Ray Paparoa the Maori Elvis is now on a huge banner overlooking Jervois Quay

 Unless he has blown away !

Chris Bourkle advises that A Blue Smoke exhibition has just opened at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery at Shed 11 on Wellington’s waterfront. Just a stone’s throw from where Ruru Karaitiana and the 28 Maori Battalion left on the Aquitania in 1940 – about five minutes walk from the railway station – the exhibition is free, and open from 10.00am to 4.30pm every day except Christmas until 24 February 2013. Look out for the huge banner of Ray Paparoa – the Maori Elvis – hanging over Jervois Quay.

The exhibition features nearly 65 photos, including many that aren’t in the Blue Smoke book. There are also some antique radios and microphones – courtesy of Radio New Zealand – and ephemera such as colourful album and EP covers from the early 60s, and entertainment magazines such as Radio Record, the Listener, Playdate from the 1960s and Hot Licks and early Rip It Ups from the 1970s 

Also, a small portfolio of photos showcasing the work of Murray Cammick, the co-founder of Rip It Up. 
As well as the Blue Smoke book – which is at a special price of $49 – there is a new 48-page booklet specially produced for the exhibition for $10 (the cover is at left). It includes an essay about the images and profiles of many of those featured.