One human’s perspective on 2023

From January 2023 through to today, my life changed significantly. Right at the beginning Layla and I married on a day that started with two earthquakes and moved through drizzle. It was a fabulously beautiful, gentle and warm day. 

The storm that started so gently turned into a Civil Defence Emergency and became a huge challenge, as thousands of people tried to leave the Coromandel Peninsula. There was flood damage, roads washed out and extensive diversions, creating long and challenging journeys.

Watching my 18 year-old drive away in her own car, flanked by my friends vehicles, left me with mixed emotions. Mostly, I was taken by the love and care shown towards my family from those who I care dearly about.

The mini festival the day after the ceremony was even smaller than we had planned for, but the small team of experts that stayed made the day memorable and fun.

Turning 50 during a cyclone

I missed so many of my most important humans the day of my 50th but none more than my mother. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me in my life Katy. Far more than anyone else, you have helped me become the human I am now. I’ve done it  with the reassurance that you love me unconditionally and that you believe in me. I wouldn't be the creative dreamer that I am, or had the lifelong artistic ambition to paint as well as you do. I wouldn’t have experienced, so clearly, what it takes to get up and start again when times are the hardest.

I learned from you that you can continue to love and cherish your family. I learned that girls can do anything and that protest is a legitimate form of communication. I learned the value in doing things to support the community and when to say no. You taught me how to see light on the leaves of trees, moving in a gentle zephyr of wind and that it's okay to draw outside of the lines. 

If it’s any reassurance, we few undertook the task of celebrating my 50th with gusto, had yummy food, an amazing venue, moon rises, waterfalls and rainbows. We brave few weathered the storms and laughed uproariously. Thank you Kauna for welcoming us and making us comfortable.

Then for the next few days Layla and I lazed around relaxed while the storm passed.

Eventually we opted to trust in the all-wheel-drive of the van and made our way around the slips and slowly wound our way out of the Coromandel, back to Auckland.

At which point I drove off to The Lucky Star Variety Show at Dickey Flat

Without any hesitation, I can say that the Lucky Star and the various agglomerations of party crews that celebrate together are the continuation of a long history of pranksterism.

I’m thinking of the Merry Pranksters, the McGillicuddy Serious Party, Situationists – those people who started flash mobs and proper jesters that use fun to poke authority with a laughter stick. I really enjoy playing music in this environment, where fun is stage-front. It’s liberating.

There were two unexpected and diametrically opposed surprise experiences for me that weekend.

The first was being honoured in a ‘This is your life’ style show, which went off the rails in a lovely fashion, just before I played the closing set. This was an absolute honour.

The second was discovering that one of my childhood friends, someone I have known since they were born, hadn't been invited to the wedding and was hurting. I fell to pieces on the spot.

Thankfully, due to the depth of our experiences and our willingness to communicate and trust each other, we moved past insult and injury, but it remains an object lesson in listening and understanding.

It's been a while since I used the weather as a narrative device.

Without any hesitation then, the next storm came through in late January, just in time for the 50th of a close friend in the Far North. Somehow the storm passed around us, only delivering a sprinkle but devastating the roads of Aotearoa’s North Island, destroying homes, income and security of friends and family.

Despite the unfolding damage to our infrastructure and the impact the storms had on their lives, I watched my family, friends and wider community come to each other's aid, in support of celebrations of life and to help when things were at their hardest. I’m not even going to try listing the amazing people who helped my family with time, company, food, resources and advice. Thank you all. We are at our best when we collaborate.

So many people made January beautifully memorable. I love you and value our friendship.

Splore

In February, at Splore (during a storm) with Mike Hodgson and Nick DeFrieze, I performed a solid and beautiful audio-visual set that was composed of my own imagery; a true first for me. Thank you John Minty for the encouragement, Mike and Rik for the guidance in filming and making content.

Building the music for this set with Nick was a real treat and sharing the stage, despite the tech glitch mid-set, was a career highlight. Nick, Mike and Rik, you guys are legends, thank you so much.

I’ve been at every Splore and I’ve always paid attention to mood and culture within gatherings of humans. Events change, people change, culture changes. I’ve been impressed by the way that Splore has reinforced culture and communicated the expectations of behaviour when participating within the community.

Every year there are newcomers and the guidance of the veterans is one of the ways that positive, courteous and consent oriented behaviour is reinforced.

That an event of this size and influence in New Zealand has stayed focussed on being family friendly and multi generational is really important to me. It continues to further the conversation of “How We Human” offering an alternative to cultural norms of what seems to be late stage capitalism.

So many isms and schisms to overcome in the middle of a critical ecological timeframe is no easy challenge but we have to change, because the future without a paradigm shift is grim. What’s needed is a rapid acceptance that we’re all in this together and we have the capacity to survive if we work together.

Relish

Relish is a super special event with a community that comes together to collaborate and co-create a beautiful temporary autonomous zone.

This is one of the safest and most caring events I have ever been part of in over 30 years of working within music festivals.

The acceptance and love of this community encouraged me to run with an idea that came up after a conversation with Keri, one of the event organisers. Keri and I both love singing while we dance and how singing makes us feel good. When we sing in a group we release chemicals that increase social bonding.

We decided to try an experiment at the start of my set. Opening Friday evening, I DJ'd videos of feel-good songs and encouraged everyone to sing along. Did it work? Absolutely!  Thank you Relish for the opportunity to try something new.

The creators of Relish are working on a new project, Hook Festival, which will take place from March 1-3 next year. Hook aims to raise funds for predator control at Korimako. Half of the land is covered by old growth podocarp bush of national significance, placed under a QE2 covenant. The owners intend to protect and maintain the forest through a predator management programme and the Hook festival will be used towards this.

Wave Becomes Particle

Like many others, my income was changed by the summer of storms (did someone mention cyclone?). My work as an artist and entertainer was affected, my work as a tender writer was affected. I’ve had sell most of my assets and pivot strategically to pay the bills and keep moving forward and I have heard similar stories from several friends.

While all this has been going on I’ve stayed busy, focusing on my art. I’ve developed a workflow that animates my paintings, which I remix in Ableton live to use while I DJ.

Preparing for my Splore show, with the help of Michael Hodgson, gave me insight into what’s required and I’ve been doing little else since. It seems like I've been working towards this for decades and I'm astonished with how much of my time it absorbs.

With this new tool set, I launched an audio visual project called Wave Becomes Particle. The name is inspired by the observer effect in quantum mechanics. I’m fascinated by the idea that the act of observation influences light photons, challenging our perception of reality.

Thank you all for making the launch of WBP a hugely successful show at Neck of the Woods. Outstanding audio-visual shows were delivered by Misled Convoy, Miss B, Alley Kat, Brett, Benthamism and DirdyGerdi.

The level of dedication from each of these artists was clear, as was the enthusiastic response from those who made it into the very nearly sold out gig.

The feeling of accomplishment and excitement from my own growth while working with enthusiastic artists was the same as the vibe I felt after the first Entrain in 1993. Something special happened.

Thanks for sticking with me through this long blog post. That’s it from me (for now).