Friday night drinks? Meet me at:
The Free House. This pub, in a recycled church, is spearheading the move to make Nelson the craft beer capital of New Zealand.
Where I'll be wearing my new:
NZ Rail blue serge guard's jacket that I just bought from an op-shop in Mataura. Nelson's railway was ripped up in 1956 but I carry two railway whistles in my top pocket, just in case.
And this weekend I'm planning on:
Heading to Auckland to listen to roughly 150 teen bands over three days at the Logan Campbell Centre. This year we introduce the SFRQ circus, where Kiwi artists will be mentoring the young hopefuls, and an expo will reassure parents that you can have a career in rock 'n' roll without the sex and drugs.
But first I'll need to refuel at my favourite cafe:
Roasted Addiqtion in Kingsland.
Saturday evening. If my dreams came true there would be a gig by:
Gillian Welch. I listen to the queen of alt.country when I'm heading up to the family bach at Nelson Lakes and I'd love to see her live.
But if there's nothing else doing I'll probably just:
Be out the back at Smokefreerockquest, settling nerves and helping tune 200 guitars.
On my stereo/headphones right now is:
Handel's Messiah - the next work the Nelson Civic Choir is going to perform. We have our first practice on Tuesday night.
The book I can't put down is:
Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class, about the growing role of creativity in our economy and how cities that get their culture right become incredibly successful.
The TV shows I take the phone off the hook for:
The Graham Norton Show.
The movie I've been dying to see:
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (actually I just had this wish gratified by the MGM channel).
A non-cooking Monday night means takeaways from:
It hardly ever happens because most Monday nights I'll be roasting some fresh turbot from Guytons' fish shop on the Nelson waterfront with local olive oil, tomato and capers.
Or a splash-out Wednesday night restaurant would be:
If in Auckland I'd be at Cafe Hanoi where I'd be sure to round off far too many shared plates with the sago pudding served with yoghurt cream and palm sugar caramel. God, it's almost worth a trip north.
*Nelson-based Pete Rainey is founder and director of Smokefreerockquest, which has its Auckland shows at the Logan Campbell Centre tomorrow from 3.30pm; Saturday and Sunday from 11.30am.
- TimeOut
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