound, it is the principal of having witnessed a privileged performance and acting upon it accordingly.

Joe Bonamassa, British Blues Explosion Live. Album/ D.V.D Review. full post

(502 words, 1 image, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)