Findlay Napier, VIP Very Interesting Extras. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Life is a balance between wanting to slip quietly into the pages of history having lived a life of good introspection, loved by family and friends but not wanting to cause ripples in the water and the need to leave some kind of mark so that history, in which ever guise, will look back upon your life on Earth with more than a curious footnote attached to your name; to be the one six million that whose name might inspire countless others to live a life and not be content to become a whisper in the breeze.

Findlay Napier, VIP Very Interesting Extras. E.P. Review. full post

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

Five Rivers.

I probably will not ever return

to the place where five rivers meet

and that may mean I will not see your face

again, other than through the odd text,

or family updated picture, or should you travel

north to see me; when your life is complex

and comfortable, why would you waste time

leaving the valley in which we once roamed.

 

The rivers roll on with majesty

and I have sat by many a bank,

the tumble down grass, tumbled down upon

Five Rivers. full post

(191 words, estimated 46 secs reading time)

Lord Of The Flies, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Luke Ward Wilkinson, Anthony Roberts, Freddie Watkins, Keenan Munn-Francis, Thiago Pigatto, Fellipe Pigatto, Dylan Llewellyn, Michael Ajao, Yossi Goodlink, Matthew Castle, Guy Abrahams, Benedict Barker.

Lord Of The Flies, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(466 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Eleanor Friedberger, New View. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

A New View is always welcome, it might disappoint, it could possible enrage the status quo, it could even blossom and flower and become the picture in which clarity is offered down the line, the healthy regard for the alternative view.

For Eleanor Friedberger the New View is much more than a set of songs in which to capture a mood, a reflection of all that she holds as truth and belief, it is a an outlook that is infectious, a vision in which the American songstress sheds light on the interaction of relationships and their dynamic and how in some cases the world can turn when a different path is chosen unexpectedly; when you fall for the person that you shouldn’t and yet an inkling of perspective comes out of the blue.

Eleanor Friedberger, New View. Album Review. full post

(400 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

An Adoration Of Knotweed And Roses.

The love inside will always burn brightly

even for the weed that has replaced the blooming flower

as it creeps up against the wall tightly,

for even the sickly green of knot weed has illuminating power.

The adoration of things turned sour,

the memory of the good that came before,

that hide in reflection as they cower

before the boom and bust of relationship law.

Yet I hold the memory of you dearly,

I cradle it like a child, in innocent wonder

and whisper, cajole it to stay alive, to breathe.

An Adoration Of Knotweed And Roses. full post

(126 words, estimated 30 secs reading time)

Youth, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachael Weisz, Jane Fonda, Paul Dano, Alexander Macqueen, Chloe Pirrie, Madalina Diana Ghenea, Gabriella Belisario, Roly Serrano, Nate Dern, Alex Beckett, Mark Gessner, Tom Lipinski, Luna Zimic Mijovic, Ed Stoppard, Paloma Faith, Heidi Maria Glössner, Helmut Förnbacher, Sumi Jo.

Life, if you’re fortunate, is made of many facets of ingenuity and peace, as well as the insanity that prevails through being a fully paid up member of the Human Race. Music though surely is the most over-riding of all emotions to get tangled up in and to be able to have running through your mind, after all, even in the solitude of an arid desert exists music and poetry as the sands shift with the wind.

Youth, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(433 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

The Circus Is In Town.

The circus is in town.

The ring leaders

for the next ten months

will provide the illusion that a two

way ring can bring the hero

of the hour, the usual suspect

who can reach the converted

and pull off cunning stunts

in the swinging trapeze

but to whom over thirty states

will always suggest that their clown

is always the guy they choose.

 

From Iowa to Texas to New York,

the circus only exists because

the land is so vast and the land is arid

The Circus Is In Town. full post

(158 words, estimated 38 secs reading time)

You Must Feel A Certain Degree Of Pride…

I have had bad days, when my words

have been misinterpreted, my actions

mistaken, my shame and hatred

of my own self carried around for ever

after, pinned to my chest

like a gleaming medal sparkling

on parade, polished with pride

by some other shmuck in my skin

and specially made

for the stupid, crass,

ignorant and argumentatively

stubborn. I have been all that at times.

 

I have kicked downwards when pain

was bad but I have also kicked upwards

when the ache threatened to send me over,

You Must Feel A Certain Degree Of Pride… full post

(184 words, estimated 44 secs reading time)

Spotlight, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d’Arcy James, Stanley Tucci, Gene Amoroso, Elena Wohl, Neal Huff, Billy Crudup, Duane Murray, Brian Chamberlain, Paul Guilfoyle, Michael Countryman, David Fraser, Paloma Nuñez.

Inside every writer, is the journalist they want to be and when the right story breaks, when the article or report that falls into their lap that could make their name, there always is a price that is to be paid that comes attached to it; a price that some are not willing to pay and some find too enormous to bring down. When the subject matter is corruption within one of the fabled estates of the land, the hesitancy in pursuing the story may be understandable for the price is taking away people’s faith, it is the Spotlight on which some might not recover.

Spotlight, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(403 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Black Stone Cherry, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The devastating effect that a exploding volcano has on the surrounding earth and the serenity of the once peaceful air is never surely lost when a rock gig comes to town, especially one born out of a series of bands, one after each other that allows the intense heat and atomic like measure to flow evenly for a period of time before culminating in one final blow out, the landslide of love and affection overtaking the surge of rock endeavour. Volcanoes come and go, it is in their nature, however for Kentucky’s Black Stone Cherry, the impression they left on the minds who made their way to the Echo Arena on a cold January night will live on beyond the fertile cooling down of the Earth beneath the Rock lover’s feet.

Black Stone Cherry, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

(433 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)