Reviews, thoughts and ideas on music, movies and more
A little over six years ago I started this blog as a place to archive some of the freelance writing I was doing for different magazines and newspapers, as well a seeing a place for original articles and entries related to my radio work. Now, as I hit 1000 posts, I thought I'd take a... Continue Reading →
Every year since its inception the Guernsey Literary Festival has included a musical cross over element to its programme from the punk poetry of John Cooper Clarke and Attila The Stockbroker to the comedy songs of Neil Innes or more straight musical performance for Heidi Joubert. For the 2018 festival they presented two events with... Continue Reading →
If you've been following this blog for a while you'll probably have picked up the idea that I'm a fan of Dune - from Frank Herbert's original novel to David Lynch's film, and much of the surrounding lore, both of the fictional world of the books and in regard to other adaptions of it from... Continue Reading →
Hollywood has many faces, as I've recently seen with a rewatch of La La Land and The Decline of Western Civilisation, but its most famous is, of course, the film industry. Famously led by an insular network of producers and 'money men' who employ directors, actors and, here most crucially, writers (amongst others) to create... Continue Reading →
Whether its New York, London, Manchester or anywhere else, the emergence of punk music in the mid to late 1970s is one part of the history of rock ’n’ roll that has always held a certain fascination for me. One story I had heard little about though was how the punk scene had come to... Continue Reading →
It's probably a fair assumption to make that most people know the name The Big Sleep from the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall vehicle that is the 1946 movie. Before that though it was the debut novel of hardboiled detective writer Raymond Chandler and it introduced the world to his most famous creation, private eye,... Continue Reading →
Where does one start with telling the story of The KLF (variously known as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The JAMs, The Timelords or The K Foundation)? That is exactly the question that John Higgs starts with in his 2012 book exploring the story of the musical career of Bill Drummond (King Boy D)... Continue Reading →
Stephen King’s sprawling epic is one of the stories that has become ingrained in the popular culture of the last three decades. A big part of that will be down to Tim Curry staring TV adaptation and the more recent movie version, but also thanks to the sheer scale and relatability of the novel. Even... Continue Reading →
In 2015 the Guernsey Literary Festival expanded its programme to incorporate 'graphic novels' for the first time with a focus on the islands links to a revelling of Victor Hugo's The Man Who Laughs in that form. As part of that a workshop was held with the writer and artist who adapted Hugo's novel, David... Continue Reading →
