Contributors
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Album review: Midnight Hours By Killergrams
An alt-country/rock band based in Arrowtown, Killergrams is singer-songwriter Tom Maxwell, singer and bassist Sam Maxwell, as well as Nick Lynch on piano and Reuben Pearce on drums. More a reintroduction than a release, Midnight Hours has an interesting backstory. A change in distribution companies saw the original album, their 2019 debut, taken off streaming…
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Music review: Merchants by Powder Chutes
Wānaka’s Powder Chutes have dropped a new single and it’s a “hell, yes” from me. ‘Merchants’ is just the thing for our times, a bundle of joyous grunge-infused angst that simultaneously looks forwards and back. Sonically, it’s smarter than your average rock anthem. Powder Chutes reminds me of the musically-sophisticated rock bros of my youth…
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Heading North
It doesn’t matter where you go. In October of 2022, Penzy Dinsdale set off on an 85-day traverse of the Southern Alps. The trip would involve walking, climbing, skiing, biking and extensive planning, including coordinating food and gear drops, and a whole lot of dehydrating meals. Her route would take her through some of Te…
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The wonderful wizard of Bluff
Noel Peterson uses his powers for community good. Perhaps there is a magical explanation for why it’s such a lovely warm winter’s day in Bluff. But if he has cast a spell, Noel Peterson won’t say. It’s a valid question. After all, Noel is a wizard. “When I cast spells from my lair, it sometimes…
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Down to some fine arts
Riversdale’s Mixed Media Exhibition has a lot of heart(s). I drive through Gore, out into the rolling countryside, past the Hokonui Hills. An evening fog hovers at sheep level over the paddocks. Twenty minutes later I arrive in Riversdale, population 500. The main street is mostly deserted. It’s dusk on a winter Friday. There are…
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A fort story
Fort Jervois on Rīpapa Island is a legacy of New Zealand’s Russian Scare. No not that scare, the other one. On February 17, 1873 some alarming news came out of Auckland. According to the Daily Southern Star, an iron-clad Russian warship, the Kaskowiski, had entered the Waitematā Harbour, discharged a fatal “mephitic water gas apparatus”…
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We’ll all only be images
Marti Friedlander turned an outsider’s eye on the countrysides of Aotearoa. “When you’re born in a land you become blind to it. You no longer see the beauties within.” – Daniel K. Brown, School of Design, Victoria University The sheep seem to know something. Some are minding their own business, but most, ears perked, eyes…
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Gear review: Rab’s Mythic Alpine Down Jacket
Built for reaching frost-shattered summits in the biting cold, this ultralight down jacket offers impressive warmth and mobility for mountaineers, climbers, skiers or any active winter people. This is the ideal jacket for those who want an extremely warm down jacket you can climb in, stash easily, and throw on when you need an instant…
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Book release: Ski Bum
By Sam Masters Powder Press (2024) We were excited in the 1964 office recently to receive some promotional material from Sam Masters, former editor of Powderhound and author of The Story of New Zealand Freeskiing about a new book: Ski Bum. Along with a curated collection of the world’s best ski photography, Sam promises “shocking…