Can’t wait till Craft2.0 in april to get your shopping groove on?

Well no worries, becuase for those of you in Wellington this is a weekend of crafty awesomness…

First up on Waitangi Day itself, why not head out to Pataka and celebrate Waitangi Day and the Festival of the Elements with a spot of crafty shopping.

The Festival of the Elements is  being held at Te Rauparaha Park & Te Rauparaha Arena. The day starts with an  opening ceremony at 11am, with a wide range of arts and entertainment programmes continuing through until 7pm.

The festival uses the arts to celebrate the cultural diversity of Porirua, made possible by the Treaty of Waitangi.  The elements of Earth and Air, Fire and Water embrace concepts of significance to all cultures, concepts around which we can all unite.  Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti rejoice together on Waitangi Day by way of the arts.

Pataka is once again hosting a wide and wonderful range of quality crafts including jewellery, babywear, clothes, beads, lamps, cushions and much much more! You’ll be guaranteed to find something funky, cool, stylish that is made with ‘crafty’ loving care. Everything at Crafting is crafted in NZ and it’s a great chance to meet the person who created whatever you buy.

On Saturday head over the hill to Martinborough where the annual fair is being held. While some of Martinborough Fair is very much focused on imported stuff that might be cheap and break in a month, you’ll also find some really lovely and original handmade creations, many from lovely Craft2.0 crafters.

So have a fun weekend of crafts.

Newtown DIY darlings, zinesters and the tiniest music venue in town, Spacething, have launched their website. The site has photos, an events calendar, DIY and zine-y links and details of their retail, publishing and music distro business arms and of course the lending library. And pandas. And a free tetris game!

In a nice local segue, the picture to your right is taken at a Knife Fight single release held in Spacething’s teeny back room – with dancers in the alleyway – and the other item I have to bring to your attention is the Stabs playing at the Adelaide tonight. The Adelaide is, of course, across the road from Spacething; and tonight’s local support is none other than Knife Fight, playing their second-to-last show before they leave town. The Stabs recently played Australia’s inaugural All Tomorrow’s Parties (ATP) festivals, at the invitation of curators Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The Melbournite Stabs have brought their cityside pals The Twerps with them to play tonight’s gig too – and some of you might recognise a Twerp as one of our own ex-pats, formerly a Batrider. Small world. 

Spacething: 171 Adelaide Rd, Newtown : spacething.co.nz

The Stabs, The Twerps and Knife Fight: 9pm Thursday 5th at the Adelaide, 114 Adelaide Rd, Newtown

You don’t have to be a trainspotter or J-line commuter to be interested in the redevelopment of the Johnsonville Line (though it undoubtedly helps). In any case, you shouldn’t miss your one and only opportunity tomorrow to walk the tracks between Crofton Downs station and the Wadestown crossing loop. Highlights include spectacular views of the gorge and a couple of spooky tunnels to explore.

For a sneak peek, here’s a video of the journey, complete with alarming squeaks and rattles and running commentary by an overexcited toddler, taken just before renovations began in earnest.

Clips of the rest of the trip are viewable over on YouTube, and you might also be interested in some photos of progress posted over at SkyscraperCity.

You will of course remember how last year the Phoenix Foundation’s gig in Frank Kitts Park was voted Best Live Performance at the TAWAs? Well this year, the Starry Nights concert on February 19 (during Webstock!) will feature the magnificant Fur Patrol, and of course since Miss Ratpony is such a fan, we have this gif as a gift for you: 

… but Fringe ’09 is just a week away, and there’s a lot to get excited about. We may have missed out on the chance to see some Aristophanes under the wharves, but here’s a couple of other things that we have our eyes on.

Lies and Other Stories Before Bed had a sneak peak/fundraiser event at Mighty Mighty last week, and it looks to be a riot. It will combine film and animation with live performance in the cozy surrounds of the Southern Cross, and with a plot that involves scary hallucinatory children, swingers’ parties and a European seductress it seems like just the sort of realistic kitchen-sink drama that we can all relate to. Or maybe that’s just me.

The musical line-up looks strong this year, too, and there are plenty of acts worth salivating over, but … oh my circuits: We Are The Robots! Disasteradio and TVDisKo will be familiar to many of us, but when you add in Hamilton’s most charismatic exports, The Trons, you know it’ll be a night of mechanical mayhem to savour. More info and YouTubular goodness over on Mukuna. I’m not normally a fan of garage rock, but when the band looks as if it’s actually been built in a garage, that’s another story.

Update: there’s been a slight change of line-up for We Are The Robots, with Heat Like Me replacing Disasteradio.

The Dominion Post ran an piece yesterday entitled Wellington Cup Day fashion winner disqualified

He was judged the best dressed man on Wellington Cup Day, but now a stewards’ inquiry has put Johnny Godinet back with the also-rans.

The Wellington gym owner, who has links to chief cup day sponsor Terry Serepisos, was stripped of the title of Rembrandt Man of the Carnival after it was found he failed to enter the event properly.

Heavens to Betsy! He wasn’t wearing a hat or a tie! The comments on Stuff are divided on his outfit, but the Fly is merely surprised to note that it appears that it is 1993 and Trillini is now open for business again…