Guest Poet 4th May 2010

Michael Steven

Michael Steven is the author of Centreville Springs & Bartering Lines, both published by Kilmog Press, Dunedin.

His work has appeared in various journals, both print & electronic.

Guest Musician 4th May 2010

Simon Comber's first album Pre-Pill Love (2006) introduced New Zealand to a songwriter of quiet insight and shrewd economy. Written whilst Comber was based in Dunedin, and co-produced with such musical luminaries as Edmund McWilliams (Bressa Creeting Cake) and Graeme Downes (The Verlaines), songs like Early Spring Rain, Sunday Horrors and Marylands said what they had to say (on topics ranging from watching horror movies with the one you love to child abuse) and got the hell out, occasionally not even breaking the 2 minute mark. Since releasing Pre-Pill Love Comber has moved back to Auckland from whence he came, and more importantly, written material for a follow up album. His sophomore release Endearance has for the most part traded acoustic for electric guitar, and is in some ways the folk-rock counterpart to his folk-pop debut. Though his love of narrative songwriting has not diminished, with songs like The Jaws of Life staring down the barrel of family dysfunction with a characteristic candour, the instrumentation makes its presence felt more on the new record. Nobility, a meditative, lyrically existentialist piece, tips its hat to sixties psychedelia, and the title track, a haunting homage to the music of John Fahey, is the first purely instrumental composition Comber has written. Recorded at the Masonic Lodge in Port Chalmers outside of Dunedin. Comber enlisted the help of Dale Cotton (Conray), Darren Stedman (The Verlaines) and Tom Healy (The Low Spark) to contribute engineering, drums and bass respectively and help bring his new songs to fruition.

Guest Musician April 27th 2010

Guest Musician: Chris Weeks

With a sound that stems from an unashamedly pop punk back ground, Chris's songs are fueled by a love for music and the experiences which create it. His songs are honest and angst-filled but with a catchy melody to offset the mood, with sincere and heartfelt lyrics that also endeavour to maintain an awkward sense of humor, often using satire. Chris takes his music seriously but never himself, with his main goal in life being to play music everyday and have fun doing it!

Guest Poet Poetry Live April 27th 2010

Guest Poet: Richard Wasley

Richard Wasley was a founding member of Occam Theatre Company. In a car, plus trailer for props and scenery, the company toured small towns in the North Island in the late 1980s with small cast plays such as Harold Pinter’s ‘The Lover.' Richard also toured a one-man show, ‘Hess,’ concerning Rudolf Hess, Deputy Fuhrer of Nazi Germany, and read poetry at various schools throughout the North Island. He is now the owner of Unicorn Books in Warkworth and reads poetry at various venues.

Poetry LIve 20th April

GUEST MUSICIAN - Dominic Blaazer

My maunga are the Blue Mountains

My moana is the Caribbean

My wai is the Hope River

My waka is Air Jamaica

My rohe is Surrey

My iwi is Kingston

My hapu is Liguanea

My wahi is Barbican

My marae is Mona

In the musical world, I play keyboards and assorted rigid instruments for Don McGlashan and SJD, among others. After several years spent copywriting, the flexibility of the Theremin serves to balance and free me from the protocols of language and punctuation in all forms.

Poetry Live 20th April

GUEST POET - Sabrina Muck

Having been away from Poetry Live for a while, Sabrina is back on the scene and will perform a mix of her new works and some old favourites. Her poetry reflects inspirations and images taken from Auckland City and further afield, and is influenced by Beat poetry, slam poetry, and her wish to speak out against poverty and racism. Starting off reading on a street corner outside the infamously-packed Poetry Idol 2007, she is a member of the Literatti and has performed her work at the Auckland City Library, the University of Auckland, Poetry Live, and several poetry slams. She has previously been published online by Blackmail Press and onesentence.org.