ThoughtSpurs

Some culture for you. The Late Great SRV shows you how it's done. And an absolute bonus:

Glad I'm not a Kennedy is an iconic New Zealand song by an iconoclastic New Zealand artiste. I never really liked it, too gimmicky for me. But the other day Monique Rhodes mentioned she'd heard from Laing.Last I heard was an interview on National Radio. What interests me about the clip is that I think it was directed by Kerry Brown, the talented fashion photographer turned director. Kerry shot an annual report for me in 1986 - the last year of disgraceful indulgences before the share market crash (correction) of 1987. We made some very nice portraits of the Brewer's employees in fashionista tritone black and white. It was a two volume set - one for the pitch and one for the financial - with a slip cover. Very Genesis - high concept… I will never forget shooting the board. We were carefully briefed that when they emerged from their board meeting we would have one minute with each. No longer. We were not to interfere with their lunch any more than necessary (to inspire inves...

Is nothing sacred? Apparently not. The Churchill image is from a SKY tv ad campaign for the history channel and the clip is from English comedy duo Armstrong & Miller - very funny.

A flight of fancy from the New Zealand music ouvre by Fatcat & Fishface . Becasue it's Saturday.

Great turnout for Monique Rhodes at Honey last night. The group Pearl also played but they brought me back to my original thesis for the this blog - The One & Only: when Pearl played, and they play well, having been performing together since 2003 they are quite slick and have developed a little cabaret of moves and interactions that sometimes worked and sometimes made me cringe. The real problem with Pearl is that they seem to have a music processor working as they perform which turns even well known songs from acts like David Bowie and The Rolling Stones into a cover that sounds like it is being played by a mutation of the Corrs or The Bangles, with a smidge of Wilson Philips. The audience didn't seem to mind. It was a cute, sweet performance, but compared to the raw energy and emotional connection Monique Rhodes made - she made the Van Morrison classic Gloria (G-L-O-R-EYE- A) her own - there was no real comparison. From my earlier post I recently read Cowell's autobiogra...

Holden have been showing their concept for the new Monaro around the traps. But it is unlikely to be built. Which seems a shame. It is a fine looking beast. Much more of a muscle car than the lithe, feminine model launched to great fanfare some years back. I never thought it had enough bonnet and lacked an aggressive edge. The problem here is that the volume of vehicles that would sell under the Holden brand wouldn't justify the investment in developing the thing to a production stage. If GM, who own the Holden marque were to rebadge it as Pontiac for the US market it might have a chance. The wheels of GM grind slow though and maybe a car like this has little relevance in a market hit with oil at over $100US a barrel and concerns for sustainability. Even if the Monaro were to be made greener than before it might not be enough where the greenest solution is the right one. Times are a changin'