With last week's full moon, we're getting close to Easter. The next one will be the Easter full moon.

Easter is weirdly lunar, so it bobs around a bit and this year it's quite late in the great scheme of things.

Actually, many of us struggle to remember the correct formula for the date of Easter so let me start with a quick Public Service Announcement. Hold your breath and memorise this:

'Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or after March 21.” That's the simplest I can get to.

There are time-honoured religious reasons for this, but you need a degree in theology to explain them.

Next week I'm going to look at some of the acts at Easter's Jazz Festival - there's some fantastic stuff planned and the concert series already released in the programme is first class. In the meantime, there are eclectic concerts of all sorts in the run-up to Easter.

This weekend

First of all a quick shout out about this weekend.

There are two interesting shows at the Mount, but just yesterday I heard one of them has sold out.

By now either you have tickets, in which case any word from me about how great the gig will be is redundant, or you don't, in which case any word from me about how great the gig will be is likely to be positively irritating.

Whichever it is, I'm sure those of you going will have a ball at Totara Street watching L.A.B. on Saturday.

Just down the road on the same night (March 10, 8pm), Apollo Steam Train are building momentum on the back of their latest single 'Brain Bell Jangler” (listen on the usual digital platforms) by playing a free show at Imbibe on Girven Road, just around the corner from Bayfair. Later in the month they head to Waihi Beach and Auckland for more.

The night opens with sets from a couple of special guests. First up is Moone - a young acoustic guitar playing singer-songwriter who has been spotted at Mount and Papamoa bars.

Second up is John Michaelz, who I guess these days is pretty much a veteran of the music scene, having fronted rock bands such as Hard To Handle in the late 1980s.
He has a bunch of fine songs and is a dynamic singer (and also plays acoustic guitar).

As for Apollo Steam Train, the band is a rocking electric trio with a serious attitude and good songs. They're well worth catching.

Two weeks away

Looking forward a couple of weeks there's another dynamite folk outfit coming to The Barrel Room on Wharf Street.

Everyone in attendance was blown away by the Lonely Heartstring Band there a couple of months back.

Now the guy who was behind the sound desk and arranged that tour is taking centre stage. He's done that before in Tauranga, but last time guitarist Mark Mazengarb, currently resident in The States, was here he played at Baycourt with fellow guitar virtuoso Loren Barrigar.

This time Mark returns with a couple of American mates – namely Joe K Walsh on mandolin and Andrew VanNorstrand on fiddle.

Together they'll be presenting a night of old-timey bluegrass
and swing.

They're all fantastic players so expect them to burn up the strings.

That last bluegrass show at the Barrel Room actually sold out because they very sensibly limited the tickets to around 80. It allowed an intimate and comfortable atmosphere and made for a great night. Tickets for this, on Wednesday March 21 at 8pm, are $35. Check out the band at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yATP_tNzZKQ then head to Eventfinda.co.nz

Or if folk music is a little too staid for you, the next night, on March 22, there is a veritable Cuban fiesta at Totara Street as The Cuban Brothers hit town.

Famous for an explosion of dancing, soulful, sexy tunes and hi-energy comedy, Miguel Mantovani, Archerio Mantovani and Kengo San have built Los Hermanos Cubanos – The Cuban Brothers – into a legendary outfit that continuously sells out shows across the globe. This will be sensational.

Find out for yourself at: http://thecubanbrothers.com. Tickets are $38, again from Eventfinda.