Don McGlashan on Mt Victoria where he worked on some of the songs during his time at the Michael King Writers Centre.
Don McGlashan on Mt Victoria where he worked on some of the songs during his time at the Michael King Writers Centre.
Bringing you our favourite features from 2015. If you missed them the first time around, now's the perfect time to catch up. And remember to come back tomorrow for the next instalment.
Don McGlashan has made the album of his life. He talks to Russell Baillie about it.
Don McGlashan is having trouble making himself heard. It's Wednesday night at the presentation of the Taite Prize at Galatos.
The speeches have been made, the winners have got their trophies, the free bar has been doing a brisk business and now McGlashan is the post-ceremony entertainment.
Problem is, this might be a music industry bash but the invited guests prefer the sound of their own voices to listening to McGlashan's.
Don McGlashan at the Taite Music Prize performance (Picture Jason Hailes)
The second problem is, it's just the singer-songwriter and guitarist Tom Rodwell on stage. And the songs they're playing aren't rousing old Mutton Birds anthems but new songs off Lucky Stars, his latest solo album.
Ironically perhaps, that night's Taite Prize winner, Jakob, is an instrumental art-rock band with no use for words. And afterwards, a man regarded by many as our greatest lyricist is having trouble getting his past the lip of the of stage.
Occasionally, between numbers, McGlashan shows his frustration.
"This next song is about having an epiphany," he says introducing the album's title track, "and the thing about epiphanies is that if you don't stop f***ing talking, you might not hear them."
The first words of that song are, "Henderson Park is still in the dark ...".
So, yes yet another part of Auckland has made the McGlashan songbook, joining Takapuna Beach and Dominion Road.
The song, he explains earlier, comes from a moment he had while at a petrol station while dropping his actress daughter Pearl off early in the morning at for her job on Shortland Street at the West Auckland studios.
Tonight, Pearl is among the more attentive in the crowd, especially when her father sings Girl, Make Your Own Mind Up.
The song's refrain, "And you will listen ..." gets an improvised "sometimes" as he grins towards her.
Five songs down - half the new album - and it's over. The crowded house is still talking among themselves.
True, past Taite entertainers haven't fared any better in the same slot. But the night's set is illustrative. The Lucky Stars songs are a quiet bunch with lyrics pondering mortality, family, and getting far enough away from the madding crowd so you can contemplate your own thoughts ...
