Posts by Woz at the Skybatch
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Russell, thanx for reminding me of the efforts that go on behind the scenes to get these things up and running.
Andre, I was probably underneath the plywood with you in 96 at the Big Wash Out...
I see Messrs Baillie & Kara have listed their top 10 BDO moments in the Herald today... shame they dont mention any females... So to provide some feminine balance, here are three of my top BDO moments...
- Hole / 1999 (Not satisfied with pulling females up onto the stage during their excellent set Courtney then preceded to give her guitar away to a girl in the audience. “Swear to me you will play this, you will not sell it, you will form a band. Swear to me!” Astonishing and uplifting)
- PJ Harvey / 2003 (She opened with ‘Dress’ and ‘Water’ and then played five songs from the guitar heavy and angst-driven ‘Rid of Me’ album. God was looking after us oldies in the audience that day)
- Elastica / 1996 (as many have mentioned the rain brought a halt to the music so cue punters holding up the flooring boards of the pit to use as makeshift umbrellas and long / angry chanting of “bullshit!” until the music began again. I got totally drenched down the front bobbing and squelching to fine tunes like ‘Connection’)Sleater-Kinney in 06 and Breeders in 94 also were most excellent.
Messrs Baillie & Kara also noted Mr Toogood crowd surfing at the BDO 03, alas I dont remember that at all - however I do recall Dion of the D4 singing the second verse of ‘Heartbreaker’ while being held aloft by the massive pit crowd…
Which was also the year (03) I thought things in the BDO world began to get to a little dribbly (to use the previous metaphor...)
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A forgotten classic...
“They’re sending rockets to the moon
They say the rich are going to live there soon,
But my cars broken down and it doesn’t run.
Mind you, a car won’t make the trip,
they’ll have a silver-plated rocket ship
but they won’t be asking me if I wanna come…
They say it’s lonely at the top,
I don’t know if it is or not.
But it’s lonely at the bottom lookin’ up…”Street talk – Battleground of Fun… (Hammond Gamble in fine form…)
Artwork by the mighty Peter Lewis
That'll scare 'em...
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Ooh, nice post, Graham...
Russell, http://pacificears.co.nz could help you out. I've worn earplugs for almost 3 decades going to gigs (watching, playing, working) and my hearing is still decent (I'm in my mid forties...).
I get grumpy at rock gigs where the sound is not loud enough as there is nothing worse than listening to loud, drunk people discuss their love lives (or whatever) over the act I've come to see - worst ever = Tanya Donnelly gig.
Loudest is a toughie. Faith No More come to mind as do Living Colour (like four random strangers meeting each other for the first time in a wall of sound). Anyone else recall them at Auckland Town hall?
Best stage action must go to Veruca Salt in Auckland in the 90's inviting all the girls in the audience on stage (to dance about) for their encore of 'Shimmer Like A Girl' and then one of the female guitarists giving her guitar to an audience member and diving into the males left in front of her...
Best artist response. Sarah McLeod of the Superjesus at Vic Uni responding to the age old munter request of "show us your tits', to which she replied icely, "we don't have a song called that, but I'll be sure to write one especially for you and play it next time we're here..."
Finally, being surprised by signs of intelligent life in a crowd... after a Sleater-Kinney gig at the Kings Arms walking out behind two young blokes who were debating the finer points of drum solo's and whether Janet Weiss was in fact the best drummer on the entire planet (I admit here possibly being in a biased mood having had an X cover dedicated to me on the night and Carrie Brownstein giving me a big hug before getting up on stage...but still).
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I'm in agreement with the comment on the food options at Beervana. Hugely disappointing.
My faves on the day were the Captain Cooker from the Mussel Inn, the 'sea voyage conditioned' IPA from Epic, The 'Flying Dog' and something I wrote down as 'Brutal Bitter' from Dom's new bar... and the No 4 orginal beer from Baltika (which appeared to have all the flavour that the beer Hadyn tried lacked...).
Like others at the end of the session I found room for Arrow's excellent Mid Winter Xmas Ale too...
Next year a Public Address post event crawl then ??
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Goodness Emma your attitude toward what you've been through is humbling.
I recently had a heart issue diagnosed and just knowing what was actually wrong provided a huge improvement of mind. To improve it further now I'm going to name my wonky valves 'Riley' (for obvious Adric-type reasons) or (because it really is menacing and just won't go away) 'Mr. Morden'....
Enjoy besting Adric..
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Great post. And great support; I love this community (even if I mostly only read).
Best wishes for your ongoing recovery (and future wine choices).
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If you think of test cricket as 'organised loafing' (like the Archbishop of Canterbury in the 40's who allegedly said such) then perhaps the cut and thrust of what ends as a 5 day draw may pass you by.
As a youngster when my father and I would be watching test cricket, my mother would always ask, "Who is winning...?" We would sigh and reply that, "It isn't as easy as that..."
I admit, it is not for folk that are after more immediate thrills. But I still love it and you will find me (and a lot of those with the same afflication) on the hill at the Basin from tomorrow pm for the next few days. I'll be the one looking to improve my 'organised loafing' skills...
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I got very little out of school academically except a counter-productive faith in my own cleverness and a profound mistrust of authority. In retrospect, I feel very sorry for my teachers.
Goodness, that hit the nail on the head. This year I went to my school's 50th reunion and was surprised (and somewhat disappointed) to discover I had nothing I wanted to say to my teachers.
Mt Maunganui College 78-82. (Hey Karen!) Definately wagging. Especially math which seemed to get less applicable to the real world I intended to inhabit every year. However, wagging was much harder to accomplish in 7th form year - the entire form was less than 20 students and some of my classes I was one of only two...
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Agree with Russell - loonng parties (in my case a two nighter when I hit 40) are the way to go. Oddly enough the year after the 'zero' birthdays are much harder to face.
This year l stoppped dying my hair (which I have done since university days - all colours, I had no shame) and have embraced the multi colour look of my recently re-grown winter beard. Like Grant, I have been lucky enough to have people think I was somewhat younger than I was. But I knew it was going to change - looking at my Uncles made it clear to me early on in life what was in store for me (and my head) in my fourth decade... so I figured I could fight it or just go natural. I voted natural. And it feels good.
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Scott Robertson and Lonelygirl15 were "educated" at Mount College.
So was Steve Braunias... not 'famous' enough perhaps?