Jim Alsbalstian’s Human Zoo, Comedy Review. 81 Renshaw Street, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Liam Hale, Sean Stokes.

Somewhere in the dim and distant past there was handed down with great pride, a diktat that suggested emerging talent should be given time to grow, the insistence that the performer would be given whatever they needed to bring their comedy to the foreground, even if it took a couple of years of honing and shaping the sketches or the big idea; it was perhaps a halcyon time when The Goons for example were to become the absolute Kings of all they surveyed.

Jim Alsbalstian’s Human Zoo, Comedy Review. 81 Renshaw Street, Liverpool. full post

(383 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Me And Deboe, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. (2016).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is a reasonable and compelling argument to be made to compare the tantalising work of Me and Deboe with the greatest of all musical partnerships, the phenomenally outstanding Simon and Garfunkel. The comparison isn’t in the voices or the appearance, but where it matters most in the defining action of the duos appreciation towards their audience, the way they are received and the true mastership of both their lyrics and of the beat they generate.

Me And Deboe, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. (2016). full post

(436 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Limerance, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is an art to fall in love for the first time, the expectations are actually lower in the first minutes of any attraction than if you spin out the desire for a lengthy period; the pedestal only grows higher the longer you take to see the art in someone and the joy in their eyes in an up close and personal way. The quicker the introduction, the sooner it is you can let the infatuation with their song begin.

Limerance, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

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

Astles, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Live music is important, everybody, the world, his wife and their sometimes ignorant children knows that the live arena is the most important approach for music in the 21st Century. Almost killed by rampant commercialism, the despicability of some streaming services not paying what an artist is due in full for their songs and the process of creativity being turned into a product rather than a little piece of their soul being turned into something beautiful and worth a lot more than money can buy; the live arena is the last natural place in which musicians of any standing get to feel appreciated.

Astles, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

(457 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Operation: Mindcrime, Resurrection. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound And Vision Rating * * *

It is a feeling of bewilderment, of pained intrigue to find an album that can leave you with mood of utter calm when what you know the prescription should have supplied was rage, anger at the system and the sense of incredulous outrage. It is the calm that comes after the storm and everything is hiding away, barely poking its nose out to sniff for any electrical residue that might be lurking in the mist.

Operation: Mindcrime, Resurrection. Album Review. full post

(440 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

An Honourable Man.

They will always murder

an honourable man, or at least

they will try.

 

They couldn’t get anywhere with making

Him look a fool, dress him up

in the tabloids as a traitor

to the cause, a danger

to the people and yet,

with knife in back, with

the blood pouring from the wounds

caused by his friends and the severing

of ties from his enemies,

the intended murder victim

rises clean and vindicated,

some will cry foul,

some will howl and call it a disaster

An Honourable Man. full post

(120 words, estimated 29 secs reading time)

Paul Dunbar & The Black Winter Band. Gig Review, Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

It is a wonder at times that the old streets of Liverpool’s famous heart aren’t to be seen physically bouncing, going up and down vigorously or even just vibrating slowly, swaying to the beat that comes out of the buildings, the energy of a thousand beaten drums and million guitars singing in unison as the parade of live music, its talent and its breathing cool dominate the city’s dynamic pulse.

Paul Dunbar & The Black Winter Band. Gig Review, Leaf, Liverpool. full post

(540 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

The Girl With All The Gifts, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Gemma Arterton, Sennia Nanua, Glenn Close, Paddy Considine, Dominique Tipper, Anamaria Marcinca, Anthony Walsh, Lobna Futers, Fisayo Akinade.

The Girl With All The Gifts, the latest in a long line of Zombie apocalypse films that scream for attention and makes use of the fear that has invaded our thoughts in the last century; yet this contribution to the horror genre is not one that has the usual suspects running the show, this is the calm and fire all in one body, one who can save us but also tear us apart. It is a film that allows the cinema goer room to breathe but one that asks it not to, to take a large deep breath and keep in until the guts are about to burst.

The Girl With All The Gifts, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(456 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Marillion, F.E.A.R (Fuck Everyone And Run). Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Beware the anger of a patient man, don’t let his gentle voice, melodious, gentle and at all times spiritual speech, his wonderment of expression, fool you, don’t be deceived by the nature of the man because when he is angry, when he finally snaps and decides to come out fighting, that is the greatest wrath of them all and you can either batten down the hatches, join him in his fury or Fuck Everybody And Run.

Marillion, F.E.A.R (Fuck Everyone And Run). Album Review. full post

(533 words, 1 image, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)

Caged Animal.

I

have never worn

 a watch,

heard up close

the tic

between

the tock,

or marvelled

at the second hand news

as I

don’t keep Time,

I

have never believed

in caging any

type

of wild, feral or emotionally superior creature

when they should

roam free.

 

Ian D. Hall 2016

Permanent link to this post (53 words, estimated 13 secs reading time)