KEY POINTS:
Item One: At long last, the Vector Arena is opening this weekend. It is a pity that the first show there is by Rockstar Supernova - the Monkees of Metal. Unless of course Tommy Lee has his drums rigged to go upside down like he did back in his Motley Crue days. That would be something to see. And surely a fine test of the venue's structural engineering.
But here's the other great thing about the Arena opening - hopefully it means goodbye Mt Smart Supertop and ta-ta Logan Campbell Centre.
The LCC I could tolerate on a good night (the best nights were Massive Attack and Beck a few weeks apart about a decade ago) but I've grown to hate that tent, possibly the longest-standing temporary venue in live music history.
Fond recollections of shows there by Metallica, the Sex Pistols, Eric Clapton, MC Hammer, Destiny's Child, the Smashing Pumpkins and others are tempered by the memory of the backache that came from standing in what was a vinyl covered carpark.
They put sand on the ground for a while and being of very average height I used to scuff up my own little mound to stand on until the crowd surge inevitably pushed me off.
I also remember doing the occasional phone interview with folks heading to play at the place and hearing the you're-kidding reaction when I explained they were performing in a very big tent.
No more now that we've got a place with roof and walls and everything. Flaps away, supertop.
Item two: Wasn't the lahar amazing? But some questions occurred. How many TV3 presenters does it take to cover basically what was the admittedly spectacular destruction of a toilet block? And the most disastrous Ruapehu lahar was back in 1953 during a royal visit. Wonder if the presence of the Duke of York in the country helped set things off this time?
Item three: After catching Anglo-Indian composer Nitin Sawhney's performance with the APO of his Throw of Dice score at the Civic on Saturday, I trundled up the hill to see the Clean at the Studio.
As always, the old firm of Kilgour, Kilgour and Scott had their moments.
But what I enjoyed just as much were support Voom. By golly they've got great tunes, and the young band that frontman-songwriter Buzz Moller has gathered round him in the wake of last year's second album Hello, Are You There? sure give off big bright sparks.
Moller, a frizzy-haired, easy-going surfer dude kind of guy, who looks a decade younger than he is, has had Voom in various guises for years.
The band's debut album came out in 1998 after a lengthy practice room gestation. Hopefully Voom III will be out before the end of the decade.
But as he sang another indelible chorus and pulled wiry notes off his guitar and cracked jokes about his age, Moller became proof of something endearing: rock'n'roll doesn't have to be your life to be really good at it. And he is.
