Culture 101

There is so much to do in Auckland in the summertime its great. In the last two weeks I have been to Cross street carnivale which was a craft and music hippie fest, I also went to the cultural festival partly to see my friend Noemi perform in her brazillian drumming group and partly to feed my face with lots of exotic foods and finally I went this weekend to the Chinese new year Lantern festival. I hope there is just as much to do as we head into Autumn.

Happy Valentines

Hope everyone has a lovely day - for me since I am a singledom I use it as an excuse to be like easter and eat lots of chocolate - oh and I did share some with my colleagues

PJ Harvey is amazing

Went to PJ Harvey concert last night with my sister and we were both blown away with how original her sound is and how talented she is. She played atleast 3 different guitars another stringed instrument, the harmonica, the piano, the electric drums and so on. Her outfit was great an old victorian styled wedding dress with the titles to her songs graffitied on top. Will definitely see her again if we ever get the chance.

Congrats to kiwi comedians

Love hearing about people who were not backed by the establishment but had enough faith in their own talent to keep pushing. A massive congrats to Flight of the Conchords on winning a Grammy.

from the news

Flight of the Conchords, the New Zealand comedy folk duo who have had a runaway success with their HBO show of the same name, are among the few New Zealanders to ever win a Grammy award.

Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement won best comedy album for their EP The Distant Future.

The Conchords were both avoiding the limelight today and did not attend the ceremony. They stayed in New Zealand because the writer's strike has delayed production of their second series.

The debut full-length album from Flight of the Conchords is due to be released in April on the ultra cool US record label SubPop.

New Bathroom

Well I decided it was time I got off my bum and did some work on my apartment so Sunday I went to the paint shop and got all the gear and then spent the whole day preparing and painting my bathroom. All my minimalist friends must be having an influence on me as I chose white - which would normally be my last choice but I am learning to love it and now it is a good blank canvas to stick lots of my artworks onto. Thanks to my sis who helped me.

Hollie Smith at the Zoo

Went to a concert on Saturday night at the zoo, it was Hollie Smith NZ's own soul singer - She was amazing and I have no idea how she gets such a big voice out of such a tiny body. So great to get out and see so much local talent.

Fun at the Gallery

Well Friday night was another opening at my sisters Art Gallery and I was brought in to run the bar which is always fun as alot more relaxing than my day job. Also congrats to Murray (Chanty's partner) as he has created some amazing works.

Matakana Mayhem

So for the bargain price of $60 I went up to Matakana to watch 3 of NZs best female talents perform. Anika Moa, Golden Horse and Brooke Fraser. It was a great night filled with lots of cheese, chocolate, wine and singing. We were lucky enough to stay at an amazing bach in Omaha, spending Waitangi day at cooks beach (the pic full of seaweed) and then at Matakana before heading back to Auckland.