MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
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Round-up 2018: Tim Wells
TIM WELLS looks back on a stimulating year of poetry, music and publishing
Whippersnappin' punk: Big Joanie
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
The missing sister, the vengeful WAG, cruise ship claustrophobia, and reanimated Avengers
Three great releases of lost concerts by Duke Ellington Orchestra, John Taylor & Stan Sulzman, and Joe Henderson
To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
MY CHRISTMAS doesn’t start until I’ve randomly heard the seasonal Slade smash. As of yet, I’ve still not, but this week I did read what may well be my favourite poem of the year.
I’m Shocked by Iris Colomb from Bad Betty Press is a one-poem chapbook, which may well be my favourite of the year. The poem’s a cracker. It starts: “I was drunk but not paralytic ...” and that refrain weaves through it just as I’ve done down Stamford Hill more times than I care to remember. This is small-press poetry kicking it — intelligent, witty and crafted and it felt like more than sex.
Going back to my yoof with 'zines, one of the book launches I best enjoyed in 2018 was Tony D’s collected issues of Ripped & Torn, a punk original dating back to 1976. Herein you’ll find angst and anger but sadly more Adam and the Ants than I care for.
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