Umm – really not all what I said. It was a disaster for the Black owned, orientated or controlled recording industry across the board. Radio stations across the US switched formats from soul, r&b and so on to top 40, Classic Rock…

The tail end of disco was a disaster for the music industry, and most especially the Black independent scene which didn't recover until the mid 1980s and the rise of hip-hop.

The tail end of disco was a disaster for some in the music industry, But there were plenty of…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ5MhR9rvdQ

Or, as Frankie says, Welcome to the Pleasuredome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJMc8GgtZUs&feature=related

How about suing Al Jardine to prevent him telling concert goers he used to be in The Beach Boys, or suing Brian Wilson last year to prevent him playing Smile live. Not only was it an album he torpedoed…

Atlantic Crossing was produced by Tom Dowd (look down that list of credits and weep with joy). It got massively positive press on release, deservedly so I'd argue. Hell, even the NME rated it.

How's that?

Mostly this was when it…

I loved Patrick Bateman's raving spiel on Huey Lewis and the News.

Pffft, too easy Simon, just like the last time when you stood up for Elton. I'm still waiting for your spirited defense of Sailing, Do ya think I'm sexy? and especially Huey Lewis and the News... ;-)

Absolutely true, but "the worst thing he did?" That's a mighty big call.

#fuckMikeLove

Rod & The Faces @ Western…

Those first three Rod solo albums were fucking fantastic.

As was Rod & The Faces @ Western Springs Jan 27, '74. They came on to the theme from The Stripper, and finished with a rawkus Stay With Me and Rod's 'Thank you for your time.... and your money'. He…

Used it often.

The worst thing he did (okay your story was pretty vile but...) was suing Brian Wilson for half the writer's copyright on Beach Boys songs he played no part in writing. Not only was it fairly universally agreed he had zip…

My favourite Twitter hashtag ever: #fuckMikeLove. Because seriously, fuck that guy. One of his many crimes: calling the other Beach Boys into the loo to marvel at the size of a shit he had just produced. Blurgh.

I blame Roger the alien's infernal time-travelling cassette

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_P185MVQBQ

though there were consequences..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lbOa8XHs1c

Maybe for Mike Love?

My feelings are tainted by something like that I guess, however for me it's more to do with with the human and creative wreckage that the bandwagon jumpers created than anything else.

The early years of disco were those of groundbreaking and…

(1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZtTUeR6WS0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgDsZQhJ4w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNGNLo8K6Fk

But at least they didn't sell out like a certain Rod Stewart song from 1978...

FTR, today I'm wearing a suit. Sorry Rich. It's not white though, so there's that.

In the end, I just loved to dance

We ain't no suit-wearing businessmen like you, Simon...you know we're just dancers I s'pose, and we want our pop funk beats.

Dropping this in, simply because it's such an excellent tune from 79, which I've been thrashing the last few days.

The fact that it stands up to reworks is testament to the original.

I was older than that. Sweet (cough) mumble. It was the only place that we could get in. Well, I suppose I got into Zanzibar, Keeley's and Quay Street too.

In the end, I just loved to dance...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdLrEQo2LAc

I'm telling yer bro!

Went to a police licensing meeting once at Central. All the clubs were there. The cops began berating Brett Shepherd who owned Alfies for – night after night – pouring 14 and 15 year olds back onto High Street…

high five

These are amongst my favourite teenage memories, so your point is? ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKstAXq2hh8

I won't y'know.

I clicked the first link and Brigid said "Sounds like a drag show at Alfies – what is it?"

The unfortunate thing (for me) about that was that those sorts of tunes were conflated with genuine groundbreakers like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opStrs94WKc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnNYCV5gJbE&feature=related

(as an aside, the…

No, I did not know that. And still don't.

Step aside, the gates of Moroder are opening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAbJ_5E_EGI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDZRtquz2-4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnPl6KV2LUw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYClk5V7n4M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byhs-qVzkNA

(You can't deny that pink lurex belted tunic. I defy you to.)

Also, I hope you were all aware that Ethel Merman did a disco album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUmXYCUiv2s

That'll likely be your clock that's out, Ian. Same has happened to me.

It's accurate at mine, so maybe only your end. Of course, just displaying the actual date/time would solve that problem..

Also in the recent hip-hop history The Big Payback, which examines the racist overtones – blatant – of the US anti-disco movement. The irony being that disco, after The…

heh

Captain Starlight!

He had a mobile disco and played out at least into the late 80s. I know this because our floor manager recently bought a box of his old 7"s on Trade Me. It's…

From the wiki on disco demolition night

Nile Rodgers, producer and guitarist for the popular disco-era group Chic said "It felt to us like Nazi book-burning. This is America, the home of jazz and rock and…

At our school everyone agreed that disco was dead; the debate/shitfest was over whether it had been killed by punk or reggae. But this was 1979, by which time Dylan Taite was interviewing Bob Marley in NZ and the punk/reggae split had started to align along ethnic lines.

Sorry to…

I do remember a time when there was but one Indian restaurant in Auckland. That seems vaguely impossible now.

But, then I also recall an incredible Peruvian place in High Street in the early 1980s. Their chilli bowl (various chillies shredded into some sort…

Bottom of Khyber Pass. It was maybe the first Dim Sim place, or one of them – there was a place on the corner of Victoria and Albert about the same time. It was a record label haunt in the days when they had money for such…

I think there was also the Mekong, on Victoria…

The Saigon.

I used to get taken there by Phil Warren on occasion too when he felt I needed mentorly 'advice'. The fact that he was head-tenant…

Snap – it was with Mo (and Bryan Staff) that I used to go there. I think my expectations of Asian food were somewhat lower in those days though.

Murray always knew all the best…

Wun Loy.

It was good.…

When we brought the Singaporean blogger Mr Brown over several years ago, he…

I've passed it a thousand times and not tried yet. Must be time.

Did that one once – yes indeed!

It's a long way from the days when your reasonable Chinese food options (i.e. not just variations on Chop Suey, Egg Fu Yung, Sweet & Sour or Chow Mein) could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

What was…

Thanks for the tip. Foodie blog? We're so nearly there, without even trying. Just sayin'.

I was moved to ordain a Father's day dinner at Flourishing Cafe in Avondale. Different cuisine, I know, but I cannot believe how much the three of us ate.

Nice photos. Talk about 'salivational'. I would be eating almost continuously if I lived there.
You should try and get back there for the annual silent film festival (silent but for the piano and audience laughter) .
Thanks Geoff. It sounds like it would be worth a trip. Although…

The De Luxe is pretty much part of…

That's great, thanks. I shall look that one out.

Yup, I…

That was my childhood cinema, and where I saw my first motion picture. I would dearly love to see/read whatever it is you produce from this exercise. Did you have…

Like Welli's Te Aro one announced recently.

Not online but Wayne Brittenden's The Celluloid Circus: The Heyday of the New Zealand Picture Theatre (Godwit Books, 2008) is an excellent source--and it includes…

Wow. And those are her photos too?

Yes indeed. Hungry now.

I'll go all nepotistic here and plug Brigid's food blog – the second half of this post is an incredible family owned Southern Thai eatery near us. The images say more than I…

Ta. I think we discussed that crossover into NE Malaysian cuisine, didn't we?

Chinese merchants from India come here in pretty large numbers so I guess it didn't take long to cross over.

And of course, Southern Thai (as compared to the more northern and north eastern flavours we think as Thai food in NZ) has strong…

Intrigued. Examples?

So, like Malaysia? I have a friend – Chinese Malaysian – who almost sounds Indian at times.

Indian infused Chinese is a hot cuisine here right now, so why not the language :)

It was late at night and I didn't think those figures through, so cheers George.

I'd be interested to know what the flow through figures are – how many last a year or two then head over to the Western Island? A…

I remember the first time a Lebanese friend described me as 'Anglo'. I was a little taken aback, unsure what it meant…

I also agree with you comments re Australia, I agree there's some stereotypical traits which are often in evidence but I live in Petersham, richness for me means the Portuguese who've established a large community, nearby Marrickville there's…

There's actually quite a high level of immigration. It's just matched on the other side by emigration.

There were 84,600 PLT arrivals in the July 2011 year, up 3 percent from the July 2010 year.
There were 81,800 PLT departures, up…

so that's what those things are for

Your membership of Winston First is revoked

On a slightly different note, while still living in NZ, I attended a conference in Adelaide which include a session for “Island nations” which, when me and another kiwi attended, prompted considerable surprise amongst…

http://www.emigratenz.org/migrants.html

It's a small country, but…

From the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand:

__Both in New Zealand and in Australia the names of the days, also holiday,…

But good, huh?!

It was briefly exciting there wasn't it. For a moment we had an opinion.

In a way I prefer the current government's foreign stance to the last. We know – and…

Same. It was a big thing realising I wasn't from there, I was of the Pacific.

His ongoing dry humping and craving a pat on the head from big daddy is embarrassing to behold.

Same.

However, I was also bought back to earth with a resounding cultural bang when I moved there. Large parts of what I thought would resonate with me made me cringe.

You could argue that working that out was part of what they did well – for right or wrong. When the Australia aligned themselves with the US they did so in the clear knowledge that the…

Too true. Cultural fascination is one thing, cargo cultism is quite another. It applies equally to Britain…

And yet, the ability to engage with British cultural tropes was an…

East Asia in effect. Most of my Chinese friends struggle…

Immediately after Chch in February, one report we were watching talked of the urgent need to ensure fast access to milk and bread. I probably wouldn't have blinked if I was in-country but it sounded mighty odd from this angle.

It's odd the way that any half baked story from the UK seems to get instant media legs – both tabloid and mainstream – ahead of big parts of what happens in our own backyard.

Australia has always been brilliant at working out…

It's one of the things that has always made me feel like a stranger in my own country. I've never got the Mother England thing.

Quite. The implications in the homeland are quite ugly,…

These days, yes. He’s been doing voice chat with his buddies for a couple of years now, in-game text talking for a long time.

It’s a pretty safe environment, really. There’s sometimes a bit of talk about…

True, but can you imagine the fuss in Australia if he had tried to reintroduce these? From across the spectrum I'd argue.

We are quite…

In Australia, John Howard…

And then came the 60s.

I'm trying think of another country on planet earth too, that would have so…

Overwhelmingly, in Leo's case.

Indeed. It all coincided with New York losing its entertainment industry monopoly to Hollywood, even though the TV stations are still NY-based.

Doesn't that reflect a consolidation of mass media/culture industries there from the east coast?

I'd wager things truly started to change with the youth cultures of the…

You should hear our younger boy. Jen has told me that children still largely pick up their accents from family and peers, but — this is just…

Were those kids from Maori-speaking homes, I wonder? I expect that if you were taught English as a second language in the earlier parts of the 20th century in NZ,…

(i) people’s genuine (untutored, unaffected) accents – which were still quite a mixture: bear in mind, in the early 1970s, something over 20% of NZ adults (and a higher proportion of the middle-class NZ adults…

Indeed. I can remember doing the same in the summer of '94/'95; hitching a ride (Picton to Blenheim or similar) with a guy who asked us…

A certain ex was proficient at switching on when required that posh voice she learned in school. Instant respect from prospective landlords, for some strange reason. Class lives on.

Oh, I see (and agree).

Funnily enough, Damian's…

the metallic local twang glossed with the plum that always came out for the cameras.

Methinks the plum was from being well educated middle class kids. Thank the education system I say.

Except for Dicky Driver, hahahaha, he had Neil Roberts fooled. How to exploit being born in the UK…

My punk epiphany came at my 6th Form accrediting party…

My mum had elocution and, thus, so did…

I'm working through some of the older films here. NZBC-style narrators predominate, but there are other voices.

There was a regionalism too that seems to be more and more subsumed these days – at least to my ears. Trekking around the South Island in the early…

I mean the special "broadcasting" voice as opposed to the way people generally spoke, and the two aren't necessarily the same. I hear a underlying accent accent in pre-70s…

If it came from the German word blut , it probably was pronounced that way once.

There was a telly programme a couple of years ago about where the NZ accent came from -…

One of my…

Yes, and so ordinary people thought they ought to too when they had…

It's no secret that accents always change. My grandma sounded posher than my…

Your grin to I Feel Love at 3am has stayed with me :)

I think you said "Too many wobbly bits in this version though..." or words to that effect

Close to Home, Pukemanu, Glide Time, Goodbye Pork Pie and, later, Shortland St I'd agree.

the cargo cult of Mother England had suddenly turned out to be a mirage

See, I don't think that's ever really evaporated -…

I can honestly say that I was (or tried to be) a punk rocker butI still loved Donna Summer's 70s dance records.

As Simon will be able to…

I suspect that Britain’s joining of the EEC was a contributing factor – the cargo cult of Mother England had suddenly turned out to be a mirage, and coincidentally Yankee & Aussie culture was on the ascendancy. It also happened to be the era…

noice

Indeed – there was a rough affinity with the tougher end of funk and soul, even when it mutated into disco. That turned when disco was usurped by the middle masses – Bee Gees and the…

I also remember the punks railing more at orchestral…

I must check it out. I bought the cheap local release when it came out but it got buggered over…

I do recall hearing that a Sex Pistols song was banned from NZ radio in the late '70s, guessing it would have been Anarchy, but I was fortunate to have an older brother either studying…

Worth a fortune if you do. I have one too which I bought from a 10c sale bin at Peaches Records on the corner of Queen and Victoria months later.

Even in the early 1980s it seemed like you couldn't go to a party in NZ without hearing Patti's Horses album at some point in the…

end of 76 or early 77 – Dylan Tait's piece and the first TV interview with the Sex Pistols anywhere as I recall

Ha, think that's the one I have.

Oddly too, the primary New Zealand punk influences musically (not always visually but that too) up to the middle of 78 were not British but a mix of New York Punk and pre-punk and – crucially – glam. It was…

To be fair, this was the generation that first listened to reggae in New Zealand and introduced it into the music being made – long before Marley came to NZ.…

Yes! So what influences changed the accent?

One of the incongruities with "Underbelly Land Of The Long Green Cloud" is the characters all speak with modern Kiwi accents, not what I…