Other Voices, Other Rooms

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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

GUEST WRITER CLAIRE MABEY looks ahead to this year's LitCrawl in Wellington

Claire Mabey  |  24 Sep 2015  |  3 min read

Wellington’s LitCrawl is controlled chaos. Over 80 writers, musicians, actors, scientists, journalists and artists will populate 15 venues over 3 hours for 15 unique literary-related sessions on Saturday 14 November. The point is to inject Wellington with the energy of audiences and writers colliding in a fast-paced format that celebrates writing when it’s off the page... > Read more

Rain, from Small Holes in the Silence

GUEST WRITER MADELINE BOCARO sees Yoko Ono go jazz in New York City

Madeline Bocaro  |  18 Aug 2015  |  3 min read

It is truly The Summer of Yoko in New York City. Yoko Ono One Woman Show at The Museum of Modern Art is in full bloom and she presented two delightful evenings of films and lectures in July, along with Morning Peace. And we were just treated to a couple of intimate and unique Plastic Ono Band concerts. We are starting to actually recognize the bottoms in Film No. 4, which again... > Read more

GUEST WRITER MADELINE BOCARO remembers the unique quality of Klaus Nomi

Madeline Bocaro  |  10 Aug 2015  |  10 min read

The transitional period between decades is always highly charged with the excitement of things to come, and nostalgia for an era coming to an end. The Seventies had their final burst of energy with Punk rock, but by 1979, the New Wave was already upon us. Simmering beneath the deliberate crudeness, realism and rage of Punk was a brightly coloured, cosmetic, futuristic fantasy world.... > Read more

GUEST WRITER LISA PERROTT on David Bowie, gender trangression and drag

Lisa Perrott  |  3 Aug 2015  |  3 min read

“Same old thing
 In brand new drag
 Comes sweeping into view

” – David Bowie, Teenage Wildlife (1980) Time and again, David Bowie has confounded us with enigmatic acts of gender transgression. Those acts have been fuelled by a restless drive for recreation, often in the form of ambiguously-gendered personas, such as Ziggy Stardust and... > Read more

GUEST MUSICIAN PHIL WALSH writes about making the music of the movie in his head

Phil Walsh  |  9 Jul 2015  |  4 min read

In the Eighties and Nineties there were two main camps of musicians in the Waikato. The “Originals” who wanted to only play their own material and who were happy to finance that dream through other means (ie day jobs); and the “Covers” who simply wanted to get out on stage and play, hopefully often enough to warrant giving up the day jobs and go “pro”.... > Read more

The Night Train

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER JULIAN REID on the streets of weirdly normal Athens

Julian Reid  |  4 Jul 2015  |  1 min read  |  1

Julian Reid is a musician, graphic designer and photographer who has lived in London for over 10 years. This week he went to Athens on business. He reports that "it is a weird situation here. Sometimes it feels very nornal (apart from the large ATM queues). However last night we heard big protests. It seems it could get ugly." He offers a selection of street... > Read more

GUEST ARTIST TERENCE HOGAN on the exhibition of his band posters and covers in Auckland

Terence Hogan  |  2 Jul 2015  |  2 min read

I was born in Grey Lynn, spent much of my boyhood in Ponsonby and following my high school years in Hamilton, returned to Auckland in the late Sixties. There was plenty going on around the city as one decade turned into the next and the lure of live music was ever-present. I did a little writing for various papers and magazines, mostly record and concert reviews, and made the rounds of... > Read more

GUEST DIRECTOR DAVID TRUEBA from Spain discusses his new film which isn't about John Lennon

17 Jun 2015  |  5 min read

The backdrop of my film Living is Easy With Eyes Closed is 1960s Spain. A place full of contradictions, grey, under the control of an authoritative regime, a generation living with the fear of wars recently past and a younger generation that longed for social and moral freedoms. This contrast was particularly evident in the south, in places such as the very poor province... > Read more

GUEST MUSICIAN PHIL WALSH tells of a band finally recording a single, four decades later

Phil Walsh  |  15 Jun 2015  |  4 min read

There wasn’t a lot to do for young teenagers in Morrinsville in the early Seventies. So Kim Murphy, Kevin Smith, another gal (Debbie) and I ended up forming our own little band. I think we – called Prophecy – had lofty dreams of being the next Abba. Debbie left quite early on and we called in a guitarist/vocalist, Murray Ferguson, whom I knew from Te Aroha. We... > Read more

Morning Sunrise

GUEST WRITER MEGAN STUNZNER has a night at the opera for a royal wedding

1 Jun 2015  |  4 min read

In his recent preview of La Cenerentola by NZ Opera, the Herald's William Dart noted the prolific composer Rossini could rewrite an aria in the time it would have taken him to retrieve the dropped original from the floor. It's not inconceivable to me he might have dashed off several variations of La Cenerentola – a version of the Cinderella story -- in a couple of hours, and... > Read more

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER GARRY BRANDON captures an old Auckland picture palace

1 Jun 2015  |  3 min read

Some weeks ago when Elsewhere wrote about the singer-songwriter Jamie McDell's show at Auckland's Crystal Palace picture theatre, photographer Garry Brandon not only took the excellent shots of the performance but pointed his camera-eye at the cinema itself. The Crystal Palace is one of the last remaining suburban cinemas and has had a long history as a music venue. For many decades the... > Read more