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Simon

I am here for Networking

About Me

Freelance writer based in Wellington, NZ. I mostly cover music - but have writing interests in film, book-reviewing, pro-wrestling and will write anything for money and seem to write lots of things without getting paid still.I've also written short-stories, poems and prose-poems, song lyrics, art-essays, general magazine and newspaper features, restaurant reviews and whatever else needs writing.Am happy to supply greeting-card sentiments for a price.

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My Interests

music, docos, 80s comedies, wrestling, non-fiction, poetry, shit like that...

I'd like to meet:

most people

Music:

The Bees, Wilco, Bright Eyes, Sufjan Stevens, Kinski, Lisa Germano, Yo La Tengo, Rufus Wainwright, C.W.Stoneking, The Black Keys, M.Ward, Daniel Johnston, Paul Ubana Jones, Al Green, Sam Cooke, The Langely Schools Music Project, People Under The Stairs, Philip Glass, Margaret Leng Tan, Herbie Hancock, Calexico, Lucinda Williams, Willie Nelson, Electric Kulintang, Dolly Parton, Dimmer, Hot Chip, Alan Lomax, The Chapin Sisters, Rodriquez, Plan B, Nick Drake, Biz Markie, Suzanne Vega, Richard Thompson, The Bad Plus, Bailterspace, Grant Green, Marc Ribot, Tom Waits, Chuck E. Weiss, Arthur Verocai, Slayer, The Melvins, Faith No More, Elvis Costello, The Incredible Moses Leroy, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, XTC, The Go-Betweens, Joni Mitchell, Prince, Bill Withers, Baby Huey And The Babysitters, The Royal Teens, Lou Reed, J.J.Cale, The Velvet Underground, Rolling Stones, The Beastie Boys, Parliament/Funkadelic, James Brown, Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Easy Star All-Stars, Bob Geldof, Cream, Craig Armstrong, Paul Kelly, Phoenix Foundation, S.E.Rogie, So So Modern, CSS, Davy Graham, Anoushka Shankar, Konono No.1, Iva Papasov, John Coltrane, Billy Cobham, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Gomez, The Beach Boys, Deep Purple, Dave Dobbyn, Split Enz, The Smiths, Ray Charles, The Handsome Family, Modest Mouse, The Kings Of Leon, The Kinks, Small Faces, Johnny Cash, Chris Knox, The Clash, Nine Inch Nails, John Carpenter, The Mountain Goats, The Pet Shop Boys, Cyndi Lauper, Jeff Beck, John Cale, Nick Cave, Dr Dre, DJ Shadow, The Lemonheads, Flight Of The Conchords, Guided By Voices, The Cure, Lambchop, Thelonious Monk, Sonic Youth, Iggy Pop, PJ Harvey, Ry Cooder

Movies:

Office Space, Grizzly Man, Nacho Libre, Your Friends & Neighbours, In The Company Of Men, The Devil And Daniel Johnston, Dumb And Dumber, The Cable Guy, Zoolander, 40 Year Old Virgin, Teen Wolf, Purple Rain, Heart Of Gold, Beyond The Mat, Wrestling With Shadows, They Live, Happiness, Palindromes, Jindabyne, Junebug, The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, This Is Spinal Tap

Television:

Entourage, The Daily Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Thank God You're Here, Seinfeld, RAW, Rove, House, Chapelle's Show

Books:

Is That It? - Bob Geldof, Shakey: Neil Young bio - Jimmy McDonough, Kingdom Of Fear - Hunter S Thomspon, The Cat Inside - William S. Burroughs, The Passionate Eye - Suzanne Vega, most Charles Bukowski, David Foster Wallace, Leonard Cohen's book of collected poems/lyrics, The Fight - Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, Tom Wolfe, Kinky Friedman, The Lazy Boys - Carl Shuker, a heap of Barry Crump's novels and stories, Stephen King, The Linoleum Room - Katy Robinson, Dr Seus, Roald Dahl, Frank O'Hara's poems, Johnny Cash's autobiography, Neil LaBute's short stories and film scripts, Paul Auster, Lou Reed's book of lyrics, Mystery Train - Greil Marcus, The Dark Stuff - Nick Kent, Nik Cohn, Jim DeRogatis, Lester Bangs, Richard Meltzer (esp: A Whore Just Like The Rest), Nick Tosches and the reviews of Sylvie Simmons...

Heroes:

Jon Stewart, Tim Winton, David Sedaris, Neil LaBute, Raymond Carver, Stevie Wonder. My wife. And my mum and dad...

My Blog

And A Rovin’, A Rovin’ I Did Go

The Irish Rovers @ Town Hall Monday, October 1Reviewed by Simon SweetmanEvery musical genre contains acts that purists become displeased with. But if the audience on the night is happy then it cannot ...
Posted by Simon on Mon, 01 Oct 2007 01:31:00 PST

The Hollow Men

The Hollow Menby Dean Parker, adapted from the book by Nicky Hagar Directed by Jonathan Hendry Wellington, BATS theatre until October 11Palmerston North, Centrepoint, 13-27 OctoberWe have the four and...
Posted by Simon on Sun, 30 Sep 2007 01:17:00 PST

Blog On The Tracks

Hey - just letting y'all know that I have a daily music blog on www.stuff.co.nz called "Blog On The Tracks".here's a link, if it works?  http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/blogonthetracks Check it out ...
Posted by Simon on Tue, 25 Sep 2007 02:01:00 PST

Best. Gig. Ever.

Battles San Francisco Bath House Saturday 22 SeptemberReviewed by Simon Sweetman Battles is the name of an American "Math-rock" band (a new-ish descriptor for modern progressive rock music, or post-ro...
Posted by Simon on Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:58:00 PST

Who Needs This Play Anyway? Part II

The Winslow Boy@ Circa One By Terence Rattigan, Directed by Ross Jolly Until October 6Reviewed by Simon Sweetman Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy is a stately example of classic modern theatre; all...
Posted by Simon on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 01:56:00 PST

Who Needs This Play Anyway?

Who Needs Sleep Anyway? @ Downstageby Roger Hall & Pip Hall, Directed by Susan Wilson Until 15 SeptemberReviewed by Simon SweetmanI cannot believe that this play has had positive reviews. It is a ...
Posted by Simon on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 01:55:00 PST

Steve Kilbey from The Church

Steve Kilbey @ San Francisco Bath House Thursday July 26Reviewed by Simon SweetmanAustralian band The Church formed in 1980. Focusing on an Antipodean version of post-punk new romanticism (along with ...
Posted by Simon on Thu, 23 Aug 2007 02:18:00 PST

Dylan was great

Bob Dylan w/ The Frames @ TSB Arena Friday August 10Reviewed by Simon Sweetman   Since Bob Dylan last played Wellington, four years ago, he has been the subject of Martin Scorsese's documentary N...
Posted by Simon on Thu, 23 Aug 2007 02:11:00 PST

Korn? More Like KRAP

Korn (Untitled) SonyBMG Reviewed by Simon SweetmanIt is unlikely that even the yoof of today could like Korn at this point  because an 18 year old in 2007 would have been five years old when Korn deb...
Posted by Simon on Mon, 20 Aug 2007 03:32:00 PST

Hollie Smith Gig Review

Hollie Smith@ The Opera HouseFriday August 17 Reviewed by Simon SweetmanSam Phillips of Sun Records famously quipped that if he could find a "white guy who sang like a black guy" he would make a milli...
Posted by Simon on Mon, 20 Aug 2007 03:31:00 PST