The Coffee Bar Kid is in the House!

This week the Kid's been super busy recording interviews with Jenny Morris, whose here for the International Festival of the Arts (Pacific Blue Lounge), Tama Waipara (Who plays the Ruby Lounge on Friday) and Andrew Spraggon of Sola Rosa (Headling One Love Festival on waitangi Day) Also there's new Music and the usual range of caffine based offerings: Get you weekly fix from 6PM every Thursday Night only on Groove 107.7 FM.

Check Out :
Jenny Morris : http://www.jennymorris.com/
International Festival of the Arts : http://www.nzfestival.nzpost.co.nz/
Sola Rosa http://www.solarosa.com/blog/
One Love : http://www.amplifier.co.nz/news/54094/one-love-2010-top-ranking.html

Phew! What Big Adventures!

Groove has been super busy over the last week at the launch of the Fringe Festival, arranging artist interviews with the International Festival team and camping out at the Organic River Festical in Kiberly Reserve, Levin.

Fringe Festival Opening.
On Thursday (28th) Nite hundreds of sweaty punters crammed into Mighty Mighty to witness the opening of the Fringe Festival, now in its 20th year - Happy Birthday Fringe! Highlights were Raybon Khan, who compared, insulted the crowd (in jest) and untertook a one man stand up comedy show all in one! Also The One Night Stands (Cabaret Act), who sung Jazzy Brit Spear's numbers, impressed and (Festival CEO) Zelda's School Mam act, as she demanded the crowd quieten down for the formal side of the proceedings an act to see by it self! On our Flickr page you'll see photos and a brilliant shot of a 'girl' jumping out of a rubber cake - It's the Fringe, had to be done! go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/groove1077fm/ and select the "Fringe" set.

The full Programme is on: http://www.fringe.org.nz/

Organic River Festival.
On Friday night Dean and Pam upped sticks and headed for the Organic River Festival (29-31 January 2010). The camping grounds are now spread over two distinct paddocks areas, a vast improvement from last year as the access and general layout is far more welcoming and flexible. Management of the site improved too with greater security onsite and a zero waste rubbish policy including staff on hand to advise about what is recyclable and what is not.

This 'reporter' hit the Festival on Saturday and was treated to a swim in the local river, and a fantastic day of music and food. Mike's organic Beer was a highlight. Also a number of stalls offered vegan burgers, ice cream and other treats. Despite being a carnivore I was impressed with the quality and value for money of what I ate, almost makes me give up meat - almost! Musically, headliners An emerald City, who'd just flown in from Paris, were a highlight. Their swirling East-European musical offerings were mesmeriing and hypnotic. Medicine Crow, who performed earlier, put up a brave display, despite the earlier slot, and consequential smaller crowd and Jess Chambers won over hearts with her set. Watch out for that girl, she'll go far.

Roy G and the Bivinators played a brilliant set too. Their music is similar to John Butlers, wth plenty of distorted guitars and bluesy bass at the core of each song.

The weekend turned on a stunner. At one point I measured 29 Degrees down by the river, and even after sun down we were still in our tees and shorts. this year's Organic River Festival despite a smaller, lesser known line up of guests and artists was spectacular. With a chilled relaxed family atmosphere, low achol pressense and a good security and management structure, this is a festival on the rise. the Cherry on the top was strolling back to my car, some 50 metres from the event I was offered a lift on the back of the security guards' quad bike so i would,nt have to fumble around in the dark - all class! Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/groove1077fm/ and click on the Organic River Festival Set.

Miho Wada : Interviewed on-air

Japanese Jazz Punk artist Miho Wada (who toured worldwide recently with Ska Cubano including Womad 2009) popped in to chat with the Coffee Bar Kid last night to promote the Pajama Party Concert at Watusi.

She also played inhouse at Real Groovy, PJs optional on that one.

The Return Of the Coffee Bar Kid

Yep, the Kid is back - Every Thursday on Groove from 6.

This week Punk Jazz peformer Miho Wada. Miho will be chatting about her upcoming Gig at the Watusi and playing tunes from her debut album "Postcards to your bed" available from CDbaby.com and amplifier.com .

http://www.mihowada.com/

Karen Hunter also dropped by earler in the week to chat with the Kid about her Wednesday Gig, her new Album : Words and Groove and to sing a few tunes - Live! We'll replay that interview.

Karen also wanted fans to contact her via facebook and email. Go to her site: http://www.karenhunter.com/

Photos from Karen's interview:

Merry Yueltide from All the Gang at Groove

Do your bit for the Welly jazz scene!

For 8 years now, Groove has been privately funded. That fund is no longer available. We don't get any money whatsoever from NZ on air, WCC, grants, or the government. In fact, all we get is a bit from our lovely advertisers but it's not enough to keep the station on-air. If you enjoy Groove, you owe it to yourself and other Wellingtonians with style and musical taste to click the button below and help us in our time of need!

People pay up to $70 a month for subscriber TV so how bad would $20 every now and then be to ensure you can listen to your favourite music on Wellington's locally owned and operated cafe style radio station, the only one of its kind in NZ. (Click the button below). You can also call us on 381-4766 to set up an auto payment or make a credit card payment over the phone.

Pay as much or as little as you can and we'll love you for ever!

Find yourself feeling down by the end of the week? Starting in January, Bryan Howard again brings us 'Reflections' at 5.45 Friday nights; A thought for the week and your antidote to the weeks negativity.

Remember you can catch the news on Groove with the 'Independent Network News', proudly Kiwi but not Auckland centric! Weekdays at 1pm, 5pm and 6pm on Groove 107.7FM. Incidentally, news sponsorship is available at only $70 per week including naming rights and promos!

More news soon!

Groovemiester

Shakin' them Lovely Bones on the Red Carpet

Peter Jackson's New Movie:
The Lovely Bones Premieres at the Embassy, courtenay Place!

The Coffee Bar Kid was on hand with camera earlier in the day to photograph the laying of the red plush for the event. Our tickets must have been lost in the mail.

WOMAD hits the 'Naki, Once Again!

We, at Groove are super excited. We popped along to Parliament last Tuesday and were a part of the launch of WOMAD, a major side project of the Taranaki Arts Festival. Last year was a blast and this year will be even better. Dean and Tim are planning again to head up to New Plymouth and will be crossing live to the studio, blogging and posting on the Weekend of 12-14 March.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. What's on offer? Well among the events are over 6 stages with constant acts, a kids area that is better than any crech+library+craft house you ever went to. Then there's camping, circulating arts events, a monks' tent (from Tibet) and food galore (not hot dogs and chips but real good local and international stuff!) not to mention an international market.

Artists to watch, (assuming you have time!) Are: Calexico (very excited about them), Don McGlashin's reincarnation; the Bellbirds, a 10 piece called Babylon Circus; Eddi Reader (Fairground attraction - It's got to be...Perfect!); Eliades Ochoa from the Buena Vista Social Club; Ethiopiques (One of the original funksters from that part of the world) Hypnotic Brass Ensemble ( the Eight siblings of Sun Ra's Trumpeter, Phil Cohran); Newcomer Iva Lankum from Welli; Rapper Ladi 6 LA mitchell from NZ and heaps more.

You gotta GO this year! We'll be doing a pile of special features leading up to the festival so stay tuned!

Keep on Groovin'

http://www.womad.co.nz/

Groove is clean again!

What do I mean by that???

For around 6 weeks or more we have actually been broadcasting a 'messy' signal through no fault of our own. George FM have admitted that they have been 'overmodulating' (basically broadcasting too loud) with the result that they spilling over the band and affecting the link between our studio and transmitter and causing our on-air sound to be full of static a lot of the time.

They haven't corrected things at their end although they promised to about a month ago but the good news is that we have forked out and upgraded some gear at our end to stop their interference and Groove should be sounding better than ever (we've also fine tuned our audio processing).

Please tell you friends and Whanau to tune back in and stay tuned for more news shortly...

Groovemiester.

Breaking News - Fly My Pretties do a 2 nd Welli Show - Yeha!

The Pretties havwe added a Second Welli Show: Sat 13 June - St James Theatre to their gig guide. Fly My Pretties is New Zealand's favourite live multimedia event starring a selection of our finest contemporary musicians, set to a stunning visual backdrop and filmed and recorded live! An absolute must see, the new show is sure to set your imagination alight and indulge your senses with future and past Pretties classics.

Led by The Black Seeds front man Barnaby Weir, the new Fly My Pretties will deliver plenty of fresh ingredients to keep the shows surprising and progressive. The Return of Fly My Pretties shows in 2005 sold out quickly nationwide so don't miss your chance to be a part of this extraordinary experience. Tickets are on sale NOW!
Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch tickets are available here from Ticketek.
Dunedin tickets are available here from TicketDirect.
Show dates:
Christchurch: Fri 22 May - Isaac Theatre Royal
Dunedin: Fri 29 May - The Regent
Auckland: Thurs 4 June, Fri 5 June, Sat 6 June - Sky City Theatre
Wellington: Fri 12 June - St James Theatre

The line up includes:

Singer Anna Coddington, Barnaby Weir, Mike Fabulous, Tom Watson, Riki Gooch, Ryan Prebble, Jarney Murphy and Nigel Patterson(all of Black Seeds), Bluegrass Specialist Eva Prowse, Christchurch Funk Diva (Lauren) L.A. Mitchell, Our own Lisa Tomlins, Mara T.K, Nathan (Nato) Hickey, Paul McLaney (Gramski), Rio Hunuki-Hemopo (Trinity Roots) and Tessa Rain.

Back on Air - Tonight Thurs 23 @ 6 - Adventures of the Coffeebar Kid

Yep the Kid is back in the House and spinning up a storm. On tonite's prog: The latest from JJ Cale; Kiwis An Emerald City; Kora goes to the Cabaret (Voltaire), plus a review of the Pink Panther 2 - all this and more only tonite at 6 - C u Latte!

http://www.kora.co.nz/
http://www.jjcale.com/
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thepinkpanther2/

Groove at WOMAD

The Coffee Bar Kid and DJ Dean had a fantastic time at WOMAD 2009 in New Plymouth. Huge ups to Lauren Clough and Lisa Mullen and all the fantastic people in the Media Centre. We rubbed shoulders with Natasha Atlas, Members of the Jerry Can Band, Anika Moa, Mihirirangi, Shona Laing and Warren Maxwell from little Bushman, amongst many others. We took many photos and you can see those on our flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/groove1077fm. Highlights would be Seun Kuti (son of Fela) who's live energetic show was amazing - the man is tall and dominant on stage - challenging the "rulers" of Africa he communicated with his audience with his funk overdrive. Dean commented that the guitarist was able to maintain the same chord riff for over 20 minutes. Apparently their timing is within 1000th of a Second - It showed. Little Bushman was another highlight, as was meeting Warren Maxwell - whom we interviewed - stayed tuned for details of when that will play. Warren was definitely buzzing after his performance.

If you've never been to the Bowl of Brooklands, you are missing a treat. A natural vocanic bowl, it makes a oerfect ampitheatre, music from the mainstage drifts up through the bowl. We arrived on Friday night and the sounds of an Indian Group was wafting around the setting. The night was very still and the lighting of trees, awnings and the Gables (an old house once used as a hospital) was very pretty, very serene.

The WOMAD venue had 7 stages, all changing each hour. Seun Kuti commented that he'd never performed with a clock on stage. Artists get exactly an hour to play, then in the hour's down time the crew set up for the new show. Meanwhile on another stage, or even two new acts are going on. To cover the possibility of missing an act all artists perform at least twice.

Acts we made sure to catch on the second show were Gurrumal and Dengue Fever. Gurrumal, , Blind from birth, is a very shy yet still charasmatic performer. He was very gentle on stage simply singing and playing with his small band, but clearly in charge.

Dengue Fever are an interesting act, a band fronted by a genuine Cambodian pop star, and 'staffed' by a Sikh, a very tall Afro American, a Moslem (I think) and a Chinese drummer, a truley international band. These guys were certainly an eye opener, as was the film about their trip back to Cambodia and their interest in Cambodian surf music, which played after their show that night.

Other highlights were the Children's Parade. WOMAD has taken care to include children, who were everywhere at this event. There was a large kids area with a zoo, crafts, music and entertainment, plus a project to work towards: the kids parade - all the kids made the banners, floats, signs and all the costumes. Well done to all who participated. And to the Otters in the petting zoo - enjoy the quiet days ahead, it's all over now.

But what isnt over is the interviews and music we brought back. Over the next few weeks the Coffee Bar Kid will bring you sights and Sounds and Musical samples from WOMAD 2009 - checkout Adventures of the Coffee Bar Kid - Thurs 6-8 PM only on Groove 107.7 FM. And now back to the music....