Winston Watusi Music Plus

Sometime musing is in order: this week's arises from last weekend, which was musically unusual.

For starters, music was a tad light on the ground here as no fewer than three Auckland band shows were cancelled due to musicians with Covid. It was a quiet weekend for The Jam Factory and Arts Junction. Secondly, it seemed more Tauranga musicians were playing in the Bay of Islands than Bay of Plenty.

It was the BOI Jazz & Blues Festival, an event with strong Tauranga connections, going back to the late Dr Jaz, who regularly brought musicians from New Orleans to play at the festival including Tim Laughlin, Duke Heitger, Robert Harris and more.

But it was Tauranga's blues contingent who made a mark on the North this time. Trevor Braunias was there with his blues trio and was spotted getting chummy with Midge Marsden, who apparently offered him harmonica lessons! Roy Hudson's four-piece Rehaab established camp in Russell and wowed crowds with their blues-rock offerings. The band has also released a new song: ‘Twisted Fools of the Blues', accompanied by a striking video that's on their website and elsewhere.

Add in Kokomo, selling out of their new album, and singer/keyboard player Chris Gunn, who was fronting North Auckland blues outfit Riverhead Slide, and you have a hefty contingent of Tauranga bluesmen. But they were still outnumbered by purveyors of jazz, since the entire Mount Maunganui College Big Band made the trip and sounded splendid.

Art centre

I hadn't been North in more than a year so I called by Whangarei and took in the new Hundertwasser Art Centre. Which is absolutely breathtaking. Magnificent. My jaw dropped at finding such a gem of a place in Whangarei. As I walked round the incredibly detailed structure, set in an attractive town basin, I couldn't help but think of parallels to Tauranga, also built around a harbour, which has now been arguing about a museum for as long as Whangarei argued about building their art centre. But they've done it.

And the thought I came away with is that if we're going to build a museum then let it be wildly unusual and challenging. Because that art centre is, and will be, a significant tourist destination for decades to come. It is unique and incredible. But create something staid and ordinary and all you do is house Tauranga's treasures somewhere more public than a storeroom, without attracting anyone aside from curious historians.

Moving on...

Coming soon

After winning gold at the National Youth Jazz Competition, the Tauranga Boys' College Big Band is hoping to attend the WEBO Music Festival and the final of the Jazz Band-It competition in Wellington late-September. So it's fundraising time. Their show ‘Fund Me To The Moon' spotlights the music of Frank Sinatra and the Count Basie Band and features the TBC Big Band and head boy Taine Larsen. They'll be at the Graham Young Youth Theatre, August 25-27. Tickets are $20 from www.tbc.school.nz/etickets and all proceeds support the TBC Big Band and their trip.

That same weekend on August 27 ‘The Boss' is coming to Baycourt. It is, of course, a Bruce Springsteen Tribute Show and you might have noticed I don't regularly write about tribute shows. Except I do keep hearing about this one and how good it is. So I pass that on with a happy heart and clear conscience: if you like tribute shows and Springsteen then this nine-piece ensemble apparently do him proud with a three-hour, 26-song show. Tickets are $42.50 or $51.

If that's not a bag you're into, then on the same night the Jam Factory can offer an alternative. Speech Act Theory is an Auckland-based alt-electronica project from producer/musician Pete Hickman whose music harkens back to the classic trip-hop and downbeat era but with a modern spin.

Originally intended as a studio project in late-2019, the idea of fusing electronica and live instruments developed into a high-energy five-piece live band. They'll be coming to Tauranga for the first time after a busy 2022, which has seen four singles released. Check them out online; tickets are $15 from EventsPronto. EventsPronto.