In black and white
she let the steam from her coffee
rise above the page boy haircut,
dance for the shortest
time around her eyes,
deep, beautiful, the sparkling seduction
of a desert song at dusk
and let the sigh of ages push
the coffee to its farthest shore
and the small bubbles of indifference
pass in their wake
like small tug boats caught in an
ocean storm.
I see her in monochrome,
the shadow of the day
falling over her face, the small wisps of hair
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There’s a lot to be said for the way that Lamb of God go about their business. Two or three decades earlier they even would have arguably been placed in the exclusive grouping that held Anthrax, Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth as the American bombardment to the British Metal invasion that was aiming their mighty guns at world domination. However as the band’s latest album VII: Sturm Und Drang clearly shows, the New Wave of American Heavy Metal and their acolytes have made it their business to keep the flag flying on a genre that has lost out heavily to the resurgence of the European, and in particular the Scandinavian element, in recent years.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It was the maxim of honour, the unshakable code that respectable people lived by and in times of war, disaster or even the offerings of pleasure, it was the denial of self-interest that kept an ideal alive; the notion of Women And Children First, the chivalric tone of reverence to those that were thought defenceless and one of the only good things to come out of the Victorian hangover that has been in place despite the changing face of Britain since the end of World War Two.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The rage and fury that dominated the headlines as Punk took on the establishment in the 1970s seemed perhaps, with a few very obvious exceptions of talented genius, to be one more of the best of marketing campaigns to shock and embarrass the nation into feeling the anger of a disaffected youth. One that had been badly let down as the decade wore on but who in turn had been used by those seeking to capitalise upon the market appeal rather than the sound and words of resentment that was being hurled like a four letter word at the faux outraged on television.
Unlike Robert the Bruce,
I feel no sense of accomplishment when watching the industry
of the spider as it spins its fine silken dance at the bottom
edge of my library window.
I sit there watching it recreate the try
and try again routine in the vain hope of catching the elusive
as each morning I brush away the web
but never seeing the many fold truth of its endeavours.
I am not inspired by its work,
quite the opposite, for I feel it puts me to shame
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Life is but a tale in which we are the masters of our own sharpened pencil and in which higher powers will always have an eraser, a bottle of correction fluid and a redaction machine handily placed in which to make us disappear if need be, or at the very least make our lives seem worthless and out of control. It is in this action that words and deeds become heroic or they become creatures in which the under fire find a kindred spirit; either way words are power, in whichever hands they are handled.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Forest Whitaker, Oona Laurence, 50 Cent, Naomie Harris, Victor Ortiz, Tyrese Gibson, Miguel Gomez, Beau Knapp, Rita Ora, Clare Foley, Dominic Colón, Jose Caraballo, Malcolm M. Mays, Aaron Quattrocchi, Lana Young, Danny Henriquez, Patsy Meck, Vito Grassi, Tony Weeks, Jimmy Lennon Jr., Charles Hoyes, Clare Foley, Mark Shrader, Adam Kroloff, Skylan Brooks, Patrick Jordan, Cedric D. Jones, Jim Lampley.
I can feel the beat of a what could be a great dance move begin
as the vibrations start
and despite what the Beach Boys proclaimed in
they are not good,
in fact for the Time they nestle in my bones,
and spread out across the landscape,
the battle ground with flags and basecamps
bombarding my body,
the juddering, static charge of small tactical grenades
going off deep inside me but with the added,
sheer galling bonus of that it only affects those
who see me weeping on the bed,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
In even the cloudiest day there has to be some sunshine, a ray of tiny hope, of the singular thought that come the following morning all will be cool and well; that humanity will have realised finally that the pursuit of monetary gain is nothing compared to the sight of seeing someone waiting for you on the doorstep with welcome arms as you approach your Homelands.
Liverpool Sound and Vision 8.5/10
Life sometimes echoes the finer points of baseball from a British or European perspective, nothing interesting for perhaps an entire innings and then suddenly from out of nowhere comes a curve ball of the highest order or the magnificence of a ball that sails out the stadium which brings up the notable achievement of beating Henry Aaron’s career home run total or joining Ty Cobb in the milestone of 300 home runs.