Back Seat Passengers Front Seat Drivers
On a long road trip, which recording artists would you happily climb into the car with? Which ones wouldn’t you mind having as back seat passengers or front seat drivers? As the miles ride out beneath me I thought about this and I let my mind drift back to the days when my old friend Wordman (Keith Newman) and me were doing fledging FM radio here in Wellington, New Zealand round 1983/84’ish.
At the time and after Christie Brinkley I was the next in-line ‘Uptown Girl’. By way of an explanation, Billy Joel’s ‘Uptown Girl’ from his Innocent Man album (1983) was at number 3 on the charts and it became the signature tune of my midday and later breakfast shows. How? Like most things serendipitous, it ended up in my rotate every day so knowing a gift-horse when it opens its mouth I figured I might as well make the best of a moment and it went from there. I had a blast.
For the record, and apologies in advance to Westlife lovers but I’m not fussed on the Westlife version. (I prefer the dirt under the fingernails Joel) and while it would be okay for just 1 minute 30 seconds and sure they’re cute-az, the Alvin and the Chipmunks version would drive me round the bend for sure tho’ I’m having a bother of a time getting it out of my head!
Harbour City FM
At Harbour City FM, we had a high New Zealand artists content in our programming and the thing is, they stacked up well against the rest of what was happening in the world of music internationally. It was syncopational! At the time too, I was very fortunate to be working with people like Keith Newman (Music/Programming Director), Phil Gibens, Rob Bialostocki, Bill Woods and Cam Hyde.
All those guys were musicians in one form or another except for Newman who is a Journalist by profession “(in 2007 he won the Best Produced Music Programme at the New Zealand Radio Awards for his Blerta Years series broadcast on Radio New Zealand National) but has amassed a shopping trolly full of producing awards and literary kudos over the years. He has to date established himself as one of New Zealand’s foremost technology journalists writing for mainstream media about telecommunications, computing and the internet.”
You’ll be surprised just how full this country is and has been of some of the most incredible singers, musicians and songwriters. Infact, I asked my old friend Wordman to give to me the skinny. Watch for his response in an upcoming blog! We’re on the home stretch now as we make the turn off SH1 toward Napier, we’ve caught glimpses of the sea and the land changes are noticeable, the hill forms are more undulating, quieter somehow. I can hear in my mind’s ear Taisha and her song Karanga Call from my Heart. Almost home, to where it all began.
