In just over a month the 2009 Tauranga Arts Festival starts – it might be a good idea to get some tickets now as the Crystal Palace is the venue most of the acts.

This is a mixed blessing. The plus side is that it's a stunning venue. If anyone hasn't been in and checked it out during past festivals, you can of course just drop in for a coffee any time. It's well worth it to take in the luxurious olde worlde charm. It is also blessed with very good acoustics.
The down side is that it isn't the biggest venue; hence the 'get some tickets now” recommendation. The only problem really is where to start.
I must say I'm blown away by the overall festival programme this year. Though not a dance aficionado, I'm sure those who are will swoon at the massed ranks of the Russian Ballet Company. This is certainly approaching the crème de la crème of the artform and it's a treat having them in Tauranga.
Similarly, the theatre programme looks great: Le Sud, imagining New Zealand colonised by the French will be a winner; Hotel, with its limited audience sitting in a faux hotel room, should be fun; and Ship Songs has songs and music by Don McGlashan, which can't be a bad thing. Then there's The Butler, which I can't begin to imagine, but claims to be inspired by Peter Greenway's film, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. I assume that movie's shocking cannibalism climax has disappeared and having being written by Joe Bennett, I'm sure this is excellent.
With an eye to current economic conditions, what also impresses me is that the ticket prices have remained so reasonable. Aside from the ballet, nothing costs more than $35 ($28 with a TECT card) and many things are much cheaper.
Let's move to the music, which is really impressive.
Micheline Van Hautem singing the songs of Jacques Brel should be sensational. Just the fact that she won awards at the Edinburgh Festival, one of the world's most hotly contested showcases of talent should be enough to convince, and she has much more to recommend her. Similarly, though completely different, performance artist and singer, Meow Meow, should provide enough glamour and style to fill a dozen tents.
On the weirder side, the Kransky Sisters look like they can deliver a laugh or three – I suspect they are very good indeed. Guaranteed winners for lovers of ethnic percussion, and particularly the vibrant rhythms of Brazil, are Tambolele. I've seen clips of them online and they look fantastic. The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra are also returning and though, frankly, I've now heard enough ukuleles to last a lifetime and would happily burn every last one, I'm sure they will sell out swiftly and bring great pleasure.
The pick for me, however, is a modest $20 concert by a man not well known in New Zealand. His name is Tim O'Brien and he is a Bluegrass Monster. My first thought upon seeing the programme was 'It can't be ‘the' Tim O'Brien, surely.”
So I rang a guy from the festival. He said, 'Don't call me Shirley.”
Yes, this is the Grammy Award-winning guitarist, fiddler and mandolin player and singer, and he's coming all the way to Tauranga for a show!
Through the 80s Tim played in the groundbreaking bluegrass band Hot Rize and he's since released more than a dozen solo albums, including Fiddler's Green, which won the 2005 Best Folk Album Grammy. He's twice won the International Bluegrass Music Association's Male Vocalist of the Year award and is simply brilliant. I can't rave enough. In fact, I've run out of superlatives. Now I've got my ticket and tickets for all my friends, I suggest you get some. Quick, they won't last long.
watusi@thesun.co.nz