The lobby at the Stamford Plaza hotel disappeared last night at the Juice TV awards. Well, it didn't so much disappear, as much as morph from a professional functioning hotel foyer into a cool mosh pit bar of musicians and muso-types awash with leather jackets and skinny jeans.The two American tourists who'd nestled in on the leather couches for a quiet drink that afternoon found themselves in the centre of a party.
The awards were definitely an improvement on last year - better, bigger, brighter venue and more famous faces - but the flow of proceedings seemed to lack any formality. The awards themselves took place in the ballroom, while the party overflowed into the hallway and lobby. But as far as a who's-who list, it was pretty impressive.
The Opshop boys were a surprise to see, largely because they'd only jetted back into the country from London three hours earlier. National party leader John Key was another pleasantly surprising presence and the musos loved it. He posed for photos with some, like the gorgeous Hollie Smith. No other politician even bothered to show up, which screams volumes about how they view the Kiwi music scene in GodZone doesn't it? Though I suspect Key will be joined by other politicos next week at the Vodafone NZ Music Awards when the cameras are out and the election is right round the corner. Hels loves a red carpet entry.
Alongside John and Hollie were Clarke Gayford (Hollie's other half), P Money, Rianin Johannink (who's back from LA), Annabel Fay, Damien Alexander, the boys from Autozamm, Teuila Blakely nursing a broken arm in a trendy black sling, Tiki Taane and Boh Runga who very nicely drove me home. Boh flies home to Los Angeles today after a whirlwind trip to Auckland where she played wife, aunty, sis, daughter and jewellery designer. She's back to La-La to record songs for her next album, and then - fingers crossed - it's back here in November to launch it.
Check out Spy in the Herald on Sunday this weekend where I'll report all the hot goss from the Juice TV awards and show you all the glam photos.
