RobiNZ Personal Blog

Andrew Powell And The Philharmonia Orchestra... A Sony D50, Forty years on...

I saw a Facebook post on an Alan Parsons Project (APP) group wishing Andrew Powell Happy Birthday and remembered a lifetime of entertainment. As an industrial design student in 1983/84 I was fascinated by the brand-new CD technology being launched at the time. Went to look at the first of the Sony & Philips players on display at a hifi store in the Auckland, NZ, CBD. They had a tiny range of imported CDs on sale to support the launch and one was 'Andrew Powell & the Philharmonia Orchestra Plays the Best of the APP". I was already a fan... Read more →

Missing Greg at the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival 2023

Today it's the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival 2023. This time last year I was in Hokitika, mid-ride on the West Coast Wilderness Trail, and had hoped to see, Kiwi musician, Greg Johnson performing at the 2022 festival. It was a bizarre coincidence as his music played a significant role in my decision to take off around NZ on a bike and he lives in Los Angeles. When I rode the trail was decided, by other fixed events, before I even realised the Festival was that weekend, never mind Greg was performing. That our paths crossed on the remote West Coast of... Read more →

'As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls' Fortieth Anniversary

Forty years ago, an iconic album was released. It was a couple of years later that I first heard it, courtesy of fellow design student Jeff Fisher at Unitec, and became a fan of Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. The Arts Fuse have a lovely tribute to this album which, even after decades of listening, is still a musical adventure. One day it will be part of my US road trip playlist. Arts Remembrance: At 40, Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays’s "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls" Still Enthralls - The Arts Fuse "Released on April 27, 1981, As... Read more →

Only one 'Like', but the best Like

The thing I like about Twitter is how direct and rapid, it is: Read more →

An evening with Pat Metheny | Auckland March 2020

I didn't know it at the time, but this could the last live event I see in 2020. It was early in the Auckland Arts Festival, itself was closed mid-way due to COVID-19 restrictions. It's the second time I have seen Pat Metheny, his second visit to New Zealand. The first meant a trip to Wellington, this time just to Auckland's Town Hall. They specifically announced "The artists request no photos or recording during the performance" so here's my only one from before. It was annoying to see a few people still trying, seemingly oblivious to the phone screen-glow which... Read more →

Ushuaian farewells, Hello Buenos Aires! | Antarctic Mission Log 13

The last meal, breakfast, was memorable. It was one of many farewells and the chance for all of us to thank the crew who've made this remarkable experience possible. It was great to see the 'behind the scenes' operational crew get as much recognition as the Hotel Crew and Expedition Guides who spent most time with us. They're all vital to making this expedition happen from cast-off to dock. Farewell Ortelius This vessel had been our safe haven in a wild and remote place. Our travels had not really tested her (so lucky with weather) but she had excelled. One... Read more →

Antarctic sounds and not sleeping on ice | Antarctic Mission Log 06

Sometimes procrastination is beneficial. Had I written this post closer to the time, November 2019, it would have been very different. As I wrote the initial draft, several months later, some sad news further increased the significance of this remarkable experience. It changed what I had to write, adding another storyline which strangely paralleled aspects of the first. I have abandoned and revisited this several times since then. Not the usual writers block of what to say, more not knowing how to express an experience which was the culmination of a near four-decade journey. That is why (although backdated to... Read more →

David Byrne, American Utopia in Auckland

Oh wow, David Byrne American Utopia Tour, so impressive. Kimbra opened, note the cables to instruments. None of that for David Byrne; entire 12 piece band used wireless connections, danced complex choreography while playing, the whole performance. Just astonishing Set list from www.setlist.fm I Zimbra (Talking Heads song) Slippery People (Talking Heads song) I Should Watch TV (David Byrne & St. Vincent cover) Dog's Mind Everybody's Coming to My House This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) (Talking Heads song) Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads song) Doing the Right Thing Toe Jam (Brighton Port Authority cover) Born Under Punches... Read more →

Jean-Michel Jarre’s Favourite Synths

Brian Eno tweeted this; Jean-Michel Jarre's Favorite Synths #EMS #VCS3 #ARP2000 #ARP2500 #FairlightCMI #MemoryMoog #Eminent310 #Mellotron https://t.co/iH3xPgup2g pic.twitter.com/QoVA6Cagfu— Brian Eno (@dark_shark) April 4, 2018 Two music heroes in one tweet! Direct link here: Jean-Michel Jarre’s Favorite Synths May 3, 2012 By Patrick Thévenin While numerous parties are to be praised for introducing synthetic music to the masses, it can be argued that the French composer and musician Jean-Michel Jarre was the first to really foment the electronic music revolution… Read more →

Vale Rudy Sunde

Sad to hear today that family friend and West Auckland identity Rudy Sunde died. I’d didn’t write ‘passed away’ as the Rudy I knew wouldn’t didn’t have much time for euphemisms. By profession he was a Horticulturalist who became an Entomologist specialising in aphids. If you meet a “Paradoxaphis aristoteliae Sunde” you’ll know where it got its name. Rudy’s passion was music, particularly folk music and sea shanties. A life of writing, organising, researching and performing around New Zealand and, via the Maritime Crew Sea Shanty group he formed, the world. It was during the organisation of one of the... Read more →