Kiwis win first real Cup race

Originally published July 15, 2013 in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.  After a week of one-boat “races,” an argument over rules, and an angry sponsor making waves in international media, it would be easy to write off the America’s Cup as the lamest party in town (so lame, in fact, that the organizers have ceased …

New Zealand’s Cup

Originally published July 3, 2013 in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.  America's Cup, seen by many here as a billionaire's boat race, looks very different Down Under, with its culture of sailing and maritime innovation. A few weeks ago I was walking down the dock in the marina where I live, in Wellington, New Zealand, …

Fell in love with the bassist

Originally published April 3, 2013 in Capital Times.  We listened to Being There that winter it snowed so much we could jump off the balcony. One summer, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the soundtrack at every barbeque. Sky Blue Sky took me to California and all the Mermaid Avenue volumes across the sea to New Zealand. I …

Take it from the heart

Originally published March 27, 2013 in Capital Times.  The way Albert Dadon sees it, being a successful musician means being a good businessman. Fortunately, he’s both. “I’m a business musician. Music is part of everything I do,” says the man who plays jazz under the banner Albare, but signs important property development documents with the name …

Swan song for the sea

Originally published March 20, 2013 in Capital Times.  When Mara Simpson and her guitar landed back in New Zealand she made a goal to go swimming every day. Well, almost every day, she confesses to Amanda Witherell at a café on a morning before the sun’s high enough to hit the beach. When Mara and The …

Not playing it cool

Originally published March 13, 2013 in Capital Times.  Eamonn Marra hates being labelled, and it is impossible to say he’s one thing. Writer, musician, student, radio show DJ, zine-maker, prolific reader, relentless multimedia chronicler of life at http://www.yourjokesarealwaysbad.tumblr.com – all of the above applies. Since he moved to Wellington about a year ago, he’s added stand-up …

Hi-tech in the tidal zone

Originally published March 6, 2013 in Capital Times.  On a recent Friday afternoon I donned the filthiest life jacket I’ve ever seen, stepped aboard a flat steel punt dusty with concrete, and went to a place few ever go – the cool, dark underworld beneath Queens Wharf. Here, the water glows an eerie nuclear green and …

Steam is up for sci-fi

Originally published March 6, 2013 in Capital Times.  It’s New Zealand Book Month and Amanda Witherell talks to one of Wellington’s newest and smallest publishers about how to print quality books and still be able to feed the cat. You don’t, according to Stephen Minchin. “I’ve lost chunks of money. It’s kind of depressing,” says the …

Kids’ TV could be better

Originally published February 27, 2013 in Capital Times. How much, when, and what to watch on the tele have been in parent-child negotiations since before Spot On hit the airwaves. The experts still say less is more, but the sheer ubiquity of televisions, computers, smart phones, tablets, game players, etc. and so on in the lounge, …

A beer embrace

Originally published February 27, 2013 in Capital Times.  At the edge of Glover Park, a sunny green just off Cuba Street, where gamblers once played the pokies in a dim, black-painted TAB, a transformation is underway.  Soon people will be sipping ParrotDog, Garage Project, and Funk Estate brews, snacking on homemade pizza, looking at art on …

Wake up

Originally published February 27, 2013 in Capital Times.  The personality and confidence that emanate from Aaradhna’s soulful singing had me thinking she’d be one sassy homegirl, but her speaking voice is far more restrained than I expected. By phone, waiting for a flight from Nelson to Wellington, she sounds a bit like a nervous teenager, not …

From barre to bar

Originally published February 20, 2013 in Capital Times.  Royal New Zealand Ballet and local brewery Garage Project don’t seem like drinking buddies, but they’re putting together a special pilsner-powered performance to celebrate the world premiere of Bier Halle – quite possibly the first ballet about beer. The connection with Garage Project came through one of the …