Blenheim man Dan Musgrove will portray a controversial drug lord in New Zealand’s own Underbelly television series.

Musgrove plays Mr Asia, Marty Johnstone, in Underbelly: Land of the Long Green Cloud, which starts on TV3 on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old actor left Marlborough Boys’ College in 2000, and graduated from national drama school Toi Whaakari in 2007.

He has worked in an impressive list of theatre productions including Henry VI, The Changling, Holding the Man, and Life is a Dream, as well as television series including Legend of the Seeker, Piece of My Heart and The Tribe. He also had a speaking part in the international film, The Tracker.

But the Mr Asia role is his biggest yet.

He was in disbelief, but ecstatic when he heard he had the part.

“Initially, it was a very daunting thought; I was so excited about playing the lead role, but with a few beats realised, oops, I don’t exactly know this story.”

The moment he was offered the role, Dan Musgrove learnt Johnstone’s story “back to front”.

Living in Johnstone’s home town, Auckland, has made it easy to get inside knowledge about the sordid tale, he said.

“It seems everyone here knows someone who knows someone else directly affected by the Mr Asia syndicate, so being able to get info on it is definitely an advantage.”

Playing the lead role in a fast-paced filming schedule was hard work for Musgrove, but he said he enjoyed every second of it.

“It’s been a whirlwind experience. This is definitely 100 times, if not 1000 times, bigger than any other assignment I have done before, so you can’t just learn your lines on the day.

“So much preparation needs to be done to be ready to shoot. It’s epic fun.”

Musgrove predicts viewers will be hooked from the start when the show premieres on Wednesday,

“It’s a New Zealand story; it’s our story and I think that’s what makes it such a riveting watch.

“Being set in the 70s, you can expect some pretty dapper costumes; they [the characters] seemed to have lived the high life while they could … and plenty of drama, expect plenty of that.”

Musgrove said he had to be careful not to reveal exact scenes, but agreed the series would closely follow the real story of Marty and his supposed best friend, Andy Maher, played by Thijs Morrison.

Underbelly NZ; The Land of the Long Green Cloud screens every week on TV3 from Wednesday, August 17, 9.30pm.
- The Marlborough Express

Around this time last year I wrote a piece called The joke that is NZ on Air funding. It looked at how inferior bands like Autozamm were milking the available funds to make rubbish music. We were paying for music we were not consuming.

There were quite a few comments on that post – and several musicians wrote to me privately, thanking me for putting it out there. It seems that musicians in New Zealand have a hard time speaking out about the funding hypocrisies because, well, they do still all want to be considered. Well, most of them do. And so they can’t be seen to speak out about the funding bodies. Not publicly.

Just before the end of last year I served up The joke that is NZ on Air funding: II and, you guessed it, loads of comments again. Funding is an issue we all feel strongly about. And rightly so. We’re the ones paying. Our money is going off in the direction of music we do not support, never heard of, or wish we had never heard.

The target, if you like, for the second blog-post about NZ on Air’s fumbled funding was Annabel Fay. She received a bunch of money to make a video for an awful song (click here if you need a reminder of how dire the song and video are). People were heated about the fact that Fay came from a well-off family. But the real issue, to me, was that Annabel Fay’s music is terrible. Just ghastly. People started writing soft-ish reviews suggesting that for pop music it wasn’t that bad. A strange approach. These same reviewers never seem so keen to defend it when someone from another country has a go at it.

The only reason Fay’s family wealth deserved to come in to the story was because it had been reported that Sir Michael Fay had flown 10 radio programming executives over to the family’s Great Mercury Island holiday hideaway. This was before the album had been released. And there was talk that Brendan Smyth, NZ on Air music manager, went for the (proverbial) ride.

So that was poor form all round – Brendan should not have got on the plane. Something a NZ on Air employee agreed with me about. And Michael Fay had to figure that people would latch on to this story and hold his daughter’s music up to tough scrutiny.

I stand by my comments that her vacuous pop music was insulting regardless of the perceived manipulation of flying the radio programmers away to be wined and dined. But add that information and it’s horrifying to think that she was able to get funding - and willing to try. Never mind being entitled to – it just looks bad.

So, here we are – and you’ve seen the title of this post. And most of you will have sensed a connection. This being a part three to the story.

Well, this one is a little different. This time around I kinda like the music in question. But I’m not sure that what we’re seeing is all that fair – or all that wise.

First, it’s worth reminding that NZ on Air had an “independent review” – aka The Caddick Report. It’s not for us to complain that Chris Caddick is an industry insider and far from independent. The report that he was paid handsomely for has been tabled. It’s in effect. NZ on Air stopped funding albums – a few years too late. Though again, I’m personally not sure that funding albums was ever so wrong. But funding the wrong albums was not right.

Anyway, we’re into the new rules now: albums are out and NZ on Air is running a programme called Making Tracks where it’s about funding singles and videos – sometimes you get the combined money for both (up to a whopping $10,000) and sometimes it’s just the money for the video (up to $6000). The artist has to put in $2000 of their own money.

And Caddick, former managing director for EMI and, according to the story I’m about to link to, “prominent cheerleader for local artists”, is now the head of the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ). So that’s his new post this year.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra is Ruban Neilson’s new project. You may remember him from The Mint Chicks.

Neilson’s UMO released a song called Ffunny Ffriends over a year ago. It was uploaded to Bandcamp, the online music delivery service; a chance for people to preview then pay for a track if they like it. He wanted to see how it would do. People liked it, and he made an album.

I think the album’s all right, actually. I don’t quite get the buzz from it that some do. But it’s not bad. It’s certainly far more to my taste that Autozamm or Annabel Fay – or for that matter Opshop, Midnight Youth or Fat Freddy’s Drop. And there are some tracks I really like (Little Blu House) and sometimes when I play the album through I think it’s pretty neat. Other times I end up thinking it’s only half of an album. And that maybe it’s being hyped for the fact that Neilson has decided to stay in Portland, America – he had been over there toward the end of The Mint Chicks’ career.

And so this has arrived in New Zealand via some hype from Pitchfork and with the announcement that The Unknown Mortal Orchestra has signed to a cool American indie label. In fact a few of them were gathered around to bid for the group. In the end Neilson went with Fat Possum.

I seem to be hearing more in the album each time I listen to it – as of course is the way (or at least you hope so). So I’m confident that it will continue to grow for me. I still don’t see it as any kind of five-star classic but it’s interesting and yet still accessible. That in itself is no mean feat.

So I was excited when I received a copy of NZ Musician in the post yesterday. I saw that there was an article about The Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

I was a baffled to read the whining attitude of how it’s harder touring America than New Zealand (“I love playing but it’s not like I enjoy sitting in a van for eight hours a day”). Presumably he chose to live in America – it’s a bigger pool to fish in and from. And he’s managed to be paid for his album from a label. He even boasts that Fat Possum “were competing against all the other big indies, so they wouldn’t get anything if they weren’t aggressive”.

And then to contradict the touring whinge, the article concludes with Neilson announcing, “I don’t want to be living in New Zealand at the moment because I want to be busy. I was getting bored in New Zealand. I am too restless for it, so it’s good to be here.”

So he’s too restless for New Zealand but also too restless for the eight-hour van trips that allow him to play far more frequently and (potentially) to far more people. Well, you can’t have it both ways, can you?

Ah, but with NZ on Air you can. This artist, bored of New Zealand, living abroad, whose latest project arrived via the hype of the blogosphere and particularly the American websites (such as Pitchfork), managed to receive a $6000 video grant in July of this year for the song he wrote and released in America last year; a song that appears on an album paid for by an American label.

But what happens when the band wants to go and make a video? Well, that’s where you and I, Joe and Jill Kiwi, come in. You know, the people from the place that Ruban Neilson is bored of. We come in with our taxpayer dough and the NZ on Air people decide it will look good if we channel some in the direction of The Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

It’s not just Ruban Neilson who’s having it both ways though. His success will be claimed, retrospectively, as being assisted by NZ on Air. Who’s more at fault, do you think? Neilson for milking the funding because it’s (still) there? Or NZ on Air for seeking to capitalise on an artist who’s done the legwork, made the breaks, and could be seen as some flag-bearer for NZ on Air and New Zealand in general? (Don’t worry about how bored you are, Ruban, just wave the flag will ya. That’s a boy!)

The whole system is still a joke. Well that’s what I think.

Incidentally you can read the whole NZ Musician article right here (to check the quotes I’ve used). And see here for the latest list of NZ on Air funding decisions from the July 2011 round.

So is it just me who thinks this is deplorable? See, I reckon that guy should have to put up with how boring it is here if he wants our money. What do you think? And why are NZ on Air still looking to pat themselves on the back for the hard work done by anyone else?

REUTERS

EVANGELINE LILLY: Lost star and elf Tauriel in The Hobbit was spotted with partner and baby.

Evangeline Lilly, Miranda Kerr, Orlando Bloom, Stephen Fry … the list goes on – all Wellywood needs now to be recognised as the Hollywood of the south is warmer weather.

Big name stars are descending on Wellington’s eastern suburbs as the next round of Hobbit filming gets under way.

Kerr, a Victoria’s Secret model, was spotted at the weekend in Seatoun walking with her husband – Hobbit star Bloom – and their eight-month-old baby Flynn.

Since arriving in the country, she has been sending Twitter messages praising New Zealand baby-gear manufacturer Nature Baby.

“Nature Baby is the BEST!!! Its our favorite for Flynn. Thank you so much xxx,” one said, followed by: “He looks so adorable. Its so hard to find cute baby clothes but you guys do it best! Love Miranda xxx.”

A Nature Baby spokeswoman confirmed the company had been asked to kit out Flynn’s Wellington nursery and wardrobe after having sent some products to Kerr via her Kiwi naturopath.

Nature Baby owner Georgia Smith said website traffic had been “huge” since the mention and sales were up.

Bloom, a Hollywood star, has been spotted around Wellington since early August.

He is reportedly set to earn $1 million for his return as his Lord of the Rings character Legolas.

Lilly, a star of the popular television series Lost, is the latest celebrity to be spotted in the capital. Britain’s Daily Mail carried a photo of Lilly with boyfriend Norman Kali walking around the Seatoun coast pushing their three-month-old son in a pram.

The 31-year-old actress, who played Kate Austen in Lost, plays elf Tauriel in The Hobbit.

British acting veteran Fry, who is enjoying massive popularity on Twitter and as a host of television panel show QI, has been spotted around Wellington since early August.

Fry is here to film his part as Master of Laketown in The Hobbit.

Other big names in The Hobbit are Doctor Who actor Sylvester McCoy playing Radagast the Brown, Barry Humphries of Dame Edna Everage fame playing the Goblin King, Irish actor James Nesbitt of Cold Feet fame playing Bofur, and British star Martin Freeman playing Bilbo, the central character of the story.

Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, and Ian McKellen are returning in The Hobbit to reprise Lord of the Rings roles.

Speaking only of new shows on TV, Nothing Trivial seems to be the biggest hit of these long winter months. It’s an entertaining show with a loaded cast (fronted by familiar faces Blair Strang, Shane Cortese, Tandi Wright, andNicole Whippy), created and written by some incredible and proven talent (Gavin Strawhan and Rachel Lang), and has quickly become appointment viewing at OTB headquarters.

It also appeals to my love of pub quizzes. While team Sex On A Stick go to war with the likes of Quiz Team Rankin and the Blondeshells in the uber-competitive battleground of The Beagle, I’ve been known to join a few friends at the odd pub quiz here in my hometown of Whangarei, for a less than serious evening of trivia and laughs – though we did win a $20 bar tab for coming second-to-last one time.

There is one major difference at the pub quizzes I’ve been to: the questions and answers don’t mysteriously intertwine with my life, in the way they do with the lives of the characters on Nothing Trivial. It could be that I’ve just never noticed the coincidence, but I’m not convinced this is something that would occur in real life.

So, I devised a test – and by “test”, I mean “get together with friends for a few beers and a quiz”.

In an effort to figure out if the questions at a local pub quiz would intertwine with our lives, I joined four mates* at theParua Bay Tavern, a wonderful place just out of Whangarei, to take on their pub quiz (provided by Believe It or Not Quiz Events). Here’s what happened:

Whose logo is this? One of the first rounds was called Branded and consisted of pictures of famous logos with the wording cut out. The sixth logo was for Google Chrome – my browser of choice! … okay, that’s a weak link, but whatever. I’m counting it.

Ponderous Puzzle. Believe It Or Not quizzes feature a cryptic puzzle at the end of each round – as the night moves on, the clues get easier but the points for a correct answer get lower. The first clue indicated a man who died at 73 years old, studied as an Anglican parson, and appears on the back of an English £10 note. Luckily one of our extended team members had an English £10 note in his wallet from a recent trip to the UK. We’ll have the maximum 10 points, thank you!

TV, Stage and Cinema. In the second round, consisting of a swag of entertainment questions, we scored 9/10 and claimed double points. Naturally I nailed the TV-related questions: The family on My Wife and Kids share a name with which character on South Park? (Kyle); Which show features the wife from Everybody Loves Raymond and the janitor from Scrubs? (The Middle); Which famous Kiwi actor is this? (accompanied by a photo of Joel Tobeck); and Which classic TV show is this? (accompanied by a clip from The Brady Bunch).

Which famous tourist town is this? This one was accompanied by photos of a cemetery and a two-story house, both of which I recognised from a trip to the little town of Russell, in the Bay of Islands, last summer.

Six Flags Magic Mountain is in the township of Valencia, in which US State: California, Georgia or Florida. It turned out one of my team-mates had been to Six Flags, and she quickly yelled out the correct answer (California). As for me, I’ve only been to Rainbow’s End a couple of times.

How many films are there in the Harry Potter film franchise? My teammates and I were talking about Harry Potter right before we headed out the door – my buddy James has never read the books or seen any of the films, while I’ve only seen the first movie in the franchise.

Just captured mob-boss James Bulger provided inspiration for a character in which Oscar-winning film? I was catching up on Bill Simmons’ work over at Grantland.com earlier this week – as a Boston native, he mentioned the capture of James “Whitey” Bulger in a column a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t know who Bulger was, so I searched him on Google and found that he was the inspiration for Jack Nicholson’s character in The Departed.

Was the recent test match at Lords between England and India the 500th, 1000th or 2000th test ever played?So there I am one night a couple of weeks ago, flicking between the sports channels on MySky, and I see the start of play on one of the days of that exact Lords test. The commentators’ discussion: whether Sachin Tendulkar (maybe the best cricketer of my lifetime) could get his 100th test century in this, the 2000th test ever played.

So there you have it: a few coincidences sprouting from 80-odd questions over the course of the entire evening. As you can see, it certainly seems as thouh the questions intertwined with real life at least a couple of times – enough to say that the premise of Nothing Trivial, in which only one or two questions correlate to the characters’ lives, is entirely possible. I’m calling it a success!

So are you watching Nothing Trivial? What do you make of the new Kiwi show so far? And do you enjoy pub quizzes as much as I do?

(*) A quick side story: we ended up with 16 people on our team after the five of us (in the Nothing Trivial style 3 women/2 men configuration) met three more friends at the bar. Soon after the quiz started, a couple at the next table joined our team when it appeared that their team-mates weren’t coming. However, a few minutes later, the other six members of their team showed up. Have you ever tried to do a table quiz with 16 people in your team? Madness!

This just in from Peter Jackson, with the following note:

“Good news and bad news today. Bad news is that we won’t be doing any Hobbit presentation at Comic Con in San Diego this year. New Line and Warner Bros were very happy to support a presentation, but I declined, simply because I felt it was too early. There’s so much more of the films still to shoot. I just wanted to get that out there, because I’ve seen various references to the possibility of something Hobbity at Comic Con. Hate to disappoint anyone. But something tells me we will be there in force next year.

Now for the good news… We’ve just finished a new video blog, covering a little more of the first block of shooting. So please enjoy this—at least you don’t have to travel to San Deigo to see it! [HD version here.]“