Other Voices, Other Rooms
Subscribe to my newsletter for weekly updates.
GUEST WRITER MADELINE BOCARO sees Patti Smith in NYC acknowledging her classic album Horses 40 years on
Madeline Bocaro | 12 Nov 2015 | 5 min read
Jeez . . . "Do you know how to pony?" We are here at the famous Beacon Theater in New York City, Patti Smith's adopted homeplace to find out. And the ghosts are all here too . . . "White shining silver studs with their nose in flames . . . horses horses horses horses . . ." We knew this was greatness, before it could even be defined.... > Read more
GUEST WRITER MURRAY VAILE catches up with expat singer-songwriter Bannerman in Berlin
Murray Vaile | 2 Nov 2015 | 4 min read
Last year I was fortunate to catch Bannerman playing in support of Tiny Ruins and doubly fortunate to catch them again in Berlin this year, headlining their own show. I thought they offered a very impressive set that included some new songs, as well as old favourites which they dedicated to regular fans of the band. Of course, it is some time since Bannerman (aka Richard Setford)... > Read more
Hills and Valleys
GUEST WRITER KATHYRN VAN BEEK pays tribute to Auckland's shady lady
Kathryn Van Beek | 19 Oct 2015 | 6 min read
‘K’Road’s colour under threat of whitewash,’ said the headline -- but the red lights are already turning off. The Pink Pussy Cat is now an immigration consultancy, the Pleasure Chest signs have been sold on trademe, and the bare-chested nymphette on the Vegas Girl building, who’s presided over the street since the Seventies is being retired. Saint... > Read more
GUEST WRITER CLAIRE MABEY looks ahead to this year's LitCrawl in Wellington
Claire Mabey | 24 Sep 2015 | 3 min read
Wellington’s LitCrawl is controlled chaos. Over 80 writers, musicians, actors, scientists, journalists and artists will populate 15 venues over 3 hours for 15 unique literary-related sessions on Saturday 14 November. The point is to inject Wellington with the energy of audiences and writers colliding in a fast-paced format that celebrates writing when it’s off the page... > Read more
Rain, from Small Holes in the Silence
GUEST WRITER MADELINE BOCARO sees Yoko Ono go jazz in New York City
Madeline Bocaro | 18 Aug 2015 | 3 min read
It is truly The Summer of Yoko in New York City. Yoko Ono One Woman Show at The Museum of Modern Art is in full bloom and she presented two delightful evenings of films and lectures in July, along with Morning Peace. And we were just treated to a couple of intimate and unique Plastic Ono Band concerts. We are starting to actually recognize the bottoms in Film No. 4, which again... > Read more
GUEST WRITER MADELINE BOCARO remembers the unique quality of Klaus Nomi
Madeline Bocaro | 10 Aug 2015 | 10 min read
The transitional period between decades is always highly charged with the excitement of things to come, and nostalgia for an era coming to an end. The Seventies had their final burst of energy with Punk rock, but by 1979, the New Wave was already upon us. Simmering beneath the deliberate crudeness, realism and rage of Punk was a brightly coloured, cosmetic, futuristic fantasy world.... > Read more
GUEST WRITER LISA PERROTT on David Bowie, gender trangression and drag
Lisa Perrott | 3 Aug 2015 | 3 min read
“Same old thing In brand new drag Comes sweeping into view ” – David Bowie, Teenage Wildlife (1980) Time and again, David Bowie has confounded us with enigmatic acts of gender transgression. Those acts have been fuelled by a restless drive for recreation, often in the form of ambiguously-gendered personas, such as Ziggy Stardust and... > Read more
GUEST MUSICIAN PHIL WALSH writes about making the music of the movie in his head
Phil Walsh | 9 Jul 2015 | 4 min read
In the Eighties and Nineties there were two main camps of musicians in the Waikato. The “Originals” who wanted to only play their own material and who were happy to finance that dream through other means (ie day jobs); and the “Covers” who simply wanted to get out on stage and play, hopefully often enough to warrant giving up the day jobs and go “pro”.... > Read more
The Night Train
GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER JULIAN REID on the streets of weirdly normal Athens
Julian Reid | 4 Jul 2015 | 1 min read | 1
Julian Reid is a musician, graphic designer and photographer who has lived in London for over 10 years. This week he went to Athens on business. He reports that "it is a weird situation here. Sometimes it feels very nornal (apart from the large ATM queues). However last night we heard big protests. It seems it could get ugly." He offers a selection of street... > Read more
GUEST ARTIST TERENCE HOGAN on the exhibition of his band posters and covers in Auckland
Terence Hogan | 2 Jul 2015 | 2 min read
I was born in Grey Lynn, spent much of my boyhood in Ponsonby and following my high school years in Hamilton, returned to Auckland in the late Sixties. There was plenty going on around the city as one decade turned into the next and the lure of live music was ever-present. I did a little writing for various papers and magazines, mostly record and concert reviews, and made the rounds of... > Read more
GUEST DIRECTOR DAVID TRUEBA from Spain discusses his new film which isn't about John Lennon
17 Jun 2015 | 5 min read
The backdrop of my film Living is Easy With Eyes Closed is 1960s Spain. A place full of contradictions, grey, under the control of an authoritative regime, a generation living with the fear of wars recently past and a younger generation that longed for social and moral freedoms. This contrast was particularly evident in the south, in places such as the very poor province... > Read more
GUEST MUSICIAN PHIL WALSH tells of a band finally recording a single, four decades later
Phil Walsh | 15 Jun 2015 | 4 min read
There wasn’t a lot to do for young teenagers in Morrinsville in the early Seventies. So Kim Murphy, Kevin Smith, another gal (Debbie) and I ended up forming our own little band. I think we – called Prophecy – had lofty dreams of being the next Abba. Debbie left quite early on and we called in a guitarist/vocalist, Murray Ferguson, whom I knew from Te Aroha. We... > Read more
Morning Sunrise
GUEST WRITER MEGAN STUNZNER has a night at the opera for a royal wedding
1 Jun 2015 | 4 min read
In his recent preview of La Cenerentola by NZ Opera, the Herald's William Dart noted the prolific composer Rossini could rewrite an aria in the time it would have taken him to retrieve the dropped original from the floor. It's not inconceivable to me he might have dashed off several variations of La Cenerentola – a version of the Cinderella story -- in a couple of hours, and... > Read more
.jpg)
GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER GARRY BRANDON captures an old Auckland picture palace
1 Jun 2015 | 3 min read
Some weeks ago when Elsewhere wrote about the singer-songwriter Jamie McDell's show at Auckland's Crystal Palace picture theatre, photographer Garry Brandon not only took the excellent shots of the performance but pointed his camera-eye at the cinema itself. The Crystal Palace is one of the last remaining suburban cinemas and has had a long history as a music venue. For many decades the... > Read more
GUEST MUSICIAN SCOTTY ROCKER explains how hard rocking Kiwis are cutting it up in distant Sweden
25 May 2015 | 5 min read
In 2012 I decided it was time for a massive change. I had spent so many years playing music in New Zealand and always seemed to get to the same place. Through all the touring and traveling with past bands the one thing I heard a lot was, “I like your music but you live on the other side of the world”. That always made it hard to break through. The one thing every... > Read more
GUEST WRITER KATHRYN VAN BEEK on what’s involved in taking a creative writing course
20 May 2015 | 4 min read
Do you: · keep a journal? · have a lot of opinions? · enjoy doing activities in your spare time? · have stacks of books all over your house?... > Read more
GUEST SONGWRITER CHRIS O'FLAHERTY tells of the journey to recording his debut album at 60
27 Apr 2015 | 4 min read
My earliest music memory is preparing for the primary school end of year concert with The Holy Faith nuns teaching us When Irish Eyes are Smiling. I was confused and a little ashamed when tears welled up in my own eyes as the melody went lilting round the hall. Music, it seemed, had me at its mercy. The Marist Brothers took up my musical education as I moved into... > Read more
GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER PAUL DALY offers images from his award-winning travel portfolio
24 Apr 2015 | 1 min read
Last week Christchurch-based photographer Paul Daly of Nomadic Planet won the Cathay Pacific Travel Photographer of the Year award at the annual New Zealand TravCom awards for travel writers and photographers. Daly here shares a selection of his images from his portfolio of a country much in New Zealander's minds right now. For more on Paul Daly's work see his website here, or the... > Read more
GUEST WRITER PIRIPI WHAANGA goes behind the masks of a New Orleans Mardi Gras
23 Mar 2015 | 5 min read
My wife and I flowed into New Orleans by way of a week-long stay-over in San Francisco. It was a good laxed-out hippie preparation for the weirdness of festival time around the 10th anniversary of the apocalyptic Hurricane Katrina. We arrived early February with several parades already having gone the various street routes and a parade underway. Our Somalian taxi driver was irate... > Read more
Sew-Sew-Sew
GUEST WRITER MADELINE BOCARO on twin-powered Japanese pop and Mothra movies
Madeline Bocaro | 9 Mar 2015 | 4 min read
The Peanuts were one of Japan's first pop sensations, and the first to become well known internationally. Their career lasted from 1959-1975 and the diminutive duo comprised identical twin sisters Emi and Yumi Ito, born Hideyo and Tsukiko Ito on April 1, 1941 in Aichi prefecture. The twins were discovered by music impresario, and Watanabe Pro founder, Sho Watanabe. He first saw them... > Read more