Rocky Rhodes at the Harbour View for Queens Birthday Weekend- Image supplied

Rocky Rhodes, Raglan, 1 June 2012
Fri 1 Jun, 9:00pm–1:00am 
Harbour View Hotel, 14 Bow St, Raglan
R18 $5.00 at the door

These Automatic Changers – One Fifty Six Tour
Raglan, 16 June 2012
YOT Club, 9 Bow St, Raglan
R18, Door Sales Only

In March 2012 These Automatic Changers injected a shot of adrenaline into the veins of New Zealand music with the release of their latest single, “One Fifty Six”.

To celebrate its release These Automatic Changers are taking to the merciless highway. Their mission is to bring rock ‘n’ roll to Kiwis as they sell their “soul just for rock n rock”. And on the way they are stopping in once again to play in raging Raglan.

- NZ Musician Magazine
“Solomon Coles’ vocals are reminiscent of Dan Auerbach, yet heavier than The Black Keys produce.”

- The Rock.net
“Awesome. Seen them twice now and they blow everyone off the stage. They’re even better live than I’d have imagined and I’ve seen a lot of acts in my time. The drummer and bassist are freakin amazing and damn, what a voice. They should be playing massive arenas – get them on that stage! Awesome.”

Since opening in 2007, the YOT Club in Raglan has had many of New Zealand’s top musical acts though its doors.  And with the finalists announced recently for the 2012 Music Managers Awards, the YOT Club is up for the award as the best venue. Raglan local Peter Coddington owns and manages the YOT Club.  This weekend’s line-up of Cornerstone Roots, Kyah Brown and Soulsytsem continues the mix of local and touring groups that has made the Yottie so popular. For the first time, this year MMF members voted for their favorite venue to play at.

As well as theYOT Club this year’s finalists include other accomplished and fresh new managers with Teresa Patterson of CRS Management (Six60, I Am Giant and Iva Lamkum) sharing the top nominations alongside management newbie Tim Bern (The Checks) with 3 nominations each.

Awards spokesperson Wairere Iti says he’s excited to see a mix of established and new managers in the finalists’ line up.

“The list of inspiring managers making up the finalists shows the broad range of qualities managers require in today’s market. Experience sitting nicely alongside enthusiasm, ably assisted by exceptional musical talent, demonstrating that now is a particularly exciting time to be in the music management business”

The winners of 2012 Music Managers Awards will be acknowledged and presented with their awards on Wednesday 16th May at an invite only event at Auckland’s Backbeat Bar.

Ingrid Bennie has been nominated for her work around the David Dallas release “The Rose Tint” in two of the new categories which were introduced to recognise “Online Achievement” and thinking “Outside the Box” when trying to get music into the hands and ears of the listener. Both categories have been introduced for the first time this year to acknowledge the way music lovers now discover & absorb music.

The Bedford in Christchurch showed true resolve in becoming a finalist this year and despite being inside the red zone and scheduled for demolition, owner Wendy Newland installed marquees in safe locations to act as pop up venues so that live music still had a home in the beautiful garden city.

Also awarded on the night will be a special award for which no finalists are announced. The “Industry Champion” award is voted for by the MMF members and recognises an organisation that is dedicated to being an advocate and champion for the New Zealand Music Industry.

Iti concludes “We are really excited about the awards night where we can kick-back and enjoy the opportunity to share our members successes with the industry and garner them the acknowledgement they deserve.”

Finalists for the 2012 Music Managers Awards are…

Best Venue

Leigh Sawmill
Sanfrancisco Bath House
The Bedford/The Colombo
The Yot Club, Raglan
Zeal – West Auckland

Manager of the Year

Matt McLeod & Craig Pearce – The Black Seeds, The Phoenix Foundation, Lawrence Arabia
Ninakaye Taane-Tinorau – Tiki Taane
Paul McKessar – The Naked and Famous, Lydia Cole, Brooke Fraser, Collapsing Cities, Opossom
Rebecca Caughey – Shapeshifter, Ladi6
Teresa Patterson – Six60, Iva Lamkum, I Am Giant

International Achievement

Janette Searle – Sola Rosa
Matt & Kimi Coleman – Avalanche City
Matt McLeod & Craig Pearce – The Black Seeds, The Phoenix Foundation, Lawrence Arabia
Paul McKessar – The Naked and Famous, Brooke Fraser
Rebecca Caughey – Shapeshifter, Ladi6

Upcoming Manager

Bossy Hill – Maisey Rika
Cushla Aston – The Nudge, The Thomas Oliver Band, Kora
Glen Davison – Homebrew, Team Dynamite, DJ Substance
Haddon Smith – Annah Mac
Tim Bern – The Checks

Best Independent Tour

Mikee Tucker – Fly My Pretties
Scott Grafton – Batucada Sound Machine 2011 Euopean Tour
Teresa Patterson – Six60 2011 Mini Tours
Tim Bern – The Checks
Tory Staples – Decortica

Breakthrough Manager

Cushla Aston – The Thomas Oliver Band, The Nudge
Glen Davison – Homebrew
Haddon Smith – Annah Mac
Tim Bern – The Checks
Tim Youngson – Mt Eden

Self Managed Artist of the Year

Craig Smith
Flip Grater
Patu Colbert – 1814
Reuben Bonner – An Emerald City
Tama Waipara

Online Achievement

Dylan Elise – Busking Youtube
Ingrid Bennie – David Dallas, The Rose Tint Digital Release
Teresa Patterson – Six60 Facebook
Tim Youngson – Mt Eden Facebook and Youtube

Outside the Box Award

Craig Smith – Wonky Donkey iPad App
Flip Grater – Cook Book Tour
Ingrid Bennie – David Dallas Pop Up Store

Some of this year’s amazing prizes include:

Advertising campaigns with Groove Guide, New Zealand Musician, 95bFM, Eventfinder and Phantom Billstickers
Production hire from The Production Company
HTC Smartphones from Vodafone
Shoes from Converse
1 Years subscription to RIP IT UP magazine for all winners
Free registration to the Big Sound Music Conference in Brisbane with return flights provided by Grabaseat
Free Registrations to Sounds Aotearoa
CD Manufacturing run from Stebbing Recording Centre
One Day Recording at The Lab Recording Studios

Brenda Liddiard, Rufus the Bear, Mark Laurent and the kids having some fun

On the afternoon of Saturday 5th, excited children greeted a visit by Rufus the Bear to the Raglan Old School Arts Centre. Rufus is a creation of singer and poet Mark Laurent.  Rufus and the Rain is a picture book published by Ashton Scholastic.   The Rufus the Bear children’s music workshop is based around the book, with Mark Laurent and Brenda Liddiard singing Rufus songs and reading from the book.   Along the way children learnt about a variety of musical instruments  and had a lot of fun.  Although it seemed many of the big kids really enjoyed Rufus as well.