Author: telboy2

The Big Yin returns

F’s also for fast, furious and funny

WHAT: Billy Connolly
WHERE: TSB Arena, Monday, February 16

SIMON SWEETMAN – The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 17 February 2009

Nelson Mail

PLACE IN OUR HEARTS: Billy Connolly raged on into the night, speaking out against the ‘beige-ness’ of the world.

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In recent years, Billy Connolly, one of Scotland’s greatest cultural exports, has become as well known for his travel documentaries and movie roles as for the stand-up comedy that first defined him after failed attempts at a folk-music career.

A decent banjo player, Connolly proved far more successful at talking between the songs, his honest thoughts pouring from the stage with a circumlocutory delivery that has now become a staple of stand-up and flows through to a younger generation (Danny Bhoy).

The other stylistic device that helped to make Connolly a household name is his furious and glorious overuse of words that begin with f and rhyme with truck; fans did not miss out on profanity in this performance, as Billy, reminding everyone that he is “really old”, raged on into the night, speaking out against the “beige-ness” of the world and of how we all have a duty to stop the boredom.

He told us the end of the world was coming with war and financial meltdowns, with global warming (“I got a suntan in Dunedin!”) and with people dressed in three-piece suits (“liar’s clothes!”).

Connolly will always have a special place in the hearts of New Zealanders because he married one of our own (Pamela Stephenson) – and with perfect timing he begins the show with a little Kiwi anecdote, telling us to take responsibility for our own weather rather than cursing in his direction for bringing it with him.

From there it was off to cover familiar themes (the peculiarities of English expressions, the madness of conversations with strangers) and in some cases to flat- out repetition (he seems to delight in talking about fat and ugly people; surfing against the PC tides).

When he did cover old ground it was generally still funny and, even if the unstructured nature of his show (“I have to tell you another story first before I tell you the first one because then it will make more sense”) did mean some conversational cul-de-sacs turned in to dead-ends, Connolly’s ability to mock himself (again usually with a barrage of expletives) drew a steady stream of applause.

He was preaching to the converted and while he’s offered better sermons and there are now sharper players who roll out more interesting material, there’s nothing quite like seeing Billy Connolly. And this will probably be one of his last visits here in this capacity.

We were there. Overall I agree with the review. Going out on a Monday night though is not the ideal time-I was flat, maybe he was as well. The performance did not give me the buzz that I have enjoyed before. Some material was a revisit, and he even resorted to telling a joke!

Otherwise what was notable?

1 The number of very large people

2 A plethora of Scottish accents-the most since I have heard since living here

3 An observation-is it only people with tickets in the middle of the row who feel comfortable with turning up late?

I always said sevens rugby was important

We did not see this live but when Sara asked the taxi driver on the way back from the restaurant who had won. He said grumpily “New Zealand came second…beaten by Britain……England.”

It could be no worse than that.

Just as aside, if you watched the coverage on the tv then you would have seen wellington put a show on for the world in terms of weather. It has been very warm here, in the mid- 20s, 26C yesterday I believe, and more of the same today. All good bar the unseasonably strong wind.

Waitangi Day


Today is New Zealand’s national day, and commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, generally accepted as being the founding document of New Zealand. A reaty signed by the maori tribes, and the Crown. Controversy still reigns regarding its place in modern New Zealand, all not helped by the English and Maori language versions not being equialent.
It is a national holiday so the local world in the main is out enjoying itself. We have been to “One Love”, a music festival at the Velodrome, in Hataitai. It is the cool festival put on by Radioactive, in recognition od it also being Bob Marley’s birthday today. The performers included Little Bushman, previously mentioned on this blog, and The Black Seeds.
The Little Bushman played and eclectic set with echoes of Pink Floyd again, Jimi Hendrix and a number of “Blues” style numbers.
The Black Seeds were very professional and played well, and the crowd loved them, lapping up their well polished, recognisable tunes. The are white boy reggae artists-think UB40 but better with their own original material.Eleanor and her mates seemed to enjoy themselves, though Isaac was a little less impressed with the event. The pizza and ice cream seemed to help his mood.

So today makes the nation think what is means to be a Kiwi. So what does one need to do or think to be in the Kiwi mindset, and have a good change of passing the citizen examination?

  • love the All Blacks
  • think 7s rugby is important
  • consider the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy as the best films ever
  • winge about Australia stealing all the successful Kiwis for its own
  • think it rains more in Britain than NZ, and is always cold there
  • think you cannot have too many hakas
  • think that NZ has the ideal “lifestyle” captured
  • hot dogs come on a stick
  • one needs casual and formal jandals

Happy Waitangi Day!

Ps It was 24Celsius today and not a drop of snow insight.
It’s always snowing in England.

The Ultimate….

Hi all, its eleanor here(;
As requested, i am doing my big post on the big night.
I went to the arctic monkeys on the 12th of Jan with my friend nina and her parents.Mum and dad were in napier, so they couldnt come.Which was okay, coz i was with nina most of the time, in the mosh pit.
I didnt spend much time in there though, coz it was pretty scary and there was some pretty dodge stuff going on.
The arctic monkeys played songs from their old 2 albums (whatever people say i am, im not &favourite worst nightmare.) and some songs soon to be released.
They played the big songs, but only one of my favourites-505.
I didnt mind though, coz they were still amazing.
So, here is my taster of the night! I cant wait to go again, or a band equally as good.
My wishlist for 2009 is-white stripes,franz ferdinand or wombats.We shall see!
A big thankyou to nina and her parents for taking me there and back!
Eleanor.

So we are back from holiday.

The first stage was the cricket camp at Hastings, our third attendance. Joe stayed in camp, while we enjoyed the luxury of a motel with a pool. The cricket went reasonably well for Joe, though not really with the bat. He bowled well in a couple of games out of the five, and picked up two wickets in one game, and again was on a hat-trick! He did not get much of a bat, other than when he was put in at number 3 when the team responsibilities were mixed up. He did not enjoy the experience, and hung around, and played and missed, for a low score.
The team only won a single match, but were competitive in 4 of the 5 games. There were some impressive players on view in some of these teams, though the same could be said of Joe’s team, as four went onto represent Wellington the following week, and of those three made it to the full Wellington rep team that played last weekend against Canterbury.

After cricket we moved onto a new venue for us-Lake Waikaremoana, though the trip involved the horribly winding road after Napier, and then an interesting road from Wairoa, which is 62Km long, of which 25Km is unsealed. The family ‘mobile was not the ideal vehicle for the journey. The campsite was busy, full of fishermen and boaty types. Both “bogans” , and affluent JAFFAs, we decided. Probably they were estate agents, and had arrogance and bad manners oozing from their skin, as they tried to take over the facilities with no regard for anyone else.
We did a few brief walks, which is what one does there if one does not have a boat. The more serious types walk around the lake, but that takes a few days, and does not suit little legs.

Then it was onto Porongahau. The campsite was quiet, we were one of the few there for the first four days. The weather was great, warm, and sunshine though with plenty of opportunity to be burnt. The boys took to the sea and surfed, though dad did demonstrate he is still the dude with the body board. The men went off to the local golf course, paid the $10 into the honesty box and played a few holes, with the three clubs between us, one of which a scaled down 9 iron for Isaac. Everyone enjoyed their swings, and limited success.
The night sky was great with absence of “light pollution”.
Some runs were done, with Sara achieving greater distances. The achilles tendonitis is still a limiting factor.
On the Friday the place suddenly “filled out”. Hardly busy but we still felt invaded. Saturday was the return journey, everyone crammed into the car with all the gear again. The fishing rod was ever present, but not used.

Eleanor joined our party a day late as she went to a gig to see the Arctic Monkeys. Maybe she will find time to describe it for the blog if she can find time to put fingers to keyboard.

Camping at Porangahau

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The last part of the holiday was camping at the same campsite as last year.

A video tour is supplied by Isaac. Please make allowances for camera shake.