Sound Salad Podcast

Linn Lorkin is one of our most notoriously successful musical treasures; singer, songwriter, actor and linguist, with residencies in Copenhagen, Naples and New York, she’s been accused of being ‘good at too many things,’ but most notably, fans appreciate her writing. 

Linn was taught to play the piano by her mother, and claims ‘if you train when you’re young, you never forget it.’ Hearing Nina Simone and feeling starved for artistic company or creative peers, she knew she had to get offshore. A scholarship from the French Government allowed her to do just that, albeit to explore the world of linguistic academia. 

Destined to be an artist, she made her way to London in the swinging 60’s and began making up for lost time, meeting and partying with the greatest of characters. Music followed her wherever she went and she performed extensively. By fluke, she got her first job in Copenhagen after asking to sing with the resident band. They offered her 20 crona for 8 songs a night. 

These weren’t originals however, and it wasn’t until an evening in New York, listening to Joan Armitrading while feeling a bit down on life, that she took pen to paper. She wrote 12 songs in a fortnight, established her prolific stance as a singer-songwriter within her communities and the rest, as they say, is history. For someone who was seen as a ‘junkie or a lesbian’ for wielding an electric keyboard at her performances - arguably one of the only women at the time doing so - this must have felt in some way vindicating.

Linn still loves to stand out in a crowd, and has always paired her flaming red locks with beautiful vintage garments that appear as a running motif throughout her memoir. As is her music; hand-picked from her extensive repertoire of original compositions that have seen their way into her shows all over the world, and lovingly reproduced as stings to begin most chapters, indicating the style or tone of the next part of the story.

From the front page of the NZ Herald, to a 6 month stint in an Italian prison, lovesick mishaps and rowdy celebrity riddled parties, Linn’s experiences and travels really do appear to rival that of Gulliver. And this is only the first installment of her story, with a second in the pipeline documenting her return to the NZ music scene in the 80s. 

She is consummate in her vocation as a musician and performer, and continues to be a stalwart for music and performance where she currently resides in Tāmaki. You can catch Linn at Epolito’s Italian Restaurant on Richmond Rd on the last Tuesday of every month from 6pm-8pm, or at the Pt Chevalier RSA with her band the K’Rd Quartet for the Auckland Jazz and Blues club on Tuesdays, and often at Botticelli’s restaurant in Takapuna. 

Check out her Facebook pages for more information about upcoming gigs and events

https://www.facebook.com/HeyPianoBarLady and  https://www.facebook.com/linn.lorkin

First ep of the year - woohoo! 

I was chuffed to finally speak with David Whittet - the author of recently released Gang Girl, who also happens to be a filmmaker and a family doctor to boot. When David came to Audiobooks NZ to have Gang Girl produced, I was lucky enough to be the narrator for his protagonist Alicia’s side of the story. It’s as good a listen as it is a read! Check it out on davidwhittet.com or AudiobooksNZ.co.nz

“When we started, we said: We’re not going to give up. Publish it with us, and we’ll show your book to the world.” 

Guest number 10 for ya's!

An independent publisher since 2008, Peter Dowling has been an editor for book and magazine publishers in Japan and the UK, he’s been a contract editor and writer with specialisation in Asia, Latin America and Oceania too. (Helped by the fact that he is IMPRESSIVELY multi-lingual, speaking English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and Māori.)  A Christchurch man, Peter has MA (Hons) and MBA (Distinction) degrees. He also does charitable work as executive director of Te Potiki National Trust, and was previously president of the Publishers Association of New Zealand and Publishing Manager of Reed Publishing (NZ.) That’s all in the past though! Currently, Peter is the Founder and Publisher for Oratia! Woohoo!!

This week I’m stoked to have my long-time dear and close friend Ghazaleh Golbakhsh chiming into the show remotely - gosh darn Covid levels aye.

Ghaz is: a kick-arse writer, screenwriter, director/filmmaker, academic/Fulbright scholar, and she completed her PhD by creative practice in Media, Film and Television at University of Auckland, researching the topic ‘Monsters, Slackers, Lovers: Exploring cultural identity in Iranian diasporic cinema from 2007-2017.’ Oh, she is also a current director and actor in New Zealand’s longest-running soap ‘Shortland Street.’

PANZ, otherwise known as The Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Taakupu

They represent 80 trade, educational and digital publishers, and suppliers and consultants to our literary industry. The members range from local independents to large international publishers, educational and trade publishers, publishers for adults and for children. Collectively they create more than 2600 new, locally produced titles a year.

We are lucky enough to have some time this afternoon with the Vice President and holder of the communications portfolio Craig Gamble.

Today we’re speaking with a woman I admire hugely, she’s a powerhouse of productivity and advocacy and action and she’s always got time for sending the elevator down to help other writers at all levels of their creative journeys. She is many many things, public speaker, workshop facilitator, genius behind the Writing Room, but is primarily a screenwriter. Her credits include Fresh Eggs, The Tender Trap, Under the Vines, My Life is Murder and the Cul de Sac - to name a few. I’ll let her fill you in on the rest, welcome to the show Kathryn!

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