Almost Famous

Image: Mehan Jayasuriya

It was the Sunday before the day I’d agreed with myself that I was going to start back at work.  I’d had a month or so leisure and with Sunday Magazine’s break over, the approaching Monday was becoming hard to ignore.

I text Mr. Crawley suggesting the picnic we’d not yet managed to have.  He was taking a Californian - but constantly touring - band he was hosting called tUnE-YarDs to Piha. He suggested I join and seeing I’d been gifted a Surface Too Deep bikini I was itching to christen (amused by the acronym STD, by the way) I accepted, charmed I didn’t have to drive my self.

We took swims, between flags and between short bursts of rain. The tourists were in awe of the landscape as they lay in the sand.  Quizzed by inquisitive first timers, I found out how much NZ trivia I know.  Note to self: learn more.  The day finished with supper and beer at Golden Dawn.  The food went down a treat and happy bellies retired. 

During their inaugural New Zealand show, the following evening, Merrill was intriguing on stage.  Able to transform her voice from breathy soprano to sounding like it comes from a 31-year-old Jamaican man, she looped it against her drums and ukulele.  Layered with Nate on bass and two saxophonists, it was unlike anything these ears have ever encountered.