Posts by Paul Rowe
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
New Plymouth & Palmerston North - always wonderful places with bands that had charming names.
PN - Clare's Un Natural Twin (the posters just used the initials)
NP - Dick Fux & the Goatfucking Nunrapers -
and a poem that I found quirky about a guy who collected used teabags, dried them out, and used them to make a 'recycled teabag duvet'.
Frank, I believe, by David Merritt. I saw him perform a couple of times when I first moved to Auckland. Supporting the 3Ds at the Gluey, and (I think) Alastair Galbraith at some dive that used to be on the corner of Symonds St & Khyber Pass. Had a good line in putting down hecklers or downright indifference. I believe he was also in Gate with Michael Morley occasionally. You will find it on Killing Capitalism With Kindness, amongst a bunch of other lo-fi gems. (not as good as Making Losers Happy though).
-
Alrighty, I had this half-written in my head, until the Enz got a minor bagging earlier. I will proceed however...
In 1984 I was 13 and when a mate suggested we go see Split Enz at the Napier Municipal Theatre, it was a big deal. The whole occasion was a revelation, I was right at the front, about six feet from Tim Finn doing his one armed push-ups and riding one of the roadies like a horse. I had one Split Enz cassette at the time, Enz of an Era, which I didn’t listen to much. After the gig I was possessed. A second-hand record shop opened in Havelock North and someone had cleared their collection. I was able to buy all the albums (with the exception of Mental Notes) on tape. I still have all the tapes in a little cassette box my father bought when he was in Wellington for work in about 1985.
The best one, in my humble opinion, is Second Thoughts. It wasn’t because it was a second stab at Mental Notes in a better studio, or the fact that Phil Manzanera produced (my vote for best British band of the 70s is Roxy Music). It was the last track on side one, one that isn’t on Mental Notes, called Sweet Dreams. Judd’s finest song ever, full of imagery and angst, it seemed to be all the fear he had to bottle up to get onstage at the time. With Judd they were a completely different animal to the radio-tastic 80s version. When Tim & Neil released their first Finn Brothers record in the early 90s I was at the release party and they finished the set with Sweet Dreams and I was just in heaven.
Split Enz isn’t the greatest band NZ ever produced. The albums are a bit dated and have some filler. Like the Beatles, the familiar songs are too familiar to me. I don’t listen to those tapes any more but they are still there and an important part of my musical education. Without them I probably wouldn’t have become the music obsessive I was before my kids came along and took all my money!
-
Disappointed not to see Cale the other night, but alsodisappointed to hear he wasn't complete brilliance in a can.
I juat checked the Kiw Concerts site you pointed to a few weeks ago and the gig will be up there soonish, apparently. Having downloaded a few of the gigs, I have to say it is a brilliant site. The old Cale show is excellent and the Patti Smith show from about ten years ago is freakin awesome. The gigs I have are excellent quality too.
The Standard's discussion of Nigel lawson is equally scathing, as you would expect.
-
Screw the politics, if Sonic Youth can convince the Dead C to support again I might get a bit excited too.
-
Awesomer seems to me to be a perfectly cromulent word.
-
I saw Cale at the ICA in London, must have been 99-00 something like that?
Not a standard gig though, it was him and a DJ and they were joined by a woman singer at the end for a song cycle about spies in WWII (or something). He played a lot of the 'hits' but messed with the arrangements and melodies so they were unrecognisable until you heard a bit you knew. It was a good show (not even half full) but I'd like to hear him play with a band. If he smiles once during the show that'll be more often than Lou Reed did when I saw him :)
-
Big tours every 8-10 years aren’t sustainable these days.
The “product” (Pay TV) must have something EVERY year. That way they keep the NRL honest.
No we'd get moderate events each year against differing opposiotion, punctuated by a RWC every four years. What we wouldn't get is the f##king Boks three time a year every year! This isn't a dig at them. We had three summers in a row of Sri Lanka touring. Love their work, but three years in a row (tsnami I think) was a bit much.
-
Er ... these would be the Apartheid years, right?
Your point IO?
I could have added that they prevented us from picking our Maori players to tour until the 1960s and that's why they kept winning. (and that the NZRU acceded to their demands) -
if SA had it in 08, OZ in 09 and NZ in 10 then the poor South African fans would literally go 3-4 years without seeing the ABs or Wallabies in the flesh and the same would be repeated for fans in the other countries. That sure as hell ain't gonna happen.
But that's kind of the point. In the olden days NZ would tour SA every 8-10 years, and vice versa. Combine that with the fact that bastards kept winning is what made them the great enemy. Anyway there is no stopping unions scheduling an extra Bledisloe etc outside the 4N.
I think the touring idea is a great one, however I would like to see a provincial (S14) toury too that includes Argentina - IMHO it is essential that the Argies have a domestic professional competition of a high standard that feeds into the National side. (though given their success with players plying their trade in Europe, they might think otherwise :) )