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Otago Daily Times
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Combined funeral for couple
Bill and Lavenia Gerken died within 10 days of each other and had a combined funeral in Gore on June 3. PHOTO: SUPPLIED A Gore couple who were married for more than 65 years died within 10 days of each other and had a rare combined funeral in the town last week. The double funeral of Bill and Lavenia Gerken took place mainly because the surging interest in country music had booked out every venue in Gore. Mr Gerken was first to die, of natural causes on May 23. Daughter Kerry Gerken said her father did not want to go but he just slipped away. "And as soon as he went, Mum just gave up the ghost. She went downhill quite fast," she said. Both were 88. A funeral could not be held for Mr Gerken in Gore in the last week of May as all venues were booked out for the Tussock Country music festival which led into the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards. "There was just no venues available, so we had to wait until the music was finished." Mrs Gerken was moved into hospital on Friday, May 30, and by then it was not looking good for her. "It was like Mum went downhill so fast so she could be with Dad. She didn't like being without him." The idea of a combined funeral was discussed at the weekend by the family if Mrs Gerken died before the Tuesday ceremony. Mrs Gerken died on the Monday night. The funeral then took place in front of a big crowd at the RSA rooms in Gore, with a mix of humour and sadness. Aurora Funeral Services had swung into action and seamlessly changed the funeral for one Gerken to two. Mrs Gerken was born in Australia but moved across the Ditch when she was 17 and met her future husband through friends. They had three children, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. "They had a great sense of humour, the two of them, they loved to laugh." Ms Gerken quipped at the funeral that her father would be loving the double funeral. "Two for the price of one, he would say."
Otago Daily Times
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Organisers pull out stops for record numbers
Ngarangi Sadlier, of Lower Hutt, auditions for the Singer/Songwriter category of the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards in Gore on Friday. She eventually won the Gospel category. PHOTO: ELLA SCOTT-FLEMING As record number of contestants converged on Gore for the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards, organisers put systems in place to handle the churn of more than 800 musical entries. The auditioning process for the awards began across five venues on Friday and convener Philip Geary said their systems for handling this year's 829 entries were reasonably good, but could be better. Given the growth of the awards, Mr Geary said the awards committee was engaging a software writer to create a new program to help organise the contestants, judges' scores and the winners in each of the 31 categories. "[Something] that should just spit everything out, and all we need to do is look at it and confirm it, and that's it," he said. Having worked the awards for 30 years, this was not Mr Geary's first rodeo and he and the other organisers made sure the stage and setup were the same across the auditioning spaces to keep the competition regulated. Gore Country Music Club music committee convener Laurel Turnbull said due to the record number of entries they had engaged all four venues for the auditions as well as added an extra van to act as a courtesy coach between venues. The 12 judges were distributed between the Gore RSA, Gore Town & Country Club, Gore Baptist Church and Calvin Community Church for auditions, but came together at the club for the finals on Saturday and Sunday nights.
Otago Daily Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
For the love of oysters
PHOTO: SUPPLIED Ensign reporter Ella Scott-Fleming eyes up the cinnamon oysters she made on Monday with Coral McCauley. Mrs McCauley has been helping with the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards, in Gore, since the beginning of the event in 1974. This year will be her 28th year on the committee. Her cinnamon oysters have been fuelling the competition's judges for about that long, she says. This is the second year she has run a "masterclass" on making the delicacies.
Otago Daily Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Yodelling, line dancing back in vogue
With Gore's country music fest back next week bigger than ever, some of its surrounding arts like yodelling and line-dancing are feeling the ripple effect of a global boom in the genre. The Tussock Country music festival kicks off on Friday and its boost in ticket sales has reflected the rapid rise of the music genre in popular culture, internationally. In its 50th year, famed Gore country competition the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards received a record number of 829 musical entries last month, 100 more than 12 months previously. Now, just a week out from the 11-day extravaganza, several of its events have sold out or are near selling out in anticipation for the festival. Music teacher Peter Cairns said tickets to his yodelling workshop had sold out for the first time since starting four years ago. He said the increase in takers was due to the overall festival doing so well alongside a tour group coming through this year, helping to boost numbers. He learned to yodel in his 20s, he said, while hanging out with one of the NZ's "top dalliers" Southlander Max McCauley. He said his workshops had not created any "yodelling monsters" yet, but he was coaching a few budding singers who were entering in the Gold Guitars this year. His student Briar Sharp will be returning in the Intermediate section of the competition, having won the Junior category overall last time. "I've taught something like 13 or 14 overall Gold Guitar winners," he said. The workshop was a "bit of fun" he said, where he taught punters the basics of "breaking", meaning finding the break in a voice where it can flip between the higher and lower register that yodelling is known for. In another expression of the genre, Dianne Perkins will be teaching a beginners' line dance workshop at the festival, and said the country-flavoured steps are having a comeback with a younger audience. She said once given a "bad rap" and thought to be old fashioned, line dancing was having a resurgence because it was being applied to all kinds of popular music, not just country. Her students now moved to the music of fast-paced and contemporary hits from the likes of Ed Sheeran and successful new country singer, Luke Combs. She also takes her line dancing to the rest-homes of Gore and said the dance style has been medically proven to reduce the risk of memory loss and dementia. "It's a great way of exercising and ... because the music's fantastic and you have to remember the steps; it's very, very good for your mind," she said. She said both a 91-year-old and a 13-year-old dance with her in Gore. Another good thing about line dancing was that you did not need a partner, she said, which was good for the many people who were on their own but loved to dance. Line dancing was also a great social activity, she said, which she had come to expect from Gore. "It's a fantastic community to live in ... and it's just one way that we can give a little bit back to the community," she said.
Otago Daily Times
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Yodelling, line dancing back in fashion
With Gore's country music festival back next week and bigger than ever, some of its events such as yodelling and line dancing are feeling the ripple effect of a global boom in the genre. The Tussock Country Music Festival starts next Friday. Its boost in ticket sales has reflected the rapid rise of the music genre in popular culture internationally. In its 50th year, Gore country competition the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards received a record number of 829 entries last month — 100 more than 12 months previously. Now, just a week out from the 11-day extravaganza, several of its events have sold out or are near to selling out in anticipation of the festival. Music teacher Peter Cairns said tickets to his yodelling workshop had sold out for the first time since starting four years ago. The increase was due to the overall success of the festival as well as a tour group coming through this year. He learned to yodel in his 20s while hanging out with one of New Zealand's "top yodelers", Southlander Max McCauley. His workshops had not created any "yodelling monsters" yet, but he was coaching a few budding singers who were entering the Gold Guitars this year. His student Briar Sharp will be returning in the intermediate section of the competition, having won the junior category overall last time, Mr Cairns said. "I've taught something like 13 or 14 overall Gold Guitar winners." He taught punters the basics of "breaking" — finding the break in a voice where it can flip between the higher and lower register that yodelling is known for. In another expression of the genre, Diane Perkins will be teaching two line dance classes at the festival. The country-flavoured steps were having a comeback with a younger audience. Once given a "bad rap" and thought to be old-fashioned, line dancing was having a resurgence because it was being applied to all kinds of popular music, not just country, she said. Her students now moved to the music of fast-paced and contemporary hits from the likes of Ed Sheeran and successful new country singer Luke Combs. She also took her lessons to rest-homes in Gore. The dance style had been medically proven to reduce the risk of memory loss and dementia, she said. "It's a great way of exercising. "Because the music's fantastic and you have to remember the steps, it's very, very good for your mind." Another good thing about line dancing was you did not need a partner, which was good for people who were on their own but loved to dance, she said. Line dancing was also a great social activity, which she had come to expect from Gore, she said. "It's a fantastic community to live in. "It's just one way that we can give a little bit back to the community."
