Terry Sarten: Whanganui cast adrift on a tide of music

Whanganui music is all abuzz. There is so much stuff happening around the town that it is getting difficult to keep up. There are live gigs in various pubs, a well-established Music Club, the birth of a blues club, large gigs in the small venue that is Monster Space and a bluegrass thing emerging.
What has brought all this on? Is it a seasonal effect? Live music is always a winter warmer. There is no doubt that a sonic insulation layer of harmony and rhythm can keep the body warm and the soul in good health. Perhaps all the local musicians (most of them happen to be male) are slipping out the back door with an instrument tucked under their arm and into the night to play with other like-minded persons (this is certainly better than having them staying home and playing with themselves). Other Whanganui people are also heading out into the dark of a wintery night to enjoy watching the resulting merging of musical skill and the marshalling of notes and words into the form of songs. This particular mix has been known to prompt dancing, laughter and other forms of frivolity.
All this musical activity around the town is a wonderful showcase for the diversity and depth of talented musicians in Whanganui. The various venues and clubs are all bringing genres and eras together. Audiences can hear blues, jazz, country or metal from the 50s, 60s and into the future.
There is still room for one more club and one more musical genre. It will be called Drift. Members will be known as Driftings and the music will be a magical merge of incredibly cool sounds mixed with hot singing. Oops, that makes something lukewarm. Perhaps Drift music could be more of a navel fluff-collecting sonic poetic hum that is just above the range than can be heard by small animals and sleeping babies. On second thought, that might be too soporific with limited options for audience participation - apart from dozing off. A metal music/ballet hybrid, combining intense volume with graceful movement would keep people awake, remove any loose navel fluff and keep their eyes on the action. A folk style finger-in-your-ear-type cross with hip hop is another little-explored genre that surely deserves a club of its own, so keep your ears and eyes open.
The grumpy section of the column: It seems that the challenge presented by the Christchurch earthquake has called the insurance companies' bluff. Over the years, like all gamblers, the insurance business has been taking customers' money in the form of premiums/bets that a catastrophe will not occur. These bets have earned them enormous profits. Suddenly, now that there has been big call on those funds by those who have lost their homes and businesses, insurers have lost their enthusiasm for gambling. The insurance industry has been backing a winning horse for many years, but now that the odds are against them they are pulling out of the game. Any professional gambler could have told them that when you are willing to bet then you must except that you win some, you lose some.
Terry Sarten describes himself as a musician, social worker and writer and fledging Driftling. Email: tgs@inspire.net.nz