Standing Room Only for Sunday 11 December 2016

12:16 Master carver Clive Fugill

The history of Māori carving tools is a rich one, ranging from the contemporary and the traditional back to the mythical. Clive Fugill is Master Carver at the NZ Māori Arts & Crafts Institute in Rotorua, where he learned his craft in the late 1960s. In his new book – Te Toki Me Te Whao: The Story and Use of Maori Tools – he examines the creation and evolution of implements like the toki (adze) and whao (chisel). Lynn Freeman asks Clive whether there are still questions to be answered about historic tools.

12.31 The New Zealand jazz scene

Pianist Mike Nock is one of the few New Zealand jazz musicians who can make a decent living from the music he loves. And yet the New Zealand jazz scene is full of dedicated, busy – if not well-paid – musos like Nathan Haines, Jeff Henderson and Doug Caldwell.

In his new book New Zealand Jazz Life, author and jazz composer Norman Meehan spoke to about 40 musicians about the state of jazz in contemporary New Zealand, whether there's a distinctive New Zealand jazz sound and what needs to happen if jazz is to have a bright future. Lynn Freeman asks him why New Zealand jazz is still, apparently, so male, and white.

12:47 New Zealand publishing and the unexpected return of the book

The advent of the digital e-book and on-line book-buying were once confidently given as proof that the publishing industry was as dead as...  well, as dead as the old-fashioned book itself. Not so. A new report commissioned by the New Zealand publishing industry shows there's been a big increase in sales of both e-books and actual books.

In fact, e-books only account for seven percent of sales here. We still have an unaccountable love of print on paper in New Zealand. This year, authors and publishers contributed almost $400 million to the New Zealand economy.  Lynn Freeman asks Melanie Laville-Moore, President of the Publishers Association, what is behind the comeback in publishing?

1:10 At The Movies

This week, why so many belated sequels in 2016 (like Bad Santa 2) and so many long-running franchises (like Underworld)?

1:35 Textile queen Susan Holmes on 28 years of Wearable Arts

Susan Holmes is one of the most successful textile artists to compete in the World of Wearable Arts competition since it started in 1988. Even before WoW, she was winning awards in the old Benson and Hedges Fashion Design Awards. Susan keeps experimenting with fabrics and techniques – from spraying and potato stamping fabrics, to creating crinkle silk.

Author Cerys Dallaway-Davidson tells Susan's story in a new book, Susan Holmes Fabric Artist, that accompanies a retrospective of her designs at Objectspace in Auckland. Lynn Freeman talks to Carys and to Susan herself about nearly 30 years of amazing fabric creations.

1:50 Canadian Steven Loft and First Nations curators

Curator, scholar, writer and media artist Steven Loft is a Mohawk of the Six Nations with Jewish heritage. Loft has held positions as Curator-In-Residence, Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Canada.

He's in New Zealand for a symposium of 10 First Nations curators and to encourage interest in indigenous art. Lynn Freeman asks him about the state of First Nations art is in 2016.

2:06 The Laugh Track - Francesca Emms and Georgia Jamieson Emms

Georgia and Francesca Emms have turned their obsession with the music of Julie Andrews into a stage show, to be shown at Wellington's Bats Theatre.  It's called - of course! - A Few Of Our Favourite Sings.

Georgia and Francesca try to convince Simon Morris to embrace his inner Mary Poppins with their picks, which include Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, The Simpsons, The Katering Show and The Book of Mormon.

2:25 Roald Dahl's 'George's Marvellous Medicine' becomes a stage play

2016 is the 100th anniversary of his birth and the late children's writer remains a phenomenon, with his dark, often surreal fairy stories scaring and delighting readers, young and old.

An Australian theatre company, shake & stir, has taken on the challenge of turning one of Dahl's odd tales, George's Marvellous Medicine, into a stage show

Lynn Freeman asks shake & stirs' co-artistic director Nick Skubij why Roald Dahl's work remains so popular.

2:40 Alexandra Tidswell's new novel inspired by some very old secrets

From impoverished wife of a good-for-nothing charmer in Warwickshire, to respectable settler in New Zealand - Lewisville is the story of Martha Grimm, fictionalised by her several-times-great granddaughter, Alexandra Tidswell.

Martha's story already reads like pure fiction, it's so remarkable and so full of secrets and drama. Nelson-based Alexandra has had a long fascination with the story.  But, as she tells Lynn Freeman, it wasn't until she started researching her ancestor that she uncovered quite how much Martha had effectively re-invented herself.

2:53 The choreographer and the supermarket trolleys

3:06 Drama at 3 - the final episodes of Tumanbay and When Famous People Come to Town

Music played in this show

Artist:Beach Boys
Song: Cottonfields
Composer: Ledbetter
Album: The Capitol Years
Label: Capitol CDAX 791032
Played at: 12.12

Artist: Duke Ellington
Song: Satin Doll
Composer: Ellington-Mercer-Strayhorn
Album: Greatest Hits
Label:  CBS 921512
Played at: 12.28

Artist: Sharon O'Neill
Song: Silk or Stone
Composer: O'Neill
Album: (SINGLE)
Label: Polydor 887032
Played at:  12.58

Artist: The Chiffons
Song: One Fine Day
Composer: Goffin-King
Album: Best Of The Girl Groups
Label: Rhino 270988
Played at: 1.10

Artist: The Nylons
Song: Remember (Walking in the Sand)
Composer: Morton
Album: INHOUSE
Label: 1235
Played at: 1.47

Artist: Willie Nelson
Song: Tougher Than Leather
Composer: Nelson
Album: Tougher Than Leather
Label:  Columbia 710921
Played at: 1.58

Artist:  The Big Bopper
Song: Chantilly Lace
Composer: Richardson
Album:  The Best Of...
Label:  Rhino 270164
Played at:  2.04

Artist: Charlie Rich
Song: Mohair Sam
Composer: Frazier
Album:  The Very Best Of...
Label: Eastwest 422239
Played at: 2.35

Artist: Alannah Myles
Song:  Black Velvet
Composer: N/A
Album:  Billboard #1 Hits of the 1990s
Label: Flashback 278308
Played at:  2.58

Artist: Laura Cantrell

Song: Khaki and Corduroy
Composer: Cantrall
Album:  Humming By The Flowered Vine
Label: Matador 610651
Played at: 3.04

Artist: Bent Fabric
Song:  Alley Cat
Composer: Bjorn
Album:  The Very Best Of
Label: Taragon 851028

Played at:  3.58