Charlie Landsborough, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Charlie Landsborogh, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. November 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Charlie Landsborough, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. November 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating   * * * *

There is no doubting the appeal of Charlie Landsborough, a man of delicate persuasion, of faith in all things and to whom the guitar holds no fear; he is a man with a twinkle in his eye and a joke ready for his adoring audience in between each well thought out and evenly tempered song. Even when all is said and done he finds time to make the crowd, perhaps with one eye on the festive period ahead, perhaps with half a mind on finally getting dry after the deluge of the November day that hit the streets of Liverpool, feel welcome at his show perhaps arguably with more keenness of spirit that any other musician doing the rounds.

Charlie Landsborough, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(452 words, 1 image, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

An Unexpected Conversation In Crewe.

You called it a chat about tidying

up your affairs of state, the long way off

day in which I would be left alone

to deal with the phone calls

and the letters

and you sat back in the gathering cold,

arms folded and I saw in your eyes

that perhaps it was not as

long away as I thought.

 

We talked of football,

nearly always the same topic of conversation

we had always had, spliced occasionally

with talk, mostly from me,

of theatre and of visiting home.

An Unexpected Conversation In Crewe. full post

(220 words, estimated 53 secs reading time)

Katy Alex, Gig Review. Studio 2, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

For those making their way to Studio 2 on Parr Street, dodging the fireworks, skilfully avoiding the booming tones of the November air and the threatening drizzle with the hopeful keen anticipation of Vanessa Murray’s E.P. launch, the thought of support would naturally cross their mind. For many the names Dominic Dunn and Shannen Bamford are as easily recognised and lauded as a good fish supper from The Lobster Pot or a night out down at The Cavern, for they have served their time in front of the audiences, yet for Katy Alex, sensuous, creative and poised, the name might not mean anything to many yet, but on the strength of this performance will no doubt be one to be considered with glowing terms.

Katy Alex, Gig Review. Studio 2, Liverpool. full post

(352 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Burnt, Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Daniel Bruhl, Ricardo Scamarcio, Omar Sy, Sarn Keeley, Henri Goodman, Matthew Rhys, Stephen Campbell Moore, Emma Thompson, Uma Thurman, Lexi Benbow-Hart, Alicia Vikander, Lily James.

Like films about sporting events, it can be hard to catch a piece of art when confining it to the kitchen, when allowing the furnace like quality, the cauldron of temper to infiltrate celluloid, for like an orchestra, every interpretation of the moves and subtle dance within a restaurant kitchen is open up for debate and explanation.

Burnt, Film Review. full post

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

Doctor Who: The Zygon Inversion. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Ingrid Oliver, Jemma Redgrave, Nicholas Asbury, Aiden Cook, Tom Wilton, Jack Parker, Nicholas Briggs.

If you want to defeat an enemy then talk their language, if you wish to save the world from destruction, then learn the art of co-existence, learn to have true and meaningful discourse.

For the world in which The Doctor inhabits is not one to be given up lightly. It is not a world of continued aggression, it is one where things can be achieved if people are willing to talk, willing to sacrifice something more than their humanity, something more powerful than the ability to change; it is not an invasion but a peace that can be sought and won.

Doctor Who: The Zygon Inversion. Television Review. full post

(427 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Big Girl’s Blouse. Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Coventry is a foreign country, they did things differently there; especially in the 1970s and to a young boy who knew he was a fabulous woman in waiting.

As part of this year’s Homotopia at the Unity Theatre, Kate O’ Donnell took the full house through what it was like to grow up as transgender in the Midlands city in the 1970s and 80s, the derision supplied the all-male establishments and the intolerance shown by her father and the ever increasing phrase ushered from his lips of Big Girl’s Blouse.

Big Girl’s Blouse. Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

No Cows Were Hurt In The Making Of This Mime.

The Paris sunshine stretched out the morning

as though sheets of puff pastry

had been laid out and baked under a blasting

furnace and the fluffy flakes had found

time to build a type of intimate imitation

that the day

would be memorable.

 

The hotel was not the type of place

in which to soak up culture

and the talk of visiting  Sacré- Cœur Basilica, success,

and finding the remains of Jim Morrison’s past, failure,

so the local French Arabia café became the pit stop

No Cows Were Hurt In The Making Of This Mime. full post

(652 words, estimated 2:36 mins reading time)

Vanessa Murray, Gig Review. Studio 2, Liverpool.

Vanessa Murray, Studio2, Liverpool. November 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Vanessa Murray, Studio2, Liverpool. November 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Time is such a precious commodity that to waste it, to allow the night to fall away into the arms of Morpheus without having seen something remarkable, something thrilling, something cool and loved without exception, could almost feel like a crime has taken place. To allow the night to just wander into obscurity, to fade away without falling in love, artistically or humanly seems a sad state of affairs to be in and in the words of the eternal prophet, something must be done; for it’s About Time.

Vanessa Murray, Gig Review. Studio 2, Liverpool. full post

(477 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Shannen Bamford, Gig Review. Studio 2, Liverpool.

Shannen Bamford at Studio 2, Liverpool. November 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Shannen Bamford at Studio 2, Liverpool. November 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Shannen Bamford is nobody’s fool and the sweet reflections of life she offers wherever there is a microphone with the right properties to care for her haunting and sensual voice should be heeded with big smiles of enjoyment and truth of life thrust into any day.

Shannen Bamford, Gig Review. Studio 2, Liverpool. full post

(430 words, 1 image, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)