Just before my Wellingtonista privileges are removed due to, erm, non-compliance with acceptable posting chronometry (or something) here’s an update on everyone’s favourite professional theatre, Downstage.

Last week they launched their new Season brochure, "Life in High Definition", which lists all the shows between now and Christmas. Highlights are many, but include new plays by Jo Randerson (Good Night – The End) and Stuart McKenzie (Biography of My Skin, starring his wife Miranda Harcourt), Collapsing Creation (by the team that brought you On the Conditions and Possibilities of Helen Clark Taking Me as her Young Lover last year) and the return of beloved circus-theatre show Adagio with extra, added, Christmassy bits.

Also on the menu between now and November is Soundstage, Downstage’s new venture into the world of popular music: Once a month Sunday evening shows featuring favourite local bands in a relaxed, theatrical setting, the first act is The Woolshed Sessions on Sunday night shortly followed by Little Bushman on 2 August. The Woolsheds are so popular that the Sunday evening show has almost sold out and an extra 3pm matinee has just been added. Seats are limited and going fast.

Tonight the "Life in High Definition" season gets under way with the return of two of Downstage’s best friends: Strike Percussion always raise the roof with their high energy, high precision performance. This time they are joined by the virtuoso Australian improvisor Adam Page who wowed Wellington audiences with his solo show during the Fringe. They have been collaborating on new work, combining Strike’s hitting things with Adam’s blowing into things and the results are explosive.

Adam will also be doing his usual multi-instrumental improvisations (with Strike support) so no two shows will be the same.

You can download a pdf of the "Life in High Definition" brochure here, or contact theatre@downstage.co.nz and ask for a paper one to be sent out to you. Interestingly 90% of Woolshed bookings have been over the web at www.downstage.co.nz which is pretty remarkable. Also, today, Downstage have launched TradeMe Tuesday – a chance to get Downstage tickets for as low as $1 reserve. It’s a bit like Grabaseat – check in to the TradeMe Downstage Store every Tuesday for more specials.

Celebrate winter with a bang! The second annual Petone Winter Carnival is a major one-day festival celebrating the very best of winter on the iconic Petone foreshore.

The carnival will feature an eclectic programme of free live music, visual arts, daring circus acts, fun-filled family activities and the spectacular finale – the annual Pelorus Trust Fireshow – along the Petone foreshore Saturday the 18th of July from 2pm to 7:30pm. What better way to cap off an exciting day of Carnival activities than witnessing Petone’s very own fireworks show from the beach.

We recommend grabbing a bite to eat, before or after the show.  Local restaurants and cafes are going to be open early for the event.  How about trying the new Malaysian restaurant, the Palms or Wellingtonista favourite, Gusto.  

This Saturday is the main event for Wellington’s Japan Festival which kicked off 6 July with the Friend to Friend exhibition in the Fletcher Challenge Foyer.  The organisers Asia New Zealand Foundation, Wellington City Council and the Embassy of Japan (along with the sponsors of course) are always bringing us beautiful free cultural events. 
 
Thanks for that.

Our recent guest poster was rightly excited about Music Fair of Japan that is part of the Japan Festival, unfortunately both concerts are fully booked. Zannen desu ne!  However don’t despair, there is plenty of Japanese culture to partake of:

• Food and Craft market runs from 1.00pm until 8.00pm
• Cultural Show from 1.30pm until 7.00pm
• Friend to Friend Public Speaking Contest from 2.30pm until 4.00pm (for all of you out there that think that they might sit their proficiency test ‘one day’)
• Tea Ceremony from 3.00pm until 4.00pm

More details can be found on the asia:nz website (now with RSS for their event calendar).

If you don’t make it along, don’t forget that the Japanese Embassy runs free movie nights on the last Tuesday and Thursday of every month at 6.00pm. They often sponsor other free events that usually book out fast.  You can find details on their website here.

Tanoshi so desu!

We have a guest post for you by the voluble Anna Jane Wilson who also likes hats, boots, coats and scarves.

My goodness, it’s already July – I can’t quite believe we’re halfway through our Roman calendars, but all evidence says – 10 July 2009. July, albeit cold and windy in this wonderful city, is going to be a large one.

The four main things that keep me warm in winter are jazz, walking, films, and dance. I’m new to Wellington, but apparently this city has a lot of jazz, thus, my soul will be kept very warm.

continues after the jump…

Having observed a steaming hot urn of it at the Southern Cross on Saturday night, surrounded by blankets and hot water bottles, we want to know: where can one get the best mulled wine in Wellington, how much will we have to pay for it, and approximately what alcoholic percentage will it be? 

Do our work for us in the comments section. Thanks!

The Wellington Town Hall is rated amongst the top ten in the world for acoustics ^{[citation needed]}, and this was a significant argument in the 1970s and 80s when the demolition of the Town Hall became a possibility.  The organ in the town hall is 104 or so years old and is reknowned worldwide for being one of the few Edwardian organs in the world that has survived to the present day without alteration.

Once again Wellington City Council is running a free Organ Concert Series on Sunday afternoons featuring our City Organist, Douglas Mews, and other guests. After a spell in Europe checking out a myriad of baroque instruments and playing the occasional organ recital, Douglas says he’ll be full of inspiration and enthusiasm for his concerts on Sunday 9 August and 6 September.

[the details after the jump]

Drypnz will be familiar to many Wellingtonians with his distinct street style gracing the streets, alleyways and gallery walls around town.  From the paid mural work and  other commissions, to paste ups and throw ups around town which are a gift to the city, Drypnz is a prolific, hard working artist who deserves plenty of recognition (and to get paid).  The Wellingtonista were lucky enough to have a sneak peak at the new show opening at Manky Chops tonight, and gotta say, we are not disappointed.  Those luscious juju lips with their geisha girl pouts were there in abundance of course but there is a range of work, different sizes and mediums and there will be prints and T-shirts available tonight as well.

Head on down from 7:00pm until about 9:30pm tonight, the crew at Manky Chops are always friendly and put on a good party.

Take your wallet, I suspect the smaller works are going to sell fast.

As Wellingtonians, we love dub, right? ^{[citation needed]} Sometimes to a fault, even? ^{[citation needed]} Anyone else remember that famous review a few years back in Pavement magazine of some local outfit that read:

More effing trumpet-dub from Wellington

Anyway if its to your taste, there’s some serious dub trickery coming down in the next couple of weeks…

[the details after the jump]

So today is the official start of Matariki, for some time now there has been a push for Matariki to become a public holiday, Minister of Maori Affairs Dr Pita Sharples last week announced the Maori Party had drafted a bill to make Matariki a public holiday.  See what the Prime Minister thinks of the idea here.

Some accounts have Matariki as a mother and her 6 daughters assisting Te R? as he turns around and heads south.  I like this story better than the Greek version of Pleiades which has the seven daughters of Pleione and Atlas turned into stars to ‘save them from Orion’s dishonourable intentions’.  Where are the kick-arse goddesses of legend when you need them?  In Japanese legend the sun goddess Amaterasu was lured out of her cave by a good old bit of burlesque dancing and silliness performed by the voluptuous goddess of merriment Ama-no-Uzume.  That is certainly one way of coaxing the sun out of a funk.

There are a range of things around Wellington planned help get the Matariki celebrations rolling:

Some of us at the Wellingtonista are rather fond of the old Snapper card. We worked through its teething troubles and are now happily tagging on and off as we bus about the city.

So when Miki Szikszai, CEO of Snapper, asked us if we’d like to visit Snapper HQ and learn a bit about what’s new in the world of the magical talking fish box, we (well, Alan and I) jumped at the chance.

After the jump – what we found at Snapper.