I love rum. It’s my favourite alcoholic beverage. So when Jo put out the feelers for someone to accompany her to a Monday afternoon rum cocktail championship at Bettys my hand went up immediately.

10 of the top bartenders from around New Zealand competed for a chance to be flown to Cuba and represent NZ in the Havana Club final next year. I expected to see lots of interesting ingredients and fancy tricks and I wasn’t disappointed.

Arriving at 1 when the event was supposed to start meant we were unfashionably on time, but it also meant we got in on the free drinks (!) from the first round. Ginger beer, lime, and dark rum to start with. Yum.

Nearly all of the contenders were as good at entertaining as they were at bartending. With 10 minutes to create 3 drinks they still found plenty of time to make crude jokes and banter with the presenter. With cocktail names like butter my nuts, and one of the contestants claims that his pina colada will make 18 year olds putty in his hands, it didn’t take much more encouragement for Jo, Laura, and I to giggle loudly things like “give it a wet shake” and “it’s all about shaking the flesh”. More free cocktails probably helped. Jo’s twitter hashtag for the event was proving more and more accurate – #cockchamp.

Christchurch competitor Charles injected a kiwi flavour into his drinks and his humour. His first cocktail being a brojito which contained watercress and L&P and came with a side of fry bread in the shape of a pig face.

My award for most entertaining went to the final competitor of the day who was running very late due to being held up in customs. He arrived in a red bow tie and butchers apron claiming he was late because he was 3 cigars and a bottle of rum over his limit and had to “dispose” of them before he could get on the plane. He ended up going 4 minutes over his time allowance and said he’d have to share his photos of Cuba with the winner because there was no chance he’d get to go again.

In the end it was the sole female entrant – Claire Harlick of Matterhorn – that won. Girls just do it better.

Most entertaining trick – Pouring flaming liquid between jugs
Coolest looking drink – Pina colada in an old fashioned milk bottle
Tastiest cocktail (from the few samples we got)- A chocolatey porter beer concoction from Johnny of Hawthorne Lounge
Most impressed by – How many ingredients these perfectionists make from scratch!

While you could call me biased – I know a few of these guys personally and have been a big fan since I first heard them – there’s really no need to doubt my word though.

Afternoon Raj is a five piece band that mixes prog rock with reggae, dub, and ska influences. I love to skank so I have a huge amount of fun dancing to these guys! The Raj’s ringleader James Mason draws the crowd in with a huge smile and a genuine love for what he’s doing. Bede, Matt, Andrej, and Nick impress with guitar solos and great beats.

The crowd grows every time I see them play and more than a handful of us have learnt the words to their older songs. They know it and use it to their advantage! Their show on Saturday, at Wellington’s cool kid venue Mighty Mighty, kicked off with number one crowd favourite Lickity Split, a song that creeps up and kind of explodes. After a few originals guitarist Bede Eagle stole the mic to sing a cover (turns out it was another original!), I’m not sure what song it was but Brandon Boyd (of Incubus fame) could easily have been the one singing it. And then the short set concluded with a few newer originals.

Quite frankly I was relieved when the set finished, I was about to pass out from heat exhaustion. In a matter of 30 minutes I managed to go from tipsy and excited for the music, to AHH WOoo *dance* *dance*, to omg I think I’m going to drown in my own sweat, to I need fresh air and a chair or I’m going to throw up. It was awesome.

Afternoon Raj is the sound of Hawkes Bay in the big city, it’s the sound of summer, and it’s for dub and rock fans alike. These boys may work in offices by day but they’re drunk musical hippies at heart, singing at concerts bringing awareness to global warming and generally trying to save the world.
They’re yet to record an album, an album I’m looking forward to having on repeat, and I’m nervous about how they’ll capture their perfect live sound. They’re smart guys though, I’m sure they’ll figure it out.

Check out Afternoon Raj on Facebook and MySpace. (Don’t take the recordings on MySpace as an indicator of their talent, just an indicator of the style.)

Hear them in real life on the 6th of November at Watusi for a gig I am sadly going to be out of town for. :[

Photo credits to James Schollum

A couple of weeks ago I learned through the blogging grapevine that WordCamp is coming to New Zealand for the first time. And I immediately thought what the hell is Wordcamp?

From the WordCamp NZ site:

WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamps are open to WordPress.com and WordPress.org users alike.

There should be interesting speakers and networking opportunities for both bloggers and developers. Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress, is a keynote speaker for the event! Early bird tickets are a steal at only $75+GST for both days and the price includes a tshirt. If you order before the 23rd of July your tee will be ready on the day so you can be an über nerd. Kinda like wearing a band’s tshirt to their concert. Except the only people likely to draw similarities between going to a concert and going to a geek gathering are the type of people that go to WordCamps.

Anyway…when I found out the event is being held only a few blocks from my house in Wellington, and after I convinced Chickie Little to come with me, I lost any excuses for not going. So on the 8th and 9th of August you’ll find me at the Mt Victoria Bowling Club attending WordCamp NZ. If you’re a WordPress user and you can get to Wellington on the 8th and 9th it would be great to meet up. Let me know if you’ll be around!

On my iPod: Circus by Britney Spears and It won’t be soon before long by Maroon 5. I love both of these pop albums and have had them on repeat all week.

On my wishlist: Dear Girlface has a range of these super cute deer for sale. There are pairs of them available for use as wedding cake toppers as well. How adorable is a little deer with a pegleg and an eye patch?! Too adorable!

New blogs I’m following: Rabbit Write, Psychotactics, Kiwianarama,

Favourite photo: Alter Ego

That’s right, you heard it here first, Wellington will finally get JB Hi-Fi on Monday the 8th of December. I won’t get to see it on it’s first day as I’ll be in a rather compromising situation (more on that later).

Super Summer Starter – Yep, it was amazing. Beautiful weather followed by a four day working week.

Angels and Demons – By Dan Brown. I started reading this book while camping and I’m almost finished, I’ve got the added distraction of work, internet and TV back in the real world though. If you liked The Da Vinchi Code then you’ll probably like this one. It may seem like you’ve read it all before though, it is VERY similar to The Da Vinchi Code. Religious guy is killed, Robert Langdon is called in as specialist and helps daughter of dead guy to save the world.

Sales – It’s that crazy time of year again. An emailed voucher for Glassons got me the bright blue purse for 30% off. My camera completely refused to take a photo to indicate its true colour, it’s bright 80s style blue. Awesome.
The necklaces were cheap to begin with but I’m not going to complain about 50% off! The plain black one is a long strand of star beads :D

Like my dance?

Fluffy skirts – After feeling like a slob in grey pants and a faded t-shirt yesterday I decided today had to be different. You’ll have to excuse everything from the shoulders up, the photos were taken after work and even though it was a short work week it feels like I’ve been dehydrating in my air conditioned office forever. I was also very bored and therefore falling asleep, it was beginning to feel like poking my eyes out with sticks would be a good option because at least then I’d get to take a trip to the hospital.
It’s amazing what a fluffy skirt can do to perk up your day and have everyone commenting!

Also note the bag from above, you can see the colour a lot better in these photos. I swapped the provided strap for a pink ribbon too :D

• Star bead necklace – Bling
• Tails style blazer – Portmans
• Misery t-shirt
• Blue purse – Glassons
• Silk check skirt with netting petticoat – Portmans
• Black over the knee socks folded down
• Sneakers – Babycham

Summer – I’ve always said that winter is my favourite season, mostly because it means I don’t get too hot or burnt. But with summer gradually returning I’m changing my mind. If I can see this from my bedroom window between 8 and 8.30pm what do I really have to complain about?

Can’t beat Wellington on a sunny day.

So, good great news. Real Groovy Wellington and Christchurch branches are saved!!!

I went in there today to see how it was all going and get the Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium CD (which is so cool and only cost me $23 for 2 CD set! I’m listening to it as I write this) and I noticed someone using a voucher. I thought that was a bit odd considering they’re meant to be in receivership but I asked if I could use mine and the chick serving me said I could because they’d been bought. :D

Even better, the manager of the store bought it so nothings going to change. The Christchurch store has also been bought (by it’s current manager as well I believe).

With the news that Real Groovy has gone into receivership I’m welcoming the arrival of JB Hi-Fi with open arms. Real Groovy has been great for imports, second hand CDs, and vinyl; but pricing on the popular music they stock is expensive compared to places like The Warehouse, often costing an extra $10.

I’ve been waiting for JB Hi-Fi to come after I first visited one of their stores in Auckland last year and scored some imported CDs at a great price. The site is the recently closed LV Martin and Son in the BNZ Tower in Wellington. They are currently advertising for ALL staff, so if you’d like to work at JB Hi-Fi pop over to their website and fill out an application form.

Don’t you just hate it when you go out go-karting with workmates, and then meet your boyfriends family for dessert, and then go home and realise you’ve got specks of black soot and other assorted go-karting crap all around your nose and cheeks?

Yea, me too.

I stood in the longest line I’ve ever seen in Wellington on Wednesday

If you are familiar with Wellington, picture a line that stretches from the main doors of the TSB arena, around the side of the building, down the stairs, across the driveway, through Frank Kitts park up the ramp right down to the over-bridge! That was where we joined it. It was massive and took approximately 45 minutes to reach the front of the line and get in the doors.
When we did eventually get in they were taking all of the studded belts. Thankfully the pat down consisted of one or two soft pats and somehow she didn’t feel my belt.

We got in just after Alter Bridge started, completely missed Redline. Alter Bridge has three members of what was Creed, unfortunately they don’t (IMHO) have the same star power. The singer did make sure he told us at least 5 times how sick he was and how sore his throat was. That may have been the case, but I wasn’t impressed by their music.

After Alter Bridge was POD. They opened with Ka Mate coming over the speakers. I don’t think I’m the only one who thought it was strange. I can’t see the relevance between them and a haka.
I’ve never been a big fan of POD but the crowd seemed to lap them up. Especially when they requested that all the hardcore fans go mental…they truly did!

What we were all waiting for was Disturbed.

Disturbed is huge in New Zealand. Their last three albums went to number one here. And David made sure to thank us for it.

I ended up near the back of the Arena. I could see OK and I wasn’t getting too bashed up by big guys crashing into me (only a little bit). I did miss David’s entrance though. He came in wearing a straight jacket and Hannibal mask.
They opened with a song I’m not familiar with. i haven’t listened to their newest CD very much so I only know a couple of the songs off it. I’m a fan from their first CD and their sound changed quite a bit on the latest offering.

In all Disturbed is one of the best bands I have seen live. The songs took on new meanings. Probably the meanings they were meant to take in the beginning. But hearing them live meant I could feel the words and not just hear them. Jumping around while screaming “This is the way I pray” made something click.

Down with the sickness, Deify, Prayer and Land of confusion were the stand out songs for me.

The only downer were the assholes who thought it would be cool to smoke inside (cigarettes and weed [it's illegal to smoke in a public building in New Zealand]).
And to the people sniggering at the few of us wearing ear plugs, you should try it sometime. It cuts out the crap bits of sound because of the bad acoustics, so you can hear the singing properly. We’ll be listening to music for a lot longer than you, when you go deaf too :D