Band Substances
An unfortunate number of Wellingtonistas are rather fond of making rather terrible puns quite frequently, which means a lot of my time is spend making "Badoom chish!" sounds. Imagine how much cooler it would be if the jokes were better and instead of me, there was a whole damn band playing the rim shots. Wait, you don’t want to have to imagine it? You want it to be real? Well, have we got the gig for you then!
Remember TAWA-nominated Robbie Ellis and the bus lane you put through his heart? Well, he’s been working on a new show called Band Substances:
It’s musical stand-up comedy with a full band!
Join some of Wellington’s favourite musical comedians:
- Gabriel Page
- Sarah Harpur
- Carlo & Cynthia Wakefield from Young and the Witless IV
- The Fringe Bar Opera Soloists and more!
It’ll be Band to the Bone! (Jo’s note: BADOOM CHISH!)
The show has with Jerome Chandrahasen as MC and Robbie as musical director.
Less Mahi, more Kai
You know how there is often cool free stuff happening at lunchtime if you have your ear to the ground (actually Twitter may well be the modern digital jungle drum or smoke signal if you know how to fossick and filter, you could just just follow us on Twitter). We have had complaints in the past about posting juicy tidbits a little too close to the time for ya’ll to cram into your busy diaries.
Well, suck it up people, you may have missed the free titi (muttonbird) tasters at Midland Park on Monday or the noodles today at Wagamama but at least you have time to make a packed lunch for a free lunchtime concert tomorrow for Te Wiki o te reo Maori in the Illot theatre, Town Hall. This concert will feature the spine-tingles of Ria Hall who bought the house down at the Seven Sisters concert at Te Papa last month. There will be a range of performances, including the Ngati Poneke maori club juniors and fresh back from the world expo in Shanghai Elena violinist, with her world-class kapa haka classical fusion and impressive mohawk.
So BYO kai and enjoy this celebration of the Maori language and culture. This is what living and working in central Wellington is about people: free access to cultural treasures, excitement and happenings everywhere, even on your lunch hour.
Where: Illot Theatre, Town Hall
When: 12.30 – 1.30 Wednesday 28 July
Cost: Free
Noodle noodle noodle
Not that it needs any pimping by us, but thought you should know that Wagamama in the Meridian building on the Waterfront is giving away free noodles today from 12 – 2.00pm. We are talking don buri, udon and beef noodle salad here people, well worth waiting in line for if you have the time.
Behold the line at 11.30am last year….
Rebels in so many ways
Remember the good time y’all had last year at the TAWAs? Sure, a lot of that was us up on stage, but also, it was the Klezmer Rebs, playing rollickingly good tunes. So we imagine you’d like to see them again, yes?
Good news, friends! They’re playing a gig next Friday July 30th at the Bath House, with Rodrigo Bros, The Charcoal White, Sam Manzanza Africa Rhythm Band, Rose’, Russell Self, Hannah Howes, oSka and more yet to confirm. The gig is to raise money for the Sea Sheppard and Pete Bethune.
Come out and show your support for opposition to whaling. All bands are donating their services and all proceeds go to the Sea Shepherd Society to help them continue their direct action against whalers in our oceans.
Yes, there are divided opinions on the Sea Sheppard’s techniques and Pete Bethune in particular. What’s not up for debate? How much fun it is to have a jolly good dance.
Let’s go shwopping!
Crossposted from Pretty Pretty Pretty, because I can.
It’s been a while since our last Pretty Pretty Party clothing swap, and given my current homelessness, it’ll probably be ages until the next one, but never fear! If you need to freshen up your wardrobe, you can still get your swap on, next Sunday:
- Sunday July 25
- Venue: The St James Theatre, Courtenay Place, Wellington
- Time: 10 am – 2.30 pm
- Tickets: $20 from our website or just turn up on the day
- R 18 event as alcohol is being served
- Bring up to 20 items of clothing
Tickets are $20, but because there are strict rules for what people can bring in, you know that the clothes will be good. Also, there’s all kinds of added goodies on the day.
Eat and eat and eat: win a voucher for Rata Cafe
Congratulations to Angus who won last week’s prize. This week, to celebrate Wellington on a Plate, thanks to the lovely Positively Wellington Tourism, we have a $100 voucher for Rata Cafe at Zealandia (the bird sanctuary in Karori) to give away.
If you’re the lucky winner, you might want to use it to have lunch in order to get your bearings before a night tour of the sanctuary (the cafe is only open until 5pm, mind) or when you take advantage of the special winter rate of admission to the information centre.
Of course, if you’re just in it for the food, we wouldn’t blame you! Rata has a particularly spectacular deck overlooking the sanctuary, and a menu (PDF) that offers up free range and organic goodness. As part of Wellington on a Plate, they’ve got a special deal for $25:
By the beach of Babylon, where we sat down. And waited. And waited.
Sunday would have been a lovely day to have brunch at Sweet Mother’s Kitchen, except pretty much every other person in Wellington had the same idea, and we were told it was going to be a 45 minute wait. We decided we’d venture further afield, and made the mistake of heading out to Oriental Parade, and Beach Babylon.
When we got there, it was really busy, but we thought surely it would be less than the 45 minutes wait at SMK, because there were free tables outside. It was a bit breezy, so we were keen to sit inside – since there were no free tables they offered us one outside and told us they’d give us the first free table inside. So we hopped up on stools crammed in the corner, and consulted the menu. Lots of things sounded tasty on the menu. K was happy that they had Foxton Fizz. I contemplated ordering a Pink Princess, which was fizzy raspberry and vanilla ice cream, but I decided to pretend to be a grown up and order a latte bowl instead. So we waited for a waitress, and waited, and waited. Eventually one came up and told us that she couldn’t take our food order right now, because the kitchen was slammed, but she’d be back to take our drinks order. Seriously? I appreciate the place was busy, but surely it is the job of the staff to manage the workflow. If the kitchen wasn’t ready for our orders (which seems strange), the wait staff should still take them, and hold onto them, and let us know approximately how long a wait we could expect.
Review: Mark Twain and Me in Maoriland
In 1895, an elderly, ill Mark Twain embarked on a world lecture tour, in order to earn enough money to pay back the $100,000 debt he held. The tour took him down under, including a visit to Whanganui. And it’s this event that Mark Twain and Me in Maoriland takes its inspiration from.
After its premiere at the New Zealand Festival of the Arts earlier this year, the play returns for a short run at Downstage.
The play supposes that Mr Twain took a rather more active role in local politics, inflamming the Pakeha, and both pro-European and anti-European Maori alike.
But this is no staid historic drama. The play has lashings of te reo Maori – sometimes translated, other times not, but you’re clever so you can figure it out from the context. And there’s a pleasing amount of song and music, with Mr Twain strapping on an electric guitar at one point, to join in on a blues number.
Playwright David Geary’s innovative script has moments of high comedy, yet with the power to get right down into some really gritty emotional moments. But what I really enjoyed the most was how New Zealand this play is. I’m sure all the places Twain visited on his 1895 tour have their own stories to tell (or make up), but it’s just really satisfying to see an inventive, entertaining play like this that’s come out of New Zealand.
- Mark Twain and Me in Maoriland
Downstage Theatre until 24 July
Film festival frenzy
I am not going to see a single film at the Film Festival. I’m not much of a movie-goer at the best of times, and the idea of having to decide where I’m going to be weeks in advance in order to avoid having to sit with my knees around my ears in the back row somewhere just doesn’t appeal to me at all. But I know that there are people amongst us who love the festival. One Wellingtonista has taken two weeks off work to attend as many films as possible. Another’s going to see The Room in Christchurch and Wellington. You crazy kids and your hula hoops and your moving pictures!
But apparently not all is running smoothly. We got a copy of an angry letter an acquaintance is sending to the festival, and I thought I’d post it here to see if any of y’all are having similar experiences.
To whom it may concern,
I write to you in response to the chaos I witnessed this afternoon whilst lining up to buy a ticket for a popular film at the Embassy theatre. I know it was silly of me to expect to get a ticket on a busy Saturday half an hour before the film starts, but some people choose to make these choices. What shocked me was the level of competence involved at the box office. The whole thing seems very inefficient. I have an idea that you may find useful or not. Why not have three separate lines leading to the three separate consoles using dividers? I used to work at the Embassy and I know they have these dividers in the basement. If the lines are organized you can then make things a lot smoother during peak times. Make one line for advance bookings, one line for ticket collection from pre-orders, and one line for the immediate screening. You can even go a step further by using a sign stating the title of the film about to screen and whether or not it is sold out
Have a wander around some wool
There are craft markets that happen occasionally like Craft 2.0 and the Knack, which we get suitably excited about at the time, but another market that happens every weekend takes place on Saturdays in the underground carpark at Frank Kitts.
Usually they have a mix of stalls, food and music, but tomorrow they have a particular focus:
"Wonders of Wool" Market
Showing off the region’s fibre artists, spinners, felters, knitters & weavers.
Including demonstrations on spinning, weaving, crocheting as well as some specifically for the kids.
Over 60 stalls, including:
- Felted hats, scarves & throws
- Alpaca clothing
- Handwoven novelty yarns
- Hand-dyed spinning and felting fibres
- Crocheted items
- Merino clothing
- Balls of wool, knitting needles, felting needles etc
The market runs from 10am-4pm, it’s under cover, and the organisers promise it’ll be warm, so if you’re up for some yarn, you should definitely go along and check it out, not least because my aunt will be selling off her huge stash of weaving wool (we’re all about the nepotism here, of course).