Wellywood Sign Song No 2

The title is now a misnomer in a way, but it’s been in my repertoire since May and I just had to put it up on the web to mark the occasion.

If you don’t get it, this may help.

Thanks to Bonnie Riley (whose name is ever so close to Bonnie Tyler) for the non-lead vocals and to Sam Smith for lending me his guitar and amp. Also credit is due to Joseph Sherman-Mendez, Chaz Harris and Morgan Samuel of Seriously Tanked (my 2011 48Hours Furious Filmmaking team-mates) for the initial inspiration. (This happened the same weekend.) read more

Snap-happy

Photo: Gareth Watkins / Lilburn Trust / Wallace Arts Trust

My new default publicity shot accompanied by my new default publicity shot credit. (Photo: Gareth Watkins / Lilburn Trust / Wallace Arts Trust)

A couple of months ago, I was photographed by Gareth Watkins. Gareth is a photographer, media producer and a work colleague of mine (by day he’s a studio engineer at Radio New Zealand).

He had asked me to be part of Composer 015 – a project to photograph and interview 15 New Zealand composers aged from their mid-20s to their early 90s! It’s currently a work in progress, supported by the Lilburn Trust and the Wallace Arts Trust. I believe that once the photos are compiled, they’ll be published in book form… I think that’s right? I should probably know. read more

T* F* A* All Black

Rugby, racing and beer… well, just rugby and beer for me at the moment.

Since everybody else is, I’ll post this link:

Paul Fagamalo & Benjamin Teh in The First Asian A* B*

Paul Fagamalo & Benjamin Teh

Rugby vs Theatre: The First Asian AB

This interview was done by my good friend and colleague James Wenley. He’s such a good friend that I let him smash the electric guitar my parents gave me for my 12th birthday – all in the name of art. (I should really post the video of that some time.) He runs a website called Theatre Scenes, looking at the theatre scene (singular) in Auckland. Or maybe there are parallel scenes in parallel theatre universes in that city. read more

New Zealand Improv Festival

The cast of The Long Weekend, a brand new show from WIT debuting at the New Zealand Improv Festival.

The cast of The Long Weekend, a brand new show from WIT debuting at the New Zealand Improv Festival.

Just announced is the programme for the 2011 New Zealand Improv Festival, being held at BATS Theatre in Wellington from 11 to 15 October.

There are guests from Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Christchurch. I’ll be playing music for a significant number of the 18 shows.

Tickets can be booked through BATS Theatre, and there are multi-show deals too.

In other news, this website (robbie.co.nz) is still under construction. Had to have a WordPress reinstall a few days ago too. This weekend is the time to work on it. read more

Welcome to pressWord construction under still

It was about time for me to upgrade my website – a single HTML page was always just a bit manky. This’ll look a bit transitional for a while as I figure out how to properly customise WordPress, which I’ve never used before.

In the meantime, I’ve got a lot of fun things coming up in the next couple of months, mostly in Wellington but not exclusively:

Works with Words – this event at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival was recorded by Radio New Zealand Concert. Six works by New Zealand composers, including The Lover’s Knot, text by Renee Liang and music by me. Actor Stuart Devenie, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor Kenneth Young. (Radio New Zealand Concert, Tue 20 September, 9pm.)
Paul Fagamalo & Benjamin Teh in The First Asian A* B*

Paul Fagamalo & Benjamin Teh in The First Asian A* B* (13-18 Sept Auckland; 22 Sept-1 Oct Wellington)

The First Asian A* B* by Renee Liang – it’s a two-hander play which, for trademark reasons, is not called The First Asian All Black. There’s a season in Auckland first (Basement, 13-18 September) and Andrew Corrêa is doing the live music there. I go up to Auckland for the last two shows to see how he does it, then I’ll be taking over his duties for the Wellington season (BATS Theatre, 22 September to 1 October, 6pm).

  • Zomburlesque – I’ll be doin’ some old-time rag-time out-of-time trombone playing as part of Right Reverend Dr Splitfoot’s Goodtime Brimstone Band. If you didn’t pick it up, the title is a portmanteau of zombies and burlesque. (Bodega, 2, 3, 5 & 6 October, 8:30pm.)
  • The 2011 New Zealand Improv Festival – it’s back at BATS! The programme will be released shortly. (11-15 October.)
  • Austen Found: Zombie Time. I go up to Auckland to perform at the brand new Q Theatre with Instant Kiwis – they’re a group of performers who’ll be doing late-night improv every Friday night at Q. This’ll be my 78th improvised musical, a bit of a mashup along the lines of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. (Fri 21 October, 9pm.)
  • Now, back to finding a decent events listing for WordPress… read more