Down the toilet
The little side street at the Taranaki Street end of Courtenay Place has been due for big changes for a while, and now it all looks like it’s finally happening. In June, work will start on closing the street and turning it into a pocket park: more details will be released by the council in a couple of weeks. Also, the long-abandoned toilet block which has been the subject of various suggestions over the years (including, hilariously, wetarium and sexual health museum), will undergo a more predictable but nonetheless welcome transformation. Ian “Ferg” Ferguson will convert it into a wine bar by doubling the underground space, lining the walls with wine racks and adding an outdoor drinking area on the roof. This work will also start in June and is expected to open by Christmas under the name “Wine Cellar” (WC for short, of course). If only the walls could speak!
But the first change that we’ll see here is the opening of the first downtown Wellington branch of Burger Fuel. That explains the loud drooling noises emanating from Wellingtonista towers. There’s no official word on the opening date, but construction work looks well advanced, so I’d guess that it’s just a few weeks away. Mmm, booze, burgers and a sunny park: that’s got to be better than a turning lane and a handful of car parks.
Slav to the Rhythm
Luke Buda – Benny Andersson (ABBA) impersonator extraordinaire, and one of the frontmen of Wellington band The Phoenix Foundation – has just released his debut solo album ‘Special Surprise‘ (following on from his 2004 release ‘The C-Sides’ mini-album, which is still available over at Slow Boat Records so we’re told).
And it sounds great. Fans of The Phoenix Foundation will know roughly what to expect: lots of nice melodies and guitar action, but with a touch more humour and a lot more synth action than the two ‘Phoenecian’ albums to date. But don’t believe us, believe the paid professional reviewers. Says Lindsay Davis of the Dominion…
Musically, the album is eclectic, mixing the gunslinging rock on the ‘Stallion’ to the Latin feel of ‘Sauerkraut Bossa’, which combines a cheesy electro-lounge rhythm with organ washes and yet somehow you are hooked. ‘Slav to the Rhythm’ updates mid-period Bowie with a slick lyric that morphs into a a driving fuzzed conclusion that would make the Tin Machine blush.
…and Lyndon Walker of Rip it Up…
With lots of soft melodies, mellow synths and a sound which is part Phoenix Foundation and part his own, this album is a great listen from beginning to end…
Any Aucklanders who happen to be reading this blog should be aware that Buda is playing up at the Kings Arms this Saturday (8th April) with SJD, and for us Wellingtonians, more gigs are apparently in
2THICK2 Spell
According to a Creative New Zealand survey (3.5MB PDF) that was released last night, Wellingtonians are over 50% more likely than the average New Zealander to regularly attend arts events. Census data shows that Wellington City has the highest proportion of households that live without a car. So obviously, Wellington is the natural place to […]
Idea city
Who says that Wellington is devoid of intellectual debate? Certainly not the people behind the 7×7 Ideas Forums, who organise regular presentations where 7 people each get 7 minutes to promote, demonstrate and discuss their ideas. There’s no indication on their website of who will be speaking during this series, but the previous series (some […]
CRANFIELDS ONLINE
ATTENTION ex-pat Wellingtonians! Looking for the perfect gift to send to your loved ones back home? Cranfields – Merchants of imported gifts, decorative objects and beautiful furniture, and one of the most interesting shops in the city (not to mention Auckland & Melbourne too) is now online & taking orders from anywhere in the world. […]
A whirled of pain
Now that the wind’s gone (calloo callay!) and the sun’s out (oh frabjous day!), wouldn’t it be a lovely time to wander down to the waterfront and see the much photographed Water Whirler do its thing? Not so fast, matey boy, someone has had other ideas. It seems that someone has decided that it’s more […]
the last festival event?
Could this be the last event of this year’s festival? After weeks of weather-related delays, at last the announcement arrived in the Wellingtonista inbox: The Bucket Fountain TRANSPLASTICISM is in existance in Cuba Mall for the next two and a half days. […] You are invited to attend and view the work. […] The installation […]
Open up
Hi all, this is my first post as a Wellingtonista. There’s a slew of new shops, galleries and entertainment venues opening at the moment, so I thought I’d start with a quick roundup. The Bartley Nees Gallery on the corner of Blair and Wakefield streets is undergoing mitosis and splitting itself into Tim Nees Gallery […]
Wellington v. Baku
Tom over at WellUrban has been leading the campaign to get Wellington added to the excellent GridSkipper site (an online urban travel guide which is part of the same online blog empire that includes Gawker, Defamer and Gizmodo, amongst others). As such, Wellington is now in competition with Baku – capital of Azerbaijan – for […]
Solo 22 – Voyages
Of course, we here at the Wellingtonista would never blow our own trumpets, but we’re happy to blow our families’ – in a non Southland kind of way, of course – so we’re pleased to tell you about the new exhibition on at the Academy Gallery called Solo 22. There’s paintings and sculptures by other […]