Author Archive
February 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Tedeschi Trucks Band: High & Mighty (ep)
Tedeschi Trucks Band High & Mighty (ep) Fantasy I’ve said it before – but here goes again: The decision for Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks to meet and marry, and then to marry their music together making a supergroup they co-lead has been good for all. The fans win. I liked what Trucks was about […]
February 24, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Gig Review: Kate Tempest (February 24, Wellington)
Kate Tempest MFC, Wellington Monday, February 24 I’d had people asking me about Kate Tempest ever since she was announced to be part of the 2020 NZ Festival. I’d seen her five years back when she was lesser known out here and it was one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen. So all I’d […]
February 24, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Slack
so much slack cut nothing left but the memory of glistening silver shears over your shoulder
February 24, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 165
Beck, Bogert & Appice, Beck, Bogert & Appice (1973) I was pleased to find this just recently – I did once own it on CD but didn’t play it a lot; I’d got what I needed from it and from the band via the Beckology box-set which was such a great thrill of an education. […]
February 23, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Gig Preview: DJ Aphrodite w/ LUNG and more, MOON, Wellington, Saturday April 11, 2020
The legendary Human Traffic soundtracker rave & jungle original instigator DJ APHRODITE UK returns to NZ with support from live punky indie psycho garage bands LUNG, SKIN & BLISTERS & DARA & the DARETTES at Moon in Newtown Wgtn from 7pm. Should be a ripper! More info here. It’s $25 for early bird tickets, it’ll […]
February 23, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Marie Ross/Petra Somlai/Claire-Lise Demettre: Brahms – Clarinet Sonatas and Trio
Marie Ross/Petra Somlai/Claire-Lise Demettre Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas and Trio Centaur The trio of Marie Ross (clarinet) Petra Somlai (piano) and Claire-Lise Demettre (cello) are dedicated to working with historical instruments; to exploring the music via connection to period instruments – which is to say they use wood and gut-string, eschewing metal and modern valves, reeds, […]
February 23, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: The Dream Team
Summer Olympics, 1992. The American basketball squad was called The Dream Team; it was the first time they’d let all the NBA players of the day into the national team. It was like something out of an action movie; a revenge-play because they’d been beaten by the Soviet Union. They couldn’t get Sly Stallone, Bruce […]
February 22, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Gig Review: Chosen and Beloved – MAU Wahine and NZSO (February 21, Wellington)
Chosen and Beloved: Curated by Lemi Ponifasio – MAU Wahine, NZSO and Racha Rizk (Conducted by Kristan Jarvi) MFC, Wellington Friday, February 21 For the opening night of the NZ Festival expectations were very high for Chosen and Beloved. The first week guest curator Lemi Ponifasio took words from Henryk Gorecki’s Third Symphony (aka The […]
February 22, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 166
Electric Light Orchestra, Olé ELO (1976) I possibly didn’t need this – since I am collecting up all of the ELO albums as I find them and already have that classic best-of – but I saw this in the store and that little lightbulb went off; I had never seen this on the shelf in […]
February 21, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Bio Note
Simon Sweetman is a writer in words and of Wellington, but also of words and in Wellington. They live in a house they haven’t bought yet and maybe never will but they fully own the idea of the house. They pivoted to poetry when music journalism was cancelled by the fans of Robbie Williams. They […]
February 21, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
RNZ Reviews: February 2020
Once a month or so I have a chat on RNZ on their Afternoons show with Jesse Mulligan. These things start – randomly and stop in much the same way. I hope to keep doing this. For a while at least. I think I started in December of 2015, so now four years into it or so… This […]
February 21, 2020 by Simon Sweetman