AJ performs for TV Crew - Guardian Motueka Newspaper

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WEDNESDAY 28 JANUARY 2015 15
“Our Town” Director Karen MacKenzie and sound technician Andrew Thomas with Marahau musician AJ Hickling.
AJ performs for TV Crew
Jane Wells
Non conformity and an unusual
story is what the Jam TV film
crew was looking for on a brilliantly sunny morning at Motueka’s
Sunday market.
And they got it when they spent
a couple of hours at the very busy
market filming A.J. Hickling.
He’s becoming widely known as
the man from Marahau, with the
dreads and his wheeled piano who
travels the country enthralling folk
with his magical playing. He’s not
long back from a successful stint
in Queenstown.
They were filming for “This Town”
which they expect will play on television in the winter.
This will be the second series
and there are to be eight shows.
Other quirky characters from our
region will appear on this same
show.
They’ve already spent time with
Laurence Max who is a sixth generation farmer on the family farm
at Hope.
“He still retains a strong connec-
tion with the land and the past, and
rounds his cattle up on horseback.
We followed him the to Richmond
rodeo. There was lots of colour,”
said Director, Karen MacKenzie
Sue Walsh of the Nelson Ark,
a committed animal lover helps
match abandoned dogs and troubled teenagers to the advantage
of both.
And she relaxes by sky diving so
the crew followed her to Motueka
on Saturday. “She skydives while
her husband pilots the plane.”
This week Keith Knapp from
Abel Tasman Shuttles is in their
sights.
They’ll visit his workshop and go
out on the water with him.
“We’re into slightly unexpected
stories.”
The two women who own Jam
TV which is a private television
company, have a passion for telling good quality quirky stories.
In the past, Jam TV has made
programmes with Marcus Lush,
the sustainability programmes with
Te Radar and Intrepid Journeys.
Red cross at the Red Cross
The first display
of knitted poppies to
celebrate the centenary of the War at
Gallipoli is now up.
The display is on the
wall of the Motueka
Red Cross shop and
they plan on leaving
it there for a year.
“It’s our contribution to the project,”
Faith Wells says,
pictured here with
Gaynor Lunn. Red
poppies made from
any type of media
are still wanted for other displays
to go up around town. The RSA
and Crafty Tarts group are hoping to get displays up in every
shop in town as well as at both
the hospitals and the museum.
Workshops for poppy making will
now be held every Wednesday in
February at the Motueka Library
from 10.30am.