Latest news with #Ngāruawāhia
NZ Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Phil Gifford: When Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath lit up a farm in Ngaruawahia
Black Sabbath (L-R) Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne pose for a portrait on May 31, 1970 in London, England. Photo / Getty Images 'I hope we didn't freak you out,' yelled Ozzy. 'This one should help you. It's called PARANOID!' The Ngāruawāhia festival came three years after the film documentary on Woodstock was screened here. Woodstock was a turning point in first world youth culture, radically departing from older generations' attitudes to everything from drugs to nudity. I'd been despatched to Ngāruawāhia as a reporter by the newspaper in Auckland where I was writing about everything from music to sport to shipwrecks. It was quickly clear the massive influence Woodstock had on many of the music fans who headed to our first home-grown festival. After a restless night trying to sleep in a small tent, I was puzzled by what the material was in the bikini the topless woman from the tent next door was wearing. Then I realised she wasn't wearing anything. Tribute to Black Sabbath front man and legend of heavy metal music, Ozzy Osbourne, by NZ Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson. Nudity, a la Woodstock was commonplace over the next three days. The opening act, Kiwi singer Corben Simpson, sang a couple of songs and then announced it was 'too hot'. He stripped naked to finish his set. Five months later he was in court where he was fined for 'wilfully and obscenely exposing his person'. Musically, Ngāruawāhia offered a stage to an amazing range of future giants in New Zealand music. The festival's co-promoter Barry Coburn was the manager of a gifted Auckland group calling themselves Split Ends. Sadly it was the wrong place and the wrong time for a band, which was then featuring flute and violin solos. At best the audience reception could be described as cool. Ozzy Osbourne (left) and American musician Randy Rhoads (1956-1982), on electric guitar, as they perform during the Blizzard of Oz tour, at Nassau Coliseum in 1981. Photo / Getty Images The future Split Enz weren't the only ones battling, at the very start of their careers, to win the crowd over. Dragon, with just one Hunter brother, Todd, played to a muted reception. On the other hand, there was an ecstatic reaction to the co-headline act, the British folk band Fairport Convention. Very much the yin to Black Sabbath's prototype heavy metal yang, the Fairports had the moshpit dancing to old Scottish and Irish reels and jigs. But there was no question that the big-name act was Sabbath. To get them to New Zealand required a trip to Britain for tyro promoter Coburn. In 2011, he wrote in the Herald how he had flown to Europe and saw Sabbath's manager Don Arden, at Arden's home in London. Coburn was greeted at the door of the luxury house in Wimbledon by Arden's daughter, the then-teenaged Sharon. (Who would have guessed that Sharon would later marry Ozzy and become known throughout the world with the stunning success of the reality TV show The Osbournes?) Coburn was just 22, so dealing with Arden, described by the Guardian when he died in 2007, as the 'Al Capone of British music' took some backbone. In the mid 1970s in Auckland I found myself sitting next to Arden and his Irish wife Hope at a dinner hosted for the visitors by a local record company executive. Hope, a former dancer, was a delight, rolling out anecdotes about film star Cary Grant, their next door neighbour when they were in Los Angeles. Don was exactly what I had expected, revelling in stories that basically painted him as a semi-gangster. When he heard that rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry had recently been in Auckland, he took special delight in recounting details of a show he had co-promoted in the 1960s in Germany with a former SS officer. Berry was refusing to go on stage until he had been paid. 'The German pulled out this big Luger pistol and pointed it at Berry's head. There were no more arguments.' The night made it very clear that any charm Sharon Osbourne has comes from her mother.
RNZ News
27-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Waikato announced as hosts for Te Matatini 2027
Tainui group Mōtai Tangata Rau at Te Matatini 2025. Photo: Te Matatini Enterprises Tākiri Tū Te Matatini will be hosted by Tainui, at Hopuhopu near Ngāruawāhia, following a two-day tono process involving Te Whare Haka o Tainui and Tainui waka Iwi. In May, organisers announced that the 2027 festival would not be hosted in Te Tauihu o te Waka-a-Māui / Nelson as had been expected. The decision came amid concerns around the ability of smaller regions to accommodate the rapidly growing festival. Te Matatini chairperson, Tā Herewini Parata, said the full board was overwhelmed by the depth and thought that had gone into the joint Tainui waka/whare haka proposal. "It centred on the key values of Kingitanga and was presented with the grace and strength of kotahitanga that this area is renowned for," said Tā Herewini. "The expression of interest received unanimous support from the Te Matatini National Board and we are looking forward to working together to deliver a successful festival in 2027." Waikato-Tainui executive Chair Tukoroirangi Morgan delivered an impassioned presentation based on kotahitanga. "As a waka we have a proud history of hosting the motu and we will pivot every resource we have and work with our partners to make sure it is a resounding success," he said. Te Whare Haka o Tainui delegate Tony Walker said this was an opportunity to remind ourselves of how mana Motuhake can evolve on a regional, national and international level. "This is an exciting time for our whare and the wider Tainui waka community because it provides stability for this kaupapa," he said. "I reflect on the words of our late Kiingi Tuheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero VII when he challenged us all to think about the virtues of unity as a pathway to reconnect and flourish in this challenging world." "Te Matatini will now sit down and work through some of the logistical issues before confirming a date for the national competition," said Parata. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
24-06-2025
- RNZ News
Man found dead in car in Waikato River had been missing since 2019
Victoria Bridge from where a person was seen in the Waikato River last night. Photo: RNZ / Libby Kirkby-McLeod Police have formally identified a man found dead in a car in the Waikato River nearly a year ago. He was 44-year-old Michael Murdoch from Ngāruawāhia, who had been missing since 2019. His body was found in his car last August by a company that removed wrecked cars and other hazardous materials from the river. Police said the formal identification was a complex and lengthy process because Mr Murdoch had been in the river for so long. They were treating his death as unexplained and it had been referred to the coroner.
