Richard Swainson column: City denied full diet of essential Kiwi culture (mention)

Source: Waikato Times print edition

12 September 2008

By RICHARD SWAINSON

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In my time in Hamilton, three other movie theatres have closed. Although there was something of a public outcry over the demolition of the Regent, the earlier loss of the Embassy was by far the greater tragedy, an outrage of international proportions given it was the birth place of Rocky Horror. And what did the esteemed city fathers erect in its stead? A public toilet.

Thanks to the vision of Mark Servian we now have a shiny statue of our favourite transvestite son on the site to act as a tourist mecca. The metallic Riff Raff mannequin is a rare tangible acknowledgement of contemporary cultural history. Personally I am in favour of more of its ilk.

For instance, I greatly lament the destruction of two of Hamilton's iconic pubs. There is opportunity for local artists to mark the loss with likenesses similar to the Richard O'Brien one. Imagine a statue of the late Bruno Lawrence at the location of the former Hillcrest Tavern, a place he was repeatedly ejected from in the 1970s. Or a suitably respectful bronze rendering of Her Majesty the Queen Mum on the corner of Clyde St and Grey St, marking the fact she once slumbered in the gone but not forgotten Riverina Hotel.

More statues are unlikely to alter the way we are seen in Auckland. Our image in big city eyes is the one encapsulated best in the Bob Jones gifted agrarian edifices that grace Victoria Street's top end: Hamilton as cowtown.

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