It's only a couple of weeks until the Marchwood Blues Picnic, February 5 to be exact, and I'm really looking forward to this unique event.

I like the Marchwood Blues Picnic. As we move into an ever more regulated and proscribed times there is something charmingly amateur about Marchwood. I realise that describing it in such terms will probably offend Pete and Carol Archer, the originators and organisers of the festival, but I do not mean it offensively.
Orson Welles often said 'I'm an amateur director… amateur in the sense that ‘amateur' derives from love.” And that is indeed true. ‘Amateur' comes from the French and means, literally, ‘lover of', while ‘professionals' are people who do something for money.
Pete and Carol are amateurs in the very best sense of the word. They started The Blues Picnic out of love of the music and basically worked out how to do it as they went along. There's something charming about the fact that Pete will probably jam with most of the acts (he's a harmonica player) – why not, it's his festival after all. I dig the story from a couple of years back that the bands decided between themselves what order to play in since Pete didn't want to chose for them. And I love the fact that the event happens in what is basically their garden.
Just about everybody out there who has a field or paddock next to their house, or even an exceptionally large lawn, has at one point or another looked at it and said: ‘wouldn't it be cool to have a concert here!' And it is, certainly, a fantastic idea. The continuing series of twilight concerts in Katikati prove what a great spot a sizeable garden can be for a musical event. There is, however, a gap of a million light years between idly fantasizing about your back garden and actually organising a festival.
It helps that Pete and Carol have a particularly beautiful property in Youngson Road, a large sloping bank, big enough for several hundred people, stretching down to an avocado orchard and views far across the hills. It is idyllic. But they also put in the work and built a proper permanent stage and then set about doing all the other things that you need for a festival.
The first year – four years back if memory serves – had some teething problems. The advertising was a little inconsistent and tickets were a bit too expensive. That's always a hard one though for events such as this. Exactly how do you price tickets if you don't know whether you're going to get 200 people or 1000 people?
I think they were $50 that first year and the next year they went the other way and tickets were $20. After that it settled in the middle and that's where they are this year – $35 in advance or $40 on the door. It's a pretty reasonable price for eight acts, two of which are from overseas. Very reasonable in fact. As far as I'm aware, Pete and Carol have yet to make any money at all from the festival, and I don't know if they will this year, but they certainly deserve to.
What has been consistent right from the start is the quality of the music at Marchwood. In terms of blues acts The Picnic has really knocked it out of the park, one year even featuring legendary Australian players Dutch Tilders and Phil Manning. In fact, they may have been punching above their weight there since many folk in li'l ol' Tauranga without specialist blues knowledge possibly hadn't heard of these esteemed musicians. That may be one reason Marchwood has never had quite the crowds it deserves – rather than the 1000 people it's been more like a consistent 400.
Again, the line-up this year is pretty stunning: local boys Brilleaux, Dr G, and the Grant Haua Trio; Auckland's Flaming Mudcats, who just had a great gig at the BBBQs; boogie queen Jan Preston from Sydney and blues belter Diana Harris from California; and from Wellington Fleetwood Mac tribute band Manalishi.
All the info is at www.bluespicnic.com – if you haven't been before, don't miss out this time round.