Standing Room Only for Sunday 6 December 2020

 

12:16  Rose Jackson is finding those collectibles

You'd think online sites like Trade Me and Facebook Marketplace would have marked the end of interest in op shops and dealers in all things retro.  But it's not so.

Rose Jackson and her partner Matt have travelled the country visiting second-hand shops at more than 380 cities, towns and suburbs around Aotearoa.

They've listed the shops in a book called Collectors Anonymous, just in time for Christmas - but only after calling them all back to make sure they survived the lockdown period.

Rose tells Lynn Freeman that the secondhand book and record stores, vintage and retro dealers and op shops she contacted are thriving:
 

12:32  Screen industry brain gain

After decades of the so-called "brain drain", as New Zealand's best and brightest headed off to pastures new overseas, this year saw a sudden reversal.   They call it a Brain Gain, as the Covid-19 pandemic encouraged many expats to come home.

That included people with skills to contribute to our burgeoning screen industry.

But some are finding a lukewarm - if not downright hostile - welcome home from some locals, protective of their patch.

This weekend saw a rescheduled Big Screen Symposium arranged by Script to Screen.  And in it, a panel of returned screen professionals shared their stories with an audience, and generated a discussion about how best to use the skills they've brought back with them.

Lynn Freeman talks with agent at Karen Kay Management, Rosie Carnahan-Darby...  Australian writer/director Gregor Jordan of Ned Kelly and Buffalo Soldiers fame, and recently resident in LA... and producer Polly Fryer working from her home in Auckland. 

Each panellist is in New Zealand as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
 

12:47 Auckland Arts Festival - coping with Covid

Arts festivals usually rely on importing big budget international shows to draw in audiences and attract media attention.

The Auckland Arts Festival was one of the first major arts events that took a a huge financial hit when Covid-19 struck.  But, undeterred, the organisers have pivoted like crazy to come up with a programme for 2021.

The theme is "Aroha" and all 70 plus events in the programme are homegrown:

The Artistic Director of the 2021 Auckland Arts Festival Shona McCullagh talks with Lynn Freeman about what happened to the 2020 programme back in March.

The programme for the Festival is available here.

1:10 At The Movies

This week Simon Morris reviews Six60: Till the lights go out, Let him go and The comeback trail.

 

1:31 Major exhibition of contemporary Māori art 

It's almost 20 years since the last significant survey show of contemporary Māori art.  But Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki has taken up the challenge to represent 70 years of work from the 1950s till now.

Most of the gallery has been handed over to the curator of Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, Nigel Borrell and he's gone for it!

More than 100 artists are represented, with some of them taking on their most ambitious work yet as commissions for the show. 

The work is woven around the Māori Creation story - in artforms that range from body adornment, clay making and painting, to digital media and multi-story-high art installations.

Lynn Freeman asks Nigel Borell how much has changed in the contemporary Maori art scene since that last survey show two decades ago.

 

1:48  Officially uniting Dance and Social Inclusion

Millions of people have been posting videos of themselves dancing on the social media site Tik Tok during the pandemic lockdowns.

And that proves an important point about dance, in the view of the two New Zealanders in charge of the world's first UNESCO sponsored Chair of Dance and Social Inclusion.

Associate Professors Ralph Buck and Nicholas Rowe of the University of Auckland's Dance Studies Programme says it illustrates  how dance is a great way to both express yourself and to deal with stress.

They also plan to use this opportunity to encourage dance in schools, in community organisations and in health and tertiary institutions during the next four years.

Lynn Freeman discovers that the new Chair of Dance and Social Inclusion was being talked about well before the pandemic.
 

2:06 The Laugh Track - Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa 

Tucked away to the left of the New Zealand film industry are the comedy-dramas of one of the most individual directors in the country.

Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa  aims almost exclusively at a mainstream Pasifika audience, and Simon Morris became a fan when he saw his first film Three wise cousins back in 2016.   

Since then Stallone has made Ruthless and Hibiscus, Take Home Pay - the second highest-grossing New Zealand film last year - and now, Mama's Music Box - written, shot and cut in just 30 days, and about to be released in time for Christmas!

Stallone's tone is unique - funny, touching, very Pacific, and often with an improving message at the end.   And did we say funny?  His picks include Dave Chappelle, Jack Black, TV series The Semisis and the "high note challenge" scene in his own Take Home Pay.
 

2:25  Te reo poetry film wins a major Irish award

A te reo Māori poetry film has won top prize at an international competition in Ireland.

"Noho Mai" was a collaborative effort by the co-directors, writer Peta-Maria Tunui and audiovisual creative Waitahi Aniwaniwa McGee.

The film is filled with imagery of flight, Maori culture and of Aotearoa's landscapes.  Lynn Freeman asks Peta-Maria and Waitahi just what it was about their film that caught the attention of the prestigious Ó Bhéal International Poetry-Film Competition in Cork, Ireland. 
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2:40  Lockdown images from Stewart Island

Photographs of the inhabitants of Stewart Island/Rakiura taken during the Covid-19 lockdown - snapped from a distance but still revealing - have been published in a new book.

The photographer is artist Lairka, originally from Estonia.  But now it's the bush, birdlife and people of Rakiura that she explores in her art. 

Lynn Freeman met Lairka at her home which is nestled in the bush, a place she thinks of as paradise.  Her book is called Copeisolation, and she's working on her first solo exhibition to be held on Rakiura/Stewart Island next year.
 

2:49 Christ's College Drama Director David Chambers

A teacher who helped to shape the NCEA secondary school Drama curriculum - and fought to have it included as a NZQA subject - is about to retire after more than 40 years.

David Chambers was appointed Christ's College's first Director of Drama in 1998.

He's produced more than 100 shows and plays over the years and was recently honoured as a Life Member of Drama NZ by his peers.

He also sees Drama as offering students essential skills to help them in the workplace, including communication, teamwork and empathy.

Lynn Freeman asked David Chambers when Drama went from being an outside activity, to a subject within the school curriculum.

 

3:06 Drama at 3 - Speed of light by Angie Farrow

The pressures faced by young people in the world of competitive athletics are explored in our Classic Drama Speed of Light by Angie Farrow.  Stars Craig Muller, Hannah Gould, Ken Blackburn and Eddie Campbell. 

 

Music played in this show

Artist: Sonny and Cher
Song: Baby don't go
Composer: Bono
Album: An anthology
Label: WEA
Played at: 12.16

Artist: Steve Winwood
Song: Second hand woman
Composer:  Fleming-Winwood
Album: Arc of the diver
Label: Island
Played at: 12.28

Artist: Dolly Parton
Song: Coat of many colours
Composer: Parton
Album: Coat of many colours
Label: RCA
Played at: 12.44

Artist: Sharon Robinson
Song: Secondhand
Composer: Robinson
Album: Everybody knows
Label: Freeworld
Played at:  12.58

Artist: Prince
Song: Raspberry beret
Composer: Prince
Album: The very best of 
Label: Warner
Played at: 1.07

Artist: Bette Midler
Song: I sold my heart to the junkman
Composer: Rene-Rene
Album: Bathhouse Betty
Label: Warner
Played at: 1.44

Artist: Benee
Song: Supalonely
Composer: Bennett
Album: single
Label: Republic
Played at: 1.48

Artist:  Dwight Yoakam
Song: Second hand heart
Composer: Yoakam
Album: Second hand heart
Label: Reprise
Played at: 1.58

Artist: Athlete
Song: Second hand stores
Composer: Athlete
Album: Beyond the neighbourhood
Label: EMI
Played at: 2.05

Artist: Barbra Streisand
Song: Second hand Rose
Composer: Clarke-Hanley
Album: My name is Barbra 2
Label: CBS
Played at: 2.34

Artist: Bob Marley and the Wailers
Song: Brand new second hand
Composer: Tosh
Album: The Essential
Label: Trojan
Played at: 2.58

Artist: Fleetwood Mac
Song: Second hand news
Composer: Buckingham
Album: Rumours
Label: Warner
Played at: 3.05

Artist: Waterboys
Song: The nearest thing to hip
Composer:  Scott
Album: Modern Blues
Label: Puck
Played at: 3.58