REVIEW: Chris Knox: Not Given Lightly - Craig Robinson (Auckland University Press)
Everybody has a story about Chris Knox. I you went to university in the 1980’s and 1990’s then it was almost a guarantee that you’d see him bouncing around the Victoria University Orientation week stages in daggy shorts and jandals – even in the heart of winter! As a regular on Radio Active, Pōneke’s student radio, I’d frequently have Chris behind the mic promoting his latest album, gig or project. He was always welcoming, quirky, ad-hoc and unpredictable. Back then we were super conscious of swearing and profanity on air (due to the tenous nature of the student license agreement). Keeping Chris in line was always a challenge, being a ‘free speaker’. But it wasn’t just his voice and music that was a permanent fixture on campus. His cartoons appeared not only in the Listener (which we devoured up at the library) or student mags like Salient but also on gig posters around campus. At Colin Morris Records in Willis St. we’d swoop in to collect up the latest releases from the Flying Nun s...