Out on the street

Cameron Bennett pursues his love of music. Photo / Doug Sherring

New Zealand's top TV journalist one day - busking on the sidewalk the next.

Cameron Bennett and long-time friends entertained crowds on Ponsonby Rd yesterday with their band One More Dollar.

The seasoned journalist is also a multi-instrumentalist. His bandmates Wayne Gillies and Richard Kelsey round out the trio. Yesterday, the band played fiddle, mandolin and dobro, a kind of slide guitar.

Bennett said the trio had been playing and practising together since they were at school.

He said the band were invited by the Ponsonby Business Association to take part in the weekend's street carnival.

The band members say they chose their name "because everybody needs one more dollar", though Bennett said passersby shouldn't put their hands in their pockets.

"Do not give the musicians food or money," the band members joked.

After reporting and presenting at TVNZ for a quarter-century, Bennett left his role at current affairs show Sunday last year. He now works as a media consultant and pursues songwriting and music.