Off The Tracks

Off The Tracks
  • Blog
    • Interviews
    • Miscellany
    • Special Guests
    • Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • The Vinyl Countdown
  • Back Catalogue
  • About
    • About
    • About the banner image
    • On Song

Posts Tagged Video

Archive

June 21, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

The Video Store Raised Us And We Turned Out Okay…Mostly

When we were six, seven, eight years old…we being me, my cousins, and my brother (who had a few years on us and was therefore ‘the responsible one’) we found our second home in The Green Frog Video Store, in Napier. We were not early adopters. We did not have a VHS player. But my […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Blog, DVD, Films, Green Frog, Green Frog Video Store, Mostly, Movies, The Video Store Raised Us, The Video Store Raised Us And We Turned Out Okay…Mostly, Video, Video Store, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

July 28, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: The Overdues

There was that time when I worked in a video store, and we were allowed to borrow the preview-tapes and screeners. These had the full movie on them, but they also had a message that would roll along the screen telling you the name of the film – which was fine, didn’t bother me and […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged & Videotape, Job, Poem, Poem: The Ovedues, The Overdues, VHS, Video, Video Store ·

Archive

March 19, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Video Store Homily

I worked in a video store – but only for a few weeks. I wish it was longer. But it was still a good time. And this was in the time of VHS tapes. Actual videos. I’d grown up, in some sense, in the video stores of New Zealand. Renting anything that needed to be […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Amalgamated Video, Aro Street Video, DVD, Green Frog, Poem, Poem: Video Store Homily, United Video, VHS, Video, Video Ezy, Video Store, Video Store Homily ·

Archive

February 3, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: I Used To Be Scared of Horror Films So I Watched Every Single One From The Local Video Store And Now I’m Cured

When I was a kid a rather stupid movie had a deep impact on me. It’s called Alligator. It’s from about 1980 – and I reckon we saw it just a few years after that. And in it, a pet alligator gets flushed down the loo. It ends up in the sewer where the bodies […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged A Nightmare On Elm Street, Alligator, DVD, Friday The 13th, Halloween, Horror, Horror Films, Horror Movies, I Used To Be Scared of Horror Films So I Watched Every Single One From The Local Video Store And Now I’m Cured, Movies, Poem, Poem: I Used To Be Scared of Horror Films So I Watched Every Single One From The Local Video Store And Now I’m Cured, Rental, VHS, Video, Video Tape, Video Tapes ·

Archive

March 26, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The 1001 Albums Challenge # 137: Britney Spears – “…Baby One More Time”

I never listened to this at the time – but I couldn’t avoid the videos for the big singles, particularly the title track. It was everywhere. This was a teen sensation – and it was pitched in all the right ways (or wrong ways if you think about it) to a broad audience. Britney Spears, former child star, was […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 1001, 1001 Albums, 1001 Albums To Hear Before You Die, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, 1990s, 1999, Baby One More Time, Britney, Britney Spears, Britney Spears - “...Baby One More Time”, Fantasy, Nineties, Oops I Did It Again!, Pop, Teenager, The 1001 Albums Challenge, The 1001 Albums Challenge # 137, The 1001 Albums Challenge # 137: Britney Spears - “...Baby One More Time”, Video ·

Archive

December 4, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

Movies of My Life # 16: The Compleat Beatles

Maybe it’s because it’s hard to find and best remembered for what it represented (also: time/place) but I reckon The Compleat Beatles is the very best Beatles doco there’s ever been. It shits on The Anthology which is not terrible, but is, probably, far too much of a good thing. When The Anthology was released […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged # 16: The Compleat Beatles, Beatlemania, Beatles, Billy J. Kramer, Billy Preston, Compleat, Doc, Doco, Documentary, Fab 4, Film, George Martin, Gerry Marsden, Home Video, Laser Disc, Lazer Disc, Lenny Kaye, Malcolm McDowell, Marianne Faithfull, Merseysound, Movie, Movies, Movies of My Life, Movies of My Life # 16, Movies of My Life # 16: The Compleat Beatles, Movies of My Life started life as a series of posts on the Phantom Billstickers Facebook page, The Beatles, The Compleat Beatles, Tony Sheridan, VHS, Video ·

Archive

April 27, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

Video Premiere: “Jezebel” by Engine Summer

Introducing the brand new video clip for Jezebel by Engine Summer. Engine Summer’s album, Trophy Kids is available now. You gotta hear this thing – so, so good, a glorious, infectious blast of 90s indie-pop with throwbacks to 60s garage rock – short, sharp, hooky, catchy. It’s everything good pop music should be. Whether you’re in with the in […]
Posted in Blog · Tagged "Jezebel" by Engine Summer, Bandcamp, Engine Summer, Jezebel, LP, Trophy Kids, Video, Video Premiere, Video Premiere: "Jezebel" by Engine Summer, Vinyl ·

Archive

August 25, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

I Was Architecture Dancing When They Were 12: Remembering When Autozamm Wrote A Song About Me, Made A Video With Some Fat Goof Eating ‘Sweets’ To Get Their Point Across Then Promptly Deleted It When The Backlash Hit

It was weird. I wrote about how this band, Autozamm, seemingly a band (with a shit name) that no one gave a fuck about. I wrote about how they’d been funded and funded, they’d score so much money from the Govt-purse and done 5/8s of fuckall with it, max. They were garbage. But they kept […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Autozamm, Blog, Funding, I Was Architecture Dancing When They Were 12: Remembering When Autozamm Wrote A Song About Me, Made A Video With Some Fat Goof Eating ‘Sweets’ To Get Their Point Across Then Promptly Deleted It When The Backlash Hit, NZ On Air, The Joke That Is NZ On Air Funding, The Review, Video ·

Archive

August 1, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 523

Massive Attack, Mezzanine (1998) I remember seeing the video for Teardrop – and stopping in my tracks. It was a Saturday morning, it was peak-era for MTV and the whole integration of music/videos for me; you watched music TV, you took it in, it was how you found out about new stuff. I was probably […]
Posted in Blog, The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged 1998, Inertia Creeps, LP, Massive Attack, Mezzanine, Music Video, Record, Teardrop, The Vinyl Countdown # 523, Tricky, Trip-Hop, Video, Vinyl ·

Archive

April 4, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

Short Film: For The Record – Southbound Record Shop

Check out this cool short film by Camaraderie – it’s specifically about Southbound Record Shop in Auckland, but within that it’s about records, our love of the format, what we find; a wee film that celebrates vinyl enthusiasts. For The Record – Southbound Record Shop from Camaraderie on Vimeo. A film where kiwi music enthusiasts share their […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Camaraderie, Documentary, Exclusive, For the Record, LP, Record, Record Store Day, Short Film, Short Film: For The Record - Southbound Record Shop, Southbound, Southbound Record Shop, Video, Vimeo, Vinyl, Vinyl Revival ·

Archive

February 8, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

Video Premiere: Bluebeards and Monsters by Leila Adu

Introducing the brand new video and song by Leila Adu – please share and listen. Also available to stream and purchase from Bandcamp. Leila has recorded four albums to date, including working with Steve Albini. She has a new album on the way and works across improvisation, orchestral composition and other forms of music and […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Adu, Bandcamp, Bluebeards and Monsters, Leila, Leila Adu, Song, Video, Video Premiere, Vimeo ·

Archive

December 6, 2015 by Simon Sweetman

You Must Remember This: The Aro Street Video Store

It was sad to read about the imminent demise of Aro Video. In a sense it wasn’t news, I’m a regular customer. I’m there several times a week – it’s near my doorstep, I know the owner, I know the staff, they’ve told me times are tough and business is hard work; a lot of […]
Posted in Blog · Tagged Andrew, Andrew Armitage, Aro Street, Aro Street Video Store, Aro Video, Bananas in Pyjamas, Blog On The Tracks, Books, Bookseller, Boutique Store, Downloading, DVD, DVD Store, Essay, Music Store, Netflix, Off The Tracks, Rant, Rental, Retail, Review, Streaming, Stuff.co.nz, Sunset Industry, Video, You Must Remember This, You Must Remember This: The Aro Street Video Store ·
← Older posts

Popular

  • The Sad Story of Bob Welch: Fleetwood Mac’s Most Undervalued Member
  • Janna Lapidus Leblanc: Four Years In Pictures
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 8 – Mark Knopfler
  • Revisiting Live at Knebworth (1990)
  • The Beast: Revisiting John Bonham’s Glory
  • Going Back To Lou Reed: Time To Revisit His Strange, Wonderful, Weird Catalogue
  • When You Have To Work To Love An Album And It’s Worth It
  • The Ballad of The Finn Brothers: A Musical Life Between Them
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 11 – Lindsey Buckingham
  • Sweetman Podcast: Episode 73 – Janna Lapidus Leblanc

Archives

Tags

Album Review Auckland Blog Book Book Review Chat Compilation DJ Drums DVD DVD Review EP Film Film Review Gig Gig Review Guest Blog Guitar Interview Jazz Live Live Gig LP Movie Music NZ Podcast Poem Poetry Record Records Simon Sweetman Soundtrack Spotify Stub Stubs Sweetman Podcast The Vinyl Countdown Vinyl Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron Wellington Wgtn Writing You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron [OST]

Categories

  • Back Catalogue
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Miscellany
  • Mixtapes
  • Playlists
  • Podcasts
  • Reviews
  • Scene Of The Day
  • Special Guests
  • The Vinyl Countdown

Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

Off The Tracks aims to provide quality reviews and essays, regular blog updates about the shows, albums, books and movies you should be experiencing.

It's a passion project. Your support will help to keep Off The Tracks online.

All content © 2022 by Off The Tracks. WordPress Themes by Graph Paper Press