Sweetman Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Just mucking around with stories — so these are two different readings of the same story. The audio and video are separate recordings, so you can listen to the audio above on its own, or with reading the story below. Or you can watch the video. Or any combo…

Click:

They’d met at a café. First impressions were awful. But by coffee number three, things had reset. She’d spilled a drink on his lap. He laughed it off. She blushed and grinned. It was already a story.

The click was instant. Like a fridge magnet finding its place. A done deal.

One month later, they were living together — one main room and one bedroom, a third flatmate named Mike. A quiet mechanic who mostly kept to himself. Cheap rent, just for the couch, but every little bit helped them.

Tama didn’t have much of a job — calling himself a musician was generous. A keyboard player in a band that scored bar gigs twice a month if lucky. Miri was at polytech, studying photography. She worked harder than him, that was clear. Mike often loaned Tama money.

One night, Mike brought his workmates around for drinks. Miri wandered through, taking photos, ignoring a few crude shouts. Tama came home when the drinking games were mid-chant, whisked her away for coffee and cake.

It was over a slice of pecan pie that she told him.

“I’m pregnant.”

Tama choked. Coughed. Wiped his mouth. “Come again?”

“You won’t actually need to”, she said, with a laugh. “Two months,” she said more calmly.

“What the fuck are we gonna do?” His voice cracked.

“Become parents.”

He stared at the table. His chest fluttered with something between panic and awe. “Seriously, Miri…”

“I’ll finish my course. You’ll get a job. We’ll figure it out.”

And somehow, that calmed him. They hugged in the middle of the café. Someone clapped. They left grinning.

Back home, Mike and the other mechanics were stoned in the lounge, listening to Genesis. Tama muted Phil mid-scream. The word “mama” left hanging in the air that night. “I’m gonna be a dad!?

Mike blinked. “Huh?”

“We’re pregnant!” Miri confirmed.

“Fuckin’ A. Wanna toke?”

“No thanks,” Tama said. “Big night. Early to bed for me.” He looked at Miri. “Coming?”

“In a sec,” she said. “I wanna finish this roll.”

He left.

Mike turned to her. “You wanna toke?”

“No thanks,” she said. “Weren’t you listening? I’m pregnant.”

“So?”

“I’m having a kid, Mike. I can’t smoke pot.”

He shrugged.

Then she walked over. Took his arm.

She whispered, “it’s yours”.

“What?”

“The baby. Mike.”

He stared at her. “It was one time.”

“I know!”

“I was wasted. That never even… I didn’t even…” He trailed off. “Fuck.”

“I couldn’t tell him.”

“You should’ve. It was just once!”

“I can’t lose him. He’s the one. He’ll be an amazing dad. You know it.”

He slumped into the couch. Ready now for bed also. “What are you asking me?”

“Nothing. Just your silence.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“And you’ll move out. Before the baby’s born.”

Another nod.

“I’ll never ask for money. This is my life. His life. We’ll make it work. He doesn’t need to know.”

“What about a paternity test?”

She slapped him.

He didn’t flinch. Just looked at the floor. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll move out.”

Four months later, he did.

Tama had paid him back. Gigs were steadier. He’d started giving piano lessons too. Miri finished her course, took a job at a front desk. They turned half of their bedroom into a nursery. It was working. But the baby monitor wasn’t. Tama could not work out how to set that up.

Trina arrived, no troubles. Seven pounds, four ounces. The couple wept. Mike visited once. Brought flowers. Held the baby longer than Miri expected.

“She’s got her father’s eyes,” Miri said. And her father smiled.Tama had to get ready for rehearsal. But first, one more check on the baby.

Mike whispered, “You think he’ll ever know?”

“No”, Miri hissed.

Mike nodded. “He’s a good dad.”

Miri smiled. “He is her father.”

Tama was holding Trina close, just listening. Mostly awe, not much panic. The heartbeat a tiny miracle.

The baby monitor buzzed softly. Voices. Words fading in and out, but one part he heard clearly.

He is her father.

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I haven’t made a bit of music for a while. Some would say I never have — including after hearing any of the pieces. Fair enough.

With that in mind, here’s my most recent. A wee piece I call New Coat. I guess I tried to address the question no one was asking — what would happen if Moby and Robert Miles collaborated after they’d both been hit in the head a bit?

My (“musical”) answer is above.

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I popped along to the New Zealand Society of Authors — Wellington’s first event of 2025, an open mic at Undercurrent bookshop. There were all sorts of readings from all sorts of readings, including from novels and short stories and memoir and children’s books, and poetry.

For my five-minute set, I read four poems from my latest collection, The Richard Poems. And you can listen to the recording here.

It was also — of course — a chance to plug the upcoming show:

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An in-depth conversation with businessman, guitar teacher and musician Charlie Wallace. We talk through the building of his empire, from high school dropout to owner of Guitar Mastery Method, via teaching himself every facet of web development to create online guitar courses. We talk, too, of his own musical aspirations, including the debut release from his band Black Smoke Trigger.

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An in-depth conversation with Meg Williams, Executive Director of Tawhiri (The NZ Festival, Jazz Festival, Lexus Song Quest and Second Unit). We talk about the festival and her history with event planning and festivals, working her way up from a volunteer at various UK and European festivals through to her time over the last decade in Wellington, climbing the ladder to the top job as festival director.

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An in-depth conversation with Kev Fitzsimons, lead singer of Wellington band Anxiety Club. We talk about our time together - 20-something years ago - playing in a university covers band and from there to his time working in Scotland and England, including a stint working under a pseudonym (Thom Cross) singing vocal hooks on dance tracks and attempting to build a solo career. And now, back in Wellington, he has a family and is keeping music as something on the side.

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An in-depth conversation with American guitarist and singer/songwriter Steve Gunn. We talked through his life and career and the harshness of solo touring. We had a big old geek-out over The Beatles and many other legendary songwriters and recording artists too.

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A phone-interview with Margo Timmins, lead singer of the Cowboy Junkies. We talk through the history of the band, the songwriting dynamics, the family story - the decision to take a break to raise their own families and then the return to touring and recording. We preview their upcoming 2020 May tour of NZ - the band's first visit here in 20 years.

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An in-depth conversation with Wellington writer Dave Armstrong. We plug and preview his new play, "The Surprise Party" but talk also about theatre in general and his various roles as a columnist, satirist, musician, scriptwriter for TV and film - a busy life writing for hire and writing for love. We discuss his time working on Shortland Street, playing with various bands in the 1980s including The Holidaymakers ("Sweet Lovers") and making TV (Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby, Spin Doctors) and movies (Kiwi Christmas) as well as the role of the satirist in modern society. Big chat. Great chat. Great guy.

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An in-depth conversation with Matthew Bannister - founder of the band Sneaky Feelings and now working under the name One Man Bannister, creating track-by-track covers of Beatles albums. We talk about his Beatles fascination, his time in Dunedin, moving there from Scotland - and then to Auckland. We talk about his memoir, Positively George Street and his other musical work (Dribbling Darts, Moth) as well as the reunion records by Sneaky Feelings.

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