Hard News by Russell Brown

Read Post

Hard News: Mighty Indeed

81 Responses

First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 Newer→ Last

  • Russell Brown,

    Great night though and Blam Blam Blam are like a fine cheese.

    They smell?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Righto ... Grant McDougall, come on down -- you were at least half right and the bonus questions were a nice touch.

    A digital voucher for I Want That is on its way to your email address Grant. Don't say I never do anything for you.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Jealous, jealous, jealous. Even though 1)I don't like crowds and 2)I don't drink and 3)I turn into a pumpkin after midnight....I do love me a good Blam.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    I think in retrospect that "24 hour diner" should have been higher up the list of things Wellington needs, after the last bunch of us got kicked out of a kebab shop at 4am.

    Even Taupo has a 24-hour diner! There should be a place where you can just go and get some crap to eat, and be able to sit down without having to employ mindtricks on the staff ("We're not eating it here. We're just sitting down as we wait for him... and, whoops, I accidentally ate my felafel.")

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    I'd have picked the 1480 Kruzers being something to do with Radio Hauraki - its where the station was on the AM dial.

    Own fault, I know, but I am a tad envious reading these posts...I was invited, and I love trivia quizzes, and the Blams were the first band I ever saw live, back at Welly Polytech in '82.... but even if I'd gone I'd have folded by about 9pm.

    Here's a question you may have had: which NZ band had a song go to number one the first week of release with no commercial radio airplay?

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    They smell?

    Well, maybe. I had in mind "better when mature".

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    I'd have picked the 1480 Kr[oo]zers being something to do with Radio Hauraki

    They were the sponsors.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Here's a question you may have had: which NZ band had a song go to number one the first week of release with no commercial radio airplay?

    Was it Head Like A Hole with "Fish Across Face"?

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Wikipedia sez no, but it was in the top 10.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    Was it Head Like A Hole with "Fish Across Face"?

    Ahh, Muldoon era, folks.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Own fault, I know, but I am a tad envious reading these posts...I was invited, and I love trivia quizzes, and the Blams were the first band I ever saw live, back at Welly Polytech in '82.... but even if I'd gone I'd have folded by about 9pm.

    Which would have been 90 mins before the band started. And even then they were having such a nice time that I kinda had to insist they got on.

    "Tim," I said, "I am really enjoying having this yarn with you, but I feel it could go on a long time, and really, the people need to hear you."

    Then they went on, opened with the Doctor Who theme, got a huge cheer when they finished that, and the tone was set for the evening.

    Also happy: Sally, the formidable and efficient duty manager at Mighty Mighty, which scooped (I think) all the the bar awards. She was seen dancing to the Blams and hugging her staff, and I don't think she is the kind of manager who frequently hugs her staff ...

    BTW: Sigh ... Why are Wellington bars so much better than Auckland bars, on average? My good-bars-in-Auckland conversation tends to run out at the Wine Cellar and Family ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Here's a question you may have had: which NZ band had a song go to number one the first week of release with no commercial radio airplay?

    Screaming Meemees' 'See Me Go'?

    (Which, BTW, you may soon be hearing in a version style ...)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    Screaming Meemees' 'See Me Go'?
    (Which, BTW, you may soon be hearing in a version style ...)

    Yeah. Told you it wasn't that hard....

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    BTW: Sigh ... Why are Wellington bars so much better than Auckland bars, on average? My good-bars-in-Auckland conversation tends to run out at the Wine Cellar and Family ...

    It's the people, Russell.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    Here's a question you may have had: which NZ band had a song go to number one the first week of release with no commercial radio airplay?

    Screaming Meemees' 'See Me Go'?

    (Which, BTW, you may soon be hearing in a version style ...)

    It was on TV last night in a torch song version for the Weetbix Kids Tryathlon ad.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Ok, well I wasn't in Wellington and would have struggled with more of the questions than I should have... however might I contribute a little story about Mr Don McGlashin...

    I was a young aspiring muso learning trumpet in fourth form (someone can do the conversion if needed) and we used to get out of class to have lessons. Lessons were in a small room, probably originally a teacher's office when they had such things, out the back of the building where you lined up for your weekly hour of tuition. Tutors were pretty dynamic characters - dynamic in at least two senses - the changed a lot and they were entirely unlike teachers - and for a while my tutor was Don McGlashin.

    I. Shit. You. Not.

    So, I'm a little younger than the Blams usual crowd but I've got an older brother who's frequently told me my musical tastes are shit and insisted that I listen to his stuff which includes the Blams...

    Queue the moment when I come home and tell big brother than not only can I play a musical instrument, something that at that point in life he'd not bothered with, but my tutor's, with whom I'm on first name terms (for all of a month), the very same the bloke he pays to go see...

    For all those people who've got older brothers, this might work for sisters but I don't know, it was a triumph.

    Thanks Don.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Why are Wellington bars so much better than Auckland bars, on average?

    Yeah, in the last couple of days I have been to more excellent bars in Wellington than I ever have in Auckland.

    Tonight I had the Wellingtonista-nominated poached pear punch from Superfino, and it was deliciously fresh and fruity.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Oh bugger, it's McGlash**a**n...

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Least I didn't misspell with an Australian accent, that'd be McGleshen

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    a Legal Beagle. That person was me.

    The name wasn't pretentious, and I quite liked it, so I stuck with it.

    Does that mean you're excitable, don't tire easily, are smart but easily distracted by nice smells, start howling if left alone for any length of time and have a tendency to go to fat? Then again, you get on with children and other dogs so long live Legal Beagle!

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    i have a question...

    any chance that the blams were recorded?

    because i'd pay for a copy of that dr. who number...

    (oh, and BIG SHOUT OUT to robyn. great to meet you)

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    Does that mean you're excitable, don't tire easily, are smart but easily distracted by nice smells, start howling if left alone for any length of time and have a tendency to go to fat?

    And are useful for medical experiments on smoking.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    because i'd pay for a copy of that dr. who number...

    It's available on The Complete Blam Blam Blam (which is an excellent collection), but I certainly wouldn't say no to a blam-blam-bootleg of the night...

    (oh, and BIG SHOUT OUT to robyn. great to meet you)

    (Lovely to meet you too! It was really good to meet some of the Wellingtonista and PA System regulars.)

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    the Gordons' 'Coalminers Song' sounds almost exactly the same backwards as it does forwards ...

    I wouldn't be surprised if that was true of most of their catalogue!

    That isn't as silly as it sounds. In their later incarnation as Bailter Space they did actually learn how to play "Splat" backwards, so it would look like they were playing it backwards in the song's classic "backwards" video clip.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    Q1: The first game of the 1981 Springbok tour was against which team in which city?

    Gisborne if I remember - against Poverty Bay - the next game was in Hamilton against HART and was called

    It sure was - and I presume you mean "Waikato" not "HART" and "called off".

    I was only a 13-year-old Form 2 student at Gisborne Intermediate in '81, but I remember the tour extremely vividly.

    I also saw it from both sides of the argument. On the Saturday the Boks arrived, my step-father and I went down to the hotel they were staying at and protested.

    Then at school on Monday, our teacher, David Langford, told us he wasn't going to be at school tomorrow "because I'm going on a course".

    On Tuesday, my actual Dad took me to the game. Just before kick-off, hundreds of protestors tried to storm Rugby Park by crossing the adjacent golf course, to be met by the cops and you can guess what happened next...

    So my teacher hadn't been lying; he had been on a course, a golf course.

    When Close Up did a 25 years' flashback show on the tour, live from Gisborne, it was revealed that only a few protestors knew beforehand they were going to go across the golf course, so Mr L must've been quite highly involved in the local branch of HART, I presume.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 Newer→ Last

Post your response…

Please sign in using your Public Address credentials…

Login

You may also create an account or retrieve your password.