Monthly Archives: April 2010

Blog: ROFLMEOW! Comedy Festival LOLZ

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I’ve thrown myself into the comedy festival over the last couple of weeks and have LOLed, LMAO and almost ROFLed, but then I realised it
would ruin my outfit so I didn’t.

I’ve seen about 25 comedians so far… that would be more impressive if most of them weren’t at the Comedy Gala. Here are some mini reviews and previews of what I’m seeing next.

REVIEWS

Rove and Friends preview show
Simon McKinney – used to be a fish on kids TV, but now he’s a man who tells stories in funny voices. Enjoyable. Probably won’t see full show at the festival, but perhaps later in the year. http://www.comedyfestival.co.nz/auckland/show/my-time-as-a-talking-fish  

Hannah Gadsby – she’s from Tasmania and is hilarious. Pushes boundaries but bloody good. Recommend her show.

Rove McManus – this was a warm up show in a tiny venue, which was great as far as seeing his expressive face in action. He was a sharper at the gala, but fun. Especially enjoyed the mocking of the South Island, Twilight and P-Diddy. Plus he’s Rove, you want to laugh.

Comedy Gala
So many comedians I can’t go through them all, but a few highlights moments include Chopper mocking Nickelback, Wil Anderson, Jarred Christmas and Wilson Dixon.

Maeve Higgins, Josie Long, Felicity Ward and Irene Pink (plus Hannah Gadsby again) proved once and for all that the (partially deserved) image of female comedians being all crudity and no wit are well and truly over. They were all excellent – I especially love Josie Long’s two very short plays. You can see them on the Comedy Gala highlights which you can now see on TV3 on Demand. http://www.tv3.co.nz/TVOnDemand/tabid/890/Default.aspx 

I did really wonder why Mike King was there – his joke about Kanye was funny but.. the rest was painful. I couldn’t listen to Jimeon because he was wearing running shoes with jeans. I think that highlights a problem for both of us. I didn’t get Jeremy Elwood either, maybe a bad show?

Chris Cox
The mind reader who can’t read minds puts on a refreshingly different show – he says it’s all fake, but he gets it right and the audience LOVES it. I’m still trying to work out how he does it. He’s been all over the telly and extra shows have been added at the end of the festival. Go, if just to see his ‘All The Single Ladies’ dance. http://www.comedyfestival.co.nz/auckland/show/mind-over-patter

Dave Wiggins
Also different to the usual comedy show, Dave does comedy you could take your mum or kids to. We LOLed, especially at some of the ridiculous things he found on the interwebs during his quest to find God online. http://www.comedyfestival.co.nz/auckland/show/googling-god

PREVIEWS

The Big Show is on in Auckies for the first two weeks then heads to Wellywood. I’m going next week and mostly I’m looking forward NZ’s most successful comedian we’ve never heard of Jarred Christmas. Also Terry Alderton who I think is the guy who did the genius microphone eating troll at the gala, Andrew O’Neill and when I’m going some dude called Miles Jupp. Four dudes in one show – can’t wait!
http://www.comedyfestival.co.nz/auckland/show/the-big-show-2010

Also going to see Raybon Kan at the new venue at Elliott Stables. If you thought he’s a guy who used to do comedy like I did, then you probably should know that he’s was actually living the dream overseas for a few years. Auckland next week then Welly. http://www.comedyfestival.co.nz/auckland/show/discomfort-zone

The last show I have booked so far is the one I most wanted to see, Wilson Dixon. He was a festival hit last year and I’ve wanted to see his show for AGES. Country music with ridiculously funny lyrics. What’s not to LOL at? http://www.comedyfestival.co.nz/auckland/show/wilson-dixons-american-dream

In conclusion of this essay, I thought I’d tell you a personal anecdote. I was slightly disturbed the other day when I realised that three of the solo shows I wanted to see were Josie Long (Josie like me), Rose Matafeo (Mum is Rosemary) and Maeve Higgins (my Grandmother was Maeve). This was slightly terrifying, so I avoided them so that I didn’t have to go to counselling to talk about my issues afterwards. Although, if laughter is the best medicine, the comedy festival must be like six months of therapy and a bottle of Vitamin C. It’s also great for the abs. Win.

*ROLFMEOW means nothing, in case it was worrying you. It is merely a
tribute to a couple of funny people. You may use it if you wish.

Blog: Wilco loves you baby

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Wilco. My favourites. This is a band who put on a tight and stunning
show. There is no multimedia, but there is incredible lighting. There
are six musicians on stage – four keyboards and a double layer organ,
ridiculous amounts of guitars and a drum kit that seems to have
changes during the set. The bass guitar has incredible tone, according
the bass player I was sitting next to.

Then there’s Jeff Tweedy. The man who sings for the whole of the two
and a half hour set as well as playing an assortment of guitars that
look very expensive and sound very nice. That man is amazing. I loved
him last year at 7 Worlds Collide with Neil Finn and co, but I loved
him even more tonight. On top of his already impressive talents, he
has the gift of engaging with the audience with wit and courtesy at
the same time… even the hecklers.

Honourable mention goes to Mr Justin Townes Earle – son of Steve I
believe. Suited up in off-white, dancing with a backwards shuffle and
more on the Western end of the Country scale than I’m used to. In
spite of this, he was oddly compelling and really good – great voice,
great guitar.

I would love to go on and on, but its bedtime. Let me just say, and
not for the first time, that there is nothing on earth like a stellar
live gig. I’ve been to some unbelievable ones, and this was right up
there with the absolute favourites. If you have no idea who I’m
talking about, perhaps start with the album Sky Blue Sky – it’ll ease
you in to the goodness that is Wilco.

My twitter challenge

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Water_famine

I’ve signed up to do something that terrifies me – an unplanned and unscheduled 40 Hours where I am completely at the mercy of others for the necessities of life. Specifically, I’m going to be at the mercy of the Twitterverse. You see, in the last year I’ve been playing on Twitter and I’ve seen the way it can build community, motivate people to take action and help people out. I’m really, really (really) hoping that people will get on board with this crazy idea and either sponsor me or help me make it happen.

“Why are you doing this?” You ask.

I’m glad you asked. Its just about doing something to help really. A lot of people are affected by things out of their control – the people of Haiti who have been devastated by an act of nature, the Cambodian people living in poverty. My life is a long way away from what they have to live through and although I sponsor a child, its a pretty passive thing. For the weekend of 21-23 May I’m going to do something that is completely outside of my comfort zone and rely on the generosity of others. I won’t be inappropriate and say that it’s like the people of Haiti, but I guess its a small way I can identify with them and at the same time raise some money to help them. 

I also got excited about being involved because my amazing friend Dayna is leading Team Yellow. If you’re thinking about doing the Famine, I reckon you should join our team!

So this is the deal.

Friday 21 May, 8pm – I leave my house and can’t go back for the next 40 Hours. I won’t be driving, that would be cheating. I won’t take money. I’ll just have a small bag with very little stuff. I’m hoping to borrow an iPhone so I can receive DMs on Twitter because I can’t do that on my phone, and so I can update photos and my blog. I thought I might start a calendar – so that people can see what is planned.

Here’s how you can help:
1. Sponsor me! Here’s my page on the 40 Hour Famine website: www.famine.org.nz/josiecampbell
2. Help me out – if you’ve got any suggestions, or would like to offer me something to do, eat or a place to stay – please comment here, tweet me @josiecampbell or email josiecampbellblog@gmail.com
3. Do the Famine yourself – its clearly not just for kids! www.famine.org.nz.

Here’s the calendar as it stands. Please help me fill in the gaps.

Friday 21 May, 8pm – Leave home
nothing
nothing
nothing
etc
Sunday 23 May, Midday – Complete challenge

Blog: Things we can learn from the Topp Twins

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Topp-twins_main

Just got home from Auckland Town Hall – the fourth gig I’ve been to there in the last six weeks. It’s been a broad range, starting with the first gig on Pavement’s reunion world tour. See their #1 fan Piero’s photos here http://piero.posterous.com/pavement-at-the-auckland-town-hall. Then it was the Auckland Town Hall Organ Inauguration. On Saturday I went to a reggae show that included Che Fu and the Krates (http://thinkingforyou.co.nz/blog-listen-up-pretenders) and tonight, for something completely different I saw the Untouchable Girls, the Topp Twins with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

It was a hilarious night, I haven’t laughed like that in ages. They are hilarious, they’re also very talented as actresses and musicians. Their characters make me laugh, because like the movie Boy, the remind me of growing up in New Zealand. I don’t know if city bred kiwi kids of today (I think I just aged myself five decades with that line) would ‘get’ them – if that’s the case, then it’s a shame. 

Here are six things I think we can learn from the Topp Twins:

  1. Even if you’re talented in a serious way, sometimes you need to win people over with humour or costumes. But in the end chances are people will love you for both – some of the best moments were when they were ‘themselves’. 
  2. You can stand up for what you believe without completely alienating everyone (such as some very clever comments about cow cubicles tonight). 
  3. Jools and Linda are obviously incredible friends as well as sisters, with respect and affection very obvious and not even a hint of rivalry. That’s really nice to see. 
  4. Sometimes it takes going away from home to realise how great New Zealand is – if you’re whinging about it, try a trip away and see what your perspective is. 
  5. You never know what’s coming next in life, but be prepared to enjoy every moment of the good times. It was great to see them visibly stoked to play with the APO and occasionally cracking up and their own jokes. 
  6. You can play the spoons and bounce all over the stage in a pink velour strapless jumpsuit as long as it’s put together well enough.

Blog: My big challenging idea

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Matt_and_dayna

So about a hundred years ago, when I’d just come back from first ever
overseas trip to Cambodia (possibly not the most straightforward place
for a 21 year old to go), I travelled around a bit speaking at World
Vision volunteer conferences about what I’d seen when I visited my
sponsored child and some projects funded by the 40 Hour Famine (by the
way, I paid my own way, in case you were wondering).

One of the people I met was a schoolgirl called Dayna Vawdrey – she
was incredibly enthusiastic and later on that year she ended up going
to Bangladesh was a World Vision scholar. It’s a [cough] few [cough]
years since then, and she’s continued to be a spokesperson for the
Famine even though she’s a TV superstar and we’re still mates after
all this time.

Anyway, I saw what they were doing with the 40 Hour Famine this year,
a team challenge and thought – hey, it’s a while since I did anything
selfless! I thought the logical team to join would be TEAM YELLOW
(Dayna assures me I look great in yellow) and I’m working on a scheme
to raise heaps of money for children living in poverty overseas.

Just to give a bit of context, I used to work for World Vision and I’m
fully confident they’re a great organisation with incredible
programmes overseas that make a difference. I’ve been to a couple of
them myself on that trip to Cambodia – a couple of weeks which pretty
much gave me an early mid-life crisis and made me want to help. Last
time I did the famine four years ago I raised over $1500 – I went 40
hours without speaking – you can imagine why my friends thought that
was hilarious and all chipped in to sponsor me.

I thought about doing the same thing again, or doing a technology
famine, but then had a brainwave: What if I do some kind of social
media challenge – only being able to do, or eat, or go to places that
have been arranged or powered by social media. Its in it infancy at
the moment – so if you think you can help me develop the idea can you
please post your ideas in the comments, or if you want to help email
me at josiecampbellblog@gmail.com.

Find out more (or join team yellow): http://www.famine.org.nz/team/matt-dayna

Blog: What’s your problem?

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Whats_your_problem_button-p145561159747581093t5sj_400

Just had a chat with a friend who has had a few rough things happen lately, including losing a friend in a car accident. Awfulness. We got to talking about how it affects you – and in this case when the ‘other person’ had been drinking – what a horrible burden that would be to carry.

This is a very uninformed and ranty blog with no stats, just a few observations and thoughts from my perspective. Sorry if this is a social taboo, but I am tired of the awful stories and don’t want me or you or anyone we care about to be the next victim or fool.

·         I’m an alcohol lightweight and while I couldn’t quote the legal limits, I know I get fuzzy easily and have to be very careful about having a drink then driving.

·         Do you plan ahead?

·         Is it worth taking the risk?

·         Why is it sometimes difficult to get a nice non-alcoholic drink?

·         Why was it that when I said ‘no thanks’ to a drink during ‘alcohol free February’ that people got uncomfortable or in some cases seemed offended?

·         What the hell does that say about our culture?

I think a starting point would be to kill off the weird thing that believes fun equals drinking. It’s not always necessary, and it’s not always fun. I feel like I should be too old for peer pressure, but I certainly experienced some very weird peer pressure in February.

It may not be very fashionable to be talk about laws over freedom of choice, but in this case there is a VERY GOOD REASON.

Before this rant sidetracks into personal feelings on scary drunkenness and career limiting behaviour, I’ll wrap it up by saying this. It is never worth the risk. Please don’t go there.

Blog: Listen up pretenders!

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I love live everything – shows, sport, cooking demonstrations, but most of all I LOVE gigs. I love to be taken away in the moment, captured by a clever hook and thrilled by beautiful vocals. Tonight, from the first line of the first song, I was reminded why Che Fu is one of New Zealand’s musical treasures. The man has a voice that immediately warms your heart and puts a grin on your face. In a world where the top twelve on a giant and expensive talent show are constantly told off for being ‘pitchy’ and singers rely on autotune, it is magic to hear a real voice like his – elastic in its range and rich.

So about the pretenders. It’s not that people shouldn’t be allowed to express themselves. But what is it about culture that encourages and payrolls barely talented people into careers as ‘singers’? Why is it acceptable, or even lucrative to put people in music videos who couldn’t sing a song without disguising the lack of substance with effects – audio, visual or both?

I like theatre, I like storytelling, I love extravaganzas. It just seems like a lie when rather than reinforcing talent, the extravaganza is there to hide the lack of it. Che Fu and the Krates’ set was brilliant tonight. It was genuine, entertaining and wonderful to listen to. A reminder of what is best about musicianship. Super cool that he was playing because his dad asked him to.

 

Blog: Lightening the load

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Unforgivenessmonkey_000

A little thought about forgiveness – seasonal because it is Easter, but personal because it is about each of us.

Have you met someone who has been carrying around an offense against someone for a long time? It seems to me that it’s a dangerous thing to do. If the person who has been hurt keeps the offense close to them, it colours the way they look at things, creating bitterness and making it difficult to trust people who have done nothing wrong.

I wouldn’t belittle the genuine pain people go through because of others, or suggest that there is an easy way to recover from hurt or offense. But I do think it’s worth asking the question – is the way I feel towards people who have hurt me actually making things worse for me?

I’ve seen people whose world view is damaged because they can’t get over something that happened decades ago. If not dealt with, things can really fester (what an expressive and disgusting word). I don’t want to be like that. In fact I think that getting off that track as soon as possible is really important. I don’t want to let anger or hurt from the past make it difficult for me to believe the best of people. Yes, we'll get hurt and disappointed by people, but why preempt it?

Happy Easter. How about trying to leave a burden behind, or at least starting to let go? How about calling the last family member who got on your nerves, just to make sure things are okay between you?

Forgive me for the serious post, I’ve had three days off and got a bit reflective over hot cross buns this evening.