Giovanni Cristino, 01. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Memory is something very precious, we are the sum of all that we remember and hold dear, even those moments in which we try our damndest to forget everything, can hold a sparkle of beauty that seems to be an island in a sea of perpetual troubles and yet one we cling to lest the memory fades of when we stood tall, when we stood for something that would hurt us because we saw the other side was wrong. Memory is after all, all we are and all we will be in the eyes of others and memory is amplified by the senses, none perhaps finer than the sense of sound.

Giovanni Cristino, 01. Album Review. full post

(359 words, 1 image, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Dying On My Feet, Theatre Review. Liverpool Art College, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Joanne Tremarco.

Death, arguably, is not the end; it is a state of being that continues in the hearts of those left behind, long after the last breathe has been drawn. The poets and artists have always been one to draw the subject as a next adventure, perhaps in keeping with Buddhism, the soul moving on from one umbilical cord to the next, the next chapter in a long reading list. It could also be a one shot, possible prize winning article, done and dusted regardless of how many words and the finest of by-lines are used.

Dying On My Feet, Theatre Review. Liverpool Art College, Liverpool. full post

(391 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Streak.

Be careful,

your bitch streak is showing

on your back,

it has been since you were neutered,

maimed and cut,

but then you were not that nice

before hand, so nothing really

has changed, you still are mean,

self centred and opinionated,

you still demand absolute loyalty

whilst not willing to give back

a semblance

of humanity,

of thought;

your bitch streak is showing

my once spayed friend,

but over time your cruelty

has become like sand,

one to thrown to the winds.

Streak. full post

(90 words, estimated 22 secs reading time)

When I See The Police Carry Arms.

A policeman with a gun

patrolling the perimeter

of the Bull Ring

whilst I watch on,

a deep furrowed look

on my face

and the steam from the tea

wrestling with the open air

opens the memory

of seeing such a thing in New York.

Policed by consent, yet bullets on British streets,

a tag line for the latest West End Show,

doesn’t have the same ring as

Bullets over Broadway,

isn’t as deadly, as yet,

as bullets over Baghdad

and inside I feel fear,

When I See The Police Carry Arms. full post

(168 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)

Kiss, Gig Review. Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound And Vision Rating * * * * *

Kiss in Birmingham, May 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

The art of the showman may entail many effects, a stage full of experience, the sprinkle of dust wherever possible, the unrelenting passion to pull off the impossible and the big sonic boom in which to thrill the audience with, that moment in which a crowd goes nuts, in which the night was well and truly owned by the fantastic and the sheer delightful.

Kiss, Gig Review. Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham. full post

(486 words, 1 image, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

In Praise Of Hector.

A different dog,

not scary, not out to bite me,

panted as if the world had been spinning

at a million miles an hour

and he had been close

enough to chase his tail,

playful enough to grin

and make my sister’s home

the point of existence,

to put a smile on my face.

I had forgot just what a dog

could bring to your soul,

in praise

even when for the 50th time

they stick their nose

in your crotch

and leave you the slobbery ball,

In Praise Of Hector. full post

(113 words, estimated 27 secs reading time)

Ben Bostick, Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The outsider, the recluse from the world, of doing things in the perceived normal way or the genius native who sees life for what it truly can be, extraordinary, uncommon and peculiar, out in the open and not closeted away in a studio, forever thinking of the next album, always in demand by the managers and the representatives rather than the true believers, those that take their time out to see you perform, even a boardwalk, up to your neck in songs that might never reach the world but for a brief moment thrill the ears of those walking by.

Ben Bostick, Album Review. full post

(437 words, 1 image, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Kate & Raphaël, Les Objets Trouvés. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The original is often overlooked, perhaps being seen as too avant-garde, too ahead of its time and all because people are not ready for it; it is of course understandable, not everything can be appreciated in the time that it comes out and like the lost property of a person who loses something very special, something that so few have seen or found on their travels, the chances are that it will turn up in Lost Property unscathed and unharmed, the population not ready for such possibilities of greatness.

Kate & Raphaël, Les Objets Trouvés. Album Review. full post

(415 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: The Pyramid At The End Of The World. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas, Ronke Adekoluejo, Tim Bentinck, Andrew Byron, Daphne Cheung, Rachel Denning, Tony Gardner, Nigel Hastings, Jamie Hill, Togo Igawa, Eben Young.

The question is, do you give away your freedom to be saved? If you are drowning, if you are there in the water struggling for each breathe and someone offers to save you but at the price of slavery for your family forever, would you take it, knowing that the servitude will be relentless, that the abuse on those you love would be without pity, remorse or justice, would you still ask them to throw a lifebuoy?

Doctor Who: The Pyramid At The End Of The World. Television Review. full post

(544 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Do You Remember Your Old Cup Final Days?

Do you remember your old Cup Final days,

the only live match all season,

that you could watch on the television,

instead of wall to wall

blanket coverage,

the pull out special in the pages

of your newspaper of choice,

the pencil drawings

and the managers looking on

with pride having achieved mortality

for a few weeks and the songs

from the terraces as the day grew closer,

the interviews on the bus

and the poet, always one,

coming up with a piece that

Do You Remember Your Old Cup Final Days? full post

(328 words, estimated 1:19 mins reading time)