The night before he relocated to New York City, a 19-year-old Nathan Haines nearly had his plans derailed by a close encounter with the boys in blue.
It was 1991 in what was known as Spectator Bar, way before Britomart was even a glimmer in a property developer's eye. It's now called the Kiwi Tavern, but back then Tuesday nights were THE night to be out and about, especially for those in the hospitality industry. That's the unmistakeable Peter Urlich singing in his early '90s "jazz and suit" phase, Kevin Field on keyboards unbelievably standing up to play (!), myself at age 19 on sax, Tim Whitehead on drums and Greg Johnson on trumpet.
This gig was the last from that lineup known as Peter Urlich and the Lawrence Quintet (I hadn't graduated to name-status as an act and was the house saxophonist), and what made it special was I had just won a coveted AGC Young Achiever's Award to the tune of 20 grand and was off to New York City literally the next day.
I had no idea how that initial first six months in NYC would completely change my life and music, and it's amazing to think how naive I was when I landed at JFK with a suitcase, a saxophone and beret perched on my head.
Anyway, on that final night in October 1991 we decided in great gig tradition to get stoned in the break. We jumped into my 1960s' Citroën DS and went for a drive up to High St. For some reason Peter had an ounce on him and after rolling a skinny joint, stuffed the remainder into the glove box and we parked up, lit up and enjoyed that special moment when a band gets high together in a confined space. After five minutes of deep inhaling and talking while not letting any smoke escape the lungs, there was a loud knock on the glass. It was the police!
