Posts by Mike O'Connell
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Hard News: Friday Music: Good News, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Just marvellous, something fabulous (and free) to attend within walking distance of home and I’m in bleedin’ Auckland, ain’t I!
It was marvellous Ian! John gave a nice little introduction, explaining theremin history and who has used it and media where it's been popularly used. There was the obligatory question,'can you play the theme from Midsomer Murders?' Short answer. No. Why? it's technically difficult. John 'dabbles, said he's need 10hrs a day practice - something which Celia Sheen is highly proficient at.
John's theremin is a $1,000 Moog job (Moog BTW have a nice little tribute to its founder, Leon Theremin). The man himself was no slouch, as you'd expect (a brief demo piece, in Russian):
But the gremlins are stopping me uploading for the moment a bit of evidence of how good the performance was. The variable pitch on the theremin allowed John to move above the more-or-less steady pitch of Anita's violin. So at times it sounded like he was playing bass cello (as he does in Dark Matter) and then higher than the violin, Both instruments were equally compelling in a 20 min odd performance.
What was really good, in the unusual daytime setting for a performance like this, in a busy public library, was more folks gathered to watch as they came in and the bunch of kids watching were enthralled by this 'magic' hands-off instrument. it was a pleasure watching these younguns of all walks come up give it a go with some came back for seconds as if free icecreams were being dished out!
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Just had to do it. If you want to know the meaning of meaninglessness then I'll see you ...today... in The Other's Way, courtesy those lads in gladwrap!
And for good measure, this live compilation - three tracks: I Don't Want to See You Again, The Other's Way and Anyone Else Would. I hadn't seen this before (ufortunately just segments - can;t find them in their entirety
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If you're aat a loose end in Christchurch tomorrow, as part of NZ Music Month, Shirley Library (2pm) hosts The Terminal's John Chrisstoffels on the theremin, appearing with with Anita Clark (of Devilish Mary and Holy Rollers) on the violin playing as Motte. Should be a lot of fun.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Good News, in reply to Russell Brown,
Aah, Golden Harvest, featuring Kevin Kaukau (one of the four musical Kaukau brothers, originally from Turangi) playing lead guitar with his teeth! They were pretty well one-hit wonders but right up there in comparison with the disco coming out of the US at the time.
Graham Reid gave them a write-up in 2012 plus they reunited for a one-off in 2013 the Waiata Māori Awards.
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Nailed it
that Marlon boy just gets better and better. Here's his classic Face to Face interview from mid-2015 with the inimitable Anika Moa:
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Hard News: The place where things happen…, in reply to Russell Brown,
This is a brilliant running commentary, keep it coming Russell. I do hope Peter Dunne will unfold those same points in his speech about responsible regulation to his cabinet colleagues, Police Association etc when returns.
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Sad to hear about Jim Laing - he was in one of my chemistry classes back in the day. Great guitarist (I loved the fuzzy feedback of Einstein) plus he got to sing vox on a number of JPSE tracks incl. I Like Rain
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Frankly, when Ed came here for the first time in years to support Television, he blew the academic New Yorkers off the stage.
He certainly did. Television played like they had to do it to get paid, not that interested. But sadly no solo concert for Ed in Chch - and I have no burning desire to see a shortened support set for the Stramglers (or the Stranglers for that matter.)
Wonder if he'll do Everything I've Got Belongs to You?
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There was recently a bit of a chat about The Walking Dead... last night's season finale Last Day on Earth, with the introduction of Negan, was one of the most gripping, tense and scary finales to anything anywhere that I've seen for a very, very long time.
I was 'warned' some time ago about Negan by a friend who has never seen the series but is way ahead in the comics. In the episodes preceding there''s been mention of Negan here and there (kind of like Kirk Douglas and 'I'm Spartacus...we're all Spartacus'.)
But last last night's last half hour or so blew me away. I felt pretty shook up at the end of it. Am I alone in feeling like this?
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Not quite music but... RIP Ronnie Corbett
I want four candles...
And, reprised with Harry Enfield, 'e as a problem wif 'is Apple!