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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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People - An Interview with Leila Slater (Mastermind behind Moonbeams Acoustic Nights in Driffield By Steve Rudd
	Fed up with having to travel out of town to indulge in her passion for live music, Leila Slater boldly took it upon herself to start organizing and promoting her own nights of live music in Driffield. Taking the form of intimate Acoustic nights, her Moonbeams events have so far attracted a whole host of marvelous musicians and singers from near and far. Read more...

Reviews, Books - Here, Bullet by Brian Turner Reviewed by Michelle Dee
	Here, Bullet is as startling as it is direct. The anthology of poems written by the multi award-winning U.S. war veteran Brian Turner uncovers the landscape of the war in Iraq with unswerving honesty and importantly he writes from a non-political viewpoint. Brian Turner saw active service for seven years which included leading an Infantry Team in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division in November 2003. Read more...

Poetry - Scribble By Heather Cairns

These days it is not enough to cross or strike the wrong number away No. The pen must dig and scratch like the    Read more...

Poetry - The Coward By Laurenceaux

The coward couldn't tell the truth the coward could only lie. The coward deceived and tricked, the coward    Read more...

Poetry - Sell-Up or Sell-Out? By Andrew Wastling .

	Gonna sell my TV My CDs And my fridge. Gonna move into a tepee With the hippies Livin' High Up on the ridge. Read more...

Fiction - 100 Words Competition - Conversation In A Small Room By Manuro

	'I went to the shops And bought a new toffee Hammer. The old one got Damaged during the 'incident' With those burglars. You remember, waking up with Some Burberry-capped thug in Read more...

Coming Up - Saturday 10th May 08 - The Brunettes at Yo-Yo at The Piper Club
	Indie Pop group from New Zealand The Brunettes will be appearing live at Yo-Yo with support from DJ Priya playing The Cribs, The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, The Smiths, The Killers, The Strokes, Bloc Party, Foals, The Holloways ... Doors 8pm. Stage 11pm. Admission £6 / £5 NUS including entrance to club night. yoyoindie, thebrunettes. Read more Coming Up ...

Fiction - Beyond An Accidental Shoreline By Christopher Skolik
	Dennison had covered some disturbing assignments in his time; Neo-psychopathology and its preoccupations concerning future psychological abnormality. Contagious mental illness and media psychosis, the way suicide or spree killing spread thru lines of communication. Mutant-criminology and the adaptation of deviancy in our strange new psychological landscape. Read more...

Music News - Beverley Young Musician Wins Prestigious Prize
	A Beverley teenager has won the first ever Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival's Young Composers' Competition and will have his piece performed by the acclaimed vocal ensemble, The Tallis Scholars, in Beverley Minster (23 May, 7.30pm) as part of this year's Festival which is co-ordinated by the National Centre for Early Music. Keryn Tatman, 17, from Beverley Grammar School, Read more...

Poetry - I Want To Get A Celebrity Pregnant By Joe Hakim

Make my move when they're looking dog rough, my own life is just too tough, I'm just not earning enough so I need to get a celebrity up the duff. I want to get a celebrity pregnant. I need a passport to another life,    Read more...

Sports, News - Krav Maga FREE Trial Class for MAY Only

	Learn how to defend yourself like Jason Bourne and The Bionic Woman. Amazed by Jason's fighting prowess? Come and try Krav Maga for yourself I will be teaching you how to escape from many different holds and locks, i.e side head locks, bear hugs and a variety of chokes and many more. Learn how to defend your self against attacks and how to fight back. Read more...

News, - Russell Howard Returns for Festival
	Organisers of Hull Comedy Festival have announced that Russell Howard will be returning to open this year's festival with a show at Hull City Hall in October. Russell Howard will be bringing his new show, Dingledodies to Hull City Hall on Thursday 23rd October to kick-start Hull's second comedy festival. Russell joins a list of headliners Read more...

Fiction - 100 Words Competition - Pain in Vain no Gain By Joan Moffat.

	Sweat trickled down my face, droplets formed on my nose. Sharp pains tore at my back muscles. Leaning over, as I struggled, constricted my breathing and squeezed my stomach into cramp. Red flashes floated before my eyes. I was about to faint. I began to weep. Why had I got myself into such a stupid situation? I was the victim of my own vanity. I struggled more. Read more...

News, Arts - Wherefore art thou budding film-makers? The Royal Opera House runs competition to create 40 second Romeo and Juliet
	Could you create your own Romeo and Juliet in 40 seconds? The Royal Opera House and BP are looking for budding film-makers of all ages and experience to produce their own 40 second version of Romeo and Juliet. A judging panel from the Royal Opera House and BP will choose a selection of the best films to be showcased on the Read more...

Poetry - Job Satisfaction By Laurenceaux

Sitting in the box called work a screen flickers as if unsure of its mode and I observe discompassionatly. We talk in jumbled mnemonics and jargonese, but not a word is spoken.    Read more...

Music News - Comedy Festival Anthem Wanted!
	Do you have a wicked sense of humour and appreciation of music? Do you like the sound of being credited with writing an official festival anthem that will be celebrated at a number of events across the city on an annual basis? If so, it's time to get creative as organisers of Hull Comedy Festival are inviting musical and comedic talent to write and record an Anthem for Hull Comedy Festival. Read more...

Music News - Local Hull Band Track Features on XFM
	Stickpin's song Ghost Girl (inspired by the film Stir of Echoes, and songwriter Katherine Horrex's anger at minimalist display of vengeance) has been chosen as one of the 4 featured tracks of week on XFM where it is currently receiving airplay. Weekly featured tracks compete for a position in the XFM playlist and you can listen and vote for your favourite Read more...

Poetry - Crime Scene By Mike Watts
	I'm sinking my cold Bare flesh into the hot shock Of clear, steaming water, And as I hit the enamel A sudden burst of yellow Mushroom's out From between my legs: Read more...

Articles - Local Election Sex Shocker Special By Lee Cassanell

	Yes it's that time of year folks. The leaflets have been distributed, babies have been kissed and your local politicians have been photographed with some wheel chair bound thalidomide. Now I have nothing against people suffering from the thald, in fact I once spent a steaming evening with a short armed seductress and I found her to be both passionate and Read more...

Coming Up - Friday 9th May 08 - Pure Techno 4th Birthday Party at The Welly
	It's Pure Techno's 4th birthday party at The Welly. Two of underground techno's most respected and exciting names are appearing! Upstairs - Makaton (live set), Mark Hawkins, Idiotek Downstairs - Messica, Volcanics, Ben Jammin, Endoflevelbaddie Admission £6/5members Read more...

Poetry - Message for the Lady in the Red Hat By Andrea Longstaff

	When I drink whisky my mind starts to melt I've been thinking about the hand I've been dealt Everyone lies if you look in their eyes And life doesn't begin at forty She was naked apart from the clothes that she wore Nothing makes sense to me any more Read more...

Poetry - After I was widowed By Manuro

	Parking permits make me cluck Barking hermits fake me duck Larking termites rake me muck Refer to Eric by his surname Defer to Derek, my he's urbane Prepared a Dalek not a turbine Read more...

People - An Interview with Adam Towse of Filth Wizard By Steve Rudd
	Fans of Torso Horse might have been wondering why it's been so quiet on their metallic front in recent months. Well, rest assured - they haven't split up; they've simply been taking a break. In the meantime, band ringleader Adam Towse has been busy writing material for a new project: Filth Wizard. Unleashing auto-erotic fury in a similar manner Read more...

Fiction - Faster Than the Speed of Silence By Leah Scarpati
	The phone's ringing again - the second time today. Its shrill chime echoes around the house, reverberating through the hall and into my warm little cocoon of a living room. It makes me nervous. It's like a foreign body, stealthily making its way through the house, looking for me- preparing to bump me off, to throw something at me when I least expect it. Read more...

Music Reviews - Thursday 17th April Rebel Music Presents Pog Wob Joseph Porter CrackTown with DJ Eddy And Dan Van By Michelle Dee (you'd better believe it)
	Billed as Another Class Night. The Rebel Music Presents night featured alt acoustic folk from Brighton, Pog, Wob ex Blyth Power, Joseph Porter also ex Blyth Power and Hull's own CrackTown (the love affair continues). Whether class described the classroom feel that some of Joseph Porters' delves into Greek history brought Read more...

Album Reviews - Hayley Hutchinson - Love Songs For The Enemy Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	When she's not playing in The Sorry Kisses, York's Hayley is making sweet music of her own, and this - her second album - will bring fans up to speed with the fruits of her latest spell of songwriting. A glorious ten-track affair, Love Songs For The Enemy is a sublime record in every respect, opening tune All I Have incorporating banjo and harmonica Read more...

Fiction - 100 Words Competition - A is not only for Apple By Lin Whitehouse

	Is this what it feels like to sit on death row, morbidly freefalling through the past? I keep averting my eyes from the clock face but the minute magnet holds me hostage. Had I done enough to be reprieved? Another hour swallows my resolve not to panic, in God's name how long does it take to open an envelope? Perhaps the results aren't what we predicted. Read more...

Coming Up, Community - Saturday 10th May 08 - The Great Plant Giveaway
	A large group of churches in Driffield have been preparing a massive gift for the people of Hull, and it will be unveiled on Saturday 10 May at New Life Church in Hull. Realising thousands of gardens had been hit by last summers floods, Church goers in and around Driffield decided they did not want Hull to remain a "forgotten city", Read more...

Opinions - The BBC Dipping into Youtube for Viewers By Mo UPDATED BBC's BBC Phil Hayton Denies All knowlege
	The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known simply as the BBC, is the world's largest broadcasting corporation. It has 28,000 employees in the United Kingdom alone and an annual budget of more than £4 billion. Founded on 18 October 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd, it was subsequently granted a Royal Charter and Read more...

Poetry - Are You Me? By Laurenceaux

Are You Me? Raft alone at sea are you me? Do you nurture souls or are you empty. Do you offer hope or failure are you bright for all to see,    Read more...

News, Arts - Free Art by Gavin Turk
	Gavin Turk, the artist famous for using his own name in his work, has re-designed that famous old Hull icon, the Jacksons carrier bag. Hull Time Based Arts is giving away free 'Gav bags' as part of its weekend festival of live art - Time and Tidal Flow. Get yours by visiting the shows this weekend -programme details below. Read more...

Music Reviews - Wednesday 9th April 08 - The Blueskins (Last Ever Hull Show), Kal El's Cape and Kill Surf City At The Adelphi By Michelle Dee Photos By Winston Sanders (Blueskins) and Michelle Dee (others)
	After being approached by CRS Events to help promote The Blueskins visit to Hull it was with a sense of dismay that I learned that the band had taken the decision to split up the week before. They were playing their existing dates then calling it a day. It would seem that having EMI and Domino in your corner is not enough to guarantee successful tour attendances. Read more...

Poetry - Not Quite So White By Amanda Lowe

	Snow-White, her pretty name was tinged with a mocking tone of irony For men would frolic in her minge, she pulled them like a siren, she Had the kennel boy do her doggy fashion, the groom shagged in the stable And the cook she fucked with a spicy passion, on the banqueting table. Read more...

Listings - The Welly Club - What's On April and May 2008
	Check the Full Listing..Buy your tickets securely online by credit or debit card using PayPal Friday 25th April - 10.30pm to 3am - welly:two Eight:Zero presents The Sex Pistols Experience plus Complete Control The ultimate Sex Pistols tribute plus Hull's own Clash covers heroes, with Eight:Zero's Paul Dakeyne Read more...

Listings - What's On at Yo -Yo Indie Club, May 08 - Lincoln and Hull
	Check the Full Listing..Saturdays Lincoln - Yo-Yo Indie Club Night at The Quayside With DJ Andyo-yo and Aron (YAK / Cell) Doors: 10.00pm - 2.20am Entry £2 B4 11pm / £4 NUS & £5 Other Lincoln's Best Club Night: NME The most popular Indie Night in Lincoln: Lincoln Echo The Quayside Read more...

Poetry - Fanny By Mike Watts
	Fused, inside her fossil head, Battling to unravel The way she's faced, A rare Victorian, Whose busy family Just can't be arsed. Read more...

Poetry - Word Perfect By Carol Coiffait

Inside the yurt Close to the hearth Besides piles of dried dung Surrounded by family By the light of a butter lamp Grandfather is reading aloud. Grandmother is knitting    Read more...

Poetry - Beginning & End By Jazminn

	Muddle of dark feathers Worn in the ground Drip, drip The artificial rain An endless search Panic, sorrow and sleep Read more...

News, - Civil Servants Set to Join Teachers
	Over 1,000 civil servants in the PCS Union from 10 Government Departments across East Yorkshire are set to join teachers and lecturers by striking on April 24th in protest against the imposition of pay rises well below the current rate of inflation. Speaking at the Scottish TUC conference on Monday immediately after PM Gordon Brown's address, Read more...

Music Reviews - Friday 11th April - Scouting For Girls at Hull University By Gemma Durham
	Scouting for girls delivered a belting performance last Friday, it is safe to say their a 2008 success story and continue to deliver top class performances to fans. I have been lucky enough to know the band from 2005 as an original wolfcub. The band started in 2005 with lifelong friends Roy Stride, Pete Ellard, and Greg Churchouse. The success of the band is largely down to the fans, wolfcubs, and airplay by Radio One. Read more...

Fiction - Everyone Loves The Big Girl By Leah Scarpati
	The lights go back on and there are cheers, claps and wolf whistles as I take my final bow. That plank of a DJ ruined the end of my performance by cutting Shania off short instead of fading her out like I told him to. Thankfully I don't think anyone noticed. I'm sweating like a pack horse, but at least I've given it my all. Large Lady Kiss-a-grams are getting a good reputation and I reckon it's all down to me. Read more...

Poetry - Cup of Tea? By Kev Marshall

	I was walking through town the other day When a beggar stepped out in my way All right mate can ya spare 50p I just stared back saying no sorry But all I want is a cup of tea? As I walked off it dawned on me You see he was a good lad at our school Read more...

Classified Ads - Calling all Fans of The Riffs

	The Riffs desperately need your help, and need you all to act; not just one of you, but every last mother loving one of you ... and your children. Please log on to www.globalicon.tv and register using your email address. You get a confirmation email back so you can set up a user profile (a bit like facebook but music centred). It doesn't take as long as Read more...

News, - Green Party Calls Time on Hull CLAC
	Threat to independent advisors: Hull CAB and HIHAC. The Green Party does not welcome moves by Hull City Council to hand over advice provision in the city to Action for Employment, known as A4E. Under pressure from the national Legal Services Commission (LSC), Hull City councillors set up a bidding process to create a Community Legal Advice Centre (CLAC). Read more...

News, - Thursday 17th April 08 - Hull Says Hands Off Our CAB By Michelle Dee
	Save Hull CAB! People Not Profit! Hull Says C.L.A.C. Off! Citizens Advice Bureau - the charity for your community. Today in Hull there was a protest march to save Hull Citizens Advice Bureau from being closed and a profit making council based organisation put in its place. Hundreds of people turned out to support the staff volunteers and users of the free independent service. Read more...

Music News - Beverley Young Composers' Competition: Finalists Announced
	The Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival has short-listed six young musicians from Beverley, Hull and York to take part in its Young Composers' Competition on Tuesday 22nd April. Delma Tomlin, Director of the Festival said 'we are absolutely delighted to announce that the following young composers have Read more...

Fiction - 100 Words Competition - The Unkindest Cut By Manuro

	Phil's partner in hell-raising had convinced him that it would be a 'good idea' to spend all of his gig money on pork chops. They had met during the summer at an all-night Clown Skills and Raw Food workshop in Worksop, where the ability to see through walls and predict future events had proved, at the very least, useful. Unable to control his bohemian life, Phil took solace Read more...

News, - Comedy Stars Set for Festival
	Paddy McGuinness, Frankie Boyle, Pete Firman and Russell Kane are amongst top comedians that will be bringing laughs to Hull's second comedy festival in the autumn. Hull Comedy Festival promises over two weeks of mirth and entertainment as audiences are entertained by local talent and big names from the world of comedy. Read more...

Classified Ads - Mr and Mrs President Frankenstein Require a Percussionist/Drummer

	Character over capability, Enthusiasm over experience, Imagination over instruments We are currently a 2 piece band based mainly in Hull with designs on Swindon. We have Bass, Ukulele and Guitar and we'd like a 3rd or maybe even 4th member to play such things as Cowbells, Xylophone, Tambourine and other such lighter percussion instruments. Read more...

Poetry - Talking to Mirrors By Mike Watts
	I'm knocking it on the head I've had enough I'm getting tough The destructive voices that I dread Are daring me to keep going, But it's all wrong Read more...

News, - Hull Citizens Advice Bureau at Risk of Closure By Emma Smith
	You may have seen in the media that Hull Citizens Advice Bureau is at risk of closure due to the introduction of a Community Legal Advice Centre (CLAC). This will be funded by the Hull City Council and the Legal Service Commission which aims to deliver advice in the city primarily through the councils own customer service centres. Read more...

Music Reviews - Friday 28th March 08 - Thisisull Live featuring CrackTown, Black and White Tango and Mermaids in the Basement at the Adelphi By Michelle Dee Photos by Lucinda Livingstone Photography
	A poorly fish was I on this dank Friday night, and after a series of delays I wasn't expecting the best of nights. How wrong was I? Just after eight there were queues outside and they kept coming in until well into the second band. An odd billing perhaps, putting CrackTown on with a couple of guitar and keys exponents but one which worked surprisingly well. Read more...

Poetry - Robert Mugabe (to the tune of Eleanor Rigby) By Carol Coiffait

Oh, look at all the hungry people... Twentyeight years Robert Mugabe, your country is lean You live in a dream You wait behind doors Wearing a face we have all seen before Who is it for?    Read more...

Poetry - The Tigers (after William Blake's - The Tyger) By Bryan Berue

Tigers, Tigers, burning bright Played Wolves to rest by day 'n' night, What mere Owl or Tractor Boy Could tame thy football poetry? In what Deepdale, Sky Blue skies Burned the fire in thine eyes?   Read more...

Poetry - 6/4/08 By Joe Hakim

There's a canal with a broken tree on the bank beneath me. I feel blank. Just beyond that Manchester stretches out like a lazy cat    Read more...

Music Reviews - Live Review and Interview with Alain from Isabel At Sunset (Tea Kettle Records) By Michelle Dee
	I caught up with the Italian front man Alain on Bank Holiday Sunday evening just before his band Isabel at Sunset were due to sound check. Isabel at Sunset the critically acclaimed Parma band made quite an impact with their debut album Meet The Gang last year. Rave reviews followed from amongst others, Treblezine who awarded the five piece indie rock band Album Of The Week. Read more...

Articles - Tibet Protests and Britain's Moral Weight By Martin Deane Green Party (01482) 471467

The news over the weekend was full of the protests in London over the Olympic torch being carried through London for the Olympics in Beijing, China. There were 37 arrests in London with China expressing disgust at such protests. The protests were for the cause of Tibet which has seen a clampdown in recent months by the Chinese occupying authorities including much brutality, wounding and a number of deaths. Read more...

Poetry - Motherhood Clearly Suits Her By Manuro

	Organic sludge - it's funny when I speak In English. £25 surgery - I took some time off To lead Discernable eye-bags - this time around I'm Dramatically pushing I drive myself to work Read more...

Opinions - Response to The BBC Dipping into YouTube for Viewers By Martin Deane
	Fire away Mo! Seconds out, round two. I actually have a soft spot for the Beeb but no, it's not my unrequited love for Neighbours or the Archers. Forgive me for lumping them together, apparently they're different despite hugely annoying theme tunes, but you may not know where I'm coming from yet. This is despite not having a TV licence which is how the BBC funds itself Read more...