Winston Watusi Music Plus

Right. I've had a couple of weeks off from local music; let's remount the horse...

There is, as you might expect, an absolute glut of eclectic live music occurring right now as singers, bands and musicians of all stripes rush to get one more gig in before Christmas – or at least before everyone is too distracted by the upcoming wave of pre-Christmas functions.

So let's look ahead to next weekend. This won't be chronological: one of the events involves multiple performers and needs a list, so I'll save that for later.

First, Grant Haua is back in town. Or will be. Tauranga's latest international blues superstar has spent the last couple of months on an Arts On Tour tour. Yes, that's the same type of tour that the misguided minds at Creative New Zealand are trying to axe. Grant has been round most of the country, 35 dates starting from October 20.

He's now back in the North Island and after a couple of stops – New Plymouth, Raglan – will be hitting the Omokoroa Boat Club on Sunday, December 4, for a 4pm gig. This is a rare OBC show open to the general public as well as members. Tickets, from the Boat Club or Eventfinda, are $25 (or $20 for OBC members).

Grant has been a busy man since signing to French label Dixiefrog. He recently returned from a couple of extended European promotional tours and 2023 promises further tours of Australia, France, Germany and Europe. If you're unfamiliar with his dynamic style of blues have a look at youtube.com/watch?v=TuuLGKrIzy0 – that's basically what he's doing live at the moment, with his soulful voice accompanied by just acoustic guitar and foot percussion on a Cajon/snare.

Big wheels

Next up is I believe the third time of writing about these guys, but musical history trio Wheel of Experience is bringing their show to town yet again and this visit, on Saturday, December 3, at The Jam Factory, with hopes not to be postponed yet again by Covid.

To recap: Wheel Of Experience is a trio who present something between theatre and a concert, bringing New Zealand history to life through songs. Led by Peter Daubé's vocals, and accompanied by multi-instrumentalists David Ward (Indian ink Theatre Company) and Dave Khan (Reb Fountain, Marlon Williams) the band create something of a musical journey, with songs that range from ballads to sea shanty, from bluegrass to blues. This involves a huge array of acoustic instruments including banjo, fiddle, mandolin, cigar-box slide, banjolin and the Chinese zhongruan, or 'moon guitar”, as well as a bunch of harmony singing.

Fun Fact: banjo player David Ward wrote the music and taught Benedict Cumberbatch for the Oscar-winning film ‘Power of the Dog'. Things start 7pm and cost $30.

Ripship

And what with variety being the spice of life ‘n' all I should mention the previous night at the Jam Factory (Friday, December 2) when Auckland sci-fi psych-rock duo Ripship is showing off their debut album ‘Fearsome Engine' which is due out December 16. They'll be joined by post-punk trio Swallow The Rat, also from Auckland, who is currently touring in support of their ‘Other Rooms/Realised' single which is out this week. The shows starts 7pm and costs $15.

And one more thing from that weekend. At Totara Street on December 4 it's ‘The College Music Co+Lab'. This is a chance to hear musical acts from colleges around the Bay, our very own stars of the future. There's a fantastic line-up and I'm happy to name everyone: Indigo, Radiation, Lit, Blaze, Slimpepper, Wasted Space, Tallulah, Videl, Taylah Mederios, James Ferns, Abbie Jacob, Venus Project, OCD, Big Angry, Their There, Soundwave, Markus Mossert, The Carol Power Vocal Group and AMOK.

It kicks off 2pm and is completely free, with support from the Wright Family Foundation, Papamoa College and Mauao Performing Arts Centre.

And, coming up...if you're a fan of local singer/songwriter Anthony Coulter, he has a new album ready to go that was born out of his love for the sea. He'll be showcasing ‘Pilgrimage to the Sea' at Cruise Deck on Maunganui Rd on Sunday, December 18. In the meantime I'll be listening and reviewing it.

Ripship. Photo: Supplied.