Other Voices, Other Rooms

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GUEST WRITER CHRIS BOURKE shares an extract from his new book Goodbye Maoriland, The Songs and Sounds of New Zealand’s Great War

9 Oct 2017  |  4 min read

Editor's note: Chris Bourke is a writer, journalist and radio producer who in the past was editor of Rip It Up, arts and books editor at the NZ Listener and for many years produced the Saturday Morning show on Radio New Zealand fronted by Kim Hill and John Campbell. He is the author of the excellent Crowded House biography Something So Strong and more recently the peerless Blue Smoke; The... > Read more

GUEST MUSICIAN, WRITER AND ARTIST KATHRYN VAN BEEK on how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign

7 Jun 2017  |  5 min read

When I was in bands your options for recording your music were to fund it yourself or to keep rolling the grant application dice. But these days you can get the internet to pay you to be creative. Anika Moa got $43K from the internet for Songs For Bubbas 2 in exchange for promising CDs and a few beers, and Jan Hellriegel got $10K to work on her new album Sportsman of the Year –... > Read more

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER GLENN JEFFREY offers images of Womad 2017

22 Mar 2017  |  2 min read

New Plymouth-based Glenn Jeffrey is a former, award-winning photpgrapher for the New Zealand Herald. His portfolio covers everything from international humanitarian crises through crime and political work in New Zealand to portraits. Five years ago he moved to Taranaki where he has become the on-call photographer for local iwi, glossy national magazines, architects, councils and of... > Read more

GUEST ARTISTS ROSS MURRAY and GREG STRAIGHT explore the golden summer mood

27 Feb 2017  |  2 min read

Elsewhere writes: Late last year artist Ross Murray contacted Elsewhere . . . something to do with the Rolling Stones' Blue and Lonesome album perhaps? But in passing he mentioned a comic strip he had done entitled Rufus Marigold. We had a look at it and were enormously impressed (check it out here, take your time, it has layers and pathos) and so when he also mentioned a... > Read more

GUEST REVIEWER SHANI.O takes on Auckland's 2017 Laneway festival

31 Jan 2017  |  5 min read

Despite the high caliber of both local and international acts gracing the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Auckland on it’s Anniversary Weekend, the true star of the festival was none other than the exquisite backdrop that was this year’s venue: Albert Park. Festival-goers were treated to a perfect summer’s day under sweeping greenery and most importantly,... > Read more

GUEST MUSICIAN MOANA MANIAPOTO shares her 2016 APRA Hall of Fame induction speech

3 Oct 2016  |  8 min read

Editor's note: On the evening of  September 29, Moana Maniapoto was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame at the APRA Silver Scroll awards. This was an acknowledgement of decades of work as a songwriter/performer. But Moana (Ngāti Tūwharetoa/Tūhourangi-Ngāti Wahiao) was always more than that: She has been a powerful voice for Maori (especially Maori women and youth), a... > Read more

Treaty

GUEST WRITER ALEC MORGAN looks back at the car culture of Auckland's Queen St in the Seventies

1 Aug 2016  |  7 min read

Auckland’s Queen Street has long been a place for young people with wheels. In 1976 the cars would converge from mainly out West (Te Atatu, Henderson, Massey, Glen Eden, Blockhouse Bay), along with some from Central (Mt Roskill, Sandringham, Balmoral) . . . And the East (Glen Innes, St Heliers). Friday and Saturday nights were the biggest. Some cars would appear and... > Read more

I Don't Wanna Go Home, by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER MURRAY CAMMICK shows off his flash cars

25 Jul 2016  |  2 min read

Elsewhere writes: Murray Cammick is best known in New Zealand for his longtime editorship of the legendary rock magazine Rip It Up -- yes, legendary, a word we only ever use sparingly in these pages --  which he founded in '77 with Alastair Dougal. He was also behind the Cha Cha fashion magazine, the pop magzine Shake and founded his own Southside and Wildside record labels... > Read more

GUEST MUSICIAN AND VIDEOMAKER STEFAN WOLF shares his hometown stories and friends

11 Jul 2016  |  3 min read

Paekakariki, a village of just over a thousand people north of Wellington, is one of those rare places that attracts the creative.  Like moths to the flame they come here -  painters, poets, actors and, perhaps most of all, musicians. One half of Rosy Tin Teacaddy lives across the fence, as does the bass player from The Black Seeds. The guy from Fat Freddy’s Drop and... > Read more

GUEST WRITER NICK D on a weird night and Indo-dance pop

4 Jul 2016  |  7 min read

Returning from the success of last year’s incredible sell-out reopening of Auckland’s St James Theatre, A Weird Night Out is back. On Friday 8 July, the Weird Together collective continue their annual promise of transforming an unusual space into a totally unique party experience for one special night only. The Mahatma Gandhi Centre, centrally placed on Auckland’s... > Read more

GUEST ARTIST GARETH THOMAS opens his laptop in downtime and . . .

24 Jun 2016  |  2 min read

Elsewhere writes: When Gareth Thomas' delightful second album Fizzy Milk arrived we were immediately struck by the cover, and said as much in our review. And so smitten were we that we invited Thomas -- who has his own architectural and design practice -- to use Other Voices Other Rooms to showcase some of his design work relating to the album. This is what he says and what he has given... > Read more

GUEST WRITER STEVE GARDEN considers a New Zealand filmmaker's doco about the Israel-Palestine flashpoint

Steve Garden  |  5 May 2016  |  2 min read  |  2

While the ongoing tragedy of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict provides the framework for Sarah Cordery’s highly accomplished Notes to Eternity, this intelligently conceived and skilfully constructed documentary isn’t so much an examination of the conflict (although it does offer an overview of the situation) as a philosophical meditation on why this appalling state of affairs... > Read more

GUEST WRITER GEOFF HARRISON reflects on Keith Emerson and the Moog synthesiser revolution

Geoff Harrison  |  28 Mar 2016  |  5 min read

Keith Emerson's recent passing powerfully resonated with me – and not just the way he left in early‑March but, more reflectively -- on how that instrument he mastered and pioneered back in the early 1970's changed my sense of the world then. I still have the first Emerson Lake & Palmer recording on vinyl – a heavy beast it is – almost need a crane to load it on to... > Read more

Drive (The Cars)

GUEST WRITER JEFFREY PAPAROA HOLMAN on David Bowie and mining identity

Jeffrey Paparoa Holman  |  19 Jan 2016  |  5 min read

In the tidal wave of emotion that has swept the world since David Bowie’s death was announced, I have found my myself in a curious position: saluting a great artist who I never really got know, or cared enough about. Certainly I knew of his music and songs in the Seventies when many of my young druggie friends would turn up at my place and play them, but they were a good five to... > Read more

GUEST WRITER MADELINE BOCARO hears classic Bowie celebrated just days before his death

Madeline Bocaro  |  15 Jan 2016  |  4 min read

In a recent interview, Tony Visconti told of David Bowie’s Spiders from Mars drummer Woody Woodmansey's relentless enthusiasm and desire to bring Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World album (1970) to a live audience. It would be difficult, especially for Bowie producer/bassist Visconti. He had to rehearse countless hours and get his fingers in shape to perform the... > Read more

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER JONATHAN GANLEY shoots Thurston Moore. Again.

Jonathan Ganley  |  5 Dec 2015  |  2 min read

On January 17 1989, Sonic Youth played their first show in the southern hemisphere at the Powerstation in Auckland. I went along hoping to hear at least some songs from their earlier records, Sister and EVOL, both of which were favourites on Campus Radio BFM. But there were no old songs on the setlist. The band had moved on and they had a new record completed, but unreleased:... > Read more

Germs Burn

GUEST WRITER ANDREW DAWSON reports from the city in the headlines

Andrew Dawson  |  15 Nov 2015  |  1 min read

Yesterday began as a beautiful sunny day, with a cool and refreshing breeze. I caught up with friends back home in NZ, and in Denmark, and then headed off to lunch with my friend Sunila at Saravana Bhavan. (Yes, two Tamilians in Paris... where else would we go?) After lunch, we travelled to the centre of town and visited the Shakespeare Bookstore where I bought a novel by... > Read more

GUEST WRITER MADELINE BOCARO sees Patti Smith in NYC acknowledging her classic album Horses 40 years on

Madeline Bocaro  |  12 Nov 2015  |  5 min read

Jeez . . . "Do you know how to pony?"    We are here at the famous Beacon Theater in New York City, Patti Smith's adopted homeplace to find out. And the ghosts are all here too . . .  "White shining silver studs with their nose in flames . . . horses horses horses horses . . ." We knew this was greatness, before it could even be defined.... > Read more

GUEST WRITER MURRAY VAILE catches up with expat singer-songwriter Bannerman in Berlin

Murray Vaile  |  2 Nov 2015  |  4 min read

Last year I was fortunate to catch Bannerman playing in support of Tiny Ruins and doubly fortunate to catch them again in Berlin this year, headlining their own show. I thought they offered a very impressive set that included some new songs, as well as old favourites which they dedicated to regular fans of the band. Of course, it is some time since Bannerman (aka Richard Setford)... > Read more

Hills and Valleys

GUEST WRITER KATHYRN VAN BEEK pays tribute to Auckland's shady lady

Kathryn Van Beek  |  19 Oct 2015  |  6 min read

‘K’Road’s colour under threat of whitewash,’ said the headline -- but the red lights are already turning off. The Pink Pussy Cat is now an immigration consultancy, the Pleasure Chest signs have been sold on trademe, and the bare-chested nymphette on the Vegas Girl building, who’s presided over the street since the Seventies is being retired. Saint... > Read more