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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

This Thursday on the Adventures of the CoffeeBarKid - Duncan Sarkies demolishes the Century!

Demolition of the Century
Ok, We're Back - This week the Kid has Duncan as his guest.

Also, for father's day we have a special facebook give-away - Precious Metals by Gavin Conroy. Check out the Facebook page for more info.

See you 7.30 PM This Thursday Only on Groove 107.7FM

In the meantime here's a few notes the Kid scambled together:

It was one of the great southern scandals of the 1990s. Dunedin's beloved Century cinema was pulled down in 1993 to make way for a tyre shop that's never been built.
A pocket carpark still taunts film-lovers as they head along Princes or Jetty streets. While this sorry episode from Duncan Sarkies' hometown wasn't the direct inspiration for his new, second novel The Demolitionof the Century, he says the story was very pertinent. "I interviewed quite a lot of people from the demolition industry and it was very interesting chatting to them about it and how it happened." Those discussions helped form the character of Spud, whose wrecking ball is taking down the movie theatre of the book's title. He is also one of the men following Tom Spotswood, an insurance investigator who has lost his socks, suitcase, career, ex-wife and son Frank.

Duncan Sarkies

Despite still featuring a main cast of "loser" characters ("I've always been drawn to characters who are a little bit ugly and aren't necessarily going anywhere"), the detective novel represents a departure for the now over-40 Sarkies. "I bit off several challenges here and also had to research for the first time. While I love that I can read my own books and go 'Oh, that comes from here, that comes from there', I thought I'd mined my own life for all it's worth...

"With this, I had to pull a lot of stuff from outside my own life. I'm not an expert on demolition, and I wasn't an expert on horse insurance, so many aspects of the book involved a massive research job. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it, but it took a long time."

He describes the novel- writing process as similar to marathon-running. "A weird mental marathon - you've got to push yourself through, even though you know the end is a long, long, long way away, and the first draft is not one you are going to enjoy reading for posterity." Having taken a long time to get to the writing phases this time, Sarkies set himself goals via a reward system.

"I'd say, 'in this hour I'm going to write 750 words or a full hour, depending on what comes first', which is a good motivation to get the words done so you can knock off early. Setting time goals isn't a good idea because it encourages you to procrastinate." In Sarkies' case, that involved an addictive online game he refuses to name for fear of encouraging others. "I don't know why my brain needs to organise balls and colours, " he lets slip.

He was pretty fit and his Wellington home spotless during Demolition's construction phase.

"I didn't set out to write a detective novel but suddenly it turned into this major piece of structuring and I've always found that the most challenging part of writing. I tried to turn it into a fun process but spent a long time putting cards on the wall and reorganising them - it just turned into a big mess of cards." Ad Feedback Some things are familiar. As in his first novel, Two Little Boys, Demolition uses multiple narrators. "I haven't explored that style of writing of where you play God and get into the thoughts of everyone. I'm quite curious to try that at some point in the future. I do really love getting locked in someone's head, I guess that's the secret buzz of the whole thing in terms of writing prose - getting lost in someone else's thoughts. I have to engage those thoughts, so I guess it's method writing."

With that in mind, Sarkies admits that at times Demolition was quite stressful to write. "When I was writing well that was very painful. That Spud character is really wound up." Although Sarkies currently has no plans for Demolition to follow Two Little Boys' footsteps to the big screen ("I've written too many film scripts that haven't been made"), he's working on projects for both TV and radio. "I've written two episodes for a kung fu comedy for the ABC (currently titled Maximum Choppage) - one features an aphrodisiac duck recipe that causes all sorts of chaos and the other has a fighting fish. It's set in Cabramatta, which is a Vietnamese, Chinese and Cambodian district of Sydney . . . All the whiteys used to be too scared to go there. "When I went there years ago I went to a video game parlour and within two minutes someone was offering to sell me drugs. I think it has changed vastly."

Meanwhile, The Mysterious Secrets of Uncle Bertie's Botanarium is an audio collaboration with artist Stephen Templer and musician Lawrence Arabia. Jemaine Clement plays a fictional Joseph Banks who is on a voyage to look for his long-lost Uncle Bertie who believed he had discovered a plant known to be the source of all pleasure. Having made one episode so far, Sarkies says they're trying to work out what to do with it. "We might pitch it to the BBC or go the podcast route and sell it for $1.99 online."

The Demolition Of The Century by Duncan Sarkies, Penguin, $30.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

This week on the advetures of the CoffeeBar Kid - we get dogmatic!

This week our guest is the venerable Max Cryer - author, broadcaster and dog-bert.  Indeed, he's with us to talk about his new book: Every Dog Has Its Day - A thousand things you didn’t know about man’s best friend

For more go here:
  http://adventuresofthecoffeebarkid.blogspot.co.nz/
   

Plus new (err old) episodes of the great super hero drama - Planetman! 

See you at 7.30 only on Groove!
   


Monday, August 12, 2013

Get Excited Peeps .... BIG DAY OUT 2014 NZ is on it's way

BIG DAY OUT 2014 NZ LINEUP

Pearl Jam * Arcade Fire * Blur * Snoop Dogg aka Snoop Lion
* Major Lazer * Steve Angello * The Lumineers * Tame Impala Dillon Francis * Mac Miller Ghost * Grouplove * Flosstradamus *Portugal. The Man * Toro Y Moi * DIIV * The Naked And Famous Mudhoney * The 1975 * The Phoenix Foundation * SJD * P-Money * Ladi6 * Beastwars * Concord Dawn * Clap Clap Riot * Kody Nielson * Randa * PleasePlease

There are NO added booking fees and no sneaky surcharges. $165 flat at www.bigdayout..com and $165 plus only credit card charges at Ticketmaster. But only 10,000. After that, you’re set to pay $185 – but again, no added booking fees or sneaky surcharges.

For the full skinny go to https://www.facebook.com/bigdayout or http://www.bigdayout.com/

Friday, August 09, 2013

PIXIE WILLIAMS, the singer who gave voice to the Kiwi classic Blue Smoke, has ‘‘drifted by into the deep blue sky’’.

PIXIE WILLIAMS, the singer who gave voice to the Kiwi classic Blue Smoke, has ‘‘drifted by into the deep blue sky’’.

She died aged 85 last Friday at Fergusson Rest Home and Hospital in Upper Hutt, after suffering from dementia, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

Pikiteora Maude Emily Gertrude Edith Williams was born on July 12, 1928, in Mohaka, northern Hawke’s Bay. Her parents died young and, in 1945, she shifted to Wellington and into the YWCA Hostel in Oriental Parade.

There, her beautiful voice came to the attention of 28th Maori Battalion veteran Ruru Karaitiana, who was looking for a singer to bring his song Blue Smoke to life.

Karaitiana composed the song while on a troop ship in 1940. It was popular at troop concerts long before it was recorded by Pixie Williams and the Ruru Karaitiana Quintette at the Radio Corporation’s Columbus Recording Studio in 262 Wakefield St in 1949.

Blue Smoke, sung by Williams, was the first record wholly processed and recorded in New Zealand. It was a huge hit, topping the charts for six weeks and selling 50,000 copies. Dean Martin was one of several international artists who covered it.

Williams’ love of hockey almost scotched the recording programme, as one weekend she preferred her weekly hockey game to a recording ses-
Blue Smoke, the first record wholly made in New Zealand. sion. Teenage crew member John Shears was sent to find her, and recalled yesterday how delighted he was to cajole her back to the studio.

In the summer of 1951, Williams headed south to Dunedin, where she met Irishman Paddy Costello. It was love at first sight. Her promising singing career soon took second fiddle to raising their four children.

Daughter Amelia and friend Julie Powell recently put out a Pixie Williams CD collection comprising 13 songs. Powell runs the Big Bad Wolf Charcuterie in 262 Wakefield St, the same building in which Blue Smoke was recorded. In pride of place on the wall is the original imprint of the 78rpm vinyl Blue Smoke record.

A funeral service for Williams will be held at St Joseph’s Church Upper Hutt at 1pm today. She will be buried beside her husband in Dunedin.

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

No Adventures this Thursday Night / Duncan Sarkies/Demolition of the Century (Penguin $30)

Demolition of the Century
Sorry Folks, the Kid is otherwise detained this Thursday and there will be no adventures this week. But we thoroughly recommend you get along to the Book Launch of Duncan Sarkies' new Mystery Novel: The Demolition of the Century at Mighty Mighty.

http://mightymighty.co.nz/

The Kid will have Duncan as his guest next week. In the meantime here's a few notes the Kid scrambled together:

It was one of the great southern scandals of the 1990s. Dunedin's beloved Century cinema was pulled down in 1993 to make way for a tyre shop that's never been built.
A pocket carpark still taunts film-lovers as they head along Princes or Jetty streets. While this sorry episode from Duncan Sarkies' hometown wasn't the direct inspiration for his new, second novel The Demolitionof the Century, he says the story was very pertinent. "I interviewed quite a lot of people from the demolition industry and it was very interesting chatting to them about it and how it happened." Those discussions helped form the character of Spud, whose wrecking ball is taking down the movie theatre of the book's title. He is also one of the men following Tom Spotswood, an insurance investigator who has lost his socks, suitcase, career, ex-wife and son Frank.

Duncan Sarkies
Despite still featuring a main cast of "loser" characters ("I've always been drawn to characters who are a little bit ugly and aren't necessarily going anywhere"), the detective novel represents a departure for the now over-40 Sarkies. "I bit off several challenges here and also had to research for the first time. While I love that I can read my own books and go 'Oh, that comes from here, that comes from there', I thought I'd mined my own life for all it's worth...

"With this, I had to pull a lot of stuff from outside my own life. I'm not an expert on demolition, and I wasn't an expert on horse insurance, so many aspects of the book involved a massive research job. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it, but it took a long time."

He describes the novel- writing process as similar to marathon-running. "A weird mental marathon - you've got to push yourself through, even though you know the end is a long, long, long way away, and the first draft is not one you are going to enjoy reading for posterity." Having taken a long time to get to the writing phases this time, Sarkies set himself goals via a reward system.

"I'd say, 'in this hour I'm going to write 750 words or a full hour, depending on what comes first', which is a good motivation to get the words done so you can knock off early. Setting time goals isn't a good idea because it encourages you to procrastinate." In Sarkies' case, that involved an addictive online game he refuses to name for fear of encouraging others. "I don't know why my brain needs to organise balls and colours, " he lets slip.

He was pretty fit and his Wellington home spotless during Demolition's construction phase.

"I didn't set out to write a detective novel but suddenly it turned into this major piece of structuring and I've always found that the most challenging part of writing. I tried to turn it into a fun process but spent a long time putting cards on the wall and reorganising them - it just turned into a big mess of cards." Ad Feedback Some things are familiar. As in his first novel, Two Little Boys, Demolition uses multiple narrators. "I haven't explored that style of writing of where you play God and get into the thoughts of everyone. I'm quite curious to try that at some point in the future. I do really love getting locked in someone's head, I guess that's the secret buzz of the whole thing in terms of writing prose - getting lost in someone else's thoughts. I have to engage those thoughts, so I guess it's method writing."

With that in mind, Sarkies admits that at times Demolition was quite stressful to write. "When I was writing well that was very painful. That Spud character is really wound up." Although Sarkies currently has no plans for Demolition to follow Two Little Boys' footsteps to the big screen ("I've written too many film scripts that haven't been made"), he's working on projects for both TV and radio. "I've written two episodes for a kung fu comedy for the ABC (currently titled Maximum Choppage) - one features an aphrodisiac duck recipe that causes all sorts of chaos and the other has a fighting fish. It's set in Cabramatta, which is a Vietnamese, Chinese and Cambodian district of Sydney . . . All the whiteys used to be too scared to go there. "When I went there years ago I went to a video game parlour and within two minutes someone was offering to sell me drugs. I think it has changed vastly."

Meanwhile, The Mysterious Secrets of Uncle Bertie's Botanarium is an audio collaboration with artist Stephen Templer and musician Lawrence Arabia. Jemaine Clement plays a fictional Joseph Banks who is on a voyage to look for his long-lost Uncle Bertie who believed he had discovered a plant known to be the source of all pleasure. Having made one episode so far, Sarkies says they're trying to work out what to do with it. "We might pitch it to the BBC or go the podcast route and sell it for $1.99 online."

The Demolition Of The Century by Duncan Sarkies, Penguin, $30.

Thursday, August 01, 2013

Idealog's "An open letter to Judith Collins about government website ‘hacks’"
By Ben Gracewood, July 31, 2013 @ 12:44 pm

Some here at Groove are not happy about the path this is taking.
I for one agree with Ben's comments. I condone hacking any website, but i do note that the protest action, in this case was a situation of ends justifying the means. This Government's disregard for citizen rights and it's aproach seems very 1991. Why, when America is challenging the whole homeland security approach are we now starting to go on the same journey overy 12 years later? Havs we learn't nothing about diplomacy and tact. And really what is the point of the GCSB anyway. Why not strengthwen the SIS, given them the right powers and be open and transparent about their activities, whether that affects internal or extenal players. I wonder still if Kim Dotcom has something to hide. But, at the same time what is it? And why can't the exrrdition court make this transparent, too. If he is a threat, if the new laws to the GCSB are a threat, why all the misguided secrecy. All this proves what a bungling mess. I would have to agree with the hackers on this point. Freeze all new legistlation until a proper Select Committee Hearing can be conducted.

To see the full open letter click here: http://www.idealog.co.nz/blog/2013/07/open-letter-judith-collins


Coffeebar Kid