The 48th National Jazz Festival has just announced the line up of top New Zealand bands and international guests for the iconic Downtown Tauranga

Carnival and TV3 Jazz Village as part of the Festival in Tauranga at Easter.

The Downtown Tauranga Carnival takes place in the central city on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 April with four stages showcasing the diverse assortment of jazz with free entry. On Sunday 4 and Monday 5 April, the TV3 Jazz Village at the Historic Village features more than 20 bands on four stages as well as strolling bands, food and art stalls and activities for the children and entry is $10 for adults and free for children under 14 and TECT cardholders.

“We want the National Jazz Festival to be for everyone,” says Festival Director Arne Herrmann.

“The Downtown Tauranga Carnival and the TV3 Jazz Village will be fun events for the wider community, with the Carnival being an upbeat street affair, and the Jazz Village catering for a more relaxed family day out with some great jazz music.”

The TV3 Jazz Village, Tauranga’s own version of New Orleans’ French Quarter, was a crowd favourite in 2009 with thousands of visitors joining in the fun and Mr Herrmann says this year will be even better with more bands and more activities. Lining up at the village will be top New Zealand musicians Kokomo, Torch Songs, Shaken Not Stirred and the Darcy Perry Band. International guest performers include Yggdrasil (Faroe Islands), Phil Tweed and Mark Lockett from Australia and Mike Cooper (UK).

And you can star too – bring along your instrument and join in on the Hothouse Jamming Stage with the Hamilton Blues Club on Saturday and the Bay of Plenty Blues Club on Sunday. Tickets for the TV3 Jazz Village are $10 adults and free for children under 14 and TECT card-holders. Tickets can be pre-booked and there will be two entrances into the village from 17th Avenue.

The Downtown Tauranga Carnival runs from noon to 5pm each day with four stages – Classic Hits Stage at The Strand, Strand 2, Red Square and a special Indigenous Stage at Aspen Reserve. Among the artists on the Classic Hits and Strand 2 stages are local Tauranga favourites, the Self Righteous Brothers Blues Ensemble (Derek Jacombs and Nigel Masters from Kokomo), NZ jazz drummer Frank Gibson with The Young Lions, , Mike Garner, Brilleaux, Reputations and Liquid Colours from Auckland. \

The Indigenous Stage features award winning Maori Jazz musician Whirimako Black, Tait Kora Band, Leon Wharekura Band, Three’s Company and Tim Cooper Whanau and Friends, while Red Square has a Blues Buffet on Saturday and The Impressions on Sunday.

The Downtown Tauranga Carnival and TV3 Jazz Village are just two of the highlights of the 48th National Jazz Festival held in Tauranga from 1-5 April and as one of the oldest jazz festivals in the world, the National Jazz Festival is an iconic event on the music calendar in New Zealand.

The last New Zealand Fringe Festival ended with a question mark over its head about whether it would continue. It did, it rocked, and it will continue.

Now Fringe 2010 has ended with a glorious bag with the naming of the best of all there is in 2010 and a new inductee for the Fringe Hall of Fame.

The New Zealand Fringe Festival held its Award and Closing Night Party on March 7 at the Paramount Theatre, blowing out the candles on its 20th Birthday festival celebrations.

Fourteen awards were announced to celebrate the best on show at Fringe 2010, and a new member of the Fringe Hall of Fame was honoured.

In 2009, Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords were inducted. The was hosted by Derek Flores and Vinyl Burns from talk show The Chit Chat Lounge and featured entertainment from this year's crop of Fringe participants, including The Crimson Club and Galaxia.

In the spirit of the best sporting adage, Fringe 2010 producer Zelda Edwards said this year's festival was a triumph in the face of adversity.

"This year was a battle that was fought hard and fought long," she said, " but we all are proud to have put on the best festival in the twenty years of Fringe.

"The Fringe is a festival that embraces and encourages the leading edge of arts and entertainment and despite the question marks that hung over this year’s event we're beyond happy with how things turned out.

"We feel that in 2010 that the city really embraced the Fringe, from our opening day with the glorious Running of the Fringe right through to the end. We have to say thanks with all our heart to our supporters, the Wellington City Council and everyone who has not only put on a Fringe show but seen one as well.

"The Fringe is an essential part of New Zealand's arts and culture, providing an opportunity for so many voices to be heard. Long may it continue," she said. An announcement to the Fringe Festival's future will be made in due course.

Fringe 2010 Award winners

(winners in bold)

The over 100,000 pairs of knickers and bras sent to Africa by HOTmilk, New Zealand based international maternity and nursing lingerie label, have arrived and been distributed to women living in villages in Zimbabwe to help them avoid being sexually abused.

“Distributing the bras and knickers has been a very enjoyable task,” said former Zimbabwaen Morag Roy, who ensured that the boxes of HOTmilk donations cleared customs and made their way to those who most needed them.

When the company discovered that undergarments elevated a Zimbabwaen womens prestige, meaning they are less likely to be sexually assaulted, they immediately donated close to 12,000 HOTmilk items and orgnised HOTmilk stockists across the globe to gather quality secondhand bras and unworn underwear to ship to Africa .

“Most of the bras have been given out in Samkele, Lupane and Bulawayo areas,” says Roy . “The women love them and there is always great excitement and joy when they are received!” she says.

“We really are grateful to everyone around the world who put in such an amazing effort to make these donations possible – but extend a very special thanks to HOTMilk, their stockists, Express Logistics, those who donated warehouse space and everyone in New Zealand who contributed to the campaign for their generosity, especially in light of the major obstacles they overcame to get so many items here safely!”

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One in Ten New Zealand Women and girls affects this common disease called Endometriosis.

Endometriosis (pronounced: 'end-oh-me-tree-oh-sis') occurs when tissue very similar to the lining of the uterus (endometrium) is found in places outside the uterus where it shouldn’t be.

Some of the associated symptoms include extreme pain, diarrhoea with a period, boating, painful intercourse, lower back pain, tiredness and low energy, mood disturbances and bladder pain.

Inline with the 25th Birthday celebration of Endometriosis New Zealand (ENZ) and  Endometriosis Awareness Month(1-31 March )will be running a fundraiser on sella.co.nz called The Big Hug, auctioning such items as a 2009 SmartCar with a $1 reserve, designer clothing packages and celebrity experiences.

So, join The Big Hug and promote awareness of endometriosis to help all women and girls in your home, school, work and community to overcome this silent epidemic! and the Style of Life supporting this kind of campaign.

For more information, go to their website at nzendo.co.nz or sella.co.nz for the auction.

The Auckland pair behind label 21Grams, Andrew McCulloch and Shaun Bay, have launched a new e-store that sells a variety of streetwear fashion brands.

“Online shopping is becoming more popular and getting easier for the consumer to utilize,” says McCulloch.

“I mean, who doesn’t want to be able to buy the latest gear without having to even get out of their slippers?” he says. Called Stitched.co.nz, the estore will focus on providing quality men’s and women’s streetwear along with skate boards, accessories, shoes and more, all at competitive prices.

“We aimed to make shopping on the site as easy and enjoyable as possible while maintaining fast delivery times and great customer service,” says McCulloch.

The site has been set up so customers can access hand selected brands from around the world without having to deal with exchange rates or high shipping costs.

“Some of brands we will sell are smaller, more underground labels,” says Bay. “We want to help them get their gear out to the public, because there is some cool labels in New Zealand that either don’t get the exposure they deserve or are so new that most of the general public haven’t discovered them yet,” he says.

As well as 21Grams, the site will offer ABC, 57Cartel and Simply Complicated; with garments ranging in price from $50 to around $400.

With the success of KidsCan Designer Jandals, the charity now presents Designer Slippers with patterns from the likes of Silverdale Knitwear, Ooby Ryn and Stitch Ministry.

Available now at Number One Shoe stores nationwide for $24.99, proceeds from the sale of each pair going to KidsCan StandTall Charitable Trust to help them provide shoes to thousands of disadvantaged Kiwi kids.

Can’t wait for WOMAD – experience the sounds of WOMAD New Zealand 2010 on the newly released compilation CD, WOMAD NZ 2010: Sounds of the Planet.

The CD is the official compilation released ahead of the three-day festival which takes place 12-14 March 2010 at Brooklands Park and TSB Bowl, New Plymouth.

Providing a snapshot of WOMAD 2010, the 14 artists featured on the compilation CD take listeners on a journey through a bold cross-section of genres, cultures, nationalities and generations – from the soulful strains of Ethiopian singer Mahmoud Ahmed to the pristine classical folk of Finland’s Lepistö & Lehti; from the outrageous chanson ska punk of Babylon Circus to the plaintive oud virtuosity of Algeria’s Kamel El Harrachi.

The hot and feisty gypsy fusion of Ojos de Brujo, where flamenco meets hip hop; Mariem Hassan’s emotive refugee cry from the Western Sahara; and haunting prairie rock of Calexico that billows from the hot Arizona winds provide a whirlwind of experience of the wider world of music in your own living room.

WOMAD NZ 2010: Sounds of the Planet Track Listing:

1.       Kamel el Harrachi – Ya Rayah

2.       Calexico – Victor Jara’s Hands

3.       Lepistö & Lehti – Helsinki

4.       Ojos de Bruo – Nuevo Vida

5.       The Skatalites – New York Minute

6.       Public Opinion Afro Orchestra – Two Sides of the Truth

7.       Mahmoud Ahmed (Ethiopiques) – Ere Mela Mela

8.       Babylon Circus – La Cigarette

9.       Mariem Hassan – La Tumchu Anni

10.   Ladi6 – Walk Right Up

11.   Mairtin O’Connor Trio – Crossroads Crossroads

12.   Dub Colossus –Sima Edy

13.   Amal Murkus – Stranger in a Far City

14.   Nickodemus – Mi Swing es Tropica

WOMAD NZ 2010: Sounds of the Planet is available now from record stores and usual music retailers.

Tickets for WOMAD New Zealand 2010 are available now through Ticketek. Visit www.womad.co.nz for more information.

On February 11, The Wellington Convention Bureau will showcase Wellington to the World .

Wellington Convention Bureau Sales Manager Martin Boland says the event is designed to give locals who plan meetings and events of all kinds the opportunity to inspect venues and meet service providers on-site.

A total of 72 businesses will be represented at 42 venues during the day.

Wellington On Show is a natural progression from the successful Wellington Conference and Events Expo run by the Wellington Convention Centre each October, Mr Boland says.

“The expo gives event planners the opportunity to find out what’s available and now Wellington On Show will allow them to see and experience it, without having to schedule meetings or arrange transport.”

Free transport between key venues, including up the Wellington Cable Car, will be provided for registered participants. Over 100 people signed up within 24 hours of event details being released to industry contacts, Mr Boland says.

Wellington On Show participants can be in to win one of 36 prizes, and events throughout the day will include cooking demonstrations by Martin Bosley and Ruth Pretty, and a South American carnival at the Opera House.

Wellington On Show is being held on Thursday February 11, 10am-3pm.

Throughout the day partners will also have their own promotions and entertainment. From a Zest Food Tour to a brunch with Martin Bosley at Chaffers Dock Function Centre, there will be plenty of options on offer. Here is a list of the exhibitors showcasing themselves as well a list of special promotions running through the day.

There will be a hop on, hop off shuttle service between the key venues for those that don’t wish to walk – and it's free! Here is a map of where exhibitors are showcasing and the shuttle service operating on the day.

We know your time is valuable so with Wellington on Show you choose who you want to see and when.

Registration – it’s free and easy, so register now.

To find out more or register visit WellingtonNZ.com/OnShow.

Paramount Pictures NZ is pleased to release these early Preview images for EAGLE OF THE NINTH Directed by Kevin Macdonald and Staring Channing Tatum, Mark Strong, Jamie Bell & Donald Sutherland.