You know the drill. You go to the same bar every week and pay tons for booze, and have to deal with a loud crowd who are just there to be seen and who talk through the music you’ve paid to see, and you just think “ugh! I hate this, it’s all the same and it’s crap”. Well hopefully Sarah Smythe and Thomasin Sleigh have the solution for you.
The pair have teamed up to produce a series of gigs are taking place in old halls around Wellington throughout 2013, going by the name Old Hall Gigs.
“Old Hall Gigs was created because we were dreaming of non-rowdy places to listen to our favourite bands. It is a roving series of events taking place in halls around Wellington. The events will allow for close listening and attentive watching.
Each Old Hall Gig will include readings from local writers (thanks to Hue & Cry), work by visual artists, and contemporary dance. There will also be performances by solo musicians and bands from unexpected genres. Whilst the title of the series implies music events, we enjoy a lot of different types of art, so each evening will be a carefully callibrated couple of hours of visual and aural activity.
Old Hall Gigs hopes to reinvigorate some of the community halls around Wellington and to encourage each local community to take part and share these events with their families and neighbours.
The first event will take place on Saturday 18 May at the elegant Vogelmorn Hall in Brooklyn.
The line up for the night includes the beautiful music of Wellington-based duo Glass Vaults, a sculptural installation by the artist collective of Sarah Hudson, Bridget Reweti, Terri Te Tau, and Erena Baker, readings by bright young poets Lee Posna and Hera Lindsay Bird, and a solo violin piece by composer Tristan Carter. Also: it’s BYO – bring your own cup as well.
The 2009 Star Trek reboot went into production on the eve of the writers’ strike and therefore had no right to be as entertaining – or to make as much sense – as it did. In fact, it was so successful that it has become the gold standard of dormant franchise resuscitation and I’m hoping that the lessons – what to honour, what to ignore, the mix of knowing humour and state-of-the-art action – are taken on board by the forthcoming Superman blockbuster Man of Steel.
A re-watch of Star Trek on Wednesday night confirmed my thoughts from the original review. It worked so well, on so many levels, that by the end I was eagerly anticipating my Friday night reunion with Christopher Pine‘s Kirk, Zachary Quinto‘s Hot Spock, etc. So, it is with a heavy heart then, that I have to report feeling let down by Star Trek Into Darkness. Everything seems a lot more self-conscious than before, as if the filmmakers have just realised that there are a squillion people watching and they’d better not make a mess of things. Which usually means that’s exactly what happens.
Not long after the Federation has been saved in the first film, our heroes are out exploring the galaxy, getting into trouble. As punishment for violating the Prime Directive (and incomplete paperwork), Kirk is relived of the Enterprise command but before he has time to properly lick his wounds, a terrorist bombs Starfleet’s London office and threatens to kick off an intergalactic (intra-galactic?) war with the Klingons.
dying is easy – comedy is hard
It’s the execution that disappoints this time around. The humour feels a bit heavy-handed, the attempts to incorporate beloved elements from the Original Series are clunky and the action is repetitive – there are several last second rescues, for example, and at least two of them involve actual on-screen countdowns. I can’t say more for fear of spoilers but – suffice to say –
Star Trek Into Darkness is only a B minus while its predecessor merited an A.
Keep reading →
As mentioned previously, Jarrod Baker’s Songs for My Infant Daughter, promises to “make laughs come out of your face-hole”. As the possessor of no fewer than three face holes (sorry, I didn’t mean to brag) I decided to see if this was in fact the case.
Coming off the back of the hilarious Worst Songs of the 90s (in which Jarrod played the most cringe-worthy music from the 90s in a comical fashion), SFMID follows a similar vibe with Jarrod telling wonderfully funny stories of his time as a new father. Not only dealing with poo, but also his thoughts on his daughter’s future and whether he will be a good father.
But the songs are the thing. Jarrod fills his set with various songs that are either softened versions of hip-hop and pop songs or original material for teaching life lessons. As with his Worst Songs show the music is excellent and you begin to worry that he might actually sing these songs to his baby. [Side note: we chatted to his wife after the show and yes he does]
I can also confirm that there were no domestic violence jokes and, if that sort of thing is how you choose your comedians, there was a very strong gender equality theme. So hey, positivity!
So get along! And if this very basic review doesn’t sway you, then check out this tweet from the man himself:
JARROD BAKER
Songs for my infant daughter
The Fringe Bar
cnr Cuba and Vivian Streets, Wellington
Wednesday 8 – Saturday 11 May 2013, 10pm
Tickets $16/$12 from Ticketek
Disclosure: I MC roller derby with Jarrod and I totally got sweet free tickets to opening night.
Last week, we gave away a pass t0 Raybon Kan’s comedy show as a favour to a friend. On hearing about what his show contained, I am so very sorry we did. Jokes about Chris Brown beating his girlfriend? Not okay. Here are some handy New Zealand statistics from Women’s Refuge
- One in three women experience psychological or physical abuse from their partners in their lifetime
- On average 14 women, six men and 10 children are killed by a member of their family every year
- Police are called to around 200 domestic violence situations a day – that’s one every seven minutes on average.
- Police estimate only 18% of domestic violence incidents are reported.
We have a problem in this country, and thinking that just because someone is famous it’s okay to laugh about them doesn’t help.
But laughter in general is still a good thing! So we took to Twitter asking for comedy shows we’d be happy to promote. Here’s the Wellingtonista’s guide to comedy without the domestic abuse:
We’d love to hear from some women as well – feel free to promote your own shows in the comments.
