Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Next year, the Auckland Philharmonia will perform an incredible one-night-only performance of ‘Gene Kelly: A Life in Music’.   The show is a mesmerising trip down memory lane, with a combination of film clips, stories and live performance highlighting the legendary dancer, director and choreographer Gene Kelly – who celebrated and popularised dance within mainstream cinema.   Leading the orchestra, is musical conductor extraordinaire Neil Thomson, who has worked with orchestras across the world.   He's currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Director at Orquestra Filarmônica de Goiás (Philharmonic Orchestra of Goiás).  Thomson told Jack Tame he has a personal connection with this show, having done a many of the films live with symphony orchestra around 10-15 years ago.  “I was booked to do Singing in the Rain at the Albert Hall,” he said, explaining that it was the first time the film had been done in that format.  “About a month before the show, I got this email and the title was ‘From Mrs Gene Kelly’,” he revealed.  “And I had this very friendly note just saying she was going to be introducing the show, and it would be nice to meet me, and everything.”  Thomson says that he and Patricia got on rather well, and began to work together more often, leading to this very show highlighting the extent of Gene Kelly’s musical talent.  “The films have been absolutely scrubbed up,” he told Tame.  “You’ve never seen prints like it. I mean, it’s fantastic, they’re so clean. The sound is so clean.”  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne has an old sign hanging up in his garage.   He picked it up from a garage sale as a curiosity, but it came from an Auckland Pub in the 1980’s.  The sign states that any known gang member or person wearing gang patches or emblems will not be permitted in the hotel.   Kevin’s always found it a bit funny, and he’s wondering why people would feel safer not knowing if there’s a gang member next to them.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Released on November 15th, Shawn is the fifth studio album from Shawn Mendes, and it features him at his most intimate and honest.  The album details everything that’s happened in the two years since his abrupt cancellation of his Wonder world tour, and the public spectacle the unravelling of his relationship with Camila Cabello became.   Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the release.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough   Born to an American myth and raised in the wilds of Graceland, Lisa Marie Presley tells her whole story for the first time in this raw, riveting, one-of-a-kind memoir faithfully completed by her daughter, Riley Keough.  In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir.  A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman that Riley loved and grieved.  Riley got the tapes that her mother had recorded for the book, laid in her bed, and listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about smashing golf carts together in the yards of Graceland, about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs, just the two of them. About getting dragged screaming out of the bathroom as she ran towards his body on the floor. About living in Los Angeles with her mother, getting sent to school after school, always kicked out, always in trouble. About her singular, lifelong relationship with Danny Keough, about being married to Michael Jackson, what they shared in common. About motherhood. About deep addiction. About ever-present grief. Riley knew she had to fulfill her mother's wish to reveal these memories, incandescent and painful, to the world.  To make her mother known.  This extraordinary book is composed of both Lisa Marie's and Riley's voice, a mother and daughter communicating across the transom of death as they try to heal each other. Profoundly moving and deeply revealing, From Here to the Great Unknown is a book like no other-the last words of the only child of a true legend.     In Too Deep by Lee Child and Andrew Child   Reacher had no idea where he was. No idea how he had got there. But someone must have brought him. And shackled him. And whoever had done those things was going to rue the day. That was for damn sure.  Jack Reacher wakes up, alone, in the dark, handcuffed to a makeshift bed. His right arm has suffered some major damage. His few possessions are gone. He has no memory of getting there.  The last thing Reacher can recall is the car he hitched a ride in getting run off the road. The driver was killed.  His captors assume Reacher was the driver's accomplice and patch up his wounds as they plan to make him talk.  A plan that will backfire spectacularly . . .    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Yardley admits he’s a child at heart, and believes that nothing can reawaken your inner child like the escapist innocence, magic, and sparkle of Disney.  On his visit to LA recently, he decided to stop by the Disneyland Resort and swing through the parks.  He joined Jack Tame to discuss the dos and don’ts for those eyeing up a Disney holiday.  Read Mike’s full article here.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christmas is coming, bringing with it an overabundance of waste.  If you’re interested in making your Christmas celebrations a little more sustainable, Kate Hall has a few tips and tricks, including a list of over a hundred sustainable present ideas.  She joined Jack Tame for a chat about gifts they’ve given and received in the past, as well as explained the “no gift” Christmases her family has done – focusing instead on quality time or acts of service.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 23 November 2024, conductor extraordinaire Neil Thomson joins Jack to discuss the world of orchestra, the legacy of dancer and director Gene Kelly and a spectacular one-night-only performance with the Auckland Philharmonia.  Jack shares some very exciting news!  Wicked has landed in cinemas after gaining major pop culture momentum this year - does it deliver?  Plus, chef Nici Wickes shares a recipe dear to her heart.  Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A moth or so ago I was walking around the Halswell Quarry, looking for native bees. We have about 28 species of these bees in New Zealand, and the unfortunate thing is that we know very little about these creatures.  A new book by Rachel Weston described how these tiny bees make holes in the ground where their larvae (babies) are raised. The air space around those tunnels is quite busy, with bees coming and going constantly; some air traffic control could well be a useful asset to these tiny habitats!    I didn’t just find a heap of native bees but also a few holes of significant size: conically shaped holes with a diameter of at least 30 millimetres, situated in a dry bit of soil, protected from regular rain fall.   It reminded me of the holes I used to have under the eaves of our old open car port.   In the pit of these holes live a very clever Neuropteran insects, known as Antlions. The cool thing is that this extraordinary species is the only “antlion” endemic to New Zealand – it’s ours and it lives nowhere else in the world.   The fully-grown adult is a sizeable lacewing with beautiful wings, shaped by a multitude of fine veins. It’s not a strong flyer, but elegant when it climbs up the vegetation around the area where it grew up. This insect feeds on pollen and small insects, but it is not very long-lived.     The larvae (young versions) of these antlions are the ones that create those magnificent holes in the soil through clever movement of their bodies. Excavation is a fine art.    They are predators, meat eaters, and the holes are their traps. These predators are equipped with a mean set of jaws.  When an insect ventures into the realm of these antlion babies, they will tumble down the steepish slope, down to the bottom in the centre. That’s where the antlion larva is waiting to grab its prey with impressive, sharp mouthparts that look like pincers.   Their diet is any invertebrate that is small enough to be subdued: crawling caterpillars, small beetles, native bees, ants that made navigation errors, etc.    The coolest part of the antlion’s arsenal is the tactic of making the potential prey lose their footing!   As soon as an ant tumbles down the slope and dislodges some sand or bits of soil, the antlion baby starts tossing some soil, throwing sand uphill in the direction of the prey to make it lose its balance!   And of course I can’t help fuelling the fight by dropping some soil particles into the antlion’s clever trap – now this is a fight to watch!   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BOB’S BEST BUYS  Wine: Tohu 2024 Rose, Nelson $18.99    Why I chose it:  It tastes as good as it looks. Its pink, white and gold label captures the essence of Christmas. It’s a crowd-pleaser – who could possibly not like this wine?  2024 was a great Nelson vintage.    What does it taste like?  Pale straw-coloured rose with restrained guava, pomegranate, wildflowers and raspberry flavours. Pristine wine with appealing purity and a seamless texture. A hint of sweetness is balanced by gentle, fruity acidity to give a pleasantly dry finish.    Why it’s a bargain An exceptional wine at a great price.    Where can you buy it?       The Good Wine Co, Auckland $15.99 First Glass Wines and Spirits, Auckland $16.99 Blackmarket.co.nz, Auckland $16.99        Food match?   Perfect with the snapper that I plan to catch in the New Year.    Will it keep?    Drink up!    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WhatsApp's transcribing your (annoying) voice notes  Got a friend who loves a voice note but you don't want to listen to their ramblings? WhatsApp's new AI feature will transcribe the note for you to read. Hurray!  The feature is rolling out globally to Android and iOS users “in the coming weeks”, according to the company.  This is a fun addition because it's faster to talk, but it's quicker to read. Now you get the best of both worlds.    Bitcoin is approaching $100,000  Donald Trump's presidential win and his love for crypto has buoyed the digital currency to reach record highs. It broke $98,000 for the first time on Thursday.  Bitcoin has gained more than 130% so far this year, and 40% just since the presidential election.  A fun aside: in 2010, a programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz made history by purchasing two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins - a world first real Bitcoin transaction. They were worth just fractions of a cent each. Today those 10,000 bitcoins would be valued at over $980 million.    Amazon is investing $4 billion in ChatGPT's rival  If it feels like deja vu, it's because it is. This is the second $4 billion investment Amazon has made just this year. A condition of the deal is that Anthropic must use AWS for their primary cloud provider and will use Amazon’s AI chips to develop its most advanced models.    Rumours the ChatGPT Web Browser is coming  Reports in The Information suggest you could ditch Google's Chrome browser and use a ChatGPT browser instead to browse and search the web. It could also include partnerships and integrations with a variety of eCommerce websites and apps – I assume these would be almost like super premium sponsored results? OpenAI isn't commenting.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dune: Prophecy   10,000 years before the ascension of Paul Atreides, the Harkonnen Sisters combat forces that threaten the future of humankind and establish the fabled sect known as the Bene Gesserit. From the writer-producer of Haunting of Bly Manor, Diane Ademu-John (Neon).      Say Nothing    Jean McConville, a single mother of ten, is abducted from her home in 1972 and never seen alive again. Through the eyes of various Irish Republican Army (IRA) members, explore the extremes some people will go to in the name of their beliefs, the way a deeply divided society can suddenly tip over into armed conflict, the long shadow of radical violence for both victims and perpetrators, and the emotional and psychological costs of a code of silence (Disney+).      Endurance    Nat Geo documentary telling the story of a legendary feat of leadership and perseverance. Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton kept alive his crew of 27 men for over a year despite the loss of their ship in frigid pack ice. Over a century later, a team of modern-day explorers sets out to find the sunken ship (Disney+).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wicked   Misunderstood because of her green skin, a young woman named Elphaba forges an unlikely but profound friendship with Glinda, a student with an unflinching desire for popularity. Following an encounter with the Wizard of Oz, their relationship soon reaches a crossroad as their lives begin to take very different paths.   Part 1 of the story of how a green-skinned woman framed by the Wizard of Oz becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. A feature film based on the Broadway musical.     Canary Black   Avery Graves, a CIA operative, is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband. Cut off from her team, she turns to her underworld contacts to survive.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This recipe is just so divine and though it sounds complicated it really is very simple. My mum would cook this for our family dinners, to satisfy the vegetarians in the family.   Serves 6-8    Ingredients 3 - 4 very large onions  450 g fresh washed spinach or silverbeet  275 g ricotta  2 eggs  50g Parmesan cheese, grated  a good pinch of thyme or oregano  salt and pepper     Sauce  250ml cream  450g tin of tomatoes  cayenne pepper and salt     Method Preheat the oven to 180 C and butter a large oven proof dish.  Cut the onions (with the skin still on) from top to bottom only half way though, through to the heart.  Put them into a large pot of boiling water and simmer for 20 - 25 minutes. They will have opened up a little. Remove from the pot and let cool.  Now parboil the trimmed spinach or silverbeet until wilted then strain and squeeze all the water from it. Chop.  Mash the ricotta, eggs, cheese and seasoning then add the chopped greens and set aside.  Now the fun part....stuffing the onions: Remove the skin off the onions and separate the layers of onions - you should get 6-7 layers from each onion, place them on a tea towel to drain. The hearts of the onions can be chopped finely and added to the stuffing.  Place a spoonful of stuffing (don't overstuff) on each onion section and roll up and place seam side down in your oven dish so that they all fit snugly.  Now puree the tomatoes and whisk together with the cream and seasonings and spoon over the onions to coat them.  Bake for 45 minutes and spoon over more of the sauce if they look as though they are drying a little.  Lovely served with a salad.    LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first thing I noticed was Mava’s thirst.  In the years I’ve known my wife, I can’t think of a time when she’s voluntarily consumed a glass of water. Coffee? Sure. Iced latte in the morning, Pepsi Max in the afternoon. But water? Water has never really been her jam. And yet here she was, all of a sudden, glugging back glass after glass of the good stuff.  “You’re pregnant,” I said.  The next thing I noticed was her sweet tooth, or rather lack thereof.  “Do you want a treat?” I called from the kitchen. One of my wife’s finest qualities is she never says no to dessert. And yet... No.  “I just don’t feel like it,” she said.  “You’re pregnant,” I said.  It’s amazing how much a line on a stick can change your life.  I think when I was younger, I didn’t properly appreciate that sometimes life doesn’t go the way you expect it will. I have a lot of friends for whom getting pregnant and having children hasn’t been anything like our experience so far. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen, and it can be the most painful, traumatic experience. I feel so fortunate, in that sense.  Crazy how quickly the algorithms get you. You sign up for one baby app —‘this week your baby is the size of a turnip’— and all of your ads change in an instant to pushchair brands with soft Nordic names and umlauts. Oh, to have invested in the baby business a few decades back.  I’ve learnt a lot about my wife over the last 6 months. She’s tough. Retching at the traffic lights one minute, and back on with her day the next. How ever many billion years of evolution and pregnant women are left with scientifically-dubious acu-pressure bands and ginger tea?! The good news is her sweet tooth’s back. And her sense of humour never left.  I’ve found myself thinking about the other parents in my life, and particularly my own. I’m one of four. Four! And my folks had no help. I can already see why people rate raising children as their greatest accomplishment.  Although I understand it all in a theoretical sense, I’m not sure the full weight of impending fatherhood has yet sunken in, or will until our baby is born.  Mava is due in February. We’ve got a pram. We’ve got a cot. We’ve tossed around a few ideas for names, and I’ve been mesmerised by the images on the ultrasound screen. But even as I place my hand on my wife’s bump and feel something, someone, a bit of me shift and wriggle and kick, for now it’s all just magic.  I know there will be tough times ahead. Exhaustion and exasperation. But I also know the magic will only intensify.  A new baby. A new generation. A new life. And the sense that mine will change forever. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Popular relocation series Moving Houses has returned for a third season, a former All Black behind the wheel.  The show isn’t one you’d expect to be as gripping as it is, but it turns out there’s plenty of space for danger and suspense when you’re moving a house on the back of a truck.  After a colourful rugby career, Andy Ellis has honed his craft as a landscape designer, and has now taken over as host for the show.  He told Francesca Rudkin that he really enjoyed meeting all the people involved in the show, from the truck drivers to the people moving their homes.   “Their stories are actually really fascinating.”  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"In the heart of Orange County, Anaheim is a glittering hospitality hot spot, cultivating a red-hot reputation as a foodie destination, with all the Southern California feels. From fuss-free street snacks and quick bites to spectacular gourmet glories, you’re seriously spoilt for choice. Underscoring Anaheim’s epicurean stripes, the Anaheim area boasts over 30 Michelin-recommended eateries." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Coldplay’s Eden Park concerts have been a magical experience for many.  The band is being praised for the spectacle of the show, with a riot of colour, fireworks, and fun technology contributing to the overall effect.   Estelle Clifford celebrated her birthday at last night’s concert, and she says it was a magical night.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marry Me in Italy by Nicky Pelegrino   A dream wedding in Italy? It's the chance of a lifetime! Skye has been with Tim forever and the last thing she's thinking about is saying 'I do'. It's Tim that enters the dream wedding competition - he's longing to win an all-expenses-paid trip to romantic Montenello. An escape to a beautiful Italian hill town might be just what they need to find love again... Ana definitely isn't interested in getting married - she doesn't need a man to make her happy. But when she loses her job at a glossy food magazine, she jumps at the chance of a new life, renovating a crumbling Italian farmhouse. Her handsome (and very distracting) neighbour definitely isn't part of the plan. One thing's for sure, this summer has surprises in store!      No One Will Know by Rose Carlyle   Eve Sylvester is young and broke and needs a job fast. After years of foster homes, backpacking and a sailing trip across the Pacific Ocean, she has lost contact with friends and family. She is alone, desperate-and pregnant. Then she meets Julia and Christopher Hygate, a charming and glamorous couple, who seem to have the perfect life: loads of money and a breathtakingly beautiful mansion on a remote Tasmanian island. They make her a lucrative offer. Eve can move into their empty summerhouse and take up a very easy job. Eve thinks she's fallen on her feet-she has found a home, and her child will grow up in the aptly named Paradise Bay. But some things about the job don't add up. Why must Eve stay out of sight? Why have the Hygates employed an ex-con to run their yacht-charter business? And what about the mysterious boats sailing in and out of the Hygates' private marina? Has Eve made a deal with the devil? It's too late to ask questions. Eve is already in far too deep. Set against the stunning backdrop of a windswept island and its mysterious lighthouse, No One Will Know is a propulsive, seductive novel of suspense that reveals the terrible consequences of greed, staggering lies and fatal mistakes.     LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne decided to take this morning to pay tribute to two exceptional entertainers.  He joined Francesca Rudkin to reminisce about renowned radio broadcaster Lindsay Yeo, who passed away earlier this week, and chat about Stephen Fry, who’s show he saw in Wellington on Wednesday.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While everyone knows about white noise, there are a few more colours of noise out there, each with a different sound and potential impact. Recent studies have found that pink and white noise improved concentration and memory for adolescents and young adults – but only those with ADHD. Dr Dougal Sutherland joined Francesca Rudkin to run through green, brown, pink, and white noise, and the impacts they can have on people. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.