Writing her own ticket: Korean-American indie star Michelle Zauner on why she's not wasting time
Few touring musicians would have quite the reading list of Michelle Zauner. But there aren't many like the 36-year-old Korean-American frontwoman of the band Japanese Breakfast, who will play one Auckland concert next month.
'I'm reading a great book by Jhumpa Lahiri called In Other Words, which is about her
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Otago Daily Times
8 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Toot'n'Croon turns 20
Lesley Askin (left), Alison Kerr, Chris Lang, Lynne James, Bevan Rogers (sitting), Geoff Tavendale, Hartley Ferrar, Lyall Walker, Jeni Sanderson, Warrick Sinclair (soundman). PHOTO: SUPPLIED Canterbury band Toot'n'Croon will celebrate their 20th anniversary on Saturday night. The band, which was formed in 2005 by Rangiora doctor Bevan Rogers, has played at many celebratory events and in many venues over the years. The band members have changed, but the foundation remains, and all the while their music has continued to be as popular as it was when they began, having changed with the times and the audience. It was Manhattan Transfer that inspired Rogers to get into the swing of forming a band, which still enjoys singing songs of the American harmony jazz group Manhattan Transfer he heard in the Christchurch Town Hall. ''When Manhattan Transfer sang the song Operator I noticed that the crowd really loved it, so I sent away to America for the sheet music — no internet downloads in those days — and in October 2004 I sang Operator at the doctors' concert (NZ Association of Artist Doctors), with the choir and piano, rhythm and brass backing me. ''It was such a blast that I thought, I want to do this more often than once a year. I'm getting older, so now is the time to start my own band.'' Their first public performance was in a variety concert in the Rangiora Town Hall to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War 2. It was only after the band had been going for five years that they started putting on evenings of stand-alone Toot'n'Croon music. ''The first was at Rossburn Receptions but we soon swapped to the Rangiora RSA, and we found that we were popular enough to put on about three evenings a year.'' Initially 'Toot'n'Croon sang songs from the 1940s, but as their audience grew younger, the music became bouncier with popular numbers, mostly from the 1950s and 1970s. ''Over time we found what sort of music was the most popular with people, and we have slowly changed to singing popular danceable music, mostly from 1950s rock and roll to 1970s Neil Diamond.'' The band's greatest love is having the audience sing along, tap their feet and dance, says Rogers. They have four singers – Bevan Rogers, Lesley Askin, Lynne James and Chris Lang. They perform songs with as much harmony as possible, supported by Alison Kerr on piano, Hartley Ferrar on saxophone, Jeni Sanderson on bass guitar, Geoff Tavendale on guitar and Lyall Walker on drums.
Otago Daily Times
12 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Funk pioneer Sly Stone dies
Sly Stone, the driving force behind Sly and the Family Stone, a multiracial American band whose boiling mix of rock, soul and psychedelia embodied 1960s idealism and helped popularise funk music, has died at the age of 82, his family said on Monday. Stone died after a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health issues, a statement from his family said. "While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come," the statement said. Stone was perhaps best known for his performance in 1969 at the historic Woodstock music festival, the hippie culture's coming-out party. His group was a regular on the US music charts in the late 1960s and 1970s, with hits such as "Dance to the Music," "I Want to Take You Higher," "Family Affair," "Everyday People," "If You Want Me to Stay," and "Hot Fun in the Summertime." But he later fell on hard times and became addicted to cocaine, never staging a successful comeback. The confident and mercurial Stone played a leading role in introducing funk, an Afrocentric style of music driven by grooves and syncopated rhythms, to a broader audience. James Brown had forged the elements of funk before Stone founded his band in 1966, but Stone's brand of funk drew new listeners. It was celebratory, eclectic, psychedelic and rooted in the counterculture of the late 1960s. "They had the clarity of Motown but the volume of Jimi Hendrix or The Who," Parliament-Funkadelic frontman George Clinton, a contemporary of Stone and another pioneering figure in funk, once wrote. When Sly and the Family Stone performed, it felt like the band was "speaking to you personally," Clinton said. Stone made his California-based band, which included his brother Freddie and sister Rose, a symbol of integration. It included Black and white musicians, while women, including the late trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, had prominent roles. That was rare in a music industry often segregated along racial and gender lines. Stone, with his orb-like Afro hairstyle and wardrobe of vests, fringes and skin-tight leather, lived the life of a superstar. At the same time, he allowed bandmates to shine by fostering a collaborative, free-flowing approach that epitomized the 1960s hippie ethic. "I wanted to be able for everyone to get a chance to sweat," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1970. DISC JOCKEY TO SINGER Born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, he moved as a child with his family to Northern California, where his father ran a janitorial business. He took the show business name Sly Stone and worked for a time as a radio disc jockey and a record producer for a small label before forming the band. The band's breakthrough came in 1968, when the title track to their second album, "Dance to the Music," cracked the Top 10. A year later, Sly and the Family Stone performed at Woodstock before dawn. Stone woke up a crowd of 400,000 people at the music festival, leading them in call-and-response style singing. Stone's music became less joyous after the idealistic 1960s, reflecting the polarization of the country after opposition to the Vietnam War and racial tensions triggered unrest on college campuses and in African American neighborhoods in big US cities. In 1971, Sly and the Family Stone released "There's a Riot Goin' On," which became the band's only No. 1 album. Critics said the album's bleak tone and slurred vocals denoted the increasing hold of cocaine on Stone. But some called the record a masterpiece, a eulogy to the 1960s. In the early 1970s, Stone became erratic and missed shows. Some members left the band. But the singer was still a big enough star in 1974 to attract a crowd of 21,000 for his wedding to actress and model Kathy Silva at Madison Square Garden in New York. Silva filed for divorce less than a year later. Sly and the Family Stone's album releases in the late 1970s and early 1980s flopped, as Stone racked up drug possession arrests. But the music helped shape disco and, years later, hip-hop artists kept the band's legacy alive by frequently sampling its musical hooks. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and Stone was celebrated in an all-star tribute at the Grammy Awards in 2006. He sauntered on stage with a blond Mohawk but bewildered the audience by leaving mid-song. In 2011, after launching what would become a years-long legal battle to claim royalties he said were stolen, Stone was arrested for cocaine possession. That year, media reported Stone was living in a recreational vehicle parked on a street in South Los Angeles. Stone had a son, Sylvester, with Silva. He had two daughters, Novena Carmel, and Sylvette "Phunne" Stone, whose mother was bandmate Cynthia Robinson.
Scoop
3 days ago
- Scoop
Ocean Conservancy And GOAL Launch Reusable Cup Venue Partnership: 'Protect Where We Play Tour'
WASHINGTON – Today, Ocean Conservancy and its partner GOAL announced the "Protect Where We Play Tour" launch, a partnership across GOAL's network of venues to reduce their plastic footprint by deploying a reusable cup program during concerts and sporting events. The Protect Where We Play Tour will kick off at Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium, which is hosting Coldplay on June 6-7. Other tour stops this summer will include Savannah's Enmarket Arena for The Lumineers, two nights of Billie Eilish at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York and others. It is estimated that this tour will prevent 1,000,000 single-use cups from entering the waste stream. Bold Reuse, a leading reuse service provider, is supporting the tour by managing all reusable cup operations at participating venues. 'We're so excited about this activation because it's the perfect combination of mission alignment and funding for operational changes. We're grateful for Ocean Conservancy's collaboration and openness to fund tangible solutions that help facilities implement sustainable change, while also elevating their mission. These are the type of win-win partnerships that enable the positive change that our sports and entertainment industry really needs,' said Kristen Fulmer, Executive Director of GOAL. 'With 50% of our oxygen coming from the ocean, whether you live on the coast or hundreds of miles inland, the future of your favorite game, concert, or event depends on a healthy, plastic-free ocean. By tapping into the joy of what it means to be a fan, we can inspire action and create a global movement that protects our planet for the next generation,' said Ocean Conservancy's Chief Brand and Communications Officer Jenna DiPaolo. Select tour dates include: In February, Ocean Conservancy launched the Protect Where We Play Initiative, aimed at rallying sports and entertainment fans to protect the future of our planet, leveraging the reach of athletes, artists, and events to mobilize millions of fans in support of ocean conservation. The program features 'Team Ocean Captains' including WNBA's Napheesa Collier, NFL's Kelvin Beachum, MLB's Brent Suter, Paralympian Ezra Frech, and American ballerina Katherine Barkman. The Protect Where We Play Initiative is the newest Ocean Conservancy program among decades of work to protect the ocean from plastic pollution. Since 1986, Ocean Conservancy has led the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), mobilizing nearly 19 million volunteers to remove 395 million pounds of trash from beaches and waterways worldwide. Ocean Conservancy has also led advocacy efforts to prevent plastic pollution through policies at the state, federal, and international levels.
