The Holidays, The Bubble, Billy Preston, Ben Elton and Anita O'Day, o'yeah...

Weekend Links and Updates

Well, week one of the school holidays is in the can. And it’s been a good one here at the Sweetman house. The Trans-Tasman bubble extension means we have some visitors. What a treat. Some of the family even made it onto the pages of Stuff. Which, in today’s money, is like being a guest on the Jerry Springer show!

And yesterday, we took advantage of the glorious weather and took a trip to Matiu / Somes Island. Only the second time I’ve been there in a quarter-century of living in Wellington. It’s a nice walk (after the obligatory boat-ride of course). We had a picnic, saw some sheep - but neither chased nor patted them (as per instructions during the induction chat) and then made it back home for more good weather on dry-land.

It’s been a good week. A busy week. Lots on. And all good things. The arrival of my sister-in-law, neice and nephew was obviously the big highlight for us all and a treat to have cousins at play every day. But there was still work to do - fortunately it was very cool work. I told you all about seeing TRANSMISSION - I believe you can purchase a live-stream link to watch on Tuesday since the show’s season is so very sold out that even the addition of an extra show was snapped up and sold out in some 15 minutes!

On Wednesday I interviewed Ben Elton. More on that in a future post no doubt. But what a thrill to speak to someone whose work has been in my head and influencing my life for nearly four decades. I was far too young of a one to actually be watching The Young Ones, but I did anyway. And it got right in my brain. Where it stays to this day. I love some of his books (haven’t read them all) and of course there are other shows he’s helped to create and I’ve seen his two previous stand-up tours of NZ and will be heading along next month to catch him or a third time. For sure.

I was on RNZ earlier in the week doing another of my music features - this time a tribute to some of the work by Billy Preston. What an enormous talent Preston was - playing with everyone, very nearly the fifth Beatle and then the sixth Rolling Stone. There was his own work plus he created music with Sam Cooke, Sly Stone, Little Richard, Mahalia Jackson, The Everly Brothers, Eric Clapton and so many more names. He was even on Jet’s debut record. Lol.

Anyway, as well as the link there to listen to the feature if you missed it I’ll include below the playlists I made - the first is of the songs chosen for the feature. A snapshot. The second is a wide-ranging 50 track “anthology” grab-bag. So if you want to take your own deep-dive into some of the music Billy Preston had a hand in - this is the way…

And my podcast this week was with Steve Braunias. I feel like I’ve been hoping to talk to Steve ever since I started the podcast. So it was a treat to finally pin him down, as it were.

I also had a crack at a short story this week. I write a few stories. Many of them end up in ‘poem’ form but sometimes I write them as prose, to stay as prose. Maybe it’s more a case of “flash fiction” actually, since it’s not a long short-story by any stretch at all. But I was very pleased with it and I thought you might like to have a read.

REVIEWS:

Everyone is gushing over this album by Floating Points with jazz legend Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony. And now it’s my turn. A very good album to kick back and relax to - a strange kind of ambient record. I do wonder if it is somehow being over-hyped but the end result is pretty extraordinary.

Norah Jones hasn’t hit it out of the park with every album - at least not as far as I’m concerned, but in recent years she’s had a remarkable run and, finally, we get to hear the results of her brilliant live band. I saw this group and this sort of setlist on her tour a couple of years ago but it’s nice to be reminded with this compilation live album from shows across 2017-2019.

I used to listen to the Neil Cowley Trio - a very good British jazz group. Cowley had a side-gig playing piano for Adele (not a bad hustle) but here he reinvents himself as solo piano man in the vein of Olafur Arnalds or Nils Frahm. Glorious wee album.

Both Archie Shepp and Jason Moran have long, established careers as both bandleaders and sidemen. This was the first time they played together. A really special album this.

Don’t panic. This is not that dead-eyed monster that ran the country into the ground. This is a different John Key altogether. And this is his very best album!

READING:

I am all about Anita O’Day at the moment, it’s sent me out to buy CDs again as well as vinyl. And watching lots of classic YouTube footage. More on Anita another time no doubt - and in fact I’m starting work on a slightly secret project at the moment that involves some Anita O’Day research. So, I’m back to her brilliant, outrageous memoir. I read most of it a while back. Time to start at the start again and this time finish the job. One of the best music autobiographies I know.

Gabbie Hanna is a YouTuber, influencer, singer, and, er, “Internet Personality” - lol. I hadn’t heard of her either. Not until a Facebook friend was curious to know if I’d read her poetry - on account of her going nuts at people for not liking it. It’s all publicity stunt stuff of course, she’s a soulless monster with new music on the way - but none of that was going to stop me from Kindle purchasing her nonsense poems to churn through. Can I get another Lol? Hell yeah!

And I have an advance copy of Tayi Tibble’s new volume of poems. Really looking forward to this - it’s not out until June. But it’s going to be one of the best-received, best-reviewed, most-revered collections of poems from a New Zealand writer this year. Easy.

WATCHING:

Call off the search. I’ve found it. The Greatest Show In The History of TV.
I watch a lot of trash but I’m not usually so hungry for a guilty-pleasure TV show. But I am all in - eyeballs on stalks. Everything about this is big, loud and unsubtle. The score is embarrassing. The acting is OTT, the writing is thick with, erm, thickness. It’s visually pedestrian. Every move is telegraphed. It’s soap-opera writ large. And I fucking love it. This week at least.

For my sins I’ve never watched Sons Of Anarchy. Until now, that is. Midway through the first season and it’s a fun binge-watch. I think I’m all in eh.

LISTENING:

New podast recommendation. Full Disclosure with James O’Brien. This guy (British journalist and broadcaster) is a top-notch interviewer. I am loving these episodes.

My favourite regular podcast (WTF w/ Marc Maron) had John Waters on this week. So that’s also a must! John Waters turned 75 this week too. Happy Birthday to the Pope of Trash!

I mentioned Anita O’Day up above in the READING section. Well, yesterday, I bought a CD - Anita O’Day Swings Cole Porter With Billy May. This 1959 classic was my introduction to Anita (alongside the Jazz On A Summer’s Day film from the same year). And though I have the LP and you can stream it galore I just had to have the CD (nostalgia, memories, portability). Such a great collection.

LINKS:

Know your Anzac Day History

Paula Green’s Poetry Shelf. Paula was honoured for her services to poetry. My publishers (The Cuba Press) call her “Poetry’s Best Friend” and I like that a lot. Her site is where you go for all poetry news, loads of great examples, reviews, commentary and even poets sending in YouTube clips of live readings. It’s a must for you or the poetry-fan in your life.

Right, I think that’ll do it for this week. Enjoy your day - this update hits you today instead of yesterday because of our Somes trip. And obviously today is ANZAC Day with a public holiday being observed tomorrow so I hope it’s been and continues to be a great long weekend for you and yours. And if you’re deep in the school-holiday zone, we’re halfway there. Keep living on a prayer!

The End?