It’s the 21st anniversary of the debut album from iconic Kiwi band Fat Freddy’s Drop, ‘Based On A True Story’. 

And to mark the occasion, they’re setting off on a world tour – kicking things off with three performances in Auckland.

Chris Schulz was at the first show last night, and joined Jack Tame to share his thoughts. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

It’s the 21st anniversary of the debut album from iconic Kiwi band Fat Freddy’s Drop, ‘Based On A True Story’.&nbsp;
And to mark the occasion, they’re setting off on a world tour – kicking things off with three performances in Auckland.
Chris Schulz was at the first show last night, and joined Jack Tame to share his thoughts.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Jack Tame’s crisp perspective, style and enthusiasm makes for refreshing and entertaining Saturday morning radio on Newstalk ZB.

News, sport, books, music, gardens and celebrities – what better way to spend your Saturdays?

Jack Tame’s crisp perspective, style and enthusiasm makes for refreshing and entertaining Saturday morning radio on Newstalk ZB. News, sport, books, music, gardens and celebrities – what better way to spend your Saturdays?

Jack Tame’s crisp perspective, style and enthusiasm makes for refreshing and entertaining Saturday morning radio on Newstalk ZB.News, sport, books, music, gardens and celebrities – what better way to spend your Saturdays?

Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Chris Schulz: Reviewing the 21st anniversary tour of Fat Freddy's Drop's 'Based On A True Story'

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/c865f5e2-2c7f-419d-90ea-b44c001c3d96/transcript

He’s been described as “the John le Carré of his generation” and a “megastar of the genre”. 

British spy writer Mick Herron has earned millions of fans around the world and delighted critics with his thrilling plots, rich characters, and dry humour.  

He’s won dozens of awards for both his Slough House series, his stand alone works, and his short story collections, and ‘Slow Horses’ and ‘Down Cemetery Road’ have both been adapted to the screen. 

Herron’s on our shores for the Auckland Writers Festival, in which he’ll introduce the latest addition to his iconic series, ‘Clown Town’, set during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. 

‘Slow Horses’ was originally released in 2010, and wasn’t particularly successful, especially when compared to the acclaim both the book, and Herron's work as a whole, now holds.  

Herron told Jack Tame things changed one day at a time, so it doesn’t feel like that big of a difference. 

“It was a low slow process, and it’s one in which, I mean, my part in it has been that every – well, most days, not every day, most days I just sit down and get on with the book that I happen to be writing.” 

“Everything else goes on around me really,” he told Tame. 

He attributes his success to his publishers, the people working in marketing, those who run festivals, and so on. 

“I just respond to invitations and very happily turn up.”  

Over four million copies of his books have sold around the world, but Herron isn’t quite sure what it is about his work that people connect with so much. 

“I don’t intend to investigate it too closely,” he said. 

“It’s a feeling that if I did, I might break something without meaning to.”  

“I just carry on doing what I’m doing and hope I’m doing it right ... I just do what I’ve always done, which is write the novel that’s inside me that I need to write.” 



LISTEN ABOVE 

He’s been described as “the John le Carré of his generation” and a “megastar of the genre”.&nbsp;
British spy writer Mick Herron has earned millions of fans around the world and delighted critics with his thrilling plots, rich characters, and dry humour. &nbsp;
He’s won dozens of awards for both his Slough House series, his stand alone works, and his short story collections, and ‘Slow Horses’ and ‘Down Cemetery Road’ have both been adapted to the screen.&nbsp;
Herron’s on our shores for the Auckland Writers Festival, in which he’ll introduce the latest addition to his iconic series, ‘Clown Town’, set during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.&nbsp;
‘Slow Horses’ was originally released in 2010, and wasn’t particularly successful, especially when compared to the acclaim both the book, and Herron's work as a whole, now holds. &nbsp;
Herron told Jack Tame things changed one day at a time, so it doesn’t feel like that big of a difference.&nbsp;
“It was a low slow process, and it’s one in which, I mean, my part in it has been that every – well, most days, not every day, most days I just sit down and get on with the book that I happen to be writing.”&nbsp;
“Everything else goes on around me really,” he told Tame.&nbsp;
He attributes his success to his publishers, the people working in marketing, those who run festivals, and so on.&nbsp;
“I just respond to invitations and very happily turn up.” &nbsp;
Over four million copies of his books have sold around the world, but Herron isn’t quite sure what it is about his work that people connect with so much.&nbsp;
“I don’t intend to investigate it too closely,” he said.&nbsp;
“It’s a feeling that if I did, I might break something without meaning to.” &nbsp;
“I just carry on doing what I’m doing and hope I’m doing it right ... I just do what I’ve always done, which is write the novel that’s inside me that I need to write.”&nbsp;

LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Mick Herron: British spy author on writing, his success, and new novel 'Clown Town'

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/563e2574-d497-424c-a72d-b44c0023c0d0/transcript

What does the phrase “doing the edges” mean to you? 

Most people would think either of assembling the outside of a jigsaw puzzle, or cleaning up and trimming around the edge of your lawn. 

And while Kevin Milne understands the purpose of one of those, he doesn’t quite get why people bother with the other. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

What does the phrase “doing the edges” mean to you?&nbsp;
Most people would think either of assembling the outside of a jigsaw puzzle, or cleaning up and trimming around the edge of your lawn.&nbsp;
And while Kevin Milne understands the purpose of one of those, he doesn’t quite get why people bother with the other.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Kevin Milne: Why "doing the edges" doesn't make sense

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/a5d8f7ff-b9ae-408d-b026-b44c001d409f/transcript

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Stroud  

Artie Dam is a man with a secret. He spends his days teaching history to high schoolers, expanding their young minds, correcting their casual cruelties, and lending a kind word to those who need it most. He goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades, makes small talk with neighbours, and, on weekends, takes his sailboat out on the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. He is, by all appearances, present and alive. But inside, Artie is plagued by feelings of isolation. He looks out at a world gone mad—at himself and the people around him—and turns a question over and over in his mind: how is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us? 

And then, one day, Artie learns that life has been keeping a secret from him, one that threatens to upend his entire world. Once he learns it, he is forced to chart a new course, to reconsider the relationships he holds most dear—and to make peace with the mysteries at the heart of our existence. 

 

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett  

Oxford, Mississippi, 1933. 

Eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one. 

Ever since her beloved mother failed to come home last Christmas Eve, she’s been one of the 'unadoptable' girls at the town’s orphanage, where she fights each day to keep her wits sharp and her spirit unbowed. 

When she meets Birdie, a young woman who has come to Oxford determined to remind her socialite sister of the impoverished family she left behind, for the first time in a long while it seems someone else might care about Meg’s future. 

But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie begins to suspect her sister’s charmed life may be founded on a tapestry of lies. Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman haunted by loss who has been pushed to the brink with nothing left to lose. 

Drawn together by circumstance, they find unexpected kinship among a disreputable, determined band of women. 

But in a town steeped in hypocrisy, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences… 

LISTEN ABOVE 

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Stroud &nbsp;
Artie Dam is a man with a secret. He spends his days teaching history to high schoolers, expanding their young minds, correcting their casual cruelties, and lending a kind word to those who need it most. He goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades, makes small talk with neighbours, and, on weekends, takes his sailboat out on the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. He is, by all appearances, present and alive. But inside, Artie is plagued by feelings of isolation. He looks out at a world gone mad—at himself and the people around him—and turns a question over and over in his mind: how is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us?&nbsp;
And then, one day, Artie learns that life has been keeping a secret from him, one that threatens to upend his entire world. Once he learns it, he is forced to chart a new course, to reconsider the relationships he holds most dear—and to make peace with the mysteries at the heart of our existence.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett &nbsp;
Oxford, Mississippi, 1933.&nbsp;
Eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one.&nbsp;
Ever since her beloved mother failed to come home last Christmas Eve, she’s been one of the 'unadoptable' girls at the town’s orphanage, where she fights each day to keep her wits sharp and her spirit unbowed.&nbsp;
When she meets Birdie, a young woman who has come to Oxford determined to remind her socialite sister of the impoverished family she left behind, for the first time in a long while it seems someone else might care about Meg’s future.&nbsp;
But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie begins to suspect her sister’s charmed life may be founded on a tapestry of lies. Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman haunted by loss who has been pushed to the brink with nothing left to lose.&nbsp;
Drawn together by circumstance, they find unexpected kinship among a disreputable, determined band of women.&nbsp;
But in a town steeped in hypocrisy, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences…&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Catherine Raynes: The Things We Never Say and The Calamity Club

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/feab3ceb-9155-4383-8cf2-b44c000e0b1f/transcript

Chris Schulz: Reviewing the 21st anniversary tour of Fat Freddy's Drop's 'Based On A True Story'

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