Tabla de contenidos para January - February 2017 en Metro NZ

New at www.noted.co.nz 01—METRO TOP 50 CAFES No homemade breakfast can compete with the calibre of Auckland’s best cafes. Find the full list, including the Top 10 and supreme winner listings, online now. 02—FROM THE ARCHIVES: MY DINNER WITH AA GILL In 2011, Metro had the rare pleasure of taking the late AA Gill out for dinner. Read the impression the legendary food critic made on Simon Wilson. 03—FIRST LOOK In the noise of new Auckland food openings, we discern which are worth visiting, with regular restaurant, cafe, bar and cheap eats previews. 04—LESSONS FROM A BROKEN CITY: WHAT AUCKLAND CAN LEARN FROM DETROIT Anthony Byrt uncovers the lessons we can learn from America’s most iconic story of urban disaster and recovery. METRO…

Visual art Take Me To The River Feb 10-Mar 4 Photographer Russ Flatt’s exhibition of nudes in landscapes is a magical foray into his time spent living in Vermont. See page 29. Tim Melville Gallery, timmelville.com Festivals Wondergarden Dec 31 Hallelujah. Downtown Auckland finally has a noteworthy New Year’s Eve festival. The all-ages, all-day music event features cool cats such as Yumi Zouma, The Phoenix Foundation and Estère. See page 22. Silo Park, wondergarden.co.nz Laneway Jan 30 In a new home at Albert Park, Laneway’s lineup includes Grammy Award-winning Briton, Tourist and Norwegian electro-pop singer Aurora. See page 24. Albert Park, lanewayfestival.com Tamaki Herenga Waka Festival Jan 28-30 An upbeat celebration of Maori culture with kapa haka, music, waka and games. Viaduct Events Centre,…

“It was so hot, and I was quite out of it. All of a sudden, my vision completely changed, sound became really loud and my body went completely still.” When Sriwhana Spong was shortlisted for the 2012 Walters Prize, no one in the art world was particularly taken aback. For several years, she had been making some of the country’s best video art: lush, elegant films, which often drew on her dual New Zealand and Balinese heritage, as well as her training as a ballet dancer. Things were going well. But then she disappeared. “I felt like I needed a different conversation,” she says over Skype from London. “I felt like my work wasn’t growing. There was a multitude of reasons for that. But I was a bit stuck, I…

I go to flip backwards in the air, throwing my head back, flinging my arms back and… CRACK! All 33 bones in my spine jam together in one, unforgiving line. Pain roars up through my spine, shoulders and arms. The tears are back again. So is the snot. I’m left dangling and dripping in the aerial harness, writhing on my back like a flipped turtle. Christ, it’s humiliating. Everyone has just seen me fail to do the most basic of backflips in a harness. And now I’m crying like I’m six years old again and mum won’t let me watch Hercules because I ate my brother’s iced bun. I’m about to regress to full, thumb-sucking gibberish in front of New Zealand’s hardest badasses. “Are you okay?” “Do you need to…

Knowing when to leave the building is a skill possessed by few. But Auckland Arts Festival artistic director Carla van Zon, who does everything with wit and verve and enthusiasm, was stage managing it flawlessly until life got in the way. “I got a letter from the social welfare department saying congratulations on your impending 65th birthday, you can register for your pension here.” She greeted the letter with delight. “I’ve been in the festival business since 1989 and that’s a long time. It’s tiring. The battle for money, looking for shows for the programme, meeting with artists. It’s ongoing and you don’t have any other life. After 30 years of constant travelling, working seven days a week, I wanted to stop and enjoy life a bit.” Van Zon handed…

“Good steaks. Everything else appalling,” fumed Warwick Roger in a review of Tony’s restaurant in the July 1985 issue of Metro . “Try it at your own risk. Personally I would never bother again.” Oh dear. When Tony White opened the first Tony’s steak and spaghetti joint on Wellesley St in 1963, it was the only affordable, slightly classy restaurant in town. For many years, the lunchtime special of spaghetti bolognaise, a slice of Vogel’s bread and a coffee set you back 30 cents. A steak dinner cost less than $4. Tony’s quickly became a destination — at a time when there was bugger all else to measure the quality of your dining experience against, it was a benchmark for eating out. The atmosphere was jovial. The…

Maybe we need a better descriptor than ‘best’. Perhaps ‘freshest, most shiver-up-the-spine surprise’ might get close, but it still doesn’t get across the shock of how great Troy Kingi’s debut album really is. Troy Kingi & the Electric Haka Boogie Guitar Party at Uncle’s Bach (Lyttelton Records) It has the look of an album that’s been thrown together and tossed out just for fun, but don’t let that fool you. Guitar Party at Uncle’s Bach is simply the best New Zealand album of 2016. Or maybe we need a better descriptor than “best”. Perhaps “freshest, most shiver-up-the-spine surprise” might get close, but it still doesn’t get across the shock of just how effortlessly great Troy Kingi’s debut really is. This rambling double disc is indeed presented…

 Wondergarden “At the festival, I see people break through perceived limitations, dance like mad and laugh like children.” A fresh New Year’s Eve festival on the Auckland waterfront. When—December 31. Where—Silo Park, Wynard Quarter. The damage— $92.90 for an adult pass, $45.90 for kids, under-fives free. New kid in town—In years gone by, if you were looking for a festive night out in Auckland on New Year’s Eve, chances were you’d end up at a dodgy pub playing beer-pong. We’re pleased the kick-off to 2017 is set to be different, with the first Wondergarden making Silo Park its home for the night. The all-ages festival features a line-up of 10 of New Zealand’s best artists, including Anika Moa and The Phoenix Foundation. Up-and-comers to see— Estère calls…

When Lionel Floribert and Kaviesha Abeysinghe arrive at Corban Estate Arts Centre in Henderson every Saturday, they leave their baggage at the door. Religion, culture, customs and skin colour become irrelevant; instead, they’re humans hanging out for the same purpose — to perform. It’s 10 years since refugee arts programme Mixit began after founder Wendy Preston was shoulder-tapped by a philanthropist. For the former choreographer, it’s a full-time gig, and she’s at the arts centre at weekends, too, waiting for vanloads of youngsters to turn up; they travel from all over Auckland to sing, dance, and act their hearts out. Floribert, 16, and Abeysinghe, 23, will lead 25 performers in Mixit’s annual show on January 20-21. While they’re from different backgrounds — Floribert is a refugee from the Congo, Abeysinghe…

“Talofa.” My husband and I are attempting a very basic Samoan conversation, slowly sounding out the words, practising our introductions. “‘O lo’u igoa o…” My-name-is…“Moe k’io!” interrupts his mum, and we all crack up laughing, our earnest attempt to politely greet each other thwarted instead for, “Hello, my name is… bed-shitter!” But, though she’s clearly amused at our childlike and stilted efforts at talking in Samoan, it also makes her happy, this trying. As it does my dad, when I ask him, “‘O ai lou suafa?” It’s a silly question to ask your dad, really. “What is your name?” But he smiles, and answers, as does my mum, who sometimes surprises herself with the Samoan she’s picked up over the years. With my husband and sister, I am four weeks…

What makes a good bar? Your answer will probably vary depending on which day it is, how hungry you are, what the clouds are doing and who’s asking. The question of which bar is Auckland’s best, however, seems to be met surprisingly often with the same answer, regardless of who’s talking. It’s a curiosity I’ve observed in the six years I’ve been writing about Auckland’s hospitality scene — the same amount of time that’s lapsed since an unmarked door on the corner of Richmond and Ponsonby Rds first opened to reveal The Golden Dawn — Tavern of Power. Whether it’s just the first bar that comes into people’s heads is irrelevant; it’s memorable because it’s unique. Imitators pale into homogenous insignificance because, as co-owner Nick Harrison says, “We don’t try…

You might think of Sydney as a bit of a floozy, a good-time girl. Kind of brassy, showy and shiny, even a little dirty. She’s always been ripe for that kind of personification, of course, up for all of that and more. An extrovert in perpetual motion, all shimmering surfaces, heat and light. But returning to the city, on the cusp of this summer, you also see she’s more than that. The hard edges are discernible, certainly, but she seems more rounded these days. Well fed. Sleek and slick, still, and not necessarily the worse for that. That sweet sway of the hips, the cheeky sideways grin, the glossy expensive hair. The city is swathed in fairy lights, and it’s not even the festive season. Is it always Christmas here?…

“The effect is ungainly, although architects and others will tell you it’s a deliberate feature that lets the structure speak.” Let’s get this out in the open up front. The new building at 206 Victoria St West bordering Victoria Park isn’t going to win any beauty contests. The big rectangular frames that march across its face are supposed to help disguise the bulk. In truth, they make the building look like a badly sewn patchwork quilt. To be fair, JCY Architects has done its best to tart up what was possibly one of the ugliest carpark buildings in Auckland — the five-level eyesore on the corner of Victoria St West and Drake St adjoining Victoria Park Market. The architect’s approach to this design problem has been to encase the carpark…

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Anthony Byrt’s story “Lessons from a Broken City” in the November-December issue prompted Act Party leader David Seymour to email us. “The article quotes one source, a journalist, saying some Detroit charter schools are performing badly and can’t be cut off. I’d point the author to a more substantial source — Stanford University’s CREDO study estimated Michigan charters on average add 43 days’ worth of learning per year in each of reading and maths compared with public schools. “That’s not to say that there aren’t failing charter schools. Fortunately, New Zealand’s partnership schools follow a fast path to closure if they perform badly — a path that has already been used in one case.” Anthony Byrt — who never uses one word when five will do — responds: “David Seymour…

Opening of The Opening Night Before Christmas — Basement Theatre Deloitte Top 200 Business Awards — Vector Arena…

“A lot of the women who started a little bit nervous didn’t want to put their clothes back on. They were like, god, this is liberating.” Public nakedness is legal in Vermont, but only if you leave your house naked. “I couldn’t get my head around it,” says Russ Flatt, whose exhibition of a series of nudes was shot there. “Someone told me when I first got there and I thought they were being funny. But it’s true. Nudity’s fine, undressing’s illegal. By having people strip off out in the woods, I was probably breaking the law.” In 2016, Flatt spent three months at the Vermont Studio Centre after winning one of the Wallace Art Awards, international residencies given annually to New Zealand visual artists. The judges decide which winners…

Those lucky enough to snare an apartment in the urban development jungle of Auckland Central should feel rightly satisfied if the hunt leads them to Kingsland’s project, the NXN building. Under Nigel McKenna’s direction, the Templeton Group has begun developing land at 8-14 Kingsland Terrace into a residential kingdom. Comprising 73 one, two and three bedroom apartments and five terraced houses, the development is all about providing high-quality living spaces. Head east on the cul-de-sac of Kingsland Terrace and you’ll find the NXN site; bounded by a mature tree-lined frontage on Bond Street, and overlooking Nixon Park to the north. Residents will be an easy stroll from the cafés, bars and restaurants of Kingsland. “Its amenities, proximity to the city, and access to public transport and cycle ways make it…

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HOWICK COLLEGE “… focussed on engaging students in classroom programmes that encourage innovation, creative learning and thinking, as well as qualifications success.” – Education Review Office 2015 “Howick College provides high quality education. Students engage positively with a curriculum that supports and strengthens their learning. A school-wide focus on student wellbeing underpins the school’s educational vision. School leaders and teachers are highly committed to fostering each individual’s present and future potential.” – Education Review Office 2015 Exciting, engaging, supportive. Ph: 534-4492 www.howickcollege.school.nz AUCKLAND INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE Our students go to Harvard, Stanford, Oxford and Cambridge universities. Spend a day with us and decide if you want to join them. Buddy Days at AIC, a Year 11-13 senior secondary college. Ph: 309-4480 www.aic.ac.nz admissions@aic.ac.nz SAE - CREATIVE MEDIA INSTITUTE With 53 campuses…

“A traffic jam becomes a dance number in a joyful demonstration of the ability to transform humdum modern life into art.” La La Land Directed by Damien Chazelle Opens Boxing Day If you don’t like Ryan Gosling or Emma Stone and you’re not fond of wildly romantic love stories and you’re not interested in the fact that Damien Chazelle is one of the most talented writer-directors Hollywood has turned up in years and also you hate music… but surely no such person exists? Go see La La Land . Chazelle first drew widespread attention with Whiplash (2014), his jaw-droppingly intense study in obsession, cruelty and jazz. La La Land keeps only the jazz. I saw the film last night and as I write this, its tunes and…

One definition of a great city is a place in which there are more cultural events worth attending than any one person can keep up with. This would be true of Auckland even if you narrowed the definition of “cultural event” to “classical concert”. Summer is traditionally the dead zone for classical music, so I am taking a moment to list a very few of the likely highlights of 2017. John Adams, John Adams, John Adams. After the Auckland Arts Festival’s brilliant 2016 production of his opera Nixon In China, it’s exciting to see the NZSO lining up no fewer than three of the great Californian composer’s works for their 2017 concert calendar. If I had to choose just one, I’d opt for the grandly expansive symphony Naive and Sentimental…