Yay! Phase Two! Things are moving at last...I know it's strange to welcome an outbreak of disease, but if something is inevitably going to happen and there are restrictions in place until it finishes happening, then the sooner it starts the sooner it will end and we can get rid of the restrictions.

I'm not saying – as some are rashly declaring – that I want to get Omicron. It is absolutely not true that 'everyone's going to get it sooner or later”. With 10 per cent of people experiencing ‘Long Covid' I certainly want to avoid it. I have family in England; none of them have had Covid; it is not inevitable.

What with writing this a few days before you read it, I have no idea of the fate of the Medom Convoy. Yes, I think we'll call it that since there's no ‘Me' in ‘Freedom' and this protest seems to be primarily selfish. Me, me, me. My freedom not to be vaccinated; my freedom not to do things the country asks of me.

I stand on the other side. I stand with the health-compromised and the vulnerable, the people most likely to die from Covid. I stand by their right to not die because selfish people refuse to be vaccinated.

'Wait!” I hear folk cry – 'it's not about being anti-vax, it's about being anti-mandate”. Well I stand by the rights of babies to be born without being infected by unvaccinated midwives and children to be taught without having unvaccinated teachers spreading the disease. I'm fine with mandates. And if it is all about mandates then how come no one protesting is wearing a mask? Masks aren't invasive, and they really help slow Covid. So where are the masks…?

Live music

Meanwhile, music, live music that is, stutters along. Huge kudos to Jack Dusty's which is still pressing on, offering live music twice a week. Hats off to the few bands playing at the Jam Factory.

You have to worry for the future of Totara Street, a venue where having fewer than 100 people is largely uneconomical. February concerts such as this week's album release shows by The Upbeats and Hollie Smith have been postponed; Hollie's for the third time.

No word yet on some March gigs there, which include a joint show by Casper, Masaya, and Joe's Van, and another pairing Hamilton's Waiting For Alaska with Auckland's Albi And The Wolves, though several March shows have already cancelled. The situation is febrile; keep an eye on the online Totara Street events page.

Now, changing the subject, last week's column about the late Jim Langabeer brought forth an email from Maggie Gething of the BOP Symphonia Committee with information that I suspect few will know about Jim's connection with Tauranga, usually only spoken about in terms of jazz. She says that 'although Jim's first interest was obviously jazz, he appears to have been an all-round musician”.

Conductor

Maggie goes in to say: 'He was appointed as conductor of our orchestra (then called the Tauranga Concert Orchestra) at its 1976 AGM, shortly after taking up the post of music master at Tauranga Boys' College. The minutes describe him as a creative musician, composer and arranger, very well-known in musical circles throughout NZ, with a wealth of experience particularly with woodwind.

'This was in the very early days of the orchestra's incorporated society status, and during his tenure Jim not only got stuck into improving the playing standard, but also introduced many innovations, setting Tauranga's community orchestra on the road to the success it enjoys today – such as insisting on good rehearsal attendance, acquiring new music and equipment, bringing in guest soloists and setting up collaborations with the Youth Orchestra and other groups.

'He married violinist Charlotte in 1977 – the committee recorded that it was pleased to hear of this novel method of gaining a further string player! In 1981, they moved to Auckland, leaving a vastly different organisation to that which he had joined five years earlier.”

I think that's just wonderful. And it reinforces how extraordinary Jim was. An all-round musician indeed. Thanks for sharing, Maggie.