Posts Tagged Festival
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June 10, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Gig Review: Newbop Quintet (June 10, Wellington)
Newbop Quintet Meow, Wellington Jazz Festival Thursday, June 10 An Auckland “supergroup” of session stalwarts was put together to sell classic hard bop-era jazz to casual fans, to purists, to, well, anyone that might turn up. It was a shame more people weren’t there to hear them at Wellington’s Jazz Festival performance, the group’s Capital […]Archive
September 13, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
I Did A Talk About Blogging Now Here’s A Blog About That Talk
This year I was invited to be part of the Manawatu Writers Festival. It’s been a tough year for many things and literary festivals are certainly among the events that have taken a hammering; how hard it must be to organise them anyway. And then the ones that have gone ahead (or are now in […]Archive
June 16, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
#UNFIT – The Psychology of Donald Trump: Film
#UNFIT: The Psychology of Donald Trump Director: Dan Partland Spectrum / Documentary Edge Festival The current sitting president of America – their 45th – is a horrible, uncaring, negative, double-speaking piece of shit. Or, in psychology-speak, a malignant narcissist. Yep, there’s a term for his brand of bullying and gaslighting – mixed with fear, arrogance, […]Archive
March 3, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Gig Review: The New Pornographers (March 3, Wellington)
The New Pornographers MFC, Wellington Tuesday, March 3 Across the last two decades the North American supergroup The New Pornographers has never really let the side down; theirs is a catalogue brimming with competence and, usually, confidence. If anything there’s a safeness that ever so slightly irks – that’s a small and very white complaint […]Archive
February 27, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 246 – Miranda July, Wellington, 2016
When I rented Me And You And Everyone We Know back in 2005 I had no idea who Miranda July was – I was just renting a quirky indie film. But the writer, director and star of the film made an impression and a couple of years later I was buying her book of short […]Archive
December 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Gigs I Saw in 2019
I probably saw fewer gigs – and reviewed fewer gigs – in 2019 than any other year. That’s kinda nice. I also paid for a few shows too; more than other years. That’s also nice – liberating…although I’m so conditioned to writing a review to process the show that I still turn out the reviews […]Archive
August 3, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 231 – Laneway, Auckland, 2019
I don’t get to Auckland for very many gigs – once or twice a year if I’m lucky – it takes a lot of planning (and saving) usually. But since I was in Auckland making my debut on Waiheke Island (and there to do some book research and other work) I realised I just happened to […]Archive
May 11, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Luke Wright – Poet: Reading at Meow, Wellington, Monday, May 13, 2019
Verb Wellington is bringing poet Luke Wright to the capital city this coming Monday, May 13. I’ve just recently finished reading Luke Wright’s volume The Toll – and it contains six or seven of the very best poems I’ve ever read. Which is a phenomenal strike-rate. He has aspects of Stewart Lee and Roger McGough to his […]Archive
April 25, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Preview: Lōemis 2019
Pirate & Queen, the people behind Wellington’s wondrous Litcrawl bring back the Lōemis festival. It’s happening in, around and right through the heart of Wellington from 14 – 22 June, 2019. The festival brings 18 beautifully crafted events spread over nine days at venues across Wellington, leading up to Maruaroa o Takurua, the winter solstice. Lōemis 2019 contains an entirely new […]Archive
January 24, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Laneway 2019: Timetable + Site Map (Monday, January 28)
For me it’s a case of “Laneway…here we come!” for the first time since the first ever NZ edition of the Laneway Festival. So I’m really looking forward to catching some quality acts and taking a punt on a few lesser known (to me) musical gems. I won’t love it all I’m sure, but I’m going in […]Archive
November 9, 2018 by Simon Sweetman