Features

Amichai Lau-Lavie comes from the "Kennedys of Judaism" a 38-generation unbroken line of rabbis. He's also gay - and a drag queen. Audio

"You couldn't get too close with anyone." The veteran music journalist and writer selects five of his favourite tracks for the RNZ Mixtape. Video, Audio

The series has found fans in a local police officer and forensic toxicologist.

"We'll be ready in time... we don't have a choice," promises the owner of Meow Nui, whose self-imposed deadline is approaching fast.

The 2024 national brass band championships begin on Wednesday, and this year the contest is widening participation to outside New Zealand and into the Pacific. RNZ Concert's David Morriss talks with two of the organisers, William Kingi and Owen Melhuish. Audio

When writer John Connell found the creative well had run dry, he found solace in "12 little Buddhas wrapped in white fleeces". Audio

NZ-born, L.A.- based singer-songwriter Jess Cornelius has a reputation for lyrical candor, with lines on her new album Care/Taking dealing with pregnancy, breaking up with the father of her child, and death. Video, Audio

Lyttelton creative TG Shand is not a "city person", and instead loves to watch the weather change over Banks Peninsula. Video, Audio

Australian musician Warren Ellis, a long-time member of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, tells Music 101 he was spiritually bereft before forming the instrumental rock trio Dirty Three in the early '90s. Audio

Legendary music critic Colin Hogg tells Charlotte Ryan about the birth of New Zealand's original music scene in the 1970s. Video, Audio

Science writer Lucy Jones explores the profound challenges of becoming a mother in her new book Matrescence. Audio

Just before her father died last year, champion athlete Ashleigh Hoeta made him three promises. She's kept them all. Audio

Sheep breeders will increasingly have to address animal welfare and the right to farm but right now their biggest challenge is profitability. Audio

Landowners in East Coast-Te Tai Rāwhiti have made huge progress clearing their farms and orchards after Cyclone Gabrielle but the work is far from over. Audio

Let the oven do all the work with this easy-but-aromatic curry from Julie Le Clerc.

To accompany her new single, TG Shand created a real-time animation of Banks Peninsula's ever-changing weather. Video, Audio

William Dart features an enticing new tribute album reminding us of the magic and the loss of Lou Reed. The Power of the Heart has a stellar line-up of contributors: Keith Richards, Rufus Wainwright, Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Rickie Lee Jones and others. Audio

Since launching in 1989, TV3 staff have delivered a 6pm news bulletin every single day. Mediawatch tuned in to their final broadcast on Friday.

You might think the life of a 19^th century hymn translator was pretty uneventful. Not so for John Mason Neale, who translated the first hymn in this week’s programme, Christ is made the sure foundation. His fairly short life (48 years) was marked by disagreements with church authorities, his writings were often controversial, and he had to put up with verbal abuse in the street from time to time. Audio

Enis Bacova from Dante's Auckland nabbed a silver trophy at the recent pizza world champs in Naples. Audio

Secret files, sexual assault allegations, embassies, jails... the Julian Assange saga has been going on for so long most of us have probably forgotten how it started. Audio

At the "risk of ruining their childhoods", Kiwi podcasters Rob Johnson and Christopher Webb regularly revisit their favourite films from decades past. Audio

Our Changing World - We might think deep-sea squid look a bit strange, but if they had the capacity for it, they would likely consider us monsters. Audio

RNZ looks back at the first and last tests of All Blacks coaches for the past 40 years.