It's a grab-bag of stuff this week - gigs, bits 'n' bobs, a little of everything.

Some weeks the universe presents its information in tidy, easy to connect packets. This is not one of those weeks. Instead it's one of those weeks where several things have popped up on my radar, none of which seem noticeably related. But they all seem interesting for one reason or another so let's get at it and I'll try not to spend too much time on segues.
First up, I notice they've started announcing bands for the Laneways Festival. Topping the bill are English master of melodic electronica James Blake and New Zealand's current queen of pop Lorde. That's a pretty cool start. James Blake is quite extraordinary and, if you're old and hate electronica and need convincing, get on-line and Google his cover of Joni Mitchell's 'A Case of You”. It's wonderful. Lorde, of course, needs no introduction.
Also on the bill: Kurt Vile, Danny Brown, Chvrches, Frightened Rabbit, Haim, Daughter, Mount Kimbie, Savages, Jamie XX and many many more.
On the local front it's been good to see a little new music arriving along the Strand with the opening of the Brew Bar, a craft beer outlet for Rotorua beer-maker Crouchers. There's a Brew Bar in Rotorua which has long had interesting music and the one here is following suit. Every Saturday and Sunday afternoon there are gigs (for free).
On Sunday afternoons there's a laid-back acoustic session with Dylan Israel, second generation Tauranga singer/songwriter. Dylan is the son of John Michaelz who is currently somewhere in Northland on his 'Sing For Your Supper” tour.
I'm not sure who's on this Saturday, but next weekend (12 October) there's Waylon McPherson and the following Saturday (19 October) sees the return of Swamp Thing, which you should definitely mark on your calendar. See these guys soon before the only was you can catch them is from the back of stadium after paying massive ticket prices.
And here are a couple more quickies for gig-lovers: Sunday 13 is the next get-together of the Entertainers Club at the Bureta Park Motor Inn (get in quick before it becomes a supermarket!). Playing will be 9-piece Hamilton jazz outfit Art Gecko, who've been around for years and should be a whole lot of fun. Also on the bill are duo Harlequin. (5.00pm, tickets $10.)
Later that week in the Redwood Room at Bureta (Thursday 17) the Acoustic Music Club is presenting Mark Moroney and David Shanhun, two highly regarded singer/songwriters. Opening for them will be Kaimai Express. It kicks off at 7.15, tickets are $15.
And finally...
I seem to have mentioned Robbie Laven and Marion Arts a few times in recent weeks and there's a bit more news out of the Bonjour Swing camp: the band have been invited to play support for Hank Marvin when the legendary Shadows guitarist appears at Baycourt on October 19. Hank Marvin is playing a Gypsy Swing tour where he celebrates the music of Django Reinhardt and Stephan Grappelli.
Going back a couple of years, Robbie and Marion visited the Django Reinhardt Anniversary Festival in Samois, France, where, amongst other amazing music, they saw Hank sitting in with the Rosenberg Trio and Bireli Lagrene ('with clean and articulate technique and the dazzling Shadows smile” say Robbie).
Robbie explained to me how that style of swing made it across the English Channel: 'Django and Grappelli fled to England at the beginning of WW II when Gypsies were persecuted by the Germans, and England has maintained a Gypsy jazz tradition ever since. Legend has it that Django got homesick, returned with a huge English Negro body guard, who got so scared after two days in a Parisian Gypsy caravan park that he promptly went home again!”
The gig will also be a bit of a full circle musically for Robbie as he set off on his music performance path in 1960 (Te Awamutu) in a Shadows band with fantasies about Hank's shining cherry red Stratocaster (as featured on the first Shadows EP).
He says: 'I've in fact never seen the Shadows live, but owe them for years of gigging - like most New Zealand guitarists of the early sixties!”