Bays of Our Lives

If aliens suddenly descended to earth, romped into your kitchen, held lasers to your face and said “Tell us who your live music leader is in five seconds or you will die in a puddle of ooze”. Then all anyone in Hawke’s Bay would need to say is “Calm down, it’s Roy Brown”. An incredibly talented pianist, vocalist and songwriter in his own right, Roy has single-handedly championed live performances for hundreds of local and international acts of almost every genre imaginable through his ownership of The Cabana in Napier. Hawke’s Bay wouldn’t have a live music scene if Roy weren’t opening those doors on Shakespeare Road every night of the week. And a 1, a 2, a 1, 2, 3, 4!Additional audio editing was done by Kayla Tepania.Video was shot for this podcast.Kayla Tepania (editing)Regan Bailey (camera operator)Harry Lawson (camera operator)

If there’s anyone more Hawkesbaylien than Andrew Frame we’re yet to see it. Famous for his blog ‘NapierInFrame’, Andrew (who played a mean recorder in the Tamatea Primary School orchestra of 1988) is on a mission to tell Hawke’s Bay’s stories. And through the power of Twitter (it will always be Twitter Elon!) he also keeps corporate media and political baddies on their toes and highlights the quirky things about our region. Two Countdown-Woolworths supermarkets directly across the road from one another. Why? We HAD to find out!Andrew also isn’t afraid to be brutally honest about his struggles, broken dreams and ambitions to make major life changes. We hear ya Andrew!

Some podcast eppy’s are real pinch-yourselfers. Like how on earth did Dan and I manage to snaffle some time with one of New Zealand’s most talented authors? And how on earth did we not know that she lives on our back doorstep? Ugandan-born, England-raised Charity Norman is an ex-barrister who now divides her time between Wellington and Central Hawke’s Bay. According to Google she’s written eight novels. 8!!! But by the time you read this it’s probably more like a dozen. Her talent has netted a raft of prestigious literary awards including the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel in 2023 for Remember Me. Our chat with Charity was seriously choice!

What happens when a hotshot LA lawyer meets a homegrown Kiwi boy on a boat in Nicaragua? Of course, they have a whirlwind affair, fall in love, and within months, the criminal prosecutor has moved her life across the world to be with her new beau, Tom, in rural Hawke's Bay. Culture shock? Hell yes. Danielle says she and Tom connected over their mutual love of the outdoors, animals and travel, eloping to Africa to tie the knot . Back home in Havelock North, she developed a Pilates and gyro studio called MOOVE and more recently founded Alma, which is more than an exercise studio. It’s a community. We talk veges, herbal tea, travel, dogs, Hollywood and all things health with this hurricane of a human!

You don’t get much more ‘baptism of fire-ish’ than just getting your head around becoming the youngest ever editor of the main newspaper in a region and then suddenly that place is hit with a massive cyclone. And you can’t tell people about it. When power and comms were wiped out for days on end during the biggest natural disaster Hawke’s Bay had seen in nearly a century, that’s what Chris and his staff faced. He talks us through that chaotic time and how they finally got the stories out.

Jamie MacPhailIf one person has revolutionised how urban and rural folk experience live music in recent years, it’s Mr MacPhail. And if you gaze at those lone, little community halls out in the far flung countryside and think “I wonder what they look like inside?” Then chances are Jamie will be able to answer your question because not only has he opened up these quirky, small, characterful buildings to the masses, he’s even put some of New Zealand’s greatest musicians and singers on their stages during his ‘Small Hall Sessions’. So of course Dan and Yvonne are gargantuan fans of his. From a past-life in record company land, to a new direction as a tour promotor, Jamie unveils the high notes, the almost-disasters and everything inbetween,