Afternoons for Wednesday 26 October 2022

1:15 First song: Come Together - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Another round of Come Together concerts kick off in Wellington tomorrow night. This time it's a super group of New Zealand rock musicians playing Tom Petty's Damn The Torpedoes.

Adam Hattaway's in the line up, he talks to Jesse about being part of the ensemble and plays one of the songs featured in the concerts live.

1:20 Good news for the supply chain heading into Christmas

With two months to go until Christmas - the big question is will the shop shelves be full - and will that special package you ordered from overseas arrive on time to put under the tree?  

Covid put a massive spanner in the global supply chain - creating more than two years of shipping delays and container snarl ups at ports around the world.

It also brought disappointment for Christmas shoppers.But things are looking up on the freight and logistics front.

Rachel Madden - the New Zealand Manager at First Global Logistics Limited talks to Jesse.

1:35 When a loved one leaves the earth, they can now really leave the planet!

When a loved one dies and chooses to be cremated the challenge becomes finding a meaningful place to scatter or preserve their ashes.

Now a new company called StardustME has come up with an option you probably assumed would be impossible.

One of Space-X's reusable rockets will be sent into orbit in January, and for a fee, the remains of your loved ones could be amongst the cargo.

StardustME co-founder Stu Potter talks to Jesse about sending loved ones ashes into space.

1:45 Compost hub at central Auckland school a hit with the local community

Doughnut Economics Advocates NZ have launched a number of sustainable initiatives over the years.

These include the Repair Cafes, where people bring damaged items to be fixed for free rather than thrown away.

Their latest project is a community compost hub which has been set up in partnership with Newton Central School in Grey Lynn.

DEANZ chair James Watson talks to Jesse.

2.12 Podcast Critic: Jemima Huston

Today Jemima Huston talks to Jesse about Finding Cleo, a CBC podcast about a young indigenous girl in Canada who disappears. She's also been listening to We Were Three, a New York Times podcast about a family dealing with COVID-19.

2:25 Bookmarks with Dr Ashley Bloomfield

One of the most well known people from the COVID era in Aotearoa, Dr Ashley Bloomfield is our Bookmarks guest today.

He spent four years as Director General of Health and is now having a well deserved break. He shares with Jesse what he's watching, reading and listening to now that he has more down time.

3:10 Why Stevie Nicks' music matters so much

The music of Stevie Nicks matters. This declaration comes from  a professor of music at Princeton University, Simon Morrison, who spends his days steeped in Tchaikovsky as an expert in Russian and Soviet music, but spent his youth playing Fleetwood Mac's Tusk album over and over again. While the professor in him is able to analyze her voice, the poetry of her lyrics and the harmonic syntax of her songs, the fan appreciates the hard wisdom that inspires songs like Landslide and Dreams. He sets aside sensationalism to look at the rock icon as an artist in his new book, Mirror In the Sky: The Life and music of Stevie Nicks.

3:35 Stories from Our Changing World

Today we have one more trip back to Antarctica this week as we revisit Voices from Antarctica, while Our Changing World host Claire Concannon recovers from a broken wrist.

In this episode Alison Ballance is having icy thoughts before meeting some scientists who are about to get themselves into hot water, to drill through the world’s largest floating ice shelf. 

3:45 The Panel with Alexia Russell and Simon Pound