Standing Room Only for Sunday 23 May 2021

 

12:16   We disappear - an album over 30 years in the making

 

Wellington is famous for its rock and roll mavericks - people who rocked for a while then moved to other fields.  Legendary drummer, the late Bruno Lawrence quit Blerta and the Crocodiles to become one of the great instinctive movie actors.  Fellow Crocodile Fane Flaws became a hugely successful commercial artist and composer, while another,Tony Backhouse, turned to training gospel choirs around the world.

But in music it's often the one that got away that drives you crazy.  And for Fane and Tony it was an album called We Disappear.  

Simon Morris has known them both for longer than he cares to remember.  He picks up the story, and plays some of the tracks - all based on the poetry of Sam Hunt..

Among the musicians are Peter Dasent, Bruno Lawrence; Jonathan Zwartz, Rick Bryant,Jenny Morris, Margot Pierard and Nick Bollinger.

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12:30  Voices of Vanuatu

A 'first of its kind' anthology of new writing by three generations of women writers from Vanuatu offers us a remarkable insight into their lives, their joys, their hopes and their frustrations.

Sista, Stanap Strong!  includes poetry, fiction, essay, memoir, and song by ni-Vanuatu women - those who still live there - and others who are part of the diaspora.

The book was planned to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Vanuatu's independence last year, but Covid delayed its publication until now.

On the plus side, it's given the editors  - Mikaela Nyman who lives in New Plymouth and Rebecca Tobo Olul-Hossen who's ni-Vanuatu - more time to gather material.

They talk to Lynn Freeman about the birth of the anthology.   Sista, Stanap Strong!  is published by Victoria University Press.
 

12:46  The NZSO's big Budget score

Among the notable arts winners from this week's budget announcement is the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

It's getting an extra $3.2 million to tide it over the next two years. The orchestra is also in the midst of changing the funding model it's had for years, ahead of celebrations for its 75th anniversary in 2022.

The Royal New Zealand Ballet company also received more money in the budget, around $1.15 million. 

Both sums are on top of the government's lifeline post-Covid-19 lockdown funds.

Lynn Freeman asks the NZSO's Chief Executive Peter Biggs if the budget allocation of extra funds is what they'd asked the government for.

 

1:10 At The Movies

Simon Morris looks at four women-led films.  In the cinemas, Litigante and Those who wish me dead, and on Netflix The Woman at the Window and The Mitchells vs The Machines.

 

1:31  Photographing Londoners through windows during the lockdown

Looking out from Within  - a series of portraits of Londoners looking out from their windows during the UK's protracted lockdown - is about to go on show at the Auckland Festival of Photography.

Just as arresting as the photographs are the stories of the people who agreed to pose for them.

Photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten is known for her highly cinematic, posed photographs created with a large production team.  But for this series, it was just her and her teenage son helping to carry her cameras. 

Londoners were allowed just one hour a day out of their homes during the strictest lockdowns.  Julia tells Lynn Freeman she wanted to spend hers documenting members of her community looking out of their windows onto a different world.

Looking out from Within opens on the 31st of May at Silo Park as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography. 

And Julia will be launching a kickstarter campaign soon so she can create a book of the images.
 

1:50  The bard of the West Coast, the late Peter Hooper

Painter Colin McCahon was so enchanted by the poetry of West Coaster Peter Hooper that he used his poems in several artworks.  .

20 years after his death, Peter's published and previously unpublished poetry has finally found a home in an anthology called Rejoice Instead. 

The book is being launched at the upcoming Readers and Writers Festival at the little West Coast town of Blackball.

Greymouth-born, Peter Hooper was also a novelist, teacher, environmentalist and mentor to many young writers.

Lynn Freeman speaks to the editor of Rejoice Instead, Pat White - one of Peter's former students and writer of his biography - and to David Young, who went on to publish Peter's poetry in the 1970s.

Rejoice Instead: Collected Poems: Peter Hooper is published by Cold Hub Press.  It will be launched at the Blackball Readers and Writers Festival on Queen's Birthday Weekend.    
 

2:06 The Laugh Track - Paul Douglas

This is a true story.  We first got tipped off about Paul Douglas sometime last year.  At least two guests on the Laugh Track told us he's really funny, you should get him.  So we asked.  He said no.

Months passed and we saw him at a Comedy Gala.  He was really funny in an R-rated sort of way.  We invited him on the show.  He said no.

Since then it's become a challenge.  And Paul Douglas has learned that he can run but he can't hide!   Paul Douglas joins Simon Morris as today's guest on the Laugh Track.

Paul's picks include Dave Chappelle, Patrice O'Neal, Bill Burr and Guy Montgomery.
 

2:26  Photographer Tony Bridge takes a Walk in the Shadowlands

A waiata and an accompanying photograph for every day of last year's nationwide lockdown was the challenge Te Anau based photographer Tony Bridge set himself. 

Raahui A Walk in the Shadowlands is the book that comes from his daily social media posts over that time. The photographs are intensely coloured, sometimes of a vast landscape and often so abstract that you have to look closely to work out what it is in the picture.

On Day One for example, "in silence untainted by traffic or helicopters or the energy of human intention, I opened my heart and listened to the soft whisper of clouds sliding along the underside of the night...."

Tony was a tour bus guide when the lockdown happened, and he tells Lynn Freeman his writing and photography were what helped him through being cooped up, when he was used to travelling far and wide with his camera.

 

2:38  A romantic novel set during the Springbok Tour

Writer Kerry Harrison delves into her memories of taking part in the 1981 anti-Springbok tour protests for her latest novel, Hold the Line.

In the book, she introduces legal student Beth who joins in the protests, and Viktor, a member of the secretive Police Red Squad.

They keep secrets from each other when they first get together and this tests the fledgling relationship.

Meanwhile the anti-tour stance of Beth and her brother Rob put them in conflict with their rugby fanatic father.

Kerry Harrison talks about the book with Lynn Freeman.

Hold the Line by Kerry Harrison is published by Cloud Ink.
 

 

2:50   The murals of Nelson's ArtWalk

A mural recreating a painting by the late Bill Hammond is about to be added to Nelson's ambitious ArtWalk project.

Rather than being painted onto the sides of buildings, the murals are printed onto aluminium then securely attached to the sides of buildings around the city.

The paintings are selected from Nelson's Suter Art Gallery collection and local fundraising has paid for the murals.

The Hammond work is the 23rd of 28 murals that will make up ArtWalk, with the organisers saying it's been a huge hit with the community.

Prime mover Anne Rush talks to Lynn Freeman about the project.

And if you're in Nelson look out for the Bill Hammond work that's going to be installed this week.

 

3:06 Drama at 3 - Wine lips by Sam Brooks

Wine Lips grapples with the issue of actors having to move around in order to make a living.   Career versus personal relationships......

The play is set in the backstage dressing room of a small theatre, on the closing night of Scotty's last show as stage manager.  He's invited actor and ex-girlfriend Brit to share a bottle of wine with him.   She brings the wine.  He brings the unpleasant memories. 

Wine Lips by Sam Brooks, featuring Karin McCraken as Brit, Tom Clarke as Scot and Jake Brown as Max. 

The production was recorded as part of the 'Live on Stage. Now!' partnership between BATS Theatre and RNZ.