Commemoration vs Celebration
Over the last week, Wellington has been the focus of an Anzac Day like no other. The long-awaited Pukeahu National War Memorial Park opened with a “spectacular” light show, and on Friday the city stopped to cheer a “spectacular” Anzac parade (paging Guy Debord!). This was followed by a huge turnout for the dawn service on […]
Dan at the head of the FishHead
How time flies! Five years since we hit the launch party, FishHead magazine is going from strength to strength, no doubt because they’ve been smart enough to solicit a bunch of Wellingtonista contributors (I wrote in the very first issue, current ‘istas Tom Beard and Tom Goulter and gone fishin’ Hadyn Green are all regular columnists). […]
Review: Triumphs and other alternatives
The lights go up on a mostly bare stage. In the back half of the stage there is a sheet of plastic being used as a curtain. It’s snagged on a table. As it rises a figure becomes visible over a miniature cityscape. The light brightens to reveal not a cityscape but a mess of […]
Review: The showgirl
A NZ written disco noir set in Harlem, 1979. Dancer Fontella Pendavis (Deborah Eve Rea) has been murdered at Studio Soul and Detective Gonzales (Jordan Rivers) has been sent to investigate. There are plenty of possible suspects – Luz Cruz (Brittany Goss), who has inherited Fontella’s job; Ari Sugarman (Ed Blunden), the owner of the […]
Review: Tiny Deaths
A series of 11 monologues about love and sex written by Uther Dean. It’s performed by 6 women – Alice May Connolly, Brianne Kerr, Hannah Banks, Freya Daly Sadgrove, Hilary Penwarden, and Kegan Carr Fransch. From the start we’re invited into a surreal world where the object of love and/or sex might not be human. […]
Eye opening
While Our Tim got to take a sneak peek at Tuatara’s new Te Aro brewery and bar before it opened, I had the onerous task of drinking free beer representing The Wellingtonista at the official opening function. It was a suitably illustrious crowd, packed with the doyen(ne)s of Wellington’s craft beer community, including the LBQ […]
Park(ing) Day 2015
The attitude around Park(ing) Day has changed dramatically since I first got involved a few years ago. Where I was struggling with by-laws to work around not getting permission to set up my space, WCC has now brought it into Parks Week and the Wellington Sculpture Trust does the logistical management. On March 11, a total […]
Win a VIP double pass to the Wellington Wine and Food Festival
Wellington is a city overflowing with good restaurants and fine drops to drink. It seems ridiculous that we haven’t had our own day-of-food-and-wine-and-oh-okay-fine-beer yet. Luckily, that’s about to change with the cunningly named Wellington Food and Wine Festival. The Festival brings together the best of local food, wine, beverages and restaurants, outdoors on the waterfront […]
Something fishy in Thorndon
Thorndon has a long history with greasies, including David Lange’s fish & chips brigade in 1980. I remember buying fish’n chips from that same store (where Cellarvate is now, I believe) and eating them on Parliament’s lawn after a big legalise cannabis protest in high school (so I guess 1996?). Sadly that fish & chips […]
Springing into a spa
Not that long ago, a new spa opened up in town, as part of the new apartment complex where Il Casino once played host to a million marriage proposals. We got invited to come and try them out, and so off to upper Tory Street I went in search of some total relaxation. Oh the […]