Comments for The Opinionated Diner

Comment on There’s a stack of shellac and vinyl / Which is yours now and which is mine? / 45 by Kim Sinclair

Kim Sinclair — Sat, 04 May 2013 05:13:05 +0000

Showing my extreme age — I reckon the upstairs in Vulcan Lane rekid shop was called ‘The Listeners Inn’.

Comment on There’s a stack of shellac and vinyl / Which is yours now and which is mine? / 45 by Simon

Simon — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 05:24:39 +0000

Ha, yes. Thanks for the link Jason.

Comment on There’s a stack of shellac and vinyl / Which is yours now and which is mine? / 45 by Jason Kemp

Jason Kemp — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 05:09:02 +0000

Better late than never. I just stumbled on this today after writing about some music store memories over at http://publicaddress.net/hardnews/friday-music-record-store-day/ and added this as a link. What a small world it is.

Comment on Then I wake up / And your name is on my tongue by james bradfield

james bradfield — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 05:19:03 +0000

I went into Real Groovy to buy it when it first came out. Looked in the NZ section. Looked in alternative section. Looked in the general section. No luck. Found it in Dance.!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment on Then I wake up / And your name is on my tongue by Simon

Simon — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:19:39 +0000

Mostly I think major retailers don’t give a toss. It scary how bad big stores are at fronting NZ stuff these days. The Queen St JB has a token rack hidden in a walkway nobody uses.

It ain’t hard to stick a few copies of the Taite winner in a place where someone can be reminded surely.

And look at the winners of The Mercury: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Prize#Winners_and_shortlisted_nominees Mostly artistic triumphs that have sold really well too, from the very first winner onwards.

Comment on Then I wake up / And your name is on my tongue by Robyn

Robyn — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:04:09 +0000

The other thing to consider is that the Taite is relatively new. It's only been awarded four times, whereas the Mercury's been around for two decades. The UK award has had a long time to build up a fearsome reputation, while the Taite is still establishing itself. Perhaps it's a case of you just haven't earned it yet, baby. It's also tricky when the Taite award criteria is specifically not focused on commercial or sales factors. Regardless of the award, the winners aren't necessarily going to have broad appeal. On the other hand, if retailers start embracing the selling point of the Taite, then that will add to the award's clout and may encourage customers to take a chance on a Taite winner.

Comment on I don’t know why by Rachel

Rachel — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 10:48:33 +0000

Er — Rena’s tale!?

Comment on It’s such a crazy Squeeze.… by Rachel

Rachel — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 10:43:24 +0000

Simon, I, like everyone else who was round at that time, will help as much as possible. I know, for a lot of us, it was the most unforgettable and vibrant time! Yay Zwines!

Comment on There’s a stack of shellac and vinyl / Which is yours now and which is mine? / 45 by Simon

Simon — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 05:55:07 +0000

You could always write it up George and we’ll tag it on an update

Comment on There’s a stack of shellac and vinyl / Which is yours now and which is mine? / 45 by George D

George D — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 00:38:06 +0000

I was listening to some old and obscure reggae in the Asian sun yesterday, and contemplating a small island's prolific record industry. And at that point I realised you've missed a few important stores; the Pacific music stores in the Mangere Town Centre, Otara Town Centre, and on Great South Road in Otahuhu. Add to this the regular vendors who populate the markets at those centres - they're there every week adding a soundtrack. There are probably a couple in Manurewa and Papakura, but I don't spend enough time in the deep south to tell you if that's true. Not what the rest of us usually think of 'music', but it certainly is. There's a prolific cottage industry producing these records, and a fair number of them get imported from Samoa and Tonga. Back in the 1980s South Auckland had independent record stores selling to mainstream tastes, but these had mostly died by the mid 1990s. Cyberculture was still open in 2002, I remember shopping there in my first year of university. I think it closed a year or two later (some time in the early 2000s, in other words).