Monthly Archives: September 2007

Blam, Blam, thank you, Blam

Posted on by
4

Earlier in the week, I was part of a conversation where someone asks what everyone’s plans for the weekend are. I responded, “I’m going to see Blam Blam Blam play at the King’s Arms!” And everyone looked at me with blank stares.

I tried to explain, “They’re a band. They were first around in the early ’80s. Their best known song is “There Is No Depression In New Zealand“. Don McGlashan was in the band. He’s that guy from the Mutton Birds. Uh, you know “Nature” and “Dominion Road”. And Blam Blam Blam have got back together for a one-off reunion gig.” There were still a few blank stares.

So it was not all that surprising to find a distinct lack of young ‘uns at the King’s Arms last night. Indeed the crowd had a large number of people who looked like they probably had to arrange a babysitter before they could have gone out.

While I waited for the band to start, I noticed a difference between the older audience there and the typical younger gig-going audiences of today – lack of cellphones and cameras. People were just sitting around talking with their friends. They weren’t texting, nor were they posing seductively for photos, which would later be uploaded to Bebo, MySpace or Facebook.

Finally the gentlemen Blams took to the stage and started with their version of the Doctor Who theme, and then worked through choice songs from their 22-month life.

Now, I’m not all that familiar with Blam Blam Blam’s body of work, but I really really enjoyed the show. None of their songs sounded like relics from early ’80s. They are the sort of songs that could easily be played today and still sound contemporary.

And it was interesting how many of the lyrical themes were still relevant. Police corruption, paranoia about the SIS, struggles with national identity – ripped from 2007′s headlines, man.

The show finally ended with “There Is No Depression In New Zealand” (and how could it not?) which just set the crowd on fire. I like that it’s such a cynical and political song with a really cheerful shout-along chorus. Living in a city where politicians speak of the need for “world-class” footpaths, I reckon this song is still relevant.

What kind of webbery is this?

Posted on by
1

A couple of my internet amigos have a mysterious art project webpage, the enticingly titled I Wrote This For You, with the even more enticing URL pleasefindthis.blogspot.com.

It consists of daily posts of a lovely photo matched with words of wisdom, such as this one:

The Far

Cute cat up a tree.

You got yourself up there. You can get yourself back down.

At a glance, it seems like cut ‘n’ paste fodder for emo LiveJournallers and miserable housewives, but when you look deeper, are the edges a little frayed? Is the author a font of wisdom or is he secretly looking for answers just as much as we are? And when the author says, “I wrote this for you,” is the correct response, “I read this for you”? Or is that reading too much into things?

Nonetheless, this is what the interweb was made for.

Mt Eden’s escalating gang problem

Posted on by
12

Man, this whole Mt Eden gang thing is getting out of hand.

You may recall that, despite recruitment problems, I am a member of the N.O.T.O.R.I.O.U.S 630, a bad-ass gang who refuses to recycle and uses more plastic bags than is really necessary.

And then I became alerted to the presence of another gang, the Mt Eden 274, who stencilled their business on a wall and therefore started a public transport turf war.

Well, it looks like there’s a new kid on the block*. The successful Crips franchise have started up a gang in Mt Eden called the Eden Crips, bringing a touch of sunny Southern California to old Mt Eden, and have put up a sticker to announce their presence:

Eden Crips

I’m concerned – the 274 use stencils and the Crips use stickers, but my 630 doesn’t yet have a street art medium to announce my presence. Well, maybe I can just use the medium of the blog to mark my turf. Aw yee-yah, etc.

* It’s the block bordered by Mt Eden Road, Essex Road, Ngauruhoe Street and the park. That’s where all the street art is going down.

Brazil, nuts

Posted on by
13

I went to Brazil cafe this afternoon before work. There was a sign up on the counter announcing that K Road icon Brazil would be closing for good on September 30! Whoa, there!

I will quickly make a list of reasons why Brazil is (not yet was) lovely.

  • The coffee.
  • The peeling paint on the ceiling that kind of looked like a map of a strange world.
  • The steep steps that are easy to walk up but tricky to walk down.
  • The old bus seats.
  • The coffee milkshakes.
  • The sticky varnish on the tabletops that will rip your newspaper if you’re not careful. That’ll teach you to read.
  • The coffee menu displayed on the old computers.
  • The beaten-up industrial fittings.
  • The pinball machine.
  • The faded glory of the old Mercury Theatre days.
  • The fierce espresso machine.
  • The music, which usually includes some sort of drum and bass.
  • The perfectness for it as a morning-after recovery place.
  • The dirty boys who hang out at the bar, drinking espressos, telling unfunny jokes.
  • The coffee, the coffee, the coffee.

Brazil have a box where you can write down and share your memorie of the place.

K Road is, without a doubt, changing, but I’m not sure what it’s changing into.

Update

Here’s the notice about the closure:

Sad news

And I’ve taken a few photos of Brazil. Click the latte to see more.

Latte at Brazil

Update 2

The Herald has an article about the cafe’s closure.

Worst NZ Album Cover of the Year

Posted on by
Reply

Peter Dub Dot Dash has announced the nominees for the worst NZ album cover of the year, such as this gem:

Hollie Smith – Self titled.
“I think the Hollie Smith cover is shockingly bad..what a lousy drawing and then that’s the best part.”

I’d never noticed it before, but the Hollie Smith album cover looks like her decapitated head is being played on the turntable. Watch out – that stylus is gonna cut your throat!

Check out the rest of the nominees.