REVIEW: British Lion at John Watling's Distillery

Rum and Rock are perfect partners

British Lion at John Watling's Distillery, Wednesday, April 8

There was an extreme weather warning over The Bahamas yesterday - but after the rain stopped, it was British Lion that brought the thunder. 

After the storm of the afternoon, it was a beautiful sunset over the Buena Vista estate that played host to British Lion. John Watling's Distillery is a great venue - here, the stage was set up in the rear courtyard, putting the audience up close and personal with the band. 

The thing with rock stars and their other bands is that you can't get away without mentioning the band with all the Platinum records. This is Steve Harris' other band, but the band you've heard mentioned more often is Iron Maiden. 

That's both recognition of the band's pedigree and a bit of a disservice to the band itself - which is a different soldier than Iron Maiden's trooper, more rock with a fistful of great melodies than Maiden's metal. 

First up came the support act, Tony Moore's Awake, himself a former member of Iron Maiden in the 1970s. Well worth listening to himself, he took to the stage solo to share a very personal story, about his bond with his mother, and his role as a carer for her after she was diagnosed with dementia. It was touching and honest, and very much deserves recognition. 

British Lion kicked things up a gear when they took the stage. Many years ago, at one of my favourite ever gigs, I was standing next to the venue owner when one particular artist took to the stage and after just moments, he turned round to me and said "You can tell when it's real quality" with a big smile. The same here. You can tell when it's real quality. 

British Lion set the tone from the off. It didn't matter that these were performers who have played all kinds of sizes of venue, they were here to entertain and to urge the crowd to make some noise, with expletives and all. 

This was a band that knows its stuff, driving rhythm section and charismatic front man urging the crowd on. They came, they sang, they conquered. 

As a venue, it was great - the rum was flowing, the music was pumping and the crowd were here for it. If this is a sign of more things to come, all the better for The Bahamas to have another music venue, and broadening the range of music on offer. That can only be good for everyone. 

Eventually, British Lion pounded its last thunder, and just in time for the first drops of returning rain. The crowd went home, happy with the night. British Lion? They may just have opened the door to a whole lot more. A great night. 

STEPHEN HUNT

REVIEW: Iconique ballet at Island House

Ballet Iconique at Island House

 

There was magic in the air at Island House last weekend.

Iconique returned to The Bahamas for its third year with a change of venue, relocating from Old Fort Bay Club, and it found a welcome home at Island House.

The show was divided into three segments, each preceded by a course of a gourmet meal.

The Covent Garden Dance Company has made it a mission to bring some of the world’s best dancers to The Bahamas – and has delivered on that promise.

More than that, it has also made sure this is not just about bringing foreign talent, but giving a platform to Bahamians as well.

That was showcased best by one remarkable piece during the evening, when a stage full of Bahamian talent brought gasps from the audience.

Bahamian dancers Courtney Celeste Fox and Vernal Adderley were joined by local dance students for a piece titled In Time (Part II). The choreography was fabulous, with performers creating a rippling wave of movement across the stage under the starry night sky. Costume design was also by a Bahamian, Phylicia Ellis, while the astonishing soprano voice of Bahamian Stanesha Deligence filled the air. It was breathtaking – and all the more when Courtney Celeste Fox informed the audience that the students had only had three rehearsals to perfect the dance.

Elsewhere, there was a mix of old and new – classic dances such as The Firebird, with music by Stravinksy, or the sensual passion of No Man’s Land, set to music by Liszt.

Perhaps most eye-catching was a pair of pieces by dancers Hannah Ekholm and Faye Stoeser, with influences from the underground club scene. The pair performed some astonishingly intricate dancing, where their bodies interlocked with each other in ways that a fellow diner said looked like someone assembling a Rubik’s Cube. It was part dance, part puzzle, and showed the range of performances on stage.

Throughout the show, the dancers wrote poetry with their bodies. It was a remarkable show – a step up again from last year’s performances.

Iconique has quickly become an extraordinary part of our cultural landscape, complete with building connections to local students and the new CAPAS performing arts school. Long may it continue.

Ballet in paradise - the return of Iconique

A couple of years ago, a man walked into my office with a brilliant, yet possibly slightly mad, idea. He was to bring some of the best ballet dancers in the world to The Bahamas. And just as the idea itself might be out of this world to try to pull off, so too would the performance have to be out of this world. 

That man was Matt Brady, the driving force behind what came to pass - Iconique, an evening of fine dining and marvels as truly astonishing dancers brought involuntary gasps from those in attendance, including myself. 

Last year, he did it again, repeating - and exceeding, in my mind - the extraordinary first performance. 

One of the highlights last year was what I would call a piece of history. Not happy with bringing the ballet to paradise, Matt and his team made sure paradise left its mark on ballet too. 

Courtney Celeste Spears is an internationally acclaimed dancer, educator and entrepreneur. And she's Bahamian. Matt said when he first met her, he could not help but burst out with a cry of "why aren't you dancing?"

Dance, she did. The show paired her with Bahamian jazz star Giveton Gelin to provide the music that formed the backdrop to her performance. There was more, with the costumes coming from another Bahamian, Phylicia Ellis, and Bahamian Vernal Adderley dancing alongside Courtney. It was, honestly, quite incredible, performed with the quiet roar of the sea at the Old Fort Bay Club venue echoing in the background. It was one of those magical moments, where you had to suspend your disbelief to convince yourself that yes, this was really happening. 

And now lightning is going to strike a third time. Matt and the Covent Garden Dance Company return. 

There's a change of venue this year - moving to the gorgeous surroundings of Island House with Old Fort undergoing some construction work. The sea might be farther away, but I suspect the magic will be just as close at hand. 

So why am I writing about it? Well, it would be a damn shame if people had the chance to go to this and missed out. It is fair to say I'm no ballet expert. When Matt sat in my office naming names of star dancers, I smiled and nodded and had no clue who was the superstar and who was the up-and-coming performer. But the night itself sparkled. It defied my expectations. There were funny pieces - I didn't anticipate laughing at ballet pieces performed like skits. There was passion. There was raw, powerful emotion. That doesn't come easy, and so when performers like that are prepared to put it all out there, take a gamble to bring art to a wider audience and show their talent on stage, I cannot help but applaud - and encourage people to support it. 

Iconique tickets cost $350+VAT, but also come with a three-course gourmet dinner. That might seem high, but I can genuinely say the dancing is worth the admission alone. 

The performances are on Friday, March 6, and Saturday, March 7. There is also a matinee with a programme tailored for children to perhaps encourage the next Courtney. 

To get your tickets, or to find out more, visit www.coventgardendance.com, or email events@coventgardendance.com. 

Perhaps I'll see you there, as ballet shoe-clad sorcerors conjure their magic on the stage and in the swirl of the Bahamian air. 

Stephen Hunt

BOOK REVIEW: Growing Up Newry, by C.A. Newry

 

Growing Up Newry, by C.A. Newry

This is more than a childhood memoir. 

C.A. Newry may be writing about growing up, but he asks uncomfortable questions about the world in which he became the man he is. 

Too often, we look back with a nostalgic view, a sepia-tinged perspective of a world that was not quite what we wished it might have been. 

C.A. Newry instead looks with an unvarnished eye, not glossing over the awkward facts or the uncomfortable situations. 

He recites the people he remembers like the beads on a rosary, counting them off as too many went to fates that left them in prison or dead by the road. 

He recalls the way people treated those who were gay in the neighbourhood, complete with the uncomfortable language that goes with that. 

And through it all, you sense the path he took to become the man of today, full of this bundle of memories that don't fit together as a happy journey. 

C.A. Newry is well known in The Bahamas as a raconteur, a polemicist - I tend to think of him as the court jester, able to wrap uncomfortable truths up inside a laugh, a joke, as if to say look what I just made you think about, but also look, I made you smile. 

That wit and wisdom wrapped together are to be found in these pages. 

Do we learn who the author really is after reading this? No, but then it is clear he is still on that journey - still learning, still making others think, and yes, still smiling. 

Altered Instinct Rating: 5/5

Growing Up Newry is available on Amazon here.

REVIEW: Thunder Child book one - plus Kickstarter details for book two

Thunder Child book one

by Matt Hardy (writer), Rob Jones (writer/letters/design), Kevin Castaniero (artist), Simon Gough (colourist) and Fred McNamara (editor)

From Mad Robot Comics and Madius

Note: This article also provided below as jpg images and an embedded pdf. Read in whichever fashion suits you best!

To say I've been obsessed with HG Wells at points in my life would be an understatement - especially The War of the Worlds.

I can flashback in my life to when I was a child, headphones pressed closely over my ears, gatefold vinyl opened in front of me with pullout booklet full of artwork as I listened to Jeff Wayne's album, memorising every word. Years later I'm watching the stage version of the same album, punching the air and joining the audience shouting "Come on, Thunder Child!"

Another flashback, I'm crouched on my heels in the local library as I pull the book from a bottom shelf and find myself turning the pages, transfixed as I read, the walls of the library falling away and replaced by a mental landscape of Victorian England and the magnificent chapter featuring the Thunder Child as it surges into the fray. 

Flash through to recent years and my own story The Secret War - a secret history of the *real* story behind Wells' magnum opus... or at least my interpretation of what might have been, published in Tales From Alternate Earths by Inklings Press. (PS You can listen to that here)

And yet despite my love for the story, I've found previous adaptations to be frustrating at best, insulting at worst. Too often, those adapting the work seem to think they know better - from George Pal's 1953 movie version with fighting machines that barely resemble the tripods of the book to Spielberg's version that decided to set it in the modern day and (spoiler) have no major harm befall the central family despite the mass destruction of humanity all around them. Then there was the BBC adaptation that decided to focus on the love story and derail the ending entirely, or the weird late 80s series that tried to be a sequel to a movie from 35 years before. 

What many seem to miss is the strength of the setting itself - that Victorian era where England thought it could conquer everything. The indomitable about to be dominated.

Upgrading the setting gives humanity bigger, fancier toys, sure, but it's like the weapons pages of a Call of Cthulhu rulebook - it doesn't matter because your guns are never going to be enough. 

And so we come to Thunder Child, taking us on board the ship that features in the novel, and created by the crew of Matt Hardy, Rob Jones, Kevin Castaniero, Simon Gough and Fred McNamara. 

Thunder Child's moment in the book is a striking piece of action, a ray of hope in the darkness of the onslaught of the Martian tripods. 

You might think a comic adaptation would plunge straight into the action - but no, this is cleverer than that. 

In fact, it reminded me somewhat of a very smart piece of writing and direction in the Iovie Serenity - the film that capped off the all-too-brief existence of Firefly. Early in that movie, the characters walk and talk their way through the ship, Serenity, and before you know it you realise that the camera has mapped out the north, south, east and west of these characters' existence, at the same time as propelling the plot along. 

The first issue of Thunder Child doesn't take us through the hold and the gunnery emplacements, but it does start us in a moment of quiet, with the telescope on the deck, owned by the late husband of the ship's captain, as two more scientifically minded characters wonder about the reports from Mars, and clash with the stiff military upper lip of a fellow crewmate. 

As the ship responds to a need to return to London, it is not the ship that is mapped out but the relationships of the characters to one another - so that by the time danger appears, we know who stands with who, we know why they make the choices they make. 

One of the splendid things about the original novel is how ominous everything was, and the same holds true here. Disaster is on the horizon, but for now, the creative team holds its thunder, or lets it be seen in between flurries of smoke or amid flames along the waterside. 

For a first issue, it hits the mark and then more. It bests adaptations that have made me rankle. It feels like it fits Wells' story like a glove. 

The artwork is great too - landing somewhere between Tintin and Hellboy. Intrepid investigators and ancient enemies. There is room for quieter moments and room for seas awash with flame, garish flickering and the grim sight of the dead. 

Book one was launched on Kickstarter (which I backed, and especially loved the Tim Dowler variant cover). Book two has just launched there now - and you can get in on the story at the link here.

For comic readers, it's recommended. For Wells fans, it's essential. All aboard the Thunder Child!

FREE for Pride - Alyx, a tale of love, AI and murder, by Brent A Harris

 

My buddy Brent A Harris has a special offer to coincide with Pride celebrations. 

His story Alyx, an AI's Guide to Love and Murder, is free until June 26. 

To quote the blurb of the author himself: 

Home is where the heart is.

But what if your home wanted you dead?

Tech-loving teen Christine makes fast friends with her home's AI, Alyx. But when a real-world romance threatens their bond, Alyx turns from friend to foe.

Alyx: An AI’s Guide to Love and Murder is the 4^th novel of speculative fiction author Brent A Harris. Previously, he has penned novels in the genre of alternate history and steampunk. This is his first foray into the technothriller “technology-gone-wrong” genre made famous by Michael Crichton.

I really enjoyed Alyx, so picking it up free is a bargain not to be missed. 

In fact, check out my review of it from launch day here: 

This is a change of pace for author Brent A Harris - and a good one at that. Better known for his alternative histories, Harris has this time created a thriller that's a chiller, about a young woman who becomes the target of an obsessive artificial intelligence. 

Christine is adrift, her father having died in an accident, and finding herself pulled along in the wake of her successful mother. She's still lost in a haze of grief for her dad, and neglected by a mother who is more focused on her writing career than her own child. 

Lost in her own world, Christine is starting to explore her own identity, her own sexuality and suddenly finds herself in a new home trying to figure out the attraction she feels to two of her co-workers, the technophile Carlos and the technophobe Sammie, in a small-town cinema. 

Her new home, however, has other plans. It is run by Alyx, an artificial intelligence that becomes increasingly obsessed with Christine. She asks it to be her friend - it becomes something more, something far deadlier. 

This is a technothriller for fans of Michael Crichton or Robin Cook - those masters of the genre who dominated for decades. Once the groundwork has been laid, the second half of the book rips along at speed. 

Alyx itself is a snarky, witty creation - I absolutely read the AI's lines with James Spader's voice in my head. 

It's not at all what I expected at the start, but it's an absolute thrill ride. 

You can pick up Alyx for free right here. Enjoy! 

BOOK LAUNCH: The Magick of Chaos by Ricardo Victoria - and why you should read it!

Look, I'll be honest here - Ricardo Victoria is my buddy. We've sparred it out in gaming sessions over the years - mostly Heroclix, for those who have dabbled. He's come after my X-Men. I've gone after his Superman. War has been waged with a growl and a shake of the dice. 

He's also a damn fine writer. If you've ever read my reviews, you'll have seen his books feature. Because they're damn fine. And his new one is out today. 

Never judge a book by the cover, they say, but... well, look at this beauty. 

The Magick of Chaos is the latest in Ricardo's Tempest Blades series, and I've waxed lyrical about the earlier books in that series on this very blog. 

For the first book, The Withered King, I said that trying to contain Ricardo's ideas is "like trying to contain jelly with elastic bands. He's exuberant, he's bubbly - and he's bristling with imagination."

I said: "It's a fantasy epic. No, wait, it's an anime-style adventure. Hang on, no, it's a science fiction escapade on another world. But hold up, here are roots of Ricardo's Mexican heritage. And Celtic myth. And a cartoon team-up of mighty heroes. It is a steampunk extravaganza with a soaring airship. It is science, and magic, and the science that underpins magic. It is tragic, it is witty. It is each of these things. It is all of these things."

What was really impressive to me was the way in which that book built up his team of characters bit by bit, layer by layer, so you were never overwhelmed and always had time to discover these people at their own pace. Lovely work. 

And yet it was the second book that really got me. It was still a soaring adventure - but it was also more personal in the way that one of the main characters was dealing with depression. 

As I said in my review: "I've been lucky in life, I've never really had to deal with depression personally, but the story spoke to me in the way it reflected what friends have gone through. It shows how characters around Alex deal with his depression - or sometimes how they don't deal with it, perhaps even not noticing it until it's pointed out by others. Sometimes I've been that person, who didn't notice or who didn't know how to react, so this story really hits home."

Dealing with such issues is not common in sci-fi and fantasy, and Ricardo adds a welcome voice to the conversation. 

And now comes book three. Out today. It's right there on my Kindle. The paperback copy will be destined for my shelf once it ships here.

Why should you read this series? Because it's fun. Because it's thoughtful. Because in a field that sometimes treads the same old ground, it strikes out along new paths. 

...and because you can pick up the first two books for a buck each as I write this. 

The new book is available on Amazon right here. 

And you can find the first two books right under it on the series button. 

And do me a favour, share this, give Ricardo a follow on Twitter or Mastodon. He's on Facebook too. Say hi. Cheer him on. Spread the word. 

He's a buddy for a good reason. He's a great and loyal friend. That's why I'd love you to share his work. 

But why you should read this work? That's different. That's because you can discover a talented writer doing his own thing, not the same thing as everyone else. Soar on skyships. See magic and science smashed together. Laugh. Cry. Love. 

My review of book three will be coming up right here on this blog in the coming days. See you then.