Author: Menzi Hlongwa

When first asked to write about the Kris Bach Extended Play, I agreed without any hesitation. This is, after all, my twin’s project – my brother who was there all those many years ago when I met the woman who would later be the most important person in my life. More info about Kris Bach Kris Bach, as neither did I at first, could not remember this “meet cute” as we both were in a state of inebriation that would have made the valkyrie and pirate kings of yore very proud. But before you question what this has to do…

The story you are about to read is based on true events. The names of the people have not been changed so for when you, the reader, should ever come to meet these individuals it is incumbent on you to either doff your cap, hat or hoodie to them. But knowing all of them, I can safely say that buying them a drink would be the least hero worship they’d accept. This story begins like all others I have told, and have been told by others… “Mom, I swear it was not my fault”. Okay, wrong story but it REALLY…

My thanks go out to the Absinthe-swigging spirit of Oscar Wilde for granting me temporary stewardship over this title. I do, however, apologise for the impression that might arise from reading the title – there can never be another Oscar Wilde. And I don’t presume to walk in the footsteps of his masterful text in a manner worthy of his attention. With that said, his attention would come as a surprise as his cold corpse has for years been interred. Hello my name is Menzi and I think too much, and not quite enough. The absence of fear renders a…

Folks, it’s that time once again! That time when you receive strange texts in the middle of the night or during your midday office “self appreciation” session, Election 2014. That time when your phone rings or vibrates, or does what ever new thing that smart phones do that has their owners gushing over them so much on social media. It’s the season to be wooed into voting for a change, for a difference, for the same shit on the back of a different guilt trip, for a chance to be given a house, clean water, and not too much load…

For a while now I’ve been sat on the sidelines of the blogosphere – much to the consternation of my editor, Henno Kruger. Yes he’d send me messages asking me ever so nicely whether I had any new piece(s) to submit, and I would tell him yes I did – and I really did have a few to submit until I read them again. And that is when they would meet their untimely demise and serve to fill up the trashcan on my screen. And off we’d go trying to write about something else – anything.  I have wracked my brain trying to come up with something worth…

Cast your minds back some months ago (15 August 2013), and you will remember that I conducted an interview with the Pretoria-based trio Wim Jansen van Rensburg (Guitar; Vocals), Adriaan Cruywagen (Drums; Vocals) and Marco Smit (Bass; Vocals), who form the band Le Voyage. In the interview it was about discovering who the band were and what they were about – what they offer to the ever-expanding talent pool that we find in the Nation’s capital. What I did find out from that interview were the following: I will sound an utter idiot if I went ahead and said the…

Here at Running Wolf’s Rant we pride ourselves for celebrating the utterly brilliant, ignoring the mediocre and completely annihilating and shaming those who do absolutely nothing to advance the cause of humankind. Now before you go asking who appointed us the authority to do such, the answer is “Nobody.” Yes, nobody said we could do it and nobody is saying that you yourself cannot do it – we just feel that we might be slightly better than you at it. There are many reasons that fuel this belief; so choose however many of them from us being seriously cool to…

When the chance presented itself to interview the members of The Barbosa Experience I jumped at it. Actually I leapt at it like a flasher leaps at an unsuspecting parent and their child from behind a bush, or garbage bin near a primary school. But I doubt that the authorities will frown upon what I did, and I am almost certain that nobody will require therapy. Well not anybody who is not in therapy at the moment. I have been a writer on Running Wolf’s Rant for little over a while now and I have always wanted to interview The Barbosa Experience,…

Today I read a quote from Radiohead front man and all round music visionary and good guy, Thom Yorke and it read: “I think a lot of the time the reason people pirate, is they want access to good music. And they don’t get it because the radio is shit.” I guess video can now stop being blamed for having killed the radio star – radio is well capable of killing radio stars fine enough on its own. He wasn’t lying though. Thom (looking at me calling him by his first name like we’re old friends) speaks the truth –…

September the 11th will always be remembered as the day that the USA and the world watched in great horror as two passenger aeroplanes took a huge bite out of The Big Apple – altering its skyline and forever making bearded men of Asian decent the feared rapscallions at airports. It marks a day that will forever carry feelings of hurt, anguish and anger for the families of the 2,996 souls that perished on that fateful day. It stands out as this generation’s “Where were you when they shot John F. Kennedy?” moment. Since then much of the world and…

The local (South African) rock music scene is experiencing a mushrooming of talent of late. There are a host of new – and interesting – bands that are emerging; each with the goal of being at the vanguard of an industry that has experienced many false dawns. In this the Age of the Hipster, sometimes there is a hype is that screams different way too many times for people to even care – let alone FaceTwit about it. With all the fresh local produce we’re being exposed to musically, it would have been a remiss of me not to wade…

So here’s the recipe for a Social Media Maelstrom: 1. Take two parts FHM employees (Max Barashenkov & Montle Moroosi) 2. Add one part inappropriate Facebook status update; 3. Add [also] initial response questioning the nature of one part Facebook status update; and 4. Sprinkle comment (inappropriately) supporting the nature of the initial Facebook status And what you get is the social media maelstrom that had recently engulfed Twitter (mostly) and every other media platform that you can think of. The individuals at the centre of this storm are one Max Barashenkov (former features writer for FHM) and Montle Moroosi…

“Simplicity provides a fine line between eloquence and plainness” I “stole” the above line from the film Brown Sugar, starring Taye Diggs (Doctor Sam Bennett from Private Practice) and Sanaa Lathan (Mona Fredricks from Boss). It is the latter’s character – a newly-appointed editor of a mainstream hip-hop publication – who is said to have written this line in her very first published article in the film. This statement can easily be said of any facet of our daily lives. It is a statement that has resonance with all music – and in this case rock ‘n’ roll. Rock ‘n…

Declarations are never easy. Because of the highly uncertain nature of the outcome, there are misses – many, many misses. As the story goes – or as the Hollywoodland rom com trope goes: Boy meets girl, girl doesn’t notice. Boy starts drooling over girl, and yet girl still doesn’t notice (her friends do though). Boy fumbles; girl giggles but still barely notices (notice the pattern?). Boy’s family and friends (and the entire school and community) lose all faith in boy; but [idiot] boy’s obstinacy knows no bounds – much to the chagrin of girl’s father, older brother and football jock…