KEY POINTS:
So here's the thing: I've always presumed die-hard vegetarians are these shrivelling, emaciated, wispy wee things with eternal hunger pains, and Not Given Lightly singer and precious treasure, Chris Knox, did not prove me wrong. Except maybe for the wispy, emaciated bit. But hungry? The man was positively Neanderthal ravenous at our table at the charity dinner for the Raukatauri Trust on Saturday night.
He demolished everything on his plate except his cutlery, and if that had been made of some edible by-product you can bet it would have been woofed down as well. Then he turned and set his eyes on his neighbour Gilda K. Was he going to eat her too?
His significant other, Barbara Ward, (the long-time couple are not married Knox made clear), looked like she would have happily masticated the waifish Persian princess limb by limb. Wearing a long face and a fiery red mini-dress six-inches too short for her age, Ward seemed most unamused Knox the liberal leftie, and Gilda the Rich List beauty, had so much to laugh and talk about.
Here are some photos Norrie snapped at the Town Hall event where Supergroove played to a standing ovation.
Meanwhile, also standing, only the night before, were the throngs of people at SkyCity who paid good money to support the Manukau Community Foundation and hear Bob Geldof bang on about poverty.
All those curmudgeons, like me, who expected Sir Bob to wax lyrical about the plight of the suffering like some self-anointed celebrity do-gooder on the make in the manner of Madonna or Brangelina, were left pleasantly surprised. His speech was both phenomenally awe-inspiring and peppered with profanity, and everybody in the room stood clapping wildly in an ovation that lasted several minutes.
Paul Holmes, on the other hand, who played MC, delivered an oratory performance that was just as memorable but for all the wrong reasons. At one point in the proceedings, during a question and answer time on stage, Geldof - who announced he had had a few drinks with the veteran broadcaster at the table - warmly described a rather inarticulate question delivered by Holmes, as "just moving jowls." The audience howled; the broadcaster smirked.
Geldof 1; Holmes 0.
Various questions followed by Holmes, many offered by the audience on cards that had been supplied to each table, with most taking the line, "Do you want a shag?" Geldof laughed. He'd announced earlier he got into the music business for the sex and the women.
Holmesy, who it's fair to say, seemed unusually out of sorts and distracted, perhaps, because he was dashing off to Shanghai in a couple of hours to establish markets for his olive oil range, seemed besotted with the line of questioning. Geldof, in good humour, deflected the question and posed it back to Holmes: "Do you want a shag, Paul? Because I think you do. You know, you really do need a shag."
Geldof 2; Holmes 0
Holmesy would have gotten the last laugh, if his faux pas had been mischievously deliberate, but when it wasn't, the veteran broadcaster was left looking a little foolish.
Holmes: "Bob Dylan, ladies and gentleman. Bob Dylan."
Geldof: "Bob Dylan? Who? What?"
Holmes: "Oh shit. Bob Geldof, I mean. Bob Geldof, ladies and gentlemen. A round of applause for Bob Geldof, I mean. Oh shit, that will be in the papers".
Click here for photos from the Raukatauri Dinner at the Auckland Town Hall by Norrie Montgomery.
Candy Lane does fashion
Dancing queen Candy Lane launched her range of activewear for Farmers last week at Brooke Howard-Smith's night club Pony, which was turned into a lollie lair with giant lollipops and candy canes (geddit?).
Click here for photos by Norrie Montgomery.
Rachel Glucina
Photos above by Norrie Montgomery.
