THE ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT with Shane Cortese
Loads of Talent
The Ross Finlayson Memorial Concert was a night I won’t forget in a hurry. The talent on display that Saturday Evening was of a quality rarely seen. I have been lucky enough to work in this industry around the world and I have had the thrill of working alongside many world class acts. On the other hand I have also worked beside some acts that really do just scrape through believe me! The bonus of living in New Zealand is we generally only get to see the touring acts worthy of gracing a stage away from their home country, but let me assure you there are some acts in the UK and US that you wouldn’t want to see.
Every act that appeared on stage at the Bruce Mason Centre was world class and they all come from our neighbourhood!
There were many post show discussions on favourite acts of the night. I saw them all from side stage wishing it were a concert I could see from out front.
Musically it was so varied and good. You know there is a special talent on display when two rock bands drop what they are doing backstage to race to the wings to see just who is making a violin talk!
Singer/songwriter, Sarah McCullums version of Neil Diamond’s Red Red Wine was simply superb. She made a song sung thousands of times by any number of different artists brand new again. She took it right back to what it was: a simple love song, done in a way that made it ‘original’.
To all that came to the night on behalf of the North Harbour Club Charitable Trust I thank You. We are now assured of continuing the council sponsored community award in spite of the demise of the North Shore City Council. For every Aimes Award winner that returned to the Bruce Mason Centre on the night we have two more around the world plying their trade so it’s the North Harbour Club’s intention to produce the concert again next year. Watch this space and make sure you get a ticket.
On another note, if you are involved in the arts here on the shore and would like me to feature your event, please feel free to drop me an email on the below address.
See you at the Show!
Shane Cortese - shane@channelmag.co.nz
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