Musical cheers

Have you ever wanted to get in touch with a celebrity or a wellknown band? Is there a register of such people? These days of course there is. It's called Google and Steph Godsiff of Blah Blah Marketing - the company that organizes the it! boutique wine and food festival in Paihia - says that often the first port of call is the famous search engine although her company has now built up a trusted list of agents. First, though, what band appears on the programme is subject to considerable discussion at committee level.

"We discuss what band we would like to hear and what we think our festival goers would like to hear and what's been a success in the past. We have to satisfy those three major components before making any decision," she says.

They fire off emails and make phone calls to agents to discuss availability. Then it's on to price. Steph says the price difference between bands of around the same technical calibre and known equally around the country can be 'amazing'. And like buying a house, negotiating on price is part or the procedure and, obviously, budget. A band that's expensive means the final ticket price is high which, in turn, could make an event unaffordable for the majority of potential punters.

The Honey Jam Festival in Kerikeri last year is an example. Tickets were priced at around $130 - admittedly for three days - but as one woman who wanted to go with her extended family remarked, it would have cost them over $1000 to all attend and in the end they didn't. For the promoters of an event it's a balancing act between the band's budget and affordable entry prices.

In the past four years the it! Festival has managed to consistently attract some of New Zealand's most famous bands - Dragon, The Feelers, The Jordan Luck Band and Dave Dobbyn. This year the headline act is Supergroove with Che Fu. Do they all genuinely like coming this far north? Steph Godsiff says yes and without exception they all want to return to play again. The stand-out was Dave Dobbyn who performed last year.

"He was so happy to be here and genuinely enjoys the Bay of Islands. He asked all about the area and the festival before he got here and enjoyed some of the amenities the bay has to offer while he was here," she says.

The Bay of Islands it! Festival, Saturday 25th October in Paihia.
www.paihianz.co.nz or www.eventfinder.co.nz