Random Play by Graham Reid

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Random Play: An aerial ballet of steel and cement

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  • Bob Munro,

    The link to the bridge doesn't seem to be working Graham. Here's a stop-gap measure

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report Reply

  • Graham Reid,

    hiya bob
    as a high-wired but cultural illiterate (so what am i doing here?) i appreciate it.
    i asked for smart-people help because it didn't link.
    i did my best setting it up: initially i blamed the herald but of course, as we say. it's all about me, huh? . . .
    Aah figgit, i'm at home listening to john cale vinyl from '82 so what do i know . . in the face of Music For A New Society, nothing I wrote was that important.
    cheers
    g

    auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 45 posts Report Reply

  • Bob Munro,

    There was poetry in the post Graham, that's all that matters.

    Got Linda Ronstadt and Anne Savoy doing 'Adieu False Heart' on at our place. Off now for a walk by the beach. getting ready to farewell the godwits before they take off for Siberia.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report Reply

  • Mike Graham,

    Perhaps you could get Cr Aaron Bhatnagar (who helped defeat Richard Simpson in the last local body election) to comment and see what his vision for another harbour crossing is.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report Reply

  • Ben Gracewood,

    I'm constantly underwhelmed by the lack of vision, guts, and forward-thinking on public works projects in Auckland and NZ in general. The stadium, tank farm, harbour crossing, whatever.

    Can someone please just grow some balls (or ovaries or whatever required gonad) and build something spectacular that I can gaze at? I hate having to go to foreign countries to have my heart quickened by concrete and steel.

    This may be divulging a little too much, but I literally choke up when presented with beautiful architecture like this

    Orkland • Since Nov 2006 • 168 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    hiya bob
    as a high-wired but cultural illiterate (so what am i doing here?) i appreciate it.
    i asked for smart-people help because it didn't link.

    One of the quotes in the code was curly rather than straight, because that's what Word thinks you want. Took me a while to work out. Fixed now.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Wouldn't it be nice to have a beautiful bridge like that? Maybe we wouldn't mind the shitty traffic if we had something nice to gaze upon as we crawled across? I'm all for it. I like a good aqueduct meself!

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

  • Jackie Clark,

    that would be aqua with an a, not an e, of course

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

  • Ben Austin,

    I was in Manchester and was rather impressed by a couple of new buildings - the Hilton Hotel and the Manchester Civic Justice Centre (aka the Filing Cabinet).

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    Hiya Graham, I pop over to elsewhere occasionally. This week I hunted down your piece on Moby Grape, a fine album. I always liked the opener - Hey Grandma. Unfortunately I only have it on vinyl and my little record player is in storage (we're selling the house). I have hunted for the CD but obviously not hard enough...

    The best substitute I found has been Cat Power doing Naked If I Want To on the Covers Album.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • Graham Reid,

    Ohhh, Moby Grape . . . love that debut (and Country Joe and the Fish's Electric Music For the Mind and Body which I also mentioned). Go to amazon and get the double disc collection, it is very cool -- but as I mentioned, their albums were re-rleased for about two weeks late last year before the "manager" lurched back on the scene.
    Haven't heard the Cat Power version (she is posted at Elsewhere currently too) because I only got the single disc version of the CD.
    Cannot understand how anyone can live with a record player -- even for just a wee while. It would be the last thing I would pack and first out of the box.
    I go to Real Groovy about every 10 days and buy a swag from their $2 and $4 bins ($10 is getting pricey for me). Amazing what you can find: I am currently grooving to Richard Harris, a Quin Tikis album and swag of early 60s Hawaiian music albums in kitschy covers.
    It is always cocktail hour at my place!

    auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 45 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I was in Manchester and was rather impressed by a couple of new buildings ...

    You can go to much crazier places than that and see inspirational architecture. __Monocle__magazine had a story on a striking new hotel in Khartoum, of all places. Just not here.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Speaking of music, there's a classic programming goof on EMI's latest as-seen-on-TV hits collection. The 2CD set is entitled "Happy Songs", yet includes ABBA's The Winner Takes It All, widely considered one of the saddest songs in the history of Pop.


    Also, can someone identify TV2's latest theme song?

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Easterbrook,

    Graham, have you ever read Margaret Mahy's short story The Bridge Builder? A perfect little tale for anyone who gets misty-eyed about bridges...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 265 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    Now where was I reading about Country Joe recently too? eMusic I think, no albums, but quite a good potted history of the band. Electric Music is on my "records to find at some point" list. The last one to be scratched off that list was Sister Lovers. Having kids is awful for your record buying habits.

    I just popped into Marbecks nad they've got four of the reissues in stock at $40 each, unfortunately not the first one though.

    I don't even have a CD player at the minute. All my musical jollies come courtesy of the ipod and speaker. At least my LPs are safe though.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    I grabbed the Cat Power version off eMusic on Wednesday, along with Satisfaction and a couple of others. Getting used to buying single tracks and not the whole LP.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    Also, can someone identify TV2's latest theme song?

    Aire of Good Feeling by Malcolm Hayman's band Quincy Conserve, who played at my school many years back.

    Sadly Mal won't be around to benefit (he died in 1988) and nobody else really will in NZ, except maybe EMI, as it was written by a guy called Jim Peterik whose other claim to fame was writing Eye of the Tiger in USA.

    Would've been nice in these times to have had a NZ composed song as the theme for an NZ publicly owned channel. There are a few out there, including many by the Quincy Conserve.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I grabbed the Cat Power version off eMusic on Wednesday, along with Satisfaction and a couple of others.

    I was so pissed off: for two weeks Cat Power's newie, Jukebox, was "this album is not available for download in your country," so I told my darling to just spend the lavish amount of money that a CD costs these days.

    When she brought it home, the eMusic version had suddenly become available in NZ. Bah.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    was so pissed off: for two weeks Cat Power's newie, Jukebox, was "this album is not available for download in your country," so I told my darling to just spend the lavish amount of money that a CD costs these days.

    When she brought it home, the eMusic version had suddenly become available in NZ. Bah.

    I feel your pain. I was surprised to see it come available after a couple of weeks. In my case, my music budget thse days doesn't stretch much past the $20 a month I pay for 50 songs on eMusic.

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    Bridges...the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England, really is a remarkable object, both as an engineering feat and for how cool it is.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    I have travelled very long distances to see great bridges such as Norman Foster's beautiful span in the south of France

    Damn! I drove thru Italy & France 2 years ago, and must have missed that. But I did notice other structures and observed that both countries were not afraid to create infrastructure when it was required. Does anyone seriously believe that we could actually get anything like this off the drawing board in NZ? It wouldn't survice the RMA, and every greenie and neighbourhood action group in the vicinity would lobby for africa (better turn of phrase anyone? its 2008) to have it stopped.

    Cullen is trumpeting a new tunnel for the Mt Albert extension of SH20. It will cost almost double the previous option, which is cut n cover. Why does everyone hate cut n cover? You cut a trench, then cover it. You can add plants, a bus stop, whatever on top.

    So instead Cullen is spending some of the surplus (or not, it could be Public Private Tollway)(and that worked in Sydney didn't it?) to tunnel underground. Because there's ni use having a halfway coompleted ring route. Right you are Mr Cullen, but it's still only half a ring if the Eastern Suburbs won't play ball.

    Yes, the rich folks in Parnell, Remmers, And Eastern Bays (including the much lauded Richard Simpson)(the man who said we should keep SUV's out of the city by painting the car park spaces thinner) have successfully blocked their half of the ring route, which would connect Auckland city with Manukau via Pakuranga. NIMBY thankyou.

    So here's how traffic planning works in NZ (Auckland?)
    1) The poor folks in South Auckland have no lobbying power so we carve up Mangere and Otara for as many motorway extensions as we need
    2) The rich folks in East Auckland have mucho lobbying power so we'll shelve all plans for the ring road in their neck of the woods.
    3) The middle folks in Mt Albert ... well ... it's election year so we'll continue the motorway plan, but use the expensive tunnel option.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    Thanks for that Graham, I particularly like the idea of bridges for people – that is to say bridges that do accommodate cars, bikes and people. I grew rather fond of the river of bobbing hats and heads that cross the Thames for example. But I would say that having lived and worked around Clifton’s older but somewhat smaller brother (sister?); no doubt about my favourite. I worked in the red building beneath the span, part of the old normal college and next to the white building is the old university boathouse. I never got over the thrill of rowing out beneath the bridge on a clear morning. The view is near identical to a watercolour I have on my wall. Oddly enough I ended up living in the house designed by and built for Telford during the construction of the bridge. I love the idea that a bridge is a near perfect expression of form and function in public infrastructure. Towers, museums, lavatories and fountains can be aesthetic as well as functional; but nothing has the potential of a bridge to express beauty and purpose. Auckland Harbour Bridge has its moments if only by virtue of the view it can deliver at dawn and dusk, but it still has some way to go before it really feels part of my Auckland life in the way that the Menai Bridge did when I lived in Wales. I do feel that has something to do with the fact that of a lonely night I could walk out to the middle and stare down the straits.

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Ben Austin,

    I think part of the attraction of the Clilfton bridge is that it sits in the beautiful Avon Gorge.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    I reckon build the glorious new bridge, but don't trash the old one, turn it into a destination, build apartments and markets and shops and stalls. No road access, only pedestrian.
    See Willam Gibson's Bridge Trilogy for a more anarchic version.

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    I reckon build the glorious new bridge, but don't trash the old one, turn it into a destination, build apartments and markets and shops and stalls. No road access, only pedestrian.

    Then you'd miss out on stuff like this.

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

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