Life & Style

Stories

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  Insider's Guide

  TEACHER and school guidance counsellor Esmee Elias-Tito has been co-coordinating ARTACTION! – the kids’ section of Porirua’s Festival of the Elements - for the past two years. This year the festival is set to be New Zealand’s biggest Waitangi… Continue

• Three Matts, a new brewery, and a new beer

  THREE YOUNG MEN men with confidence in their brewing are planning a brand new brewery right in the heart of Wellington. They’re certainly young.  Matt Warner (23) and Matt Kristofski (25) have recently finished studies at university, and Matt Stevens… Continue

• How should the Wellington region be governed?

  This month Wellington City Council will consider the future of local government in the region. We asked Wellington Deputy Mayor Ian McKinnon to background the debate. GOVERNING bodies have a major responsibility in planning for future challenges.   … Continue

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  NZ talent for Chinese New Year

  THREE art forms will come together when Jenny Wollerman performs in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s concert celebration of  Chinese New Year. The Wellington based soprano will sing New Zealand composer Ross Harris’ song cycle The Floating… Continue

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  Art on Cuba

  WELLINGTON’S Cuba Street quarter has become the place in the city to have an art gallery. Another new gallery opens today (February 1) bringing the number of galleries in the quarter to at least a dozen. Ramsey Mortimer Gallery, at 253 Cuba Street, will… Continue

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  One huge hobby

  VIC Draper keeps a Hippo and a Beaver in a big shed at his home in Pautahanui. No, not new additions to a zoo, but part of his collection of classic trucks. The Hippo and the Beaver are Leyland trucks; Draper’s also got a Bedford KM and a Mack Superliner,… Continue

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  Steal the show

  YOU wouldn’t steal a car. But what if there were no consequences? That’s the inspiration behind Thomas Sainsbury’s production Crims. Sainsbury says, “ I was always interested in the criminal life, if you knew you wouldn’t get caught.… Continue

• The move to unoccupy

  SOCIAL networks sites were running hot after the operation to evict Occupy Wellington protestors from the city’s Civic Square. Early Tuesday morning police and security officers, acting on instructions from Wellington City Council,  moved in to evict… Continue

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  Everyone’s eating the peas

  IF you’re out getting your groceries, why not stop into Civic Square for some vegetables and a spot of light gardening? This pop-up garden in the square is part of the Massey University design research project Edible City, exploring how urban design can create… Continue

• Locals says no to liquor

  CONCERNED Newtown residents have objected in record numbers to a bottle store planning to open opposite Newtown School and are now expected to wait months for a hearing to resolve the dispute. The Wellington District Licensing Agency received 110 objections to… Continue

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  Down the rabbit hole

  THREE WEEK OLD Alice was left abandoned without her mother in Stokes Valley, but is now being sent to a prison where she’ll have several mothers looking after her. Alice is a kitten, rescued by the SPCA and one of several young cats selected for a special… Continue

• Still planning at Downstage

  SIX months after financial difficulties saw the axing of shows and staff, Wellington’s Downstage Theatre is still finalising plans for its re-launch scheduled for next month. Theatre management remains tight lipped over its plans, but Capital Times understands… Continue

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  Flamenco here we come!

  FAST-FINGERED Paul Bousader practices flamenco guitar for up to eight hours a day in a flurry of impassioned staccato notes. Bousader, of Lebanese heritage and raised in Auckland, has devoted himself to mastering the energetic art from the Andulasian region of… Continue

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  Books and writers

  A diverse group of some of the finest international and national writers will converge on Wellington for next month’s Writers and Readers Week, part of the New Zealand International Arts Festival.  A Doctor Who screenwriter, a world leading environmentalist,… Continue

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  Waitangi: A chance to reflect

  MONDAY is Waitangi Day, a national holiday and a chance to consider the evolving relationship between Maori and other New Zealanders. One person who will take time to be with her family is historian Dame Claudia Orange, the Director of Collections and the Research… Continue

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  A cup of tea and a lie down...

  THE Fringe Festival is back for 2012 with the line up set to be announced this week. Jennifer Niven talked to the writer of Part Time Prostitute, one of the new shows in this year’s Fringe. Boredom with her office job was all it took for Lucy Johnson to… Continue

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  Fresh truths from the beach

  A good old Kiwi bach holiday is fun, but have you ever driven home with the feeling that you’re returning with a different group of people from the ones you set out with? While the holiday typically involves friends and family at the beach with good food… Continue

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  Dress up, cash in

  IF you’re headed to the Sevens rugby tournament in early February there’s now a tasty temptation to spend time on a cool outfit. Museum Art Hotel owner Chris Parkin is donating $25,000 in prize money for the best costumes, which will be paraded along… Continue

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  Never again

  NEVER AGAIN. The two words spoken and repeated again and again in the sixty odd years since the Holocaust. This Friday marks the liberation of Auschwitz – the Nazi’s biggest “labour” camp. To mark the day, representatives from all groups… Continue

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  Oh to be a Hobbit

  HAIRY feet or particularly pointed ears may stand you in good stead at this Saturday’s casting call for Sir Peter Jackson’s latest project The Hobbit. Selectors are reported to be looking for “men under 163cm and women under 155cm, big men with… Continue

• Time for detox

  WE ‘VE all had those moments. You wake up on a dreary Sunday morning, and you say something like “ I am never drinking again,” but then, lo and behold it’s the work Christmas party, your best friends birthday, and then new years…and… Continue

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  Paekakariki jazz

  IT may be called the Mulled Wine Concert, but there won’t be a drop of the winter warmer at this Saturday’s concert in Paekakariki. Mary Gow, a Paekakariki resident, has been organising the concert series for the past three years and with little funding… Continue

• Students to solve science shortage

  There’s a positive future in New Zealand science and helping school students realise it is the MacDiarmid Institute. Fifteen secondary school students from throughout the country have participated in a science camp at Victoria University, organised by the… Continue

• Festival on track for success

  ORGANISERS if next month’s New Zealand International Arts Festival say ticket says are “going well” but say they have not compared them with sales from previous years. “We have seen some great movement over the Christmas break and all… Continue

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  We have wind

  Local mariners led by the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club are tonight, 25 January, launching a bid to develop Wellington as an international yachting centre, a marine industry hub, an ocean water sports centre, and a sailing academy with its own local yacht racing… Continue

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  Summer colours

  ALTHOUGH the weather seems to be undecided, summer really is here and the city council’s Summer City events are back to celebrate. We’ve picked out the highlights from January’s programme… After almost a month to digest Christmas dinner… Continue

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  He left an impression

  MAYBE it’s because they used to stop to say hello, to offer a burger or a drink, or perhaps because of niggling guilt that they used to walk past without a second glance – either way Wellingtonians have been this week gathering at a makeshift memorial… Continue

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  Start your engines

  Test the seal in Seaview this Sunday at the annual Port Road street sprints.  The road will be closed for registered motorsport drivers to thrash their cars around a marshalled track aiming for the best time possible. Registrations are now open online. Port… Continue

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  Sandy toes

  This Wellington Anniversary Monday, January 23, sees Oriental Beach alive with activity as NZ Beach Soccer Championships presents the Wellington Beach Football Tournament. The sport is played in a more improvised style than regular football because of the sand.… Continue

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  Arts achiever heads to Auckland

  HE’S only 32, but the director of The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Justin Morgan has already led a career many artists only dream about. Earlier this month Morgan left the academy in search of a new challenge working at The Depot, in Devonport, Auckland.He… Continue

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  Death, culturally

  THERE is more than one way to deal with death. New Zealand is home to some 200 different cultures each with their own traditions and rituals surrounding death and dying. In its latest exhibition Death and Diversity the Museum of City and Sea has gathered a sample… Continue

• Artistry awarded

  A publisher, a painter and a brass band enthusiast were among those of Wellington’s artistic community named in the New Year’s honours. Managing Director of Huia Publishers, Robyn Bargh, became a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit (CNZM) for services… Continue

• New classrooms for the new year

  THE idea of moving on to high school is daunting for some primary school pupils, but it won’t be so for 150 Newtown Primary School students. They’ve already done it. They were forced to relocate to Wellington High School at the end of last year after… Continue

• Debaters take on the world

  STUDENT debaters at Victoria University have taken the world by storm, for the second time in the past month. The top two debating teams have just returned from the World Debating Championships this month in the Philippines where the Victoria University A team… Continue

• Get out, get about

  There’s no excuse not to lace up, block up, get wet and get active this summer as a whole host of sporty activities has been announced as part of the city council’s Summer City events programme. The Push Play activities that began in late December at… Continue

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  Not a sound is heard

  There’s a defiant wartime airmen’s song which starts “The bells of hell go ting-a-ling-a-ling …” But at St Peter’s Anglican church on Willis Street from whose handsome gothic steeple you’d expect to hear bells boom out… Continue

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  New Year’s 11/12: Pick your party

  WHATEVER your taste, there’s a New Year’s shindig waiting for you. We’ve summed up this city’s wildest parties as well as some slighty-more-civilised alternatives so you can choose where to be for the big countdown. Beyond the Black… Continue

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  More waggons on the straits workhorse

  The newly enlarged Aratere is carrying more rail traffic across Cook Strait than ever before and rail business is growing says Thomas Davis, General Manager of the Interisland Line. “That new Mainfreight container depot  on Thorndon Quay is just the… Continue

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  Some busker

  There are buskers who perform way above the level of most of their peers. Andy Blue is one such.  He’s lived in Waiheke for years, but recently he’s come to live in Wellington, and he loves it. He says Auckland is difficult, “They won’t… Continue

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  Insider's Guide - The Right Reverend Dr Thomas Brown

  AFTER 14 years leading the diocese The Right Reverend Dr Thomas Brown, the 10th bishop of Wellington, retires at the end of this year. He says being Bishop of Wellington has been pretty amazing and busy too. He’s overseen100 churches in 60 odd parishes stretching… Continue

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  All cricket and no play

  New Zealand cricket got a shot in the arm with the  Blackcaps’ historic win over Australia according to up and coming Firebirds hotshot Luke Woodcock. Niels Reinsborg chatted to him. IT’S a good thing for Luke Woodcock that he’s pretty… Continue

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  “Bah! Humbug!”

  ST PETER’S Anglican Church’s stance towards its Christmas concert is directly from Charles Dicken’s Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge’s famous response to the festive season is the theme of an organ recital being held tonight at the historic inner… Continue

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  Indie pop from Beirut

  AMERICAN  indie rock band Beirut are set to play Wellington for a second time in January. Formed in early 2006, Beirut’s style is a mixture of world music and indie pop. “We’re a pop group really at our core,” explains bassist Paul… Continue

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  All change please

  Tenants are moving all over the city. Just in Cambridge Terrace, Wellington Star has left both its big showroom and its outside car yard across the road.  Both Mercedes Benz and Mitsubishi are now selling alongside each other from the Wellington Mitsubishi… Continue

• Wellington in a snap

  AN earthquake, a Rolling Stones concert and a typical windy day were all it took for local David Colquhoun to publish Wellingtonians, a book that details the history of what he describes as “a neat little capital.” Colquhoun, who has worked as a curator… Continue

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  Dancing the new year

  TO dance all day every day sounds romantic, but the thought of actually doing it is somewhat daunting. Especially if you’re retired. But that’s what Newtown local Elaine Lethbridge, who is now retired is looking forward to at New Years Eve as she… Continue

• Business slows across the straits

  Passenger business  across Cook Strait has been “a bit softer than we expected”, according to the general manager of the Interisland Line, Thomas Davis.   “Maybe people spent their money on the Rugby World Cup” he suggests, “many… Continue

• No trains for Christmas

  BUSES will replace most Wellington train services over Christmas as contractors work to prepare the network for improved commuter services and electric trains. KiwiRail’s Rick Van Barneveld says staff will be working on upgrading tunnel two on the main… Continue

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  Penguin blues

  PENGUINS residing along the Miramar Peninsula have had a particularly time recently. Storms, lack of food and predators have taken a toll on numbers, but thanks to Forest and Bird’s Places for Penguins programme, 15 chicks have hatched in the past year… Continue

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  Insider’s guide

  BARBARA Burke grew up in Ireland and made Wellington her home seven years ago. A Master’s student in Victoria University’s Creative Writing programme, Barbara has just been announced the winner of the annual David Carson-Parker Embassy prize in Scriptwriting… Continue

• Goodbye Occupy?

  THE Occupy Wellington camp has been officially disbanded, but there are new projects on the horizon for the movement’s protesters, according to Richard Bartlett, a member of the protest communications committee. Two months after they set up their tents,… Continue

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  Magical thinking

  WELLINGTON City Council may be rethinking its decision to shift the Gardens Magic Concert Series from January to March and April in 2012 in the wake of a lot of negative feedback, according to Capital Times council sources. However, the official council position… Continue

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  Etienne loves Maisy

  ETIENNE is a large rabbit who  may not be named after the French Ambassador to New Zealand,  but he definitely likes dogs and lives in Mt Victoria with his best friend,  a  blonde spoodle named Maisy.   They share an unlikely love… Continue

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  Beer Necessities 2011

  Pale Ale City FOR the past 20 years Wellington has been at the forefront of New Zealand craft beer culture. In the early 1990’s we were one of the first New Zealand communities to embrace independently brewed beers and in the early 2000’s we… Continue

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  And the winner is ....

  RUGBY and politics were the winners on the night at this year’s Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. I, George Nepia, Hone Kouka’s play about the rugby legend, was named production of the year, and also took two directing awards for newcomer Jason Te Kare… Continue

• Chapman Tripp awards

  Critics Wild Card : Johann Nortje for outstanding AV design (Wake Less, Hear to See, When the Rain Stops Falling). The Absolutely Positively Wellington Award for the Most Original Production of the Year : Hear to See - Capital E National Theatre for Children.… Continue

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  Rap against racism

  DEAN Hapeta has a problem with racism in New Zealand. In fact, the Upper Hutt musician is so outraged, he’s releasing his latest observations on ‘Declaration of Resistance,’ his seventh album with his band Upper Hutt Posse. Hapeta, stage name… Continue

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  Insider’s guide

  JAANA Krause moved to New Zealand from Germany three years ago - “I soon found out Wellington was the best place to live,” she says. Outside the office Jaana likes to keep busy outdoors by tramping and running with friends - and last year she fought… Continue

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  Shwop till you drop

  THE Big Shwop is even bigger in 2011. Female fashionistas will revamp their wardrobes by swapping clothes at the St James Theatre this Sunday. The well-dressed women of Wellington will enjoy speakers, music and MOMO wine while shwopping for summer threads. The… Continue

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  Wellington to Melbourne’s taste

  FIVE of the region’s top chefs have returned home after creating a flavour-filled fortnight for the people of Melbourne. More than 2,000 Melburnians were treated to the Wellington region’s best cuisine at the WLG pop up restaurant in Melbourne’s… Continue

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  Boxed environment

  INTERPRETING our environment is the theme for the new Courtenay Place light box exhibition, which begins tomorrow. Imaginary Geographies looks at interpretations of the environment from four different artists from around the world – New Zealand, Australia,… Continue

• No futile exhibit

  PHOTOGRAPHY based artist Siren Deluxe opens her last Wellington exhibition this week before heading to a new job in Auckland. The controversial artist has been exhibiting here for more than ten years and An Exercise in Futility, opens at Photospace, the gallery… Continue

• Begging’s the question

  AN INCREASE in the number of beggars has been noted by Capital Times readers. They say more people are asking for money around Lambton Quay, Cuba Street and Courtenay Place. But Trina Saffioti, Communications Manager for Wellington city council, says it is perception… Continue

• Drills fuel flyover rumour mill

  RUMOURS that the New Zealand Transport Agency is drilling in preparation for the construction of a flyover are concerning residents close to the Basin Reserve. Capital Times has received reports from locals worried that the NZTA is drilling at various sites around… Continue

• Artists adrift

  THE drift north of local artists to Auckland is one of the concerns behind the council’s draft Arts and Culture strategy. Councillor Ahipene-Mercer, portfolio leader for Arts and Culture, says that and the pressure currently being experienced by local arts… Continue

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  Beachy clean

  LOCAL man Sam Judd’s annual Huge Coastal Clean Up is back and will take place on December 8-10. On Thursday more than 1500 school students will be out cleaning their local stretches of coastline. On Friday it’s the adults’ turn with a workplace… Continue

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  A nervous reaction to Christmas

  CHRISTMAS with Raybon Kan will be equivalent to a bum on a photocopier, but in an intellectual way. The Wellington comedian launches his solo Christmas comedy show Clear and Present Manger at Downstage on Tuesday and promises a “deconstruction” of… Continue

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  How to meet girls

  LOCAL  film makers Dean Hewison and Richard Falkner believe the best stimulus for their creativity lies in restriction. During a creative partnership spanning five years there’s not much they haven’t tried, whether it’s scouring the dump… Continue

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  Restaurants in trouble – who knows?

  STREET TALK among the cafes of Wellington indicates there could be an après Christmas restaurant shake-out. A Wellington food wholesaler suggests the rumours may be true. The wholesaler said there was a feeling  that quite a number of restaurants… Continue

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  Winners on the day

  The region’s Labour MPs proved more popular than ever on Saturday, but Wellingtonians in the region’s eight electorates overwhelmingly gave their party vote to National. Three Wellington electorates, Hutt South, Mana and Rimutaka, previously Labour… Continue

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  Ambitious but achievable

  SEEN by many as a jewel in Wellington’s crown Karori’s wildlife sanctuary Zealandia has had a year of dire financial results and bleak visitor numbers. Don Huse  has been an advisory trustee of the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Trust since 1996,… Continue

• Light fades on summer magic

  THE council’s plan to change the date for the hugely popular Gardens Magic concerts at the Botanic Garden has upset at least one resident. Thorndon local Bea Selwood, who lives directly opposite the Botanic Gardens and visits the sound shell every night… Continue

• Wellington needs government

  Wellington might be disadvantaged by the Government’s $300million cost cutting plans, says Wellington Employer’s Chamber of Commerce’s Ken Harris. The business group believes that government spending cuts could be bad for our city, and government… Continue

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  All cricket for Bats

  SIR Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh not only saved a theatre venue with their purchase of number 1 Kent Terrace last week. The movie moguls also secured the future of one of Wellington’s iconic buildings. Built in the 1923 as the lodge for the Manchester Unity… Continue

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  Sail away for Christmas

  CHERYLL Goodley is hard to buy for. The print production manager’s friends and family always tell her that, which is why last Christmas Goodley was given money to spend on something she picked out for herself. Her choice? Goodley bought a boat. The funds… Continue

• Clothes for bros

  INSPIRED by an upbringing surrounded by boys, Rachel Beck, 20, has begun a male clothing line called ‘Less Successful Sibling’. Beck grew up with her older brother and six male cousins. A keen basketball player, she spent a lot of her childhood in shirts… Continue

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  College hall preserves heritage

  WELLINGTON College Old Boy Stuart Gardyne has won the competition to refurbish the school hall and his firm Architecture + will carry out the project. Gardyne’s concept will provide a new space large enough for the entire school to fit for assembly and… Continue

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  Clean conscience

  Four wheel drivers were told face to face on Saturday that the Wellington City Council has made up its mind to control vehicle access to the south coast if reckless driving in the area does not stop. A big group of four wheel drive enthusiasts gathered at Owhiro… Continue

• Grumpy Old Men

  Watching the Menzshed in Haining St operate “was a joy” according to Sister Margaret Ann of The Sisters of Compassion.  The building is owned by the Sisters who operate the Soup Kitchen next door. Last week we published a story about the… Continue

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  Should we stick with MMP?

  IF you’re not sure how to vote in Saturday’s referendum on our voting system, Jordan Williams reckons you should vote for change. The young Wellington public lawyer has a passion for constitutional issues and he’s taken up the cause to both… Continue

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  Gospel according to Payne

  A night of stirring gospel music shook 100-year-old dust from the rafters of an ancient Wellington church and changed Pip Payne’s life. A JAZZ and blues musician from London, he followed a Kiwi girl to Wellington in 1978 and never left. Five years ago… Continue

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  Blown back again

  IT’S somewhat ironic that the company responsible for taking the wind out of Wellington has brought it back again. Advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi came up with the Absolutely Positively Wellington motto adopted by the city council in 1981. Now two… Continue

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  Can’t straighten out this Fringe

  (L-R) Hannah Clarke, Emma Flack and Brianne Kerr from the Creative Capital Arts Trust have organised a line up of the bizarre and the entertaining for the New Zealand Fringe Festival 2012. “We have everything from superheroes and space bitches to traditional… Continue

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  Ivy creeps no longer

  MUSICIAN Ivy Rossiter spent her youth finding ways not to perform her music. The singer and guitarist from Auckland, now one half of an indie musical duo called Luckless, suffered a debilitating fear of audiences. Instead of trying to get seen and heard by forming… Continue

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  Fifty years of song

  IT all began 50 years ago with a group of bored husbands. They’d been ferrying their wives, members of the Khandallah League of Mothers Choir, to and from weekly practices and sitting around while the rehearsals took place. Then someone had a bright idea… Continue

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  Furniture to ready by

  BOOKS will return home to the old Wellington Central Library building when City Gallery opens its Mobile Library exhibition in the Hirschfeld Gallery this week. The local art publishing culture is presented in an exhibition of artists’ books, small imprints… Continue

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  New York left in the dust

  A bright young American with a passion for music packed up his life at New York’s Ithaca College and moved to Wellington to study theatre. An odd choice for Gareth Hobbs to make, moving from a university close to New York, America’s vast musical and… Continue

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  Strudel in Roseneath

  It’s a long way from an enormous restaurant in Bavaria to the tiny Roseneath Coffee Shop and Delicatessen. Anja and Martin Wagner used to run the Landgasthof-Schoenau in Munich complete with its stage which catered for functions for up to 300 people, says… Continue

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  On top of the world

  THE world’s biggest atlas has put Wellington on the map. Geographx, a local cartography company, is responsible for all the maps in Earth Platinum, the largest atlas published since 1660, weighing in at 150kg. The previous largest atlas, known as the Klencke… Continue

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  Drypnz’ oriental canvas

  Photo-shy street artist Drypnz (pronounced ‘Drippins’) will stand up and share his creative secrets with classrooms of refugee children in Asia this December. The elusive Drypnz, 24, whose curious accent reflects his upbringing in England, the Caribbean… Continue

• Aiming for zero

  LAST year there were 95 new diagnoses of HIV amongst New Zealand’s gay and bisexual men. It was the worst year for infections in this population on record. Friday is World AIDS day and as the HIV epidemic has never been worse in this country there’s… Continue

• The shape of things to come? - Tokotoko

  There’s increasing debate over the future for local government in the region. We asked Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown about the Central New Zealand Summit and how councils could work more closely together. LAST week I called a summit of the mayors… Continue

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  Ticking the box

  Capital Times continues its look at the candidates fighting for Wellington Central. We asked four candidates about Wellington issues – roading options for the Basin Reserve, public transport, and that Wellywood sign. … Continue

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  Tripp nominations

  Wellington’s theatre critics have narrowed down the best of the city’s theatre from over 100 professional productions with their nominations for this year’s Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. The nominations are: Brancott Estate Award for… Continue

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  Whose shed is it anyway?

  A fight over a Wellington charity has become personal, bitter, and insulting as two groups  compete for control. Menzshed Wellington in Haining St was started more than two years ago by four people including John Gibbons, the President and Executive Officer … Continue

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  Jazz firefly learns a new language

  JUSTIN Firefly Clarke left for Germany with jazz as his main musical language but came back a world musician. Wellington born and bred (Karori Normal school, Onslow college and the Wellington branch of the New Zealand School of Music), he spent seven years in Berlin.… Continue

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  Roseneath’s ragtime family

  IT’S a long way from New Orleans to Roseneath but that’s where – if you’re lucky – you’ll find the Roseneath Centennial Ragtime Band practising in a big old house on the hill. Mike Jensen and Dayle Jellyman, friends and co-founders… Continue

• Save the school pool

  THE City Council’s School Pool Partnership Fund could see the rescue of the run-down swimming pool at Wellington East Girls’ College. The plan is to build a full size 25-metre pool with a 12-metre learning pool both under the same roof. Olympian and… Continue

• Fin on the water

  A Hector’s dolphin, the world’s smallest and rarest marine dolphin, has been spotted in Wellington harbour. The dolphin was seen at Mahanga Bay on Monday and reported to the Department of Conservation by a member of the public who said the dolphin… Continue

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  Game time for bikers

  A new game looks like it will speed up Wellington cyclists. It attracts players whose wheels of choice include road bikes, mountain bikes, and even those foldout cycle contraptions. Wellopoly, which embraces the unusual combination of cycling and Monopoly, takes… Continue

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  Carpet ride of magic

  THE pantomime season has begun and audiences at Circa Theatre will embark on a carpet ride of song, dance, silliness and magic this summer. Bringing back Roger Hall’s Aladdin to the Wellington stage, director Susan Wilson has assembled a cast of well known… Continue

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  Towards a professional choir

  PEPE Becker’s dream is for New Zealand to have a professional choir on the same standing as the NZ Symphony Orchestra. Becker, founding manager of Wellington’s Baroque Voices, is also first soprano in the Voices New Zealand Chamber Choir, the country’s… Continue

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  Art out for Christmas

  THERE’S a lot of art at Kim Young’s place, particularly around Christmas. When she’s not working at the Wellington Museum of City and Sea, Young can often be found at her favourite local galleries with daughters Coco and Pippi. Now the festive… Continue

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  Insider's Guide

  FASHION-LOVER Sadie Hawker is originally from Wales, though she’s been living in Wellington for more than two years now. She works for Massey University’s College of Creative Arts and in her spare time sells her own handmade jewellery, Ssh by Sadie.… Continue

• Extreme screen

  IT has a colossal three-storey high wall-to-wall screen, the latest picture technology, and luxury seating, and it’s coming to Wellington from Thursday. In a New Zealand first, Reading Cinemas on Courtenay Place has converted its largest auditorium for… Continue

• Tight dining

  KIWI diners are becoming more price conscious when choosing where to eat. It’s now more important to consumers to have access to an affordable menu than quality food and service, according to an American Express survey of New Zealanders who eat out. Continue

• Friendly food

  WE’LL let you in on a little secret. You can enjoy good food and drink for Koha or at reduced prices at four gathering places in the Hutt Valley on weekday mornings. A Koha Café operates on Tuesdays at the Alicetown Community centre, and the Grassroots… Continue

• Going, going, definitely, soon

  WE reported in April that Robyn Bowers of Bennetts Gift World on Courtenay Place had decided to close the shop after 40 years of trading. At the time she said closure would occur within two months and she was busy with the closing down sale. More than seven months… Continue

• Wharf soon underway

  WELLINGTON waterfront is to bid the Overseas Passenger Terminal farewell at a function on November 17, with construction for the new Clyde Quay Wharf neighbourhood scheduled to get underway at the end of the month. Recent reports say that 16 apartments are still… Continue

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  Not for the faint hearted

  HANNAH Salmon tells it like it is. The 21 year old fine arts student has just finished the third issue of her self-published magazine, or ‘zine’, called Daily Secretion. The often-explicit publication is a social critique of perverted obsessions that… Continue

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  Ticking the box

  CAPITAL TIMES continues its look at the election campaign and in particular the fight for Wellington Central. This week we ask four Wellington Central Candidates about the most pressing issues for government, Wellywood and what really grinds their gears. … Continue

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  Bark with a bite

  GROWING up in Wellington, Jackie van Beek’s family home was littered with huge, disabled puppets. The actress’s mother was a puppeteer for the Crippled Children’s Society and toured the puppets in schools to educate kids about special needs.… Continue

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  Ticking the box

  CAPITAL TIMES continues its look at the election campaign and in particular the fight for Wellington Central. The electorate is the best educated in the country, has the highest proportion of 20-29 year olds, and the highest income earners. Labour has held the… Continue

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  Battling Wellywood

  THE public may have voted on the alternative options for Wellywood, but a member of the panel charged with selecting the finalists is labelling the selection process a farce. Panel member Andy Boreham, who led the anti-Wellywood sign protest, has accused the… Continue

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  Bus driver reads obituary on the job

  The driver of a GoWellington bus was observed reading the newspaper while transporting commuters and Wellington College kids along the most dangerous section of the city’s bus route last week. HEADED to the railway station on the number 1 bus that passed… Continue

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  World stage in Wellington

  IT’S a tough rap travelling the globe scouting out the world’s best theatre, dance and music, and Lissa Twomey has had to do it. For the past five years she’s travelled the world pursuing the performances that will thrill New Zealand audiences.… Continue

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  Maori warriors to battle the bulge

  THE Heart Foundation is bringing back an old game played by the Maori Battalion to stop New Zealanders getting slower and fatter. Ki o Rahi is a ball game used by the quick, agile Maoris of yesteryear to settle differences without going to war. These days, New… Continue

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  Public to pick the fruit of edible designs

  MASSEY UNIVERSITY is helping students fill Wellington stomachs the natural way.  As the idea for an ‘edible city’ with numerous community gardens gathers strength, university researchers are setting up grow-your-own-food pilot projects based on… Continue

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  Meet the maker of artificial intelligence

  ROBOTS have helped their makers win a big Wellington award. David Bennett, whose company Mimic builds digital and robotic characters that simulate a human level of intelligence and character, took out the “Most exciting opportunity” prize at the 2011… Continue

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  Moana doodles the future

  THERE’S a girl in Aro Valley who wants to save the birds. Moana Williams, 12, entered the Google Doodle logo competition, My Wish for New Zealand, with a colourful drawing of New Zealand native birds sitting in a Pohutakawa tree. She was shortlisted in her… Continue

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  Insiders guide

  MARY Fisher is a member of StarJam, an organisation that brings under 25s together to perform through dance, song, drumming and guitar. These young people are special as each lives with a disability that makes life a challenge, but “what some of us find… Continue

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  Banjos not just for Hillbillies

  TWO young banjo virtuosos are touring New Zealand to let the country know that there’s more to the instrument than first meets the eye. Alex Borwick and Catherine “BB” Bowness play banjos, mainly associated with country folk and American Hillbillies.… Continue

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  Maybe they’ll know it when they get there

  THE Occupy Wellington camp in Civic Square is to stay indefinitely, but protesters are unsure what exactly it is they’re waiting for and how long it might take. We visited the camp to ask the group what they want. A collection of about 10 tents lies… Continue

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  Save a whale, save your world

  LISA Niven cheerfully shows me her Marine Mammal Medic identification card.  The Wellingtonian last year saw a Project Jonah course advertised on a poster in the morning tea room at the Department of Conservation. Project Jonah New Zealand promotes the welfare… Continue

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  Jump on the brass bandwagon

  THE Central Band of the Royal New Zealand Air Force plays pop classics including YMCA, I’m a Believer, and even current chart hits from American TV show Glee.  What was originally a serious pastime has come a long way from its roots in 19th Century… Continue

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  Dirty riders

  THESE Wellington girls like brown more than pink, camelbaks better than handbags and would choose a chain ring over a diamond ring any day. They are the Women of Dirt, a six hour mountain bike event for women taking place at the Makara mountain bike park in… Continue

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  Nun flies to 30th birthday

  WHEN Roger Shepherd began Flying Nun Records, he hoped there would be enough people interested to buy just enough to enable him to go another round. They were humble expectations from the “cheeky, irreverent” record company, quick to prove itself as… Continue

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  Fat sound of summer

  THEY’VE finally cracked it. After five years of trying, Homegrown has excitedly announced that a local band with huge international acclaim, Fat Freddy’s Drop, is to headline the New Zealand music festival in 2012. The band, one of New Zealand’s… Continue

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  Born of destruction

  MARIA Dabrowska knows that if it weren’t for World War Two, she wouldn’t exist. The Wellington-based dancer was born in Lower Hutt - but her mum’s Polish, her Dad’s Dutch and both were displaced from wartime Europe, and settled in New… Continue

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  Chips keeps Harry warm

  A brass statue of a cat resides on Harry McNish’s grave. McNish was a carpenter on board Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance during his Trans Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1917. McNish adopted Mrs Chippy, the ship’s cat, who had a great character… Continue

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  Ready to rock you

  FIREWORKS maestro Robert McDermott promises a bolder, brasher Pelorus Trust Sky Show on November 5. McDermott, who has designed, produced and fired the show since inception 17 years ago, says there will be three barges shooting off special effects fireworks including… Continue

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  Green thumb fun

  IF you fancy yourself as friendly and as having a bit of a green thumb, Wellington’s Botanical Gardens wants you. They’re currently looking for volunteer garden hosts to greet the many people who visit during the cruise ship season, which began when… Continue

• Last days of Oceania

  WHILE figures have not yet been released Oceania, the collaborative exhibition between City Gallery and Te Papa, has attracted fewer visitor numbers than predicted. The exhibition of visual art, culture and history from across the Pacific region ends on November… Continue

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  Tea anyone??

  IT has all the glossy pictures of cup cakes, scones and fine china, but there’s a little more to the  recipes in Jonathan Cameron’s high tea cook book than first meets the eye. In his graduating piece from Wellington’s Massey University… Continue

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  View of futuristic vision

  IT was the most expensive silent movie ever made and one of the most celebrated films in cinema history. Now Wellington audiences have the chance to experience Fritz Lang’s futuristic 1927 film Metropolis complete with Gottfried Huppertz’s original… Continue

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  Insiders guide

  Remember, remember the fifth of November? With Guy Fawkes just around the corner, we talked to the Wellington SkyShow designer Robert McDermott who's been in the fireworks game for 25 years. The show was Robert’s brainchild and he’s been firing it off… Continue

• Sunday in Italy

  IT’S hard to pronounce but easy to watch: A group of Sbandieratori - Italian flag wavers - will bring the old European tradition to Wellington for the first time this week. In Italy, each village and town holds annual historical re-enactments and celebrates… Continue

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  Police the off-roaders

   “RUTHLESS policing” of off road motorcyclists and four wheel drivers would stop the damage being caused to Wellington south coast’s fragile environment according to Grant Purdie of the Wellington Cross Country Club. The Wellington City… Continue

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  Ticking the box

  WITH a general election in just over a month this week Capital Times starts looking at the election campaign and in particular the fight for Wellington Central. The electorate extends from Pipitea in the north to as far south as Civic Square.  It is the… Continue

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  No sleep for ballet master

  THERE’S still board level discussion about moving the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s base from Wellington’s St James Theatre to Auckland. Greg Horsman is Ballet Master for the Royal New Zealand Ballet and choreographed the company’s production… Continue

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  The influence of music

  WELL known Wellington composer and musical eminence Jenny McLeod studied under Oliver Messiaen,  the Frenchman  who is remembered for having both composed and first performed what has been described as one of the greatest chamber works of the 20th century. … Continue

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  Submit to Halloween

  TANYA Drewery staples stockings to her thighs and a paper hearts to her chest with a staple gun. The circus performer relishes the moment the audience realises her grotesque tricks are not staged. “I like the intense shock reaction. A lot of people… Continue

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  Summer bunnies

  THE first sun of summer will soon rise, on December 1, and it traditionally brings a fat pile of self-loathing. Wellington gyms say there’s a rush of people signing up to get in shape for summer and there’s also an unhealthy tradition of gym attendees… Continue

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  Vintage stuff

  There’s a new old store opening in Cuba St on Friday which will sell vintage American clothing. It’s the Emporium Vintage Boutique, moving from Christchurch where their store was smashed in the earthquake, to the old Christopher’s Crystals site.… Continue

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  Insiders guide

  Mark Blackman is the  founder of Natural Burials, a twelve year old not-for-profit organization dedicated to setting up natural cemeteries around NZ I returned to live here with with my now-wife when I was 21 and fluked a job as Press Secretary to Mike Moore.… Continue

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  Hot taste of coffee and success

  FLAXWORKS Theatre company began with coffee, and lots of it. Hyperactive with caffeine, Alex Ellis and creative friend Phil Ormsby found they had a common calling. She wanted to be an actress – “I just had to get out and do it” – and he… Continue

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  Strange instrument

  A walk in Civic Square is often a voyage of discovery.  Last week saw a  couple of musos engrossed in the workings of a strange instrument.  Kane Laing, a guitar playing history student who plans to do composition next year, was chatting to Zane… Continue

• I just swear at people...

  IF you believed everything you read on the internet, you’d think that Jay Whalley was a totally hardcore punk rocker. But the vocalist for popular Aussie punk band Frenzal Rhomb tells Jennifer Niven it’s all incorrect. Frenzal Rhomb has apparently courted… Continue

• Bounced out

  BUNGY Extreme is all bounced out. The Taranaki Street ride is in its final days of operation and word on the street is that the last day of business is just around the corner. The bungy has been catapulting adrenalin junkies into the air since its opening in 1999… Continue

• Pa site

  A Wellington council committee is supporting a proposal to develop and restore the Point Dorset reserve. Council’s strategy and policy committee voted unanimously to adopt a new management plan for the reserve, the first public reserve in the Capital to… Continue

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  Downstage funding plea

  A proposed investment fund to secure the future of significant regional events and attractions would put an end to groups such as Downstage coming to the council cap in hand each year. Downstage will ask Wellington City Council this week for $90,000 to get the… Continue

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  Restoring Wellington’s defences

  Mike Lee in the tunnels of Wrights Hill Fortress. Photo: Alden Williams A handful of volunteers are the only ones maintaining Wellington’s defences against possible invasion. For 20 years the Wrights Hill Fortress Restoration Society… Continue

• Warm welcome for refugees

  REFUGEE families from Burma and Columbia were welcomed to Wellington on Friday. New Zealand takes in 750 refugees per year and Refugee Services New Zealand expects an intake such as this one with seven families approximately every two months. Rachel Khual Sim… Continue

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  Happy birthday to us

  Capital Times celebrates 37 years as Wellington’s independent newspaper. In the midst of the RWC buzz we begin another year of giving you the Best of Wellington. Our annual Best of Wellington poll, results published last week, (a 16% increase in responses,… Continue

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  A lifetime walking the boards

  SHE’S New Zealand’s oldest working actor who recently won her first award for acting. It’s a good one. Dame Kate Harcourt, one of New Zealand’s most accomplished and respected leading actresses, was awarded first prize in the Best Female… Continue

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  Wellington’s Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

  WELLINGTON’S Gypsy Balkan brass band Niko Ne Zna sing about a Gypsy woman who wants to sell her horse and her house to go dancing. It’s a colourful story typical of the Balkan people, says the band’s founding member, saxophone player Frankie Curac,… Continue

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  Gone bush

  WHEN Mara Simpson’s musically-inclined dad picked her up from the airport after a trip to South America, she was holding nothing but a new passport and a copy of the novel Shantaram. The singer/songwriter (named ‘Mara’ after the big area of… Continue

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  E-X-P-E-C-T-A-T-I-O-N-S

  SPELLING bee kids. There’s the lonely one with absentee parents, a well-thumbed dictionary her only friend. Then there’s the kid with the overbearing, pushy parents who drill him over and over, telling him he’s a loser if he doesn’t win.… Continue

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  From coins to Brahms

  A coin collection gave Mikhail Ovrutsky, a boy in communist Russia, a glimpse of the world outside the Soviet Union. At a time when few Russians could travel, Ovrutsky’s father Ilya, a flautist with the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre and the State Symphony Orchestra,… Continue

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  What a weekend

  IT’S as we expected. Rugby supporters in Wellington for the weekend were well behaved. Around 20,000 Welsh, Irish, Springboks and Wallabies fans were in town and as many as 70,000 people packed out the city centre on Saturday night. Wellington Police… Continue

• Ministry responds

  POLITICAL action group The Queer Avengers says last week’s Queer Our Schools demonstration has drawn a largely positive response from the Ministry of Education. The group took direct action against the Ministry for what it says is its failure to provide… Continue

• Forum on poverty

  A forum on poverty in Wellington hopes to raise awareness of the issues facing some of the poorer residents of our city. Organised by the former Bishop of Wellington, Richard Randerson, the Response to Poverty forum will feature guest speakers Stephanie McIntyre… Continue

• Light fantastic

  LIGHT is to triumph over dark, and good over evil at the 10th annual Diwali Festival of Lights in Wellington this month. A time for celebration in both India and among Indian communities in New Zealand, the colourful Hindu festival is marked by the symbolic lighting… Continue

• Get the kids into space

  THE kids can launch a rocket to the moon, learn the ballad of Orpheus or celebrate the Diwali Festival of Lights these school holidays. At the Carter Observatory visitors can witness and feel a rocket launch and touch a real piece of Moon rock at a new exhibition… Continue

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  Building futures

  PROUD Wellingtonian Mike Hannaway holds degrees in architecture and building science from Victoria University. He’s been involved in waterfront projects such as the Len Lye water whirler, the Meridian building and the Wharewaka, and was the project manager… Continue

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  The weather with you

  WEATHER guru Bob McDavitt graduated with a degree in Maths and Computer Science from Victoria University of Wellington in 1974 and became a meteorologist. On his weather journey he’s produced marine, aviation and public forecasts. He’s also passionate… Continue

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  Kapa haka in the blood

  HINEMIHIATA Lardelli was doing kapa haka almost before she could walk. Her father, ta moko artist Derek, started the kapa haka team in the small East Cape village of Whangara in 1993, the year she was born. She was taken to rehearsals as a baby, later joined… Continue

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  Could be serious

  A 19 year old Victoria University student was confirmed as having measles late last week, causing the concerned Student Health centre at the university to switch into crisis prevention mode before exams start shortly. The female student had been in close contact… Continue

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  Point, shoot, upload

  WELLINGTONIANS Ben Moore and Kathy Scott Dowell have organised a creative photographic event for the public to enjoy in the month of October. The 22 year old photography enthusiasts, eager to encourage others to dust off their cameras, have renamed this month “Photober.”… Continue

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  A frisky God woos feisty lover

  TWO internationally renowned Indian classical dancers with a shared personal history are to reunite at Victoria University to perform the love story of playful blue God Krishna. Gayatri Bala is in Wellington for the third time to work with Vivek Kinra on new production… Continue

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  Mozart to your ears

  BACK in 1990s Auckland, you could watch theatresports 35 weeks of every year at the Maidment Theatre. Nine year old music fiend Robbie Ellis attended for years, and listened especially to the musical accompaniment. “When I was 16 I emailed the contact for… Continue

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  Anxiety choked out

  AMY Westrupp considers choking-out her dad at Brazilian jiu-jitsu, “family time”. “It’s a good way to spend time with him, and beat him up,” she grins. Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or BJJ, is all about defence, and works on the premise… Continue

• Tokotoko - Electoral Referendum

  ALTHOUGH the forthcoming national election is definitely playing second fiddle to the RWC, there will be some important voting  issues to be decided for NZ.  Douglas Demchy is a student who aspires to have a political career. He’s also a part-time… Continue

• Making his Mark

  MARK Dorrell came to New Zealand to retire but he’s never been so busy. Recently he became musical director of the Orpheus Choir, and he’s also directing Toi Whakaari’s second year musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on top of… Continue

• A kick and a promise

  THE Rugby World Cup promised a boom for city retailers. Capital Times asked city businesses whether the hype has been delivered. Reputation destroyed The Courtenay quarter’s reputation is being destroyed by the City Council according to Hummingbird’s… Continue

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  Wellingtonians are the best - 2011 poll results

  WELLINGTONIANS are eclectic, busy and a little bit nuts and live in a city where the breeze keeps the air clean and the Aucklanders away. Just some of your verdicts about the city we all call home revealed by readers in the Capital Times’ Best of Wellington… Continue

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  Sydney boys still might knock your head off

  Forget everything you know about music, it’s time to meet pop-garage band The Shake Up. Tim Browning, vivacious drummer for the Sydney trio, is quick to tell Jennifer Niven that those clichéd words really rark him up… Yeah they’re… Continue

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  Always the bridesmaid

  SUE Kedgley has been a Green party MP since 1999 and a tireless campaigner for safe, healthy food as well as animal welfare. While the Greens have only ever been the bridesmaid in our parliament, never quite managing to get to Cabinet, Kedgley has made considerable… Continue

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  Samoa exposed

  WELLINGTON based Samoan writer and director Tusi Tamasese has some advice for young aspiring film makers, marry a partner with a good job. THE Berhampore resident has just completed his first full length movie, The Orator, which opens  in New Zealand cinemas… Continue

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  Saving the Basin

  AFTER months of ignoring an alternative design to its controversial flyover options for the Basin Reserve, the New Zealand Transport Agency is now considering the design. Known as Option X, the plan by the Wellington Architectural Centre puts a tunnel under the… Continue

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  Cricket ticking along nicely

  NEW Zealand has gone rugby mad, but numbers of kids signing up to play cricket are up, with the weather also playing its part, says Bryan Dickinson from Wellington Cricket. “We’re heading into a great season of cricket, with seniors beginning October… Continue

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  Instruments of healing

  CLARE Galambos-Winter was 16 when the Nazis invaded Hungary and her life changed forever. She and her family were among the Jews deported from the city of Szombathely to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. From Auschwitz she was selected for slave labour at a… Continue

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  From the dark a son has risen

  ABOUT 15 years ago, it was reported that only two teenagers had been expelled for drugs that year, one from Onslow College and one from Wellington High. Tommy Benefield was the teenager, expelled from both schools in a space of four months. Benefield, who grew… Continue

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  Platz’s path from psychosis to wellness

  Gary Platz began hearing voices when he was in his 30s. He was up Wellington’s Deloittes building, cleaning windows, and he hung there for hours. “I was terrified. I wanted to kill people,” says the softly spoken, friendly Platz. In the 90s… Continue

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  No culture, no Ria

  RIA Hall grew up half way between the marae and the rugby club in Tauranga, deeply involved in the Maori social and sporting community. The 28 year old Wellington-based singer – known most recently for singing World in Union at the opening ceremony of the… Continue

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  Married to the music

  IF music be the food of love then the New Zealand String Quartet has a full stomach. Regular NZSQ members Helene Pohl and Rolf Gjelsten, who are a couple, will be joined by Andrew and Julia Joyce for the quartet’s annual candlelight concert at St Mary of… Continue

• Feel the force: rugby according to Jedi

  JED Thian, known as Jedi, provides alternative rugby commentary for those who want a light-hearted take on a tournament that’s being taken very seriously. He sits on the microphone at The Green Man pub, where half the screens are set up to show the game… Continue

• Reflected glory for designers

  THE nation has voted on their favourite piece from the World of Wearable Art awards show and 3,000 people have agreed: Erna and Karl van der Wat’s design Reflection takes first prize. Made of aluminium tubing and steel, the creators describe it as, “reflecting… Continue

• Bloody party

  LAST year thousands of Wellington party animals came to rave at Illuminate’s paint party, dressed all in white, where they were sprayed with neon colours while dancing to fast-paced DJs. This year’s theme is a little darker: Illuminate has announced… Continue

• Happy police

  CROWDS of rugby fans who turned out to watch the Scotland versus Argentina game at the Westpac Trust stadium on September 25 were well-behaved, say Wellington Police. “With only five arrests and 11 evictions, we were very pleased with crowd behaviour,”… Continue

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  Wellington skates on again

  GLIDING and sliding around the waterfront will be an option for Wellingtonians for a month from September 30. Plans for a temporary ice rink, under the sails on Queens Wharf next to the TSB Bank Arena, include attracting 30,000 skaters; visitors to the Rugby… Continue

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  Lucky legs

  Francis Christeller is one of a handful of Kiwi dancers who don’t have to worry about where their next pay cheque is coming from. FOR the past three years the 24 year old has been employed as a fulltime dancer with Footnote, New Zealand’s longest… Continue

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  A sign of communication

  It’s one of NZ’s official languages yet still a mystery to most of us; the sign language used by the Deaf community. Kerry Locker-Lampson is perhaps a surprising insider in that community, her childhood revolved around pets, horses, cats, rats, mice,… Continue

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  Jess Chambers headed back to her roots

  AS a child in her small American town, Kiwi-American singer-songwriter Jess Chambers went to Pentecostal church three times a week, wide-eyed and passionate about the singing (but falling asleep during the preaching). “There was always singing, clapping… Continue

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  Rhodes Kiwi to swim English Channel

  SWIMMING the English Channel without a wetsuit is a tall order, but it’s exactly what Wellington woman Nina Hall is going to do any day now as part of the Rhodes scholar women’s relay team. Hall, who went to local schools Clyde Quay and Samuel Marsden,… Continue

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  A hug for the Basin

  THE Basin Reserve iconic cricket ground will get a loving ‘hug of protection’ from opponents of the New Zealand Tranport Agency’s proposed flyover. The event, at noon on September 25, is to highlight the Basin Reserve roading options. The two… Continue

• Pick a peck of pix

  A large wall of kindness is slowly taking shape in the window of The Workshop picture framers on Upper Cuba Street. It’s a simple, neat idea. You pick a piece of artwork, go away and do something nice for a stranger, come back to the shop and write up what… Continue

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  Sea green queen

  THE two-year Costume Construction diploma at Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School accepts only six students a year. 2011 student Sophie is showcasing her green sea queen costume modeled here in the annual Costume Showcase at the Drama School. Costume Showcase,… Continue

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  Flavours of the world

  AS a child growing up in Gambia, West Africa, Barika Darboe learnt to cook from his mother. Now he’s bringing the tastes of Africa to Wellington as part of the Flavours World Food Fair being held at the Town Hall on Saturday. “It’s food from… Continue

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  Downstage will rise again

  THERE’S optimism for the future of Downstage Theatre and planning is underway to ensure it opens next year. Last week, New Zealand’s oldest theatre  announced it was in serious financial trouble and cancelling shows for the rest of the year.… Continue

• Anarchist of love and grace

  I’ll let you in on Aotearoa’s best kept musical secret, though almost I’m reluctant to share him. His name’s Fraser Ross and there’s a disarming depth to his eyes. He radiates a worldly peacefulness that makes me feel my questions… Continue

• Cultural Wellington

  THE New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is singing a new song with the appointment of Christopher Blake, currently the Chief Executive and Secretary for Labour at the Department of Labour, to the position of the NZSO’s Chief Executive. He’s also a composer… Continue

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  Scottish for the moment

  HARRY Oakley has taken over Sea Lion, an old Australian work boat which lives at Queen’s wharf, and declared it Scottish.  Harry is a Glaswegian who now lives in Spain and he’s come to New Zealand especially to see his family who live on board… Continue

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  Cheerleading for R16s

  DEATH by Cheerleader is R16 for a reason. The racy play was supposed to show the serious side of the often stereotyped sport, giving well-educated women the respect they deserve. But no one wants to see a serious show about cheerleading, says starring actress Claire… Continue

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  Soul and spirit

  SPIRITED Kiwi soul singer Bella Kalolo likens her debut album to a first teddy bear: “You want it all to yourself.” That’s why she didn’t draw on industry contacts to create Without The Paper, but focused on her own creative process with… Continue

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  All hands to the Gin

  A tiny distillery in the Wairarapa has been internationally recognized as among the best in the world.  It’s owned by a cheerful band of country folk who got together on a whim and they’re already making waves.  John Bristed visited Greytown… Continue

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  Hug a tree this week

  THE Department of Conservation annual Conservation Week began on September 11 with a successful Weed Swap at Waitangi Park. People exchanged the worst weeds from their gardens for native plants and over 400 were given out despite the rainy weather. On September… Continue

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  Never been a show like this

  THERE won’t be an oval ball in sight. Rather than at the stadium it’ll be at the Opera House  and the battle will be between dancers from South Africa,  the Pacific Islands, and New Zealand. “This will be the World Cup on stage,”… Continue

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  For the love of indie pop

  BRENT Harris’ saved pennies got him his first drum kit when he was just nine years old. It cost $400 and he’s got no idea how he scraped it together. “I think my sister lent me $100,” he laughs. It’s been 15 years since then and… Continue

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  Under the Radar

  FORGET Sir Ed: it’s time to celebrate the untold stories of New Zealand history, like that of nineteenth century Kiwi balloonist Charles Lorraine, who used to jump out of the basket and perform gymnastic stunts en route to the ground. Then there’s the… Continue

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  Woolly story

  GERMANY had Paul the octopus who accurately predicted the outcome of World Cup matches and now Wellington has Sonny Wool. Sonny is a three year old sheep born in Dannevirke, but he is in Wellington for the next six weeks to demonstrate his psychic abilities.… Continue

• Business at the Hive

  EVERYTHING from start-up ventures to well-known and well-established enterprises will be on display at Parliament at the Business Innovation Growth expo. The organisers will showcase 70 businesses. Wellington’s diverse industries including digital, science… Continue

• Victoria tunnel delays to continue

  DELAYS in the Terrace Tunnel upgrade means residents on the Terrace will have to manage with inconvenience, disruption and traffic diversions for a little longer. The upgrade, which began last December, was to have been completed this month but the work is unfinished… Continue

• 2000 people probably not lost

  KiwiRail was enthusiastic about its train service after Wellington’s experiences around last Sunday’s South Africa v Wales rugby. We think everyone must have had a great time” reports KiwiRail’s Kimberley Brady, “because we brought… Continue

• Future-proofing our creative capital

  Have your say on Wellington City Council’s draft Arts and Culture Strategy from September 19. Three priorities have been identified for the strategy; to reinvigorate the capital city experience, to realise the city’s potential by connecting talented… Continue

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  Rugby in Tulips

  DID you know that our Botanical Gardens have been affected by the Christchurch earthquakes? They have, and rather charmingly. Three years ago Dale Sutch, collection curator at the Botanic Gardens, got involved in planning a ‘country emblem’ section… Continue

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  Where cultures merge

  THE most anticipated pageant of our Indian community takes place in the Capital on Saturday. Eleven young aspirants are vying for the title of Miss India Wellington in a competition celebrating Kiwi-Indian beauty, fashion, dance and music. Organiser Dharmesh… Continue

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  Sexy monsters

  VAUNE Mason loves monsters. Fanged and furry creatures have fascinated the Wellington-based jewellery designer since she was a kid. Now she’s combining her curious predilection with another hobby, burlesque dancing, in a new show, simply named Monster Burlesque. … Continue

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  Internals exposed

  IT’S 134 years old, has more than 3,500 pipes and is spread out over two levels of Wellington’s St Paul’s Cathedral. Now the cathedral’s organ is to be exposed like never before in a recital far removed from the traditional performance.… Continue

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  Is this a good sign?

  A sign causing offence outside a brothel in Dixon St has been removed. A complaint last week from Family First about the unattractive sign saying “Cum and Get Yours’ led to the Wellington City Council saying it is responsible only if a sign breaks… Continue

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  Easy tiger

  PROFESSOR Sir Paul Callaghan is a world-renowned scientist, but he’s proud to call Wellington home. He’s about to deliver Victoria University’s Inaugural Chancellor’s Lecture and this year it’s based on promoting a prosperous 21st… Continue

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  Jealous of Katherine Mansfield

  THE Katherine Mansfield Birthplace (KMB), one of the gems in Thorndon’s crown has curated an exhibition of six portraits of the writer, some of them unseen by the Wellington public before. The portraits reveal different facets of this complex, enigmatic… Continue

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  Jesus was an All Black

  WELLINGTON’S  St Paul’s Cathedral has taken a tongue in cheek look at New Zealand’s other religion, rugby. On display in the cathedral for the next few weeks is New Zealand Icon, a painting by local artist Don Little depicting the figure… Continue

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  The most of an opportunity

  IT’S not all fame and glamour as a fulltime dancer. For Black Grace’s newest junior dancer, Thomas Fonua, it also means being responsible for the chores. “It’s my job to mop the floors of the dance studio,” the 19 year old says.… Continue

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  I, George Nepia

  Wellington playwright Hone Kouka speaks of George Nepia as though the two were friends. BUT while there are family connections (Nepia farmed down the road from the Kouka family farm in Rangitukia, Hawkes Bay, and Nepia taught Kouka’s father to play rugby)… Continue

• Queers in schools

  WELLINGTON’S queer community is taking direct action against the Ministry of Education for what it says is the Ministry’s failure to provide safe school environments for queer and transgender students. A protest is planned at the Ministry’s… Continue

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  Arts funding blues

  WELLINGTON’S Circa Theatre has come out battling against its major funder Creative New Zealand. The theatre relies on Creative New Zealand for nearly a third of its income but last week the funding body cut its funding to the theatre by 15 percent. Circa… Continue

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  Movie people make interesting artists

  GINO Acevedo has always loved monsters. As a child growing up in Phoenix Arizona he would be glued to the TV every Saturday morning watching the monster classics Frankenstein and The Wolf Man. He went on to create his own monsters, first designing costume kits… Continue

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  Oh to be a Hobbit

  THERE’S a man in the States who’s desperate to join the stars who are returning to Wellington to continue filming The Hobbit. Patrick Spadaccino is a life-long Tolkien fan and he would love to play even the smallest role in telling the story. As flying… Continue

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  Sisters of sound

  HOW does a progressive 12th century German nun become the inspiration for Wellington girls to form St. Rupertsberg, an all girl indie-pop octet? St. Rupertsberg is named after a monastery founded by Hildegard von Bingen, and there’s a strong connection. It’s… Continue

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  Relating to dance

  JULIAN Pellizzaro sees a dance partnership as a relationship. Funny, then, that he dances between lots of different women. Jokes aside, the elements of any decent relationship are there: you’re strangers at the beginning and you develop an intense interaction.… Continue

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  Woman with a mission

  THE Reverend Susan Blaikie has been appointed as the new Wellington City Missioner. She replaces Father Des Britten who retired after 18 years as City Missioner in July.  She is the first woman to be appointed to the role and only the eighth person to hold… Continue

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  Foreign concept for new volunteers

  IN his native Tianjin, China, volunteering was foreign to Cuixi Xi. It’s only in New Zealand that the 29 year old language student has had time to experience what he describes as little-known concept in his homeland. Xi is studying English at the Making Futures… Continue

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  Seriously musical

  HE was admitted at just eight years old to a special school for young talent at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest. He’s grown up to be one of the youngest of a dazzling cohort of Hungarian pianists. His name is Péter Nagy and he’s… Continue

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  Politics at Bats

  WELLINGTON actor Phil Grieve met Sir Robert Muldoon when he was 16. Grieve was at Parliament to accept his Boys Brigade Queens Award from the then Prime Minister. “He was shorter than me even then,” Grieve remembers. Now he’s playing Muldoon… Continue

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  Finding their flippers

  THEY’VE been booted out of the nest by mum, but they’re finding their flippers and are perfectly capable of fending for themselves. That’s the word from the Department of Conservation on the New Zealand fur seal pups on the move around the Wellington… Continue

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  Third stoat on Kapiti Island

  THE pest free status of Kapiti Island is again in question after the capture of another stoat on the island last week. The stoat, believed to be a female, is the third to be captured this year. A male stoat was caught on the island in February and last month… Continue

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  A new age for Page

  HE loves our coffee, our beer, our food and our people – so much so that this week, Australian multi-instrumentalist Adam Page is moving to Wellington. “Wellington is one of the sickest cities I’ve ever been to. I came over for the first time… Continue

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  Back to the moshpit

  GETTING ready to interview Nigel Regan from legendary Wellington rock band Head Like A Hole (aka HLAH), I decided to listen to some of their 90s classics. Immediately transported back to my teenage, bogan days – I recalled with special fondness the one time… Continue

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  Invert your assumptions

  WRITER Arthur Meek expected to have a laugh when he picked up a book called Our Maoris at a market, but instead he found a story so good, he wrote a play about it. On The Upside-Down of the World is based on Our Maoris - the memoir of the young English wife of… Continue

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  It’s hip to be square

  Sports jocks watch out: Your time in the limelight might be over. Geeks are back in vogue. THEY’RE ready to change the world, just as soon as they work out the source code. Among the rich and famous, geekery just keeps on growing. Vin Diesel has been… Continue

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  Dazzled by Vegas

  TIM Beveridge has been up all hours with his baby daughter, but he’s still animated about Vegas, the spectacular show he’s bringing to Wellington. He’s clearly excited, but quick to mention the tough entertainment industry, which dictates the… Continue

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  Barking up the right tree

  THEY rescue, rehabilitate and re-home 5,000 animals every year, but the SPCA has also been busy organising itself over the winter period. Widely publicised as being in disarray after several board members resigned earlier this year, the SPCA is now focusing on… Continue

• Flower power

  How does a florist remain at the top of her game for thirteen years?  Manuela of her eponymous flower shop in Cuba Street has because – her staff say – “she’s a perfectionist and an individualist” Run off their feet because… Continue

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  Going Dutch

  DID you know the largest korfball facility outside of Holland is right here in Wellington at the new Indoor Community Sports Centre?  The largest what? When I think of Holland I think of windmills, wooden shoes and a stoic willingness to plug leaking dykes… Continue

• Get conscious

  NOT for profit charitable organisation Conscious Consumers was founded in Wellington to help customers make more informed café choices. It works like this: They award up to nine ‘badges’, which reflect practices that make good business sense… Continue

• Wade’s world

  CHILDHOOD. It’s the formative time of our lives, magical at any level. What makes it more interesting for most people is that children are different.  Some are very different. One such child was Wade Hall, now 27, who happily admits to having been… Continue

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  Creative brains

  ATTENTION Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder causes inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, but there’s a silver lining: An ADHD diagnosis often signifies a highly artistic temperament. It’s because of neural diversity, a difference rather than a disorder,… Continue

• Questions on the buses

  AFTER Infratil Executive Tim Brown’s comments on public transport in Wellington (Tokotoko August 3) P.J. Austin of Berhampore asked 1) why the trolley bus power in Manners Street always seems to go off in the morning peak hour, and 2) why in the morning… Continue

• Creative capital

  TWO of three writers honoured with the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement, and the $60,000 that goes with it, are Wellingtonians. Novelist Dame Fiona Kidman and historian James Belich received their awards at Premier House earlier this week,… Continue

• City of carnivals

  THE future of Wellington’s Fringe Festival and Cuba Street Carnival seem assured with the creation of a new trust to oversee the events. The Creative Capital Arts Trust (CCAT) replaces the Fringe Arts Trust and the Cuba Street Carnival Collective Trust… Continue

• Residents speak on city’s future

  WELLINGTONIANS have had their say on the city’s future. The Wellington 2040 City Strategy invited residents to have their say on the future development of Wellington over the next 30 years. Submissions closed last Friday. While only 115 formal submissions… Continue

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  Taxing plan for council

  COURTENAY Place retailers are unhappy at a Wellington City Council plan to eliminate 18 car parks on the south side of Courtenay Place near Cambridge Terrace to allow for a taxi stand. City councillor and co-owner of Kapai Restaurant Justin Lester says the plan… Continue

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  Just the right image

  SHE plays jazz on her trumpet and sings opera for light relief. Imogen Thirlwall might be just one of the band, but she must be exactly the right image for the New Zealand School of Music. She plays jazz trumpet with the NZSM’s Big Band under Rodger Fox, … Continue

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  Spellbound by comics

  WHEN your first words were “Donald Duck,” a career in comics is undoubtedly a fair choice. Dylan Horrocks, prolific Auckland-born graphic novelist, has read and drawn comics his whole life. Firm in the belief that cartoons can be enjoyed by young… Continue

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  Cook and chat

  LIKE the perfect spice seasoning a mouth-watering meal, the third bi-annual Migrating Kitchen Exhibition at Pataka Museum in Porirua is in time for the Rugby World Cup kick-off. The six-week multi-cultural festival of art, literature, music, dance and food will… Continue

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  Snow lends magic to the zoo

  THERE’S been mixed reaction to the snow from the animals at Wellington Zoo. Marketing and communications advisor Kate Baker says that although snow is a first, most of the animals are prepared for Wellington’s winter cold. “The African animals… Continue

• ’Option X’ for the Basin Reserve

  WELLINGTON’S Architectural Centre is still backing it’s Option X for traffic improvements at the Basin Reserve which an independent costing shows would cost more than the NZ Transport Agency’s two flyover proposals.  But Option X eliminates… Continue

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  Something to say

  WHEN Harbour City Electric started playing their residency at Sandwiches in 2006, it was hard to tell exactly who was in the band. At various stages the lineup included members of The Black Seeds, Recloose Live Band, Olmecha Supreme, Electric Wire Hustle and… Continue

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  Mobbed by music

  DON’T be surprised if you’re mobbed by a choir next week. It’s The Big Sing and more than 700 secondary school students from 22 choirs descend on the Capital for three days of fierce competition to find New Zealand’s top school choir.… Continue

• Earplugs recommended

  THE saying is that good things take time, and this is certainly true when it comes to Auckland band Black River Drive. The band, led by singer/songwriter Sam Browne, was formed in 2008 – yet Browne had been playing and writing since first picking up the… Continue

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  Rugby explained

  IT’S a bustling Saturday night in Wellington. Crowds of rowdy rugby fanatics are on the town and the All Blacks’ game lights up the big screen. The ref blows his whistle and makes a call - wild hand gestures and all - and the pub bursts into shouts… Continue

• Crystal ball on Wellington

  “What plans does the Wellington City Council have for our city’s future?” We asked Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown about the council’s Wellington 2040 Strategy... You can have your say on Wellington’s future and I urge you… Continue

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  Get the kids away from the play stations!

  IT’S time to dust off the trainers and bust out the gym shorts. The Wellington Indoor Community Sports Centre in Cobham Park, Kilbirnie, is ready to open after 18 months of construction, but ICSC manager Craig Hutchings wants to clarify a widespread misconception… Continue

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  Shakespeare meets Marge Simpson

  RICK Miller is a man with a bad dose of schizophrenia. His show MacHomer, opening at The Opera House this week, has a cast of more than 50 and stars Miller as, well, everybody. MacHomer is a mash-up of tv’s The Simpsons and Shakespeare’s Macbeth with… Continue

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  Keeping it straight

  In every society, there are invisible people. The old and infirm, the disabled, those from foreign backgrounds, children; we write them off as inconsequential, winding our lives around them, talking down to them, and looking through them. Pippa Carvell is an… Continue

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  Mural to heal ‘severed’ district

  THEY hope art will bring them together. Kathy Smith, owner of Ballroom Café, says small business owners near the junction of Adelaide Road, Riddiford and John Streets are suffering “bad feelings” because of road changes that took away their carparks,… Continue

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  Hollywood at Bats

  IT’S been a busy year for Anya Tate-Manning. The Wellington actor has performed in August Osage County at Circa, McKenzie Country at Bats and in the sell out political satire Public Service Announcements. Now she’s treading the boards in Richard Huber’s… Continue

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  Let there be light

  DUNEDIN singer songwriter Matt Langley comes across much like his music, unpretentious, charming and unafraid to show a little vulnerability. “I feel the world’s quite strange and terrifying… but when it comes to the people you know, I see… Continue

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  Some dance with your rugby

  With the Rugby World Cup now only weeks away auditions for performers to entertain the crowds at the Westpac stadium are under way. Dance teacher Catherine Reid is assembling a squad of 16 dancers to perform at the Canada vs France match on September 18, and when… Continue

• Another week of legal highs

  SALES of synthetic cannabinoids have shot through the roof since the government announced last week it was banning Kronic and similar substances. Owner of Cosmic, Mark Carswell says his company has seen a big increase in sales as people stock up before any ban… Continue

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  Tourists green with envy

  IT’S well-known as beautiful, green, and tourist-attracting, but the sale of genuine New Zealand greenstone or “pounamu” is being threatened by cheap, imported imitation pieces that go for a song. These mass produced souvenirs are mainly made… Continue

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  Medieval Knievel

  WHILE others his age are getting down to Beyonce in nightclubs, Dimitrios Theodoridis is passionately supporting Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music through The Historical Arts Trust (THAT) – an organisation that promotes performance and education in… Continue

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  Time is not money

  WELLINGTON South is about to get a new bank, and one thing’s certain – it will run on time. The Newtown Community and Cultural Centre Trust are setting up a “TimeBank”; a skill-swapping network where time replaces money as the measurement… Continue

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  Theatre of choice

  AUDIENCES will get to choose their perfect night out at the theatre at Circa’s new production, Eight. It’s interactive theatre and audiences can choose their own cast of six from eight characters, either on-line ahead of time, or by iPhone in the… Continue

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  We’re all Pacific Islanders

  CITY Gallery and Te Papa have come together for Oceania; an exhibition celebrating the culture and arts of Aotearoa and our Pacific cousins. Artist Robin White and photographer Greg Semu both feature in City Gallery’s Oceania: Imagining the Pacific exhibit.… Continue

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  Grow your own food

  ‘The Rhizome Effect’  tonight Wednesday is a hui to spread and share ideas about urban food production, what needs improving, and what we’d like to see more of. (A rhizome shoots out horizontal stems which form roots and produces new plants… Continue

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  Angle and poise from Crows

  CROWS Feet Dance Collective aren’t taking themselves too seriously. Mocking the school rhythmic gymnastic classes of the 1950s and 1960s, in Angle Poise the Crows play a group of ageing Russian ex-gymnasts on a tour of New Zealand with their hoop, balls… Continue

• Campaign for food banks

  PREVENT someone from going hungry for less than the cost of a movie ticket. A campaign to support local food banks, themselves feeling the squeeze as more struggle to feed their families. Benn Crawford, organiser of the Wellington500 Campaign, says the goal is… Continue

• Roading plans CAST off

  A new community group has been set up to challenge the New Zealand Transport Agency’s roading proposals for the Capital. Community and Sustainable Transport (CAST) wants to see better alternatives put forward by the agency, based on public transport, demand… Continue

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  Back to the tinny house

  SYNTHETIC cannabinoid retailers and users were expecting a regulation announcement, but instead the government announced that Kronic and similar substances will be temporarily banned. Prime Minister John Key says cabinet-approved amendments to The Misuse of Drugs… Continue

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  Soul sisters

  SISTERS Madeleine, Anji and Priya Sami – who make up band The Sami Sisters – overlap and interrupt each other relentlessly. It’s almost better to imagine them as one creature with three heads – like the troll off Willow – but a hot… Continue

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  Old shop fronts to stay

  SIX of the city’s oldest suburban shopping areas have been granted heritage status in the city’s district plan. The listing means the buildings cannot be demolished or major changes made to their exterior without a resource consent. The areas are… Continue

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  Inner city escape

  AS I step out of the blustering, numbing cold of Wellington’s winter into beauty therapy and day spa Urban Sanctuary, my first thought is, ‘what a fitting name’. The door closes behind me and I’m met with calm, quiet instrumental music,… Continue

• Crafty gem for sale

  AFTER 42 years in business, Les and Dianne Dyne of Goldings Handcrafts are ready to retire – and they’re selling up. The shop opened in the Cuba precinct in 1969 – some will still remember climbing the Tory Street stairs opposite the old match… Continue

• The business gymnasium

  HERE’S a new idea for Wellington’s freelancers and small businesses. The BizDojo opened in Vivian Street last week providing fully serviced collaborative working spaces for creative workers, niche businesses and entrepreneurs. But BizDojo is more… Continue

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  Australian drama at Circa

  WHEN Wellington actor Sophie Hambleton finishes her role in Circa Theatre’s When the Rain Stops Falling she’s heading to the big lights of Auckland. Hambleton plays the younger Gabrielle York in the play, opening for the first time in Wellington this… Continue

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  The woman in breeches

  MEZZO soprano Bianca Andrew loves wearing the trousers. Andrew is Oberon, King of the Fairies, in the New Zealand School of Music’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s a “trouser” or “breeches” role, which in… Continue

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  What’s in a name?

  YEARS of playing together have gone down the drain for a group of local musicians. Francis Curac, founding member of band Niko Ne Zna, has split the group, trademarked the name and formed a new band – prohibiting old members from using the name. For the… Continue

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  Cleansing theatre

  IT opens with a splash and threatens to change bath time forever. The New Zealand premiere of Soap opens at Wellington’s St James Theatre on July 28. A mixture of circus, comedy and cabaret, Soap is a show of music and acrobatics set in the confines of… Continue

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  Relating in a virtual world

  ONE of the directors from this year’s Young and Hungry festival of new theatre is about to have something ridiculously young and hungry dropped in her lap. Rachel Lennart’s about to have a baby. “I just found out they’re doing to do a… Continue

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  Up the pole

  FORGET what you thought you knew about pole dancing, it’s now a sport and fitness discipline and even men are taking to the pole. Last weekend the Wellington heat of the New Zealand Amateur Pole Performer Competition was held at the Garden Club and among… Continue

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  Jon’s new band: Too good

  FACED with a bunch of songs that didn’t suit Shihad, Jon Toogood handpicked his favourite Kiwi musicians to start new band The Adults. Fur Patrol’s Julia Deans, Shayne Carter (Straightjacket Fits, Dimmer), Ladi 6, Anika Moa, Gary Sullivan (The Stereobus,… Continue

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  Famous visitor a rare treat

  WELLINGTON is to host the world’s rarest parrot. Wellington’s Zealandia has announced Sirocco the kakapo will be living at the ecosanctuary for about three months from the end of September. It is the first time Wellington has hosted an adult bird.… Continue

• Pinch on for charities

  As demand for their services grows charities are scrambling for funding. The slow economy, low interest rates, and money flowing to Christchurch have all combined to make things tough for  groups dependent on public and philanthropic donations. One of… Continue

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  It’s those genes

  PETER Donnelly is an Australian mathematician, Professor of Statistical Science at Oxford University and the director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics. His early research focused on mathematical and statistical problems in genetics, but over time… Continue

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  Windy city poems

  TO celebrate National Poetry Day, we asked three local poets to share one of their favourite Wellington poems. Airini Beautrais finished a Master of Arts in creative writing at VUW in 2005, and published her first book Secret Heart just a year later.… Continue

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  A voice for refugees

  WELLINGTON writer Yilma Tafere Tasew has given a voice to a group seldom heard, Africa’s black refugees. His latest work, Outcast: The Plight of Black African Refugees, launched in Wellington last week, is a compilation of essays written by refugees, scholars,… Continue

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  Make a mark

  Graffiti artist Pauly Clyne (known as Pauly) has moved to Wellington for some respite from the shaking in Christchurch, and to cover our walls in paint. He’s been here three weeks, and has already noticed a big difference in how Wellingtonians respond to… Continue

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  What about the recycling?

  “HOW stupid is it that everything can only go out in those green plastic bags?” asks a Wellington rubbish collector who doesn’t want to be named. “We have customers who fold their cardboard and newspapers and leave them nicely alongside… Continue

• Queer politics

  A new political action group is pushing for greater equality and better services for queer and transgender people as the 25th anniversary of the Homosexual Law Reform Bill was celebrated in the Capital this week. The Queer Avengers was formed following the Queer… Continue

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  Find your way in

  IT may take some detective work to get there; but retailers in the Cobham Drive retail centre want you to know they’re still open for business. Road works on Tacy Street in Kilbirnie, which retailers say were to be completed in March, are now due for completion… Continue

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  Hip hop to the world

  THIRTY young dancers will leave Wellington for Las Vegas later this month to compete in the largest hip hop event in the world. They’ll make up the largest group of dancers ever to represent New Zealand. The two dance crews from Wellington hip hop school,… Continue

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  Ciao to favourite trattoria

  MARIA Pia’s Trattoria in Thorndon, is closing at the end of this month. Richard Klein, who runs the restaurant, says the time is right to move on – but not before he thanks the person who made it all possible. “Without the incredible passion… Continue

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  A better play

  WHEN Albert Belz first wrote Awhi Tapu (Sacred Embrace) in 2003 it toured the country, was nominated for best new New Zealand play at the Chapman Tripp’s, and received an award from the Human Rights Commission for its ‘positive contribution towards… Continue

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  Many ways to amuse the children

  TWO much loved children’s characters, Rumpelstiltskin and Pinocchio are visiting Wellington for the school holidays. Rumpelstiltskin will make his appearance at 4 Moncrieff Street, Mt Victoria, in KidzStuff’s Theatre’s production of the Brothers… Continue

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  Holiday magic

  MAGIC, animals, a deckchair cinema, seaside bingo and strange stories at the library – the school holidays are packed with entertainment for the kids. Kids’ favourite Capital E hosts Summer Scorcher – no, that’s not a typo – but… Continue

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  Highway home

  WELLINGTON band Highway is coming home after nearly forty years. Started by bassist George Limbidis and guitarist Phil Pritchard, and later joined by drummer Jim Lawrie, ex Tom Thumb vocalist Bruce Sontgen and guitarist George Barris, Highway exploded onto the… Continue

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  To inject a little magic

  IF he weren’t an artist, Hong Kong’s Pak Sheung-Chuen might be considered mad. He’s taken a trip to Malaysia blindfolded, waited hours for a friend who didn’t know he was meant to meet Pak in the first place, and spent a month folding… Continue

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  To protect their oceans

  JONATHAN Gardner is a professor of marine biology at Victoria University who’s off to the University of London in October on a NZ-UK Link Foundation Visiting Professorship. Gardner is a world expert in marine protection, biodiversity conservation and population… Continue

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  Showcasing Kiwi furniture

  ANSWERING a business call “YOYO - Todd speaking” may sound like uncouth slang but it is instead a declaration of a store name. Mount Cook resident Todd Hayvice has opened YOYO Furniture in Thorndon Quay, showcasing furniture designed exclusively by… Continue

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  Reflection, not on our waterfront

  REGULARLY voted top sculpture in Capital Times best of Wellington polls: Solace in the wind is missing his buddy Reflection, also by Max Patte, which used to be next to the overbridge leading to Chaffers Park, near the Rowing Club on Wellington’s waterfront.… Continue

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  Foxton Fizz

  Even in a land where poppies never get a chance to grow tall, singer-songwriter Miriam Clancy could probably get away with diva behaviour. Her 2009 second album Magnetic, hit number four on the iTunes charts in its first week, and received four and five star… Continue

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  New pad for families in need

  RONALD McDonald’s old buildings on Riddiford Street have been demolished, but they still need three million dollars to build the new one. Of the two buildings demolished, one was leased out for office space and for the Mexican Café, and the other… Continue

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  Take the plunge

  IT’s time to get active this winter, and an icy dip in the ocean will get the blood flowing. The annual polar plunge is on again this year with hundreds expected to turn out for the midwinter swim on the Petone foreshore on July 16. A gold coin donation… Continue

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  Rattle turns 20

  RECORD label Rattle may be based in Auckland, but Wellington has played a big part in its 20-year life.   Composer John Psathas recorded and released his Tui award-winning first album Rhythm Spike through Rattle, in 1999, Norman Meehan and Bill Manhire collaborated… Continue

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  Works from a new generation

  WELLINGTON audiences will get the chance to see the works of a new generation of dancers and actors when students from both the New Zealand School of Dance and the New Zealand Drama School (Toi Whakaari) perform in the city this month. For the first time the New… Continue

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  No country for old men

  AUCKLAND band The Vietnam War is harder to Google search than bands with really tricky names like !!!, Love, and The the. They didn’t really think about that at the time. “The name started as kind of a joke about music biographies – where a lot… Continue

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  Something beautiful to look at

  Art collectors and 40 of New Zealand’s leading contemporary artists have donated over 60 works to help raise funds for a new creative and performing arts centre currently under construction at Scots College in Miramar. Aloysius Teh is a parent at the school,… Continue

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  New plinth art

  THE work of Wellington artist Joanna Langford has been selected to adorn the plinths between Te Papa and Circa Theatre from February, Wellington Sculpture Trust has announced. Langford’s currently unnamed installation comprises four glass cubes, with each… Continue

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  A tissue of ice

  There’s a symmetry about Wellington artist Gabby O’Connor creating her latest work below sea level in the basement of Capital E. Entitled What Lies Beneath, O’Conner is constructing an iceberg, or more correctly the bottom of an iceberg, that… Continue

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  Clowns, but not as you know them

  THEY’RE clowning around at Bats Theatre this week. In two solo performances Wellingtonian Jenny McArthur and Finnish performer Sampo Kurppa give Wellington audiences a rare chance to see European modern clown theatre in Echolalia and Temptation opening at… Continue

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  Wahine Tu: Women standing

  KAPITI man Matiu Te Huki is spearheading a movement to change women’s role on marae. During powhiri – or Maori welcoming ceremonies – it is a woman who calls visitors onto the marae, and a female among the visitors who usually answers this karanga.… Continue

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  Watchdog music

  Hikoikoi means ‘to walk’, and for Wellington band Hikoikoi, that walk’s been a long one – or as singer and guitarist Paul Wickham puts it, “quite a whack, but a good one.” The band was formed eight years ago, a six-piece reggae… Continue

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  Who’s for the corridor?

  Wellington’s Deputy Mayor, Cr Ian McKinnon is making a bold stand. He wants everyone to know that he  supports the New Zealand Transport Authority’s proposed upgrade of the Ngauranga to Airport transport corridor. “It is already a State Highway”… Continue

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  Sock it to Christchurch

  WELLINGTON City Mayor, Celia Wade-Brown, and her Upper Hutt counterpart, Wayne Guppy, have stepped in to raise funds for the Canterbury earthquake. Rural Women New Zealand are selling red and black socks, which feature an earthquake shake line, with all proceeds… Continue

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  Saving power while keeping warm

  IT may have been late but winter has arrived and keeping our homes warm without breaking the bank has become a priority for many. According to Andrew Smith of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority stopping draughts and improving insulation will make… Continue

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  Paddling the waka

  THIS sport combines physical activity with the ancient traditions of the Pacific. Waka ama (outrigger canoeing) is gaining in popularity with men and women of all ages and ethnicities involved in the sport. Christine Fox, Vice-President of the Hoe Tonga Waka Ama… Continue

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  Dancing with the elements

  THIRD year New Zealand School of Dance student Kimiora Grey can’t believe she’s been given the chance to work with some if the best this country has produced. The 20 year old is one of eight dancers in a new work from the Okareka Dance Company, Nga… Continue

• Questions on reality

  DIRECTOR Andrew Foster has taken on a project unlike any he’s ever worked on. An Oak Tree is a play for two actors, one of whom changes every night. The new actor takes to the stage having never seen or heard a word of the play they’re to perfom in.… Continue

• Volunteer, and make a new friend

  Not for profit charity Age Concern say loneliness is one of the top four most pressing concerns for older people, among income, health care and ageist attitudes. It’s also one thing volunteers have the power to help with – through the Age Concern Accredited… Continue

• A fishy tale

  A Wellington fisherman knew he’d found something unusual when he caught a large spotted fish in Cook Strait this week. Island Bay Marine Education Centre staff identified it as a spotted black groper, a tropical fish usually found in rocky reefs and estuaries… Continue

• Double bill of light opera

  WELLINGTON G&S Light Opera continues a 57 year old tradition when it opens its double bill performance in Wellington this week, but the group says the future survival of amateur musical theatre in the capital is becoming increasingly precarious. Gillian Jerome… Continue

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  Looking at Wellington’s future

  THE future has come to Wellington with two interactive exhibitions exploring what the city might look like in 2040. The exhibition Toward 2040: Smart Green Wellington, has been set up in large shipping containers at Te Aro Park and on the waterfront by the Wharewaka.… Continue

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  More than a singer

  Ask delightful blonde bombshell Janina what she ‘does’, and you might get a moment’s hesitation. She’s just released her debut solo album The Original Ending, but she also works as a producer for Radio NZ Concert, a freelance writer for… Continue

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  The final curtain call

  After 45 years in the music business veteran crooner John Rowles is about to embark on his last tour. In a candid interview he spoke to Niels Reinsborg about his tangle with the Mafia, bullying at school, and his love of the Hawaiian sun. WHEN John Rowles… Continue

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  A dose of innovation

  A new research project by a Wellington medical student aims to influence the behaviour of injecting drug users in New Zealand and prevent the spread of blood borne diseases. Martin Woodbridge has been contracted by the Drugs, Health and Development Project to… Continue

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  Take a lesson

  WELLINGTON’S bastion of tertiary-level education, Victoria University, needs to take a class in getting a point across. A letter from the university was sent out to political party representatives on campus last week, asking that, “political visits… Continue

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  Debate rages on hotel bid

  WELLINGTON City Council has gone against the advice of its own officers over a proposal to build a boutique hotel near the top of the cable car in Wellington’s Botanic Gardens. The owner of the now defunct Skyline restaurant building wants the council to… Continue

• Best of Kiwi take on London

  LONDON is about to be invaded by the best of Kiwi with a strong Wellington flavour. Footnote Dance Company leaves this week for the City of London Festival, joining the New Zealand Trio, the New Zealand String Quartet, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in… Continue

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  A laugh at Hamlet’s expense

  GAVIN McGibbon says his new play is about allowing people to forget about winter and just have a good laugh. The Wellington playwright takes a satirical poke at community theatre in his new play Hamlet Dies in the End, opening at Bats Theatre on June 28. His play… Continue

• Horror at the Embassy

  MOVIE goers can do the time warp again with the Embassy Theatre screening The Rocky Horror Picture Show this weekend. Ali Morris from the Embassy says it’s the one movie screening of the year where punters get to put on fancy dress, throw rice around a theatre,… Continue

• Taylor named best actor

  WELLINGTON actor Rangimoana Taylor has been named best male actor at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival. Taylor received the award for his role in Hook, Line and Sinker, a movie recently released by Wellington collective Torchlight. Taylor plays the role of P.J.,… Continue

• Book to match Capital of cool

  A book celebrating all things Wellington will be launched in the city tomorrow (June 23). The Wellington Book is a collaboration between Fitzbeck Creative directors Mike Fitzsimons and Nigel Beckford and illustrators Sandi MacKechnie and Jess Lunnon. “We’d… Continue

• Wellywood copyright

  THE regional economic development agency, Grow Wellington, has confirmed it owns the copyright for the name ‘Wellywood’. Wellington airport has been embroiled in public debate over its plans to erect a 3.5 metre high Wellywood sign on hillside land… Continue

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  Long Pathway on track

  THE final link in the walking track from Island Bay to Levin has been completed with the opening of the Pukeatua Track at the weekend. The Pukeatua Track, extending from Otaki Forks to Waikanae, was opened by the Conservation Minister, Kate Wilkinson, and already… Continue

• SOS: Christchurch hospo

  CHRISTCHURCH refugees are flooding Wellington’s hospitality market; with cafés and restaurants noting a large increase in applications from Canterbury. Good Luck Bar on Cuba Street is one. “I don’t really have time to talk right now… Continue

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  Cycle city

  The road to making Wellington an accessible city for cyclists has been long and fraught with difficulties; much like riding over our hills and into our winds. But recent signs suggest Wellington is on it’s way to becoming a true cycle city. Melody Thomas… Continue

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  Vida longa ao samba!

  Keen to get involved with Rugby World Cup celebrations, but not sure how? Why not learn to samba, and take part in Wellington’s own carnival. Dance teacher, performer, circus artist and student Clo Mudrik has been dancing the Brazilian samba since she… Continue

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  That which was lost ...

  JANE Paul has spent much of her career delving into cupboards, rummaging through sheds and peeking beneath tarpaulins under macrocarpa trees. During her 20 years at the Film Archive Paul has been involved in some of the archive’s most important projects,… Continue

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  Mountain music

  What happens when you take two Wellington musicians and translocate them to a cottage steeped in history, for six weeks of creative exploration? HOLLY Jane Ewens and Andy Hummel of local band Rosy Tin Teacaddy, spent six weeks last year sitting in the shadow… Continue

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  Dancing with  compulsion

  COMPULSIONS, obsessions and fixations are at the centre of Thricely? Precisely. A Pocket full of Pips opening at Bats Theatre tomorrow (June 16). The dance theatre production made its debut at last year’s Fringe Festival. The show returns for eight performances… Continue

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  Luncheon with the Churchills

  OAMARU playwright Paul Baker says it would be a limiting world if authors wrote only wrote about their own country. His new play Meet the Churchills, which has its world premier at Circa Theatre on Saturday (June 18), airs the secrets, faults and resentments hidden… Continue

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  What would you do?

  VICTORIA University French lecturer Keren Chiaroni discovered the best and worst of human nature when researching her book The Last of the Human Freedoms. Based on letters, journals, military records and personal accounts her book tells of three kiwi airmen downed… Continue

• Sea story

  CONGRATULATIONS to Rachel Sawaya, who won the World Wildlife Foundation Ocean:Views competition, for works of art celebrating our oceans. Sawaya’s story Paying Back the Ocean beat out visual art, music and film entries to take the grand prize. Sawaya will… Continue

• Maori writer’s residency

  MAORI writers are invited to apply for this year’s Kapiti Island Maori writer’s residency, New Zealand’s only writer’s residency by Maori for Maori. The Tau Mai e Kapiti Maori Writer’s Residency is funded by Te Waka Toi/Creative New… Continue

• A healthy sign of progress

  WELLINGTON International Airport has announced the names of the panel set up to find alternatives to the proposed Wellywood sign. Greater Wellington Regional Council chair, Fran Wilde, will head the panel of seven members. Others appointed are Wellington Employers’… Continue

• Bright sparks

  “I find the kids are often teaching me” laughs Nomi Wald, the Gifted Kids Programme teacher at Newtown School with her GKP pupils Jim Zhu (Mt Cook School), Rose Wallington (Owhiro Bay School) and Dell Todd-Johnson (Newtown School).  They are using… Continue

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  Trouble at the pool

  SWIMMERS say common sense has gone out the window at Freyberg Pool; to meet “health and safety requirements”. Kirsten Cameron is a New Zealand distance freestyle and open water swimmer who swims about 60km a week, much of that at Freyberg. Until recently… Continue

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  Johnson really really really really likes her

  TWENTY-two year old Phoebe Hurst was selected from 27 Wellington hopefuls keen to open for singer-songwriter Greg Johnson on his Small Towns & Ball Gowns tour. Described by Johnson as being “right in the vein of classic Wellington left field”, Hurst’s… Continue

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  The youth kind of revolution

  Former Capital Times journalist, 23 year old Sophie Schroder has been dealing with the trials and tribulations of living in Spain, the most-in-debt country in the European Union. She went along to the 10,000 people strong protests in Barcelona, where the young… Continue

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  Maiden Aotearoa

  Respected fibre artist, passionate advocate of Maori and Pacific artists and Te Papa event producer Suzanne Tamaki is one kick-ass wahine. Her strength was built through necessity; when the world seemed not to want her, she had to fight for a place in it. … Continue

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  Dancers flying high

  CHANGING the way we think about dance – and who can dance – is the aim of Triple Bill, a dance-theatre show performed by dancers with and without disabilities. Eight dancers from the Auckland based Touch Compass dance company have teamed together with… Continue

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  Americana, Aotearoa-style

  YOU probably know Auckland-based band The DeSotos better than you realise –their songs were the themes for TVNZ series’ North and South, hosted by Marcus Lush, and many more of their tracks were littered throughout the programmes. Those of a certain… Continue

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  What if we lose?

  LET’S hope a play about New Zealand’s defeat at the 1995 Rugby World Cup isn’t an omen of things to come. Downstage Theatre’s production of Roger Hall’s one man show C’mon Black opens this week but producer, Dave Armstrong,… Continue

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  Time travel on strings

  LISTENING to the Brentano String Quartet is a bit like time travel. The New York ensemble will perform music from the past 500 years, from the 16th century to the 21st, when they play in the Wellington Town Hall on Sunday (June 12). Since forming in 1992 the… Continue

• Furious film finalists

  CITY finalists have been announced for the V48 Hours furious filmmaking competition. The following finalists are listed by team name, film name, and film genre (bracketed). Alpha Bristol Films: Last Chance (road), Cinema in Decline: Tea Jerker (crime), Couch Kumaras:… Continue

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  Run your heart out

  IF you’re a keen runner who’s wondered about doing a marathon, full or half, the Armstrong Motor Group Wellington Marathon is a great place to start. The event is organised by social running club the Wellington Marathon Clinic, established in 1979.… Continue

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  Shell out a shilling

  Graham Atkinson, president of Lions Host Wellington, and Brent Doile of New World Chaffers with their ‘old money’ collection box.  The Lions collect for childrens’ projects, like Outward Bound, Spirit of Adventure, and the Outdoor Pursuits… Continue

• Why have a district plan?

  Thorndon resident Kevin O’Connor asks why the Wellington City Council even looks at  building applications  when the size of the planned building would be way outside the council’s own guidelines.    Last week the hearing began… Continue

• No sign is a good sign

  WELLINGTONIANS may have won the chance to vote on the controversial Wellywood sign but most Capital Times readers don’t want a sign at all. Last week Wellington airport bowed to public pressure and agreed to consider alternatives and although Wellywood remains… Continue

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  Highest honours

  EX-Mayor of Wellington Kerry Prendergast, former Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming and concert pianist and teacher Diedre Irons are among 29 Wellington, Hutt Valley and Porirua residents recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list this year. Prendergast,… Continue

• Wellywood, or won’t they?

  WELLINGTON International Airport seems determined to erect its controversial Wellywood sign on the hills above Miramar despite a request from Wellington City Council to reconsider the sign. The council passed a motion last week asking the airport to reconsider… Continue

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  In for the caning

  IT was a media scrum at Hurricanes headquarters. He’d just named the team for the game against the Force, and Canes coach Mark Hammett had his interview cap on. He was on the phone doing a radio interview when Capital Times arrived for our allotted 10 minutes.… Continue

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  Local boy done good

  Nineteen-year-old Jesse Sheehan is on the fast track to becoming the next big Kiwi music success. But how’d the singer songwriter the with the trademark ginger ‘fro get to be so good that major record labels are fighting to sign him to their books?… Continue

• Books for the win

  LOCAL writer Kate Camp is the recipient of this year’s Creative New Zealand $60,000 Berlin Writers’ Residency. Camp, who will collaborate with locals and complete a collection of poetry in Berlin, is also a finalist for the New Zealand Post book awards,… Continue

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  Keeping Shakespeare relevant

  STUDENTS from schools as far away as Mount Cook, Rotorua and the West Coast arrive in Wellington this week for the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand (SGCNZ) National University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival. Those selected will soak up Wellington’s… Continue

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  A queer time at the movies

  GAY zombies, Regency lesbians, queer terrorists, brave soldier girls and gay mayoral candidates are some of the characters featuring in New Zealand’s queerest film festival opening at the Paramount this week. Out Takes 2011 celebrates queer film making bringing… Continue

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  Private works go public

  THE doors are about to open on art works normally found hanging in the homes of Wellingtonians. Behind Closed Doors, a new exhibition opening this week at Victoria University’s Adam Art Gallery, features works drawn exclusively from private collections in… Continue

• “Looks so lame”

  Opposition is growing to a sculpture commemorating the life of Katherine Mansfield, Wellington’s most famous literary figure. The work has been commissioned by the Wellington Sculpture Trust. The three metre high stainless steel  work, (above) by Auckland… Continue

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  Moshpit on wheels

  ROLLER Derby girls are up there with people you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. A Youtube search brings up videos of women in zombie face paint, fishnet stockings and   roller skates smashing into each other, pigtails flying, surrounded by… Continue

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  Ask, and ye shall receive

  IT took a few weeks, but the children at Box Hill Kids early childhood education centre are getting a new recycling bin. Box Hill Kids have been recycling since 2006, when they became one of the first educational institutions to participate in the Enviroschools… Continue

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  Dune work undone

  VANDALS have undone work completed just last month - part of the five-year Lyall Bay Dune Restoration Plan.   Following recommendations from Coastline Consultants and Environmental Restoration Ltd, the Council is now two years into the plan, which has seen… Continue

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  When at first you don’t succeed

  It has all the makings of a Hollywood film – a dashing protagonist on a grand adventure, becomes embroiled in a tragic love story. As his dreams collapse, our hero is forced to face his demons, before beginning the slow, uphill journey of a life rebuilt.… Continue

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  You catch it, we’ll cook it

  Local restaurants are waiting for  successful hunters to bring in the pheasants, swans, and geese they’ve shot.  Their chefs want to make the birds into great dishes and serve them back to the hunters. But thus far, nobody has taken up the offer… Continue

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  Three men, three sports

  IT isn’t all gold and glory for athletes at the top of their sport. For Wellington men Mike Mercer, Casey Glover and Shaun Kavanagh their selection to represent New Zealand at the ITU Triathlon World Champs in Beijing in September has meant many hard hours… Continue

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  Recycling was rubbish

  IT left rubbish on the city streets and caused thousands of complaints but Wellington City Council is confident problems with its new recycling collection service will drop away as the weeks go by. Last week was the first week of the new service and as the number… Continue

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  Blooming baby boomer

  JANE Keller is shocked at being perilously close to 60. It’s not that she feels older. Rather she wonders how the years have passed so quickly. But Keller says being a baby boomer is something to celebrate and in her one woman show Boomers Behaving Badly,… Continue

• NZ Music Month: Bronwyn Kelly

  BORN in the “illustrious town” of Tapanui, north of Gore, Bronwyn Kelly moved to Wellington with her family when she was 10.  After polytech and time overseas nannying, Kelly found herself on the, “slippery slope into the caffeine-driven… Continue

• This week, in music…

  New Zealand Music Month 2011 is in its last week, but there are still lots of great gigs going on. Capital Times highlights some top picks. A WISE man once said, “The more talented someone is, the nicer they are”, and it’s often true - we… Continue

• Sweatshop in Civic Square

  GIRLS working around the clock in sweatshop conditions, not a sight you expect to see in Wellington’s Civic Square. But this weekend students from Wellington Girls’ College will be working in shifts to produce bracelets, bags, pencil cases and teddy… Continue

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  Berlin is the new black

  Ladi 6 has just gone. Electric Wire Hustle, Hollie Smith and Lisa Tomlins are going.  An Emerald City has been there for years; young street artist Carmel Levy arrived in April and Lloyd Jones wrote his last novel after a year there. Melody Thomas looks… Continue

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  Sign language

  Councillor Helene Ritchie has called for a judicial review of the Wellington City Council’s non-notifiable permit for the giant Wellyword sign to be erected on the airport’s land at Miramar. Plans for the sign were announced last year and immediately… Continue

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  Stravinsky’s legacy

  THE great composer Igor Stravinsky was conducting the orchestra’s rehearsal for Petrouchka when Russell Kerr sneaked into the back stalls of the empty theatre to listen. IT was 1955 and Kerr was touring the United States as a dancer in the London Festival… Continue

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  Mean Maori mean

  There are so many talented wahine performing at Pao Pao Pao, we’re tempted to nickname it “peow, peow.”   The popular Bro’Town phrase, however, only carries sexy connotations, and we’re referring to the bigger picture.… Continue

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  NZ Music Month: Roger that

  THIRTY years ago, Christchurch record-store worker Roger Shepherd founded Flying Nun, which became one of New Zealand’s most influential record labels. Shepherd left the label in 1999 but couldn’t stay away – buying it back again ten years later.… Continue

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  Prize book

  A book by a Wellington author about New Zealand’s rarest parrot, the kakapo, has won the Royal Society of New Zealand’s 2011 science book prize. Kakapo - Rescued from the Brink of Extinction by broadcaster and zoologist Alison Ballance tells the story… Continue

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  Freaky Friday

  MENTALIST Robert Haley was too spooked to continue with his second Séance show last week. The shows were meant to run on Friday the 13th at a ‘secret haunted location’, but when punters turned up at 9:30 a shaky Haley told them the show was cancelled,… Continue

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  Flight plight

  When Melody Thomas first heard about John Goldswain, he was mentioned as being part of the “hot-bed of brilliant bastards sitting out there in Miramar”. Keen to discover what a man’s gotta do to get a reference that good, she tracked him down.… Continue

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  Opera in the house

  CITIZENS who don’t like going to the theatre have it made this week. With Silo Theatre’s production of Did I Believe it? on at Foxglove bar, and Revolver circus at Estadio, you won’t have to go anywhere near a theatre for a theatrical experience.… Continue

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  Portrait of an artisan

  After nearly fifty years of on and off car racing Johnny Mines has won the Sports Car Club of NZ’s 2011 series in a sophisticated racing car he designed and built himself. Along that journey Mines, a cheerful petrolhead,  has revelled in his considerable… Continue

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  Performance meets play

  Tom Beauchamp is learning how to crack whips while tap dancing, for his latest show, Revolver. “AS far as I know it’s a world premier. I’ve been cracking whips for a while and I did some basic tap about ten years ago, but I’m not naturally… Continue

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  Return seasons

  TWO award winning New Zealand plays are back on the Wellington stage this week.   Downstage Theatre’s production of Death and the Dreamlife of Elephants, and Circa Theatre’s The Lead Wait both open on Friday and, both were originally commissioned… Continue

• Support for historical arts

  HISTORICAL music, dance and theatre in New Zealand will now be supported and encouraged by a new charitable trust. The Historical Arts Trust aims to educate and inspire young people and create new opportunities for enthusiasts and professionals.  Executive… Continue

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  NZ Music Month: Oh my Gosia

  GOSIA Piatek is a Hutt Girl at heart (“Oooooo yeah!”), but she was born in Poland and moved to New Zealand with her family, seeking political asylum, when she was seven. She’s since grown up and formed her own company, Kowtow Clothing. Selling… Continue

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  All aboard the adventure bus

  A ‘rogaine’ sounds like hair re-growth medication, but it’s actually a lot more fun. A form of orienteering, rogaining sees teams compete in an epic cross-country challenge.  The aim is to use route planning and navigation between checkpoints,… Continue

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  Which way for the waterfront?

  THE Hilton Hotel, initially proposed for the waterfront’s outer T on Queens Wharf, but halted due to Environment Court appeals, might still go ahead. Despite Wellingtonians’ repeated objections, the hotel is still a possibility for ‘Site 10’… Continue

• The quality of our lives

  WELLINGTON has again been voted among the top cities in the country with residents saying they feel safe in the city and are satisfied with their quality of life. The results of the latest Quality of Life survey were released this week. The survey measures the… Continue

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  What do you think?

  The proposed extension of parking fees to include weekday evenings and an idea that library hours could be be reduced has caused ‘quite a number to comment” says Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean.. The council wants to increase the… Continue

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  Get reel

  A THREE-day region-wide fishing competition starts next week; covering surfcasting, rock and boat fishing. Participants can fish from Castlepoint to Cape Palliser, east to Cape Terawhiti and north to the southern side of the Otaki river mouth. “It is quite… Continue

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  Plant it forward

  PAY for your carbon indiscretions by planting trees this weekend.  The Manawa Karioi Ecological Project, occupying about 12 hectares of farmland around Island Bay’s Tapu Te Ranga Marae, is marking the United Nations Year of the Forest with the beginning… Continue

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  Groovy and the beast

  LOCAL four-piece metal band Beastwars is hard-core, in a groovy kind of way. Drummer Nathan Hickey, aka Nato, formed the band five years ago, and this was his intention. “We wanted to sound like The Cult crossed with Kyuss, you know - good grooves, and… Continue

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  Lloyd Webber’s lead lady

  KIWI singer Delia Hannah is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s leading lady, selected to perform in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber now touring NZ after Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Delia, who recently completed the Australian and Asian tours of Cats, playing… Continue

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  Petone gallery to close

  PETONE’S Williams Gallery, specialising in contemporary New Zealand and Pacific art, is to close next month. After ten years operating the seven days a week business owners Lorraine and Patrick Williams have decided it’s time to close. They’ve… Continue

• Parking blues

  The city council has painted some mobility parks in the city bright blue in an attempt to make them “more obvious” to motorists. Mobility parks in Island Bay, Newtown and on Grey Street in the central city have been painted blue with a giant wheelchair… Continue

• Light house  in the park

  There will be a new burst of energy in Wellington as Victoria University students assemble a solar powered Kiwi bach in Frank Kitts Park this weekend. The students are building the solar powered house from NZ materials as a test run for the US Department of Energy… Continue

• With our powers combined

  ON average, each person in the Wellington region produces 626kg of waste every year, or collectively more than 300,000 tonnes. The Wellington City Council believes waste management issues could be better dealt with if councils in the region band together –… Continue

• Any bright ideas?

  THE search for Wellington’s brightest ideas has begun with the launch of the 2011 Bright Ideas Challenge. Nigel Kirkpatrick, chief executive of Grow Wellington, the organisation behind the challenge, says up for grabs is the chance to win $25,000 start-up… Continue

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  Coffee, for the people

  SHEEP, cows and Vikings: All things that come to mind when you think about Dannevirke. Forward-thinking ambassadors of fair-trade business, not so much. Meet Matt Lamason, and prepare to change your mind. THIRTY-two year old Matt Lamason is the founder and… Continue

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  Going viral

  When it comes to YouTube, you never know what’s going to make it big, or ‘viral’, and what will sink into oblivion. On this new stage, which has the ability to create superstars overnight, local boy Matt Mulholland is one of New Zealand’s… Continue

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  This is your final boarding call

  For nearly ten years, The Aviators have delivered catchy hooks, grooves and horn lines to funk-hungry ears around the country. The band are about to call it quits, but not before serving up one last morsel, The Ballad of Sour Jayne, a spicier and more surprising… Continue

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  The universe in her grasp

  SHE may be only 20 but Priyani Puketapu says she’ll be older and wiser when she competes for the title of Miss Universe New Zealand in Wellington on Sunday night. She’s walked this catwalk before, as Miss Horowhenua in 2009, she was first runner-up… Continue

• Sweet adelines

  BARBERSHOP harmony will fill the streets of Wellington this weekend with hundreds of women from around the country gathering in the city for the New Zealand Sweet Adelines competition and convention. Four hundred women representing 19 quartets and eight choruses… Continue

• Going solo

  STEVE Wrigley has performed Kevin: The Musical before, but the Auckland Comedy Festival season was really just a dress rehearsal for Wellington. Wrigley’s always wanted to do a solo show at Bats, ever since he first got into comedy doing gigs at the San… Continue

• Barly Theatrical

  IT’S theatre for those who’d sooner go to the pub. Foxglove bar customers are in for something of a surprise when their watering hole hosts Auckland’s Silo theatre which is actively bringing theatre to the people. A downtown bar might seem… Continue

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  Up the wrong tree

  AMERICAN comedian Arj Barker, known best in New Zealand as dispassionate New Yorker Dave on Flight of the Conchords, has mixed feelings about his last Wellington show.   “Some shows you just stay on track and do the jokes, then there are others where… Continue

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  Walk with the Midwives

  Take a stroll along Oriental Bay next Thursday and mingle with people who help bring thousands of new babies into the world each year. The waterfront walk, to celebrate International Day of the Midwife, is to highlight the disparities in the conditions of maternity… Continue

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  Cosmic Carsy

  RETURNING from an autumn trip to Mount Cook, Mark Carswell, Carsy to his mates, lay naked in the back of the station wagon while a friend drove. Why was he naked? “I felt like it, it was a sunny day,” he says, as if driving round naked is something… Continue

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  Those darn buses

  MUCH-reviled in Wellington, the bus networks recently received long awaited Real Time Information (RTI), which uses GPS tracking to inform passengers about estimated, as opposed to scheduled, times of arrival. Capital Times journalist Melody Thomas kept a diary… Continue

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  All over the joint

  Australian roots and jam band John Butler Trio was formed in 1998, and they’ve got big. Three of their five studio albums have hit number one in Australian charts, and anyone who’s seen them live raves about their musicianship and energy. Melody Thomas… Continue

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  You’re not in Timaru, now boy

  You’d think performing to massive crowds for laughs would be hard enough, but not for Dunedin-born comedian Sam Wills. In his latest routine, as The Boy with Tape on His Face, Wills performs on stage for up to an hour without talking at all. And audiences… Continue

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  Escaping the clatter of typewriters

  THE thought of retirement doesn’t come easy for Val Browning and when she closes her Cuba Mall shop for the last time this week it’s not to just put her feet up. Browning describes her decision to shut Brownings Secretarial Services Ltd after 50 years… Continue

• I know what I like

  A unique collection of early 20th century negatives from a Wanganui studio sold for $50,000 at the two day Fine and Applied Arts Auction at Dunbar Sloane last week. The Mark Lampe/Tesla Studio Photographic Negative Collection, made up of an estimated 80,000 negatives… Continue

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  Sheilah wins

  FORTY-two groups from 20 schools around Wellington competed for a spot at the University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival nationals last week. One 15-minute and one five-minute long scene are selected in each region to progress to the national competition,… Continue

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  Everyone loves a happy ending

  INDIA is the world’s largest producer of film, and with more than 1000 feature-length releases annually, Bollywood films are a major factor in why. Now, the colour, movement and feel-good storylines have been translated for the stage.   Akshita Nama… Continue

• Whole lotta shakin goin on

  High on the list of the chattering crowd is the subject of earthquakes. Well it might be. We’ve all been discussing the phenomenon.   • In Willis Street, Unity Books have sold huge numbers of Quaky Cat,  a children’s book by Diane Noonan,… Continue

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  “Rubbish” say the residents

  RESIDENTS are blaming the city council’s rubbish collection system for what they say is more rubbish littering the streets of some inner city suburbs. They claim since the council brought in the use of the official yellow bags some rubbish is being left… Continue

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  Go, the curry munchers

  WHEN Pancha Narayanan immigrated from his native Malaysia to New Zealand 25 years ago the locals called him a curry muncher. “Now everyone’s eating curry,” he jokes. “The New Zealand palate has come a long way.” Pancha, who is of… Continue

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  Burlesque, uncovered

  GRACE Hammersley-Myers is a PA at The New Zealand Treasury. But at night, she dons thigh-high fishnets, lace bustiers and frilly-bottomed knickers to become Busty la Belle – New Zealand’s reigning burlesque queen. Modern/neo-burlesque performance… Continue

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  Record stores give you a better life

  IT’S ironic, that while Wellington’s favourite record store Real Groovy was making the announcement it would soon close up shop, others were preparing for International record store day. Despite news of Real Groovy’s imminent closing, the store… Continue

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  Musicians call for jury trial

  WELLINGTON musicians are rallying support for 15 people arrested in the 2007 Urewera ‘terror raids’, who will now be tried by judge-alone, at the High Court in Auckland on May 30. Charges made under the Terrorist Supression Act were dropped in 2007,… Continue

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  Strange nesting places

  HOW come a 46-year old Newtown librarian, born and raised in New Zealand and with little filmmaking experience, is flying to Iraq to make a documentary on Assyrian people and their culture? It comes down to curiosity, compassion and the desire to tell a good… Continue

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  Home is where the heart is

  ELIZABETH Marvelly is singing for joy at being home. The 21 year old songstress joins the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to open her Home Tour, in Wellington next Wednesday night. Marvelly returns to New Zealand after three years international touring, performing… Continue

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  Duathlon for generations of women

  THREE generations of one family are amongst those taking part in the Wellington REAL women’s duathlon at Cog Park, Evans Bay Parade on Sunday. Chrissie Bell, of Napier, says her family is drawing on members from Napier, Pahiatua and Wellington to take part… Continue

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  Accessorise me

  THIS season it’s all about accessories - scarves, stockings, chunky jewellery, winter boots, hats… the list goes on. Don’t be afraid to wrap that chunky necklace over a delicate merino top either. This season is all about glamorous accessories… Continue

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  Just in time

  WELLINGTON busses might finally start arriving on time. Go Wellington services are now using ‘Real Time Information’, run through GPS vehicle tracking, to inform passengers about when buses will actually arrive, as opposed to when they’re scheduled… Continue

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  Groovy sales a gift to shoppers

  IF the mob last Sunday at Real Groovy’s closing sale are anything to go by many people will miss the record store.  And the Courtenay Place crowd will miss Bennetts Gift World. Combined, Real Groovy records on Cuba Street and Bennetts Gift World on… Continue

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  Good vibrations

  EVAN Dumbleton is an award-winning engineer by trade and a musician by choice, but after winning awards in both areas his musical talents may become more than just a hobby. LAST week, Seatoun based mechanical engineer Evan Dumbleton was awarded the Institution… Continue

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  You’ve got to make peace

  FRONTPERSON for the band Minuit (Min-wee), Ruth Carr, has just released her first book, I felt like a fight, alright? The book is an assortment of song snippets, poems, musings and doodles, although she’s not sure about being called an author. “That’s… Continue

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  To the left, to the left

  STARTING this weekend, Radio Active will be found four steps down the frequency band. In a move dictated by the Government, its transmission will shift to allow for greater space between stations. Of approximately 250 radio frequencies nationwide that were made… Continue

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  Seems like yesterday...

  CIRCA Theatre was born at a dinner party in Miramar. A group of actors bemoaning the state of Wellington theatre decided it was time to start a second professional theatre in the city. “We wanted to make a space for artists,” founding Circa member,… Continue

• Swing your bling

  SICK of your jewellery? New handbag the wrong colour? Want some new shoes? Got no money? Then swap your accessories with someone else. You won’t have to spend a cent to get your hands on pre-loved accessories although you pay to get into this weekend’s… Continue

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  In Spite of it all

  TIM Spite was meant to write a play about tagging. Instead, his latest show, The Spy Who Wouldn’t Die Again, is a spoof on an old classic. “[The show] sprang out of necessity. Last year we wrote a show called The December Brother, which was partly… Continue

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  Get a move on

  GREATER Wellington regional councillor Paul Bruce wants to see an off-road pedestrian and cycle facility on State Highway Two (SH2), and he wants it now. The regional transport committee, comprised of mayors of the region, met this week to discuss the The Hutt… Continue

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  Tu meke music

  What happens when you take four leading  musicians and put them in a studio with no restraints, timelines or goals? If those musicians are Warren Maxwell, Rick Cranson, and Tom and Joe Callwood – the answer is sonic splendour. Melody Thomas talks with… Continue

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  Good for something

  COMPOSER John Psathas is onto something good. He has written his first ‘pavlova Western’ film score for Good For Nothing – a Kiwi style American Western film which is receiving rave reviews in the US. FOR JOHN Psathas, who shot to media fame… Continue

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  Earle in town

  JUSTIN Townes Earle may have famous rock country singer Steve Earle for a father but he can sure hold his end up. And the stage, for hours, when he performs. Last time Earle hit Wellington, almost two years ago, he captivated a crammed Bodega crowd with his brand… Continue

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  Keeping it in the family

  Sigismund Owen Keoghan was a joiner working in the West Coast mines in the late 1800s. His calloused hands built the wooden troughs that transported coal after excavation, but they were also used for a more gentle purpose – playing his violin. 130 years… Continue

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  Science and art

  Professor Robin Clark is applies robust scientific techniques to art and archaeology. Melody Thomas talks to him about authenticity. Hoping to electrify the Timaru frozen meat industry, Robin Clark’s grandfather, an electrical engineer, immigrated to… Continue

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  Titillating fashion

  MENSWEAR designer Clare Bowden has got a grip on the female bust. The co-designer and co-owner of Wellington-based label Mandatory, was commissioned to design uniforms for Coco at the Roxy, the restaurant opening soon inside Miramar’s new, 1930s themed cinema.… Continue

• Everybody needs  good neighbours

  HOST a street party, bake a cake, say “good morning” or pop round for a cup of tea; there are a hundred ways to celebrate neighbourliness this weekend, and you needn’t do them all. Not-for-profit community agency LIFEWISE is co-organiser of Neighbours… Continue

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  The picture of health

  AS Nicola Cranfield talks about greens, grains and general well-being it becomes clear she could be starring in her own real life version of movie Eat Pray Love, minus the Hollywood cheese. Cranfield, a health coach in real life, is a living replica of Julia Roberts’… Continue

• Switched on to switch off

  Earth Hour 2011 takes place this Saturday and people across the globe are encouraged to switch off their lights for one hour from 8.30pm. In Wellington the event is being marked at the Carter Observatory where Mayor Celia Wade-Brown will officially turn off the… Continue

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  Flying high in remembrance

  LYNNE Klap led the release of seven white doves, while seven kites flew high, to mark Race Relations Day in Civic Square on March 21. Lynne, who has been a Bahá’í for 28 years, says this was to remind us of seven Bahá’ís… Continue

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  Kick off

  RUGBY World Cup celebrations are falling into place, now all the council needs to know is what you have planned. The Wellington City Council is calling for expressions of interest (EOI) from bars, restaurants, event organisers, fundraisers and others, to build… Continue

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  Wonderful WOMAD

  WOMAD brings New Zealanders flocking to New Plymouth for the best showcase of world music treats, workshops, films and cooking demonstrations in all the land. For the ‘artist in conversation’ programme, artists talk about the musical journey that led… Continue

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  A prize in their eyes

  LOCAL musicians Thomas Oliver and Darren Watson are both finalists for the blues section of the 2010 International Songwriting Competition. Oliver’s Goin’ Home and Watson’s Love is an Ocean have put them in the running for $3,000 in prizes should… Continue

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  Made for marching

  NICOLE Adamson has great posture, thanks to years of marching. She never wanted to march, but when she was 11 she was roped in when she went to meet Shona (her Mum) who was having her marching costume altered. “There were all these girls there and they… Continue

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  Invers logic

  Take 70 film crew, mostly under the age of 30, and tell them they’re going to spend nearly a month with no cellphone reception, drinking bad coffee, probably in the rain. What you’d expect is a mutiny; but what filmmaker Rob Sarkies got was an extension… Continue

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  The magic between your ears

  BE good to your brain cells this weekend, Saturday is brain day. Wellington marks brain awareness week with a day of lectures from leading neuroscientists and clinical neurology experts. Dr Stuart Mossman, clinical neurologist, capital and coast district health… Continue

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  Here’s something new

  FINALLY the rumours will come true, when Ancestral, a new 1930s Shanghai-style bar, opens on Courtenay Place. Thick blue curtains will replace the old newspaper now covering the windows of the former United Video shop at 31-35 Courtenay Place, leading you into… Continue

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  Writer’s war effort

  WRITER Harry Ricketts spent eight years researching some of the finest war poets and their encounters in order to write his latest book Strange Meetings: Poets of the Great War. After some false starts and difficulty with direction, a friend introduced Ricketts… Continue

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  Take me to the river

  PHOTOGRAPHER John Williams has spent years documenting religious events. At Pataka Museum, in Porirua, black and white photographs from his 2007 trip to the ardh mela (religious festival) in India fill entire walls – some six metres long. Despite Williams… Continue

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  In a democratic fashion

  FASHION designer Trelise Cooper is known for colour, ruffles and her curly blonde hair but the internationally renowned designer has much more to her. Cooper begins each day at her Auckland-based workroom with a staff meditation session. She adopted the idea from… Continue

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  Purrrrfect harmony

  THE voice is the same, but Anna Coddington’s new album Cat & Bird is a different beast than her last one. Coddington’s first full-length album The Lake, released in 2008, was an exercise in soul-baring. “Songwriting [for The Lake] felt like working from the… Continue

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  A boy’s show

  AMERICAN Director Ronald Nelson has traded politics for theatre. The former “lowest elected official on Capitol Hill” has written, and now directs, Mates and Lovers which is on at Downstage till March 12. “I was working on September 11,” says Nelson. “And I could… Continue

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  Opera in the pink

  SOPRANO Tiffany Speight describes herself as a “Mozart-looking Barbie” in her latest NBR NZ Opera role as Romilda. Speight can relate to her on-stage character - a strong, loyal yet cheeky woman. “Romilda’s one of those characters. Someone said to me ‘she’s like… Continue

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  Is this it?

  KENNY Wizz is one of thousands of international Michael Jackson impersonators. He’s also one of the best, although he won’t say that himself. “I never try to better myself against others, I just want to present a great production,” he says. The production,… Continue

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  Women celebrate

  INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day is 100 years old this week. “There are more than 60 events going on around the country, which is the biggest response to women’s day so far,” says Rae Julian, president of UN Women New Zealand. For the celebration, UN Women and Zonta… Continue

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  Best of the bunch

  HOMEGROWN sees 16,500 people gather on Wellington’s waterfront to watch 45 bands from around the country. Joining many of New Zealand’s most celebrated contemporary groups is Auckland band The Earlybirds – winners of this year’s band search, who took home a… Continue

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  Choice for children

  CHILDREN’S Day is not just for kids. More than 500 events for parents and the young ones are taking place nationwide on Children’s Day, with quite a few happening in Wellington. Wellington Children’s Day at Civic Square: A special visit from the WotWots, a… Continue

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  Capital culture

  CAPITAL E National Arts Festival gets creative. A giant, eight-metre-long, blow-up whale named Manilayo made out of recycled parachutes and a wetsuit, characters from an eccentric chess board that come to life, and a story of a boat made out of bread caught in… Continue

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  Festival first

  NEWTOWN musician, Imogen Holmstead-Scott, finally gets the chance to play on the main stage at this year’s Newtown Festival after years of dreaming about it. “I’ve always performed on the community stage, so this year’s a first for me,” she says. Newtown resident… Continue

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  She’s an adrenaline junkie

  JO Morgan’s latest motorbike adventure around South America wasn’t enough so she’s going back. “It’s a bit like university on the road – you learn so much. I’m very fortunate to be able to do this. I love having adrenaline moments. You get more tolerant of close… Continue

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  Oprah’s favourite therapist

  EVEN if you’ve never heard of Harville Hendrix, you’ll be familiar with elements of Imago Relationship Therapy, the brand of counselling founded by Hendrix and wife Helen LaKelly Hunt in 1981, and practiced by more than 2000 therapists around the world. Imago created… Continue

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  Island Bay's Octo-mum

  STAFF at the Island Bay marine education centre feel like “proud new parents” as 10, 000 eggs laid by one of their octopuses begin to hatch. “A few hundred babies have hatched in last few hours and we expect the rest will hatch in the next couple of days. They’re… Continue

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  Anything to help

  MAYOR Celia Wade-Brown says there’s been an overwhelming local response to the Christchurch earthquake and she’s pleased and proud to see how Wellingtonians have generously offered their support. The Mayor herself met a builder from the UK at the Wellington City… Continue

• What a show pony

  RENE Gasser is a sixth generation horseman, and the proud owner of 28 stallions. Melody Thomas talks with Gasser about the perils and payoffs of working exclusively with the most dominating of horses.  Forget mares and geldings, for Rene Gasser owning… Continue

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  Health doesn't have to be expensive

  “DON’T eat your overdraft. EFTPOS and takeaways can put you straight into debt, and poor health,” says Maria Goncalves-Rorke, a student financial advisor at Victoria University. Student budgets are strict, and healthy eating can be a challenge. “Essential living… Continue

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  Rejuvenation station

  YOU’D be forgiven for not recognising Porirua railway station anymore, thanks to a $1 million makeover funded by the Greater Wellington Regional Council. “It was really horrible; grey and boring, and it didn’t really feel safe. We wanted the station to reflect… Continue

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  Fringe Fest

  THE New Zealand Fringe Festival should get one of those odd keys that people get in those coming of age rites. It launches its 21st season on February 18. Traditionally, turning 21 means that you are considered old enough to be a key holder to your family home,… Continue

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  Graze on the grassy knoll

  THE newly-flat grassy area beside St John’s Bar on Cable Street, dubbed “the grassy knoll”, is pumping. Weekend crowds and after-work revelers are freely using the area to enjoy a whitebait fritter and a drink in the sun – without getting told off. And this… Continue

• Karnival time in Karori

  ONE man’s junk is another man’s treasure at the Karori Karnival, which celebrates its 40th year on Sunday, February 20. Organised by the Karori Lions, which was formed in 1969, the Karnival adopted a ‘K’ rather than a ‘C’ as a gimmick in 1971 when the Karnival… Continue

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  Battle on!

  US-born Wellington designer Allison Jochim saw a person in a rock, paper, scissors (RPS) t-shirt and had a flash of inspiration. “I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be a better idea to have three t-shirts, so you could fight each other?’” she says. From what seemed a fun… Continue

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  Yank in training

  MY feet are my paintbrush, the pavement my canvas. I am a painter of intense, lengthy cardiovascular sojourns. I am a runner at dawn and a journalist by day. There’s nothing more satisfying than conquering Mt. Victoria, my quadriceps swelling with pain and enjoyment,… Continue

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  Artist to superhero

  Don’t scoff when Claire Prebble tells you her next goal is to design clothes for Lady Gaga; there’s a pretty good chance she’ll do exactly that.  THE 25 year-old artist started life in Golden Bay, Takaka. She first entered the World of WearableArt… Continue

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  LADIES beware...

  That romantic email convincing you to deposit money into your internet lover’s overseas bank account is more than likely fake. Last week, the National E-crime Group’s Maarten Kleintjes, warned a room full of attentive female Amity Club members “they target lonely… Continue

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  Online again

  TRAIN users will soon enjoy a streamlined trip north from Wellington. Double tracking and electrification just south of Waikanae caused frustrating delays and buses being used to get past the track works, but that work is now complete. “For well over 100 years… Continue

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  Aromatic art

  PERSONAL style is not only exhibited in fashion, but also in the choice of flowers you pick for your loved one this Valentine’s Day. So, guys don’t get her droopy pink carnations from the local BP if she likes to shop at Karen Walker. And girls, don’t be scared… Continue

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  Lovely week ahead

  LOVE is in the air so Capital Times gives you a run-down on some alternative love-themed events happening this weekend, before the big day on Monday, February 14. Every year on Valentine’s Day the Harbour Capital Chorus and Vocal FX Chorus raise funds… Continue

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  Caution: sculptors at work

  ARTISTS are chiselling away making sculptures made of out iconic New Zealand Oamaru stone for the next two weeks. The Soft as Stone Sculpture Trust are hosting their biannual symposium, which started last Saturday. The creamy-coloured Oamaru limestone, quarried… Continue

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  Ten first dates

  You send that potential lover a Valentine to let them know you’re interested, and to see if they might be interested too. A true go-getter, Lisa May went about things in a more direct way. The single, 35-year-old Kiwi girl came home from London last year despite… Continue

• Detergent war

  ACTION for Environment has accused East by West ferries of using excessive amounts of detergent, thus polluting the harbour, affecting the Little Blue Penguins and the marine environment. Managing director Jeremy Ward says the allegations make his blood boil, as… Continue

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  About face on PACE

  THE Ministry of Social Development denies reports that PACE, which stands for Pathways to Arts and Cultural Employment and is commonly referred to as ‘the artists’ benefit’, might end in Wellington. “In March 2011, Work and Income intends to seek expressions… Continue

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  Blown away

  ISLAND Bay man Alan McKay is a bubble scientist – his specialty is breaking world records. On August 9, 1996, McKay broke his own record for the longest bubble ever blown. “It was 105 feet long, although it could’ve been 115. The photographer ran out of room… Continue

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  Ring in the rabbit

  XIN Nian Kuai Le, Hui Ling Dun! - Happy New Year, Wellington! This week, Chinese New Year’s tenth year of celebration kicks off, with a fortnight full of festivities. Playing a vital role as a lion in the street parade on February 13 is four-year-old Ximing Dong… Continue

• Fish around in the Wairarapa

  SUPERFISH, the Wairarapa Sports Fishing Club’s main tournament, will be held at Castlepoint on Waitangi weekend. Last year, Stokes Valley fisherman Dave Jarvis won the award with his 157.5kg thresher shark – the first shark to be brought to the weigh station… Continue

• Domestic goddess

  SHE’S not just a cheerleader. Gabrielle Stewart is busy, she’s a single lady on the field, but in her other life on stage, she’s a married woman. On top of that her day job is in the Beehive as an executive assistant to Taupo MP Louise Upston. Her latest lead… Continue

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  What to wear

  FOR many the Sevens has become more about costumes and ‘dressing-up’ (or ‘dressing-down’) than sport. Capital Times spoke to Victoria University Associate Professor of Psychology Dr Marc Wilson who applies social psychological theory to important social issues.We… Continue

• Teenspeak

  “HEY, up2?” “School soon, so excited, den. Lunch?” “Totz could go for a feed, chur.” You follow? Unless you’re a Welly teen, you’re probably in the dark. A new, abbreviated language has emerged since the advent of mobile phone and online communication. Most of… Continue

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  No booze for Pinky

  THE holiday season is over, along with boozy lunches by the beach, and, if the Alcohol Reform Bill is passed, cheap alcohol will disappear too. A Law Commission review of alcohol use has prompted Downtown Community Ministry (DCM) to launch a campaign for submissions… Continue

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  Being Neil Pardington

  Photographer Neil Pardington could be mistaken for a better-looking John Malkovich. The director/producer/designer/writer has just had a full-body massage, and a baby girl. His calm, artistic air evokes that Malkovichian charm, which settles itself like dew on… Continue

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  Chinese violinist  brings in the New Year

  CHINESE New Year will be marked by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra this year when Chinese violinist Tianwa Yang performs in Postcards from Exotic Places – a Chinese New Year. Yang, since she was 11, has been startling people all round the world with her remarkable… Continue

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  Heat is on

  A WELLINGTON theatre production is the first to be powered completely off the grid. Heat, written by Lynda Chanwai-Earle, tells the story of scientist lovers wintering over in Antarctica. Chanwai-Earle wanted to emulate conditions in Antarctica for her play,… Continue

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  Top Taranaki tart

  Artist Dale Copeland thinks living in Taranaki lends itself to creativity. “I joke that it’s something in the water but it’s just a good place to live. You can give yourself the freedom to play, the time to make things and to create,” she says. The topography… Continue

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  Tongue in chic

  SATURDAY is Cup Day, and the media, women’s dressing rooms and phone lines are abuzz with advice on “what to wear to race day”. While surely delivered with the best of intentions, the advice can be overwhelming. Capital Times has taken the time to compile a simpler… Continue

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  Ladyhawke leads the way

  PIP Brown is back in town – this time, to perform. St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival will showcase the internationally renowned pop songstress Ladyhawke, originally from Masterton, but whom Wellington strongly claims as our own, at the alternative music festival on… Continue

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  Homeware killed the video store

  AMALGAMATED Video on Taranaki Street is no more. The popular inner-city video rental store has been bought by Briscoe Group Limited. The store will not re-locate and five full-time staff members have lost their jobs. “It’s the end of an era,” says full-time staff… Continue

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  Home again

  AROUND 50,000 highly-charged fans will hear Shihad, one of three Wellington bands playing the Big Day Out on January 21. Also there will be happy rapper Tommy Ill and Flying Nun darling Grayson Gilmour. Front-man Jon Toogood welcomed himself home to NZ with some… Continue

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  Make your point

  WHAT do you want at Point Dorset? Plans for the undeveloped coastal hillside, sitting above Breaker Bay beach at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, are currently being discussed, and public submissions called for.  “We want to know what you like about it… Continue

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  Extra, Extra! Read all about it

  Melody Thomas was asked if she wanted to be an unpaid extra in Wellington musician Barnaby Weir’s new solo video. What? Not paid to hang out with great people in costume, drink free beer and listen to good local music? It was a tough choice but in the interests… Continue

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  Make friends with skinny people

  SERIOUS about losing that post-Summer holiday flab? Laurence Toime, a PhD graduate from Cambridge University and former Wellingtonian, investigated the fundamental processes thought to play a role in diseases like ageing, obesity and diabetes. The findings may… Continue

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  Island Christmas

  MUSICIAN, composer, performer and teacher, Jhan Lindsay, moved to Wellington from Dairy Flat, her rural home just north of Auckland, at 17. She studied saxophone at The Conservatorium of Music, now The New Zealand School of Music, eventually changing her major… Continue

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  Be well-rounded

  Mayor Celia-Wade Brown studied te reo, French, speed reading, scuba diving, dived in the Wellington harbour, and took ballroom dancing lessons - when she was 11. “I was hopeless,” she says laughing. Now, she is suggesting to Wellington City Councillors that they… Continue

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  Celebrate the festival season

  A high music festival-to-population ratio in New Zealand means there’s New Year’s entertainment to suit all tastes. Capital Times looks at four of the biggest festivals for 2010. IF you’re about to partake in the annual migration to the New Year festivals… Continue

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  Real time shots

  THERE’S a digital craze that’s sweeping the globe, but Dion Howard’s going back to the old ways. He used to make his money as a wedding photographer, but deciding that the market was saturated – “there were 117 people offering wedding photography services” -… Continue

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  We’re off to see the wizard

  YOU could say Deirdre Tarrant’s dancers are well into character for her dance studio’s annual production. So much so that Tarrant calls her dancers Dorothy, The Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and so on, even when they aren’t in costume. Dorothy is played by Sophia… Continue

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  Go get ‘em, tiger!

  WELLINGTON lawyer and band manager James Mason has won a three-month contract working with the organisers of Gisborne music festival Rhythm and Vines, and he is “pumped”. “I’m really excited, although it’s bittersweet. The other guys [in the competition] are… Continue

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  The people’s poet

  PAULINE O’Reilly Leverton’s father Bill O’Reilly died when she was 12. Pauline set about collecting every piece of information she could find about her dad, a prominent member of the Communist Party New Zealand and national secretary of the unemployed workers movement.… Continue

• What’s love got to do with it?

  NEW Zealanders are searching for love. Last Thursday, Google released the results of New Zealanders’ most-searched topics online for 2010 and the question ‘What is love?’ ranked second to: ‘What is facebook?’ Perhaps Kiwis should search for love on facebook to… Continue

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  She wants an ice rink

  SIX-YEAR-OLD Ash Dearnley wants to be an ice skate dancer even though she has no skates. However, she loves to roller-blade and now Ash has her own facebook page ‘Let’s Build Wellington an ice rink’. “I want to be an ice skate dancer or a famous ballerina…… Continue

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  Beer Necessities Survey 2010

  Heading down the quality road One of the encouraging themes from this year’s Beer Necessities survey is the increasing quality of New Zealand beer. Last year’s survey offered up 8 beers scoring 4 out of 5 points, this year we have been able to make up a… Continue

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  Eating out

  SUMMER’S come early this year, and restaurants and cafés with lovely areas are in high demand. Here are a few of Wellington’s best spots for sunshine, kai and a beer. The Southern Cross, Abel Smith Street, Wellington Voted Best Outdoor Bar in the annual… Continue

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  Moa music, please

  There’s a pair of very talented songwriters heading our way, one outrageous and hilarious, one sweet and grounded. What they have in common is that they are unashamedly themselves, unwilling to bend to suit others. Lucky us. ANIKA Moa has her face and name… Continue

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  The redhead is back

  JULIA Deans, better known for fronting Fur Patrol, is a dag. On the phone to Capital Times she asks for a minute. Then in the background a man (John Toogood, Shihad’s frontman) says: I want to tell you about it.” Deans laughs. “You can’t tell me about penis… Continue

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  Aint no mountain high enough

  Facebook entry: Haha. Why is a funeral home a sponsor for this event!? Answer: Because the music is great, the lineup is fantastic, so yehaaa ... go funeral homes! AN EVENING dreamed up by a specialist in care for people who are seriously ill or suffering… Continue

• Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards 2010 nominations are:

  THE theatre world is awaiting the standout plays of the year. Winners are to be announced at The Opera House on December 5. Brancott Award for Most Original Production of the Year: 360 – A Nightsong Productions and Theatre Stampede collaboration, The Arrival… Continue

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  Put a ring around it

  KARL Fritsch’s jewellery is unlike any other. “Good,” says Fritsch, “I would have to stop making it if you said you’d seen it before.” For the past few years, the German-born jeweller has made nothing but rings. “I like the format. I can try it all on and… Continue

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  Meet a survivor

  FIFTEEN years ago Beate Lutz, then aged 31, and her then partner were diagnosed HIV positive. Pae Green lived with it for some six years, until he killed himself. Whether it was through the guilt of “giving it to me” or just not coming to terms with it – he’s… Continue

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  The great escapist

  Eva Prowse is sassy, but not immediately so. Melody Thomas reports on the hidden complexity of the singer who’s hailed to be pretty damn good. ON first impression musician Eva Prowse comes across as very sweet and perhaps a little shy. Soldier on through… Continue

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  Higher taste

  CRAIG Lambert was upset when he heard new age bookshop Pinnacle Books is shifting. “Sometimes you go to a place and you get lost: forget about time and space,” says Lambert, who likes to spend up to an hour at a time in the bookshop on Willis Street. “The people… Continue

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  Grae’s Anatomy

  TWO Wellington gigs in less than a year? New York’s Jean Grae must be damn fond of our city. Or long plane trips. RAPPER Jean Grae really wants to be a ninja. “My ninja training’s going pretty good,” she says, before two loud beeps sound out from accidentally… Continue

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  Fact or fiction?

  KAYLA Imrie, New Zealand representative flat water kayaker has been using a Power Balance bracelet since June this year to help her speed and power in the water. She’s no water novice, at 18 years of age she’s been a member of the Paekakariki Surf Lifesaving… Continue

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  The love maker

  HER business card reads “Kura Scott – Love facilitator”. The accompanying picture, a sweet, curly-haired cupid shot dead in the back with an arrow, suggests the whole thing might be a bit tongue-in-cheek. “It is a bit of a joke really,” says Scott. “I’ve always… Continue

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  Absentee cowgirl

  “HOW many cows, Robert?” pop star Bonnie Tyler calls across the room to her husband. She’s owned an 800 acre, 1000 cow dairy farm in Taupo for 25 years, but this year was the first time she’s seen it. In fact, this year is the first time she’s even been to New… Continue

• Vector resurrector

  AUDIENCES can’t get enough of Vector Wellington Orchestra. Recent analysis of subscription numbers, or numbers of people booking more than two shows in advance, shows an increase of 662% in the past four years. Vector Wellington Orchestra music director Marc… Continue

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  Go Fish

  Each week we’ll talk to people in the know about the things that make life richer. This week, fishing, of which Herbert Hoover said “Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers.” A… Continue

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  Clowning glory

  They’re a regular installment at children’s birthday partiesbut, the fear of clowns, or coulrophobia, is so common that a three-day music festival Bestival on the Isle of Wight had to cancel its clown-themed fancy dress after several requests from clown phobics.… Continue

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  Good shepherd

  WELLINGTON photographer and designer Pat Shepherd is waiting for a rebuff that never seems to come. “I send so many emails to friends and musicians telling them about my latest projects. I keep expecting a reply that says ‘can you please stop spamming me?’” he… Continue

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  Cracked but not out

  LOWER Hutt ballerina Alayna Ng is sitting The Nutcracker out after she snapped her right knee, causing a serious hamstring injury. “It’s a real shame that I’m not able to dance this last production. It’s Gary’s last season with the company. He hired me so I would… Continue

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  Get your learn on

  IT’s an interesting week for Wellington knowledge-seekers. Clearly Wellington citizens are thirsting for knowledge as well as coffee. We looked at five independent lectures and seminars happening around the city. Games in Greece On Wednesday the Olympic… Continue

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  A songwriter in pictures

  Barry Saunders is best known as the guitarist and vocalist for NZ musical institution the Warratahs. A new project sees lyrics from his songs interpreted as arresting works of art. BARRY Saunders needs two places. He’s not sure why exactly, but it’s been… Continue

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  Free at Victoria

  ISRAELI cellist Inbal Megiddo, pictured, performs a chamber music recital on October 27 with accompaniment from Diedre Irons. The free recital, hosted by New Zealand School of Music, includes Popper’s Hungarian Rhapsody, Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces and the Shostakovich… Continue

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  Aussie Aussie Aussie, out out out

  IF blunders like the Hobbit saga are not to occur again, Australian influence needs to withdraw from New Zealand, local actors are saying. “MEAA [Media Entertainment and Artists’ Alliance] has to go. That’s all that needs to happen. The issue here is that an… Continue

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  Culture is everything

  NEARLY everything Indian is enormously important for two Kiwi/Indian girls and their parents. Hasmukh and his wife Parvati Jeram arrived in New Zealand in 1977.  Their daughters: Vandana, 23, and Dharmistha, 20, born here, have both learned Gujarati and… Continue

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  Does my vagina look fat in this?

  The Colloquium series is a regular event held by Victoria University’s psychology department, where local and outside researchers give lectures that are open to the public. The latest talk came with a warning of ‘graphic’ images of female genitalia. Melody Thomas… Continue

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  Food from Jungle Afrika

  BARIKA Darboe is passionate about Africa. The Wellington-based entrepreneur and cultural champion has big plans to properly introduce Africa and New Zealand, first through a gig this month and later when he opens his own restaurant. Darboe says there are three… Continue

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  Take a hike

  WELLINGTON looks set for a fine Labour Day weekend, and what better way to celebrate than with a good walk. Capital Times took a look at three top local jaunting spots. Otari-Wilton’s Bush in Karori is touted on its website as “the only public botanic garden… Continue

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  So book right now

  BECAUSE the words “book” and “cool” use the same buttons on a phone, messages typed with the predictive text function can mistakenly send the wrong word. Teenagers caught onto this and substituted the two in spoken language, as in “OMG he is so book”. Some… Continue

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  Education the key

  Naing Koko, a campaigner for ‘democracy in Burma’ fled Myanmar after seven years in jail for sticking up political posters in Rangoon. He’s now in Wellington calling for political change in his country, and talks to Rebekah Burgess. NAING Koko has dedicated… Continue

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  I got rhythm

  TWO Wellingtonians are in the running to become part of the Rhythm and Vines (R&V) team. The R&V Protégé competition asked applicants to apply for the competition by video and 76 hopefuls sought the chance to be what R&V call “the ultimate understudy”.… Continue

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  Lest we forget

  Although there is no official commemoration of the deadliest battle (for us) of the first World War the visiting Belgian Ambassador took a moment on Tuesday to lay a wreath at the National War Memorial More than 2700 New Zealanders who died at the battle of Passchendale… Continue

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  Outlaws, E Tu

  Jesse James and the Outlaws is not just a clever band name, it’s a pretty accurate reflection of the musicians in this up-and-coming Wellington folk act.  JESSIE Moss comes from a long line of outlaws. There are known Security Intelligence Service (SIS)… Continue

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  Funk yeah!

  METAPHORICALLY speaking, Riki Gooch wants to splatter your mind across a wall. His weapon of choice? The funk. You may know Riki Gooch from Trinity Roots, or perhaps you’re familiar with his more recent stuff. Reincarnated as the visionary behind live project… Continue

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  Best of Wellington 2010 Results

  WELLINGTON may be New Zealand’s capital city, but one of our Capital Times’ readers thinks ‘it’s just a big town with a heart’. You, our readers have made some great and interesting choices.. We’ve got winners in there who’ve topped lists again and again – from… Continue

• Samba spirit

  BRAZILIAN Leandro Cavalcanti came to New Zealand after reading about the country in National Geographic magazine. “There was something about Wellington, and I had a good friend called Wellington, so that was a sign,” he says. Cavalcanti arrived in the capital… Continue

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  Pannett not afraid to go against the grain

  Lambton Ward candidate Iona Pannett was named one of the hardest working councillors by a local panel, with her effectiveness, accessibility and work ethic all rated in the “excellent” category. Is this enough to get re-elected? IONA Pannett feels Wellingtonians… Continue

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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… 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

• Summer of Riesling

  I know I’ve banged on about Riesling, but that it’s a seriously under valued grape variety. The neglect of Riesling is not just a Kiwi thing, it’s a problem around the world. The frustration felt by people in the wine industry is such that… Continue

• A poor showing

  WELLINGTON is always going to pose a problem. By that, I’m not saying anything negative about this honourable burg.  In fact, it’s a compliment.  Wellington has a long history of political discussion, fresh ideas, challenging new thoughts,… Continue

• It’s just a game

  BEFORE last week, I had never heard of Billy Cundiff.  If anyone had asked me who he was I would have guessed a B-movie actor. I found out all about him as the Baltimore Ravens missed their chance to go to the Super Bowl.  Playing against the New England… Continue

• No publicity is bad publicity

  A mate who has the unenviable task of trying to wangle information out of Super 15 teams in his role as a rugby reporter was having a moan the other day about how hard it was to get information. Players could tweet something, and he would try and follow it up,… Continue

• One of the people

  Somewhere way back when computers, cameras and ID numbers were just making their presence felt in our society, some brave individual stood up and shouted defiantly “I am not a number.” Somehow that claim never added up.  And in a modern world… Continue

• A child’s perspective

  MERRY Christmas everybody, and a sunny, warm and suitably salubrious New Year.  I’ve been doing this column for so long now, that I forget what I say every Christmas. I see from a quick scan through the archives that is usually something along the lines… Continue

• Come on fattie

  IF you’re a wee bit obese, don’t exercise much, and like wearing tracksuits, you probably shouldn’t read any further as it may not be good for your blood pressure.  There, that’s the health warning this week. I’ve always liked… Continue

• Hen’s night sparkler

  A recent Hen’s night was a great opportunity to taste a range of different sparkling wines at the lower end of the price spectrum. This is not meant to make my friends sound cheap, but it’s a reality when you know everyone’s going to be sharing… Continue

• Lashed!

  THE day they announced that the “Wellington – Blown Away” block letters had won the public popularity poll to go on the Miramar hillside, I watched a woman being whipped in Lambton Quay. She hadn’t done anything to deserve it. If she was… Continue

• Sporting priorities

  INTO the final week of the election campaign and what have we heard about sport and recreation? Green prescriptions, cutting the school day so sport can be added, participation levels and blah-di-blah blah blah. I suppose that when we’re in a state of… Continue

• Abortion, good news

  Finally, some good news. Statistics New Zealand says that the number of abortions being performed in this country has dropped to its lowest level since 1999.  And while some will immediately think that’s good since abortion is a serious medical procedure… Continue

• Women are tough

  I had a girlfriend once who was a fairly handy hockey player.  This was back in the day when ‘water turf’ meant it had been raining in Dunedin for a week and Logan Park was a lake.  Games were played on grass – grass often churned up… Continue

• Whites in the cellar

  FRIENDS of mine are getting married in a few weeks and instead of a standard wedding register they are getting a local wine retailer to put the beginnings of a cellar together for them. Although the cellaring potential of many types of red wine are well known,… Continue

• Ratepayers suffer for council follies

  HERE’S the deal: a number of people (let’s say, for argument’s sake, 10) from varying backgrounds get together around a table once a month where they are presented with reports by a bunch of other people paid to produce such reports. This varied… Continue

• Radio blues

  THE Radio Network’s decision to pull coverage of Plunket Shield cricket games has seen many sports reporters and cricket commentators calling this the “thin end of the wedge”. Setting aside the fact they should be getting their own clichés… Continue

• Time to crank up the old creativity

  MAYBE it’s my childhood oozing through the cracks but I was absolutely thrilled to see that the real car used in the 1968 movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is now in Wellington.  According to reports, it has been bought by Sir Peter Jackson and people have… Continue

• Let’s dig our way out

  IT’s spring in the Capital. And although that sometimes doesn’t mean anything to the sadistic weather gods who run our lives, at least it’s getting warmer, it’s been weeks since the last hailstorm, kowhai are blooming, and everyone seems… Continue

• Lovely Stickies

  MOST of the dessert wines (“stickies” for some) in New Zealand are made in one of two ways: Late harvest, where the grapes have been left on the vines until they start to shrivel and the sugars concentrate resulting in a sweeter wine; or botrytised… Continue

• Celebrate Wellington’s Magic Ring

  I think one of my rugby coaches was a forerunner of Warren Gatland. One of Gatland’s ‘out of left field’ things he’s done to prepare Wales for this RWC was to take the whole squad to Spala in Poland for Cryotherapy sessions.  Each… Continue

• Obscene laws of supply and demand

  Stories about All Blacks being drunk, favourites getting knocked out in the quarter finals (well, we know all about that), the IRB being hopeless….so much material for a column. Nevertheless, I wanted to go back a bit to a story that broke a few weeks… Continue

• Make yourself youthful

  You know, this whole thing doesn’t surprise me at all. Yeah, I’m talking about the low numbers of young people enrolled to vote in the General Election that waits for us, like a hospital pass, not too long after the end of the Rugby World Cup. … Continue

• And so it came to pass

  NEWS: A Massey University religious historian says the intensity of the Rugby World Cup signals a “new evolution in this fixation on rugby”, and proves that rugby is close to a religion in this country. All Blacks are given icon status, and nods… Continue

• In the black

  I am not a rugby fan but I do like a good party, and town is buzzing. I might even end up watching one of the games (it’s hard to avoid) but you’ll never catch me in an All Blacks jersey. I’m not rich enough to pay the prices Adidas is asking,… Continue

• Crossing to the other side

  WHY do so many Wellingtonians have such a haunted, hunted look about them? I don’t mean we’re unhappy, or that we don’t care about each other (even the Mayor hurls herself into street brawls to lend a hand). And when you’re in town, the… Continue

• Wine and veges

  I found myself in a quandary recently when I invited some vegetarian friends to dinner. As a fairly ardent carnivore, I don’t have much occasion to match wine to vegetarian dishes (nor much experience at creating them). Well and truly out of my comfort zone… Continue

• The right place for a horse’s head

  EVEN after 40 years, I still remember one truly revolting moment at the movies. It happens in The Godfather. Jack Woltz, a Hollywood fat cat who has defiantly stood up to Don Corleone, wakes up one morning in his bed. It all seems nice and innocent, but there’s… Continue

• Lead on, Macduff

  WE live in very interesting times. And Wellington itself appears to have drawn a special card from the pack that says “Manic Titanic”.  But when you think about it, danger doesn’t have to spell the end. Danger can add spice to life and bring… Continue

• Avoid the red tape

  “OH hello, my name is X and I’m co-ordinating the Rugby World Cup in your region. Can you tell me what your club is organising for the Rugby World Cup?” “Oh yeah, sure. At this very moment I’m erecting a huge American Express sign… Continue

• Go forth and multiply

  AS the human race enters the last days of its existence, is there anything we in Wellington can do to help? The reason I ask is that India has been in the news recently, and one of the photos that caught my eye showed what appeared to be many dozens of poor people… Continue

• Doctor, heal thyself

  YOU were probably as shocked as I was. But just in case you’re not sure if you heard right a few days ago, let me at least assure you that I too heard the same bit of stunning news: New Zealand is turning mongrel on itself. Just to recap the context: every… Continue

• The Empire strikes back

  I’ve never swum across Cook Strait. I’m amazed anyone has yet in the past 50 years, about 80 women and men have clawed their way across those 26 kilometres of choppy water.  What would drive you to do it?  Even more mind-blowing is the feat… Continue

• Who cares about winning?

  WINNING is a bit of an abstract construct these days. When I was young, my parents didn’t mind whether I won or lost so long as I had attempted to do my best. Nowadays, standing on the sideline at my own children’s sports, it seems winning or losing… Continue

• What about Marlborough?

  WHEN it comes to Pinot Noir, the first words on many people’s lips are Central Otago.The region has done a brilliant job of building its reputation for excellence and of branding itself, and now seems to be the ‘Gucci’ of Pinot Noir in New Zealand.… Continue

• A good feed of fish and microchips

  Trailblazing people can be animals when it comes to names. One of the grossest name-choices I’ve ever encountered is The Royal Garrison of Saint Francis.  Francis was the peace-loving man from Asissi who embraced a life of poverty and prayer, and did… Continue

• On coaches... managing the man

  THE Big Nipper and I were laying out jerseys in preparation for Saturday’s rugby game when he read out one of the ‘famous’ quotes on the wall. It says: “This team isn’t about Roger or me – it’s about you and how much you’re… Continue

• We need heavier bottoms

  THE recent stir over our new rubbish bins brings back to mind a swirling memory. When I was 18, I spent some months working on a rubbish truck in a town in Northern Queensland.  Each of the men on the truck was armed with a big metal bin and you’d run… Continue

• A sign the world is about to end

  I couldn’t stop laughing on Sunday night. With a similarly convulsed crowd of others, I was watching a group of actors doing theatresports at Circa.  One of them, Tim Gordon, did a priceless running gag of being a zombie rising from the dead and advancing… Continue

• A few gems

  AS part of my continuing quest to try new wines I have uncovered a few gems. These are wines that are local, unique, ingenious and new in some way or other. The wine industry in New Zealand is relatively young, inquisitive and vibrant, and there’s innovation… Continue

• Give these poor people what they’re owed

  I congratulate Te Papa for recovering eight “toi moko” [“tattooed Maori heads”] from European museums. I also congratulate the city of Rouen which chose to make a principled stand and get French law changed so the items could be returned… Continue

• Why kill a dumb animal?

  I’m going to go ape on this one. Probably like most people in Wellington, I felt a bit sick when the Zoo announced last week the list of animals they would immediately shoot dead if they felt human lives were at risk.  They say the reason for having… Continue

• Ahh shaddupa you face

  There’s a small matter I’m going to have to heavy you about this week. Well, “small” isn’t quite the right word.  The actual problem is obesity.  To be honest, I’ve never really taken any notice of it.  I know… Continue

• The white blends

  Last time I was banging on about Bordeaux style blends in New Zealand, but red blends are not the end of the story. White wine is often blended too, for exactly the same reasons. Blends that you will most likely come across here are Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon… Continue

• An administrator’s guide: especially for netballers

  WELCOME to the Capital Times’ handy guide to nationality status for sports administrators. First of all, we’d like to introduce everyone to Catherine, our first case study.  Catherine says: “My dad is Tongan-born and my mum is European. … Continue

• Is there a paddle anywhere in this creek?

  The good thing about banging your head against a brick wall is it feels soooo good when you stop. Why can’t life be that straight-forward?  We’ve all been impacted in different ways by the recent events in Christchurch, Japan and the Barbary Coast. … Continue

• This makes my blood boil

  IT’S time we got to grips with lobsters. Although we may or may not be equipped for the fight, in evolutionary terms, lobsters are far older than the human race. By rights, we should show them more respect than we do. But there’s something ugly, savage,… Continue

• Why can’t we all get along?

  AH, the land of the free (time, lots of it) and the home of the brave (so long as they have legal backing) strikes again. Literally. The National Football League in the USA has had the threat of no games raised for the first time since 1987 after “billionaire… Continue

• Holy Hell, what next

  If there’s a Hell, then it surely starts in the little things. And lots of them.  But the tiniest things aren’t to be found in Nature, but in the human mind.  It’s as if Life itself is like a giant rockish block of Parmigiano cheese,… Continue

• Why tangi when we could be oney?

  I’M not trying to be funny. This is deadly serious. A few nights ago, as I was sitting back in a balcony seat in the magnificent Michael Fowler Centre, my leaden heart was swept up in a surging wave of joy as I listened to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra weaving… Continue

• Something old, something neural

  Mayors say a lot about cities. When good ol’ Lenny Brown announced his latest idea for Macheteville, my jaw dropped so low it just about broke on the floor.  Auckland, he says, is going to introduce trams.  Trams?!  Wellington got rid of trams 50… Continue

• 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

• Ales by Dale

  THE rise of contract brewing has resulted in the democratisation of New Zealand’s brewing scene. By that I mean that home brewers from all walks of life have been able to enter the beer market. Once it was only those with the drive, means and blind determination… Continue

• Year in Beer

  AT this time of the year it’s good to look back on the year that has been and think about what has happened before we get busy being embroiled in the events of the next one. As the quality part of the beer market grows, more and more seems to be happening… Continue

• Keepers, renters and respecters

  At the movies with Dan Slevin I’VE been watching reactions to other people’s “Best of 2011” with interest. It’s fascinating to see online commentators insist that films they have seen are so much better than films that they haven’t.… Continue

• The year in dance

  2011 was an interesting year in the world of Wellington dance. History shows that in times of recession and restriction the arts flourish and social commentary is strong.  2011 was such a year. Against an uncertain backdrop of financial difficulty there… Continue

• The 2011 Music Year in Review

  Music Reviewer Garth Wilshere reflects on highlights and lowlights. THE last weekend of concerts for the year provided two highlights of a full and impressive musical year. We got a feast of Benjamin Britten with the innovative Britten weekend with Tudor… Continue

• A Christmas tale

  IT doesn’t seem like a whole year since I wrote last year’s Christmas column. It has now become a pattern at this time each year for me to write about what I will eat and drink on Christmas Day. This year the hills of Brooklyn will again host a long… Continue

• Glorious night of singing

  New Zealand Opera Society (Wellington Branch) End-of-Year Recital, St Andrew’s on The Terrace, November 15, RevIewed by Garth Wilshere A regular on the musical calendar The New Zealand Opera Society End-of-Year Recital always showcases young singers and… Continue

• A year of OMG productions

  IT’S an open secret that I’ve been talking about retiring from theatre reviewing. It’s been 17 years, give or take, and trying to keep your work sounding fresh and coming up with previously unused adjectives gets harder. There were a couple… Continue

• Christmas music

  New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Christmas Pops – The Mainland Tour, Conductor  – Alexander Briger, With Helen Medlyn, Wellington Town Hall, December 1, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THE NZSO splits into two for a tour of smaller centres at this… Continue

• I'm only human

  At the movies with Dan Slevin EVERY SO OFTEN a film comes along that fits so squarely and neatly inside one’s own personal set of interests and enthusiasms that it is impossible to be objective about it. I try and keep my work here disinterested and… Continue

• They’re tasting our hops - there

  NEW ZEALAND hops are gaining a reputation around the world for the exotic and unique flavours and aromas. New Zealand hops have long been valued around the world because of the low levels of insecticide and fungicides used in their production and the high levels… Continue

• From science to wine

  A friend of mine recently mused on the number of winemakers who have moved into the field after a successful career in science. What made them leave the laboratories, and does their scientific background make them better winemakers? One such winemaker is Andrew… Continue

• Arthur Christmas is a keeper

  At the moview with Dan Slevin I believe that it should be illegal to even mention the word Christmas in any month other than December. Yup, illegal. No one should be allowed to even breathe it, let alone have parades, display mince pies in supermarkets or… Continue

• Heart lacks substance

  Party with the Aunties, Directed by Erina Daniels, Miramar Rangers AFC Clubrooms,  November 23, Reviewed by Lynn Freeman. LOOKING back over my scribbled notes for this devised play set, the word HEART is underlined many times. This story of a whanau… Continue

• Perfect Christmas gift

  Tinderbox, Directed by Eleanor Bishop, Bats Theatre, November 25, Reviewed by Lynn Freeman Fri 25 Nov Dear Santa IF you can’t give me world peace for Christmas, could I please have a play that reminds people about the futility of war and of the… Continue

• New Blood

  EARLIER this month Wellington hosted  a Belgian brewer now based in NZ. Dave De Vylder from East Flanders in Belgium trained as an electrical engineer and served in the army before retraining as a brewer. He met and married Kiwi teacher Susan Kiener who was… Continue

• Swedish delights

  Vector Wellington Orchestra, Conductor – Marc Taddei, Soloist – Anne Sofie von Otter (Mezzo Soprano), Wellington Town Hall, November 18, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THERE is no doubt that the highlight of this concert was the performance by renowned… Continue

• Students fully engaged

  Graduation Season, New Zealand School of Dance, Te Whaea Theatre, November 19, Reviewed by Ann Hunt. GRADUATING students from the School’s classical ballet and contemporary dance streams are showcased to laudatory effect in this most enjoyable programme.… Continue

• Pushing the envelope

  Wake Less, Directed by Joel Baxendale, Bats Theatre. November 11, Reviewed by Lynn Freeman. THERE are some plays you leave shaking your head, wondering if you have just seen a work of  great complexity or something that was just trying too hard to be… Continue

• Stone, Wood and Wheat

  DESPITE being neighbours we see very little Australian beer in New Zealand. As in New Zealand, Australia has undergone a beer renaissance with independent brewers popping up all around the sandy continent. Increasingly New Zealand brewers are seeing Australia as… Continue

• Flying Nun

  THIS month two beers are being released to honour the Flying Nun record label. Emerson’s Tally Ho! is making a return to taps around town after first appearing in February this year. Tally Ho! takes its name from The Clean’s debut single and forms part… Continue

• Wasted space

  At the movies with Dan Slevin ECONOMICALLY speaking, theatres are a complete waste of space. I mean, take a look at the St James or the Embassy and try and imagine how many cubicles and desks you could fit in to those huge pieces of prime real estate. Or… Continue

• Bold, spirited playing

  Wellington Youth Sinfonietta, Director - Michael Vinten, and Schola Sinfonica, Director - Rachel Hyde, Final Concert for 2011, St Andrew’s on The Terrace, November 6. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere. THESE end-of year concerts are always bitter-sweet because… Continue

• Silent no longer

  Fritz Lang’s Metropolis with the original orchestral score, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Conductor – Frank Strobel. Michael Fowler Centre, November 5, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THE history of this seminal film, one of the last silent movies… Continue

• Depressing but needing to be told

  Carnival Hound, Downstage Theatre, November 3. Reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant INSPIRED by choreographer Maria Dabrowska’s own parents and their stories of the deprivations and destruction of the Second World War when they met here in New Zealand as settled… Continue

• Connecting all the senses

  Rise, Java Dance Company, Stab season at Bats Theatre, October 30, Reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant. FORCED gasping from hanging bodies and a stream of flour floating, falling, cascading from the ceiling involve us as five dancers start their journey and response… Continue

• Pacific Flavours

  IN the midst of last month’s kerfuffle over the oval ball a new type of beer festival made its debut. The Pacific Beer Expo brought together a range of beers from around the Pacific rim highlighting beers from Australia, California, Japan and NZ. Organised… Continue

• Spookily perfect

  At the movies with Dan Slevin. EXPAT Kiwi auteur Andrew Niccol (Gattaca) somehow always manages to tap in to the zeitgeist and with new sci-fi thriller In Time his own timing is almost spookily perfect. A parable about the modern political economy, In Time… Continue

• Strong and compelling

  The Sleeping Beauty, The Royal New Zealand Ballet, St James Theatre, October 23. Reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant IT was a lovely gesture to dedicate the opening performance of this new traditional picture story ballet to the late Alexander Grant. It is exactly… Continue

• MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM’S T…

  MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM’S The Trip is the best picture about middle-aged male angst since Sideways, and it’s possibly even better than that fine film. Two privileged English celebrities spend a week driving around the North of England from one fine restaurant… Continue

• Beers from the Peak

  NEW Zealand brewers have played a part in two of the most exciting and innovative English breweries to emerge in the past five years.  First Kelly Ryan helped build the Thornbridge Brewery in Derbyshire up to become one of the most innovative and high profile… Continue

• Blatant and desperate

  At the movies with Dan Slevin WHILE thousands of protestors gather in Manhattan to “Occupy Wall St”, the European economy teeters on the brink of collapse, unemployment across the developed world grows and several Pacific island nations report… Continue

• The Renaissance sound

  Tudor Consort Renaissance Influences IV: Made in New Zealand, Director Michael Stewart, St Mary of the Angels Church, October 8, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere. THE core of the programme, Gillian Whitehead’s Missa Brevis, had movements interspersed throughout… Continue

• Finale

  Wellington Youth Orchestra, Conductor – Gregory Squire, Soloist – Asaph Verner (piano), Wellington Town Hall, October 3, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere. FOR their final concert of the year the WYO were joined by the Pelorus Trust Wellington Brass… Continue

• Choir enjoys the concert

  Orpheus Choir An Evening with Cole Porter, Conductor Mark W. Dorrell With Sarah Lineham, Chris Crowe and Vector Orchestra Players, Wellington Town Hall, October 7, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere . THIS concert was in part a repeat of a successful one given two… Continue

• Arohanui

  Arohanui, The Opera House, Reviewed by Lynn Freeman THIS is huge - operatic kapa haka blending the contemporary and the traditional, tied together with a message for our times. It is ambitious and it demands a huge amount from those on stage, who give it… Continue

• Power from student orchestra

  New Zealand School of Music Orchestra, In Remembrance, Soloists with Conductor – Ken Young, Wellington Town Hall, September 29. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere. THIS Jewish New Year concert on the anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre by the Nazis in Kiev… Continue

• Refreshing political satire

  The Engine Room, Directed by Hannah Smith, Bats Theatre. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman WATCHING parliament can be like being on the sidelines of an ill-natured, poorly refereed children’s rugby match. Certainly at the moment there’s a brutal political… Continue

• Does it matter who owns a brewery?

  A fortnight ago it was announced that the Australian brewing giant Fosters was to be sold to London based South African Brewing giant SABMiller. This has caused considerable consternation across the Tasman where it is being heralded by some as a sign of ebbing… Continue

• Not about the rugby

  The First Asian A* B*, Directed by Edward Peni, Bats Theatre. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman FIRST I, George Nepia at Circa and now The First Asian A* B* at Bats – the RWC, whether it goes our way or not, deserves a big cheer for much of the art we’re… Continue

• Footnote satisfies

  Made in New Zealand 2011, Footnote Dance, Opera House, September 22. Reviewed by Ann Hunt FOOTNOTE’S latest season of four new works is exciting, innovative, extremely well danced and deserves to be widely seen. Company members Francis Christeller… Continue

• No joy

  Odes to Joy, New Zealand Symphony, Orchestra, Conductor – Pietari Inkinen, Michael Fowler Centre, September 22. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere. THERE was a lot of anticipation riding on this concert with four young New Zealand soloists, massed choirs, the… Continue

• Stretched beyond abilities

  Wellington Chamber Orchestra, Conductor – Rachel Hyde, St Andrew’s on The Terrace, September 25. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere AS an amateur group the Wellington Chamber Orchestra depend on the direction they get from the conductor and in this concert… Continue

• Return of a favourite

  Wellington Chamber Music, The Nautilus Trio, Ilott Theatre, September 18. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere. THE last of this year’s Wellington Chamber Music Sunday Concerts, brought back a favourite performer, previous NZSO Concertmaster violinist Wilma Smith,… Continue

• Craft Beer Capital

  OUT of conflict arises creativity, well at least that’s what happens when the world works the way we would like it to. Earlier this year a group of Nelson brewers, hop growers and publicans decided to join forces and promote Nelson as a beer destination.… Continue

• Sex on show

  In Flagrante by Mary-Jane O’Reilly, St James Cabaret, September 16. Reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant IT has been a feast of dance over the past weeks with contemporary, cultural and late-night adult entertainment all having their focus. On the dark side… Continue

• Protect or betray?

  The Last of the Human Freedoms, By Keren M. Chiaroni, Harper Collins, RRP $39.99. Reviewed by Niels Reinsborg. VICTORIA University French lecturer Keren Chiaroni exposes the best and worst of human nature in her book The Last of the Human Freedoms. Based… Continue

• Cultural dance showcase

  Kowhiti Dance, Opera House, September 15. Reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant MERENIA Gray and Tanemahuta Gray have staged a follow up show to the beginnings of this project last year. In its inaugural season Kowhiti set out to celebrate Maori choreographers and… Continue

• Well schooled women give Pacific precision

  Black Grace Verse 2 Opera House Monday 12 September 2011, Reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant Black Grace has changed - significantly. From an all-male  company with a strong cultural context the works on stage now were danced mainly by the feisty and exceedingly… Continue

• End of the line

  Last month Young’s, one of England’s great brewing companies, severed its final link with actual brewing. Up until 2006 the London based brewer and pub operator brewed at one of the oldest breweries in England, the Ram brewery in Wandsworth, South London.… Continue

• Lyrical tribute to Nepia

  I, George Nepia, Directed by Jason Te Kare, Circa Two, to September 16. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman BACK when our All Blacks were invincible, and were adored and respected for playing for the love of the game as amateurs, came heroes like George Nepia. As part… Continue

• Monsters fail to titillate

  Monster Burlesque, Paramount Theatre. Reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant BILLED as an experience “never before experienced by man or monster” this show has had a wealth of publicity with fabulous feline and furry photos by Stephen A’Court promising… Continue

• Zest and zing from sinfonietta

  Wellington Youth Sinfonietta, Conductor  – Michael Vinten, St Andrew’s on The Terrace, September 4. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere CLOSE on the heels of the National Youth Orchestra it was intriguing to hear another even younger orchestra, The… Continue

• Youth excels

  NZSO National Youth Orchestra, Conductor – James Judd, Soloist  – Cameron Chambers (organ), Wellington Town Hall, September 2. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THE annual National Youth Orchestra concert is always a highlight and this one was no… Continue

• Be careful what you wish

  Slouching Toward Bethlehem, Directed David Lawrence, Bats Theatre, to September 10. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman YOU can rely on Dean Parker to deliver a no-holds-barred political satire, though this critique of Sir Robert Muldoon starts off with a great deal… Continue

• Supercharged quartet

  Wellington Chamber Music  – SundayConcerts, String Sextet Spectacular, Ilott Theatre August 28. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere This was a rare opportunity to hear three String Sextets courtesy of the Aroha Quartet (Haihong Liu & Beiyi Xue (violins),… Continue

• Inspired memoirs

  On the Upside-Down of the World, Directed by Colin McColl, Downstage Theatre, To September 10. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman FORGET the Rugby World Cup – In recent weeks Wellington’s theatres have presented us with three world class award winning productions,… Continue

• Urine and boiled cabbage

  Chalk, Directed by Abigail Greenwood, Bats Theatre. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman ISLA Adamson and Josephine Stewart-Tewhiu are an impressive double act. What is so delicious about them is their genius storytelling and their keen observational skills bringing… Continue

• Mixed bag for Christchurch

  6 Little Plays for Christchurch, Bats Theatre, August 18. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman THESE six short plays offer a remarkably mixed bag to the audience. Five months, the programme tells us, of wrangling and clearly hard work has gone into the fund raising show… Continue

• Exuberant and rich

  Latitude 37 touring for Chamber Music New Zealand, Ilott Theatre, August 17. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere. WITH Latitude 37 we heard virtuosic playing in a chamber music context exhibiting current Baroque practice, streets away from the often indulgent reverence… Continue

• Titillating romp

  The Larnachs, by Owen Marshall, Random House. RRP: $39.99, Reviewed by Martin Doyle. WHEN MP William Larnach blew his brains out in a committee room at Parliament back in 1898, he probably had no idea that so many bits and pieces of his private life would… Continue

• Energetic jazz

  New Zealand School of Music Jazz Festival, Jazz Gala – Directed by Rodger Fox, Wellington Town Hall, August 19. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere. THIS was an exciting concert with a big contingent of school age players in the audience who had participated… Continue

• Too many extras

  Wellington Youth Orchestra, Conductor - Greg Squire, Sacred Heart Cathedral August 8. NZ School of Music Chamber Orchestra , Conductor - Kenneth Young, Soloist - Reuben Chin, St Andrew’s on The Terrace August 13. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere.  I… Continue

• Comic book western

  At the movies with Dan Slevin Due to a parade of wonderful Film Festival screenings your correspondent was only able to get to one of this week’s new releases (and, thanks to the Empire’s failure to open on Sunday morning nearly didn’t make… Continue

• Fast and furious

  Machomer, St James Theatre, August 11. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman THIS a mash up of the Simpsons and the Mcbeths, two dysfunctional families brought together by Canadian Rich Miller. It’s a vehicle for his brilliance at impersonation and his considerable… Continue

• Bring back Petrenko

  New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Conductor – Vasily Petrenko, Soloist – Michael Houstoun (piano), Michael Fowler Centre, August 5. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere AN expectant full house came for this great concert. Tall and elegant young Russian… Continue

• A little of everything

  Soap, St James Theatre, to August 6 Reviewed by Craig Beardsworth CIRCUS, cabaret, burlesque, mime, comedy and some opera. Soap seems to have a little of everything. Set to an eclectic soundtrack this beguiling mix of perfectly executed hand-balancing and… Continue

• A half decent captain

  At the movies with Dan Slevin OF all the remakes, sequels, franchises and comic book adaptations we are being offered this winter Captain America: The First Avenger is the one least likely to send a shiver of excitement down a Kiwi filmgoer’s spine.… Continue

• Brass to the fore

  Brass Splendour, NZSO Soloists, Wellington Town Hall, July 28 Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THIS is the third sectional showcase and after strings last year and winds earlier in the year we reached brass, with some friends from the percussion section. Understandably… Continue

• Festival of New Theatre

  Young & Hungry Festival of New Theatre Bats Theatre Reviewed by Lynn Freeman and Adam Burgess EVEN those of us who were relatively young when Young & Hungry started are getting on, but still this annual festival delights and often surprises.… Continue

• The Wellington Book

  The Wellington Book 120 pages Published by FitzBeck Publishing, RRP:  $40 Reviewed by Niels Reinsborg The Wellington Book is a celebration of all things Wellington from glorious summer days on Oriental Parade to the “white-knuckle”… Continue

• Grandeur and Frivolity - Music and fashion from the Courts of Louis XIV & XV

  The Historical Arts Trust Grandeur and Frivolity – Music and fashion from the Courts of Louis XIV & XV St Andrew’s on The Terrace, July 23 Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THIS Saturday afternoon event was the third from this new charitable… Continue

• Getting Harry Potter

  At the movies with Dan Slevin IT’S clear that there are two kinds of people in the world. There are the people who get Harry Potter (not just get but devour, savour, relish) and then there’s, you know, me. Over the last six years I have doggedly… Continue

• What was I Thinking

  What was I Thinking By Paul Henry 364 pages Published by Random House RRP: $39.99 Reviewed by Martin Doyle IN a country where none of our media can correctly pronounce the names of either the All Blacks or the Silver Ferns, it always seems odd that… Continue

• Awhi Tapu

  Awhi Tapu Directed by Leo Gene Peters Downstage Theatre, to July 30 Reviewed by Lynn Freeman Eight years on from when Albert Beltz wrote Awhi Tapu its themes are as relevant as ever. It looks at the impact on small town New Zealand of industry closures,… Continue

• Bow String Orchestra

  Bow String Orchestra Conductor:  Rachel Hyde St Andrew’s on The Terrace, July 10 Reviewed by Garth Wilshere   FORMED last year, Bow is an amateur group of string players who prepare and rehearse on a workshop weekend culminating in a… Continue

• Wellington Chamber Orchestra

  Wellington Chamber Orchestra Conductor:  Kenneth Young Soloist: Emma Sayers St Andrew’s on The Terrace, July 3 Reviewed by Garth Wilshere   THIS amateur orchestra under professional conductor Kenneth Young tackled a challenging programme… Continue

• New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

  New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Conductor:  Pinchas Steinberg Soloist: Simon Trpceski Michael Fowler Centre, July 8 Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THERE seems no doubt that a charismatic piano soloist and populist Russian repertoire brings out the… Continue

• Concours de la Chanson, French Singing Competition

  Concours de la Chanson, French Singing Competition Grande Finale St Andrew’s on The Terrace, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere   THIS competition organised by Alliance Française Wellington in co-ordination with Jenny Wollerman at the NZ School of… Continue

• Wellington G&S Light Opera

  Wellington G&S Light Opera Trial by Jury & HMS Pinafore Wellington Opera House Reviewed by Garth Wilshere DIRECTOR Gillian Jerome’s production was safe, straightforward, and worked effectively if too conservative for my taste. The sets and costumes… Continue

• Nga Hau E Wha

  Nga Hau E Wha Okareka Dance Company Te Whaea Theatre Reviewed by Jan Bolwell FROM its Butoh- style opening to the final tableau as dancers clamber onto a rope representing a pou, Nga Hau E Wha is an intense dance piece that glows with integrity and demonstrates… Continue

• An Oak Tree

  An Oak Tree Directed by Andrew Foster Circa Two Reviewed by Lynn Freeman THERE are some plays that, when they finish, you can’t wait to turn to your companion and talk about it. An Oak Tree by Tim Crouch is just such a work. It doesn’t only… Continue

• Liederabend

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• Pinwheel. Thricely? Precisely. A pocket full of Pips.

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• Baby Pops Once Upon a Time

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• Global warming, cars and sentimentality

  At the movies with Dan Slevin WHEN I first visited this country back in 1982 we flew across the Pacific Ocean in daylight and from my window seat I got a bird’s eye view of … not very much. Once I got here I understood that there was a lot going… Continue

• NZSO

  New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Pietari Inkinen Michael Fowler Centre, June 25 Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THIS programme interestingly consisted of some of the many pieces based on or inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Conductor… Continue

• Meet the Churchills

  Meet the Churchills Directed by Ross Jolly Circa Theatre, to July 16 Reviewed by Lynn Freeman POWER, privilege and wealth are no guarantee of happiness. Just look at the Churchills. New Zealand playwright Paul Baker brings together Sir Winston, two of… Continue

• Tre-Belle “In Harmony”

  Tre-Belle “In Harmony” Museum Art Hotel in Cabaret Season St James Theatre Gallery Thursday June 16 Reviewed by Garth Wilshere  THE Cabaret Season at the St James Theatre Gallery, now in its third year has consistently proved successful… Continue

• Musical animation

  Brentano String Quartet touring for Chamber Music New Zealand, Wellington Town Hall, June 12. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THE young American Brentano String Quartet impressed in their previous visit here in 2007, and maintained that impression this time with… Continue

• Something missing

  New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Symphony No. 6 “Tragic”. Conductor: Pietari Inkinen, Michael Fowler Centre, June 10. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere MAHLER’S Symphony No. 6 is a big work requiring close to 100 players so the NZSO’s… Continue

• Homage to rugby

  C’mon Black! Downstage Theatre, to July 2. Directed by Andrew Foster. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman “GREAT play – if only there could have been a different ending”, was the response from my rugby mad companion, who relived with Dickie Hart… Continue

• Intriguing theatre

  Sheep, Long Cloud Youth Theatre Company, Bats Theatre, to June 11. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman. SHEEP have fed, clothed, carpeted and fuelled our economy for almost 200 years now. They outnumber us, though not by as much as they used to. Arthur Meek traces the… Continue

• More than a sketch

  Sketch, New Zealand School of Dance Choreographic Season, Te Whaea. Reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant SKETCH  is a performance made up of ten works by ten young dancers in their annual choreographic exploration as students of the New Zealand School of Dance.… Continue

• Booming musical theatre

  Boomers Behaving Badly, Jane Keller with Michael Nicholas, Williams on piano, Circa Two, to June 11. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere. THIS intriguing show had its successful genesis at the St James Theatre Cabaret Season last year. Streamlined, tightened and fine-tuned… Continue

• Germanic Eroica

  Eroica, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Michael Fowler Centre, May 21. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere. I’M not sure why there was such a large audience. Maybe the Beethoven, maybe the cellist, but there was, and they were very appreciative. I can’t… Continue

• We know where this bird’s going

  The Bird Song, Hawthorn Lounge, to May 28. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman AROHA White is a talented actress, she has a singing voice that’s easy on the ear, and she has devised a work for this space specifically The story she tells and sings in a taut 40 minutes… Continue

• Music drives the night

  Stravinsky Selection, The Royal New Zealand Ballet, St James Theatre, May 20, Reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant. CELEBRATING Stravinsky with three ballets in one ambitious evening promised the excitement and inventiveness that Stravinsky injected into the musical… Continue

• Mash Up with the Hop Zombie

  LAST week saw the release of Hop Zombie Double IPA. Hop Zombie is the first new Epic beer to be released since the one man brewing company doubled its workforce. Late last year it was announced that head brewer Luke Nicholas would be employing Kelly Ryan who had… Continue

• Investigating the death of Jesus

  Jesus: The Cold Case By Bryan Bruce Published by Random House Reviewed by Martin Doyle Jesus Christ, his teachings, horrific crucifixion and ‘rising from the dead’, have been central elements of the Christian faith for two thousand years. … Continue

• Young players shine

  New Zealand School of Music Orchestra, May 14, Wellington Youth Orchestra May 15, St Andrew’s on The Terrace, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere LAST weekend was an exciting opportunity to hear two orchestras of young players. On Saturday night the New Zealand… Continue

• Deeply satisfying

  The Lead Wait Circa Theatre, to June 10 Reviewed by Craig Beardsworth Be warned, if you want a rollicking, jolly night out at the theatre then this might not be for you. There is nudity, strong language and raw subject matter. But if you want a deeply satisfying… Continue

• Glee misses

  USO. Directed by Michelle Johansson Downstage Theatre, May 5-7 Reviewed by Lynn Freeman BEWARE of how you market yourself – USO is not ‘Glee meets Boyz in the Hood’. It is a story from the streets of South Auckland addressing drugs, redundancy,… Continue

• Exciting new quartet

  Puertas Quartet, The Hunter Concert Series, New Zealand School of Music Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University, May 5. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THIS was the second String Quartet concert in three days and the third concert featuring new or young players.… Continue

• Three of our own

  At the movies with Dan Slevin I was expecting to come out of Operation 8 fired up but instead I emerged depressed and dispirited. I knew that New Zealand’s default political setting was benign complacency but I hadn’t realised that the full… Continue

• A Right Royal Snub

  LAST Friday’s Royal wedding should really have been a celebration of everything that England does well. Unfortunately instead it turned into a shining example of how the English can denigrate and disregard the very things they excel at. A week before Prince… Continue

• Mixed night of music making

  Vector Wellington Orchestra, “Launching Mozart” Soloist:  Diedre Irons (piano) and The Cantoris Choir Conductor – Marc Taddei Wellington Town Hall, April 16 Reviewed by Garth Wilshere THE highlight of the Vector Wellington Orchestra’s… Continue

• Popera with Marvelly

  The Home Tour, Elizabeth Marvelly  (soprano), The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Conducted by Carl Doy, Michael Fowler Centre 13 April 2011. Reviewed by Garth Wilshere. THIS seemed an unusual undertaking for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as the… Continue

• St Matthew Passion

  J. S. Bach – “St Matthew Passion”, Orpheus Choir, Choristers of Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, soloists, Vector Wellington Orchestra, Conductor Michael Fulcher, Town Hall 10 April 2011, Reviewed by Garth Wilshere St Matthew Passion was… Continue

• Gasping and sighing

  Capital E National Arts Festival. Reviewed by Lynn Freeman (with advice from Ethan 4 and Adam 16) HEAT to See is the big ticket local production commissioned for Capital E’s Festival. It shows in its setting – the Opera House – and execution… Continue

• Farr out

  Gareth Farr’s drumdrag, Downstage Theatre, March 11 Reviewed by Garth Wilshere It has been nine years since ‘our’ classical composer Gareth Farr has performed his show ‘drumdrag’ as his alter-ego drag queen Lilith LaCroix. As… Continue

• Fringe dance all wrapped up

  Reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant There were four dance offerings in this year’s Fringe Festival and they came and went at lightning speed. I missed Scribble Scape and The Grind Date, but I did get to the other two. Do You Still Think of Me featured Maria… Continue

• Camping crammed

  The Motor Camp, Directed by Danny Mulheron, Circa Theatre, Reviewed by Lynn Freeman The summer holiday exodus sees thousands of Kiwis leave their own piece of paradise to get away from it all – and end up crammed into camping grounds cheek by jowl with other… Continue

• Journalism’s seedy underbelly

  Truth: The rise and fall of the people’s paper, by Redmer Yska, Craig Potton Publishing, 204pp, reviewed by Martin Doyle. THE Truth newspaper was the most dangerous thing ever to come out of Wellington. Like a man-eating crocodile it tore and devoured countless… Continue

• Too full

  No Taste Forever, Directed by David Lawrence, Bats Theatre, reviewed by Lynn Freeman The West’s obsession with food is reflected on our screens – endless cooking shows and reality programmes about obesity interspersed with ads showing starving children in… Continue

• Theatre’s highs and lows

  SOME years you just know will stick in your mind, no matter how many more hundreds of shows you will see in the future. 2010 is one of those magic years. Most of the Chapman Tripp Theatre Award judges went into the voting process with over subscribed lists of… Continue

• Bach in style

  Bach Christmas Oratorio, Tudor Consort, Vector Wellington Orchestra, conductor – Michael Stewart, soloists – Anna Leese, Kate Spence, David Hamilton, Jared Holt, Wellington Town Hall, December 18, reviewed by Garth Wilshere TUDOR Consort presented one of the… Continue

• Tips from a master

  TP: The Life And Times Of Sir Terry McLean, by Paul Lewis and Jock McLean, HarperSports, reviewed by Paddy Lewis WHEN I began working as a journalist, no one wanted the sports round. My encyclopaedic (read: geekishly freaky) knowledge of sports facts and figures… Continue

• Something was missing

  Handel’s Messiah, Orpheus Choir, soloists, Vector Wellington Orchestra players, conductor – Michael Fulcher, Wellington Town Hall, December 4, reviewed by Garth Wilshere I WAS really looking forward to this Messiah. The large choir sang very well with clean… Continue

• School in good heart

  KYLIAN and KIWI, Graduation performance by the New Zealand School of Dance, Te Whaea November 17 and 18, reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant. THIS year there are two performances for the students to show their abilities. A real pleasure to see a body of four works… Continue

• Epic Passion

  The Ragged, St Patrick’s College Theatre, directed by Jim Moriarty, reviewed by Lynn Freeman. JIM Moriarty may never win an Oscar or get a knighthood for his contribution to the arts, but he is exactly the kind of guy who should. When the at risk young people… Continue

• It’s Malane, not Spillane

  Surrender by Donna Malane, Winner of 2010 NZ Society of Authors – Pindar Publishing Prize for best unpublished manuscript, published by the New Zealand Society of Authors. $20.00, reviewed by John Bristed. SURRENDER is here. It is obviously written by one… Continue

• Mankind's clever step

  Apollo 13: Mission Control, Downstage Theatre, reviewed by Robyn Gallagher “APOLLO 13: Mission Control” with its clever combination of comedy, drama and aerospace engineering is back, at Downstage Theatre. The theatre space has been stripped of its regular… Continue

• A cracker

  The Nutcracker The Royal New Zealand Ballet, St James, reviewed by Deirdre Tarrant ‘A TALE with a twist’ is the sub-title of this revisit to Garry Harris’ Nutcracker production first seen here in 2005 and restaged as a farewell season as Harris leaves the… Continue

• Good company

  Toi Cabaret: Company (Stephen Sondheim), Toi Whakaari second year students, Museum Hotel, reviewed by Garth Wilshere THIS year Stephen Sondheim is 80. He’s had a theatre named after him on Broadway, and New Zealand has seen four productions of his groundbreaking… Continue

• 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 recognitio