OPEN MICROPHONE

THE DANGEROUS MICROPHONE IN MAY

Make the Dangerous Kitchen your go-to place every Wednesday where the food and beverage service is fantastic and the hostesses and hosts make you feel right at home. Meet your neighbours and  enjoy the on-going connections with travellers and visitors as you devour a night of great pizzas and splendid entertainment!

30 MINUTES OF GLORY comes back this month too – Wednesday 13 and Wednesday 20 May with duo Neal Bonner and Pete Flynn and  Callie Crider & Kushla Kozeluh respectively, take the microphone for a first-up session of their new collaborations.

Pete Flynn and Neal Bonner are one half of the Pete Flynn Project performing an acoustic set of original music blending indie folk with catchy melodies and thoughtful lyrics. Shining a light on the human heart with all its joys and sorrows, hopes and disappointments.

Callie and Kushla are a Golden Bay multi-instrumentalist femme duo bringing big groove, mystery, and enchantment to a repertoire rooted in Irish and American  traditional music. Flying fiddle tunes, haunting and soulful harmonies, driving rhythms, and a dash of the eclectic—known to sneak a bluegrass tune into an Irish set, throw in the occasional original, and wander happily into songs from other corners too. Their sets bring everything from lively and dancey to sultry, intimate and spellbinding. Not to be missed! We will pass the hat around too – as is our custom – to show our appreciation for these two engaging performers.

The DANGEROUS MICROPHONE delivers  courageous performances and strong community connections you can’t buy!  So make sure you line up for your weekly dose of entertainment, challenge and pure joy for the  month of May.

Performance list open from 5.00pm.

DANGEROUS MICROPHONE
Wednesday  6, 27 May ’26
Open Mic 6.00pm – 9.00pm
Wednesday  13, 20, May ’26
Open Mic 6.00 pm – 7.30 pm
30 Minutes of Glory after 7.30 pm  featuring Neal Bonner & Pete Flynn (13 May) and Callie Crider & Kushla Kozeluh (20 May)

DYLAN'S BIRTHDAY OPEN MIC

Bob Dylan turns 85!

Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941. Dylan has been described as many things but he defies all attempts to box him in.

Some say Dylan is one of the greatest songwriters of all time and he has been a major figure in popular culture over his 69-year career. They reckon he has sold over 125 million records worldwide, putting him up there among the worlds best-selling musicians. Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it “with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry”. He then took off on an electric adventure that is still going. It has challenged all our political, social, spiritual and philosophical presuppositions.

Today he continues to defy all conventions and expectations and come Sunday, May 24th, he will celebrate his 85th birthday. And at the Mussel Inn, we will join in those festivities with an open mic,  85-song salute to this one-time ‘complete unknown with no direction home.’

The birthday party kicks off at 2.00pm under the stage presence and anchorage of Clayton Taylor, renowned for, among other things, his astounding repertoire of Bob Dylan’s songbook.

It’s an open mic format. There will be a white board where you can write in your name and the Dylan song/lyric you will perform.

It’s a free event so dust off your Dylan songs or your Dylan memories and come on down to Onekaka where the Mussel Inn will welcome you to an amazing feast of  some of the most influential songs ever written.

BOB DYLAN’S 85th BIRTHDAY PARTY
Sunday 24 May, 2026
Open mic from 2.00pm.
85 Bob songs to be sung!!
FREE

LIVE MIC ACTION

Acid on the Microphone

Here’s the May edition of Acid on the Microphone with our wildly entertaining open mic session for poets and singer/songwriters at the MUSSEL INN where a whole lot of good vibes happen. Poets get to speak of those things that matter and singer/songwriters get to lift our souls with their song.

As always, the open mic will uncover some unexpected treats as new and established performers present their work.  Participants can put their names on the performance list on the night. Musician alanjahjah will kick the evening off from around 7.15pm with dinner music to dine to.

And then we introduce our guest for the evening, SARU G, with his well-crafted and powerful lyrics driven by the state of the world. SARU G leaves no one off his list in a quest to expose the truth in a way that will leave you seeing the world in a different way. Poetic words for perilous times. Dance moves on the floor too. Read more over…

 ACID ON THE MICROPHONE is presented by Golden Bay Live Poets Society and gives you poems, stories and music too!

ACID ON THE MICROPHONE presents
Open Mic  from 7.30pm – 8.30 pm
Guest: SARU G after 8.30 pm
Thursday 28 May 2026
$5 on the door.  Mussel Inn

GB Live Poets Society presents

Saru G: beats, words, rhythm

featured guest at
ACID ON THE MICROPHONE.

“Poetry in Motion” – Warning: This is not a sit down show.

SARU G – The Mad Monkey from Mangarakau – brings his own unique style of conscious rap delivered over booty-stomping dance beats that will entertain, educate and elevate you. Featuring a plethora of Golden Bay’s favourite dance genres including tunes from some of the best local producers and backing vocals from some of our finest divas. This will be an ‘hour of power’, honed and fine-tuned at festivals and house parties throughout the Bay over the last ten years. So clear the tables and get your dancing shoes on – or off as the case may be.

Well crafted and powerful lyrics driven by the state of the world. Saru G leaves no one off his list in a quest to expose the truth in a way that will leave you seeing the world in a different way. Poetic words for perilous times. See you there.

ACID ON THE MICROPHONE 
Open Mic  from 7.30pm – 8.30 pm
Guest: SARU G after 8.30 pm
Thursday 28 May 2026
$5 on the door.  Mussel Inn

WALK THIS WAY

Collingwood’s Creative Footpath

Kawakawa has its Hundertwasser toilets (left) and now Collingwood has it’s own piece of street art with NgAngs’s Creative Footpath

The  Creative Footpath (opposite) has been a work-in-progress for a few weeks now. But here it is, ready for one and all to step out upon and enjoy the colour and refreshing take on the old grey bitumen format. With its chequered squares and blue lead-ins, it shows what can be done with a little creative licence, proper pavement paint and a vision to bring a bit of colour to an otherwise rather bland street environment.

Such art works, as in the case of Kawakawa, can become visitor destinations, drawing people to the town to experience something just a little unique and just a little different.

Take a walk on the wild side, down the main street of Collingwood, and know that you have been somewhere different!