Scary clowns, classical guitars and the blues

Sometimes it's hard to stick to just music. Occasionally, I do start to feel like a ‘What's On' board.

It was gigs last week. Why? Because there are just so many of them on at the moment. And, for that reason, it's gigs again this week. Nothing wrong with that. I like writing about gigs as much as the next columnist. But in France there's an epidemic of scary clowns.

Yep, that's right. Though I should have capitalised it for great impact – an Epidemic of Scary Clowns!

This has got to be the best story to emerge from Europe since last year's Great German Nutella Heist (five and a half tonnes – I can still barely believe it!).

Apparently police in France have jailed or arrested more than a dozen teenagers across the country in recent weeks after they dressed up as clowns and wreaked havoc on the streets, at times armed with pistols, knives or baseball bats, sometimes beating people up.

According to the UK's ‘The Guardian' newspaper: 'The phenomenon in France has even prompted anti-clown vigilantism, forcing police to step in to try and quell growing hysteria”. Police will now arrest anyone dressed as a clown in public who is carrying anything that could be considered a weapon.

It's just irresistible isn't it? So, much as I love writing about music, sometimes it's hard not to be dragged off track. Don't get me wrong. The gigs I plan to mention this week are good gigs – gigs I will probably go to and enjoy immensely, but... a Scary Clown Epidemic!

OK. Moving right along.

The Art Gallery are at it again, filling their space with music, in this case a group of dynamite guitarists.

Next week on Thursday, November 6, the New Zealand Guitar Quartet are coming to town. I haven't heard them. There are – as the name would suggest – four of them and from everything I've know they will be stunning.


New Zealand Guitar Quartet play November 6 at The Tauranga Art Gallery.

They play a varied classical repertoire – last year's programme featured work ranging from J S Bach to de Falla and Rimsky-Korsakov – and each has individual CVs that are dazzling.

Just to take one as an example: Jane Curry has completed a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Arizona and is head of the classical guitar department at the New Zealand School of Music. She has placed in several international guitar competitions and has performed in New Zealand, England, Scotland, Spain, Mexico, Tahiti, Canada, Malaysia, and throughout the US. And that just scratched the surface of the accolades she's received.

And they're all like that – simply the best in New Zealand at what they do. If you like classical guitar music don't miss it. Tickets are $25, from the Gallery.

The other gig's a couple of weeks away, and is the first big show at the newly-renovated Mauao Performing Arts Centre at the Mount. On Saturday, November 15, Brilleaux are putting on a 'Roomfull of Blues” at MauaoPAC along with Auckland band Riverhead slide.


Blues band Riverhead Slide.

Since I'm guessing you know all about Brilleaux by now all I'll mention is the exciting news that the boys are currently lining up dates for another English tour and plan to head that way for a two-week jaunt next June.

Meanwhile, Riverhead Slide are named after the north Auckland settlement of Riverhead where they played their first gig in 1987. That's what the legend says anyway! Since then around 40 members have passed through the group but, despite many incarnations, the band as a whole have kept playing the blues throughout the decades, with an energetic mix that ranges from classic to contemporary British and American blues as well as their own songs.

The ‘slide' in question belongs to British-born founding member Steve Wigglesworth who also brings singing and songwriting skills to the band alongside fellow Englishman, lead guitarist Nigel Major.

More well-known around here though might be lead singer/songwriter Gael Ludlow, whom some might remember from her days as a television presenter, and who still considers the Bay of Plenty home territory despite living in Auckland these days.

Tickets are $15 (or $20 on the door), from MauaoPAC, Drivers Bar, Music Planet and Bay City. Musicworks.

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