Bill Direen, A Memory of Others

Last updated
Bill Direen, A Memory of Others
Directed by Simon Ogston
Produced by Simon Ogston
CinematographySimon Ogston and Jeff Smith
Running time
87 minutes
CountryNew Zealand
LanguageEnglish

Bill Direen, A Memory of Others is a 2017 documentary film produced and directed by Simon Ogston that follows Dunedin-Christchurch poet Bill Direen from Dunedin to Auckland on a tour of music and phono-aesthetic poetry. [1] The full 87-minute documentary begins in a small Otago town where Direen is preparing for the tour, leading to interviews at radio stations and live performances in cafés, music foundations, libraries and a children's school. Ogston invited Direen to write poems along the way, which he performed on subjects such as (and in locations related to) writer Janet Frame, composer Douglas Lilburn and poet James K. Baxter. [2] The film shows him rehearsing with the current lineup of his band The Bilders, while playing footage of earlier groups, and showing the process whereby a 16mm film of song The Cup was restored and remastered by the New Zealand Film Archive. Final interviews with Kiran Dass and with Ogston himself reveal something of Direen's approach to poetry and music. [3] The film ends with an extract from his novel Song of the Brakeman and a tune from a rare vinyl LP of 1987.

Contents

A double vinyl LP of all tracks that feature in the film was released in 2019 by USA label Sophomore Lounge. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

Flying Nun Records is a New Zealand independent record label formed in Christchurch in 1981 by music store manager Roger Shepherd. Described by The Guardian as "one of the world's great independent labels", Flying Nun is notable for bringing global attention to the Dunedin sound, a cultural and musical movement in early 1980s Dunedin, which gave rise to modern indie rock.

The Verlaines are a New Zealand rock band from Dunedin. Formed in 1981 by Graeme Downes, Craig Easton, Anita Pillai, Phillip Higham and Greg Kerr, the band went through multiple line-ups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Hellriegel</span> Musical artist

Jan Hellriegel is a singer/songwriter based in Auckland, New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Manhire</span> New Zealand poet, short story writer and professor

William Manhire is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, emeritus professor, and New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course at Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, founded the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2001, and has been a strong promoter of New Zealand literature and poetry throughout his career. Many of New Zealand's leading writers graduated from his courses at Victoria. He has received many notable awards including a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2007 and an Arts Foundation Icon Award in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Cooper Clarke</span> English poet (born 1949)

John Cooper Clarke is an English performance poet and comedian who styled himself as a "punk poet" in the late 1970s. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he released several albums. Around this time, he performed on stage with several punk and post-punk bands and continues to perform regularly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Hunt (poet)</span> New Zealand poet

Samuel Percival Maitland Hunt is a New Zealand poet, especially known for his public performances of poetry, not only his own poems, but also the poems of many other poets. He has been referred to as New Zealand's best-known poet.

The Mutants are an American band, notable in the history of San Francisco punk rock and new wave music. They are known for their theatrical performances which often include elaborate props, projections, and comical antics. They are credited with being one of the first "Art-punk" bands in San Francisco, and were one of the most popular bands of the San Francisco punk scene during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Peter James Stapleton was a musician from New Zealand who was best known as the drummer and co-founder of the alternative rock band The Terminals. Stapleton was also a member of the groups Vacuum, The Pin Group, Dadamah, Flies Inside The Sun, Eye, and Scorched Earth Policy.

Skeptics were a New Zealand industrial post-punk band from 1979 to 1990. They became notorious in 1987 for an unusually graphic music video entitled "AFFCO".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Axemen</span>

The Axemen is a New Zealand indie rock band formed in 1983. They played at the protests for homosexual law reform in 1983, where member Little Stevie McCabe was severely beaten up in the Christchurch Cathedral Square toilets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titus Books (publisher)</span>

Titus Books is an independent New Zealand publisher. Founded in 2005, it was noted by reviewer Katherine Liddy in Landfall as an "exciting" addition to New Zealand literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonard Cohen</span> Canadian singer-songwriter and poet (1934–2016)

Leonard Norman Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, social and political conflict, and sexual and romantic love, desire, regret, and loss. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. In 2011 he received one of the Prince of Asturias Awards for literature and the ninth Glenn Gould Prize.

South Indies is a rights and publishing label established in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1984 as a vinyl records label and small book publisher. It released vinyl, books, cassettes and video-cassettes before moving into the leasing of material to distributing labels, and the protection of existing copyright. It subsumes various "one-off" projects and imprints such as Alpha Books (NZ), Tank Publishing, 5 to 12 publishing and some early Titus Books titles. It has entered into collaborative or licensed releases with enterprises Powertool Records (NZ), Sophomore Lounge (USA), Grapefruit (USA), Partizanska (Serbia) and Zelle (Austria). It has facilitated use of existing artwork for publications such as In Love With These Times and, more recently, a 92 page colour illustrated artbook dedicated to the artists of the early Flying Nun period, Hellzapoppin.

Bilders is a New Zealand music group of varying lineups that produced a string of self-recorded 7-inch vinyl releases between 1980 and 1982 leading to Beatin Hearts, the first studio-album from fledgling New Zealand independent record label 'Flying Nun Records'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Direen</span> New Zealand writer and musician

Bill Direen is a musician and poet. He manages the music group Bilders and lives in Otago, New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shovels & Rope</span> American folk rock duo

Shovels & Rope are an American folk duo from Charleston, South Carolina composed of husband and wife Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst. Combining threads from their individual solo careers, Shovels & Rope blends traditional folk, rock and roll and country rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Eggleton</span> New Zealand poet and writer

David Eggleton is a New Zealand poet, critic and writer. Eggleton has been awarded the Ockham New Zealand Book Award for poetry and in 2019 was appointed New Zealand Poet Laureate, a title he held until 2022. Eggleton's work has appeared in a multitude of publications in New Zealand and he has released over 18 poetry books (1986–2001) with a variety of publishers, including Penguin.

Herriot Row is the musical moniker of New Zealand songwriter Simon Comber who has also recorded and performed under his own name. The moniker references the street Heriot Row in Dunedin, which in turn references Heriot Row in Dunedin's counterpart, Edinburgh in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Olds</span> New Zealand poet (1944–2023)

Peter John Olds was a New Zealand poet from Dunedin. He was regarded as being a significant contributor within New Zealand literary circles, in particular, having an influence with younger poets in the 1970s. Olds held the University of Otago Robert Burns Fellowship and was the inaugural winner of the Janet Frame Literary Award. During the 1970s he spent time in the community of Jerusalem with James K Baxter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elliot James Mulhern</span> Musical artist

Elliot James Mulhern is a British singer-songwriter, producer, and recording artist; member of act Extremely Bad Man and drummer of rock band Hey Monday. He is the founder of British-American record label Blossöm Records, ANOMILY MOTION PICTURES® & Fever Mint, Inc. His single "Smooth" from ALWAYS LATELY premiered on Billboard and was mastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios on Blossöm Records, Ltd. He co-produced three records on Jallal's Off The Radar with Chad Hugo, Ne-Yo, and BJ the Chicago Kid.

References

  1. "Bill Direen: Feeding the spirit of the people". Stuff. July 29, 2017.
  2. "Bill Direen's Ferocious". RNZ. May 25, 2020.
  3. "Watch: Bill Direen's 13th Floor Video Session!!".
  4. "Sophomore Lounge".

List of New Zealand film directors