Hard News by Russell Brown

New Horizons now also plays on the RNZ National airwaves: 7.35pm Thursdays on Nights with Bryan Crump.

Let's not forget that the seemingly indefatigable William Dart not only did reviews for Rip It Up (I remember many a deadline with late night trips to retrieve a review from his letterbox) but does the odd other thing as well:

In 1988 William Dart founded and edited the important quarterly, Music in New Zealand which he published almost single-handedly until 2002. Since 1983 he has been editor of the equally important Art New Zealand. He is regarded as one of New Zealand’s leading music critics. From 1977-2002, Dart wrote regularly for the NZ Listener and, since 2002, has been the music critic for the New Zealand Herald. He broadcasts regularly for Radio New Zealand Concert, including a weekly programme on rock music, New Horizons, as well as many other programmes including Composer of the Week, New Music Survey, Pressing On, and Appointment.
As a composer he is best known for his incidental music which has lead to many successful collaborations such as Give us a Kiss with John Curry and Ross Fraser and Songs to the Judges with Mervyn Thompson.
The recipient of a prestigious Lilburn Trust Award, the KBB Citation for Services to NZ Music and an MNZM for Services to Music and the Arts (1997), William Dart has stood at the forefront of New Zealand music for more than three decades.

from SOUNZ

see also http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/speech/45131/william-dart-music-and-art-crtic

and the songs he writes are wonderful and he collaborates on devising and playing in INTERESTING concerts for voice (mine, lucky,lucky me) and piano.

From memory, New Horizons started around 1979-80. I remember a feature on this new programme in the Listener, and saying it would look at rock /modern (I forget how they characterised it) seriously...no, I think the word is thoughtfully (aside on pet hobbyhorse: 'serious' is not the same as 'thoughtful' and in fact a hell of a lot of serious people are not very thoughtful at all).

Early programmes were on Randy Newman, and the Kinks, and the Kinks are still one of my favourite bands, mostly on the strength of hearing Ray Davies' approach analysed on the programme.

It was the aural equivalent of close reading - making you slow down and notice what was happening in a recording.

in two minds, but you can't go calling a post Just William without me feeling a need to post me old band, it was the title of one of the last tracks we pulled together before upping sticks and moving on...anyway, what the whatevs, they were the 80s...

It was the aural equivalent of close reading – making you slow down and notice what was happening in a recording.

Yes, that's a very good way of putting it.

Let’s not forget that the seemingly indefatigable William Dart not only did reviews for Rip It Up (I remember many a deadline with late night trips to retrieve a review from his letterbox)

Me too!

I recall the first time I actually got to go inside and behold William's vast basement record library ...

I recall the first time I actually got to go inside and behold William's vast basement record library ...

From the infectious ease of his writing you never feel daunted by William Dart's expertise. Ever since encountering his work in Rip It Up back in the late 70s I've loved the way he makes what he writes about seem like a shared discovery. As a side note to Peter Alsop's superb work on NZ photo history I found this worth revisiting:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10752444

icon see clearly now…
The NZ Herald seems a bit revisionist in its take on Auckland’s secret history – their Auckland City ‘Lovebite #17’ states that –

Iconic record store Real Groovy has been selling and trading vinyl for the past 25 years, making it an Auckland institution.

That only seems to cover the period from 1991 when they moved into the old 1920s building and doesn’t cover their time (metres away) at the even more ‘iconic’ 496 Queen street site on the corner of Queen St and City Rd, or their earlier (original?) premises a bit further out of town at the start of Mt Eden Road (end of Symonds street) in the ’80s… (IIRC)
…the ownership may have changed slightly at times but the logo remained the same (I think it is a Chris Mousdale design originally).

So even when revealed, Auckland secrets still have secrets…

or their earlier (original?) premises a bit further out of town at the start of Mt Eden Road (end of Symonds street) in the ’80s… (IIRC)

Yes, in the block of shops right at the top of Mt Eden Road.

…the ownership may have changed slightly at times but the logo remained the same (I think it is a Chris Mousdale design originally).

That's actually a Stefan Morris joint, created in the Rip It Up office.

And I'm so glad you mentioned it, because it gives me another chance to claim my sole design fame. Stefan had already come up with the Wurlitzer arch for the words "Real Groovy" and was wondering what to do with the "Records" part. I suggested it needed something simple like a classic cinema sign grid. And thus it came to pass.