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Music Is A Story
Having lived a life in music and story I am increasingly convinced that they are not separate entities but differing shades of the same thing. Sorry Steven Pinker, music is not “cheesecake for the...
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A Curious Thing
Last night I dreamed of my father. We were sitting together on the couch, talking. He was sharp, warm, funny: it lasted for several minutes before a part of me observed how wonderful it was to hear his...
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It Was 30 Years Ago Today… A Month In The Life, oh Boy!
I always say I was born in the Summer of Love; a deliberately wry comment as I was born in the middle of a Christchurch Autumn at the bottom of the South Pacific far from Haight Ashbury, of parents not...
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Quiet Loud Listen Sing
You know, Dad… I really like songs that go quiet, then loud! When my 6 year-old daughter said this to me the other week she said it with hand movements, pressing down on the quiet, then going up high...
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Songs of September
Motivated by my 6 year-olds recent statement that she… hates spring… because I love winter so much… I’ve had September songs on my mind. While most of the 4 songs in my pocket come from a hemisphere...
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Needles and Plastic
For the last few weeks I’ve been suffering from a particularly persistent (and infectious) earworm. It’s Needles and Plastic by early ‘80s Flying Nun 3-piece DoubleHappys. It’s a song I’ve loved since...
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3 Songs I sing LOUD!!!
I love music. I love singing. I love hearing stories. I love telling stories. In my mind all these things are part of the same unique human urge. I have referred to this belief in various posts about...
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Profits of the Future
I’ve just finished reading the most wonderful book. It is gripping, funny and thought provoking with a command of narrative and metaphor that has me shaking my head in wonder. It’s a popular history...
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Re-collection
I started collecting music in 1979 when I paid $1.99 for ‘Lucky Number’ by Lene Lovich. I had seen her on Ready to Roll and the quirky energy of her ‘New Wave’ sound (and look) appealed to my 12 year...
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Rage Against the Light
I’m thinking of going to see the Buzzcocks. I love their songs. Perfect tunes that sound as fresh as they did in the 1970s. I want to sing along with these legends of the punk/pop pantheon. But it’s a...
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4 Days in Christchurch (part 5)
A Run, Sunday Grey Sunday morning emerged cool, grey. Quiet. The ceaseless sounds of re-build were taking a rest. Up early, as I always am after a drink or two, I headed out for a run. When I was here...
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3 Days in Auckland (part 1)
In the air I first visited Auckland nearly 30 years ago. It was a different city, I was a different person. A fresh-faced 20-year old on the road (in a plane) with the band I had played bass with since...
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Love Is
What is love? It is an English word. A very old, Old English word. So how is French the language of love? These are things I have thinking about lately thanks to some of my favourite podcasts and a bit...
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2 Days in Christchurch (part 1)
Christchurch is the town that made me. I was born here. Grew up here. Shambled into adulthood here. And while I have nearly spent more time living away from my home than in it, Otautahi contains my...
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2 Days in Christchurch (part 4)
2 Men in a Shed No one knows what men get up to in their sheds. Books have been written, TV series made, but the mystery remains. When I think of a shed I think of (Great) Uncle Willie on the way out...
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Into the Night
Last night I went to a pub to see a band. It’s something I haven’t done in a long time. I used to be a regular in my teens and twenties in Christchurch. Thursday, Friday or Saturday. There was always...
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Yuke-Yuke
I’ve always loved musical jokes. Q. How do you know if a drummer’s knocking your door. A. The knocking keeps speeding up and slowing down. Q. What do you call someone who hangs out with a group of...
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Museum Piece
Swayed into… town. It was windy. Dark. Not a night to be out. I leaned into the gusts to make headway through the blasts screaming around the waterfront. Not your usual Friday night, I was meeting an...
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Fair Vanity
I’m obsessed with words. Big, small. Odd. Not. How they look, how they sound. Music and meaning. The other night, while waiting in A & E, I picked up a magazine. It was full of articles I found...
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A Night at the Opera
Tonight I am going to the opera. It will be my fourth. The first was 25 years ago in Christchurch. Tosca at the Theatre Royal, the wonderful venue where I saw Basil Brush, Sonic Youth, Rowan Atkinson,...
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