The Rotorua Blues Festival 2020 - Labour Weekend

The Rotorua Blues Festival is usually held mid-winter but this year due to the same bloody reason as every other event that has been postponed it has moved to Labour Weekend. And all I can do is cheer. Lovely as Rotorua is in July it is really really cold. This will be a huge improvement on what was already a great weekend of music.

The unplugged incarnation of our band Kokomo is heading over for a couple of shows on the Saturday and one more on the Sunday. For the Saturday night show we will be joined by the wonderful Robbie Laven on fiddle, mandolin and more...

Robbie Laven

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a brief guide to what's happening over the weekend. 

The Blues Club there have put together a fantastic programme, with blues from all over New Zealand and a special Australian guest in the form of Sydney's Boogie-Woogie Queen Jan Preston. As well as his Kokomo duties Nigel will be playing bass with Jan.

Jan Preston

(NOTE: If you want to skip these descriptions and go straight to the programme, it's at the bottom of the page...)

(ANOTHER NOTE: Most of the events I'm about to mention are free or require a only gold coin donation.)

The Festival starts in a low-key manner on Thursday 22nd October, 5pm at the Rotorua Night Market with Hammer On and Nikau and the Natives. Friday 23rd sees The Rotorua Social Club host a meet and greet with 6 bands from Rotorua and Tauranga from 5pm till 11pm.

The full festival kicks off on Saturday 24th October in Eat Streat and will be officially opened by Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick at 12pm. There will be 5 bands playing from 12:30pm until 5:30pm, including Kokomo (unplugged) at 3.30pm. We're following The Flaming Mudcats and will be before Hybrid Blues, so it should be a great afternoon.

At the same time The Social Club will also see a full line-up of bands from midday until midnight, spotlighting bands from across the Waikato at The Hamilton Blues Society, including Shotgun, Roger McLay, Conmen, Hillmen Hunters, Agnostic Contrarians, Magic & 3am Blues, and Velvet Bulldozer.

The hub of the Festival is the Rotorua Citizens Club on Saturday and Sunday with 1-day and 2-day passes available: $60 for a 1-day pass or $100 for a 2-day pass (Kids under 18 are Free).

The Flaming Mudcats

There will be 3 stages running each day within the Citizens Club from 12pm until midnight, with “Bumper Concerts” on both nights featuring various headline acts. As I mentioned Kokomo (with Robbie) are part of the Saturday night concert along with Dirty Tones, Fiona & The Holy Pocket, Brown Dog & the Muttleys, and The Flaming Mudcats. Sunday features Jan Preston, Hybrid Blues, The Michael Barker Experience and more.

And there'll also be a Blues Cruise on the Lakeland Queen paddle steamer on Lake Rotorua on Sunday afternoon from 3pm till 5:30pm. Our friends in the Mike Garner Band will be playing that one.

All in all a terrific line-up and it has all the making of a really fun weekend. If you see us over there come and say hello!

Tickets for all events will be available at the registration desk at the entrance to the Rotorua Citizens Club, 1146 Rangiuru St, Rotorua or get them in advance on-line.

 

Spontaneous review

SPONTANEOUS (2020) 

Directors: Brian Duffield

Starring: Katherine Langford, Charlie Plummer, Haley Law

Runtime: 101 min

 

Spontaneous is a high school rites of passage story as Mara and Dylan fall in love during their final school term. Of course it is a modern love story so there is much absurdly precocious dialogue, getting high and breaking of the fourth wall. It's all very smart-assed teen cool.

But there is a twist. Students in their school year are randomly spontaoneously combusting. In a bursting-like-a-balloon, blood everywhere sort of way. As you might expect this lends a certain uncertainty to day to day life. Knowing one might explosively pop at any moment does tend to focus the mind.

That leaves our central couple with the desire to live in the present and a lot of the charm here comes from the very quirky yet believable relationship they develop. Charlie Plummer (the kidnapped hier in All The Money In The World) is an unusual presence, perhaps a male equivalent of the now-cliched "pixie dream girl", and makes a good match with Langford's cynically-shelled Mara.

But this all happens fairly early. Can such a premise really stretch to 100 minutes? On the evidence here I'll say yes. While the blowing up at first seems like a blackly comic gimmick, the second act doubles down on both the real and the metaphorical and its really hard not to draw parallels with the current pandemic. But since this was filmed in 2018 that's clearly coincidental but it is striking. Perhaps the allegory is for school shootings? 

But by halfway through I had no idea quite where we were heading, and the film blindsided me again at the hour mark. 

Many things help make Spontaneous stand out, one being the treatment of adult characters who are actually allowed to be three dimensional. Particularly impressive are Mara's parents, Yvonne Orji as the rather ineffectual FBI agent and Laura Di Cicco who has a mere single scene as Dylan's mother and is simply sensational. 

You could criticise the ending for being a bit contrived but there is so much to like about this film that by that slight disappointment you'll probably be willing to forgive it. Good stuff.  

The Wolf Of Snow Hollow review

THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW (2020) 

Directors: Jim Cummings

Starring: Jim Cummings, Riki Lindhome, Robert Forster

Runtime: 83 min

 

 

Writer/director/actor Jim Cummings has a very distinct style of filmmaking. It was on vivid display in Thunder Road (2018) where he played a cop on the verge of a nervous breakdown and it is again evident here, where he plays a cop on the verge of a nervous breakdown. 

However, this is a different cop and a very different film, even if the peculiar stylistic ticks that distinguish it remain. This time the cop, Jim Marshall, is a slightly more sympathetic creation.

 

And how to describe the style? It's in the same general ballpark as director Jared Hess of Napoleon Dynamite fame - a strange slight amateurism edge pervades proceedings with an oddly stylised edge to the performances and dialogue. But this lacks the essential sweetness of Hess' work. 

 

It's more like a left-field take on Jim Carey's character in Me, Myself & Irene, with childish anger threatening to break through at any moment. Throughout the film characters get into childish arguments, often in the middle of serious events, bickering when they really shouldn't be.

 

And all this stylistic weirdness is tacked onto a werewolf plot. Or maybe not. Townsfolk in the small titular snow-bound location are being killed by something that certainly resembles a werewolf. The deaths sit somewhere between funny and disturbing; it's that sort of film. Officer Marshall doesn't believe the stories but as bodies keep piling up...

 

Robert Forster, sadly in his last role, plays Marshall's father, the proper chief of police, ailing and refusing to go to hospital. That and Marshall's battle with alcohol, and the rising death count all add pressure and by the end, despite his childish and often pretty irritating behaviour, you genuinely begin to feel for Cummings' put-upon cop.

 

Ultimately I kinda liked this film despite itself. I frequently looked at the screen in disbelief at some of the amateur tropes on display - frequently actors look straight at the camera - but that constant aura of unexpectedness keeps you on your toes and does hold your attention. The film is often slightly funny. Or perhaps that's "very funny" if you're in the right slightly demented frame of mind.

 

Think Fargo crossed with Napoleon Dynamite and you won't be too far off.   

Sunday Roast at Oscar & Otto

Oscar & Otto

Cuisine: Cafe breakfast/brunch/lunch at Otto; contemporary New Zealand at Oscar

Address: 51 The Strand, Tauranga

Phone: 07 282 7879

Website

Drinks: Licensed

Reservations: Recommended

 

Oscar & Otto was a cool idea when it started a couple of years ago and so it remains. Otto is the cafe, serving breakfasts brunches and lunches, then Oscar is the evening restaurant, right next door. It is the creation of Catherine MacLoughlin and Hamish Carter, both of whom have longterm history on the Tauranga food scene having first set up Alimento back in 2002 and running catering companies and other ventures since.

I've only been to Oscar once, sometime last year, but Jan has been to Otto a couple of times for lunch and has good things to say about their Duck Risotto ($19) and Fish & Chips ($19.50). But I keep hearing people say that their "Sunday Roast Night" is the best food deal in town at the moment so when some friends invited us to join them for roast pork last week we jumped at the chance. $28 for the roast plus a glass of house wine or beer.

And I'm so glad we did. I like the look of Oscar and Hamish provides a friendly welcome (it seems sometimes like he knows every single person coming into the restaurant). We stuck to the absolute basics and had a fantastic night: first a cocktail outside, then the roast pork with its accompanying glass of wine. It was a lovely evening. These were our opening drinks:

The Hugo

Hugo: elderflower, prosecco, gin, mint, soda water $14

Martini: classic $14

Moa Apple Cider $10

Heineken zero $9

One more (I forget)

The one that struck me most was the Hugo (I had the cider which was a bit boring but I was thirsty). It was a lovely refreshing combination and surprisingly intensely-flavoured. Good drink - good price.

Then it was on to the roast pork. The five of us all had that, along with a glass of wine each. One of the things that make this such a good deal is that Oscar has a pretty good wine list so their "house wine" is excellent.

(They also use the Corovin wine system, which pumps a protective layer of inert gas into the wine bottle to keep their wines fresh, enabling them to feature more by the glass than you might expect.) The wines we had:

 

Black Cottage Reserve Pinot Noir, Central Otago    usually $12.5

Esk Valley Pinot Gris, Hawkes Bay     usually $12

And the pork? It was absolutely delicious. Everyone agreed. There was also serious love at the table for the roasted beetroot that came with it. You could certainly be picky and point out that the five pieces of pork at the table were all different sizes and shapes. But even the smallest was generously large so that's not really a complaint, just an observation. (Please note that the dish looked rather better than this picture but I still keep forgetting to photograph before tucking in...)

Sorry, I started eating again before the photo - bad blogger!

All in all I pretty much agree with this being about this being one of the best deals in town right now. Take off the price of the wine and that plate of moist, fatty, porky roast pork costs about $16. Fantastic! I suspect we will be back to check out the chicken, lamb, beef and whatever else they decide to roast on a Sunday... bon appetite! 

 

 

And, in the interest of full disclosure, I should mention again that my son Cohen has recently started work at Oscar. He was the one mixing the cocktails. Sadly this hasn't resulted in any discount for his ever-supportive father...

2nd Annual Pinot Noir Challenge ("Terroir be damned!")

"It was strange that all ten wines seemed to be more similar than far apart in all their attributes, regardless of which continent they were from, so "terroir" be damned!"  Jim Bartee

OK. It was 13 months since our first Pinot Noir bash, so on a rainy Sunday the same gang plus my son Cohen gathered for the 2^nd Annual Pinot Noir Challenge. Everyone brought a bottle of Pinot. Jim Bartee from Finer Wines in Katikati brought an extra one and I couldn't decide what to put in so I added an extra one too. So that was eight of us and ten Pinot Noirs.

And it's obviously a punt, what exactly we end up with, but since everyone wants bragging rights for bringing the top wine there's not a lot of duds. This year it turned out to be a more international showing and the Kiwi wines all came from Central Otago. But since we were tasting everything blind we didn't know beforehand what particular treats we had in store... 

I'm not going to go into detailed tasting notes here, just general impressions, otherwise this would be a ridiculously lengthy post; it was a lovely afternoon and a fascinating tasting, and the wines - even those scoring fewest points - were all well worthwhile.

This is what we ended up tasting:

Burn Cottage Burn Cottage Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2017 (NZ)

Rockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2017 (NZ)

Archangel Central Otago Pinot Noir 2016 (NZ)

Lowburn Ferry Central Otago Pinot Noir 2016 (NZ)

Rippon Mature Vine Central Otago Pinot Noir 2010 (NZ)

Felton Road Central Otago Pinot Noir 2005 (NZ)

Mure Clos Saint Landelin Pinot Noir 2014 (FR)

Domaine Michelle & Patrice Rion Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes 2005 (FR)

Beaux Freres Pinot Noir 2010 (US)

Masut Da Rive Pinot Nero Maurus 2012 (IT)

(Of course, I didn't know it at the time but Hot Damn!... An old Felton Rd Pinot! A Pinot - the Beaux Freres - made by legendary wine writer Robert Parker! A French 1er Cru! An Italian Pinot?! A Pinot from Alsace, a new thing for me. Two Pinots from the most excellent Central Otago 2017 vintage... oh, and that Rippon, which received a rare 100 points from James Suckling!)

The wines were divided into two flights of 5 wines each and after tasting each flight we collected scores and opinions and then retasted the top wine from each flight. As one flight had tied "winners" we ended up retasting three wines, to find an eventual Grand Champion.

These were the two flights and how we rated them...

FLIGHT 1

1. Rockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2017 (NZ)

2. Domaine Michelle & Patrice Rion Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes 2005 (FR)

3. Masut Da Rive Pinot Nero Maurus 2012 (IT)

4. Lowburn Ferry Central Otago Pinot Noir 2016 (NZ)

5. Rippon Mature Vine Central Otago Pinot Noir 2010 (NZ)

What I found most unexpected about this flight was that the French and Italian wines did not especially stick out. 

Looking at my notes I'm slightly surprised that I judged the Rockburn the top wine of the flight, particularly since this is their $40 "entry level" Pinot, but it showed the best bouquet and most complex flavours (they do also make the cheaper Devil's Staircase Pinot Noir, but this is their entry level under the Rockburn name). It was ahead for me by some distance and obviously someone agreed given its top placement.

(I should point out that the "lowly" 2017 Rockburn actually won two gold and two trophies at the 2019 New Zealand International Wine Show - for Best Pinot and Best Red Wine. So it's not all that lowly...)

But it was overall a very close-run thing between the top two Pinots and it seems quite possible that the Rockburn made it through because it opened up more quickly than the Chambolle-Musigny (we did allow 15 minutes for the wines to open in glasses before tasting but, as became apparent from later changes in wines, that might not have been long enough for some of them...). 

In fact all the wines in this flight were judged to be very close together. In retrospect I'm surprised the Rippon didn't stand out more. It was beautifully balanced but slightly less weighty than the other wines, which might have caused it to be passed over.

FLIGHT 2

1.= Felton Road Central Otago Pinot Noir 2005 (NZ)

1.= Beaux Freres Pinot Noir 2010 (US)

3. Burn Cottage Burn Cottage Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2017 (NZ)

4. Archangel Central Otago Pinot Noir 2016 (NZ)

5. Mure Clos Saint Landelin Pinot Noir 2014 (FR)

And this was even closer, the top three wines all within a whisker of each other. At this point I personally ranked the Felton Road third. The Burn Cottage, which showed huge potential to grow over time, was very unlucky to miss out here.

I rated the Robert Parker Beaux Freres at the top - it was an absolutely lovely wine to drink, with great charm, still very fresh despite its age. If you told me it came from New Zealand I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. The same with the Alsace wine, amazingly enough, though that didn't find favour with anyone. I found it a little light and one-dimensional alongside the Central Otago wines.

And I placed the Burn Cottage second, just a little less welcoming on the nose than the Beaux Freres. Actually, it was the bouquet that sank the Felton Road for me at this point: it still seemed very closed and wasn't giving much away. 

THE TASTE-OFF

1. Felton Road Central Otago Pinot Noir 2005 (NZ)

2. Beaux Freres Pinot Noir 2010 (US)

3. Rockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2017 (NZ)

This is where the Felton Road really came into its own. It had opened up and was simply magnificent - rich, full, with endless layers of complex flavour. All of us rated it top with no disagreement. 

And the Parker came second. It was a much more interesting wine than the Rockburn which, lovely though it was, seemed a little simple in this company. Mind you, the fact that it probably cost a quarter of the amount and was several years younger than the other two - which were both indisputably great great wines - makes its showing more than creditable.

A big "thank you" to Jan and Debbie who poured the wines and kept everything running smoothly while we nattered on and on about tiny differences in bouquet and such minutiae. It was a brilliant day. 

I was also in touch with Jim and he had some thoughts, which echo mine but are much more well-informed and knowledgable!

It was lots of fun, with a full spectrum of wines young and old, French Pinot Noir from both Alsace and Burgundy, as well Robert Parker's own vineyard in Oregon, plus James Suckling's 100-pointer as well!

Can't say enough about the Felton Road, just superior in all ways to all the other wines. And for sure that Felton Road was radically different at the end compared to the beginning of the tasting. Of all the wines we tried, the one wine I think will continue to improve is the Beaux Freres. It just seemed so young, and it did garner second place. 

And I concur with you on the 2005 Patrick Rion Burgundy, but I think it will ultimately become a race between the fruit and the closed nature of that specific bottle, so don't really think we missed out. It seems to have structure, but not finesse. 2005 is known for its structure, akin to 1993, but just too "clunkish" for my preference.

BTW, I rated the Alsatian Pinot Noir at 92/100 as during the initial flight I thought it was quite elegant and expressive, though it diminished in breadth over the course of the day.

 

It was strange that all ten wines seemed to be more similar than far apart in all their attributes, regardless of which continent they were from, so "terroir" be damned!