Sitemap - 2023 - Sounds Good!
Easy Star All-Stars: Ziggy Stardub
Poem: You Can’t Handle The Messiah!
The Last Time I’ll Write About Music…in 2023
I Always Find It So Hard To Read On Holiday…
Juliana Hatfield: Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO
The Best Albums In 2023 That I Never Even Bothered Reviewing Because No One Reads/Needs Reviews
New Second Storey Teller Track: Half a Cookie
I Done Good Reading This Year!
Kate Simon: Rebel Music - Bob Marley & Roots Reggae
New Second Storey Teller Track: Slow Ox
Covid Watching Diary (December 13-18)
It’s The End of The Year (As We Know It) And I DON’T Feel Fine
Poem: Things We Said Today About The Beatles That Your Mother Should Know
Dirty Spoons' Final Show For 2023: MOON, Sunday, December 17, 3pm with Topdresser and Interlopers
Read The Beatles: New Book Collecting Obsession Unlocked!
Philip Norman: George Harrison - The Reluctant Beatle
The Best Single-Season/Limited-Series TV Shows I Watched in 2023
The Master of Mergers & Acquisitions
Poem: Transcription of Silence
Poem: Poem For The New Government, Arriving 40 Days Late But Coming Just As Soon As They Can!
Playlist: The World Is Not Ending (Yet)
Treasure Island - The Pantomime: Theatre
Albums I Could Not Live Without (Part 2) - The Beatles Together and Solo
Poem: I’m Not A Total Try-Hard Troglodyte, I’m Just Cosplaying Nostalgia
The Best Music Book of the Year Is Here And I Must Have It!
The Subtle Devastation of the Right Kind of Very Sad Film
Gig Review: Kristin Hersh Stares Through You And So Do Her Songs
The Brilliance of OutKast - and especially Andre 3000
Playlist: If You Must Know - Songs That Are Masterpieces
Poem: With Almost Any Kind of Luck
Poem: "They're Only The Band The Beatles Could Have Been"
Dirty Spoons at the Brooklyn Twilight Festival, Saturday, November 11
Happy 80th Birthday Joni Mitchell
Poem: He Tried To Be Better Than He Was
Lament For The Numb: 30th Anniversary Vinyl Edition!
FIVE MUST READ MEMOIRS for The Christmas Holidays
Gig Review: The Slick Sounding Fox Band Makes Music Jump And There Are No Lazy Rhymes
Gig Review: The Slick Sounding Fox Band Makes Music Jump And There Are No Lazy Rhymes
"Could it 'BE' any more tragic?" - A Eulogy (of sorts) for Matthew Perry aka Chandler Bing
Gig Review: The Penguin Really Does Go! (Go!) - GoGo Penguin Live at the Wellington Jazz Festival
Gig Preview: Dirty Spoons, Common Room, Hastings Fringe, Saturday, November 4, 2023
Gig Review: The Penguin Really Does Go! (Go!) - GoGo Penguin Live at the Wellington Jazz Festival
Some things Old, some things from the News, some things Borrowed, and some Blues: `(Take 4)
Poem: Tracy Chapman's First Album is a Balm
Yes, You Can Totally Read The Book AFTER Seeing The Film, Right?!
Killers of the Flower Moon is The Greatest Film Ever Made: FACT!
Playlist: The Jazz of Shapes To Come
The Must-Read Julia Fox Memoir
Random Film News Based on Random Viewing
Poem: The Rag and Bone Shop Sells Art
Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 2: The Necks, Hanging Gardens (1999)
Short Story: "It's A Great Day For New Zealand", says Fitzy and Bluey
30 Albums That Are 30 Years Old That I Still Listen To
The Apparent Rise of Reading Fashion
The Subscriber Digest: October 2023
From The Archives: The Joe Walsh Interview
Playlist: Dinosaur Jr at the Fillmore in San Francisco, September 2023
Playlist: Tangerine Dream Setlist: San Francisco, September 2023
Stewart Copeland: Police Deranged For Orchestra
Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 1: Suzanne Vega, Nine Objects of Desire (1996)
“Weird Al” Yankovic: WEIRD - The Al Yankovic Story (Original Soundtrack)
Poem: Watching the first “Carrie” remake after all these years
Even Natalie Merchant Catches A Cold Sometimes!
We Go On Holiday! We Buy Books! (I Was Not Joking When I Said This Earlier)
Gig Review: Dinosaur Jr (Sept 22, San Francisco, USA)
Gig Review: Tangerine Dream (Sept 20, San Francisco, USA)
Where Have All The Cowgirls Gone?
TL;DR - I Fell In Love With Writing Letters (Again)
Only CDs Is Sounding Like These: New Series
Ten Films I Just Like Hanging Out With
A Friday morning musical miscellany
Drummers You Just Can’t Beat: # 22 – Moe Tucker
Playlist: Bloody Good Horror Scores
V/A: A Song For Leon - A Tribute To Leon Russell
Playlist: Everything But The XX
One Hundred Cues For A Thousand Screams
Dirty Spoons: Live at Next Big Thing, Masterton (August 19)
Poem: The Music from 'The Stand' Is On A Loop
The Subscriber Digest: September 2023
Playlist: Nick Cave's Red Hand Files Introduction to the Music of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Poem: When Your Comfort Is Shook
Beth Orton Was Brilliant. And She’s Back. And Coming To New Zealand!
Natalie Merchant: Keep Your Courage
Oscar Sweetman And The Shawshank Redemption
30 Great Songs From The Last 30 Years
Playlist: Simone Came For Dinner
Poems. And Ideas That Would Like To Be Poems.
Dirty Spoons at The Next Big Thing, Saturday, August 19, Masterton
What A Good Score! – #31: The Killing Fields by Mike Oldfield
Three Very Special Pop Albums I Love
Playlist: Coming In From The Cold
Oscar Sweetman Reviews the NZ Book Awards YA Finalists
Some things Old, some things from the News, some things Borrowed, and some Blues: (Take 3)
Here's A (Happy) Wee Memory...
Mark Lockett: Swings & Roundabouts
Gig Review: Bic Runga Is Better Than I Have Ever Seen Her - The Songs As Good As I Remembered
Gig Review: Bic Runga Is Better Than I Have Ever Seen Her - The Songs As Good As I Remembered
Poem: Disappointment is the only appointment I keep
Five (or six) Forever Friday Favourites
Some Sinead O’Connor Favourites
Playlist: Barack Obama's Summer Listening Playlist 2023
Dirty Spoons at MOON this Friday, July 28, opening for QUAINT (EP Release Party)
Barbie and Oppenheimer Selflessly Saved Cinema This Weekend
The King Loser Film Is The Big Winner This Year
Having A Good Time with Banned Books
Books That Blew My Mind # 10: “The Complete Prose of Woody Allen” by Woody Allen
Poem: Dinner With An Old Friend
Dirty Spoons at Vogelmorn Bowling Club: Saturday, July 22
Today, I’m Thinking About Marshall Crenshaw.
Kraftwerk is Coming To NZ: November/December 2023
Poem: Not All Heroes Wear A Tiny Cottonwool Badge With Medical Tape On Their Sleeve
Poem: Complete Images\Master Image Folder*.jpg
Going Back To The Classic Anthology Series’
Dirty Spoons at Mainly Acoustic in Upper Hutt: Tuesday, July 11
Some things Old, some things from the News, some things Borrowed, and some Blues: (Take 2)
Playlist: Faith No More, Wellington Setlist (May 1993)
Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 54 – Prince, Emancipation
Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 54 – Prince, Emancipation
Poem: Controlling Your Stories
Keeping up with the King: On reading and watching Stephen King
Towards The Democracy of Poetry: New, Short Narrative Works
Playlist: Start The Week Right
Put The Bunny Back on the Big Screen!
What A Good Score! – # 30: The Boys by The Necks
The New "Off The Tracks" Here on Substack...let me know if you want to to be comped a premium sub.
The New "Off The Tracks" Here on Substack...let me know if you want to to be comped a premium sub.
Joe Satriani: The Shape of Things To Come (Live 1988)
Tár is a Work of Genius, Several Geniuses Even.
Theatre Review: Prima Facie (Circa Theatre, Wellington, until July 22)
Theatre Review: Prima Facie (Circa Theatre, Wellington, until July 22)
The Cosmic Debris: The Cosmic Debris
Dirty Spoons to play on RadioActive’s Americana Show w/ Shady
JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound: Howl
Old Music Made New and The Future of “Sounds Good!”
Whatever Happened To Tracey...From Rotorua
This Year’s Music Books (So Far)
Andrew Kerr with Alan Norman and the Scarborough Connection: For The Record
Collecting Cult Films on Letterboxd
Frank Talbot: Mundane Life Updates
Poem: Listening to Patsy Cline on TikTok
I watched a LOT of movies this weekend.
Gig Preview: Lawnmaster w/ Dirty Spoons, Thursday, June 22, 2023, MOON, Newtown, Wellington, 7.30pm
It Was The Best Gig Ever # 28: Jonathan Richman, Oakland 2016
The Impressions I Got: Discovering Curtis Mayfield At The End of A World
I’m Not Saying I Should Have Seen All These Things But I Am Saying I’m Glad I Did
Guest Post: 10 Albums I Couldn’t Live Without by Si White
Dirty Spoons will be Special Guests: Poquito 'Singer Songwriter' Night, Thursday, June 8, 2023
2023: A Stanley Kubrick Boxset Oddity
10 Years Ago I Had The Greatest Gig Experience of My Life
Gig Review: Quite The Magic Trick - Weyes Blood Live. Holy Flux!
The Influential Score behind Planet of the Apes
Playlist: More Good Tunes For More Good Times
Miranda July's Kajillionaire: A Must Re-Watch!
Face Value Is A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Poem: Play What You'd Like To Hear
Gig Review: The Music of Hans Zimmer and Others (Wellington, May 14)
How Anger, Humour and Politics Shaped and Shattered Gil Scott-Heron
Tangerine Dream: Botanique Orangerie Session 2022
TV Shows That Meant The World To Me: #14 – The Golden Girls
The Must-Watch Michael J. Fox Documentary
Let’s All Fund A Film About Don McGlashan
Herdís Stefánsdóttir: Knock At The Cabin (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Guest Post: HeHatesNovels BookTube by Oscar Sweetman
The Golden Hues of Nostalgia TV
Some things Old, some things from the News, some things Borrowed, and some Blues
On: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Stubs # 296 – Diana Krall, Wellington, 2005
The Punk Rock Socks: Punk Rock Socks
The Bobby Holidays: At The Beach
Hannah Griffin / Norman Meehan / Thomas Voyce: Wāhine
Oscar Sweetman, Book Reviewer:
The Education of Listening to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Still
Guy Wishart: Where The River Runs Through
When You Find Great New Music It's Always A Happy Time
Rodger Fox Big Band: plays Hone Tuwhare
Justin DeHart: Percussion Spheres
Ben Powell: New Jazz Standards Vol 6 - The Music of Carl Saunders
Poem: Directly After The Event
Finding Great New Music Can Make Your Whole Week!
Poem: Poetry Is Never About What It Is, It's About What It's Not:
Nick Cave and Sean O'Hagan: Faith, Hope And Carnage
Some favourite recent film scores
The Sound of Trees Haunts Me Still. (I’m Forever Grateful For That)
Have A GOOD Friday! Here’s Some Music For Ya!
Albums I Could Not Live Without: Part 1
Playlist: Good Tunes For Good Times
You must remember This Podcast!
Albums I Could Not Live Without (Part 1)
Movies of My Life # 29: Pulp Fiction
"Surrendering" - In Which I Finish Bono's Book And Love It So Very Much!
Poem: The stridency of some of my cherished positions is softening
Dirty Spoons Will Be Part of the Aro Fair: Saturday, April, 2023
Those Songs Still Shine: The Music of the Carpenters
Playlist: A Family of Liars (Mixtape)
Poem: Organised Religion is Atheism’s Greatest Gift
Gig Review: Madeleine Peyroux (Wellington, March 16)
TV Is The Thing This Year: Getting The Big TV
Gig Review: Sacred Reich & Vio-Lence (Wellington, March 14)
Patrick Bateman Reviews "Dire Straits"
Gig Review: Brian Jackson (Wellington, March 11)
Top 10 Concert Films of All Time
My Top 10 All-Time Favourite Concert Films
Gig Review: Pavement (Wellington, March 8)
Gig Review: The Big Drum Off Drum Workshop (March 8, Wellington)
Short Story: You Know Why Homeless People Don’t Like Blowjobs? Because They Don’t Like Any Jobs!
Gig Review: The Big Drum Off 2023 (March 7, Palmerston North)
I Am So Old I Can Remember When Chris Rock Was Funny
In Bed with Schoenberg: Theatre
Dark Side of The Moon Turns 50
Three Drumming Legends Are About To HIT New Zealand!
Peter Erskine / Darek Oles / Alan Paqua: Live in Italy
The Optics of Modern Music Biopics, Gah! I Blame Bohemian Rhapsody…
The Very True Story of My Cyndi Lauper Obsession
Gig Review: Boy Harsher (February 17, Wellington)
Terrible Maladies Telling Me Beautiful Things
Terrible Maladies Telling Me Beautiful Things
Lazy Hot Takes on Classic Films
This Newsletter Is Two: “Sounds Good!” Celebrates Its 2nd Birthday
Stubs: # 295 – Crowded House, Napier, 2021
My Latest YouTube Crush: My Favourite New Sport
1980s Movie Soundtracks - What A Feeling!
When A Song Knocks You Out So You Play It On A Loop
Robert Forster: The Candle and The Flame
On: ChatGPT - The Future Won't Be Written By Us At Present
Back on the Poems (The first for 2023)
Love from Welly - A Fundraiser for Tāmaki Makaurau Whānau
Gig Review: Cowboy Junkies (January 28, Wellington)
A Few New Albums That Are Catching My Ear
Stubs: # 294 – Lucy Dacus, Wellington, 2022
Just A Few Stray Thoughts on Billie Holiday
Poem: Credit Where Cash Is Due
Here's Why I Won't Ever Watch Avatar
The Ordinary Experience of Meeting Famous People
Playlist: 100 Little Somethings
Summer Laughs at Tapere Iti (January 20, Wellington)
Short Story: We Do Talk About Bruno
100 Little Somethings For Your Weekend/s
New Year, New Albums To Listen To…
Jeff Beck: There Was No One Greater
The Best TV Shows For Me in 2022
Guest Post: Si White offers Five Films That Stay With Him
Hobblings... (More short, short autobiographical fiction)
What A Good Score # 29: Full Metal Jacket by Abigail Mead + Various
Short Story: "Being Backstage"
Stubs: # 293 – The Renderers, Wellington, 2022
Poem: 17th Wedding Anniversary
The Good Things About The Bad Plus
Short Story: Perfect Strangers
Tim Fitzgerald’s Full House: Tim Fitzgerald’s Full House
Dirty Spoons Will Be Part of The Newtown Festival: Sunday, March 5, 2023
Nice Work John! (A New Short, Short Story)