Fairy lights outside the Southern Cross

This year CubaDupa very kindly gave us a sort of ninja gig/popup slot outside the Southern Cross on the evening of day 1. A nice low-key, relaxed kind of affair and just the thing to get us warmed up before tomorrow’s Big Gig.

It was a lovely clear crisp night, and we had a large number of performers signing up – over 80 of us in total – which made it extra-special.

The drummers dressed themselves up with fairy lights again, which is pretty much de rigeur for any nightime gig these days. They look so twinkly! It would be great if the dancers could wear them too – they’d look awesome – but sadly it’s really not practical. Their dancing is so energetic, unless the lights were actually sewn onto the costume they’d be lost and crushed underfoot within minutes. Ah well.
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Sparkle Ponies ahoy!

It was a bright and shiny day in Wellington, as befits our maddest parade of the year at the Newtown Fair. I seem to recall reading somewhere that this year’s event was the biggest ever, which makes sense, as it just keeps on getting better and better every year.

Our outfits for the day’s shenanigans were CubaDupa 2023 for the drummers (mostly red with a massive Batucada logo on the back) and my most favourite outfit for the dancers – “Sparkle Ponies”. It’s days like these that I wish I were a dancer so I could wear the outfit. Except I can’t do choreographed dancing to save my life, and no-one wants to see my bare midriff – so I guess I’m sticking with the chocalho for the time being.
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An absolute nail-biter at the stadium

We haven’t done much for the cricket before – and it was great to be asked. Particularly as the payment for our gig included a bunch of tickets for the game. Fantastic! How could we say no?

Our job was to entertain the crowd as they arrived for the Black Caps’ T20 cricket match against Australia at the Sky Stadium. For the first time in ages the drummers got to wear our old black uniform again (dig those extra-ancient starry pants that director Darryn was sporting!) – and the dancers were dressed all in white (with silver accents). It was a good look.
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Sparkles and tinsel and a new place to spend Christmas

It’s been a good few years since I’ve been to Stokes Valley, so I did my Google Maps homework, and had it all planned out in my head. Give myself an hour to drive there in case the traffic’s bad. Aim to arrive an hour before the parade begins. Half an hour to find a park. Half an hour to walk up the parade route from Stokes Valley town centre to the start of the parade. It worked very well. It’s a blimmin’ long way up that hill from the town centre to the start of the parade, so I was very glad I’d given myself a good long time to walk it.

I’m not certain that Christian and Joe gave themselves quite as much time. In fact, I reckon they went “Pick you up an hour before the gig? Plenty of time, eh?”. They arrived, somewhat out of breath, a couple of minutes after the parade began. Phew! Nothing like cutting it fine – and I guess you might argue that they actually timed it PERFECTLY. I freely admit that I am incapable of cutting it fine, and always seem to arrive at least half an hour before our earliest muster time. Just in case. Because you never know.
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