Life & Style

Stories

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  Let’s talk about sex, baby

  EVERYONE remembers the first time they had sex. In 1998 a website was created that allowed people to share such experiences, which inspired American theatre producer Ken Davenport to write My First Time. We asked the cast and crew of the play, directed by Ross… Continue

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  Return of the Kang

  Miae Kang was the first Weta Digital artist to exhibit at Monique and Calvin Rowe’s Eyeball Kicks store and gallery, now the gallery sells the works of three other Weta artists with an exciting addition on the way. CANADIAN artist Miae Kang moved to Wellington… Continue

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  Buy Wellington made

  Voted Best Artist in last year’s Capital Times Best of Wellington Readers Survey, Tommy Ill has released a debut album that is proudly Wellington-made - from the beats, the recording and mixing, right down to the artwork and the mastering. “I was also surprised… Continue

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  Clothes make the man

  The arts capital of New Zealand boasts a vibrant and edgy shopping experience. Capital Times celebrates entrepreneurs with a passion for fashion. MANDATORY are perfect fit specialists. The men’s clothing store on Cuba Street produces casual, work and occasion… Continue

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  Sexy Rexy

  The arts capital of New Zealand boasts a vibrant and edgy shopping experience. Capital Times celebrates entrepreneurs with a passion for the city. RETAIL boutique and fashion gallery Rex Royale started out as a small vintage store at the St James Markets.… Continue

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  Taste the difference

  With Beervana just around the corner, Capital Times discovers there are more people drinking craft beers than ever before. Cash-strapped backpacker Martin Baptiste says New Zealand craft beers can’t be beaten. “Cheaper alternatives just don’t do it, you really… Continue

• A cyclist's jewel?

  Makara Peak is one of the best mountain bike tracks in the world, according to a travel website. But experienced biker Nick Kemp disagrees. Seattle born Nick Kemp has ridden mountain bike tracks on the west coast of America, Asia, Europe, and New Zealand,… Continue

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  The Sky is the limit

  Without the support of Wellington-based venture capital technology company No 8 Ventures, Kiwi jetpack inventor Glenn Martin wouldn’t have been able to afford to keep his machine in the country. When Inventor and engineer Glenn Martin was only four he “repaired”… Continue

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  Tunnel vision

  MANY Hataitai residents are unhappy with Wellington City Council proposals for the Hataitai bus tunnel. They feel the council is not listening to them, particularly over tunnel safety. In particular Kent Duston of the Mt Victoria Residents Association says he… Continue

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  Sadist inspires teenager

  TOI Whakaari student Chris Parker felt liberated when he became an erotic novel and short story writer who enjoys bizarre and violent sexual fantasies. The 19 year old is stoked to play the role of French aristocrat and revolutionary Marquis de Sade, after whom… Continue

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  Disable fable

  Lucy O’Brien’s third play, Katydid, exposes the reality of living with someone with a disability, and deviates from the corny and simplistic formula of films like I Am Sam and The Other Sister. PLAYWRIGHT Lucy O’Brien’s 28 year old sister Sophie has the mind… Continue

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  Getting heat from the freezing foreshore

  REST home workers are testing each other’s courage at this month’s Petone Winter Carnival. Upper Hutt Wesleyhaven retirement village staff have dreamed up a “sponsorship scorecard” for the Petone foreshore “Polar Plunge”. Village manager Karen Rhind says the… Continue

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  Schlong time no see

  MUSIC awards don’t guarantee financial success. Just ask Kiwi metal band El Schlong. The Battle of the Bands and Handle the Jandal award winners regularly lug their own equipment on the London underground on the way to gigs. They don’t own a car. “Our gear… Continue

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  Wellington set for Risqué performance

  “THE Queen has sex too”, says “Drag King” Andy Harness. In the past Harness has done the full monty on stage, performed a skit which sexualises the Queen and caused people to storm out of his shows, but he promises his new show Risqué is for everybody, not just… Continue

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  A good story

  A stint living in a zoo inspired David Elliot to pursue a career as an illustrator. The award-winning illustrator of favourites such as the Redwall series by UK author Brian Jacques, was living in Edinburgh and had run out of money. “I went to get a job at a… Continue

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  Every Penny counts

  A Wellington band’s clever music video that shows them making their own instruments has won them a showing at a big film festival in London. THE Thomas Oliver Band’s video has been selected from over 1,000 entries to show in an international competition alongside… Continue

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  Human fireflies up the butterfly

  IF you are running through native beech forest at night, the last thing you expect to come across is a half-drunk rugby team. Eastbourne’s annual night race up Butterfly Creek was made more difficult than usual last year when the local rugby team decided to wet… Continue

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  Feeling merry

  IN the build up to the Rugby World Cup, old booze hags The Feelers are excited about their upcoming winter tour because they are returning to their roots: the pub. Drummer Hamish Gee laughs, “I don’t really remember the first five years of The Feelers. We were… Continue

• Ah, Paris!

  WANDERLUST has captured Capital Times’ past correspondents, who are now wide-eyed and abroad, taking their wee bit of Wellington to the world. John Watson has lived in France since April this year, and has spent most of his time in Antibes, doing day work… Continue

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  Taking Stock

  HOW are NZ’s key environmental assets stacking up in comparison to the world? Here is a Green / scientific view. KIWIS love to go bush and eat fresh kai. We have a direct interest in protecting the country’s wildlife, landscapes and coastlines, so the Department… Continue

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  A mayor for light rail

  Capital Times talks with mayoral hopefuls in the lead up to the Wellington City Council elections in early October. MAYORAL candidate Celia Margaret Wade-Brown is proud of her golden $17 suit jacket. “It’s from the expensive rack at the Salvation Army shop… Continue

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  Take a great gulp

  ACTRESS Miranda Manasiadis calls herself a “book geek” and read The Great Gatsby when she was 17. “The last paragraph just left me sobbing and sobbing – I was surviving those heightened teenage emotions, and it was such a tragedy,” Manasiadis says. Ken Duncum,… Continue

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  Through Mt Vic by the busload

  MOUNT Victoria residents are feeling cheated. In response to concerns about safety after a pedestrian was seriously injured by a car in the tunnel last year, Wellington City Council sought to legally designate it “bus only”. But a seemingly positive change to… Continue

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  Groms get rec’d

  SKATERS may have a love affair with concrete, but wet concrete gives them the flick. For the sanity of board enthusiasts in the winter, a new competition is being launched at Kilbirnie Recreation Centre. The first ever under 12 year-old Cheapskates Grom Skateboard… Continue

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  A group of Kiwis are doing it French-style

  In preparation for Bastille Day, Capital Times finds out why many Wellingtonians are going French. WELLINGTON interest in French culture is on the rise, thanks to an increase in the number of French restaurants that give New Zealanders a taste of the country,… Continue

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  Town Hall shape shifts to stadium soul

  DRUM and bass lyrics master PDigsss is “chuffed” that out of the vampire nature of the music industry; New Zealand music has found its way. This month, the front man of New Zealand’s premier electronic group Shapeshifter is returning to the capital after a three… Continue

• Booked for rugby

  TWO books on important past and present rugby legends are set for release. The Legend of Beau Baxter by Ivan Dunn hits the shelves on August 1, and is set in the 1920s. It follows a fictional “Flashman” Baxter as he plays for the Maoris and – after some questionable… Continue

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  Super cuber

  EVERYONE has their obsessions, and for local man Sebastian Krueger it’s the Rubik’s Cube. “It’s a bit of an addiction, some people smoke – I solve Rubik’s Cubes,” says 29 year-old Krueger. He is competing at the 2010 Rubik’s New Zealand Speed-Cubing Championships… Continue

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  It’s La De Da for the Capital

  ALANA Estate’s concern about hosting a new music festival over New Years was that people might buy more beer than wine. “I told them they just need to price their wine cheaper,” laughs La De Da festival organiser Josh Mossman. “They’re going to do their own La… Continue

• Safer bikers to convene

  GRISLY advertisements showing people being “de-gloved” after falling off motor scooters may not be on the cards for New Zealand, but increased rider safety is. From July 1, ACC’s motorcycle negotiations include a $30 safety levy, which will go directly towards… Continue

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  The brink of the rink

  WHEN Olga Sharutenko was 11, she was ice-skating six-days a week, for two sessions a day, leaving just enough time for school. She’s now a world-top ice skater, and will skate in Wellington as Odette, the swan princess, in Swan Lake on Ice. Sharutenko who is… Continue

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  Buckwhips buck up

  THE Lonesome Buckwhips have had albums banned, every member has spent time in jail, and one member is pregnant to her half-brother. The band is coming to Wellington to perform a one-off show, Buckapapa, at Downstage Theatre. Staying true to their knack for bad… Continue

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  Don’t wait for Godot

  SIR Ian McKellen was recently mistaken for a homeless man. The actor, best known to many Kiwis as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, was not offended. McKellen was taking a breather on a Melbourne park bench between rehearsals for his role of homeless… Continue

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  Strung Out Outsiders

  WELLINGTON band The Outsiders have only been around a couple of years, but they’ve already toured the world, and will open for a major US punk band. The band is to play alongside Strung Out, an 18-year-old punk rock band from California, which is set to grace… Continue

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  An award winning Relief

  FIRST time author Anna Taylor was downcast when she found out there was no shortlist for the Best First Book Award. “I thought ‘that’s me out of the running’, so I was really surprised and amazed when they told me I’d won,” says Taylor. The New Zealand Society… Continue

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  The drug rules in Wellington

  DRUG related crimes in Wellington are on the rise, and authorities on drug prevention are calling for an overhaul of the Misuse of Drugs Act. In the Capital, drug related crime has gone up 18% from 2008 to 2009, and cannabis offences are up 19% (295 offences).… Continue

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  Leave it under the mat

  MANY Kiwis’ mispronounce musician Luc Arnault’s name “Luck”, (say Luke)but luck is an appropriate title. When Arnault arrived three years ago, he and three French friends spent six months busking their way around the country. “We were busking on Cuba Street,… Continue

• A magnetic book

  ALMOST everyone has picked up a compass at some point in their lives and wondered why the needle points north, says Victoria University lecturer Gillian Turner. Her book, North Pole South Pole explores what causes the Earth’s magnetic field, (without which we… Continue

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  The Aotearoa show

  A theatrical showcase of uniquely New Zealand productions is hitting the capital. Three shows at BATS, Downstage, and Circa, delve into our past, present, and future.   Maori tales are prominent, with the New Zealand International Arts Festival highlight… Continue

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  Wanda’s a wonder

  THE best piece of advice Elvis Presley gave Wanda Jackson was that if she wanted to sell records, she should be a rockabilly singer. She listened, and now not only is Jackson hailed as “the Queen of Rockabilly”, but she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall… Continue

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  Burning passion

  DANCER Ryan Di Lello’s parents met and fell in love through dancing. As the saying goes, history repeats, and Utah-bred Ryan met his wife Ashleigh through dancing as well. “We met at a dance studio. She immediately stood out, and I said to my friend, ‘wow – who’s… Continue

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  Get some Vibrators in ya

  U.K. Punk legends the Vibrators like their name. “It’s a good name. It probably held us back a bit in terms of success and radio play, but it kept us subversive,” says lead singer Ian “Knox” Carnochan. Staying true to their punk roots has paid off and these days… Continue

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  “Nank” the mountain man

  AS a boy in Karori John Nankervis looked at his mother’s newspaper clippings of Edmund Hillary’s ascent of Mount Everest, then “climbed” up Johnston Hill. “My mother has this giant scrapbook of Hillary’s climb. She met George Lowe who was on the Everest expedition… Continue

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  Become a Centaurian, if you dare

  WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS EXTREME CONTENT VIDEO game developer Simon Peter is pushing ahead as the ‘days of unemployment’ counter on his website ticks over to 3324 days. Peter finds mainstream video games boring, so he decided to come up with something very… Continue

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  Move all the Jews to the moon

  “TO solve the problems of the world we need to take all the Jews to the Moon,” laughs Wellington’s favourite Rabbi. Rabbi Chaim Dovrat is returning to his home in Israel next week after four years leading the orthodox Wellington Hebrew Congregation. His jest… Continue

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  Down-size me apartments

  WELLINGTON City is in danger of becoming a modern ghetto, say concerned residents who live by the new Soho apartment development on Taranaki Street. Gus Charteris is the president of the Wellington Inner-City Residents and Business Association, and lives behind… Continue

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  Taking stock of school sensations

  AT Wellington’s colleges the creative season is in full swing. Stage Challenge, Rockquest, Shakespeare, and theatre productions are drawing in expressive, innovative and enthusiastic pupils. The intimate nature of Wellington means a top Rockquest singer-songwriter… Continue

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  Awaken the silence

  WELLINGTON artist Rhian Sheehan makes music that he says ‘sounds like a slice of nirvana’. Not the band, but the Buddhist concept of a state of being free from suffering and weighty thought. However, Sheehan doesn’t meditate in the conventional way. “I should,… Continue

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  Vapour tales

  The Beatnuts aren’t keen on Jennifer Lopez. Lopez pirated the beats from Watch Out Now for her 2002 hit song Jenny from the Block so the hip hop and production duo from Queens, New York, took her to court.  She lost and now pays The Beatnuts royalties. “She… Continue

• A card solution

  SOME Wellington men have dreamed up a way to beat those hated ticket scalpers, and eliminate ticket forgery. It saves paper, because it’s quicker, it can disperse the long lines at festivals. And it was started in Wellington. Last week, the five entrepreneurial… Continue

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  Capital Blend

  To celebrate the end of New Zealand Music Month, Capital Times caught up with some of the local artists who featured on our 2002 compilation Capital Blend. The CD reflects a time when Bret McKenzie was part of the Black Seeds, and Flight of the Conchords didn’t… Continue

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  Instant gratification

  Researcher Dr Brent Caldwell used to call himself “the living dead” after he suffered a recurring brain tumour. Caldwell has never been a regular smoker but knows the attraction of nicotine and is looking for 1,600 guinea pigs to trial his mouth spray that provides… Continue

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  Blade Control

  LAST year Raynia Pikari-Kaiwai couldn’t fly a radio controlled helicopter, but now he flips his upside down and “mows the lawn” with it. A year ago, the man known as Ray or Raynman to his mates went to a Fun Fly at the Wellington Model Aeroplane Club based in… Continue

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  Using poo

  THE people of Paraparaumu are involved in a poo pilot. Wellington-based clean tech company SpectioNZ is developing a leading-edge system, which converts organic waste like sewage into useable products such as electricity. CEO Mike Henare has been involved in… Continue

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  More loose change

  CITY bus fares are on the move. The cost of inner city and one-section trips could increase by 50 cents in September. Greater Wellington Regional Council recommended a 50% hike for inner city travelling, which currently costs $1 and will go up to $1.50, and a… Continue

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  Thriving in the community education graveyard

  UKULELE night classes are rocking at Wellington High School. But 16 out of the former 20 providers of Adult Community Education (ACE) have closed their night classes. Surprisingly, Wellington High School’s adult programme has survived and attendance is skyrocketing.… Continue

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  Skating on synthetic ice

  RUNNING an ice-skating rink is slippery business. The events manager who brought the last temporary ice-skating rink to Wellington says if a conventional rink is constructed at Queens Wharf it is doomed to fail. Phil Sprey managed the construction and maintenance… Continue

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  Emerging talent

  TO compete with the big boys, you have to be smart. That’s exactly how Wellington all-girl hip-hop dance crew Emerge managed to secure a spot at the World Hip Hop Dance Championship in Las Vegas. Even more impressive, all the members are still in school. Emerge… Continue

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  Monk to rock for happiness

  ANCIENT sanskrit and guitar are Doug Jerebine’s passions. You may remember Jerebine as Jesse Harper, who played in bands Human Instinct, The Embers, and The Brew. Nowadays, he’s a monk who combines the classical Indian language with performance, and says the… Continue

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  Fish pulp

  WAYNE Barrar has an unusual photograph – it shows tonnes of koi carp fish being ground up in a blender to make bait, after a clean up in the Waikato. The acclaimed Kiwi photographer with an interest in the effects of globalisation on native species has been snapping… Continue

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  Tough, whisky flavoured human flesh anyone?

  COMEDIAN TJ McDonald has been told tall tales all his life. But one story that circulated at family gatherings seems to have struck historic truth.  Following some seriously in-depth research, TJ came to the conclusion that a Maori truly did eat his great… Continue

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  Knock to indie in the windy

  Indie rockers enjoy themselves like it’s no one’s business, but the opportunities to do so will be few and far between after Galesburg, Wellington’s only indie music promotion company called it quits this week. JIM Rush and Gordon Campbell put Wellington… Continue

• No Children Please

  PEOPLE WHO don’t have children are a lost tribe, says Graeme Browne. The Wellingtonian and his wife realised that conversations with friends and workmates often steered towards children stuff, and that was something they had no experience with. Browne found this… Continue

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  Dark Joan, Spooky Adu

  Nirvana, PJ Harvey and Pixies album producer Steve Albini calls Kiwi chanteuse Leila Adu “spooky Adu”, a label she is happy to wear as she returns home from years abroad building a music career. WHAT’S with Joan of Arc? Kiwi singer Leila Adu has been a longtime… Continue

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  Representing Wellington

  EMMA WEENINK is the only Wellingtonian to make the New Zealand Secondary Schools netball team, most are from Auckland and the rest from all over the country. “I was so happy,” says Weenink, who received the good news last week amid a flurry of congratulatory… Continue

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  Collector's Heaven

  Could the painting granddad left you be worth $100,000? Capital Times talks to one of the assessors of the Museum of Wellington’s version of Antique Roadshow. IT’S not surprising Simon Manchester finds most people’s homes “utilitarian and boring”. His… Continue

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  The Real Deal

  GOSIA PAITEK is so committed to sustainability; she travelled to India to check on the working conditions of the farmers and producers behind her fashion label. The Wellingtonian started Kowtow, an organic and Fair Trade clothing label, in 2007 with her graphic… Continue

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  Outward Hound

  DOGS SMELL. That’s why I don’t like cuddling them too much, and why I prefer cats. But last week a friend of mine joined her sister who regularly walks SPCA dogs once a week through the SPCA and Paws in the City – a day care for dogs. The walks have been running… Continue

• Mayoral Candidate on Owhiro Bay rezoning

  WHILE water-quality at Owhiro Bay has been given the all clear, “council-quality” remains dubious, says mayoral candidate Allan Probert. Last week the Environment Court rejected a proposed housing development in Owhiro Bay after residents challenged the Wellington… Continue

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  Library Cull?

  “SUBURBAN libraries are under threat,” says a Kingston resident. After reading Wellington City Council’s 2010 Draft Community Facilities Policy and Implementation Plan, Marie Russell became concerned. Reading between the lines, Russell says libraries in areas… Continue

• Wet hostel not so bad

  PUBLIC objections and problems with funding have plagued the proposed Wet Hostel in Island Bay, but living next door to one isn’t so bad, says a London-based Wellingtonian. Carmen Allnutt moved to London five months ago, and is renting a house next-door to St… Continue

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  Inspired by TV

  COMPOSER John Psathas noticed a marked improvement in his children’s behaviour when he got rid of the family television. “They stopped asking for crap. Their conversation got so much more interesting, it wasn’t all about Hannah Montana anymore. They seemed more… Continue

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  Beautiful India

  WHEN Jacinta Lal tells people she’s half Indian, they don’t believe her. The beautiful 21-year old looks strikingly European, with light brown hair and blue eyes. “When I tell people I’m Indian they think I’m making it up, but once they see my dad they realise,”… Continue

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  A gay life

  FREYA Desmarais was “absolutely terrified” of going to her first Out in the Square fair in 2008, because she’d only just realised she was gay. “I went with a bunch of straight guy friends who were really supportive, and an old dyke gave me a figurine from my favourite… Continue

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  Guess who's back

  HOLLIE Smith is back in business. After a “hellish” two years in which her international record deal with Blue Note Records, the parent company of EMI, failed to come into fruition, the singer is now managing her own music. “I couldn’t have done it any differently.… Continue

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  It's bigger than...

  It’s taken a while, but hip-hop in Wellington is finally getting the recognition it deserves. ONE two three…it’s Jean Grae and Talib Kweli. One of the most critically successful hip-hop artists of our time is coming to the capital, and bringing with him… Continue

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  Empire down under

  SHANE Cornwell has dressed as a Star Wars Storm Trooper for four years, and attended eight Armageddon Expos. He’s watched all original Star Wars movies at least 20 times “for enjoyment and research”. As a member of Outpost 42, a group of Star Wars fans who organise… Continue

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  Why keep the public out?

  “‘PUBLIC-excluded meeting’ is a grossly misunderstood term,” says Wellington City Deputy Mayor Ian McKinnon. Last week an article in Capital Times questioned the need for the Audit and Risk Subcommittee’s council debtor’s report to exclude the public. But McKinnon… Continue

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  Carr drives Kiwi sound

  MINUIT continues to impress international music industry heavyweights while keeping their loyal fans happy, if not a little choked up. The Newtown-based electro pop three piece set off on a delayed album release tour this week to promote Find Me Before I Die A… Continue

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  Will we be eliminated?

  FRINGE Award-winning young theatre group Binge Culture Collective has unfinished business. Not completely satisfied with two of their successful productions, the collective has combined them to create Elimination Rounds, a satirical piece on Generation Y. The… Continue

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  Fourmyula for the Cure

  CHRIS Parry is the A&R (Artist and Repertoire) man who discovered English band The Cure, and signed them to record label Fiction. But he’s not comfortable with the suggestion that: “if it wasn’t for [Parry] there would be no Cure (or The Jam or Siouxie and… Continue

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  Never give up

  MAJOR back injury didn’t stop the Royal NZ Ballet’s Kate Venables working with the company. The former principal dancer (Dracula and The Nutcracker) performed with the Ballet between 2003 and 2007, but a year and a half of that time was spent in pain due to the… Continue

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  Catching imagination

  WELLINGTON author Fleur Beale recently caught a piranha. She and her daughter holidayed in Brazil for a month, and travelled to the Amazonian basin. “I can now say I’ve swum in the Amazon River and gone fishing for piranhas,” she laughs. “There are three different… Continue

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  Break the farce

  THE Walworth Farce looks creepy. A father makes his two sons put on moustaches, wigs and ill fitting suits and do a farce. Since they were kids they have done this every day all the while cooped up in a rundown council flat in London. “That to me is a strange… Continue

• Season of concerts

  THE St Andrew’s Season of Concerts will bring interesting performers to Wellington. Building on a long history of lunchtime concerts at St Andrew’s on The Terrace, the organisers hope to recreate the buzz and camaraderie of previous festivals. The NZ International… Continue

• Jack chat

  The 2009 NZ Post Junior Fiction winner has just released another book, The Haystack. Jack Lasenby chats to Capital Times about his life and love. RAMBLING vines that droop from the veranda of a darling little townhouse are an appropriatley storybook welcome… Continue

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  All good in Wellywood

  IT’S official. We must be the Hollywood of the South Pacific because Wellington International Airport will erect a 28m long Wellywood sign to celebrate the capital city’s film industry. At least seven film-related companies are based on the Miramar peninsula.… Continue

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  The Fringe Cut

  ONE was a secret Spice Girl’s fan, and the other fell in love. Both are stoked to be named Downstage Theatre’s Pick of the Fringe. Fringe festival productions Wannabe and Back/Words will be reworked for the big stage, and enjoy a one-and-a-half week season at… Continue

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  Free love

  JAMES Coyle loves Newtown so much he will perform in the suburb’s annual festival for free, is helping organise it for free, and gave up his day job for six weeks in preparation for it. The Newtown Rocksteady band member, who fittingly performs a song with the… Continue

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  Write a letter

  I have a large TV-sized box filled with letters that friends wrote me while I was at school, stored in the roof of my parents’ house.  I can’t bring myself to throw them away. Playwright, producer and director Juliet O’Brien loves letters too. She can’t remember… Continue

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  Life is a skate park

  Go out to Waitangi Park on a sunny day in the weekend, and you will hear the swish of wheels rolling on concrete, crack of wood hitting the ground, and the occasional grunt of pain. Mostly though, you will hear cheers of triumph. Skateboarding is more than just… Continue

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  Empty talent

  As MTYLAND unfolded, I watched happiness, sorrow, regret, despair and pure madness. I was left feeling empty, but strangely ready to be full again. I couldn’t believe it had been an hour. CLAIRE O’Neil cried after watching a rehearsal of her own dance production.… Continue

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  McPhun with dogs

  AS a child, two of Ryan McPhun’s best mates were dogs. The lead singer of the Ruby Suns said one of the most difficult things about moving to New Zealand from America 10 years ago was saying good-bye to his pets. Fortunately they found a good home with dog-friendly… Continue

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  Stylish theatre

  ANYTHING can happen in a site-specific show, says theatre director Paul McLaughlin. During Hotel, the multiple award winning Fringe Festival show (2008) set in a hotel room, All Black Rodney So’oialo walked in. He was staying at the Museum Hotel at the same time… Continue

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  Keep Wright

  Homegrown ticketholders get ready to trek: this year the Dub and Rock stages are a 15 minute walk apart.  “IT’S a bit of a pain,” says Homegrown’s Kelly Wright referring to the new layout of the music festival on Wellington’s waterfront. “It was so… Continue

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  Gloom and Doomadgee

  CHLOE Hooper hadn’t heard of Palm Island in Australia before she got buried in a court case that was meant to go for two weeks, but is still continuing six years later. The writer admits she was naïve about Aborigine issues before she embarked on covering one… Continue

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  Funny girls

  SARAH Harpur and Jim Stanton recommend wrapping your child’s head in gladwrap. “I find it locks in essential moisture and keeps those nasty flies at bay. It is frowned upon in today’s society to have flyblown children with crow’s feet and liver spots,” says Harpur.… Continue

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  A mortal makes the most of it

  Capital Times movie reviewer Dan Slevin is a busy man for a mere mortal. He talks to us about how he does it, and The Immortals, his latest project. CAPITAL Times reviewer Dan Slevin has watched every commercial movie released in New Zealand since December… Continue

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  The perfect catch

  “HE’LL make you wet your pants,” said someone at the Film Archive when Capital Times organised an interview with Kiwi filmmaker Florian Habicht. He didn’t succeed, however snippets from his documentary Land of the Long White Cloud elicited laughter as well as… Continue

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  Pea hoarders and skin pickers

  BRIGID Costello jokes that people may need a massage after watching the Fringe Festival dance production she is directing about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Already, one of the dancers is displaying symptoms scarily like the character she is portraying, who… Continue

• The hills are alive

  ONE of New Zealand’s finest jazz composers has his fingers crossed the weather will be good so he and his 18-piece Big Band can let loose for a loved-up audience. Jazz trumpeter Vaughn Roberts is performing a free show on Valentines Day at Williams Park in Days… Continue

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  Deliciously Irish

  IT’S a common misconception that The Seven Irish Tenors are a group of fat opera singers, says one of the tenors Simon Robinson. “The truth is we are in good shape and have a good head of hair,” laughs Robinson. “When people hear ‘tenor’ they think of Pavarotti.… Continue

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  The Don with dreadlocks?

  One Love organisers hope to broaden the music festival’s reggae-focussed appeal by adding Kiwi singer songwriter Don McGlashan to the bill. WHEN Don McGlashan heard he was to headline Radio Active’s One Love music festival he was sure there had been a mistake.… Continue

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  Into the wild

  Professional photographer Rob Suisted has a catalogue of around 50,000 incredible images taken around the world, some of which feature in his latest book Majestic New Zealand, and photography isn’t his passion? ROB Suisted has been to Antarctica 12 times… Continue

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  Walk on the high side

  The boat sheds in Oriental Bay are Wellington icons, and the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club, which has been open for 126 years, even more so. Capital Times joined a harbour sail and saw Wellington from the sea – one of the best ways to get into summer. … Continue

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  Summer Magic

  THE ASB Gardens Magic Concert Series will celebrate 30 years in business this summer. The free musical event, which started in 1980 and was simply called Summer City, was originally held in the dell at the Botanic Garden. The programme then included a frog puppet… Continue

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  Christmas stocking filler

  BARNEY Montgomery is a Wellington doctor who enjoys stripping down to his Superman undies, or “supies”, in odd places around the world. It’s something that he and a group of mates have always done during their travels for a bit of a laugh. But when one of… Continue

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  You’ll get a charge out of this

  You’ll get a charge out of this? A New Zealand company has created a clean technology that will “take the world by storm”, and Wellington will be one of the first cities in the world to trial it. UniService, a branch of Auckland University, led by Dr Anthony… Continue

Columns

• It does matter, actually

  I don’t mean to be picky, but... Last Friday night, as I was languidly listening to some late-night RNZ news, something stuck out. They’d been going on about some brand-new, “technologically advanced” school that had just been founded in Queenstown. No dirt floors… Continue

• Don't Rob Roy

  LAST week’s abysmal treatment of our Assistant Minister of Defence sent the willies up every spine in Wellington.   Apparently, as Act Party leader, Rodney Hyde feels it’s his right to just “go through the Minister’s drawers” (as some hack put it) and uplift… Continue

• Don't mention the sponsor

  I AM currently grappling with the small matter of a provincial sports teams’ $450,000 budget being put at risk through a silly policy, which directly affects my principles. My dear wife, bless her, put up with my last matter of principle (walking away from a well-paid… Continue

• Onions at Easter

  I adore onions. When I visit Wellington supermarkets, I love it when the staff heap red onions in those long freezers with mirrors, and a frosty mist rises from their purple, glossy skins. With my eyes closed, I lean over them in a state of deep euphoria and savour… Continue

• Holmes sweet Holmes

  SHERLOCK Holmes is a cot case. When he first came to literary life in 1887, he was a revolutionary breath of fresh air.  Readers found him entrancing, victims of the justice system saw him as a beacon of hope, and forensic science really took off. The most… Continue

Reviews

• From Mild to massive

  WHEN Michael Jackson the famous beer writer (not the moon walking one) toured New Zealand in the 1990s, one of the beers that captured his imagination was Mikes Mild Ale from the Organic White Cliffs Brewery in Urenui on the Taranaki Coast. White Cliffs was founded… Continue

• Coyotes proves hidden gem

  AS a newcomer to the capital dining scene I had previously viewed Coyotes Bar and Restaurant as a venue more popular with late night revellers than a quality dining venue. Coyotes proved me wrong. Right on Courtenay Place, Coyotes offers a secluded, tranquil ambience… Continue

• French Connection

  FED UP with New Zealand’s theatre scene, Kiwi performer Nick Blake left the country. His first stop was England, but after two years he felt he had to move again. “In the 1970s Kiwi theatre was derived from English theatre, [both were] very text based and wordy,”… Continue

• Magnificent Monteverdi

  Musica Sacra – Monteverdi Vespers, conducted by Robert Oliver, St Mary of The Angels, reviewed by Garth Wilshere TO hear Monteverdi’s Vespers, almost exactly 400 years after it was written (in 1610), was a life-affirming event. This was director Robert… Continue

• Silent murder hard to watch

  The December Brother, directed by Tim Spite, Downstage Theatre, reviewed by Lynn Freeman A SeeYd production is always an event. For more than 10 years the company has held true to its belief that theatre should be meaningful and provocative, and that it… Continue

• Song's praises sung

  Parlour Song, directed by Susan Wilson, Circa Two, reviewed by Lynn Freeman YOU can see playwright Jez Butterworth’s reverence for Pinter in the fractured dialogue and oddness of the story. It’s done well, mind you, a homage from a skilled young writer who… Continue

• New heights for Catherine

  Pianist Catherine Norton’s Farewell Concert, St Andrew’s on the Terrace, reviewed by Garth Wilshere PIANIST Catherine Norton will be greatly missed. The well-known and respected accompanist is off to study at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.… Continue

• Are there moose loose aboot the hoose?

  A (nearly) Complete History of the Moose in New Zealand by Ken Tustin, Halcyon Press, reviewed by John Bristed. IT’S a hundred years since the immigrants: ten crated pony sized immature moose were unloaded off the Government steamer Hinemoa  at Supper… Continue

• Gripping and unsettling

  Mauritius, directed by Ross Jolly, Circa Theatre, reviewed by Lynn Freeman A death in the family brings out the best or worst in people, and Theresa Rebeck takes the latter tack in her comedy/suspense. Here two half-sisters, one sent away who then chose… Continue

• Rock a Bill

  Bill Bailey – Live, Michael Fowler Centre, reviewed by Lynn Freeman. MAD hair, bulging eyes, very fine musician, the only lovable character on the TV show Black Books, and a comedian popular enough to book out the Michael Fowler Centre, not once, but twice.… Continue

• Sounds exotic

  New Zealand String Quartet and Richard Mapp (piano), Wellington Chamber Music Society, Illott Theatre 20 June 2010, reviewed by Garth Wilshere. THIS was another successful Sunday afternoon chamber music concert. The New Zealand String Quartet beguiled us… Continue

• Natural and charming

  Venetian Carnival with The Wallfisch Band, Chamber Music New Zealand, Wellington Town Hall, reviewed by Garth Wilshere. THIS was a Chamber Music New Zealand innovation and proved a most interesting concept. The Wallfisch Band, Elizabeth Wallfisch; violin… Continue

• International flavour

  Carmen, The Royal New Zealand Ballet, St James Theatre, June 5th, reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant TRULY a ballet of many influences this production of Carmen (Northern Ballet Theatre production) is essentially a story told in dance –with French music by Bizet,… Continue

• A brave piece

  Lullaby Jock, Directed by Tim Spite, Downstage Theatre, Reviewed by Lynn Freeman. ONE of the great sadnesses in families is when children don’t get to know about their parents when they were young and full of ideals and promise. As kids we can be so… Continue

• A bright future

  One Way, New Zealand School of Dance Student Choreographic Season, At Te Whaea, May 22,  Reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant. AN empty space, dimly lit with a scaffolding structure. The stage fills with students in a melange of style and clothing. Retro is… Continue

• Distracting visuals

  In a New Light – Made in New Zealand, NZSO, Wellington Town Hall 7 May, reviewed by Garth Wilshere. THE annual Made in New Zealand Concert from the NZSO during New Zealand Music Month had a twist this year, in accompanying visual images prepared by Dnation… Continue

• Belgian brilliance

  BELGIUM is responsible for some of the most original and idiosyncratic beers in the world. One very unusual characteristic of the Belgian brewing industry are the six Trappist Monasteries, which brew and sell beer to fund their abbeys and the charitable works… Continue

• Girls rule

  Comedy Festival, reviewed by Lynn Freeman THE Comedy Divas were the perfect start to the second week of the comedy festival. Just as physical and psychological fatigue sets in, the girls put on a great no holds barred show. Justine Smith had us in fits, Irene… Continue

• A downer ending

  Cantoris  – Motet Perpetuem, St Peter’s Church, 1 May, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THIS concert of religious motets covered 250 years, and was a mixed bag featuring music by Bach, Brahms, Bruckner, Poulenc and Rubbra, discretely accompanied by organ… Continue

• Lovely pianists

  Classical Expressions 2010, Expressions Upper Hutt, 27 April, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THE first of this imaginative series brought together two of our excellent pianists in piano duet and solos. Their solos were Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A flat major from… Continue

• A mixed bag of funny

  Comedy Festival first week, by Lynn Freeman. It’s a ferociously tough call, having 5-6 minutes to win over an audience and wow them with your brilliance, amidst a dozen or so other comedians from near and far. I still hadn’t expected First Laughs , the… Continue

• Across the centuries

  The Tudor Consort, Music Director Michael Stewart, Sacred Heart Cathedral, reviewed by Garth Wilshere THE tradition of excellent Good Friday concerts from The Tudor Consort continued this year with Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae (The Lamentations of Jeremiah).… Continue

• Devilishly good

  Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and Los Amigos Invisibles, Pacific Blue Festival Club, reviewed by Garth Wilshere AFTER the recent “Southerly Buster” storm had quietened I ventured to The Pacific Blue Festival Club for the deliciously, dark quirky… Continue

• Music starred

  Good Morning, Mr Gershwin, St James Theatre, reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant THIS show is primarily the work of Jose Montalvo and Dominique Hervieu blending their strengths in much the same way that George Gershwin did when he changed the musical palette of… Continue

• Haunting farce

  The Walworth Farce, The Opera House, reviewed by Lynn Freeman WHEN a farce ends with an image so sad it haunts you, you know you have experienced something remarkable.   The Walworth Farce, an Irish Edinburgh Fringe Award winning production, was most… Continue

• Children and chamber

  Chamber Music Weekend, NZ International Arts Festival, reviewed by Garth Wilshere THE Borodin String Quartet presented their Russian Legacy programme last Saturday in association with Chamber Music New Zealand. They play with brilliant musicality, although… Continue

• Happy and effective

  Happy as Larry, TSB Arena, reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant THIS high-action, high-colour work began with an intriguing and universal premise that “happiness is our most singular human pursuit” and it is an objective to explore human happiness. Nine performers… Continue

• Surreal and spontaneous

  Connan Mockasin, San Francisco Bathhouse, reviewed by Janina Nicoll CONNAN Mockasin’s debut album Please Turn Me Into The Snat requires some research, and an imagination. According to online reports by Kyle Hugall, the alleged main “snat” who wanders onstage… Continue

• Mostly good

  NZ International Arts Festival Theatre, by Lynn Freeman THE Arrival , honed and polished after its Auckland Festival premiere and some overseas appearances, shows just what New Zealand theatre practitioners can do when given the chance and a decent budget.… Continue

• Suitable for adults

  Hicksville, by Dylan Horrocks, Victoria University Press, reviewed by Martin Doyle WHAT hits you when you read this book isn’t just the content.  It’s the fact it’s even a book.   Horrocks labels it a “comic book”, but if you stripped away the… Continue

• Lucky 13

  13 Most Beautiful, Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, Town Hall, reviewed by Garth Wilshere WHAT a fascinating look inside the cinema images From Warhol at the Silver Factory in New York circa 1964–66. The 13 Screen Tests chosen are a cross-section of… Continue

• Like an onion

  The Letter Writer, Circa Theatre, reviewed by Lynn Freeman. A world weary man who emotionally closed off himself, helps people find the right words to express their own emotions, finds himself the keeper of a terrible secret. This man, who can manipulate… Continue

• What a bargain

  New Zealand International Arts Festival. Sutra, St James Theatre, March 3rd, and Echoa, Soundings Theatre, March 7, reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant. A great idea having all the dance programmes in one place with the Festival dance works all bound together –… Continue

• A perfect tail

  Fringe Festival wrap, reviewed by Lynn Freeman WOW, pick of the Fringe so far for this critic is A Love Tail written and performed by Toi Whakaari grads Aroha White and Matariki Whatarau with director/co-writer Kate McGill. It’s not only a new twist on… Continue

• For Real grunty theatre

  Fringe Festival Wrap, by Lynn Freeman IN the mobile classroom/container that hosts Who’s Neat? You! , we become primary school students. We are told to believe in ourselves, to practice our tolerance skills, not to crumble to peer pressure, ka pai! But… Continue

• Byrd song

  The Tudor Consort, Sacred Heart Cathedral, reviewed by Garth Wilshere IN this first concert of the choral year, The Tudor Concert made glorious sound from just 10 voices. The clarity of vocal line was impressive as they sang a selection of motets from 16th… Continue

• Full-frontal assault

  Jitterati, by Grant Buist, reviewed by Martin Doyle THIS is more than a book review. Partly because the book is more than a book: it comes with a wonderful CD.   Such an “added aspect” is almost what you’d expect from the complex and intriguing creativity… Continue

• Universal appeal

  The Seven Irish Tenors, Opera House, reviewed by Garth Wilshere THE phenomenon of grouping voice types together got international recognition and the famous Three Tenors became an astonishing marketing success. Here we have The Seven Irish Tenors, based… Continue

• Slevin passes with flying colours

  The Immortals, directed by Geoff Pinfield, Pit Bar, Bats Theatre, reviewed by Lynn Freeman WHETHER or not he is what he claims to be, immortal, Martin Amis’ character is far seeing and his pessimism well founded, based on human history. Theatre doesn’t… Continue

• Modern day Hamlet

  Vernon God Little, directed by Willem Wassenaar and Sophie Roberts, Downstage Theatre, reviewed by Lynn Freeman TANYA Ronder has done a miraculous job of adapting DBC Pierre’s novel for the stage in a way that makes it unforgettable. You can’t help but… Continue

• Hart seduction

  Grant Hart, San Francisco Bathhouse, reviewed by Aaron Watson BEFORE Nirvana “pioneered” alt rock in the mainstream, there was a US hardcore band called Husker Du. The first alternative band to win a major label record deal (just ahead of Sonic Youth),… Continue

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  Bloody good

  AC/DC, Shihad, The Checks, Westpac Stadium, reviewed by Dawn Tratt “IS there blood on my face?” a guy asked my mate before AC/DC started playing. Not only was there a circle of blood seeping from his cheek, but the wound was surrounded by little teeth marks.… Continue

• Camp times

  Campus A Low Hum, Flock House, Bulls, reviewed by Dawn Tratt BLINK is a genius. The Wellington-based events manager, photographer and editor, born Ian Jorgensen and now known by everyone as Blink, has helped put Wellington on the map by pioneering a unique… Continue

• A killer play

  Mo + Jess Kill Susie, directed by Murray Lynch, Bats Theatre, reviewed by Lynn Freeman GARY Henderson’s play about two women who kidnap a police officer is as deeply disturbing and provocative today as when I first saw it a decade or so ago. Since it was… Continue

• Why so angry?

  Why?, with Grayson Gilmour, San Francisco Bathhouse, reviewed by Dawn Tratt THAT tool who stood on my foot as hard as he could then growled at me when I squeezed to the front of Why? ruined the start of the concert. Then some weirdo screamed at my mate,… Continue

• Can you Handel?

  Handel’s Messiah, conducted by Guy Jansen, Sacred Heart Cathedral, reviewed by Garth Wilshere THIS year’s Messiah in Wellington was an imported presentation from the Kapiti Chamber Choir. This performance was augmented by former members and friends of Bel… Continue