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Steve Kretzmann

December gig guide – get yer bums out

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Summer’s here. Get yer bums out. Matric exams are done, and although the last week or two of work is dragging on, the time to jol is now, before the Christmas family obligations drag you to the salad bar.

Music

Salty songstresses The Fishwives bring their blues-tinged chords and funk-fringed beats
back to Cape Town to sing their poetry and like sirens dash us against their rock.… Read more

Outlaw love

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The Western is a well-trodden genre, defined as much by place and time as by character and plot. So much part of the American myth of freedom and self-sufficiency, it is arguably become part of the United States’s propaganda arsenal. Of course, we swallow it, for the most part, probably because the story of lone man battling nature and other men (it is almost always men in the Western) segues so well with the Greek narrative arc of journey, conflict, and resolution.… Read more

City’s heating up: More trees needed

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As global temperature records continue to be broken, cities need to move fast to prevent inhabitants dying from heat stress. Planting trees seems the simplest solution.

As global heating takes hold, Cape Town appears to be losing trees in the urban environment faster than they are being replaced, and the City’s Urban Forest Policy target falls far short of international recommendations. … Read more

November gig guide

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It is Halloween, brethren. Now, normally we would scoff at these northern hemisphere festivities celebrating the start of winter and the night on which the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. Point of Halloween was to spiritually prepare for the fact the old and sick would likely not make it through the coming freezing months, thus it’s not applicable down this side of the world.
… Read more

October gig guide

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Woordfees, out in Stellies is wragtig impressive. It’s giving the National Arts Festival a runs for its money, and is much, much closer (but tickets are much, much pricier). Check it out if you can.

Theatre

An unusual love story, apparently, is It Went Above Your Head at Theatre Arts on the corner of Wesley and Milton roads in Obs.… Read more

Inner-city housing: New plan in the works

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More than 70% of all accommodation in the central city is let out to tourists. A new local spatial development framework sets out how this needs to change

A new plan in the works for development of Cape Town’s inner city sets out the need to accommodate about 40,000 more residents within a greener and more pedestrian-friendly environment over the next 15 years.… Read more

September gig guide

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Jirre! It’s been a kak cold winter. En allie reën? Ny! Kannie soweesie. Spring uit! Here’s some soetlekkers to get you vuurwarm.

Literature

The most wonderful festival of literature, Open Book, is happening this month. Taking place over three days, from 6 – 8 September, at the Homecoming Centre on Harrington Street, it’s a programme of about 60 overlapping discussions from 10am until 9pm each day during which we can let our intellect out for a welcome airing and meet the authors we’ve been reading while huddled under blankets next to heaters during this frigging cold winter past.… Read more

Rail revolution: Plans chug forward

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City transport boss is hopeful the new transport minister will support plans for Metrorail to become a municipal responsibility

  • Rail, the backbone of public transport in Cape Town, has been broken for a decade under PRASA’s management.
  • Government policy allows passenger rail to be devolved from PRASA to the metropolitan municipality.
… Read more

The Ugly Noo Noo: Astounding cricket capers remain contemporary

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There were probably few, if any, people who, when they stood up to give The Ugly Noo Noo a standing ovation in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, thought it could be even more relevant in distant 2024.

After all, when Andrew Buckland wrote and performed it in 1988 it was, disguised beneath the surreal humour and superb physical comedy, an essentially political play.… Read more

August gig guide

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Boo! is back, and some of the best shows from Makhanda (Grahamstown) Fringe are coming for a visit.

Music

Boo! Were the antidote to the Springbok Nude Girls in the 90s. As hard and loud as the Nudies rocked, Arno couldn’t help getting a bit adult contemporary at times.… Read more