Blog | Strange News

By Mike and Barney Chunn

Something is rotten and it needs to be talked about. We’ll do it here. We’ll talk about two countries with two very different journalistic approaches. Australia and New Zealand. It goes like this. Read More »

By Mike and Barney Chunn

"An upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers…supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes far totem (Jack of all trades), is in his own conceit the only Shakes-scene in the country". Read More »

By Mike and Barney Chunn

A good pairing is generally comprised of two differing, complimentary components. If the two single entities in a pair are too similar, the point of having two becomes in a way redundant; each part should have its own distinct role, otherwise why be a couple. Read More »

By Mike and Barney Chunn

Most of what we do in life is judged by what it results in. If you ask most people why they go to school, they’ll tell you (apart from being legally and parentally forced into attending) that it is a necessary step to getting somewhere. Read More »

By Mike and Barney Chunn

It’s a rare breed that doesn’t automatically, intrinsically, understand that music matters. It’s an unknown entity in many ways, but what is universally acknowledged is the power it has to enhance our days, enrich our lives and even help us discover and define ourselves. Read More »

By Mike and Barney Chunn

The philanthropic funding support by individuals for young emerging artists in the world of contemporary popular music (the music of the people) is a rare spontaneous event if it comes to fruition. But it’s starting to emerge in a fledgling fashion. Read More »

By Mike Chunn

The John Key/Banks announcement of the introduction of charter schools has led to a flurry of divergent opinions much of them negative. Anything to do with a ‘new’ education does. It’s a bit like the price of milk. Read More »

By Mike Chunn

Too many people think too much. And the words in their teeming brains flood out into their mouths. The ‘commentaries’ about politics is a perfect example. Much ado on talk-back radio, Facebook and so on. And yet so few people front up and run for government. Is it too simple to pigeonhole this as – it’s much easier to say a lot and do nothing than the other way round? Read More »

The time is right for a huge, committed drive by the public to stand up for their innate right to quality public broadcasting and a Youth Radio Network, argues Mike Chunn in his latest Strange News blog. Read More »

By Mike Chunn

Some time ago, one Frederick H. Martens wrote – “Music considered as a historical influence, is primarily an emotional agent. Its influence is either directly exercised upon the senses, or, indirectly and by way of the feelings, on the mind. Read More »

By Mike Chunn

The sidelines of sports fields on Saturday mornings are a wonderful portrayal of human nature in action. Apart from the odd parent trying to whack a passing referee or screaming “You’re wearing the wrong colour jersey, ref!!” the air is close to genteel. Read More »

By Mike Chunn

The proof is in the pudding. The reality is in the grooves.

Luckily CDs have grooves…..that last rivulet in which digital noughts and ones can sit comfortably watching each other as they spin around. Read More »

In the latest Strange News from Mike Chunn, he takes 'a gentle dipping of the toe' into the common sense view a fair number of people have (and many of them are music teachers) that songs should be in the music curriculum and assessed as part of NCEA. Read More »

In the latest Strange News blog from Mike Chunn he says we must give the new generation the platforms on which to stand and strut their stuff.

"After all young NZers are not only seen and heard but they want you to listen! Their projection of self and their communicative ‘want’ is profound." Read More »

Play It Strange CEO Mike Chunn will be blogging on The Big Idea from his world of young singer/songwriters in New Zealand and their evolving, exciting world of original song.

Chunn will write about this world as well as an overview of the current world of music as it is changing and evolving today. Read More »