John Shand Posts

July 9, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

Violinair (Violipiano) I like the way Luca Ciarla’s mind works. Music, the Italian seems to suggest, is a game in which one toys with idiom and mood, while appropriating whatever makes it more fun, whether that’s his own superlative facility on the violin, electronic gadgetry, compositional diversity or improvised interaction.…

July 6, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

Old Time Sing Song Man (Pound) When Tom Waits first emerged in the 1970s he sounded about 30 years older than he was. Archer somehow doubles that, sounding like his own grandfather, and he writes songs you’d swear were first aired before the recording industry was even born. The weird…

July 5, 2015 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Hayes Theatre, June 16 I had a beloved great-aunt who, among other qualities, set herself apart from the family pack simply by being single. Geraldine Quinn is not only single, she is in show-biz, so almost inevitably she radiates cool for her 19 (!) nieces and nephews and offers a…