Posts by Rob Stowell
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True- the Wellington scene was also pretty cool in '81- bands as divers as the Hulamen, Body Electric and Riot 111 were all putting out vinyl.
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Yeah, Iggy and the androids would've gelled. Never saw them at the British- but they were at (I think?) the Nile River Festival about that time. Androids and raggle-taggle entourage stood out over the weekend amid a sea of mud, hippies, and "orange-people". And then they played a great set on the last day- when everyone was exhausted, flopping around on the grass- they let loose this sustained burst of energy. The only time I can remember seeing hippies pogo....
BTW- congratulations on the great site. Livens up the working day no end.... -
Tim- yeah, that Cathedral Square Clean gig was truely memorable. Quite a bleak Chch morning with a cold wind. Bemused shoppers, scurrying past. And the almost tinny keyboard sound as they launched into Tally Ho, echoing off the buildings. Someone at the Chch City council was onto it!
Not strictly Flying Nun... but another gig that really stood out for me: Toy Love at the British in Lyttelton, in about 1979. The British had a reputation as a "rough" pub. But just for once, the usual crowd of sailors, wharfies and ship-girls looked quite respectable- compared to the Chch student/punks who took over the bar. And Toy Love were so tight and ferocious- song after song after song. No hystrionics- ONE short scorching guitar break the whole night. For a wet, nerdy and naive student, it was a big eye-opener.
The Doublehappys playing with Scorched Earth Policy at the Star and Garter is another favourite. Three of us more-or-less skulled a bottle of tequila on the banks of the Avon outside, in our hurry not to miss a song. At their best, the Doublehappies had that tight looseness- I dunno how else to describe it- that really epitomises rock-n-roll. White-hot Needles'n'Plastic. Marred afterwards by the stupidly-drunkenest driving I've ever been lucky enough to get away with.
It's very hard to whittle Flying Nun down to one moment. The label has been so central to so much of the NZ musci scene from '81 on. The Great Unwashed (I think?) gig at the Sandridge with The Violent Femmes was a stand-out. The Fall on THAT infamous tour counted (at the time!) as a FN gig. The non-nun Gordons- loudest gig I've ever enjoyed! A few JPSE gigs are etched (groggily) into the brain-stem....- as is the taut, excited face of Alaster Galbraith- expounding on Ivor Cutler, life, music, philosophy- get out the violin! on an all-night Dunedin rave. -
Gotta love Basset's description of Rogernomics as an act of pure- and let's not forget mainstream!- altruism: "Businessmen wanting main stream economic policies to increase growth and employment opportunities for New Zealanders."
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Thanks for the great read. It's particularly striking how green the lake looks from space...
Water is a huge looming crisis for Canterbury. (Tho' ironically, a filled in lake ellesmere would be some of the best, most suitable dairying in the province.) Ecan have simply not done their job with regard to the (continuing!) dairy conversions- conversions that were controversial a decade ago. We will pay dearly.
I've got specific love for Kaitorete Spit: it's "cinematic" in a way that few experiences can match. On a more positive note, I remember reading next-door lake Forsyth was almost dead and has been (partially) revived. A completely different catchment, but maybe there's some hope. -
Pure speculation... but one of the great things about email is you can log on from anywhere and have it all at your fingertips. And if you're using some form of webmail to access email from a variety of computers- the sort of thing an on-the-go type like Dr Brash is certain to have done- then the possibility of (carelessly) leaving behind your username and password always exists. (I don't know what the legality of using such a password and username is- probably dodgy.) But the scenario of someone creeping into Dr Brash's office and accessing the hard-drive of his desktop was always a bit "mission improbable". Perhaps all it took was "can I use your computer to check my email" to someone in the Nats... and then hurriedly hitting the "let windows remember this password" button.....
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Isn't it a little ironic that this morning on Nat Radio Brash called the book something like (wish I could quote this accurately) "complete garbage" (and the words "utter fiction" have been used a lot) when, according to those who've read it, about half the text was written by Brash and friends? In future when National make campaign claims, it'll be tempting to respond- "Now _that_ should be filed under fiction..."
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Brent Hansen- thanks- and wow- what a cool dude. "If you're not wearing jeans..." yeah- like that won't limit the audience! (My bet would be that if the shots were wider, we'd see Hansen in jeans....) The club scene was in Chch in the 80s was pretty limited: the best band gigs were all in pubs. People who wanted to go on drinking after 11pm didn't tend to go home and put on a tie!
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What a great clip! Thanks- made my night.
Anyone know who the presenter is? At first from the voice-over I thought it sounded like Simon Morris- but then it didn't... -
And there I was capering about the lounge in unadulterated glee! Well actually I still am.... It's sobering to realise the nation may be jumping into the unknown so blythely. Your quiz is incredibly timely and gives a fairly good sense of Key's compass. I 'spect he'd be havin' the likes o' me walk the plank as NZ ltd sails splendidly off into the icebergs.
BUT- there was something corrosive, subtly poisonous, about Brash's leadership. I'm not gonna be surprised about any further Brethern dealings; but what might come out of "the hollow men"- what mostly troubles me- is the cynicism behind some of the public speechifying. Brash played the political naif, the "mr smith goes to wellington" thing quite superbly- and it worked well for him. And maybe the Orewa speech was a heartfelt and principled stand for equality and racial comity (whatever that means!) Maybe.
Now there's no chance he'll be PM I'm prepared to give him full benefit of the doubt. But just based on what Brash did and said in the 90s as reserve bank governor, I'm still gleeful he's never gonna to monetarise this country and most everything I love into a sort of Living Masoleum to Milton Friedman. Yeeeeha!