Stories

What are you having for dinner tonight, Cityscapers? We were saddened to read of the demise of Bamboozle on the front of today’s newspaper. There are some seriously good nosh spots in town and around, but they need more than your online love (although that’s nice) to survive. If we’re going to have nice things, we actually have to support them. We can’t rave about how lucky we are to have a funky city, and not frequent that funkiness. So revisit that place that you forgot existed, go for a wander and find a new favourite, delve into the delights on offer gastronomically and grow your experience – and our city. Explore what’s on offer, spend a little more than time in town, and we’ll be able to hang on to the rockin’ restaurants, bars, cafes and cool stuff that we have. We challenge you, Cityscapers: try something new this weekend...

Watching Escape Room Adam Robitel’s (Insidious: The Last Key) latest filmic venture Escape Room sees six strangers gifted with a puzzle box invitation to attend the Minos Escape Room Facility where there’s a chance for the winner to pocket a cool $10k. In traditional “too good to be true” style, the seemingly nonchalant game takes a nasty turn and the puzzles become more sinister as they progress. Sitting pretty somewhere between the Saw franchise and 2016’s The Belko Experiment, this psychological thriller will entertain while pushing you to the edge of your seat. Catch this flick when it hits cinemas February 21. The Front Runner Based on the scandalous events which inevitably led to the downfall of U.S Senator Gary Hart’s political career, The Front Runner (Feb 6) examines the rise of the potential 1988 presidential candidate and the backlash he received when media outlets exposed Hart’s dishonest actions. Jason Reitman...

Keep the good times rollin’ at the official Nostalgia Festival After Party (February 16) where Dunedin natives Soaked Oats will be banging out their sludge-pop melodies. Described as “a southern stew of Kurt Vile and Mac DeMarco with a good shake of Kevin Morby” the lads will be taking over Blue Smoke – the ultra-hip Cassels & Sons live music and events venue housed in the beautifully renovated Tannery precinct. For those who have snagged a ticket to the day’s festivities, entry is free to the after party. If you weren’t quick off the mark, a limited amount of ‘after party only’ tickets will be up for grabs. And for the students out there, bargain prices are available as well as a free bus back to Uni when the gig wraps up. Get amongst! undertheradar.co.nz

Local lass Hannah Davison has snapped up an incredible $10,000 National Scholarship from AMP to assist her with achieving her dream of publishing her book “My Big Moments”. Designed to aid and empower parents supporting their children through the early stages of their childhood, the personalised picture book will feature illustrations which in turn will give parents the chance to navigate the challenges and bumps in the road. With more than 2,700 Scholarship applications from around the country, Davison was one of 10 successful recipients. facebook.com

Good news for fans of Nelson-bred, LA-based duo BROODS – they’re set to bless the city with hits from their third album Don’t Feed the Pop Monster when they take over the Christchurch Town Hall (May 14). After years of navigating the pop landscape, siblings Georgia and Caleb Nott returned in 2018 with a fresh approach to their music and a new focus for the direction of their style with frontwoman Georgia mentioning that they wanted to “make songs that were true to us, without hiding behind any kind of façade”. Their singles, ‘Everything Goes (Wow)’ and ‘Peach’ – the latter racking up a cool 15 million streams – have been met with critical acclaim and the duo followed it up with third single ‘Hospitalized’, described as a “bright and shimmering track about longing for a break from emotional accountability.” Collaborating with longtime producer on the music scene, Joel Little, who...

The perfect combo of style and substance, Cityscape has been bringing trends to the trendsetters, inspiring action and championing everything new, hot or happening in Christchurch for more than a decade – and we’re going harder, stronger and faster than ever before in 2019! Pick up a copy of Cityscape around the city, read it online or download our app to stay ahead of the curve and be the first to find the best in fashion, home, lifestyle, food and entertainment in Christchurch.

The Isaac Theatre Royal has welcomed new Chief Executive, Bob Mangan, who will take the reins from next month. With an impressive résumé and extensive experience managing venues of all shapes and sizes, Mangan has a particular passion for smaller performance venues and their relationship with their communities. David Stock, Chair of the Theatre Royal Charitable Foundation Board said Mangan promises a “young and energetic approach to the management of the Isaac Theatre Royal”. Welcome aboard!

The newest kid on the block of the city’s fave nosh zone, the Terrace, sits comfortably in a cache of seriously cool contenders. Chiwahwah opened this week and it’s a wonder of funky furnishings (check out the drums on the ceiling), cracker cocktails and fab food made with the love and attention to detail that Tony Astle and his team are famous for. Start with the hand hacked guac, savour the Taco Moderno (the salmon is superlative) or share a Plato with your bestie. Wash it down with a Tropicano cocktail that is destined to be the taste of summer and make the most of the golden weather. See you there! chiwahwah.co.nz

Piff is the kind of busker that Christchurch audiences love to hate – he calls us out on our apathy, makes us squirm in our ignorance – and calls us up on stage. Yep, this is the guy that’s going to pull you (or your poor mate) out of the audience to have some fun with you. He’ll also astonish, surprise and amaze you, while the rest of us laugh at your misfortune – but in a loving way. He’s adorably acerbic in his green dragon suit, but don’t be fooled, Piff is a very skilled magician. He’s mates with Penn and Teller, has a full-time gig in Vegas, opened for Mumford and Sons and was the stand-out hit on America’s Got Talent. There’s a good reason he’s one of the most popular acts of Bread and Circus, and it isn’t all to do with the dog or the Vegas showgirl....

Holy mama, I don’t think I’ve ever felt as good about my extra x chromosome as I did leaving, ironically, one of the city’s flashest all-boys schools theatre last night. If you’re shy, easily offended or sexually frustrated, get thee to Hot Brown Honey immediately – it’ll bust you out of your bubble faster than [insert explicit sexual reference here]. This show is in-your-face unapologetic empowerment. Don’t expect any simpering from these sassy lasses – they own that stage and they know it. It’s a celebration of culture and progress and it’s a no-holds-barred glimpse at what the future is going to be with beautiful strong brown souls in charge. Busty Beats and her Honeys dish up a riotous performance of song, dance, acrobatics and hip hop, reminding us that women are strong, powerful, brave and so much more than just the f@$#ing maid. It’s loud – you’re going to be...

Suspend your disbelief and dive into Leo's imagination. This one-man-phenomenon is a trip; warped perspectives and gravity defying dance bubble up to keep you on your toes while you’re not really sure where Leo’s toes are. The premise is simple, as is the set – one man, an empty room, a suitcase. But for an hour or so, that man, that room and that suitcase open a world of possibility, impossibility and beauty that will make your brain hurt (in a good way) and your heart expand. Clever use of video overlay and beautiful music combined with the oddly pleasant confusion of reality make this a show that challenges and charms. Plus Leo’s got one of the best exits in showbiz. Seriously. LEO: The Anti-Gravity Showuntil Jan 20, Assembly Hall - Christ's Collegebreadandcircus.co.nz   Image credit: Andy Phillipson

If you’d told me that a middle-aged Nigerian drag queen would, within an hour, have a Christchurch audience on its feet, singing, dancing and cheering, I’d have called you a liar. Yet, that’s exactly what Le Gateau Chocolat did last night, and has been doing all week. And will be doing until Sunday, so rattle your dags – you do not want to miss out on this one! I went into this with no expectations. Friends and colleagues had said ‘Oh, he’s great’ but that was about it. I’ve since decided they totally undersold this to me. Chocolat isn’t great, he’s a miracle in lycra. With a voice that could lure your kids out of their rooms and your grandparents off the tennis court, Chocolat reimagines the music of his (and my) ICONS – Kate Bush, Madonna, Pavarotti, John Travolta, Whitney Houston... The list is massive and not restricted to music;...

Hey Cityscapers, we need to talk. It’s festival season and the city is chocka with funky beats, fabulous events, awesome performers and clever cats. So here’s my challenge to you – get out there and make the most of it! For the longest time, the Garden City has been the 'guarded city', but you and I know that’s old hat. Sure, we might play it a bit cool but that’s because we’re shy, right? Even so, that’s no excuse for the great swathes of real estate staked out with picnic blankets and chairs in North Hagley Park at the weekend. When Toto, Dragon and Starship performed, bums that had been parked on seats for hours stayed firmly rooted. Poor old Mark Williams couldn’t even get half the crowd to sing back at him until the very last song and Starship poured their hearts out on stage to a crowd of close-mouthed,...

You know you’re experiencing brilliance when all you hear from the audience is: “Wha…?”, “How...?”. “Did he just…?” with a fair sprinkling of: “No! Eew!”.  When you head to LIMBO, you can safely assume you’re not going to finish a lot of sentences as your eyes struggle to make sense of what on earth those bodies up on that stage are doing to themselves. Opening night for LIMBO was packed to the gunnels; not even a summer shower could dampen the excitement. The capacity crowd was ready to be shocked, wowed and entertained, and that’s exactly what it got. Funky beats, fabulous costumes, ingenious lighting and the most beautiful of bodies doing the most outrageous things even kept the revellers in the back row quiet. A clever mix of circus, cabaret, contortion and acrobatics, Limbo, directed by Scott Maidment, has earned its place in entertainment’s upper echelons. It has been a...

Jessie Wong, the wonderwoman behind first-class handbag brand Yu Mei, sits down with Cityscape to chat about the team behind the label, design revelations and the success of such an iconic fashion name. Why bags? I couldn’t find a bag that met all my needs, so designing my own provided the solution. Not a lot of bag designers consider how the modern woman lives, juggling work, family and a social life. We’ve come a long way since the early purses, which were designed to carry a woman’s love letters. We also love how bags can express what we want and design them according to each individual’s needs and to suit the personalities of our friends and family (which each one is named after). We're so enchanted by bags we'd never want to go back to fashion. What’s been a recent career highlight for you? We won the Deloitte Rising Star Award,...

Cityscape spends five minutes with Kristy Thomson, who with Jamil Rehman are the team behind The Gallery Fitness, in Montreal Street. Opening their own gym is the culmination of a 20-year dream, particularly for Rehman. The Gallery Fitness is a gym for people who are serious about their goals. What are you most proud of with your bodybuilding? Going to the Arnolds (the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival) in the US in 2010 and getting 8th. Getting in the top 10 gets you IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilding andFitness) professional status. When did you switch from working out to bodybuilding, and why? I started working out at 15. At 17, I hired a personal trainer, Robyn Crotty, All Black Ryan’s mum, I started with her. At 20 I did my first national competition and won the figure class. If you want to get into bodybuilding it’s best to get a personal trainer that specialises,...

Fresh from his own hit Las Vegas show, UK comedian and magician John van der Put, aka Piff the Magic Dragon, will flame Christchurch audiences as part of Bread & Circus – World Buskers Festival. He tells Cityscape about his magic life and performing with a diva chihuahua. What did you do before Piff the Magic Dragon came along? I was a regular human magician doing weddings, bar mitzvahs and corporate dinners and getting fired everywhere for being too grumpy. How much do you know about New Zealand? Never been. My only knowledge comes from those Hobbit movies. On that basis, I’m looking forward to towering over the inhabitants but terrified I’m going to get shot in the face by a dwarf. What has been the most surreal experience of your career? Penn Jillette (half of the top US magic act Penn & Teller) becoming Pop the Magic Dragon. How hard...

Danielle Casey is the creative force behind this season’s heritage-drenched Ballantynes Christmas window displays. Cityscape talks to her about her gig with a little shop in London called Harrods, and how she got to do what she does. How did you get to be designing Christmas windows for Ballantynes? I arrived back in New Zealand this time last year after seven years in the UK. While I was there I worked with some amazing production and design agencies where I produced campaigns for the likes of Nike, Bacardi and Harrods. Naturally I was excited to come home but also a little apprehensive about how my experience would stack up in the New Zealand job market. I knew of Ballantynes so applied for the advertised visual merchandiser role and after two interviews was hired as their visual merchandising manager. What has been your biggest gig so far (apart from Ballantynes of course)?...