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thisisUll.com, the alternative media website from Hull in England! This website is about people's lives and experiences - whoever they are - for us all to share. Every article, poem, story, review is contributed by you. Say what you feel, say it like it is. We do our best to publish everything you send to us. Please email your friends and send your stories to: contributions@thisisull.com. thisisUll.com has provided a free, independent platform for anyone and everyone to use since August 2003. The site depends on its editorial and production team who continue to toil tirelessly and without pay to bring 'Ull to you. We run on a shoestring and rely solely on advertising revenue to fund the site. Please help support thisisUll.com. We can't do it without you! Advertisers - Please check our advertising rates - Click Here Bands, promoters, venues and everybody else! Please help support us by buying a t-shirt or providing a link to thisisUll.com on your website or myspace page. Not sure how? Click here for information.

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Reviews, Books - A Book at Christmas Reviewed by Tim Roux
	About eighteen months ago I decided to look around and see who else was writing books in the Hull and East Riding region, much encouraged by discovering the work of Hull crime fiction and gangster authors Nick Quantrill and Danny Birch. I thought that there would only be a few of us knocking about, veritable prophets on our own shifting mud banks, but Nick Quantrill and Rich Sutherland (then at Waterstones) Read more...

Poetry - Sweet As A Nut By Mike Watts

I'm under the shower Just about finished I turn the dial Squeak back my wet hair I'm done I pull back the curtain And with one foot up On the side of the bath Read more...

People - An Interview with Danny of Velvet Star By Steve Rudd
	Aspiring to bring good old fashioned rock 'n' roll music back to the masses, Yorkshire based boys Velvet Star have triumphantly made a name for themselves in Glam/Punk inspired style during 2009. In the wake of their Dirty Girl single release, the band is primed to set the music industry ablaze with their vitriolic tunes. Having played well received shows all over the West Riding, Read more...

Poetry - Cornflower Blue By Dayne Coyne
	I have seen you down the pubs and down the gay clubs Seen you walking past my window in the evening You've got hazy eyes of cornflower blue Yes, you've got hazy eyes of cornflower blue Yes, you've got hazy eyes of cornflower blue And that night that we went for a pizza Did they shine with a different hue? Read more...

Poetry - Middle Age Blues By Terry Ireland

Kids and tobacco, you've got to be joking. Filter tips and low tar you don't call that smoking. Do you remember Senior Service and Capstan Full Strength? Full of lethal potential every inch of their length. You cleared your tubes with a good morning cough Read more...

Poetry - A Not So Subtle Reminder By Joe Hakim

I don't know what I was thinking - it was probably some half-baked way to demonstrate my masculinity or something equally as stupid. I was drunk, of course, and for some reason it seemed Read more...

Places to Visit - Rudd On The Road Part Seventeen: On Foot Across LA By Steve Rudd
	I don't like not knowing what's out there. I prefer to be informed rather than ignorant. I hate living in the knowledge that there are sections of certain towns and cities in the world that I know next-to-nothing about. That's why, given the chance, I always walk whenever and wherever I can. I walk and I walk and I walk until my feet begin to announce their grievances. Read more...

Fiction - A Nice, Romantic Man By Frankie Lassut
	Men! All the same! But, all I want is a nice one! All he has to do is be interested in me, and throw rose petals in my scented bath (which he ran) just like in American Beauty! Not much to ask is it? I deserve it. She walked in the countryside with him, hand in hand; there was plenty of energy in the new romance. Love was in the air! Wildlife could sense this. Birds sang, grasshoppers rasped, and butterflies just did what they do. They came across a copse. Read more...

Art - Introducing Stuart Tideswell. New Gallery Added.
	My name is Stuart and I live in Nottingham. I mainly do graphic work, pastels and paintings. In the past I've done work in cloth and other media. Topics I like doing include abstract, symbolic, nature. Myself and a couple of friends have set up a small limited company, called Avona Ltd., through which we intend to promote our creative work. Read more...

Music News - Official Best of Hull Album Release
	In a unique collaboration between Hull College, Purple Worm Records and local musicians, the Best of Hull Volume One, Official Album to the Freedom Festival 2009, has nominated a local charity as its direct beneficiary. The first of its kind in the city, the Best of Hull celebrates local music of all genres, both past and present, providing an eclectic body of work of historical significance to Hull's music scene. The Best of Hull offers not only a rich and varied Read more...

People - An Interview with Luke Keegan By Steve Rudd
	Passionate singer-songwriters like Luke Keegan are few and far between. Blessed with a soulful voice and a mesmerising guitar-playing technique, Luke is currently living in the seaside resort of Scarborough where he is making a name for himself in local music circles, having recently played a number of high-profile sets, one of which was at The Victoria Hotel in support of Edwina Hayes. Read more...

Poetry - This is Love? By Phil Pretheroe

	Good life, nice life, smiles, a justifyingly uplifting, guilt free swagger. No care in the world, happiness, and content... Read more...

News, Arts Write to Speak Featuring Byron Vincent and Molly Naylor at Hull Truck on Wednesday 9th December 09
	Show Starts at 8pm Tickets £5 Hull Truck Box Office (01482) 323638 Yorkshire's first theatre based spoken word night will be returning to the studio space at Hull Truck theatre on Wednesday 9th December featuring Byron Vincent and Molly Naylor, hosted by Joe Hakim and Mike Watts. Edgy, dynamic and sometimes shocking, Write to Speak will challenge and entertain - leave your preconceptions at the door. Read more...

People - An Interview with Eric Weiner By Steve Rudd
	Earlier this year, writer Eric Weiner had a book published about his quest to hunt down the happiest places on earth. Steve Rudd caught up with him to ask him about it ... Hi Eric, how are things? Things are good. Or at least as good as can be expected for a self-confessed 'grump'. You are the author of a book called The Geography of Bliss in which you aim to find the happiest and unhappiest nations in the world. What first motivated you to write a book concerned with happiness? Read more...

Poetry - Fun and Games By Mike Watts

1:07 am I'm battling the shits And an agony so intense I feel as though rats Are tearing their way Out of me I double over and clutch My shins Read more...

Poetry - Posh Girl By Jim Higo

Your faux civility knows no bounds, You smile at me like a Thai waitress, and for a second you almost persuade me that you are genuinely interested in what I'm saying. But then you nod when you shouldn't and I know you don't care; your mind is elsewhere, like when intelligent people are forced to sit through soap operas. Read more...

Poetry - Arts and Culture in Hull By Joe Hakim

it's about who your friends are and the circles you move in it's about the boxes you tick and the forms you fill out it's about being the same as everyone else and crushing individuality it's about appealing to the Read more...

Poetry - Metal Box By Dean Wilson

	Meet me in the long grass by what's left of the factory where our mothers worked and I will count the freckles on your back. Read more...

Poetry - Garbage By Terry Ireland

There was a memorial in the Cathedral Then one father took a stand, Refusing to grasp and shake The ex leaders bloodied hand. He was dragged up by his boot straps, on an inner city sink estate, from a family full of love, lived in a street full of hate. And he joined the British army Read more...

Album Reviews - Nat Johnson and the Figureheads - Roman Radio (Damaged Goods) By Dick Spring
	For 21 years now, the Damaged Goods label has brought the world a riot of punk rock and guitar pop bands, even 'discovering' the Manic Street Preachers along the way. Alongside this indulgence and guiding the career of medway marauders like Billy Childish, Thee Headcoats, Pete Molinari etc, it seems to have a penchant for an interesting female vocal as well. There seems to be a similarly diverse strategy to this also, with the likes of Helen Love alongside Fabienne Delsol, and label stalwart Holly Golightly. Read more...

Poetry - Boxing The Compass By Carol Coiffait

You can stay in one place only long enough to find your way to the chip-shop, the bus-stop and back home Or longer to make a net Read more...

Poetry - Cider Barry By Mike Watts

My mate's a boozer Always smashed on cider Always lost in space Wind milling All over the place And it troubles me It's horrible Watching him drown In fermented apple Read more...

Poetry - Brough Haven By Carol Coiffait

Here, where they say the Romans crossed, the river is raw; a mangy dog chewing at its flank. Great gobs of grass and mud, slewing and shouldered, field by sly field off the northern bank. All that is left for the beleaguered sheep and lambs Read more...

Poetry - Ode to Sir John By Mark Walmsley
	A warm summer noon, for a game of bowls Lily white dresses on court, Fine cut grass with honeysuckle perfume A surely cocked boater Gin fizz and water Willow hooked seamer, red leather to be caught. Clattering carts, over cobbled cascade Read more...

Reviews, Theatre - Tuesday 27th October 09 - Write To Speak Featuring Kate Tempest and Matt Panesh at Hull Truck By Dick Spring
	The consistency in stunning quality of acts brought to perform at this night (which is Yorkshire's only theatre based spoken word / poetry night) by Hull poet Joe Hakim is simply phenomenal. With another fantastic and packed house, it was a thoroughly enjoyable event. Opened as usual by Hull's flag bearing poet in residence Joe Hakim and his stage partner Mike Watts, their competence and stagecraft is second to one, with lots of good interaction Read more...

Poetry - My Poem From 1979 By Ruth

I never wanted to paint by the numbers, and always had to do it myself - my way. When was it that I traded my blueprint canvas for a tabula rasa? Too long ago; can't remember. All around me, my peers going through someone else's predictated motions. Dancing: With painted footsteps Singing: With someone else's words Read more...

Reviews, Theatre - Tuesday 27th October 09 - Write To Speak Featuring Kate Tempest and Matt Panesh at Hull Truck By Michelle Dee
	Just had to write something about Tuesday's Write To Speak at Hull Truck Theatre. The regular event showcases the best poetry and spoken word from around the country. Tonight we have the incredible vocal dexterity of Kate Tempest (London) and the poems, ponderings and profane humour of Matt Panesh (Manchester) on his Welcome to the U.K. tour. Read more...

Poetry - A Right Kettle to Fix By Patrick Henry
	Protest at street demos, taken as free right, Frames you on mad fringes in duffle coats. Cordons of order close in the nation's thought, That terror looms more than fresh climates we need. Cops numberless strike, then hide in shadows. A newsvendor is hit by no sheer chance, But a target for their control at points of info. Read more...

Poetry - If Only You Knew By Joe Hakim

Put the tips of your fingers into my mouth while I trace the outline of your thigh. I could crawl into you, you could bury me - make me forget to set the alarm. I want to watch your throat as you Read more...

Poetry - Balloon Boy Saga By Belinda Barchard
	'Just go and hide in the attic' he said as he talked to his child on the end of the bed 'but why Daddy, do I have to hide?' his son of six questioned as he sat by his side 'Because you have to pretend that you're in my homemade balloon ... when it flies through the sky to your 'impending doom' 'But why do we have to pretend that it's me?' His Dad smiled 'because we'll be on TV!' Read more...

Articles - The Political Show Trial the BBC Just Couldn't Resist By Steve Regan, the King of Hull

Shame on the BBC for giving a platform to people prepared to deny the dignity and worth of fellow human beings. Yes, the bullying approach adopted by the Justice Secretary Jack Straw, Tory Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Liberal-Democrat MP Chris Huhne and the American writer Bonnie Greer on last night's Question Time was an affront to decency. And the BBC top brass should not have allowed the show's usual format to be hijacked and used as a nasty and counter-productive show trial of BNP chairman Nick Griffin. Read more...

Places to Visit - Rudd On The Road Part Sixteen: When in Venice ... By Steve Rudd
	No visit to LA is complete without a saunter along Venice Beach, south of Santa Monica. The actual beach is beautiful, yet it is the mad parade of stalls and performers which are set back from the beach on Ocean Front Walk that are the real attraction to this part of the city. It's like the sixties never ended, a slew of tarot card readers, tattoo artists, dubiously talented musicians and all manner of folk on the scrounge for marijuana making Read more...

Poetry - Hyde and Seek By Bronwyn Ellis
	By the light of the day he is merely a shadow, A dark faceless echo pursuing my steps, He stalks through the mirrors to haunt my reflection, A secretive burden too long I have kept. A phantom of sins which denied my suppression, Laid dormant for years in the wells of my brain, But curious Henry with notions and potions, Awakened the slumbering evils again.Read more...

Articles - Memories of Hull Part 2 By Terry Hood

After being away from Hull for 40 years it was great to see my home town again and its friendly people. Some places I can remember and have now probably gone are Gainsborough fish and chip restaurant, the Cecil cinema where I went with my wife and my mum to see Emil Ford and the Checkmates, the Tower and Regent cinemas. There was Sydney Scarborough's record shop were the trawler men used to go for the latest records when they came home from sea. Read more...

Poetry - Post Cod War Blues Part 2 - A Mouthful of Ashes By Terry Ireland

Blood money isn't paid in silver these days, just transferred straight to your account with a sheet of computerised data to inform you their agreed amount. Now I'm standing over the fish sheds to my front are near empty docks behind, the steady running Humber, to the left the gates and locks.Read more...

Music News - British Urban Collective Youth Music Project Strikes a Chord in Hull
	British Urban Collective is a national youth\u2010music project that turns inner city kids into rising stars of the British music industry. The project launched in 2004 as London Urban Collective and has now expanded into Hull, Manchester, Belfast and Glasgow, with funding through the Execution Charitable Trust. The Hull artists featured on the British Urban Collective album, to be independently released on Freeport Records / Universal Digital Read more...

People - An Interview with Jonny Bealby By Steve Rudd
	A true traveller's traveller, Jonny Bealby has intimately explored a staggering number of exotic countries. Thankfully, when he decided to undertake a daring circumnavigation of Africa by motorbike, Jonny made sure he wrote all about the many and varied trials and tribulations encountered 'on the road.' The resultant book was entitled Running With The Moon, and it became a roaring success. Bolstered by the public's reaction to his way with words, Jonny went on to write Read more...

Poetry - Returning to Paragon, St. Stephens By Julie Corbett

The harvest of sniper seeds Loaded to crevice and gutter Lesser yellowed urban bouquets Chlorophyll stems Renewing old lines and visions Seasonal planning of the green space Many striations and stipples Read more...