Standing Room Only for Sunday 25 February 2018

 

12:16  Unearthing evidence of New Zealand's early inhabitants

It's taken two years of work so far, and there'll be more years ahead as archaeologists sort though almost 10 thousand objects unearthed from a swamp at the mouth of the Waitaki River over 50 years ago.

The Willetts Collection takes pride of place in the North Otago Museum where it was donated by the family of the farmer who lovingly collected the stone tools, flakes and artefact fragments.

As part of Archaeology Week in May Professor Richard Walter, the head of anthropology and archaeology at the University of Otago, will talk about the cataloguing project so far, and what it's revealed about early human settlement in New Zealand. .

The artefacts date back to when the Polynesians had arrived from Hawaiki and established settlements along the coastlines of New Zealand. Richard Walter is giving a talk about the Willetts collection research at North Otago Museum on May 2.  

Lynn Freeman talked with Richard and with Chloe Searle from the Museum, and asked them why the Willetts collection is so remarkable.

12:34  What's the likely effect of Virtual Reality on our film-makers?

Remember when 3D films were going to be the future of cinema, before it quickly turned into just another fad.

But what about Virtual Reality?  Will VR help filmmakers craft a new kind of experience for film fans or will that too come and go?  It's being explored by some of the next generation of filmmakers at Victoria University's flash new Miramar Creative Centre.

Director of the Centre is award-winning film director and producer Dr Paul Wolffram, whose documentaries include What Lies That Way, and Voices of the Land: Ngā Reo O Te Whenua.

The Creative Centre, based in the heart of Wellywood, has big goals.  It aims to become the 'go-to' postgraduate training facility in the whole of Australasia for film and digital creativity.   Paul Wolffram tells Lynn Freeman it's currently an ideal time for people wanting to work in the film industry.

12:46  Getting up-close to the Southern Cross Cable

Artist Bronwyn Holloway-Smith spent years getting enough scuba-diving experience so that she could touch the Southern Cross Cable on the sea floor.

It's New Zealand's mainline internet connection cable, running across the top of the North Island. But while there was a huge fanfare when it was commissioned in 2000, Bronwyn's found it's now heavily protected - to the point where she wasn't allowed to create public art works around the key logistical sites.

So she's taken a different direction in The Southern Cross Cable : A Tour, as she tells Lynn Freeman..   The tour opens at City Gallery Wellingon, which will also be showing off its new foyer, on Saturday, March 3.

1:10 At The Movies

This week Simon reviews Black Panther, Lady Bird and Loving Vincent.

1:31  20 years of the challenging work of painter Graham Fletcher

An exhibition representing 20 years of Graham Fletcher's paintings - some rescued from obscurity in his mother's garage - is about to go on show in Auckland.

Graham's work is both distinctive and prolific.   His recent series Lounge Room Tribalism features interior spaces crammed full of artifacts that don't, culturally, belong together - often reflecting his own Samoan and European genetic mix.

The Third Space: the Art of Graham Fletcher, which is part of the Auckland Festival programme, is curated by one of Graham's earliest fans, Linda Tyler who's now Associate Professor of the University of Auckland,  Lynn Freeman talks to both Linda and to Graham himsel about the exhibition which opens on March 2  at the Gus Fisher Gallery.

1:47  Behind the scenes - Christchurch Symphony Orchestra volunteers

Continuing our series on people who work behind the scenes of the arts, Lynn Freeman meets two Christchurch Symphony Orchestra volunteers.   They may be separated by about 50 years in age but they're totally united in their love of music and the orchestra.

Philippa Graham is a retired statistician in her early 70s who helps with the setting out and labelling up to 800 seats.  She's also a double bass player for a community orchestra.

24-year-old Caitlin Godfrey coordinates the 100-odd young people who act as ushers, programme sellers and foyer hosts at concerts. Caitlin's also a founding member and vice president of the Christchurch Youth Choir.

 

 

2:06 The Laugh Track - Tegan Jones

Cabaret artist Tegan Jones has a new show at the Fringe Festival - Miley, Moon Unit and Me, which looks at the influence of fathers on female singing stars, including Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus, and Frank and Moon Unit Zappa.

Tegan's Laugh Track picks include Michael McIntyre, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Benedict Cumberbatch and Graham Norton and the cast of Crazy Ex Girlfriend.

 

 

2:26  The Mystery of the Missing McLaughlin

In the mid 1970s, a painting by American artist John McLaughlin went missing while it was moving between art galleries in New Zealand. It was part of a significant exhibition State of California Painting, which toured New Zealand in 1972.  Not only did it disappear.  Before that, it had been badly damaged - even spat at by a member of the public.

Now Los Angeles-based Kiwi artist Fiona Connor has turned detective and created a film and exhibition - Object Classrooms - that trace the movements of John McLaughlin's long-lost painting. The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, which organised the exhibition in the first place, commissioned Fiona's film and opened up its archives to her. 

But she tells Lynn Freeman she first came across the mystery in America.

 

2:40  Early journalist James Boswell - getting out from Dr Johnson's shadow

Eassayist, poet, editor, wit and lexicographer - Dr Samuel Johnson was undoubtedly one of the leading lights of Eighteenth Century England.  And Scottish writer James Boswell's greatest hit was his comprehensive biography of Doctor Johnson.   

But Otago University Senior English lecturer Dr Paul Tankard became curious about Boswell's less recognised journalistic writing for the British press in the late 1700s.  Boswell wrote more than 600 items for 14 newspapers and magazines of London and Edinburgh - most of them anonymously, as was the norm.

Paul's been awarded the William L. Mitchell Prize for Bibliography or Documentary Work on Early British Periodicals or Newspapers for his new book Facts and Inventions: Selections from the Journalism of James Boswell,published by Yale University Press .

Lynn Freeman discovered that many of  the stories hadn't been republished for more than  200 years.  

 

3:06 Drama at 3 - Jolt by Bernard Beckett

Jolt is a psychological thriller about four teenagers caught up in a terrifying adventure on a school trip.   

 

 

Music played in this show

Artist:  Patsy Biscoe
Song:  Ladybird Ladybird
Composer:  Trad
Album: 100 Nursery Rhyme Favourites
Label:  Musicworld
Played at:  12.12

Artist:  Peggy Lee
Song:  Shady Lady Bird
Composer:  Martin-Blane
Album: Peggy Lee sings with Benny Goodman
Label:  Ibiza
Played at: 12.31

Artist: Freya
Song:  Yellow Ladybird
Composer: Dahlgaard-Mosegaard
Album:  Tea with the Queen
Label: N/A
Played at:  12.58

Artist: The Pillows
Song:  Ladybird Girl
Composer:  Yamanaka
Album:  Maxi-Single
Label:  N/A
Played at:  1.07

Artist:  Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood
Song:  Lady Bird
Composer:  Hazlewood
Album:  Lightning's girl
Label: Raven
Played at:  1.44

Artist: Natalie Merchant
Song:  Lady Bird
Composer:  Natalie Merchant
Album:  Natalie Merchant
Label:  Nonesuch
Played at:  1.58

Artist:  The Fall
Song:  Lady Bird
Composer:  Smith
Album:  The Twenty-Seven Points
Label:  Castle
Played at:  2.04

Artist: Moon Unit Zappa
Song:  Valley Girl
Composer:  Zappa-Zappa
Album:  Frank Zappa, The Best Of
Label:  Ryko
Played at:  2.06

Artist:  Tadd Dameron Sextet
Song:  Lady Bird
Composer:  Dameron
Album:  Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz
Label:  Smithsonian
Played at:  2.36

Artist:  Cecilia Bartoli
Song:  La Coccinelle
Composer:  Bizet
Album:  N/A
Label:  N/A
Played at:  2.58

Artist:  Ladybird
Song:  In a sky made of gold
Composer:  Crespi
Album:  N/A
Label:  Private
Played at:  3.04

Artist:  XTC
Song:  Lady Bird
Composer:  Partridge
Album: Mummer
Label:  Virgin
Played at:  3.58

Artist:  Miley Cyrus
Song:  Younger now
Composer:  Cyrus-Yoel
Album:  Younger now
Label:  RCA
Played at:  trailer