An American indie-rocker with a new generation of fans, talking with Taika Waititi, an All Blacks documentary and a look behind-the-scenes of zany local comedy Creamerie: these are the disparate entertainment stories that Listener online readers found, well, most entertaining in 2023. You’ll find them here.
Following her own muse
By Russell Baillie
Kristin Hersh returns with a vital new solo album as her writing career wins her new fans.
“Hersh is a rarity – a figure who emerged in the alt-rock explosion of the 1990s, went through the music industry implosion of the following years, but has continued into cult stardom as a going concern, rather than a Generation X nostalgia act. Much of her recent career has been crowd-funded by fans. However, Clear Pond Road, its immediate predecessors and the next Throwing Muses album are on UK label Fire, home to quite a few other indie long-stayers, such as the Chills.
As Clear Pond Road suggests, with its otherworldly folk-rock shapes and her acoustic baritone guitar – as well as recent outings by a revived Throwing Muses and the noisier 50 Foot Wave – Hersh is still sounding strange, angry, bruised and vital. It’s the latest in a body of work that has been cathartic for quite some time.
“A lot of those records can go away now, you know, fast,” she laughs, when asked about that substantial back catalogue. “I respect people who like our earlier stuff, but I wish I didn’t sound so crazy … there are some over-produced records and periods of my life where I was being kind of gaslighted. And I was more suffering through than [having] an actual engagement with the work. So, I have regrets. But there are moments that were just so on fire. I’ll always respect them.”
To read more, see here.
Taika Waititi: “I just want to spend my money and enjoy it”
By Russell Baillie
“As he talks about what a fabulous thing it is to be Taika Waititi, he occasionally glances out the window of the hotel to the gin palaces moored in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour.
So, which one is his? “They’re all mine. I’m actually trying to get rid of some of these to make room for my QE3.”
Everyone in the room laughs – there’s a Disney PR team with camera crew present for a small conveyor belt of local interviews with journalists under instruction not to ask our most prominent global celebrity anything unrelated to his new movie.
But Waititi does present as a man who has done quite well for himself. That’s assuming the jewellery that is adorning his fingers, neck and ear is as expensive as it looks.
Of course it is. The man’s been on the cover of Vogue, after all, albeit as half of a “power couple” with wife of a year-plus, UK pop star Rita Ora.”
You can read the full interview here.
Former All Blacks to open up on their decision to leave the team in upcoming documentary
By Russell Brown
“Family, Faith, Footy is quite a lot more than a World Cup primer or a player confessional. Over two hour-long episodes, it’s also a social history and a bid to explain how commitment to family and the church shape Pasifika players. There are interviews with more than a dozen current or former players, including Sir Bryan Williams (for years the only Samoan most Pākehā New Zealanders could name), former Chiefs midfielder Bundee Aki, who will turn out for Ireland in the World Cup, and England’s Manu Tuilagi. There are visits to the Samoan, Tongan and Fijian camps, which are decidedly not as wealthy as their club stars.”
You can read Brown’s full story here.
Creamerie: The New Zealand TV series that has become a big hit overseas
By Alana Rae
“If New Zealand can find a way to export dairy in all its forms, it will. And as breakthrough comedy Creamerie returns for season two in all its dairy-adjacent dystopian glory, it, too, is being sold to a wider world.
The series’ first season was much loved at home. But after streamer, Hulu introduced it to US audiences, with Australia’s SBS also picking it up, producer Bronwyn Bakker says the Disney-owned US platform instantly asked when it would be getting the next one.
The season-one cliffhanger-finish will no doubt have contributed. The first series ended in a room full of the last remaining men after a global virus supposedly eliminated everyone else. Graphically, they’re being forced to provide the only thing that will continue humankind, all masterminded by Lane, the evil governess of “Wellness”, played by Tandi Wright.
The ending shifted the series’ dark humour further into the black.”
There is still no word on whether Creamerie will be picked up for season three. One of the show leads, JJ Fong, told the Listener earlier this month: “Most shows don’t automatically secure funding, even with a positive audience response. I’m hopeful that the mayhem and craziness will return to your screens in 2025. We’re fortunate to be seen worldwide but it would be amazing if we had more options in terms of local networks to pitch to as we’re such a small industry.”
With other projects in the pipeline, Fong says she would like to see greater support for more emerging writers, so they hone their skills and advance to “running the rooms for other people’s shows”.
To read Rae’s full story, go here.