Splendid Wellington February continues. As I write it’s another glorious clear-skied sunny day without wind. Its nice, and also a bit sinister. Wellington’s wind is a major part of its character, and we’ve been without it for weeks. Where the heck has it gone?
And every year Wellington packs in more summer parties. On Saturday there were no less than three major events around town – the opening of the new Dowse museum in the Hutt, complete with big free concert with some great performers; the Island Bay festival, with its own free concert with some great performers; and the Fringe Picnic, with a wonderful free concert with some great performers. Truly spoiled for choice, we Wellingtonians are. It’s bloody marvellous.
Saturday night Cal and I stopped in at the bar/foyer of the Paramount movie theatre where a free Fringe thing was going on, the Chit Chat Lounge. Styled like a late-night talkshow, with guests along to plug their fringe shows and give short performances. It was a lot of fun, with a happy atmosphere and some nice wit on display. The final guests when we dropped in were percussion outfit Strike, who finished up a fun interview with a blistering set on an array of Rarotongan drums. Wild.
This reminds me of plans I have been developing off-and-on for some years. Wellington could sustain something like this long-term; a regular night where folk would turn up to drink some drinks and engage with some cool new kulcha. Hosts would banter and develop running gags over weeks and months; guests would come out to plug their albums/plays/novels/clubs/etc. Some of Welly’s enormous creative output could be put on stage (music videos from the Handle the Jandal competition, short films from any of the various short film competitions). I’d schedule it on Friday night, starting at 11pm, somewhere where the bar starts slowing down at 11 as people head off to the more late-night venues. There’s loads of people sifting about in Wellington around midnight on a Friday, looking for something to do that isn’t dancing, karaoke or a late movie – an untapped market. It would totally work.
It would also be a heck of a lot of work to put together, and you’d be relying on a portion of bar receipts to fund it, so it would be a tough challenge. Unless it could get sponsors or advertisers, or go out on “Wellington’s TV station”. Of course it would be webcast live.
Someone should do this. Go on.