This week I was planning to write about a couple of shows happening soon at Mills Reef. But first the breaking news…

Well it broke earlier in the week. The Blues Brews & BBQs event is, apparently, no more. The combination of organiser fatigue and ever-increasing licensing regulations has finally done for it. I think it's a shame, but I understand the decision.
Actually, I hope it was more the former reason than the latter. It's a helluva lot of work organising an event on that scale and after a while it wears you down.
New blood is needed to take over and if that isn't forthcoming then it's best to let things go. Too many events have been ruined by continuing after the organisers were sick of the whole thing, but felt an obligation to press on.
So, hats off to everyone involved, thanks for the beer.
They were unlucky to be holding such an event at the same time as New Zealand is going through one of its regular prohibitionist panics, a moral knee-jerk reaction that believes alcohol is to blame for all society's ills. What with being an event
that often involved drinking to excess –
The horror! The horror! – the BBBBQs might as well have had a target painted
on its forehead.
Okay. That was a longer digression than I planned. Back to gigs at Mills Reef.
Luckily I don't really need to write about the first one. News came in yesterday that tickets for Greg Johnson on June 10 have sold out. It'll be a great show.
The second upcoming Mills Reef event is on Thursday, June 23 and sees the return of hip swing cats Hot Club Sandwich. It says a lot about their popularity that I've already heard from two excited punters asking me to write about the band's visit.
And I'm happy to do so. I think these guys are great. To those who don't know them, Hot Club Sandwich are a trio – guitar, bass, horns – playing a mixture of Hot Club swing, blues, rockabilly and other bouncy music.

They sing, often in slick harmony, but their real ace in the hole is their songs because, more than any other band I can think of (The Topp Twins maybe?) they sing directly about Kiwi life, be it buying appliances from Bond & Bond, falling for your new i-Pod, wishing you had a RAV, boring weddings, or your daughter's new boyfriend. And they not only sing about Kiwi life, but they do so with a clever, funny perspective that has audiences laughing in their seats.
They were last here for the Jazz Festival and probably won't be back this year so grab this chance to hear them while you can. Tickets are $20, available from Mills Reef (ph: 07 576 8800) and are selling fast.
And just as last week's paper came out we heard about the death of Gil Scott-Heron, the man – incorrectly I think – sometimes called the Godfather of Rap. If you haven't ever heard him then I suggest a quick Google and a trawl through YouTube. He really was something special.
The Godfather of Rap tag primarily stems from his groundbreaking 1970 album Pieces of a Man and its most celebrated track ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'. As a sustained burst of satirical anger it still surprises today. But it is a million miles away from rap. For a start it doesn't rhyme and, rather than relying on crude obscenities, it is literate and very funny. Gil Scott-Heron always seemed to me more influenced by the ‘50s beat poets and their experiments in matching words to music. Other tracks on the album – sung not spoken – veer towards the soul of Marvin Gaye's revolutionary ‘What's Going On', while another groundbreaking mix of words and music, the work of The Last Poets, was clearly
an influence.
But years of crack addiction caught up with Gil Scott-Heron, just as he was back touring on the strength of his remarkable ‘comeback' album ‘I'm New Here'.
He had lived a troubled life and even at the end couldn't catch a break, but his wonderful voice and brilliant songwriting will not be forgotten. Listen to some today.