ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT with Shane Cortese
RIKKI MORRIS - Like ‘Nobody Else’
We all have a song that we remember striking a chord. In fact I have a few but I would like to talk about one in particular. I spent my last school year and first working years in Palmerston North. I loved my time in Palmy. I lived in a hotel, literally. My mum and Step dad ran the Majestic Hotel on Fitzherbert Avenue. I had my own suite on the 3rd floor and that’s where I learnt to party with my mates. My punishment for partying with my mates was climbing into the huge Beer tanks once a week to clean them out. Claustrophobic doesn’t do it justice and I have no doubt my cleaning would not have passed many OSH standards. Anyway I digress. I had a very close “Posse” of friends back them; Shane, Steff, Chris, Rick and Howard would all gather at my place and listen to good music from the Flying Nun stable et. al.
One song that I loved when it came out was ‘Nobody Else” by an amazing singer ‘Rikki Morris” and Tex Pistol. We would belt out the chorus getting nowhere near the high notes that Ricky could manage. It meant comradeship and good times to me and my five mates, and it got a lot of play in my suite.
Fast-forward 25 years and I’m doing Outrageous Fortune. One of the many strengths of that show was the programming of great New Zealand Music. We don’t get to see the edits of the show we are filming until it appears on television. I watched one day while Aaron Spiller serenaded Pascal below her window with a ghetto Blaster (Straight from the 80’s) with none other than Rikki Morris and Tex Pistols ‘Nobody Else” at full volume across West Auckland.
I have had the absolute pleasure of telling Rikki face to face about the effect his song had on me. Rikki is one of the countries most in demand producers and sound technicians. He has been doing sound for my band, Class of 58, for a while now and his attention to detail ensures that every instrument is heard equally, the room rocks without being overpowering, and as a singer himself he knows how to make sure that I am comfortable and happy. He’s a champion from Devonport and one of the best singers I know, so you can imagine what its like to be singing on stage with him standing in the middle of the room with his head cocked to one side listening for imperfections!
But Rikki isn’t like that he is one of the nicest blokes you will meet. So there you have it, Christmas is coming up in a hurry and if you need sound or technical advice for the office or home party get in touch with Rikki and have one of the finest look after things for you. rikki @xtra.co.nz
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