Golly

Stunned to discover (via Trademe) that the practice of making blackface minstrel dolls for children ("golliwogs") is still going strong in New Zealand. (Don't believe me? Check out this search.)

I'm sorry, but wha? Didn't these become passe -- if not completely unacceptable -- at least 30 years ago?

I'm surprised they don't come with tee-shirts which say things like "Lazy" and "Goodfernothing" and "Shiftless jigger" and "Lock up yer valuables" and so on.

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My friend David is giving an address at the Film Archive on Saturday afternoon. It's called something like Why Science-Fiction is the only legitimate artform of the 20th and 21st centuries. Read about it at the Wellingtonista.

It's going to be great.

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NP: Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions - We people that are darker than blue (listen).

Blonde at the Bar

Cracker beat me to it, but whatever.. The Herald has started a new "Sex and the City"-style blog thing called Blonde at the Bar. Yeah, exactly.

It's written by one of their reporters, Joanna Hunkin, and her frivolous, misguided, facile drivel is only just inconsequential enough to avoid spoiling your breakfast. Being published on a daily basis, though, it could almost be said to be good for getting your day off to an excellent start. You know, have yourself a nice hearty laff. And the (generally acerbic/of better quality than that to which they refer) reader comments are worth the price of admission alone.

*yuk yuk yuk*

Here's the RSS feed.


(Image out out-of-focus lady and floating, disembodied cocktail-waiter hand from Jupiter Images)

Safe by Rebecca Turbow

Rebecca Turbow is gorgeous, and she makes gorgeous clothes as well. (You might have noticed her Myspace page if you checked out the Pop Levi link from the other day.) Anyhoo, while they're really clearly mid-60s-Mod influenced, there's also something about them which just makes me say "Yeah!".

The designs are born out of Turbow's idea of creating elegant and durable hand-crafted clothing centered on the concepts of safety and protection. Are you thinking of some kinda weird pastel futuristic thing like Logan's Run or Zardoz? I am. Either way, my eyes are wishing there was more of this sorta thing around at the moment.

Rebecca's (admittedly rather Flash-heavy) official website is here.

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NP: Skeptics - pretty much everything they've ever released too, actually (Last.fm).

The hard word

Right on. It's time to take this blog in hand. I've been unbelievably busy on so many different thangs -- work, the new Foxy Digitalis, the new AudioFoundation project, writing for FD and the Wellingtonista, running Palindrone, working on new seht material, trying to get some new Stumps releases off the ground -- who really has time to post here? Well, I have managed 20 or 30 posts since the New Year which is not tooooooo bad, but it's the quality as much as the quantity, y'know.

So this here is where I put the stake in the ground and say "NO MORE!"... where I put my hand on my heart and faithfully promise to update much more frequently (dare I say daily???) and with much better content. Oh! The melodrama!

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Saturday night was Antony's birthday. Fifteen or so of us spent several hours on the cushions around the low tables at Cafe Istanbul, which was lovely and left me with the following thoughts:

• I'm never, ever going to do that again -- my back is still sore. Am I getting old?
• Are belly-dancers really supposed to be dangerously obese? And, even if so, are New Zealanders really ready for the challenge of upping and dancing with one in the middle of a restaurant? Or is it just cringingly, excruciatingly embarrassing.
  
• BYO whisky (in the hip-flask that Ms. Brown gave me) is a great idea and should be done more often -- it really adds a hitherto-unknown element of intrigue and danger into what is otherwise the fairly straightforward procedure of going out and eating food.
• I still really, really like Mediterranean food. Yes, sure -- it's all very low-brow and so on, but damn if it don't taste good.
  

Apparently after James and I left at about 11pm, somebody broke down in tears at the table, and the party moved downtown; Kiran didn't get home until 4am. Am uncertain at this point whether it was a good or a bad thing to have missed all this.

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NP: Circle of Ouroborus - pretty much everything they've ever released, actually (aQuarius).

Pop Levi

Liverpudlian nu-glam and ex-Ladytron bassist Pop Levi is bringing his hyperactive T. Rex-isms to the Bathhouse.

Here's the sweet-toothed truth about Pop -

It's not often you get to use the word "cat" about a fellow human, but then it's not every day you come across someone like Pop Levi. And Pop Levi is one strange cat.

Born in London, with musical roots in Liverpool, a stint playing with Ladytron and a home in Los Angeles, Pop Levi likes to describe what's good about pop music as "astral". His debut album, The Return To Form Black Magick Party, is, fittingly, worthy of the term. Although the most obvious precursor of his sound might be Mark Bolan, listen carefully and you'll hear touches of everyone from Jack White, Prince and Hendrix to Dylan, Lennon and Beefheart in there. But rather than being any kind of eyebrow-raised pastiche, this is what Pop describes as "channelling" - an album of such complete conviction, flair and energy (plus a lorryload of hooks) that it is utterly irresistible, a stack heel pushed right down on the accelerator.

So come along, dance around and get sugar in your eye. It's gonna be cosmic, and it's gonna be fun.

Listen to Sugar Assault Me (2.18 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

Two other things:
1. Over The Atlantic is supporting. Woot.
2. Jaegermeister is sponsoring. There will be presents on the door, and trinkets and drinks being given away. *Hic*

POP LEVI
SAN FRANCISCO BATHHOUSE
WEDNESDAY 6 JUNE
Presales are $35, and available from Slow Boat Records

NZ music month in Wgtn

In honour of NZ Music Month, at the Wellingtonista we have been talking about our favourite Wellington bands. I chipped in with a list of my personal favourites (Wellington music month 4: gettin' serious) which included:

The Avengers
Bailter Space
Birchville Cat Motel
The Elephantmen
The Garbage and the Flowers
The Labcoats
Little Bushman
The Phoenix Foundation
Primitive Art Group
Signer
Surface of the Earth
Andrew Thomas
Trinity Roots

Other contributions:
Wellington music month 1: guaranteed Emo-free
Wellington music month 2: favourite songs for the forlorn
Wellington music month 3: getting Noizy
Wellington music month 5: The dub strikes back

Getting serious at Happy and St. Andrews

Two freakin' amazing concerts at St. Andrews over the weekend, and one tonight at Happy, including the launch of the iiii Records label and store.

Read all about it at The Wellingtonista.