Getting serious at St. Andrews
An unprecedented weekend double-header of delectable contemporary music (a.k.a. “modern classical”) is about to go down at St. Andrews on the Terrace, featuring two of New Zealand’s premier modern music ensembles.
The evening of Friday May 4 sees Auckland’s 175 East in The Sleep of Reason…, a concert featuring newly commissioned works by Phil Dadson and Ross Harris, and the world premiere of Aaron Cassidy’s solo soprano sax lung-twister asphyxia.
Then on Saturday night Wellington’s Stroma present Gnarly Buttons, described as a “cornucopia of contemporary clarinettists”.
This is going to be superb. Programme details after the jump.
WBL Round 2: The results
| Won | Dr. | Pt. | Rnd. | Total | |
| Xero | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| Clemenger | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Silverstripe | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Bowltron | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Bowlingtonista | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Clicksuite | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Dr: Drink Bonus, Pt: Points Bonus, Rnd: Random Bonus. | |||||
Team results and commentary after the jump.
Flight of the Conchords: Bowie Song
It’s Wednesday! Time for some Conchords…
Does the space cold make your nipples go all pointy?
And do you use your pointy nipples as telescopic antenna transmitting data back to Earth?
I bet you do you, you freaky old bastard you,
Do you have one really funky sequinned spacesuit, man?
Or do you have several ch-ch-ch-ch-changes?
Wellingtonista on Public Address Radio
Well, it aired a couple of weeks ago, but the Wellingtonista vibe is fairly timeless, so, if you missed it first time around, here’s Russell Brown of Public Address fame being shown a night on the town by Wellington’s largest blogging collective…
If you want to stream the show via your default music player (so you can listen while browsing away from this page), click here.
Download the show for offline listening by clicking here (right click, save as…, etc.)
Or just hit play (and remember not to close the page)…
Whichever way you do it, it’s going to be a 7.84mb hit to your traffic.
Your fortnight in coffee
Fairtrade Fortnight started yesterday, so I’m sure you’re keen to do your bit to make the world a better place. The Wellingtonista would, therefore, like you to help us do a little research.
There are a lot of coffee companies in Wellington who now offer fairtrade beans. We want you to get drinking and tell us what the best ones are. You can use the fairtrade locator to start your search, but it may be a little out of date – there is no Malo Cafe anymore, for example – so it might be best if you ask your favourite cafes if they have fairtrade beans – and if they don’t, ask them why the hell they don’t. Go forth and caffinate!
Let Me Lose My Mind Gratefully
Hold onto your hat and get ready for one of the most over-the-top rock n’ roll bands of all time.
Hailing from Japan, the King Brothers (Myspace page here) make it their business to somehow mash-up the elements of every vital era of rock n’ roll music and then utterly demolish it. They approximate the sound of the Germs backing Howlin’ Wolf — with his hand caught in a garbage disposal unit.
What up, weekend? 27 April edition
So, what to do over the next couple of days? Do like we do, and do these things:
- Get your fancy pants on, and head along to the Madame Fancy Pants new store opening tonight at 217 Cuba St.
- I’m sure you know by now how we feel about anything even vaguely Tiki-related, so naturally Voodoo Mambo at Mighty Mighty ranks highly on our must-do list.
- Or, if you’re after something more traditional, why not check out the Maori Market 2007 at the TSB Bank Area? it promises to feature
…paintings, weaving, sculpture, wood, silver, bone, gold, and greenstone carving, clay, Ta Moko or traditional tattoo with items ranging in price from $500 to $80,000.
- How about an immersive environment of light and sound? That’d be Looklessness and it’s on at the Film Archive. Saturday night sees a “live performance by the artists entitled Light-mantled Sooty Albatross. People are invited to view live in action “the mutli-projector analogue delights: spliced and bubbling marmite collage, eye-bending glass light, and bleached, honeyed sprocket-holes.”
- Or, if you prefer your birds to rise frm the flames, there is, of course the Phoenix Foundation playing at San Frindigo on Saturday night.
When the lines go down
I’m sure you know that the Wellingtonista is a big fan of the trolley buses, and thinks that everyone who bitches about the wires overhead being an eyesore is an idiot. You probably think that it’s because we’re dirty leftie greenies that we’re fond of the wires, but the truth is, we like them because it’s hilarious when they go down. Like this morning, watching a trolley-bus having to get shunted by another bus out of a major Hataitai intersection. And getting to ride on the other side of Courtenay Place around marooned buses. And seeing Willis St totally blocked up with the corpses of trolley buses left lifeless. Actually it was lovely to see how friendly all the traffic was, and how quickly police and other people in shiny coats were there to direct traffic and keep things running. Sometimes Wellington is a surprisingly well-oiled machine. The official word after the jump:
WBL Round 1: the results
So we met, we bowled, great epic battles were fought, and drinking was the winner on the day. And also Xero. Here’s the league points so far.
| Played | Won | Drawn | Drink bonus | Points Bonus | Total | |
| Bowlingtonista | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Bowltron | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Clemenger | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Clicksuite | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Silverstripe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Xero | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Team bowling scores are after the jump.
When you come back home
Sometimes there comes a time when you must leave this town, your town for a break – it could be a holiday; it could be your OE; it could be that career move; it could be to do a geographical and just get away.
What’s that? Your favourite barista moved to Westport, and you had to follow? (Yeah, OK. There’s always an excuse.) But sooner or later, you must come back. And when you do there is always a moment when you know you are home.
Here’s one such:
Coming down the Ngauranga Gorge there’s that long sweeping curve where the Hutt and Porirua motorways meet. Look up from the road and you’ll see Wellington arrayed in full panoply before you. There are our small cluster of tall buildings standing proud, feet in the sea and backs to the hills. There are the hills themselves, steeply carpeted with houses in defiance of tectonics and plain good sense, looking on to and out to the sea. There is the bowl of the harbour, rimmed with bush and filled with reflected sky. There is the sky, mostly blue, sometimes grey, often set with clouds scudding.
There it is. Our town. Where you live. Where I live.
Where is this moment for you?
Is it, as the Front Lawn once had it, flying overhead?
over Wellington Harbour
Oriental Bay is standing there in the sunlight
Is it that first sip of Mojo or Fuel?
Is it Courtenay Place at the weekend?
Where? What? With whom? Comment, zoomin, or blog away!