Author Archive
April 15, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Gig Review: Rodger Fox Presents… “Charlie Parker with Strings” featuring Dick Oatts
Rodger Fox Presents… “Charlie Parker with Strings” featuring Dick Oatts Memorial Theatre, Victoria University Monday, April 15 Dick Oatts is a respected educator and player from America. An alto specialist, who in 1977 was shoulder-tapped to join the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. He’s also toured or recorded with the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Joe Henderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Lovano and Mel Tormé. Here in tribute […]
April 15, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Try And Try Again
Just what do you get for the man who has everything? A second helping of empathy.
April 15, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Santa: The Threat is Real
A Facebook friend posts that she’s angry and upset, some punk-ass little kid has killed the magic of Christmas for her child. Told him, presumably, that Santa is not real. Another day and another Facebook friend is boasting of their child’s pragmatism: “How does Santa deliver presents to every child in the world?” the kid […]
April 14, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Poetry at The Fringe – Sunday, 14 April, 2019
Last month I went to Poetry at The Fringe and wrote about it – so I thought I’d continue that idea. I went to this month’s event – check out the Facebook page for regular news/updates. It was a huge feast of words – the regular open-mic session that starts the afternoon featured around 15 performers. And it was everything […]
April 14, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Laurel Halo: Raw Silk Uncut Wood
Laurel Halo Raw Silk Uncut Wood Latency Recordings Berlin-based, American-born sound-artist and composer Laurel Halo loves skitterish percussion, tinkering pianos and strident textures. She loves jazz settings – and then totally fucking with them, and she creates the best movie soundtracks for non-existent movies. All of that is on display here on Raw Silk Uncut Wood – but overall this is her most […]
April 13, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 317
Miles Davis, Ascenseur pour l’echafaud (Lift to the scaffold) (1958) When I got hooked on Miles Davis – really hooked! – it was the years of $10 bargain CDs. And this was really a bargain! So you’d grab four or five at a time, and sometimes I’d get four or five Miles Davis CDs in one go, live albums, compilations, […]
April 13, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: All That You Have Is Your Soul
You can give up your mind, at least some of the time, you can give them your body, maybe the best years of your life. And they’ll take a little piece of your heart – even if you won’t admit it. But please don’t let them take your soul. Don’t let them steal it from you – they will do so when you’re complacent, your dreams and any other schemes lying adjacent, you slowly dying on […]
April 13, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Graeme Jefferies: Time Flowing Backwards
Time Flowing Backwards: A Memoir Graeme Jefferies Mosiac Press Graeme Jefferies has made some of the great noisy pop from New Zealand – he’s sent it out to the world, taken it with him as he’s traveled through America and based himself – for huge periods of time – in Europe; then he brought it all back home […]
April 12, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 145: Liars – “They Were Wrong, So We Drowned”
I do remember Liars though not much about them – and doubt I ever heard any of their albums – certainly not this – their second. Look, maybe it’s good, but I feel very much the anti-climax as this is the end of the challenge for me, the final thing in the book – the final album on the list […]
April 12, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Miscarriages Made My Marriage Stronger
I phoned a mate last week to ask a cheeky favour and in catching up I asked how things had been. “Better now”, he started. I gulped. I had pretty much guessed what was coming next. “We had a rough month last month”. Another pause. “We had a miscarriage…and you know all about that right?” I nodded to […]
April 12, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 318
Hank Snow, Snow in Hawaii (1967) I could tell you I am some sort of Hank Snow fan – and though that’s true I couldn’t tell you that I planned to own this album. It was a classic impulse buy, everything lined up – the title grabbed me, Hawaii is of interest lately (a planned holiday on the […]
April 11, 2019 by Simon Sweetman