Do not temper my ill-reason
and allow the sharpness of my tongue
to mean anything less or be unequal
to the storm of cramp that binds my legs
in the middle of moonlight favour;
for in those spasms, in those dark pities
and muted screams for fear of stirring
from any dream bestowed by Morpheus,
I feel alive, rage forces me to seek the dawn
and shake my fist in furious attachment.
I must see the dawn, for the dawn brings hope.
Ian D. Hall 2016
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Aitor Basauri, Stephen Kreiss, Petra Massey, Toby Park.
Not every death in Shakespeare’s cannon of work was memorable, not every murder grizzly or foretold by the fortunate chance happening of witches and perhaps not as impressionable to the romantic painters as the death of Ophelia, but there were lots of them, there were hundreds and not all of them on stage and not all of them as well affected as suddenly being pursued by a bear across a wild and abandoned coast line.
If only every death,
every murder, every execution
and tight lipped soliloquy
moaned and driven through barbed poisoning
by the players upon the stage,
were as interesting as the company
made them, then Polonius would not have died
in vein, killed by a misty eyed word,
Ophelia would not have drowned
languishing in a painted scene
and slowly dying of hypothermia
and Hamlet, dear Hamlet,
the man whom of first I read
but as a young child in some hand me down
book, tattered but loved, creased and bent
Alison Green at The Cavern, Liverpool. Iternational Pop Overthrow 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cut through the noise, reduce everything around you to a state of near silence, not so much pin dropping but that rare beat in which nobody breathes, nobody exhales or makes the slightest murmur at the exact same time, hack away at everything that detracts the senses and leave the bloodied corpses of indifference laying in their own pool of unreasonable understanding; for when Alison Green travels to the International Pop Overthrow, the event is one to savour for all its worth.
King Mojo at The Cavern in Liverpool. May 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The area around Middlesbrough, the town to which clings to the edge of the North East and its old Yorkshire heritage for all its worth, has had many excuse recently to party in celebration and joy as its sporting heroes place the town back once more in its arguably rightful place. It is one that is deserved but also tempered by the reality of government inaction, of a feeling of bitterness and anger at the way the area has been left to its own devices and face ruination at the hands of the dirty side of politics.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The look may have altered slightly, the line up somewhat different, however, there should be no doubting that the aspiration and kudos attached to the London band The Theme, the sound of a million marching ideas and clean cut lyrics remains the same, remains compelling and clear; this is still The Theme, this is still life as lovers of the International Pop Overthrow would know and understand.
The Theme continue the good work laid down in the recent past and whilst the band have changed some personnel, the commitment to the scene, to the rush of truthful grandeur and roughly inspired life continues unabated and with strength in depth.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Oscar Isaac, Rose Byrne, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Lucas Till, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ben Hardy, Alexandra Shipp, Lana Condor, Olivia Munn, Ally Sheedy, Tómas Lemarquis, Hugh Jackman, Stan Lee.
Uncanny as it seems but The X-Men are a franchise that keeps giving, not only in their graphic novel form but in the outline and grizzled affair that is cinema. This is certainly true as the first class trilogy comes to its conclusion in the exciting and worthy X-Men: Apocalypse.
From down in the steam covered pulpit,
the area filled with the sweat
of the encroaching night
and heavy breathe of tenderness,
I watch Whisky Ginger wryly
smile and lift up that one eyebrow,
slightly touched and kissed
by the sweeping gestured touch
of eye shadow, brownish tinge
alluring and deep in meaning,
as she combats the noise of indifference
and early weekend discussion, dissecting
through the early on-set liver damage
and creaking prostrate
that sits in a thousand men
who fall to their knees in deference.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The music on offer from the four highly talented women that make up Rant is full of texture, abiding dexterity and imagery that allows the flourish of a fiddle all it can ever dream of, of all it can ever want to achieve. In Reverie, that dream like state pulses outwards and catches the ear of the listener with pride and passion in every plucked string and every slide of the bow towards the bridge; in Reverie comes fruition and daring and Rant certainly have placed that into each song on the new and well conjured album.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Helberg, Nina Arianda, John Kavanagh, David Haig, John Sessions, Mark Arnold, Aida Garifullina, Christian McKay, Thelma Barlow, Nat Luurtsema, David Mills.
It seems that in the more cynical days of the 21st Century, to offer yourself up as having creativity run through you is too paint a target on your back and shout loudly, please kick me, please bring me down. Regardless of your ability, if you have the courage to offer a piece of your soul in the name of art then surely you should be allowed the brief respite of illusion.