Howe About Some Alt-Country?
“If there were only one person allowed to contribute further to the over-stocked pool of recorded music on this planet it should be Howe Gelb” – John Parish
What else can you say about Howe Gelb after that? Well how about how his band, Giant Sand, spawned a rhythm section that became Calexico? And how about the killer solo shows he played here last time he visited in 2005? And what about the fact that he writes an insightful, kooky and straight out sweet tour diary here, and currently a lot of it is about touring with Neko Case, who also guests on the latest Giant Sand album, along with M Ward and Isobel Campbell, amongst others (not the Calexicos, though, they’ve moved on)? And how about the fact that he’s coming back, next week – Friday 24th – to play for us again?
You know the drill: San Fran Bathhouse, Friday 24, tickets from Slowboat Records. See you there!
Kingpin: There Can Be Only One
The Wellingtonista season of NZ feature films continues this Wednesday with Kingpin (1985), the predecessor to last week’s film Mark II.
Starring much the same cast but with the addition of the wonderful and greatly-missed Wi Kuki Kaa, Kingpin tells the story of a provincial borstal: a world where only the strong survive and The Kingpin is the biggest, the meanest, the toughest, the boss. And, there can be only one.
Tickets $8 or $6 concession – which includes a complimentary glass of wine (with ID) unless you can tell us which Hollywood blockbuster pinched its tagline from Kingpin, and we’ll give you a double pass. Film commences 7pm.
More details on The Film Archive’s website…
Some YouTube clip goodies after the jump!
Vintage alert!
Now this is the kind of information I’d usually keep close to my chest but it feels too mean to keep secret.
Put these dates in your diary immediately: 15 and 16 NOVEMBER for the ECLECTIC JUMBLE SALE!!!!
The brilliant Maria from Eclectic in Nelson (you may remember her from various Cuba St Carnival stalls, she has exceptionally plaited hair and impeccable taste) is having a clear-out.
She has over 3000 items to get rid of:
linen, lace, textiles, fabric (alert all your crafty friends!!!) shoes, bags, hats, clothes, jewellery, scarves and more! And it’s ALL VINTAGE.
Not like a dodgy garage sale but a complete vintage jumble sale!!!! And most things priced between $5-$20! There will also be some furniture depending on how much she can load in the truck.
It’s going to be somewhere in Newtown. Will post the details when I know them (or maybe not so I can guarantee I’m first in line – heh heh).
Te Papa’s new Our Space exhibit
Recently opened at Te Papa is the Our Space exhibit. It cost $6 million and is apparently aimed at the 15- to 25-year-olds – you know, the sort of people who’d rather be texting or updating their Bebo page or saying “woteva” than visiting a museum, etc.
At its most basic, Our Space is a photo album. More specifically, it’s an electronic database of photos and short video clips of New Zealand places and events. It’s a bit like Flickr, but rather than just relying on media submitted by the public, it also taps into Te Papa’s archives and the TVNZ archives.
The exhibition is made up of three parts: The Map, The Wall and The Rides, and in the interests of proper grown-up blogging, I made visits to Te Papa to do a thorough review of Our Space.
Magic wands, surly teens and motion sickness after the jump…
Mystery tiki
The Craftsman didn’t take long to identify: not surprising given its prominent position. Here’s another quick one, which should also be pretty obvious.
The Watusi pretty much counts as Wellington’s first Tiki Bar, but this place has a few touches of tikitude as well. There’s this little guy, of course, and the animal print cushion helps. It has a smattering of tiki masks and ukuleles, an outdoor area with lush foliage and torches, and most importantly, a drinks list titled “Tiki Cocktails”. Heaven! Or is it?
Completely unpretentious and apolitical mystery bar
As a fly, I obviously have some distasteful habits, and I am sometimes accused of buzzing too close to pretension or political bias. Well, I’m hardly going to change the habits of a lifetime, but just this once here’s a mystery bar without a hint of pretension.
No burlesque dancers or pan-Mediterranean tapas here, mate! It’s beery, blokey and beefy, and if there’s any pretence about it, it’s that it’s pretending to be somewhere else: the South Island backblocks, from the looks of things.
So, what and where is it?
One more sleep till Craft2.0
Craft2.0 springs into the shopping season by returning to TheNewDowse on October 11th with a Craftastic Craftacular
(don’t ask us what that means, but pretty much beyond fabulous is a good definition)
There are over 60 crafters this time round and as always there is a mix of returning favourite crafters and brand shiny new ones.
We guarantee you’ll find presents for all the family, and more importantly some special treats for yourself. Plus you can feel good about spending money on 100% original NZ made hand crafted creations instead of imported mass produced stuff.
Everything sold at Craft2.0 is 100% New Zealand made.
Everything sold at Craft2.0 is made by the person selling it.
Most items are unique one-off or limited edition creations.
This time round there are free making activitites. In association with Hutt Valley Community Arts, kids little and small young and old can create floral bouquets from buttons, cardboard and pipe cleaners.
everything is supplied all you need is your creativity. this is a great activity for all the family, but we warn you it is addictive.
Special Treats
the most awesome gift bag ever in the history of craft2.0 , courtesy of those amazing folks at Cafe reka are being handed out at 10am.
inside you’ll find, badges, crafty things, fudge and some other treats that we are keeping secret for now, but will probably gush about on the website www.craft2.org/blog the night before the fair.
Because we know that everyone loves Crafts so much we also have a prize draw, where you can win over $200 of Crafty creations and other special things.
WBL 2008 Round Two Results
Last week was Bowlingtonista’s by-week, hence why I was lazy with reporting. But my spies tell me the scores were:
- Xero 338 to Mighty Boost’s 378
- Furry Ferals on 438 to the Purple Cobra’s 378
With Jamesh from the Purple Cobras getting an extra league point for fastest bowl, the scores currently look like this:
Bowlingtonista: 2
Furry Ferals: 15
Mighty Boost: 8
Purple Cobras: 9
Xero: 2
See you tonight for more excitement!
The politics of dining
Has anyone noticed that the election campaign has spread to restaurants? Piccolo is sporting a big blue Stephen Franks poster in their window, and I’m not sure what it says about potential National voters if Vivian St is seen as fertile advertising territory. La Kasbah has taken it further: not only was the proprietor wearing a Labour badge, with a donations jar on the counter, but Trevor Mallard was filling up on tagine and couscous tonight! Yes, it seems that Damian Christie was right: in Wellington, that does count as a celebrity sighting.
Do any of the other parties have fanboy restaurants? Kai in the City seems an obvious Maori Party stalwart, and perhaps Aunty Mena’s and Green Land would go for the Greens. But what sort of place would support NZ First or ACT? And does anyone from United Future eat out?
Wellingtonista Film Season continues
Tonight in the special Wellingtonista season of NZ feature films, either roughly related to, shot or set in our lovely capital city (and what a typically brilliant answer to yesterday’s weather bomb than this beautiful day?) we have the hilarious feature Mark II, as selected by ourselves.
This film is worth viewing for the high-waisted jeans alone….
(click on the image for a larger version)
And it’s a road movie which follows three unemployed Maori teenagers adventuring in a two tone Mark II Zephyr!
Tickets $8 or $6 concession – which includes a complimentary glass of wine (with ID) unless you can tell us which year it was shot and we’ll give you a double pass. Film commences 7pm.
More details on The Film Archive’s website…