Lovehistory Brings Murder To St. George’s Hall This November.

Lovehistory, producers of the popular ’Catacombs of Liverpool’s Dark History’ series, are set to delve deeper into Liverpool’s history to bring its murderous past to a stage setting for the very first time.

In collaboration with Bill Elms, St George’s Hall’s famous Concert Room will host an evening of murder, mayhem and mystery in November, re-enacting four of Liverpool’s most notorious historic murders. A team of versatile actors in period costume, along with effective lighting, sound effects and projection to transport audiences to the gruesome setting of the past.

Lovehistory Brings Murder To St. George’s Hall This November. full post

(531 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Paul Dunbar, Gig Review. Above The Beaten Track, The Bluecoat, Liverpool.

Paul Dunbar at the Bluecoat, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Paul Dunbar doesn’t work that often without his tremendous band, The Midnight Ramble, thundering with exquisite charm beside him and the sound of a thousand instruments all begging for that brief but beautiful solo spot in which to extol the virtues of one of Liverpool’s finest young bands. However, when he does it is with the same resounding belief and great bundles of effort he puts into the group arena and it shows as always, great humility and tremendous authority.

Paul Dunbar, Gig Review. Above The Beaten Track, The Bluecoat, Liverpool. full post

(402 words, 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Anthony Cunningham, Gig Review. Above The Beaten Track, The Bluecoat, Liverpool.

Anthony Cunningham at the Bluecoat, Liverpool. September 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It’s when you hear a song being taken to its vocal extremes that you realise just how good someone is and you that you find yourself making a note in your diary to check out when the possibility of catching them again will arise; it is at that moment when art in any of its forms speaks out to you.

Anthony Cunningham, Gig Review. Above The Beaten Track, The Bluecoat, Liverpool. full post

(443 words, 1 image, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

SheBeat, Gig Review. Above The Beaten Track, The Bluecoat, Liverpool. (2015).

SheBeat at the Bluecoat, Liverpool. September 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The softly spoken but dynamite lyricist SheBeat once more was made to feel more than welcome as part of the Above The Beaten Track Festival at the Bluecoat and it is with little wonder as the sound of carefully laid out creativity echoed through the Sandon Room at the Bluecoat and the smile on the faces inside as they enjoyed the songs was something to behold.

SheBeat, Gig Review. Above The Beaten Track, The Bluecoat, Liverpool. (2015). full post

(351 words, 1 image, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Yarbo, Gig Review. Above The Beaten Track, The Bluecoat, Liverpool.

Yarbo at the Bluecoat, September 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

September in the Bluecoat Garden has the type of ring to it that should be preserved in a sonnet or the wild imaginings of Liverpool’s Roger McGough. It is the poetic statement that deserves its own Blue Plaque and with the acknowledgement that Adrian Henri sat here and contemplated the form and gave to the world freely. Yet as the chimes of 1p.m. sounded somewhere in the city, the quietly resolute garden, the abundance of music lovers sat or stood with patience and fortitude for the coming day of music ahead, Yarbo took to the stage and played with freedom and mutual understanding.

Yarbo, Gig Review. Above The Beaten Track, The Bluecoat, Liverpool. full post

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

The Avengers Lost Episodes Volume 4: Hunt The Man Down. Audio Drama Review, Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Anthony Howell, Julian Wadham, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Tim Treloar, Elizabeth Morton, Mark Bonnar, Robbie Stevens.

Prison is not a place where the unknown stays hidden for long and yet for Frank Preston, serving Time for the stealing £100,000 pounds, the exact location of his ill-gotten gains has remained a complete mystery to everybody but him.

The Avengers Lost Episodes Volume 4: Hunt The Man Down. Audio Drama Review, Big Finish. full post

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

A Man Lost In The Fog.

It was the most simple of questions

but one shrouded in mist

and complications,

like the no 53 bus making its

way down the Stanley Road in

unbearable fog, inching forward,

the tyres considering their way slowly

as the driver peered through the window

screen, his passengers wary of what lays

beyond the squeaky door

and the broad panic

as the mist devours the familiar.

“Can I buy you a drink”, she asks,

the sincerity in her voice catching

me off guard for a moment

A Man Lost In The Fog. full post

(560 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

2013: Infected Wars (PS Vita), Game Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5 out of 10

2013: Infected Wars is a third-person action adventure shooter game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS Vita with compatibility for PlayStation T.V. The release is Action Mobile Games’ debut game having originally released for iOS in November 2013 and now making their debut on PlayStation Vita.

2013: Infected Wars (PS Vita), Game Review. full post

(2407 words, estimated 9:38 mins reading time)

Iron Maiden, The Book Of Souls. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The daddy has been threatening to come and take pretenders to the throne to the woodshed for so long that it was beginning to feel like an empty threat. The oh so nears, the very superb last live album giving the respect the band deserve, but the studio albums setting the world on fire but not demolishing it to smithereens as they did between 1983 and 1988, now arguably Iron Maiden, with everything that has gone on behind the scenes in the intervening years, have released the best studio album of their career since Seventh Son of A Seventh Son and one that doesn’t just growl in the dark, it rages with constant delight.

Iron Maiden, The Book Of Souls. Album Review. full post

(512 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Me And Earl And The Dying Girl, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon, Jon Bernthal, Katherine C. Hughes, Matt Bennett, Masam Holden, Bobb’e J. Thompson, Gavin Dietz, Edward DeBruce III, Natalie Marchelletta, Chelsea Zhang, Marco Zappela, Kaza Marie Ayersman, Etta Cox, Karriem Sami, Hugh Jackman.

Coming of age films can leave a bitter feeling in the mouth, not through the quality of the film but in how they are perceived to make older audiences feel.

Me And Earl And The Dying Girl, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(560 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)