Lennon, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. (2014)

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: John Power, Tom Connor, Kirsten Foster, Ross Higginson, Adam Keast, Jonathan Markwood, Daniel McIntyre, Mark Newnham, Nicky Swift.

It is impossible to thank somebody across the ages, to shake their hand and say cheers for bringing a story to life, even when that person is still such a force in Liverpool’s artistic and cultural society, you cannot go back to a day over 30 years ago and tell them thank you for telling the dramatic life of one of the true heroes to have come from a city in which salutes its champions harder than anywhere else in the country. However if you should bump into Bob Eaton then try your absolute best to thank him for taking the chance on a production at the Everyman Theatre just a few short months after the passing of John Lennon.

Lennon, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. (2014) full post

(594 words, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)

Seether, Isolate And Medicate. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Every so often the urge to bang your head in time to the powerful beat playing out before you is so overwhelming that anyone with a serious neck condition might really have to think twice before disregarding a medical practitioners sage advice. On the other hand, you only live once and the music that Seether, the raw power that comes across from Shaun Morgan, Dale Stewart and John Humphrey amps should never get in the way of enjoying the unfolding spectacle.

Seether, Isolate And Medicate. Album Review. full post

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

Gary Gardner, Privileged. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Having had the honour of seeing Gary Gardener perform live, the music fan could take the news of an imminent release of an E.P. with great pleasure. In fact in some parts of the world the celebrations would be so great that they would be cleaning off the bunting off the streets for weeks! This though being Britain, restrained jubilance is always a key. For there would be nothing worse than taking a well-made pudding out of the oven and adding just another egg to the texture. Gary Gardner is worth more than that and the set of songs he has placed under the E.P. title of Privileged is not just a sign of things to come but the eye raising unrestricted look into a musician’s mind.

Gary Gardner, Privileged. E.P. Review. full post

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

Liverpool Legend Ian McNabb Joins 92.1 FM Wirral Radio.

Get ready for 2 hours of premium rock ‘n’ roll, super opinionated banter, superb guests and live music every Friday night 10pm to midnight on The Ian McNabb Show.

“I am a lover of radio and always listen to a few hours of it every week in the hope that I will hear something I’ve never heard before and learn something new. Being given this opportunity to have my own show on Wirral Radio is a real thrill for me, especially as I have no brief from anyone about what type of music I can play. I have a free hand and it will basically be a night round at mine for a party. I can’t wait! I will also feature a guest every week and we will have acoustic music live. I will play some of my own stuff too of course” says Ian McNabb.

Liverpool Legend Ian McNabb Joins 92.1 FM Wirral Radio. full post

(572 words, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

F.I.F.A World Cup 2014. Columbia V Greece. Match Report.

First published by Ace Magazine online, June 2014

Columbia taking on Greece was never going to be the highlight of the 2014 World Cup; however for the 50,000 plus fans inside the Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte the game was surely riveting, colourful and for the first four minutes at least could have gone either way. It was a game in which vindication of 32 teams in the competition presented itself, perhaps for the first time since 1990.

F.I.F.A World Cup 2014. Columbia V Greece. Match Report. full post

(1125 words, estimated 4:30 mins reading time)

World Cup 2014: Ivory Coast V Japan. Match Report

First published by Ace Magazine, June 2014.

Until the legendary Didier Drogba came off the bench, The Ivory Coast never truly looked like breaking sweat, let alone scoring. Yet something changed in the space of two minutes, something astonishing happened, The Ivory Coast suddenly turned on the heat, the drums in the stands, so long a sound to terrify even the most seasoned of explorers to the dark-continent, became louder, deafening and thunderous and matched the intensity in which Cheick Tioté, Didier Drogba and Yaya Touré had wanted their team to play.

World Cup 2014: Ivory Coast V Japan. Match Report full post

(946 words, estimated 3:47 mins reading time)

The Royal Southern Brotherhood, Heartsoulblood. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

No limits, that’s all you can ever truly hope for in life. To be able to live with the knowledge that all that you have done is all that you could physically do; that there was no quarter given, no hidden page left unread and sequel available as every possible plot point and character development had been written in to the life story. Records and music is like that also, except that where the blood sweat and tears of one album runs deep into the furthest recess of the heart, there is always room for more of the same, or even a deviation from the artistic norm, of a second “difficult” album.

The Royal Southern Brotherhood, Heartsoulblood. Album Review. full post

(493 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Tomb Ship. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish Productions.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Eve Karpf, Amy Ewbank, James Hayward, Jonathan Forbes, Ben Porter, Phil Mulryne, Francesca Hunt.

It is worth remembering that Big Finish have been producing Doctor Who audio dramas now for almost 15 years, nearly 200 separate adventures in the main canon as well as the plethora of spin offs involving the very best of companions, so occasionally you listen to a story, in this case Tomb Ship, and you nod your head with great understanding that it didn’t just miss the mark, it hit the larger target next to it and disturbed all the arrows that seemed firmly in place.

Doctor Who: Tomb Ship. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish Productions. full post

(480 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Fargo: A Fox, A Rabbit And A Cabbage. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Allison Tolman, Colin Hanks, Martin Freeman, Bob Odenkirk, Keith Carradine, Joey King, Susan Park, Stephen Root, Helena Mattsson, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Lorne Cardinal, Jennifer Copping, Jade Davis.

When the Devil makes the most of the innocuous then you know it’s time to be really terrified.

Fargo: A Fox, A Rabbit And A Cabbage. Television Review. full post

(458 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Justice League, Volume Two: The Villain’s Journey. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Whatever they were paying Geoff Johns at D.C. Comics, to be honest it really was not enough. Almost single handed, (when isn’t writing a single handed occupation unless it involves film scripts and American television comedy?) he revitalised, what was in the eyes of many a dying flag ship, the crumbling dust of an empire that had been ground seemingly apart by Marvel’s prodigious output and the emergence of some true independent greats. Whether Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Terminator, Locke & Key or any other superbly written graphic art novel, D.C. seemed to be only holding together in part due to the bankability of its greatest creation, Batman.

Justice League, Volume Two: The Villain’s Journey. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(619 words, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)