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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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Fashion - Creative Locals, Students and Designers Show Their Support to Haiti Wednesday 17th March 2010
	Tessies, Newland Avenue , the uber cool womenswear boutique has only been open less than 2 months and is already creating a storm amongst the stylish folk of Hull. Tessies opens its doors on 17th March to the excited fashionable public, as they eagerly anticipate a community charity event run by aspiring local designers and creatives. An evening of music, fashion, competitions, champagne and nibbles Read more...

Album Reviews - The James Warner Prophecies - Fell Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	I vehemently stand by my claim. The James Warner Prophecies are one of the finest bands in the UK. And that's why I remain so confused, because if you ask the average person on the street, they have never heard of the band, let alone their life enhancing music. If I can help change that, I shall ... beginning now. I've said it before and I'll definitely say it again: this quartet is something Read more...

Music News - Finding the Future - City Showcase Targets Hull in the Search for New Music Talent
	City Showcase, the live music event that takes over London each year, is hitting the road in a tour of the UK as it seeks to uncover more new music talent. In a series of live events to be held in Universities or Community Centres across the country, the Finding the Future programme will give solo artists, bands, songwriters or quite simply those Read more...

Poetry - The Nearly Men By Terry Ireland

I am one of the nearly men Never quite the best Not really of the crowd Not quite one of the rest. You see us in every photograph When the prizes are handed out Making up the numbers yet Read more...

Reviews, Arts - Contents May Vary at Red Gallery in Hull Contemporary Art Continues Despite the Big Freeze By Michelle Dee. Photographs courtesy Andrew Quinn
	While the city of Hull struggled against the adverse weather conditions on Friday 8th January and people tried in vain to get home after many businesses were closed earlier than usual, a group of dedicated contemporary artists were preparing for the opening night of Contents May Vary at Red Gallery in the city. Battling against all odds, the show opened on time just minutes Read more...

Poetry - I Lost a Girl and a Car By John Dervishian

You shit on my car because I was immoral but that's alright I was days shy of getting that thing repossessed anyway Read more...

Fiction - A Clever Use of Bins By Frankie Lassut
	An uplifting, 'ultimate' romance fantasy. Colin was the world's most romantic man, it was official. Well, ok. His wife, Jean, had written into the local radio station, Hull Online, and told the presenter guy what he did for her i.e. washing up, ironing, rubbed her feet, was always telling her how lovely she looked (especially each time she bought a new dress), took her out for meals regularly etc. She had won hands down. Read more...

People - An Interview with Interior Designer Amanda Larson By Steve Rudd
	Currently residing in Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix in Arizona, Amanda is a hard-working and highly-respected interior designer who has been actively involved in the industry for an illustrious decade. Eager to channel her overactive imagination, Amanda seemed destined to be involved with art and design in the wake of graduating, and she openly admits that she feels most at home wherever she is able to 'create or express a vision'. Read more...

Poetry - Another Night Out By John Dervishian

She pours my drink As often as I request And she pours It well No questions asked A Jack on the rocks Read more...

News, Arts Poetry/Spoken Word - Write to Speak at Hull Truck, Wednesday February 3rd 10 featuring Tony Flynn, Pat Borthwick and Ian Parks
	Yorkshire's first theatre based spoken word night will be returning to the studio space at Hull Truck theatre on Wednesday 3rd February, featuring Tony Flynn, Pat Borthwick and Ian Parks. Edgy, dynamic and sometimes shocking, Write to Speak will challenge and entertain - leave your preconceptions at the door. Write to Speak presents The Hull Connection; an evening of poetry launching three brand new books by poets with a Hull connection. Read more...

Poetry - Persecution Express By Mark Walmsley
	A full head of steam, to fulfil one mans dream, The train leaves the station, with recognisation Bellowing black smoke, as the cargo does choke The heave and strain, of the departing train Carriages all broken, blindness no token, The screams and the wails, at the stories and tales Across field and valley, does not dilly-dally, Read more...

Articles - All About Sex, the Government Minister, the Dead Boy in the Orphanage and the Cover Up By Tim Roux.

	When I am not focusing on Hull (and I have recently completed another 'Hull' book, called Missio, about a boy whose father went down with the trawler The Gaul in 1974) I do sometimes engage with the wider world although, to be honest, it isn't up to much. However, there is one excellent site I contribute to called Speak Without Interruption Read more...

Poetry - An Old Vets Christmas By David Delaney
	He shuffles down a quiet darkened street, alone, he always dreads this time of year, cause locals, he just does not wish to meet. He eats collected scraps and drinks warm beer. Now as the rain begins to softly fall he crawls beneath a long deserted shop, and hears the singing from the nearby hall Read more...

Reviews, Books - Seers by Karen Wolfe Reviewed by Tim Roux
	Ever since the publication of The Philosopher's Stone, I have been troubled by a niggling concern. It doesn't keep me awake at night but I do regularly accost strangers and ask them, 'Whatever happened to Harry Potter's grandparents?' Harry Potter was a baby when his parents were killed. His parents look like they were in their twenties, max. thirties. Read more...

Poetry - Dreams By Dino
	These are the things I'd like to call dreams These are the things That are just dreams Rocking horses Running nowhere Big glass heads With eyes of despair Read more...

People - An Interview with Neil Bailey of Local Band Pastel Jack By Steve Rudd
	Pastel Jack are a hard-living, fast-rising Metal band from Yorkshire in England. Loudly and proudly rising from the ashes of other bands, the PJ boys have been setting the music scene ablaze with their passionate vocals and streamlined melodies. Here, in an exclusive interview with Steve Rudd, PJ ringleader Neil Bailey chats about the band's Metal Read more...

Poetry - Easy By Jessica Meador
	It's so much easier To focus When I can't stand The smell Living in this Vacant hell When I can't stand To feel Read more...

News - Boiler Scrappage Scheme
	The Government has launched a new national scheme, the Boiler Scrappage Scheme, which will help upgrade 125,000 household heating systems. Households in England can apply for a £400 voucher to help with the cost of replacing old, G-rated boilers for a new A-rated boiler or renewable heating system such as a biomass boiler or a heat pump. The scheme is intended to: help sustain work for the 130,000 Read more...

Music News - Embrace Music, or Lose It! By Steve Rudd A New Year's Guide to What's Musically Hot in Hull...
	As we gallantly breeze into 2010, the music scene in Hull and surrounding area remains as vibrant and as exciting as ever, with a multitude of fantastic venues continuing to play host to new and established bands from all conceivable genres. It's hard to know where to start, but The Adelphi on De Grey Street is always a good place, where the likes of The Holy Orders Read more...

Music News - 09 New Adelphi Club Celebrates 25 Years as the Live Music Capital of Hull Words and Pictures by Michelle Dee .
	October 2009 the Live Art Space inside Ferens Art Gallery in Hull was the location for the world renowned music venue Adelphi Club's 25th Anniversary Exhibition . Not just a flick through dusty old flyers and posters and a drunk in the corner slurring, 'I was there when Oasis played.' No sir, this is a celebration of a club that has been at the heart of live music in Hull for quarter of a century. Read more...

Poetry - Gone Forever By Katelyn Langston

	As I looked across the glimmering lake all I could do was sigh, for I could never forget my husband, for he watches me way up high. I can hear his old chair creak, when the whispering wind blows, I still see his jacket on the coat rack when it snows. I miss his soft and tender voice, coming from the den, I miss his gentle footsteps whenever he came in. Read more...

News, Arts - Now & O-Ten Photography Exhibition at Hull Truck Theatre
	Hull born Chris Oaten is a nationally published photographer who specialises mostly in fashion, portraits and portfolios. Inspired by Man Ray and Helmut Newton, his images express his belief of spontaneously capturing a person's soul and therefore not losing the moment within the technicalities of photography. Through studying at Park Street Fashion College for 3 years, he focused on the styles of fashion designers Read more...

Places to Visit - Rudd On The Road Part Eighteen: A Mile Of Miracles, And Then Some By Steve Rudd
	Taking the bus was too easy, despite the fact that my film making pal Dave Kebo had dropped me off at the Shell gas station at the Wilshire and Vermont intersection in Koreatown which was conveniently situated right beside a bus-stop. Looking due west along Wilshire Boulevard, my feet felt the twitch before my heart. A bus bound for Santa Monica had just pulled up, and for the meagre fee of a buck and a quarter ($1.25) Read more...

Music Reviews - Monday 4th January 2010 - Antiproduct, Psychobabylon and Chris Catalyst at Fibbers, York By Steve Rudd
	Boldly deciding to stage a gig on what is purported to be the worst day of any given year to put on live music full-stop, Mister Martyn of Screaming Tarts fame thankfully managed to book cult-rockers Antiproduct for a date on their scandalously short but undeniably thrilling tour of the UK. With Paul Miro unable to perform due to illness, the stage times of the acts were redrafted, allowing The Eureka Machines front man Chris May (AKA Chris Catalyst) to extend his solo acoustic set accordingly. Read more...

Poetry - Out Rage By Belinda Barchard
	pacing up and down no one around to hear the sound of me screaming my gut wrenching squealing I'm seething might as well stop breathing grab my wrists and pin me down Read more...

Poetry - Weekend Wasters By Bronwyn Ellis
	Mundane Mondays, tedious Tuesda' 8 o clock starts and sugar free muesli. Wednesday's the mile point that breaks up the toil, By Thursday you've buried your head in the soil. Fridays the high day when weekend begins, People mince round the office with permanent grins. They're happy go lucky and no-one can spoil it, Read more...

Album Reviews - Twilight of the Thunder God - Amon Amarth By James Green
	There is a fundamental reason why Amon Amarth were voted international band of the year 2008 by metal hammer magazine, even though I don't read metal hammer magazine due to the fact that I am into much heavier stuff, I could not agree more with metal hammer about the decision they made. Amon Amarth are most likely to be one of the greatest melodic death metal bands of the decade, and in 2008 Read more...

Poetry - I Probably Deserved It By Mike Watts

Early hours Monday I had this mad episode I thought I was being Strangled I could feel the pressure Around my throat Fingers crushing my Adam's apple Read more...

Articles - Memories of Hull Part 3 By Terry Hood

On 26th January 1955 the nation was stunned by the news of the loss of the Lorella and Roderigo with all 40 crewmen during severe weather off Iceland. This was due to black ice forming on the trawlers. As quick as the crew were chipping it off, it was forming again. My cousin was on another trawler standing by listening to the radio operators on each trawler talking to each other and then he heard one of them say, 'Give our love to our wives, Read more...

Poetry - Squaddie By Terry Ireland

You've got to have been a squaddie To understand the life; The friendships that are sometimes Closer than a wife. You can see them on the streets Seldom on their own. Squaddie life doesn't support Much time spent alone. Read more...

Articles - (Belated) End of 2009 By Cilla (Editor).

It's late. This was supposed to be an end of year piece and I guess it's typical of my life recently - there's just never enough time to do everything I want to do - time just passes too quickly. So, it's 2010. Another year bites the dust. The first decade of the 21st century is over with - gone in a flash and here we all are, shivering with cold and sliding off pavements, sitting in queues of smoke billowing traffic. When I was growing up, I took it for granted Read more...

Poetry - The Four Corners of the Earth By Christian Bundegaard
	Sparks when the plough strikes our forefathers' helmets. New soldiers on manoeuvres drink milk by the dry-stone wall. Only creeping blue moss in winter sun knows which moments eternity is connected to. In the early misty morning the forest And a man with a kopper shadow expire. A green bird sits on a branch. Read more...

Reviews, Books - Broken Dreams by Nick Quantrill Reviewed by Tim Roux
	Over the last couple of years, Nick Quantrill has made an enviable reputation for himself as a highly accomplished true-to-the-gospels (of St. Elmore Leonard and St. Raymond Chandler) crime fiction writer who reliably delivers precisely crafted plots, authentic hardboiled dialogue and classic PI fisticuffs action. His tales are suffused with an atmosphere of compounding tension Read more...

Articles - Christmas With The Big D By Andrea Longstaff

Well, it's that time of the year again; a time of incongruity that spills over into the blurry edges of surrealism. At no other time but December will you see elves strolling down the street. I fondly recall one past Yuletide playing a game of pool with an elf. Throughout the rest of the year we tell our children not to talk to strangers, then come December and they're all scared witless Read more...

Music Reviews - Tuesday 28 December 09 - Late Night Fiction, Turismo, The Holy Orders, Fudgey and The Acrobats at The Sesh By Katie Ashworth
	Wandering towards Linnet and Lark at 10.30pm and I was impressed. I'd never been to The Sesh before, for some strange reason, so I had no idea what to expect. First impression: the place is packed; the people smoking outside are spilling from the terrace into the car park. Inside, the bar is busy, people filling the dance floor in front of the stage. I could barely move without having to push past someone, but I finally located my friends. Read more...

Poetry - The King is Bread, Long Life Milk From a collection of short stories and humorous poetry, The Unitary Authority of Ersatz by Richard Sutherland
	O Foodstuff Golem King with eyes of pastrami, lettuce leaf tongue and nostril salami, as you perch on your throne of marmalade shred, I can't help but gaze at your strawberry head. How I long to lick sugar from those big doughnut ears, and dip crumpet hands in sweet chocolaty tears. You were always delicious, even as a baby, nappies just perfect for soaking up gravy; Read more...

Music Reviews - The Yards at York Duchess, Saturday 28th November 2009 By Steve Rudd
	Appropriately dubbed The Last High by the band, this gig in York sadly constituted the final-ever gig to be performed by The Yards. However, it wasn't a sad affair in the least. To the contrary, it provided scant excuse to mourn the band's passing, instead being the perfect opportunity to celebrate all that the York-based outfit achieved in seven years of writing, recording and playing as a unit. Read more...

News, Community - New Funding Alerts for Voluntary and Community Groups from Volcom
	Want up to date information about funding opportunities? How about regular funding updates straight to your inbox? From January 2010, Volcom will be offering a new and improved infomail service to voluntary and community groups in Hull. infomail covers topics such as local events and conferences, training and job vacancies, Read more...

Poetry - The Festive Fifty By Jim Higo (Repubished with additions)

I could top the charts with a power number, A political song, raise the masses from slumber, Do a gig on the Humber. Dance on stage with footwork nifty, I'd rather be in the festive fifty. I could get Mick Jones to produce my single, Go to A list parties, and mingle, Write a radio jingle. Read more...

Poetry - Industrial Dispute By Terry Ireland

Santa stood in the warehouse Full of nearly empty shelves Last night they'd been ram raided By a bunch of discontented elves Recently Read more...

Poetry - Letters From Santa By Bronwyn Ellis
	Dear little children near and far, No matter just how good you are, I've had enough I'm sad to say, I won't be working Christmas day. And so I write my grave confession, I've fallen to the lands recession, My reindeer Rudolph broke his hoof, My heating bill is through the roof, Read more...

Poetry - Competition Commission By Joe Hakim

The rain crackles like static on the window and the laptop sighs at the end of the bed. Fucked off by forces I control again, I roll cigarettes and wait for a break, and flip bleached coppers into Read more...

Reviews, Books - The Unitary Authority Of Ersatz by Rich Sutherland Reviewed by Tim Roux
	You know when you are sitting there typing away at your new book and suddenly a million tons of waterfall cascade all over you and sweep you away, and there is nothing you can do to resist as you tumble mid-air among all those words and ideas, but you know that when you hit the pool at the bottom, and should you survive, you will be handed a tick-box questionnaire by the publisher Read more...

Poetry - Mugabe's Prayer By Terry Ireland

Thank you Good Lord For this fine day On which my power Still holds sway You will of course I think agree You get much support Read more...

Poetry - The Vicious Circle By Lee Cassanell

	Day twenty nine and the rum had run out I woke up in the hold with the driest of mouths In a dress made of lace and a pain in my arse I recalled being tied to the foot of the mast Then recoiled at the thought of the cabin boys fate There were sharks off the bough so we used him as bait And his screams as the fiends shredded meat from his chops Read more...

Poetry - Jesus (Who's He?) By Bernard Franklin
	Sometimes I pray so hard at Christmas That the world will look again, At the reasons why we have to take Sweet Jesus name in vain. Where once the commercial side of Christmas Was a seedy sin we bore, It's now outstripped the gospel's teaching Read more...