Sunday 27 September, 8pm

Toi Poneke

67 Abel Smith St

Back in February I sent Mary Livingston and Gerard Hudson some lyrics to a bunch of songs I had written about the 1951 waterfront dispute. I asked them if Acoustic Routes would be interested in me performing them sometime. At that stage I was thinking along the lines of “road testing” the songs, fairly much as a solo stint with my guitar. Their reply was most encouraging. They thought the songs may be of interest to the club’s members, and the answer was yes! The only catch was that the earliest available slot at the club was in September. I thought – well, that’s a long way off - but there again… it will give me the time and the incentive to sort the songs out, and even finish a few of them.

Looking back, their encouragement played its part in getting the ball rolling. The songs are now all recorded and the album will be released before the end of the year. For me this concert will be a great opportunity to preview the songs and see how they work with an audience.

The songs are musical snap shots of the 1951 waterfront dispute. They were inspired by the accounts and insights of
various people involved in the dispute which were published in David Grant's recent book "The Big Blue". My other refer- ence point is the time I spent as a child hanging around the wharves of Wellington. This came about through my Dad
who was a marine engineer on the coasters. The wharves that I experienced in the late 50’s and early 60’s would have been much like they were in 1951, full of activity with the winches swinging the cargo to and fro between the ships and the wharves. (Of course they had their down times uring the 151 days of the ’51 dispute.) Since February the arrangements for the songs have progressed from those of a singer/song writer to
more of a musical collaboration.