NZH Plus November 2016

A New Zealand Herald Commercial Publication

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

ON THE WATERFRONT

Writer Jonothan Cullinane’s striking debut

+PLUS SCREEN

Accent on crime +PLUS MUSIC

Oldchella reviewed ALSO

Jay McInerney’s Manhattan Romance

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

INSIDE +Plus 4-5

7

The 1951 Waterfront Strike and its characters inspire a first-time novelist

9

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Art and Love v Power and Money: the final chapter in a Manhattan trilogy

11

Baby boomers hit the desert to see their idols, possibly for the last time

14

Too old for rock’n’roll, too young to die?

Great albums by over-50s musicians

12

Ewan McDonald goes off the eaten track for some pleasant surprises

Pitch-perfect TV is rare, so these two series are worth watching

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The rising cost of ageing: realities of life on NZ Super

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CONTACT US Editor Greg Fleming gregory.fleming@nzme.co.nz Advertising inquiries Ben Trethewey ben.trethewey@nzme.co.nz Cover — Writer Jonothan Cullinane photographed at the Auckland wharves, Nov 2016, by Ted Baghurst.

Contributing writers Greg Fleming, Paul Casserly, Sarah O’Neil, Ewan McDonald, Diana Clement, Colin Taylor +Plus is an NZME Commercial Publication.

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+PLUS COVER STORY

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

On the waterfront First-time author Jonothan Cullinane puts the 1951 Waterfront Strike front and centre of his critically acclaimed crime novel, writes Greg Fleming

J

onothan Cullinane spends the first part of our interview telling me of his love of working in the Canadian and American oilfields.

“I loved it. Once you get into the rhythm it’s tremendous fun, like a great big mechanical ballet.

There’s four guys around the pipe. You all have to step in and do your job and move out before the next piece of machinery comes crashing in.

If you’re working with a good crew it’s an immensely satisfying job. And very lucrative — I was earning $US1500 a week back in 1978.”

For this literary late-starter — he’s 65 — writing is just the latest of many great gigs. Cullinane’s a garrulous and captivating interviewee with a life rich in experience to draw on. A tale of working in a San Francisco bar at the height of the cocainesaturated 70s deserves page-time in a future book, as is a theory he picked up while researching Red Herring — that the 1950s Chinese Communist Party funded some of its activities by running opium through Auckland’s port up to San Francisco.

Unlike many authors, Cullinane never had a burning ambition to write the Great New Zealand Novel. “It’s funny, really — the same year I publish my first book I’m eligible for the Gold Card.”

His interest in fiction was bolstered by the oil rigs’ libraries and the movie thrillers shown nightly.

One gets the sense that if his age hadn’t disqualified him when he tried to return to the oilfields just a few years ago, he’d still be there.

That he isn’t is great news for lovers of smart crime fiction. Not that the success of Red Herring has changed his day-to-day routine: mornings you’ll find him pounding the streets of Mt Roskill, delivering mail.

After a stint at TVNZ and helming a critically lauded film (2007’s We’re Here To Help about Christchurch property developer David Henderson’s run-in with the IRD), Cullinane enjoys the relatively stress-free job. There’s plenty of time to think up plot-points and job security apparently isn’t a problem. “We have a very strong union.”

And unions — their power and demise — are at the heart of his book, the bulk of which was written while Cullinane was enrolled at the University of Auckland’s creative writing course in 2012, under poet John Newton.

The manuscript landed on then-HarperCollins editor Finlay Macdonald’s desk in 2014 and was swiftly snapped up.

No surprise. Red Herring is an enormously confident and accomplished debut. Its plot is built around the 1951 Waterfront Strike — the largest industrial dispute in New Zealand history — but is never a slave to it.

His touch is light, even managing to sneak in that old pot-boiler stand-by, gelignite on a railway track. Think James Ellroy’s LA Quartet but gentler, sans the megalomania.

The drama of the period — red paranoia (McCarthyism was in full swing), the Korean War — and some of our left’s larger-than-life characters

Red Herring was written while Cullinane was enrolled at the University of Auckland’s creative writing course in 2012.

PHOTO: Watched by police, watersiders and sympathisers disperse from a meeting in Lower Queen St on May 1, 1951. NZ Herald

+PLUS COVER STORY

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

create a compelling setting.

But for Cullinane, capturing the dialogue was key. “With characters like Jock Barnes and Sid Holland I tried to find things they’d said in real life which gave a sense of their personality,” he says. “Jock’s ‘pure bumkum from end to end’ and Sid’s ‘I’m the Prime Minister — I can’t get any bastard to shine my shoes’ for example.

“I thought people who say things like that are probably like this… and went from there. With Fintan Patrick Walsh it was easy to look at his photograph and get a good idea of the sort of man he was, and easy to extrapolate from the things he was believed to have done to even worse things he might well have done. His malevolence aside, Walsh had a life of high adventure.”

When researching the book he found a photo of Barnes and several other wharfies outside an Auckland Town Hall stopwork meeting in 1950.

“There’s the hats and broken noses, big jackets. These guys have been through the Depression and at least one World War. They’re in their 40s but there’s still fight in them. I wondered what would they make of New Zealand today when all that stuff — the unions for the most part — has gone?

“I think when the history of the last 30 years is written, one of the fascinating things that’ll emerge is how a country that had such a strong union presence lost it all almost overnight.”

And don’t get him started on Richard Prebble.

Cullinane quotes The Godfather’s Balzac-penned epigraph, “Behind Cullinane’s top 5 books ■ Night Soldiers, Alan Furst: described by Time Magazine as “like seeing Casablanca for the first time.”

■ Ragtime, EL Doctorow: an effortless combination of fact and fiction in larger-than-life New York at the turn of the 20th century.

■ Son Of The Morning Star, Evan S. Connell: this anecdotal account of

“when the history of the last 30 years is written, one of the fascinating things that’ll emerge is how a country with a strong union presence lost it overnight.” every great fortune is a great crime,” when describing Red Herring’s villain — Walsh, a man the late historian Graeme Hunt described as “the nearest thing New Zealand had to an Americanstyle industrial gangster.”

Walsh blazes through the pages of Red Herring. While his author’s note — “where the facts have interfered with the story I’ve changed the facts” — gives Cullinane licence, none of the writer’s fictive musings sound out of character when it comes to the union leader.

“He was a fascinating man,” says Cullinane. “And one with a murderous reputation. He went to California and worked with the IWW — a very strong union then — and they had wars with company detectives who worked for the big mining companies.

“Walsh is supposed to have shot one of these detectives, which is why he left America and went to Ireland. When he came back to New Zealand he had a new name. He knew the prime ministers of the time and carried a lot of power.

“The great fortune was the money to be made by New Zealand farmers Custer and Little Big Horn is also a description of the brutal taming of the American West.

■ Going Away, Clancy Segal: burnt-out screenwriter drives from LA to New York in 1956, exploring the places and personalities of America’s violent labour history.

■ The Mask of Demetrius, Eric Ambler: a breakneck journey through 1930s’ Europe’s murky underbelly.

selling wool to the Americans for the soldiers in Korea.

Suddenly they could pay off their farms overnight. That was threatened by these — as they saw it — reds trying to shut down the wharves.

“So they went to considerable lengths to ensure that didn’t happen.”

Cullinane sets his hero, disillusioned private detective Molloy, loose in the corrupt, shadowy world of Auckland’s political power-players. He reckons Robert Mitchum would have been perfect to play him in film version. Kate Winslet will do for the love-interest, Auckland Star cadet reporter Caitlin O’Carolan.

Cullinane believes the period was the start of a descent into neo-liberal capitalism — Cameron Brewer gets a wry mention — and cites the Kelly Gang, “a lot of self-satisfied conservatives who thought they ran the country from the soft leather armchairs of the Northern Club,” as forerunners of the bully-boy corporate culture he sees holding sway today.

Cullinane’s fascination with largerthan-life figures is set to continue. He’s written the script for his next project, a film based on a true story about a man in Mangakino.

“This guy was a failure at everything he tried except one thing: he ran the most efficient fire brigade in the country. It was so efficient that the Fire Service shut it down.

“So what did he do? He started lighting fires to get his job back.”

First-time novelist Jonothan Cullinane. Photo Ted Baghurst

www.scfl.co.nz

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Business

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

McInerney’s Manhattan romance Art and Love v Power and Money: Greg Fleming dissects a Manhattan trilogy

R

ussell and Corrine Calloway’s marital vicissitudes, detailed in two previous novels (Brightness Falls, 1992, and The Good Life, 2006), are again the focus of Bright, Precious Days.

They’re the perfect New York couple: she’s beautiful; he’s smart, am- bitious and funny. They’re both keeping up appearances (although Corrine’s thinking about an eyelift and has recurring bouts of bulimia) but their 1980s heyday — and once vigorous love-life — is a distant memory.

“We didn’t know it was the 80s at the time,” one character says early on.

“No one told us until about 1987, and by then it was all over.”

Both are now in their 50s and have been married for 25 of those years.

Outwardly their life is full with flashy book launches, over-catered kids’ birthdays and gluttonous weekends in the Hamptons.

“It’s not relaxing, it’s work,” opines Russell.

What complicates matters is they aren’t a tenth as rich as the people they hang out with. She wants to move out of their small in-need-ofwork apartment in downtown Manhattan to suburbia — or at least Harlem — while Russell hangs on to

the illusion that Manhattan is still the edgy, “shining island of letters where Hemingway had punched O’Hara and Ginsberg seduced Kerouac.”

Everyone around them owns theirs — many have several — but Russell has been too busy line-editing fiction to delve into the real estate market or notice his wife’s increasing unhappiness. Still, at 61 and four times married (most recently to publishing heiress Anne Hearst), McInerney is an eternal optimist when it comes to fictional affairs of the heart.

Chapter two opens with a quaint homily (cribbed from Shakespeare’s Coriolanus): “The best marriages, like the best boats, are the ones which ride out the storms.” But bad weather’s coming: a career-defining mistake on Russell’s part and the 2008 global financial crisis chief among them.

And, in case you missed it with all the gossip and glitz, McInerney gets Russell to voice the novel’s theme explicitly: Art and Love v Power and Money.

Russell’s still the alpha-editor busy running his own publishing house (thanks to the largesse of a wealthy friend) when he’s not walking three blocks for his coffee or popping into Chinatown for the best star anise.

But our first glimpse of him — a flirty lunch with a fawning young journalist who invites him to suck

Sociologists may well put Jay McInerney’s trilogy on a future reading-list when studying pre-revolutionary Manhattan.

hamburger grease off her fingers (he complies) — does little to suggest he’s changed from the unfaithful husband we met in The Good Life, even if he magnanimously declines her invitation for an afternoon tryst at the Chelsea Hotel.

He later goes home and makes love to his wife for the first time in months suffering a panic attack, or, as McInerney describes it, “a glimpse of oblivion.”

Corrine is now a screenwriter — she’s adapted Graham Greene’s The Heart of the Matter to middling acclaim — but spends most of her time helping out at a non-profit or attending black-tie charity events with Russell, the cause of which she rarely knows.

Presumably the nanny’s at home looking after the in-vitro (sourced

from Corrine’s crazy sister) pre-teen kids.

Soon she’s got the lascivious attention of private-equity zillionaire Luke McGavock (Team Power and Money and the man she nearly left Russell for in The Good Life) to deal with after he returns, newly married, from his South African vineyard.

Mash-up a 19th century novel of manners and a Nancy Meyers movie and you’re close. Yet even as he joins their ranks, McInerney remains a razor-sharp satirist of the ultraprivileged Manhattanite; an anorexic woman is described as “a bejewelled Giacometti in a canary yellow dress,” which is good, but better when McInerney goes on to tell us that she’s standing beside an actual Brancusi.

Another jaded millionaire provides Russell the formula with

which to calculate the perfect age for a second wife (half yours plus six).

Romantics will read it for the love story; cynics scour it for proof McInerney’s lost his touch (not entirely), and sociologists may well put the trilogy on some future reading-list when studying pre-revolutionary Manhattan.

Others will forgive its flaws: an episodic, disjointed narrative, an odd detour into Russell’s friend Washington’s continuing affair and the presence of one too many drugaddled writers/artists — and applaud McInerney’s old-fashioned belief that Love and Art can defy both time and money.

Bright, Precious Days Jay McInerney (Bloomsbury, $33)

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+PLUS MUSIC

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Too old for rock’n’roll? ... too young to die? Greg Fleming finds some great albums by artists over 50

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eing creative is easy when you’re young — you have nothing to lose and little to live up to.

Musicians often excel in their early outings but struggle with the Muse as the indignities of middle-age, the challenge of matching their early signature work and the grind of album/ tour/album kick in.

As we all know, some aren’t able or willing to find a way through the drugs and general misadventures — and as 90s rapper NAS said best, Life’s a Bitch - (and although, like most rap and hip hop artists, he’s too “young” to qualify — he’s only 44 — few would argue his greatest work lies a way back in 1994’s Illmatic.)

So, just as we never got to read F Scott Fitzgerald (gone at 44), Nathanel West (37) or David Foster Wallace (46) confront the big 5 0 and the troubled hinterlands thereafter, so we’ll never hear how Jeff Buckley (30), Amy Winehouse or Kurt Cobain (both members of the gone-at-27 club) or Chris Whitley (45) dealt with ageing and creativity as the successes and temerity of youth fade in the rearview mirror.

But there are artists out there who have done, and continue to do, their best work in their later years — not just making good records but ones that stand with their best.

It’s hard to sort the chaff from the wheat when everyone of a certain age is on the comeback trail: Mavis Staples, Leonard Cohen (RIP), Emmylou Harris, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Paul Simon, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard (RIP), Roseanne Cash, the Jayhawks, Chrissie Hynde have all released well-received records post-50.

But here’s a starting point.

Time Out Of Mind Bob Dylan (1997) Delve down and late-period Dylan has some real gems.

There are songs written in the last 25 years (Dylan’s now 75) that are the equal of anything from the 60s or 70s (Scarlet Town, Aint Talkin, Forgetful Heart) but the great record of the period is Time Out Of Mind. The most fun and criminally underrated is 2009’s Together through Life, most of

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it co-written with the Grateful Dead’s Robert Hunter.

Dylan was 56 when he went to Miami to record TOOM. The king of reinvention had hit a roadblock, writing-wise. His last record was the awful Under The Red Sky but now he had his best material since 1978’s Street Legal.

But it was choosing Canadian producer Daniel Lanois (Lanois had also helmed Dylan’s last commercial success, 1989’s Oh Mercy) that made TOOM such a defining record. Lanois wasn’t a yes-man. He pushed Dylan, even suggesting he rewrite lyrics. The sessions were fraught, 12 players (often two drummers) in the studio, and most of it was tracked live. Dylan wanted it to sound as visceral as the blues records of the 50s that he loved.

Lanois complied — but added a spooky reverb-drenched menace.

Check out Lanois’ book Soul Mining for an in-depth look at recording this late masterpiece.

Complicated Game James McMurtry (2015) This was +Plus’s 2015 album of the year. And time has only heightened its power.

McMurtry was 53 when this was released — and if good reviews were currency he’d be the richest songwriter in Austin. He isn’t. But Complicated Game is a superb record and sonically more adventurous.

He’d been producing his own albums for years but let Mike Napolitano and C.C. Adcock helm this one. Good call.

It’s a more acoustic record and one whose songs deal with relationships: work, romance and family.

The record was tracked in pieces.

McMurtry would head out on the road, leaving Adcock and Napolitano to flesh out his simple guitar and vocal tracks. Guest musicians include Benmont Tench of the Heartbreakers and Ivan Neville.

An excellent piece in the LA Weekly suggested that west and east coast liberals listen to McMurtry’s music; for - despite McMurtry being a vociferous opponent of Trump, his songs capture the rust-belt/rural bewildered anger like no other.

From the disillusioned soldier who returns to the barren landscape of South Dakota to the self-harmer of

Dr John (right) and The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach recording Locked Down.

album closer Cutter (which wouldn't be out of place on Lou Reed's Blue Mask), to the small-town fishermen who help an old-timer fish illegally in the album's finest track, Carlisle's Haul , McMurtry's characters lead the song.

There are no heroics, and the story's told in plain language.

Much has been made of the fact that novelist Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove) is his father, but James is arguably a sharper writer.

He's spoken of these characters “enduring, not fading away. Standing against the current that wants to wash you away but can't, yet.”

And in McMurtry, and the songs on Complicated Game, they have found their finest chronicler.

Washington Square Serenade Steve Earle (2007) At the last Earle show I saw, he stopped midway through the set and said he avoided looking out at the audience these days because all he sees are hundreds of ugly, balding middle-aged guys just like him staring back. It got a good laugh but Earle is one of the few who has kept the quality high as the years pile up (his hero Townes Van Zandt, with just a few exceptions, wrote all his great songs young).

This, released when Earle was 52, is one of his best. He’s currently

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writing a Broadway musical based on this record which covers his leaving Nashville and settling in New York with his (then) new wife.

It’s also the first record he recorded on Protools, tracking all songs in his NY apartment and overdubbing everything else. Drum machines drive it and that disonance casts his alt-country stylings in a refreshing, modern light.

It helps that Earle turns in some great songs — Down Here Below, Days Aren’t Long Enough celebrating his marriage to fellow artist Allison Moorer and Tennessee Blues among them.

Of course the marriage was toast within a few years but Earle’s still based in New York and this record is a wonderful celebration of his (then) new hometown.

Push the Sky Away Nick Cave (2013) Released when Cave was 56, this is a great sounding record — listen to that rhythm section. Writing-wise, Cave tones down the schtick but keeps the humour and carnality. His finest yet.

Key tracks Higgs Boson Blues, Water’s Edge, Mermaids Locked Down Dr John (2012) We can thank The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach for this. He assembled the band, got the Doctor writing (along with the musicians and Auerbach himself) and hit “record” on an analog

tape machine. A woefully underrated record. Listen to that voice, and the Doctor was 72 when this was recorded. Key tracks: Locked Down, God’s Sure Good.

Most Things Haven’t Worked Out Junior Kimbrough (1997) Dirty, carnal blues, made when the great bluesman was 66.

Kimbrough died in a few months later - leaving 36 children behind. His early releases get the purists salivating but this one possesses a strange, dark power — and has one of the best titles ever. Essential. Key tracks - I’m in Love, Lonesome Road Lucky Stars Don McGlashan (2015) Released when Don was 56, this is his most personal and direct record yet.

Mortality, new love, change: this is a grown-up record in the best sense possible. It contains the incandescent ballad For Your Touch.

Key tracks: Hold On To Your Loneliness, Lucky Stars, When the Trumpets Sound

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+PLUS MUSIC

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

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Baby boomers hit the d desert Auckland journalist Colin Taylor missed Woodstock but — along with many classic rock fans — wasn’t going to miss Desert Rock

T

he Desert Trip rock concert in the Empire Polo Club grounds in the Coachella Valley, 37km east of Palm Springs, California, last month, was hyped by its Golden Voice promoters as “the bookend of Woodstock.”

Held over four days in upstate New York in August 1969, Woodstock headlined the early days of the rock music genre, while the three-day Desert Trip in October 2016 — with rock legends’ obituaries appearing depressingly frequently — was billed as marking the closing days of the rock era.

As the New York Times sardonically noted: “It was immediately dubbed Oldchella for its line-up of septuagenarians performing oncestartling songs that are up to half a century old to a crowd that can look pretty creaky when trying to dance.”

In fact, the average age of ticketholders was a sprightly 51 years and, unperturbed, we boomers were attracted by an impressive line-up: Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones on day one; Neil Young and Paul McCartney with Wings on day two; The Who and Rogers Waters of Pink Floyd on day three.

“We missed out on Woodstock,” said my wife Charmaine. “We’re not missing out on Desert Trip.”

So, when the bookings opened in New York at 9am Eastern Standard Time, Charmy sat with both phone and computer running hot to the ticketing agency at 4am NZ time and remarkably got through half an hour later. Miraculously, we were allocated two of 75,000 tickets that sold out in three hours with over 500,000 applications received — a reaction that motivated the organisers to announce a second concert a week later.

Instead of reserving one of the many air-conditioned hotels in Palm Springs or nearby Rancho Mirage, we opted in a kinda Kiwi way for “glamping” in a safari tent in the polo grounds, within walking distance of the venue. The campground was highly organised with our tent having two double beds, wooden floor, carpet and, most importantly in daytime temperatures of up to 38C, a small refrigerator and air-conditioning unit.

Neil Young joined Paul McCartney and Wings for a duet; Pete Townsend’s arm-waving skills seemed undiminished.

Well-maintained toilet and shower facilities were contained within big trailer units parked nearby.

At the centre of the campground was a large air-conditioned tent with bar in which substantial cooked breakfasts were served. From 11am drinks were available with free snack foods to accompany the build-up — DVD films and documentaries on a large-screen TV about the performers of each day. Following the concerts each night, the big tent served as Party Central with a DJ playing 60s and 70s rock songs until the early hours.

Transport to the venue was provided by chauffeur-driven golf carts running a constant relay from the campground concierge desk — a trip that took all of five minutes. We patted ourselves on the back for choosing the glamping option when hearing nightmare tales from other fans who sat in traffic for hours, in buses and in cars, travelling from their hotels to drop-off points and then facing a long, hot, dusty walk to the venue — and vice versa.

Within the polo grounds, over 100 vendors and leading chefs served food ranging from silver service, three-course dinners with wine pairings to wood-fired pizza, handcrafted burgers, along with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes.

The concert was opened by a rather melancholy 75-year old and croaky Bob Dylan. The yet-to-be announced Nobel Prize winner for Literature was warmly acknowledged as he delivered a set including Rainy Day Women #12 and 35, Tangled Up In Blue, Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right, Highway 61 Revisited and It’s All Over Now Baby Blue.

Just under three hours later, 73-year old Mick Jagger — as the local Desert Sun newspaper reported — leapt out and “pranced across the long horizontal stage like a man in his 20s”.

Enough said: The Rolling Stones were the same consummate crowd-

pleasers we have seen on their New Zealand tours, Mick promising, “Tonight we’re not going to do any age jokes,” and then adding, “But welcome to the Palm Springs retirement home for genteel English musicians.”

A personal surprise on the second day was Neil Young, who gave a dismal performance at his last concert in Auckland. Neil redeemed himself to us 100 times over by playing many of his hits including Harvest Moon, Old Man, Heart of Gold, Long May You Run, Comes a Time, and Powderfinger. Wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Water Is Life”, Young’s rebellious streak shone through when

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he announced that organisers had given him 40 seconds to wrap up his performance.

“D’ya reckon we can do Rockin’ in the Free World in 40 seconds?” he asked — launching into it and bringing everyone to their feet for a magical 10 minutes.

In a tip to the upcoming presidential election, Young urged the audience to: “Come back tomorrow night — Roger [Waters] is gonna build a wall and make Mexico great again.”

Young surprisingly starred again, well into Paul McCartney and Wings’ set, when he suddenly appeared for a historic duet with McCartney on A Day in the Life, Give Peace a Chance and Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?

McCartney, his rasping 74-year old voice mirroring Dylan’s at times, performed a Beatles’ loaded set-list that included tributes to the late John Lennon and George Harrison.

The Who went back to their founding roots, kicking off day three with Can’t Explain and continuing with crowd-pleasers like Who Are You?, My Generation, The Kids Are Alright, Pinball Wizard, See Me, Feel Me and Won’t Get Fooled Again. In contrast to some of the earlier performers, Roger Daltrey’s 72-year old voice appearecd in good condition while Pete Townshend’s wildly swingingarm guitar skills were undiminished.

It was left to politically-charged Roger Waters to bring the extravaganza to a conclusion. His The Wall backdrop was astounding — mimicking London’s Battersea Power Station complete with four giant billowing smokestacks which dramatically and eerily arose high into the air from behind the stage.

Although gaining media attention for his “Trump is a Pig” tirade, complete with screen depictions of a pig with a Donald Trump head and a huge pink floating pig balloon that drifted lazily over the crowd with “Stop Trump” emblazoned beneath it, the 73-year pacified his nondeparting, non-Republican fans with plenty of Pink Floyd classics including Another Brick in the Wall, Breathe, Time, Money, Fearless, Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Welcome to the Machine and Comfortably Numb.

The Floyd sound effects were uncanny with voices appearing to come from behind and above us, while the screen and lighting displays were nothing short of stunning — as were the concluding pyrotechnics.

Such was the success of Desert Trip that a repeat is being contemplated with names being bandied around like Bruce Springsteen, U2, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Eric Clapton, The Police and Aerosmith.

Would we do it again? Well, it was far and away the best rock festival we have attended and there are reports both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant attended Desert Trip, so if Led Zeppelin …

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

D11

From Dominion Rd to Devonport Ewan McDonald goes off the eaten track for a couple of very pleasant surprises sesame. Grilled eggplant with spring onions, subtle peanut and a smashya-in-the-face lime dressing.

Manila meets Milano in a coriander gnocchi with mushroom ragout, pumpkin and goat’s cheese, and a light tomato sauce, which may have been one flavour too many.

Yes, sometimes it’s a little off the palate. We eschewed the broccolini with rather over-salty egg yolk and pecorino, but that false step was quickly forgotten across our desserts: a parfait made with pandanus leaves, burnt honey icecream and intense citrus gel.

We also tested the option, chocolate pave with jackfruit, but only in the interests of research, for this is a small menu, and they would be well advised to change it frequently, because A’meza is likely to draw its custom from locals.

Who’ll want to drop in often.

LAST TIME I arrived in Turkey, it was by ship, at the dreary port of Kusadasi, whose only saving-grace is that it is close to the ancient ruins of Ephesus.

This time it was also by ship – well, ferry – at Devonport Wharf, which has long been a dreary port, its eateries close to the rueings of Dyspepsia.

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon that had accidentally chosen to land in Auckland in late October. Three of us decided to cross the harbour, see what the opposite beach’s shops had to offer, and engage in a little light eating and drinking.

We’d heard there was a new place on the wharf that was rumoured to be pretty good, an opinion was reinforced by a friend in one of those charming antiquery-collectible shops that Devonport does rather well.

Devon on the Wharf is not the most inspiring of names but its size and style were considerably more promising.

It’s light and airy, due to the clever white breeze-block curtain rather than solid internal wall. Sunlight glinted off glassware in blues and greens, off Turkish jugs and coffee mugs.

It’s big, with indoor and outdoor seating (that wouldn’t have anything to do with the vagaries of our weather, would it?); and it’s open from redeye commuter coffee to late-night local decadence. If Devonport does decadence.

Alex Isik and Nigar Ivgen are the Turkish restaurateurs behind the Mozaik cafe´ franchise; Deco in Lopdell House, Titirangi; and Bodrum

Spring tidings: lahmacun, fatoush salad and oyster burger at Devon on the Wharf, Devonport.

,,

D

ominion Rd. My ‘hood. On and off since I was 18 months old. And now I’m …

“It’s your birthday,” she emailed. “Dinner. My shout, 730 Tuesday.”

Which was why I found myself walking through the Boulevard of Noodles and Dumplings, thinking, “Oh, please no,” while following texted directions: “When you get to our old office building, go two blocks to the corner of … “ followed by, “No, it’s not noodles or dumplings.”

And it wasn’t. It was, for those who can’t be bothered reading the next eight or 10 paragraphs, the most unexpected treat of a restaurant outside the mainstream, if not the main street, I’ve encountered in quite some time.

I stood on a corner, bewildered, awaiting further instructions, until I noticed a woman waving frantically to me from a porch across the street.

Forgive my bewilderment: that is not a situation I’ve encountered in several years.

I crossed the road. “I remember this place,” I said. “It used to be a garish yellow coffee franchise. It may have been a church hall in a previous life.

Or is that after-life?”

“It’s not now,” she said.

A’meza is the first venture for Wilfred Laysico and Leah Escondo.

From the Philippines, they mastered the arts in Queenstown, and have struck out on Dominion Rd. Wil’s mum Liza transformed the old coffee-house’s decor; the name is a play on the Spanish and Filipino “A’mesa” or, as my mum would say, “Everyone up to the table.”

They call their food “Asian fusion”: plates like prawn beignets with a tomato and chilli chutney, grandson of Singapore’s chilli crab dishes.

We did share a lot of dishes because neither of us have that gastronomically retentive issue about having to keep our food to ourselves.

And because it was my birthday, and I was not about to look a gift course in the mouth.

The platters shared something in common: each had a flavour so intense that it smashed its way into the tastebuds, aimed at the sweet, sour or umani.

House-baked pandesal, or Filipino sweet breakfast bread with egg and a pat of milk curd and lavender salt.

Deep-fried smoked cod with cauliflower and chipotle mayo; beetroot, that butter-meets-cottage cheese milk curd, salty egg yolk, apple and

in New Lynn. I’ve had good and soso experiences at some of these.

Dishes that tasted promising on the menu came out of the kitchen having gone through the blander.

However, rumour – or contemporary media, which is to say the same thing – informs that executive chef Kevin Blakeman worked in the British Houses of Parliament, Allely House and Waitakere Estate out west and Como Cafe in Takapuna.

At Devon, the all-day and dinner menus moor at various ports, mostly around the Med. Contemporary cafe´ breakfasts are joined by Turkey’s traditional wakeups — eggs, cheese, cucumber and olives or menemen (similar to shakshuka). At dinner, the small

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plates are mezze standards: borek, falafel, grilled halloumi, kofte (meatballs) with tzatziki.

The women began with pomegranate-tinged cocktails; this was not a traditional recipe, from my experience with Turkish mixologists, because both were upright and coherent afterwards. For me, Efes lager, a faithful friend on many a warm afternoon.

On to the main events. One fattoush salad, one crumbed oyster burger with butter sauce, one lahmacun.

The vegetables were as crisp as the menu promised, the pomegranate vinaigrette just on the tart side of right, and the lamb shoulder cooked slow and grunty.

Forget my previous reservations about dumbing down the spices. My lahmacun, older sibling of a pizza, had all the hoped-for tang and zing in the beef mince topping and, especially, its pals capsicum and paprika.

Little bit of an issue with the burger.

“I ordered it because it said crumbed oysters and they’re deep-fried,” the recipient quite rightly complained.

Perhaps the kitchen hadn’t got the menu.

The fries – hand-cut thick’n’chunky – were voted the best in town by two experts on the subject, even if one prefers traditional tomato sauce to Devon’s tasty raki aioli.

As we cruised back across the water, we agreed it was a perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday, assuming we get another one this side of Christmas. Or maybe dinner before a movie at the Victoria cinema.

Gosh, that’s two positive reviews in one column. I must be mellowing with birthdays.

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+PLUS GARDENING

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

The calm before the storm Sarah O’Neil finds that spring gardening is about more than the planting

W

ithout wanting to cast gardening in a negative light, early spring can be a bit of hard work.

There is all the digging and weeding to be done in order to get the beds ready to receive the green occupants of a new season.

Gardeners are even prepared to handle the odd barrowload of wellrotted manure to ensure the health and well being of their plants.

This is all generally conducted in cold conditions, between showers and whatever else the bitter early spring weather will throw out there.

But if you put a positive spin on it, not only is the garden being prepared for an abundant harvest, but the sluggish winter body is whipped into shape in preparation for summer attire.

Aside from the effort of preparing the garden, there is a great deal of care and cosseting that goes into creating the occupants, lovingly from seed.

The nurturing requires frequent attention, making sure they are well watered, but not too wet and certainly not too dry.

Always checking – are they warm enough, do they have enough light?

Are they getting too big for their pots?

Early spring, while being a little hard work and possibly a little timeconsuming, if you allow it, is a gateway to something truly wonderful.

Once the last sod of earth is finally turned and the tender green plants have taken their position in the sun,

you can stand back, stop and look around at all you have achieved.

In that moment of completion you can allow yourself to have a sense of pride. Gardens don’t happen overnight and definitely not by accident.

It is the culmination of intentional effort and will provide rewards across a season.

The fruits of your labour – the fresh tomatoes still warm from the sun; the bounty of zucchini – enough for an entire neighbourhood; beans so fresh the flavour is incomparable to anything else, capsicum so crisp it sounds like slicing into an apple when you cut it up… I could go on.

Growing your own food, eaten minutes old, is a reward in itself and generally the purpose of all that toil.

However, the garden offers more than nourishment and exercise for your body. It can also feed your soul.

In the busy-ness of life it is often difficult to find the time or the excuse to slow down.

Racing about in the morning to get the family out the door; spending time in rush-hour traffic, where the only rushing really going on in your head as you become anxious you’ll be late; shuffling kids about the place to afterschool activities; dinner preparations in the face of hungry mouths; and finally you flop exhausted into bed at the end of the day.

Life normally operates at full speed and it can become relentless.

A garden can provide solace from all of this. Nothing in a garden can be

The garden offers more than nourishment and exercise for your body. It can also feed your soul.

hurried, it operates on nature’s time and to in order to fully appreciate what you have created you need to tune into the pace of the garden.

Coming home at the end of a hard day and picking up a hose and rehydrating your garden in an unhurried fashion, you can feel the stress fall away.

Focusing on the immediate needs of the garden almost makes time stand still.

Gently reaching down to pull out a small weed to maintain an orderly bed, can create a sense of satisfaction.

Just being in the presence of the garden can do something undefinable that calms the mind and lifts the spirit.

In particular, this stage of the year is a window of calm.

Behind us is the effort of creating the garden and in front of us is the

chaos of the festive season which coincides with the start of the abundant harvest.

But right now a garden is a breath of fresh air and while it isn’t demanding our attention, it does call to us to come and just be among its verdant greenery.

With the lengthening evenings, pull up a chair and take the time to just sit and be still.

Notice the tiny flowers forming, the way the breeze dances through the corn.

Watch a spider weave her web or just stare out over the vista you have created.

Being mindful in a garden, present in the moment can restore and refresh you and help you to unwind and relax from the pressures of modern living.

Sarah O’Neil is an author, blogger and passionate gardener. Her books The Good Life and Play In The Garden are available at all good bookstores. www.sarahthegardener.co.nz

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

D13

Accent on crime Pitch-perfect TV is rare, writes Paul Casserly, so these two series are worth watching

O

ne of the great pleasures of The Fall is the opportunity it provides to bathe in the sound of the Northern Irish

accent.

It’s a music that has been much maligned over the years, not unlike the German or South African twang.

Growing up, it seemed that the Germans were always shouting some sort of guttural order, screaming “Achtung, die Englander pig dog!” or words to that effect, in war movies or from the pages of Commando comics.

Apartheid-era South Africa made its imprint on me via the likes of Euge`ne Terre’Blanche or some other ‘baddie’ South African.

Likewise the Northern Irish came to me via the likes of the Reverend Ian Paisley, barking and fuming his way through the Troubles.

He only ever seemed to be saying “No” and “Not an inch!” It was a thunderous, angry voice.

But like the French I picked from ‘Allo ‘Allo!, it provided a stupidly limited view of reality.

In The Fall we get to hear the Northern Irish accent as she is actually spoke, and it’s a beautiful thing when rolled out quietly and carefully, and if there’s one thing that The Fall can boast it’s a subtle approach.

This may seem a preposterous notion, given it’s a serial killer procedural that has involved the usual number of abused and dead women.

They get tied up, cut to pieces and placed in the boots of cars. In other words the usual, rather tedious, rulebook of the genre is being observed.

I know this puts people off and I am often one of them. How many more women, trussed up and waiting to die do we really need to see?

But for me The Fall, which just finished its third and possibly final series, saves itself by spending the bulk of its time dealing with the fallout of the crime; on the victims, on the police, on the killer and most power-

Jamie Dornan’s County Down accent adds to the authenticity of The Fall, though the series straddles the line between tension and pretension.

fully of all, on his family.

The ripples of the actions are considered at great length and at a glacial pace not often seen outside altcinema.

Sure, the premise is pure cartoon but the treatment, is at least a graphic if not a fully-fledged novel.

I’m not being a spoilsport by telling you that the killer is revealed early on in the piece.

We know that Paul Spector (Jamie Dorman) done it from the get-go of series one, so it’s never a whodunnit, rather a cat-and-mouse between Spector and Detective Gibson (Gillian Anderson).

Bigger fish are fried along the way, things like obsession, memory, maledomination, and gender politics.

Mostly it’s the Dornan and Anderson show: their inner lives are centrestage and the whole thing hinges on them and their performances.

For me they straddle the line between tension and pretension.

The thin-lipped, grimfaced-ness of it all is almost a self-parody at times,

It really is an unrelenting ride, more so even than its closest relatives, its Scandinavian cousins and never are we given a glimmer of humour, a moment of fun. Nothing is allowed to shift the tone.

Dornan’s perfect accent (he was born in County Down) adds to the sheen, though the X-Files star and Chicago-born Anderson’s London tones are note-perfect too, possibly because she lived most of her early life in the UK. Still, I kept wanting to reach through the TV screen to tickle her or to slap Dornan in the face.

It really is an unrelenting ride, more so even than its closest relatives, its Scandinavian cousins.

The first episode of series three is a stunner, like some slow-paced medical drama genre that’s yet to be invented.

Whatever it was, it worked, and the series only gets better from there.

Quarry has a similar slow-burning

appeal and some lovely Southern accents to suit its 1970s Memphis setting.

Some of those voices, like that of star Logan Marshall-Green are clearly authentic. (He’s from North Carolina, so close enough.)

Marshall-Green, who sports an intriguing lump on his forehead, plays the title role, a nickname given to his character Mac Conway, a Vietnam vet with a shady past (think My Lai massacre).

Nek minute he’s working as an assassin for a Southern gentleman played by hard-man and Scotsman, Peter Mullan, seen recently in Top Of The Lake. Perhaps it’s my lack of knowledge regarding the Southern drawl, but Mullan seems pretty legit playing a Mississippi gent.

But that’s the thing about accents: if you don’t know them intimately,

,,

close enough will often do, so long as all the other ducks are lined up and present.

Quarry has all of this well sorted.

It’s a classily constructed and extremely satisfying excursion.

Marshall-Green is great while Jodi Balfour, who plays his wife Joni, is simply superb.

Not for a minute did I doubt her gentle Memphis tones, until just this minute, looking at IMBD.com and seeing that she was born in Cape Town.

I wonder if a Memphis local might notice, like we all did when Anthony Hopkins unleashed his woeful Invercargill-ese in The World’s Fastest Indian, or whenever an Australian character appears on The Simpsons, sounding like a Cockney.

The Fall, Netflix (S1&2) Soho (S3) Quarry, Soho

D14

+PLUS FINANCE

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

The rising cost of ageing

Diana Clement looks at the financial realities of life on NZ Super

A

re you ready to live on $374.53 a week as a single or $547.64 as a couple?

There is a view that we’ll suddenly magically learn to live on such meagre amounts when we retire.

As the Commission for Financial Capability told the Government in a report, New Zealand Super pays a basic living, which is fine for those people used to that.

For many of the 40 per cent of people aged over 65 who receive NZ Super alone, that’s not enough.

If you haven’t got savings and you like a few of life’s luxuries, you’re either going to have to give them up, keep working, or find other ways to get money such as renting out rooms or downsizing the house to free up capital.

The amount of savings needed to provide a financially comfortable weekly income in retirement varies hugely.

For some people it’s zero and others need millions of dollars of capital. It all depends on aspirations, says Dr Malcolm Menzies, the commission’s group manager of research.

In 2012 University of Auckland academics Jessica O’Sullivan and Toni Ashton worked out that the minimum income for healthy living in retirement was 23 per cent above NZ Super for a home-owning couple and 34 per cent for a single. When it came to renters, the figures were 26 per cent for a couple and 46 per cent for singles.

The next year a Massey University study looked at the costs of living in retirement. Dr Claire Matthews concluded the weekly living costs in metropolitan areas (excluding housing) were: ■ One-person no-frills household: $113 ■ One-person household with

While many retirees dream of holidays in the sun, without savings life on NZ Super may be quite different.

choices: $350 ■ Two-person no-frills household: $241 ■ Two-person household with choices: $762 The rural results were within a few dollars of the metro results except for the two-person household with choices, where it was $694.

Additional costs in retirement It’s often said as a broadbrush statement that retirees need 70 to 80 per cent of pre-retirement to live the lifestyle they’re accustomed to. Often they have plans for retirement which don’t involve living on the breadline.

Many take up expensive hobbies such as yachting, collecting and other activities. Some spend their retire-

ment savings very quickly doing the home upgrade they’ve always dreamed of. Plenty of retirees find themselves bailing out their adult children financially.

What’s more, the No 1 thing retirees who choose to spend their Kiwisaver withdrawals want to do is ... yes, travel according to the IRD. As people age they generally spend less money. While 65-year-olds often like to get out and be active, travel and socialise, as time goes on their spending requirements generally become more modest.

The one big “but” to that is healthcare. The Government will pay for treatment that you really need. But many people don’t like the wait that the public system entails.

Retirement villages and homes A retiree’s financial situation changes when they move into aged care.

Most retirement homes and villages are run at a profit, which comes from the retiree’s pocket.

As well as the purchase price, residents pay regular monthly fees to the village management company.

These cover operating costs such as rates, insurance, gardening and maintenance. Some villages add a premium for these costs.

As people age they sometimes find

themselves unable to live at home or independently in a retirement village and are assessed as needing rest home or hospital care. These can eat through your savings fast.

If you have income and/or assets you’ll need to pay a “maximum contributions” of $955.29 a week in Auckland City and similar amounts in other parts of the region.

A single person on NZ Super would get state funding if their assets are worth less than $218,423.

Nicer rest homes often charge residents for all sorts of “extras”.

This could be a balcony, being closer to the lounge, or a private bathroom.

Whether or not you qualify for state funding, there are other things you still need to pay for yourself.

These include specialist visits, transport, phone charges, newspapers, books and magazines, toiletries, haircuts, spectacles, hearing aids and dentist visits.

Expensive hobbies Auckland retiree Barbara Chapple found some aspects of her life got more expensive when she retired.

She did save on travel and extras.

As a teacher commuting from the North Shore to South Auckland, she spent a considerable amount of money on transport and bought more expensive clothing for work than she would otherwise wear. Chapple paid from her own pocket to ensure her students were fed.

But some things became moreexpensive. On leaving work Chapple found she had the time to indulge longheld passions such as painting.

She estimates the hobby costs her $3000 to $4000 a year — money she simply wouldn’t have if she’d retired on NZ Super alone.

Then Chapple faced expensive medical bills when she was diagnosed with cancer last year. After one round of chemotherapy, she decided to go private and has spent thousands of dollars on intravenous vitamin C injections, supplements, and specialist visits. Without private savings the $400 to $500 a week spent on medical bills at the height of the treatment would have been impossible.

“I don’t know how anybody who has no other money could possibly survive,” says Chapple. “You have maintenance, insurance and all those things.

“Even (friends) in little pension units paying $60 to $80 a week rent are absolutely struggling. They can’t afford a car and can’t even go to the

Retire right ■ Downsize your home ■ Take in foreign students or lodgers ■ Delay retirement ■ Work part-time ■ Get rid of one car or go carless ■ Travel during the school term when it’s cheaper ■ Get a Gold Card and always ask for senior citizen discounts ■ Share a house with others movies. They buy their food and power, but that’s about it.”

Budgeting The way to find out what you’re going to spend in retirement is by taking stock of your current spending.

Get out your bank and credit card statements for the past year and analyse them.

It’s a good idea to look at the costs laid out in the Massey report, which can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/ masseystudy Then write a retirement budget.

Find yourself a template online such as the one at http://tinyurl.com/ retirementbudget and write a realistic budget. Make sure you include annual expenses such as insurance.

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Arthritis Relief Bracelet

D15

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For centuries people have been using magnets for healing and pain relief.

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Consult your medical practitioner before using if you have a pacemaker fitted.

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“I am delighted that the sharp pains in the knuckles of both hands are now almost a thing of the past. I am so glad.” A. B., Oxon “Thank you for my bracelet. I have only worn it for one week and I am completely free of arthritic pain.” M. S., West Midlands “Literally within hours of putting on my bracelet, the pains in my leg and back were reduced and now I am able to walk without a stick for short distances. My husband is astonished and now would like one for himself.” S. O., Somerset “I have suffered from arthritis in my hands, knees and toes for over 15 years and I have tried everything. Nothing has ever given me relief like I’ve had since wearing the Arthritis Relief Bracelet – it’s an absolute godsend! I couldn’t believe it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” L. M., Yorks “In the past 30 years of having arthritis in my feet, ankles and toes, I’ve taken all kinds of pills and tablets to no avail. Specialists have told me I have to live with it. Okay, so I have to live with it, but not being able to walk properly causes other pains. But since wearing the two bracelets you sent me on my ankles, I am walking better than I have done for years. I cannot believe it, they are doing me so much good. Thanks again.” A. W., Essex

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Post To: Century Mail, Dept KBM15, PO Box 912021, Victoria Street West, Auckland 1142 I enclose a cheque/Money Order payable to Century Mail for $…………

Please charge my VISA/MASTERCARD: CVV

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“I received my bracelet a few days ago and must tell you I am delighted. Within a few hours I could feel my pain fading and now after a couple of days I am pain free.

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Many thanks and congratulations on producing an excellent product.” J. P., Essex “Since I received my bracelet a couple of months ago, the pain in my back has disappeared. My husband and I are so impressed we are buying one for his cousin, hoping for the same good results.”

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I wore the bracelet over the weekend and felt some relief. Then last night I put the bracelet around my painful foot. About two hours later I got up off the chair, which usually takes some time and, without thinking I stood up on my left foot and I realised that the pain had gone. Not only that, but I could wriggle my toes!

With thanks.” S. W., Derbys “On receiving the bracelet, I put it on my wrist immediately. Nothing really happened for about 12 days, until I noticed a slight easing of my acute pain. The following day the knee pain eased further and, as the days passed, the pain DISAPPEARED! I have worn the bracelet continuously for about 18 months and have had no recurrence of the pain since. ASTONISHING!” C. L., Somerset

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Tuesday, November 29, 2016

When you choose to make a Metlifecare retirement village home, you can look

Find a Metlifecare village near you.

forward to more family gatherings, more celebrations, more activity, more adventure,

Visit metlifecare.co.nz or call us

more independence, more control and many more friends in your address book.

on 0800 909 303.