AWARDS CEREMONIES I HAVE KNOWN
In 1997 I was the producer of Fatcat & Fishface, the irreverent outlaws of New Zealand children’s music. We entered our first album HORRIBLE SONGS FOR CHILDREN in the USA-based Children’s Music Web Awards. The chief attraction of these awards was that they were judged by children (a rarity!) I entered online and forgot about them until an email appeared. Our cover art had caused a furore. It depicted show-off Fatcat doing a handstand on the head of a pin. Under the pin, underdog Fishface was skewered to the ground. As background, there had been a recent spate of high school shootings in the USA and organisers were feeling particularly sensitive.
The late Arif Usmani (from The Aunties) stood up for us, saying that in NZ we tend to find American music for kids very saccharine. Eventually, I changed the cover, replacing the pin with a toilet plunger, and Fatcat & Fishface won Best Newcomer for Older Children. Organisers said “ We all thought NZ was a conservative place. Boy, did we learn something!”
In 2002 Fatcat & Fishface attended the NZ Music Awards at the iconic St James Theatre in Queen St, Auckland. The theatre was dimly lit and a few people at the back slow-clapped as the awards were presented…Classical Music, Country, Jazz, Maori, Folk and Children. We won Best NZ Children’s Album. Then the floodlights were turned on, the doors opened, and people streamed in for the ‘proper’ awards. There would be no award for Best NZ Children’s Album for the following 10 years.
In 2008, Craig Smith won Best NZ Children’s Song for WONKY DONKEY at a ceremony held in the plush James Hay Theatre in Christchurch. I hadn’t met Craig (and his long hair) before but we ended up sitting together when his name was called out and success beckoned.
After the awards, we all filed out into the cold midwinter night, when an elderly lady in front of me had a heart attack and fell to the ground. I took off my coat and put it under her head. Someone else called an ambulance. Eventually, it was just me and her family standing together as the mist swirled around. They must have wondered why I was still milling about, shivering, at such an intimate moment, but I had to wait till the lady was taken away to hospital and I could eventually retrieve my coat. Two years later the theatre was flattened in a devastating earthquake.
2013
In 2013 the Best NZ Children’s Album award was re-instated. This time, my new kids’ venture fleaBITE was up. All the finalists were flown to Christchurch and put up at a nice hotel that was also hosting competitors for Horse of the Year. A full-size figure of a horse stood in the foyer.
The awards themselves were tacked on to the end of another kids’ celebration, I can’t remember which. Children received tickets to Hong Kong, or was it Hawaii? Then the kids’ music winners were called up. I went on stage to accept the trophy for CIRCUS OF FLEAS and offered $20 to anyone in the audience who could name three NZ children’s artists. Nobody could. And no kids’ musician played. The highlight of the night was Rich Manic aka Captain Festus McBoyle who gate-crashed the gathering. He paid for his troupe to get to Chch, and performed outside the foyer, causing a piratical ruckus and bringing merriment to an otherwise dull event.
As an award-winner, I was given a single ticket to attend the ‘proper’ NZ Music Awards later in the year at the Vector Arena in Auckland. The event was full of glitz, with swirling tv cameras overhead, live performances and enthusiastic hosts. Seating was allocated at round tables with food and drink supplied. I was tucked away at the very back of the room, with the guys who were responsible for the event video graphics.
In 2015 I was unable to attend the awards and sent in my acceptance speech for THE JUNGLE IS JUMPING via video.
Over the past few years, I am thankful to report the status of children’s artists and music in New Zealand has risen considerably. With the backing of APRA (Australasian Performing Rights Assn), Recorded Music NZ, NZ on AIR, and luminaries such as Arthur Baysting and Suzy Cato, the events are now truly celebratory. The Children’s Music Awards are held annually at The Tuning Fork (a small but perfectly formed venue beside the Vector Arena), with performances a-plenty, food, activities for kids and a supportive audience. Most importantly, kids’ artists from around the country get the chance to meet each other, come up with wild schemes and feel like valued and contributing members of the NZ music scene.
2021
In 2021 fleaBITE won Best NZ Children’s Album with SNAKES ALIVE, and a good time was had by all.