I read a great review of the new album by the Bravery , The Sun and the Moon, where the reviewer claimed that the band were the Stone Temple Pilots to The Killers’ Pearl Jam. How great is that – grunge bands-as-metaphors! And a metaphor that I can certainly relate to (err, not that I’m the Weiland to anyone’s Vedder, but y’know, I appreciate the analogy). And yeah, the Bravery are one of that bunch of Nu-Wave-New-York bands that seem too fashionable to be true, but unlike the Killers et al, they’re actually really good – less fashion magazine, more FASHION (bop bop bop) a la Bowie.
Ok before I get into glam similes and really lose the plot, all I wanted to point out was: The Bravery are playing in Wellington this weekend – Saturday night at San Fran Bathhouse to be exact, with support from local synth-core darlings Heat Like Me. Get your party pants on and check them out, tickets are available from Ticketmaster or on the door from 7:30pm Sat 14th.
A wee heads up for Friday night too – Liam Finn plays Bodega, fresh from a US tour with … Eddie Vedder!

Collections for Downtown Community Ministry’s annual Book Fair Fundraiser are underway. I love the book fair, because you name a book and you’ll most probably find it there. Plus you get to go shopping and know that all you money is going to a good cause – like addressing homelessness in Wellington.

Scattered around town are wheelie bins for people to donate their unwanted books. Some of the current locations are:

• St John’s Willis St
• Wesley Wellington (Taranaki St)
• St Paul’s Cathedral (Molesworth St)
• Central Baptist Church (Boulcott St)
• Aro Valley Community Centre
• Newtown Community Centre
• Kilbirnie CAB

If you’ve got a pile of books, DCM come and collect from Wellington locations, so why not have a mini book collection in your office?

DCM also collect DVDs, CDs and vinyl records as well. I can confirm their vinyl bins are always treasure trove of magical discoveries.

The book fair is one of the biggest in the country. It will be held on the 6th and 7th of September in the TSB Arena on the waterfront.

This looks really good:

You can see some more of John Lake‘s work on some of those big display units at the new park on the western end of Courtenay Place (Courtenay West Park?).

I just wrote about this for this week’s issue of Bandwagon, but it’ll be out a day late because of the Queen’s day off yesterday – so I thought I’d let you Wellingtonistas know about it too.

Thursday June 5th is World Environment Day, and one of the cutest of a bunch of interesting events going on is happening down at the MP’s end of town. The folks at Green Land, purveyors of fine coffee and counter foods with an eco-ethos, are giving away free Northern Rata (Metrosideros robusta) saplings with each coffee sold on Thursday until stocks run out.

Hunt them down in Kate Sheppard Place in Environment House — walk/bus/run/skate there for extra carbon kudos!

Enjoy Gallery is hosting the penultimate event in their performance workshopping series tonight. Of course, dear reader, it would be outrageous to suggest that you have no other social engagements lined up for the Saturday of a long weekend, but if you can forgive me once again for the short notice, may I suggest that you nip up to the Enjoy gallery on Cuba St (upstairs near Scopa). Come along in the spirit of being a participator not an observer and I guarantee you will not be sorry.

The action will kick off at 6.00pm and bucking the established gallery tradition this event will be BYO.

Chris Brady will be attempting to bring his “Rôti Sans Pareil – Roast without Equal” project to a delicious conclusion. I hear rumors that up to eight birds, layer upon layer, will be involved. The surprise twist being that the eatable end result of all this performance art will be up for grabs tomorrow at an as yet undisclosed location. So you gotta show the commitment by turning up tonight if you want to get yourself a tasty tit bit tomorrow.

It’s a grand thing to be in Wellington for the long weekend cos SPAM INC is bringing the best of the country’s dirtiest rock and roll to Capital City tomorrow night.

The Hories (AK), Boss Christ (Palmy) and The Grand Saloon (Banks Peninsula) all at the Mighty for a meagre five bucks.

[insert howling wolf noises here]

Last night while the Wellingtonista and FAGs and SAGs (that’s Friends and Girlfriends, and also Sisters and Girlfriends, there were no Partners present) were at Southern Cross quiz, we realised that hey, they don’t give us chipped glasses anymore! That means things have got better since we complained about them. It has also been noted that since we bitched about the decor at the Port Cafe, they have in fact reinstated a cheaper menu for takeaway, which is a good thing. So, to continue on from those great developments, here’s some more suggestions as we strive for perfection.

1. That the Cross gets a $35 wine. We’re bored of drinking the $30 Five Flax, and we feel like the jump up to $40 as the next cheapest wine on their list is too big a jump. We appreciate that their Matariki Cab/Merlot and Ata Rangi Rose are lovely, but we’d settle for something less awesome for less pricey.

2. That Word of Mouth labels its salads. It sucks to queue for ages for what you think is going to be yummy coleslaw with kumara, only to discover that (eww!) there is tuna in the mix. They have a pencil-written list on their wall, with meat, dairy and allergens highlighted, but it does need a lot of peering at to read. And yes, we know they change their salads every day, but really, would it take that long to print out labels and stick them in a little perspex thingie on top of the counter?

3. That Viva Mexico start offering sides. I’d pay extra for guacamole and salsa if I had the option. Also, we’d love them to get a BYO license and extend their hours.

4. In fact, let’s get all of Leftbank a BYO license, and make the centre tables more communal, so groups of people can pick’n mix their dinners. 5. I know this is a very long shot, but can we please have these train-buses too?

At the top of Cuba Street, opposite Fidel’s and next to a sex shop is what appears to be a crappy little tea room named Chef’s Cafe. You might think that they’re going to try and sell you a pie and a custard square, but you couldn’t be more wrong. See that little sandwich board outside that says “Takeaway Curry $10”? That’s right, this is an Indian restaurant. And it’s good. And it’s insanely cheap*. If you dine in, you’re looking at a cost of around $12.90 for a meat curry, rice and naan. The decor is admittedly nothing at all to look at, but the menu is really extensive and the curries do actually all taste distinctive and tasty, rather than just coming in different colours of the same slop (cough cough Tulsi). Plus, it’s BYO, and not just wine – the corkage on a small bottle of beer is $1, and $2 for big bottles. We really think you should try it out. We would like it to have more patronage. Just not on Tuesday nights, because that’s when we go before the Quiz around the corner at the Cross.

* If you work on the basis that most Indian places charge at least $15 for a curry, and that doesn’t include naan and in some cases doesn’t even include rice.

There is nothing this girl loves more than checking out jewelry, because hello, it’s mostly sparkly and shiny.

Celebrating that very fact is Shine, a jewelry exhibition with a bit of a twist. Instead of your standard hanging from the walls and encased in boxes exhibit, Shine is a a performance exhibition where contemporary and burlesque dancers, actors and circus performers will all be adorned by the creations of six women jewelers from around New Zealand.

In their own words:

“It will be quite unlike any jewellery exhibition you’ve seen; glowing, luminous works will be presented in context, close to the skin, moving, in conversation with its human environment in a glorious evening of burlesque dance. Streams of pearls, gleaming silver chain-links quivering on skin; feathers tickling just underneath a chin… this is a performance that glorifies beauty, and welcomes the human form in all its shapes.”

When: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 29 – 31st May, 9pm

Book at the Paramount 04 384 4080

Tickets:
* $30 Adult
* $20 Groups 10+
* $15 Concession

web: http://www.myspace.com/shinejewellery

On May 28th – that’s this Wednesday night – PechaKucha returns to Wellington for it’s second Wellington outing.

All you need to do for a great night out is head out to TheNewDowse at 45 Laings Rd in Lower Hutt.

PechaKucha Night is an event in which presenters give brief presentations about a topic of their choosing accompanied by 20 images, each of which is shown for 20 seconds – giving a total presentation time of 6 minutes 40 seconds.

Doors open at 7.30 pm and the whole thing kicks off at 8.20pm. The bar is running all night, so you get to hang with great people, hear about some inspirational stuff and have some fun, all at the same time.

After the jump is the list of lovely speakers they’ve lined up for Wellington.