KEY POINTS:
FESTIVAL
All of Auckland's Tim "The Toolman" Taylor types will be out in force for the Kumeu Classic Car and Hotrod show this weekend. Those hours tinkering in the back shed under the hood will be justified as the hotrods and classic cars line up together, resplendent in
the West Auckland sunshine. The event features trade stalls, live music, an extreme stunt show and a fully licensed bar.
Kumeu Classic Car and Hotrod Show - Kumeu Showgrounds, January 17/18
DJ/DANCE
There are not many cities that can claim a musical genre named after
them but the American city of Baltimore is one. Baltimore Club music
or "B More" is a fast-and-loose hybrid of house and hip-hop characterised by short, looped samples and jerking, chopped-up beats. DJ Tittsworth is one of the leading proponents and brings it to Auckland's Ink Bar tonight.
Tittsworth, North Shore Pony Club - Ink Bar, 268 K Rd, Newton, 10pm
ROCK/POP
With the Big Day Out the undisputed musical event of the week, a convenient by-product of the festival are the inevitable side shows. Young British rockers the Arctic Monkeys played a solo show in Wellington earlier in the week and hit Auckland's Powerstation tonight.
Go on, I bet you would look good on the dance floor.
Arctic Monkeys - Wellington Town Hall, Wellington, January 13; Powerstation, Auckland Central, January 15
GIG
Raglan celebrates some local legends at the third annual Mudshark Monday, at the Harbour View Hotel's garden bar. Featuring Midge Marsden (pictured), Sid and Freddie Limbert, Dave Maybee and Liam Ryan, the Mudsharks will be joined by special guests Maida Barker, Ritchie
Pickett, and Bruce Dennis. And in light of the economic climate, the organisers have lowered ticket prices to just $15.
Mudshark Monday, Harbour View Hotel, Bow St, Raglan, Jan 19, 8pm,
door sales $15
DJ/DANCE
On their way to the Sounday Festival in Christchurch - where they will play with Fat Freddy's Drop - DJ Vadim and vocalist Yarah Bravo do one Auckland show tomorrow at Galatos. Russian DJ/producer Vadim and his crisp, down-tempo, reggae-tinged approach to hip-hop production will be worth the price of admission alone, without even factoring in the smooth beat poetry of his vocalist (and wife) Yarah Bravo.
DJ Vadim and Yarah Bravo - Galatos, 17 Galatos St, Newton, January 16, 10pm
FESTIVAL
The Chinese New Year Festival takes place at the ASB Showgrounds and
regularly attracts up to 20,000 people who this year welcome in 2009, the Chinese year of the Ox. The Prime Minister, John Key, opens the event at 10am and thousands of people will enjoy a 10-person dragon dance, live music, martial arts demonstrations, markets and traditional Chinese food.
Chinese New Year Festival & Market Day - ASB Showgrounds, 217 Greenlane West, Epsom, January 17, from 9.30am
TENNIS
If supping champagne in a corporate box isn't quite your scene, head to the back courts for some live tennis action on the big screen, before enjoying the rollicking sounds of Liam Finn and Jimmy Barnes' daughter, Eliza Jane Barnes . Tickets to the Base Line after party are just $25 and include entry to watch the final battle for the Heineken Open title.
Base Line: Heineken Open Official After Party, ASB Tennis Centre, The Strand, Parnell, Saturday, tickets $25 from Ticketek
ROCK
The press release gives a suitable clue as to what to expect at the 8 Foot Sativa show in central Auckland tonight: "explosive live shows and monstrously brutal recorded material". It's true that if you like your music hard, fast and heavy the Ellen Melville Hall is calling you
tonight. Fellow Auckland metal merchants In Dread Response, EMFH,
and Bloodletting round out the line-up.
8 Foot Sativa, In Dread Response, EMFH, Bloodletting - Ellen Melville
Hall, Cnr High St & Freyberg Place, January 15, 7.30pm