Dreaming Of Kate, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. (2015)

Maaike Brejman performing as Dreaming Of Kate at the Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The elusiveness of Kate Bush, arguably one of the great female recording acts that Britain has produced in the last 50 years, as a stage performer is always keenly felt by those whose love of her special concoction of dance and magical lyrics. The decades that have passed, the sense of falling in love to someone whose music has defined much of how the public certain segments of time, all missed, all grieved over and whilst quite rightly Ms. Bush is lauded for her music, the sense of loss is always there.

Dreaming Of Kate, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. (2015) full post

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

Pharaoh Cross The Mersey, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Michael Fletcher, Lindzi Germain, Hayley Hampson, Danny O’ Brien, Andrew Schofield, Michael Starke, Leah Whiteside, Amera Bjorkhaug, Ashlyn Baker, Natasha Riley.

Band: Elliot Chapman, Jack Hymers, Emily Linden, Alex Smith.

Boris and Daisy, a Russian submarine crew member and a student from Liverpool, having found love in a cold climate and an odd pair of talking bears with a passion for ballet in Scouse of The Antarctic continue their romance in the hot desert of Egypt and in amongst the camels, the fezs and flies and in Fred Lawless’ latest comedy smash, Pharaoh Cross The Mersey, the spirit of the Liver Bird lives on in wonderful Merseyside fashion.

Pharaoh Cross The Mersey, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(386 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Roll The Dice.

Roll the dice and fill the barrel,

it is the constitutional right

to bare arms and so that makes

it alright and yet people

in the island, set against

the blistering swell of Atlantic Blue

get confused and gnash their flexible

fingers in outrage

as the flash of the blade,

the final cut,

takes a young black lad’s life

in South London

as the Thames gently hugs

the Westminster circus

votes to rain information

down a population

who cannot tell the difference

between Western aggression

Roll The Dice. full post

(143 words, estimated 34 secs reading time)

Rapunzel: Hairway To Heaven, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Marianne Benedict, Adam Bowler, Tom Connor, Nicola Hawkins, Sam Heywood, Stephanie Hockley, Martina Isibor, Adam Keast, Greg Last, Francis Tucker.

There’s a lady who’s sure that all that glitters is comedy gold and the music, and laughter that comes from out of the Everyman at the start of the festive season is one true reason to lock the door, head to the bright lights of Hope Street and revel in the latest in a long line of Christmas extravaganzas written by Sarah A. Nixon and Mark Chatterton, the superb Rapunzel: Hairway To Heaven.

Rapunzel: Hairway To Heaven, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(376 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Anti-Flag, Live At 11th Street Studios. Live Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is something just right about the way that Anti-Flag conduct their lives when it comes to recording music and performing a live set, it is almost as if the stance against anything that comes across as main stream or has even the barest whiff of corporate attached to it, is to be shunned as far as it can go and then given the nod of ridicule just to annoy it further.

Anti-Flag, Live At 11th Street Studios. Live Album Review. full post

(386 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Terrorist Sympathiser.

It is how it starts,

the weapon of choice,

the painted slur, the smear

of government, of a Prime Minister

justifying his own peculiar judgment

by saying those who don’t agree

with the rhetoric of war,

those who argue with passion

the side for pacifist solution,

are nothing more than

Terrorist Sympathisers.

It is how it starts,

the verbal stain and before you know it

white feathers are being handed

out to those who oppose war,

before you know it,

internment camps

Terrorist Sympathiser. full post

(337 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Big Bang Generation. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Doctor it seems is never happier when in the path of strange goings-on and confronted by fearful indigenous people, whether that is in the realms of unseen space or taking in the view across Sydney in Australia. The bigger the mystery, the more involved he becomes; even if at times he is coerced into the situation by those he may fondly think of as friends and when the situation calls for the biggest of cons.

Doctor Who: Big Bang Generation. Book Review. full post

(379 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Cotton Belly’s, Rainy Road. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

To feel warm and comfortable in the presence of an album is to have a simple realisation thrust down the ears that not everything in life has to have a secret meaning but it at least must have desire, it must be able to be embraced and found to succumb to the one beautiful moment that keeps all in the same boundary of existence; the ability to smile.

Cotton Belly’s, Rainy Road. Album Review. full post

(366 words, 1 image, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Museum Of Backward Hats, Otherside/Ebenezer. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating * * * *

The pleasure of the alternative must never be taken for granted. It is only in searching and finding the alternative approach that a measure of understanding for the whole of the sum can be appreciated, that the recognition of a different song can be seen in all its glory.

Museum Of Backward Hats, Otherside/Ebenezer. Single Review. full post

(387 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

River, Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Nicola Walker, Lesley Manville, Eddie Marsan, Adeel Akhtar, Owen Teale, Georgina Rich, Michael Maloney, Turlough Convery, Sorcha Cusack, Jim Norton, Steve Nicolson, Josef Altin, Peter Bankole, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Lydia Leonard, Franz Drameh, Shannon Tarbet, Steve Edwin, Souleiman Bock, Andrew Byron, Andrew Byron, Ali Craig.

The fine line between genius and insanity is never truly explored on television unless it is in the form of a great detective and for those there are too few to whom the reason for their own peculiarities are ever given credence or perhaps respect.

River, Television Review. full post

(521 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)