It is a pleasure to find a show where the subject has been treated with respect, is allowed to speak for itself, and hasn’t been beaten to death by the overuse of Photoshop and the photographer’s ego.

Club members have shrewdly produced a slide show of their exhibition on CD, which is available from Aratoi or the Masterton Information Centre next door, while the hard copy on the wall runs until 8th November.

Those well-known Wellington Blues men Dave Murphy and Dougal Speir

Dave Murphy

are guests of the Cross Creek Blues Club at the Tin Hut on Wednesday 7th. Then, for something completely different, try the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra at Martinborough Town Hall on Thursday 15th. On the following night, Friday 16th, it’s back to the Tin Hut for Hobnail Boots and guest Barry Saunders. Martinborough Town Hall again on Saturday 17th to see Hot Club Sandwich and Jan Preston, who is billed as “Australia’s Queen of Boogie piano” even though she’s a New Zealander and sister of film maker Gaylene. Dave and Dougal are back at the Masterton Club, Chapel Street, on Thursday 22nd, this time bringing the entire Red Dog Saloon Band with them.

Dougal Speir

Snapped travelling through town yesterday, a speedway bike carried on the back of a Morris Minor – a flashback to the 1960s or ’70s when both were more popular than they are today.

Learning about the henge.

Signs of the Zodiac.

Back in the days when I wrote a music column for a local newspaper in Northern Ireland, and when Peter, Paul and Mary had been at the top of their game for five years, I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours in Mary’s company. After the trio’s excellent concert at the Belfast Opera House, this upstart from the sticks decided to sit in on a press conference backstage with reporters from the city dailies – hard-nosed and cynical to a man, with an agenda and a deadline.

The Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War protest movements were grabbing headlines at the time and P, P and M were identified with both, so they were bombarded with questions about politics. Questions, I could tell by their expressions, they’d heard and answered a hundred times before. Eventually, frustration got the better of me and I asked a question about the music. I had their full attention. Unnerving! The dailies dragged the conversation back to politics until I asked my next question, with the same result. I began to feel like the straw we’re told drowning men clutch.

Time passed and Peter, then Paul, made their excuses and left. The reporters drifted away to their deadlines, giving me some very odd looks on the way out, but it wasn’t until some minutes later that I realized it was just me and Mary Travers, chatting about music, future directions, and a host of other things. By the end of our time together (when we both really had to go), she was digging through her purse to show me family snaps of her children! It was a surreal moment and I had to pinch myself.

This is the Mary Travers and we’re sitting here like old school friends catching up!  She didn’t have to do that, I thought, for a small-time writer from a small-town weekly.  Then I realized it was no P.R. act. This guiless woman seemed genuinely pleased to be able to sit down in the middle of a hectic European tour and talk about normal things, like home and the kids.

Lovely lady. Sad, sad loss. Thanks for the memory.

Some of the highlights will include a wine and art trail, a comprehensive school holiday programme to keep the kids happy while their parents get some free space, and a Spring Equinox Fair for all the family at Stonehenge Aotearoa. Lots of photo opportunities, so don’t forget your camera when you drop by.

The image at right was taken at Middlerun farm during the traditional pick-your-own daffodils day – on Sunday 13th September this year. All proceeds to charity.

Tom as a Hobbit? I hope not, although some unkind wits have suggested he’s the right size for the part. Tom as Guy Gibson in the Dambusters remake? British audiences would never forgive him. Maybe when you have a private jet at your disposal and the money to support it, a detour of several thousand kilometers to see a friend for 24 hours is no big deal. And there was the bonus opportunity for Jackson to show the old Top Gun a collection of WWI fighter aircraft based at Masterton’s Hood aerodrome.

A Sopwith Camel at Hood aerodrome

Say what you like about Cruise, and many people do, he must be one of the few Hollywood guests to stay at Chez Jackson who has ventured outside the gates and risked being seen by the locals. This sits with the stories that came out of Taranaki when he made The Last Samurai there in 2003. They gave the impression of an approachable guy, happy to fit in with the community he’d adopted. Far from the arrogant, self-centred twit some of the gossip magazines would have us believe.

Lost, forgot, whatever. I got distracted by a trip to Britain and never got into the swing of it again. But now it is found (let joy be unconfined) and, when I press this button, we’ll see if it still works.

Lots of new gizzmos to learn about here, like trackbacks and pingbacks. Or were they there before and I just didn’t notice?

So lets get back into it gradually, eh? A minimum of one post a week perhaps. Bet you’ve all been holding your collective breath for that announcement.