Firstly, my comment about the Council being rotten and corrupt was made last month in relation to Tony Maryatt’s pay-rise, Bob Parker’s secrecy, and a protest at the City Council attended by a couple of thousand people. This quote was taken out of context and achieves little out of context.

I did not ask for the article to be written, nor comment in it. I worry that the short forms of journalism are only interested in catchy quotes without actually investigating the issue.If you want to know what I have to say, it is all right here. I stand by what I have said.

Also, please don’t call me the “Ex-Mayors Son”, I have never courted this title and have no interest in it being a signifier for me. If you want to slap a label on me,  call me a person that lost his business in the February earthquake. I have never asked for special treatment because of who my father is; I have asked for special treatment as an earthquake displaced business.

Over the past year I have been the recipient of a tremendous amount of sympathy and goodwill. Recover Canterbury has been alongside me all the way and I was the recipient of a grant from them that allowed me to pay an architect to draw up plans for my temporary bar. Jan – a family friend in Wellington – sent us some money to buy Rosie’s caravan and keep paying bills while we found a suitable location. Somebody bought me a pair of shoes when I had none in the days following the quake. Mitre 10 Mega in Ferrymead sold me decking timber at close to cost… Thank you to all the people and organisations that have helped me. I couldn’t have done it without the support.

Even the planning section of the Council had enacted policy that made my move easier. From the first point of contact they led me by the hand through the process and I thank John and his team for that.

And this is all I am saying:

The Building Act is fine when it’s business as usual. In Christchurch at present it’s not business as usual. Something needs to be enacted that allows temporary businesses to easily occupy all the vacant land that is becoming available in our city. If the Council do not make it easier for people to occupy these sites, they will remain vacant. It’s too hard to build anything at present. Community activity must be encouraged on these sites if we are to slowly start getting back on our feet. I have never said that unsafe structures should be allowed. I have always said what I build will be safe from a structural and fire perspective.

But I will save the structural discussion for later in the week.

In the meantime here’s what I thought I was going to be blogging about this weekend. It’s a photo of Ramon jumping the TY50 down our brand new steps on Friday after work. Congratulations to James for giving it a go and Jeremy for the fastest lap. Somebody took a massive chunk out of the deck but we reckon it all adds to the character of the place.

Nobody tried to steal our scaffold which was lucky; Greg had brought a knife.

If you’re in the neighbourhood and we’re about on site, stop by for a beer. It would be nice to rant to somebody about how shit the Council are.

Thanks to Matty J for the sweet camper.

My days are full of shovels and sunshine, silt and dust, blowing in my eyes and ears and crackling between my teeth. Here’s a picture of my shovel gang. We are called “Hells Mongrels”.

Tim had his gig in St Albans Park yesterday. Everyone agreed it was a roaring success and nobody needed to poop in a bag. The lineup included Tim, Marlon, parts of the Undercurrents, the Eastern, Devilish Mary, and the Renderers. Pretty good for a party thrown together in a couple of days.

Here is a picture of Tim and Mikey.

In breaking news, my house has been red stickered. This means nobody can go in at all and I am left wearing the same stinky pair of black jeans that I’ve worn for over a week. I imagine it’s similar to how the disaster has played out for local mid-career artist Tony de Lautour.

Here’s my first one.

17 minutes before the big quake struck, I took this photo of Rosie and Aine. We had just finished work and were heading home to fry the aforementioned halloumi. Look how carefree they are, sitting under all those bottles and faces in jars that would come tumbling down soon after. Then I told them I thought “the fartsack” was a funny name for bed and look at how they laughed.

Shortly after that the earthquake struck and we all cried, gone was the carefree moment of the fartsack joke. And do you know one of the strange thoughts that came into my head as the earth was moving and I was lurching toward a doorway? “Fuck, I wish I hadn’t given up smoking. If I’m gonna go like this, I could have been blissfully smoking a pack-a-day for the past six months.”

It’s funny how you never really know just how you will react in such a situation…

Last month’s Steve will be best remembered for his commentary on Tim’s favourite Clara Rockmore track, when he said, “The Theremin has the timbre of a cello but without any of the subtleties of its phrasing”. As the instrument moved into its upper range, he looked surprised and said “My, now it sounds like a female soprano with very good control of her vibrato.”

It is moments like this when I think to myself “This is exactly what people that hate this place imagine it to be like…”

September’s Steve is the Steve who plays in local bands Bits ‘n’ Pieces and the Dance Asthmatics (who have just put out 2 EP’s, one of  which you can download for free here).

Influential local record store owner Dave Imlay says “the thing about Bits ‘n’Pieces is that John thinks they’re a sixties band and Steve thinks they’re the Fall and somehow – in a fucked up way – they end up sounding like Pavement.”

Steve drinks at Goodbye Blue Monday less since “its not as good as it used to be” and these days can be found at Schroders in Shirley, where he tells me they have a piece of wood on which they have burned “Drinking Tomorrows Beer Today”. Steve and I have decided means “Being Alcoholics”.

Bits ‘n’ Pieces are playing here this Thursday night.

Here’s this month’s Steve with a bottle of Southern Comfort and a lime…

When I used to run a bar in Luton with my sister Anna, it was Steve Dillon who once drunk 32 pints of Guinness on St Patrick’s Day, concluding at 4am on March 18 with his swinging a bar stool around above his head and shouting “Alright, I’ma cunt I’ll admitit…”

The point is: Good pubs tend to have a Steve. This has led to me starting Goodbye Blue Monday’s Steve of the Month Award.

The inaugural winner is Steve Tyerman who plays fiddle and drinks cask wine. Steves interests include discussing whether Ulysses is readable, drinking cask wine and stating “Laurie Anderson is so American  that she’s part of the problem“. Steve plays in excellent local covers bands the Hicks and the Black Velvet Band and drinks cask wine.

Congratulations Steve – you’re Steve of the Month.