Karori pioneers

The first hardy settlers who came into the Karori Valley by way of the Maori path faced difficulties in identifying the sections of their title and initially many camped in the bush together whilst they made their way around the valley.

The first settler into the valley is given to be a Mr J[ohn] Yule who had arrived in Port Nicholson with his family in March of 1840 aboard the Bengal Merchant. Later, Yule was reported by Heaphy in his writings regarding settlement to be clearing about 20 acres of heavily timbered forest in the Karori Valley and to have built a house there within 6 months. He mentions further that Yule was unaided in his occupation except for a Maori assistant and Yule's brother, Alexander. The Yules were referred to as being "two young Scotsmen".

The Chief Justice at the time, H. S. Chapman had also taken up land in the area and by 1846 had erected the first Homewood residence.

By the late 1840s a building had been erected to serve both as a chapel and school, and a shop had been opened. In 1852 church services were being held at Mr S. Lancaster's residence and a small hall had been built on land given by a Mr Haire. This hall apparently stood on the site of the old Council Chambers. Church services were held in the hall and according to a Mr J. Eagle, an early resident in the district, some three people named Collins, Brodie and Kelt were interred on the site. (When excavations were carried out in the 1930s it appears some 6-8 people had been buried there.)

Karori and Makara have always had a close association and it is interesting to recall a selection of early pioneers who came to the district in those first years of settlement, who built homes from out of the bush and thus prepared the way for further development. Names such as Yule, Chapman, Lancaster, Shotter, Haire, Campbell, Lewer, Cook, McKelvie, Kilmister, Spiers, Barnes, Cole, Richmond, Eagle, Monk, Donald and Monaghan can all be put down as early pioneers to the district.

- Joseph & Betty Kenneally, Karori Then, Wellington, 1980, p.5

See also:
Blog: What's on at the Regal, 27 August 2023
Blog: Karori Lunatic Asylum, 15 February 2022

Blog: The old route to Karori, 16 August 2020

This, what I thought I knew

Thursday music corner: Widely-revered English experimental music pioneer Brian Eno (b. Suffolk, 1948) first attained widespread attention as a founding member of glam rock trailblazers Roxy Music from 1971. He appeared on Roxy's first two albums, Roxy Music (1972) and For Your Pleasure (1973), before branching out as a solo artist in 1973. 

Eno has released dozens of albums, both solo and collaborative efforts. Four of his solo albums entered the UK top 40: his debut Here Come The Warm Jets (1974), Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks (1983), The Ship (2016), and ForeverAndEverNoMore (2022). Two notable collaborative albums include My Life in the Bush of Ghosts with David Byrne (1981) and Original Soundtracks 1 with U2 (1995). As a highly-respected record producer he helmed a wide range of albums, including David Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" Low, Heroes and Lodger, plus 1995's Outside; Talking Heads' Fear of Music and Remain in Light; and six albums by U2. He was the subject of the 2024 'AI-generated edit' documentary Eno by Gary Hustwit.

'This' was the opening track on Eno's 2005 album Another Day on Earth. Its lyrics were informed by random computer-generated cut-up processes.   

Brian Eno - This (2005)

See also:

Music: Fripp & Eno - The Heavenly Music Corporation Pt.1 (1973)

Music: Brian Eno - Needles in the Camel's Eye (1974)

Music: Brian Eno - And Then So Clear (2005)

Kelburn 7.20am

 

I was feeling insecure, you might not love me anymore

Thursday music corner: Donny Hathaway (1945-79) was a Chicago-born soul singer-songwriter who released music solo and with long-time collaborator Roberta Flack. He released four studio albums from 1970 to 1973 - three on the Atco label, and the most successful, 1972's Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, on Atlantic. In 1972 he also released a live album and a soundtrack for crime comedy film Come Back, Charleston Blue. He had four US pop top 40 singles: the solo hit This Christmas in 1970, plus three with Flack - the Carole King cover You've Got a Friend (1971), Where Is The Love (1972), and The Closer I Get to You (1978), with the latter the most successful, reaching number two on the US charts and topping the US R&B charts. Amy Winehouse called Hathaway her favourite artist of all time, and referred to "Mr Hathaway" in her song Rehab.

Hathaway's soul cover of John Lennon's Jealous Guy appears on his gold-certified 1972 Live album, which was recorded in 1971 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and the Bitter End in New York. Live is often cited as one of the greatest live soul albums ever recorded, and is the cornerstone of Hathaway's modern reputation.    

Donny Hathaway - Jealous Guy (live, 1971)

See also:

Music: Donny Hathaway - Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything) (live, 1971)

Music: Donny Hathaway & Roberta Flack - You've Got a Friend (1972)

Music: Donny Hathaway - Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972)

The origins of Dr Strangelove's accent

Weegee's most striking photographs were made on the War Room set, where much of the drama of Dr Strangelove takes place. Visionary production designer Ken Adam's expressionist, windowless interior was all dark gloss surfaces and angled walls, with a huge circular table illuminated from above, like a poker room. Since there were no public images of the U.S. government's real Pentagon War Room, Ken Adam was free to imagine it (just as he imagined the unseen interior of Fort Knox for the James Bond movie Goldfinger, also released in 1964). Preeminently a photographer of the night, Weegee was perfectly at home in the darkened space. He could use his flash or the production's bright lights to pick out his subjects, just as he had done in the treacly midnights of 1930s and '40s New York. His portrait of Peter Bull, playing Russian ambassador Alexi de Sadesky, looks as if it could have been taken in the crowd at a Manhattan theater premiere.

The British actor Peter Sellers was tasked with playing three key roles in the film: U.S. President Merkin Muffley, Captain Lionel Mandrake of the British Royal Air Force, and the eerie Dr. Strangelove - a former Nazi who is now the President's chief scientific advisor. Sellers was also a keen amateur filmmaker, shooting many home movies as well as photographs. He and Weegee struck up an endearing friendship on set. Sellers had an extraordinary ability to absorb and mimic accents, and became fascinated with Weegee's way of talking, which was a gruff but sweet cocktail of eastern European consonants and streetwise New York vowels. Sellers needed very distinct accents for each of his parts. His impression of Weegee became the basis of his voice for Dr. Strangelove. On a TV talkshow shortly after filming, Sellers recalled:

"I was stuck, you see, because I didn't want to do sort of a normal English broken German accent thing, so on the set was a little photographer from New York, a very cute little fellow called Weegee. You must have heard of him. And he had a little voice.... And I got an idea... I put a German accent on top of that, and I suddenly got... him into Dr. Strangelove. So really, it's Weegee. I don't know if he knows it."

- David Campany, 'Weegee & Kubrick', in Clement Cheroux (ed.), Weegee: Society of the Spectacle, London, 2025, p.193.

See also:
Photography: Dennis Hopper: photographer, 15 September 2025

Photography: Sherman meets Blanchett, 8 May 2022

Photography: Who Shot Rock 'n Roll, 1 January 2013

Respect at this point is pretty much out of the question

Thursday music corner: Singer songwriter Randy Newman was born in Los Angeles in 1943. Three of his uncles were Hollywood film composers, and one (Alfred Newman) received 45 Oscar nominations and won nine times. 

In his lengthy and much-garlanded career Newman has released 11 studio albums, three 'songbook' albums of re-recordings of his own songs, a 1995 musical version of Faust, and 28 soundtrack albums. He has won the Academy Award for Best Original Song twice - in 2001 for If I Didn't Have You (from Monsters, Inc.) and in 2010 for We Belong Together (from Toy Story 3), plus seven Grammy Awards. His biggest hit was the ironic novelty number Short People, which reached number 2 in the US charts in 1977.

A Few Words in Defense of Our Country, which displays Newman's traditional sardonic humour, was released as a single in 2007 and appeared on Newman's Mitchell Froom and Lenny Waronker-produced 2008 album Harps & Angels. The song was named the sixth best song of the 2000s decade by music critic Robert Christgau.

Randy Newman - A Few Words in Defense of Our Country (2007)

See also:

Music: Randy Newman - Political Science (live, 1972)

Music: Randy Newman & Paul Simon - The Blues (1982)

Music: Randy Newman - You've Got a Friend In Me (2010)