Upon the news
of your passing,
I wept, I called out
to the Universe
and raged,
how I thundered and spoke obscenities
not used to the shape
of my mouth,
the taste of wrath and lightning bolt fury
scorching small white soldiers
ready to take arms in battle
and bite and gnaw at the heart
of that which dared
say it was your time to breath
no more;
upon the news of your silence,
the world stopped making sense.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Brian Gleeson, Domhnall Gleeson, Stephen McHattie, Kristen Wiig.
It really isn’t saying a lot about a film when you start thinking to yourself as you reflect and muse upon what you have seen, that you ponder that at least it wasn’t as bad as Noah. The story of creation told in a very modern way, in an approach that actually makes more sense for those who might have found something far better to attend than religious studies on a Monday morning, or even those to whom the imagination runs a lot deeper than what we are persuaded to do when considering passages from the Bible.
I laughed, it seemed
for the first time
as I was saluted as the God
of tits and wine,
a mock celebration of finally
reaching more than half way
in a novel with my
hopeful name attached;
they, those three of the four musketeers
from Uni days, raised my spirits
before they came crashing
down as I remembered
during the night
what event was to come.
Ian D. Hall 2017
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Poetic thought can come from anywhere, it just takes the right circumstances for it to be seen and appreciated for the beauty and the scars that it contains.
For scars are what makes poetry believable, intense and bound to the author, a rose may well just smell as sweet but if it hasn’t been plucked forcibly from the ground or snipped at the hem of the bush can it truly represent all the anguish it which a teenage heart wishes to install into the meaning of presenting it to their love.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It is with the precious salute of acknowledged respect that one can take an album and relish in the change, even if ever so slight, in appearance between the new sound on the block and the established, the in your ears reliable resonance that you feel as though you know you are always going to want.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
All electric, all sublime, the natural home of heavy rock, of the open growling riff and the warm open heart of the vocals that resonate the power of Midland’s Rock, more notably and aptly, the history, the echoing boom of the Black Country; all is in the hands of The Bad Flowers as they release their formidable single Thunder Child.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
They always promise Better Times, they will tell you that on the horizon there is a gigantic slab of jam, several spoons and enough Cornish clotted cream to go with it; that those times are always worth waiting for. The trouble is with better times, somehow they end up like a routine from The Morecombe and Wise Show, one shoe never fits, is often not the right shoe in a pair and that collection of spoons is really knives ready to be plunged in the back and the clotted cream is anything but Cornish.
We can touch
the brink
of Heaven
and send the machine
to plummet
into the heart of Saturn,
to break our bondage
and be more than just humanity
as Cassini
sends clouds scattering,
yet
we can descend
so low,
to plough the very depths
of Hell
as we think
that
the madness of machine
Armageddon
is somehow suitable
a threat
to contain
two mad men.
Ian D. Hall 2017
I tried to call
but each time I dialled
a sharp metallic voice
told me you were
on another line;
I don’t how
you manage
to snort
so much Cocaine
and how your phone knows.
Ian D. Hall 2017
Unity Theatre, Liverpool’s unashamedly contemporary theatre, full of exciting, unique and highly theatrical performance announces a diverse Family Programme for autumn 2017. With a long history of supporting high quality performance especially for children and families this season’s programme realises a promise which will develop over the next four years.
Matthew Linley, Artistic Director at Unity said, “Developing our family audience is a key ambition of us at Unity Theatre. Our recent major capital redevelopment was carried out with the ambition to ensure that we would be able to welcome more families to our very special venue. As part of the redevelopment we installed baby change facilities on all levels of the building and will provide seating in our front of house seating for children, including high chairs. Theatregoers will also be able to buy healthy snacks for children in our ground floor kiosk.